Jacob woke up from his sleep by his father.

‘Wake up boy, we got lots to do today!’ he rubbed his eyes and got out slowly before following him out.

It was a sunny day in copper hills. A city that managed to for generations hold off mutants, raiders and other factions seeking to destroy or control them. Walls equipped with automatic turrets constantly kept watch, boats brought in fish and other supplies. It was one of the few places considered paradise in comparison to the mutant filled wasteland where food and water was scarce.

‘Ok Jacob after breakfast George needs you to fix his cooler and Madame Pomefrey has a broken cable.’

‘Fine.’ the twelve year old muttered as he walked to the door only to be stopped by his mother.

‘Honey! Make sure you eat something first.’ she shouted from the kitchen. She was kind woman, although slightly to strict for his liking. Always thinking of his safety despite them living on one of the safest places in the world He took a large sip of water and grabbed a piece of bread, munching on it as he left.

He always helped out his dad these days. Apparently it was important for him to learn the engineering craft early to become as successful at it as possible in his adult life. And engineers were vital to keep everything running. Without their expertise the city of Copper Hills would very swiftly fall apart.

As he walked trough the town centre on his way to old man George he saw two groups of men arguing again. One side was the mayor and the others were dressed like soldiers. Gray armor with full helmets, glass covering their faces and carrying pretty mean looking assault rifles.

Their leader had a rather fancy uniform. A long brown coat with medals attached to it, a hat with the symbol of a golden fist on its front. ‘We’re offering you a very generous amount for this pile of dirt mayor, i strongly suggest you take it.’

‘Copper Hills have always been interdependent and we have no need for your imperial rule. Besides why so stubborn if this really is a pile of dirt?’

‘Humans have to come together under one banner mayor, its in every ones best interest if our race don’t live separate like those filthy mutant tribes.’

‘You mean its in YOUR best interest if every human on the planet rolls over and slaves under your banner?’

‘I try to make you see reason here mayor. This world is dangerous, a prosperous place like this can...attract some unwanted attention...’

‘Like you? We’ll survive like we always have. Now get out!’

‘Fine be it that way then! You have signed your future mayor..’

The soldiers stormed out the main gate leaving a heavily frustrated mayor.

‘Fucking bastard..’ he muttered as he returned to his office.

For a twelve year old child that was...a rather unpleasant sight...

*

Fixing both things went by pretty quick. Exchanging cables and fixing freezers were easy even for a child who constantly trains with his head engineer dad. As he got back home dad stepped out of the garage in his usual oiled stained overall.

‘Jacob there you are! Come I have to show you something.’

Strange, he never got to go inside the garage. That was completely locked up and off limits. He opened the garage doors wide and inside was a landrider! A two seated vehicle with a storage compartment in back. Its legs and wheels were built for mobility in any terrain and was used for fast transport.

It was currently mostly rust colored but in all other aspects seemed in good shape.

‘Nice ride dad. Are you planning deliveries now?’

‘Me working of just moving things from one place to another? Please! No this is for you!’

‘What??’

‘You heard me young man! You’re growing up now! Soon you have to start working on more advanced stuff than just basic repairs and it will be good if you can get around Copper Hills faster than just walking.’ Jacob didn’t even know what to say..his own ride??

‘This..this is...wow..’

‘I know. It doesn’t look like much now but it works trust me! You’re gonna have to paint it, maintain it and refuel it by yourself when you learn to drive it. Speaking of which.’ he took out some keys from his pocket and handed them to Jacob. ‘You will need this. Your house key, car key and key to the tool shed.’ Jacob struggled to contain his excitement. He was really being accepted into the world of adults...he was becoming one of them!

‘So shall we ride?’   

Jacob’s dad showed him step by step how to drive the land-rider. The two setting, the break and gas. It didn’t take long for him to get it and soon they were both out of the city and riding trough a open field with large, rusted buildings left behind from the old world. Dad always did tell Jacob it was some kind of water towers or giant milk tanks for farmlands.

Jacob felt more free now than ever, the winds blowing in his face, rocks and trees speeding past them and the road was open to them.

