Prologue

A Chapter by Matt Hooper

The Dark Phantom
All work presented in this novel is a work of fiction despite real locations being included.

Prologue: 9^th September 2013
Isaac lay on the floor, urgently trying to breathe and grasping for air. I hate this stupid mask. He would have been protesting aloud but he was too busy trying not to die. His clothes were drenched with water and blood, absorbing the seemingly bottomless puddles beneath him on the hard, cold ground. His face was also soaked as he used his energy to turn on his back. The sky was black but the streetlights above him blinded him.

He squinted as the rain plunged fiercely onto his face. Even his innovative goggles were malfunctioning from the rain. They weren't as high tech. and impressive as he thought. He breathed heavily and tried to roll forwards on his stomach. Then he heard the deafening shot and his whole body slumped even further to the ground, just as he was beginning to pick himself up.

Water bounced off him and soaked him head to toe. His chest was pumping visibly and there were tears in his dark grey chest-piece. His coat was still scrunched up nearby from earlier and looked to be in ruins. His hair was dark brown but appeared to be black with the water soaking it up. It flopped back against the ground and water leaked from each individual hair on his head.

The blood on his face was becoming less visible as the rain water pushed it to the ground. He was holding his stomach with one hand and grasping for the ground in front with the other. He had a wound that needed attention. Blood was coming out of it at high pace but it was not his main concern. However, the blood was still streaming out of his face and into his eyes, slowly but easily sneaking behind the sunglasses. In frustration he threw them to the ground and squinted once more. Everything was becoming a blur as he looked up at the silhouette of a man.

Isaac grunted as the man appeared to be in pain. Next to him on the ground was another dark silhouette. From a distance it looked like a pile of rubbish bags but Isaac knew it wasn't. He hadn’t realised what it was until he came level with it. His heart skipped a beat and almost stopped completely. He had failed and all he had promised was gone.

The silhouette became much clearer as Isaac edged closer on the ground. He wanted justice and the adrenaline was pumping vigorously. He was going to do something whether his body agreed with him or not. His enemy showed his gun, panting at the effort of holding it up at the right angle. He smirked and took a deep breath. Slowly he lifted it from the side of his hip and pointed it down to the general direction of Isaac.

Isaac looked up and the rage was visible in his striking blue eyes. It was now or never as Isaac found himself hopelessly attempting to stop the man pointing the gun in his face. How had he become so careless? How had he let this man do such terrible things? There were too many questions that he blanked out of his mind. He was looking for solutions and answers but the one question he couldn't stop asking himself was the one he tried to forget the most. How he had gotten here in the first place?