‘This is the life heh Jacob? This is what true freedom feels like! And why its so worth fighting for.’

The boy started to understand, dad always talked about freedom and how they must defend their way of life. He often didn’t listen until now when he got the best of it.

They stopped a mountain hill and dad opened the cargo hold.

‘I know I’m probably throwing a lot at you at once but I also want you to have this.’ He took out a rifle equipped with a proper sniper scope.

‘Are you serious??’

‘I am. There’s a lot of dangers in this world son and you need to be prepared. So we’re out here so you can practice shooting safely without any bystanders.’

The second that gun touched his hands he felt an overwhelming sense of power coursing trough him. Like he could take on the entire world.

‘I need you to listen to me very closely now son, this is a weapon. Its not a tool, its not a toy, its a weapon. This will protect you whenever danger arises but only if you know how to use it. And more importantly, when to use it. You see those cave ants over there?’ he pointed down the hill to some giant brown tunnel ants crawling around a large hole they obviously dug.

‘We all hate those things and for good reason. They ruin our pipes, they dig holes in our towns and eat our farmers stock. But they are scared shitless of humans so they will make good target practice.’ He showed Jacob how to properly hold and aim the gun. As he got a good closeup of those disgusting things dad told him to fire when ready but also to try to aim for the head to avoid causing unnecessary suffering. Even with annoying bugs like them it was best to do it quickly and painless. When it the he scope was staring straight into its big, ugly black eyeball he pressed the trigger and with a loud boom a large while instantly appeared on it, scattering blood and other gross stuff on the ground.

The other ants ran away in panic as Jacob lowered his gun.

‘Nice shot son! Fire at the others!’ he took aim and fired again.

And again, and again. He only managed to kill one more fleeing and slightly wound the next one before they got away.

‘Not bad for a first timer, common lets head back before we’re late for dinner.’

*

Jacob was quiet during dinner, mostly just staring down at his food. ‘You ok sweetie?’

‘Mom. Whats the empire?’

‘So you heard of the argument earlier today huh?’

‘Kinda.’

‘Well the empire is a glorified raider gang that stumbled across some fancy guns and now thinks themselves the rulers of humanity.’

‘Are they gonna attack mom?’

‘I wouldn’t worry about them. If they do show up our artillery on top of the cliff sides will make short work of them.’ She kissed her son on the head, reassuring her son things were gonna be fine.

Jacob still had a bad feeling about them tough. Even if he had never seen a raider before he was pretty sure they didn’t wear proper uniforms. Something was wrong about them..

*

The next day his friends stared in awe at the new landrider begging for a ride. ‘Your dad really built you this?’

‘Indeed! He said he started when I was about five. And now I get to use this bad boy for work!’

‘You’re twelve!’

‘So? Sara started driving transport trucks at twelve!’ ‘Why can’t I ever get my own wheels?’

They all could stare for hours but duty called when dad stepped out of the workshop. ‘Jacob! I need you to head down to the satellite! Apparently the gate is stuck.’

‘Got it! Ok people scram! Shows over!’ they sighted and left as Jacob grabbed his toolbox and put it in the storage compartment.

‘Whats that?’ Caleb, his best friend asked him. ‘Ssssh! Its a gun alright. Dad gave it to me to just in case cave ants tries to ruin our stuff during work.’

‘You serious!?’

‘Keep it down! I don’t want others getting wind of this. Keep it to yourself!’

‘You got it dude. By the way can I come with? I really wanna ride in this thing!’

‘Ok fine hop in. But no fooling around! I wanna show dad that I can be professional and get the job done.’

‘Yes sir!’ The blonde boy saluted him.

*

‘Are you sure about this mayor? The empire doesn’t take well to rejection.’

‘We have fought for our freedom before and we’ll continue to do so. Copper Hills is a settlement with a strong, proud population.’

‘And the empire has guns, big ones.’

‘Our settlement is built on the side of the mountain with long range artillery cannons watching over us twenty four seven. They are capable of shooting down tanks and aircraft. Let them come I say!’

The secretary wasn’t so sure about this. The stories coming out from over the mainland....things were changing and fast.

*

The employees told Jacob all about the gate and how it wouldn’t open. Without the antenna their radar system wouldn’t work leaving the whole town vulnerable to attack.

And of course the system controlling the gate was in the other side as a security measure. It seemed strange that the employees on the other side didn’t get it open and wouldn’t answer their radios.

But Jacob was clever, he decided that instead of going trough it was better going over the wall. He got his handmade climbing rope with a hook tied on. He threw it up and it attached to something on top the wall easily. Climbing over it was easy but once he reached the other side things got more weird. There were no employees there, the whole place was deserted. He went over to the console and the power was still on and system worked just fine. There were however no one on post and this gate was to be guarded all the time. He opened the gate and told the others of the missing workers and they all decided to spread out and look. Something had to have happened here.

The area was eerily quiet, not a soul a sight. No one in the break room corner, the lookout tower, the bathrooms. It was abandoned. Jacob then heard something, something heavy hitting the ground. Then some suspicious shuffling right around the corner. He hid and peeked over. His blood froze to ice, there was someone there lifting the body of one of the workers he let in and lower it into the garbage disposal!

A stranger who wore a dark gray full body armor. The helmet had a glass opening for sight. ‘I gotten rid of the workers and secured the area.’ it spoke in a strange obviously masked voice. A system put in the helmet most likely.

They listened for a few seconds and replied to whoever was speaking to them trough the inbuilt microphone. ‘Understood. Returning to the meeting point.’

The stranger pressed a button on they wrist and disappeared. The last Jacob saw was the air shimmering in the shape of a human being walking away. He could start breathing again now that the murderer was gone but he still fought to keep quiet in the midst of his panic attack. He just saw someone get murdered! And they threw his friends into the garbage disposal where all trash was shredded and burned! He felt sick to his stomach at the thought of his friends being shredded to pieces among all those giant saw blades they installed underground. He almost vomited right then and there but snuck held it back and snuck over to the communication controls. He had to warn the others before it was to late! He took one last look around before opening the door and hurried inside. He took up the microphone and pressed the alarm button. The alarm didn’t go off! He pressed it again and again and again yet no nothing!!! the murderer must had sabotaged it!!

He pressed the fast dial to the mayors office and to his relief he picked up. ‘Mayor here.’

‘Mayor you have to sound the alarm! We have an intruder!’ ‘What?! slow down boy!’ ‘The gate wasn’t broken up here by the communications systems! Someone came here, sabotaged the alarm button and killed everyone!’

‘Who did!??’

‘I don’t know but you must sound the alarm! PLEASE!!’ a few seconds and silence followed then the mayors voice echoed trough the whole town.

‘Ready the defenses everyone. We have an intruder and our alarm is broken. I repeated we have an intru..’ he didn’t managed to finish his sentence before explosion was suddenly heard outside! Jacob sprinted outside and some kind of flying machines was firing missiles down at them! The artillery was destroyed and then they turned to the power plant and every critical structure they had! Over the horizon, outside the walls large tanks rolled in at high speed and took positions along the wall. Every round punctured massive holes in the wall, tearing it apart. The people panicked and ran in all directions, pillars of smoke quickly rose towards the sky as fire, embers and metal pieces flew in all directions along the ground. Jacob grabbed his rifle and sprinted down towards home. He had to save his parents!

Up to the street leading to his house he immediately saw running people being gunned down and in panic he jumped the side into a alleyway. He heard running and people kicking down doors followed by more shooting. He moved between buildings and parked vehicles to stay out of sight. Just as he heard tank moving behind him he jumped down into a waterway along the street to more easily lead the rainwater to the sewers beneath town. He laid there pretending to be dead as the troops passed him, completely sure they would see him and fire.

He was so sure he was dead, laying still had never been so hard in his entire life as he heard their footsteps and felt the vibrations of the tank rolling past him.

But somehow, as by some miracle, they though him dead and just kept moving passed him. Jacob heard a whispering voice call out to him and lifted his head. His dad was there! His head poked up from a window of a basement signaling him to crawl over. He quickly moved over and dad pretty much threw him inside and immediately hugged him harder than ever before in trembling arms.

‘Dad..where’s mom??’

‘I don’t know Jacob. But whats important is that you’re still alive! We have to get you out of here!’

‘But mom’

‘Common there’s a entrance to the escape tunnels here, we can use that to escape!’ he handed Jacob a gas mask before putting one on himself and moved aside a large tool shelf revealing a hole in the wall. They both climbed down and dad turned on the flashlight as they both proceeded down into the dark, foul smelling tunnel away from the fighting. They felt the vibrations from their bombs above. Jacob felt sick, just leaving mom and everyone else there. ‘We can’t leave mom! Please dad!’

‘She will be fine son! She knows where all the escape tunnels are.’ they reached a large metal door with a opening mechanism. The small panel was right to the side of it. Dad pried it loose, revealing all sorts of wires. Knowing how these worked he cut one loose and the door opened. ‘Ok Jacob go in and head trough, look for the way out on the other side. I’ll go back and get mom, we’ll find you later.’

‘But..’

‘No buts just go!’ he couldn’t say no. Caleb walked in to the strange room with all sorts computer panels and equipment. What what this? What is this room?

Jacob heard dads footsteps vanishing behind him. He stood upon the staircase leading further down. But somehow he couldn’t bring himself to walk down... he tried to force his legs to move but he couldn’t... he couldn’t leave without them...he couldn’t..

Swallowing his fear he turned around and headed back.

Looking for entrance to entrance he saw the boots of the soldiers running across the whole town, the treadmills of their tanks rolling along the ground. After a while he saw them, his parents hid around a corner near one of the houses connected to the tunnel, waiting for an opening. When it looked like it was clear they moved towards the door. ‘HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!!’ they froze on the spot and dread overcoming him when at least five or six soldiers surrounded them.

‘Look what we have here boys...two wastelanders who thought they were free.’

‘You’re never free fuckers. The Empire comes after anyone who doesn’t join up.’

‘Please we’ll do anything. Just don’t shoot..’

‘You heard that boys? He said they will do anything.’ They mockingly laughed at them. ‘Well....his backside don’t look half bad. Bend over.’ ‘What?’

‘I said.’ he slammed his assault rifle at the back of dads head. ‘BEND OVER!’ just as he reached for dads belt mom lost it and started swinging her fist at him. ‘GET OFF HIM!!

Quick flashes of light and deafening thunder of guns erupted outside, light enough to make Jacob stagger back, closing his eyes and clutching his ears. And as he opened his eyes all went silent, time froze and heart rate dropped.

There they laid there, unmoving, clothes colored red. The soldiers started yelling about something but Jacob couldn’t hear. It was as if the whole worlds colors went gray, only the red remained... His eyes glued to his parents.

They just laid there.. This couldn’t be real...it wasn’t real it was...he had to be dreaming right?? he tried to wake up. He desperately tried to force his mind to wake up. But he couldn’t, no matter how many times he closed and opened his eyes they were still there. He still stood in that basement, looking out the small window at the fallen bodies of his parents.

Eventually his mind started to realize why...this wasn’t a dream... They...were dead. They were actually dead...

His whole body started trembling uncontrollably, his heart rate rising, his vision blurry. The panic started to settle in as his legs couldn’t carry him anymore. He fell to his knees as his vision was now completely blurred by all the tears forming in his eyes.

He screamed. He didn’t care if the soldiers outside heard him anymore but he just started screaming. As loud as his vocal cords could muster, staring on whatever was in front of him. The madness, the pain, the fear all was mustered as he lost his mind. He screamed until his throat was sore and couldn’t bare it anymore. Until his cheeks was wet from his tears and his chest hurt, like a punch from his insides. Then he just sat there. On his knees in the basement sobbing, desperately hoping for a higher power to come save him. To bring his parents back and take them all away from here.

But no such thing came, he was alone in there, as Copper Hills burned all around him.

*

When the battle started to settle and the sounds of shooting and explosions died down he finally could bring himself to move again. He didn’t look out the window again, he couldn’t bare to look at it again. He leaned against the walls as he descended down into the tunnel again, still sniffling uncontrollably the whole time as his head still spun in a storm of emotions and bloody images.

He went trough the strange room and down the stairs that he previously couldn’t go down on.

He went into another room, a much larger one with a giant machine in the middle.

There was a computer panel there with power. The text on it caught his broken glance.

Project tremor

Power reserves: 95%

Setting: Standby

All this text. What even was this thing? It looked dangerous..dangerous like...like that machine the mayor had warned him about.. He remembered the mayor holding a speech to the children of the town, warning of going into the tunnels. “A giant machine of the old world exists right beneath us, we worked out years ago that it causes massive tremors miles across, creating a man made earthquake. That’s why the tunnels are always locked unless our town ever comes under attack so whatever you do kids don’t ever go down there! That thing alone is enough to kill us all!”

So this was the tremor machine, Copper Hills dark little secret...

He remembered his dad telling him that humans lived much differently a long time ago and they build massive technological wonders. Instead of wheels cars flew in the air, space stations floating above earth,they grew any type of food they wanted from machines. Technology they could barely comprehend. And here, in front of him stood one of these machines...A thing of the old wold.

Was this thing really capable of causing mass tremors? Could kill the soldiers that took everything from him? There really was only one way to find out..

He pressed a few buttons, opening the settings menu.

Choose setting:

Standby

Activate

Power down

His answer was obvious. He was so afraid that he actually felt like he wanted to puke. But then he remembered his home and parents. He had nothing left now....so what else could do? If this could harm the soldiers even in the slightest way it was worth it.

He pressed activate.

 

Are you sure you wanna activate Project Tremor?

Yes

No

Swallowing down his fear he pressed the button yes...

 

Project Tremor is activating and will begin tremors in: 1 hour-20 minutes-15 seconds

 

Then the timer just started counting down. He had to get away before it was to late!

He ran down back into the sewer tunnel and sprinted faster than he ever had his entire life. Panic pushing him forward like some kind of angry monster chased after him.

*

His legs was on the verge of giving up, every muscle in his body ached, begging him to stop and rest. But he knew he didn’t have time for it! Any minute now that thing would activate and could crush him while inside these tunnels! He just had to get a little further befor...

He didn’t get to finish that thought as he felt the vibrations in the concrete beneath his feet. They gradually grew stronger and before he knew the whole tunnel started shaking around him. His vision blurred as everything started spinning out of control, he felt like his head was about to be shaken loose from his neck. He barely managed to move into a small opening in the wall, there was nothing there but a small, empty space just enough for him to huddle up and put his face against his knees, holding on for dear life until eventually it all went black..

*

When Jacob woke up he discovered he lied in his own vomit. He slowly got up,feeling sick and still dizzy, wiping his face while trying to ignore the horrible smell. But despite it all he was alive..barely..

He found a crate leading up the surface and using the tools on his belt he pried it open and climbed up. The place around him was far different than before. Holes in the ground had opened up, spewing out pillars and walls of thick black smoke everywhere he looked. The air smelled of burning and sulfur, everywhere was just destruction, as far as the eye could see. Once a nice, beautiful landscape with yellow high grass was now ruined.

All this from just one machine? It was now Jacob started to realize just how far ahead people of the old world was. Just one of their machines could cause all of this!

As he looked around him he felt more shaking, not nearly as powerful as the ones before but still. The area was unstable and he needed to keep moving. At least now the army was dead... He hoped they suffered. That the tremors made it painful and they cried in fear before the end..

With a few tools on his belt, and his fathers rifle on his back he dragged himself onwards. Past the smoke and cracks in the earth, tunnel ants confusingly fleeing both above and below ground, not sure where to go now. Other wildlife had long since fled, escaping the former farming grounds of Copper Hills. The sky turned red as the sun went down over the ocean, out of sight. He came realize, walking along the coast that he might be on a island. But if that was the case how did this “empire” reach them? Boats? How would he then get across? He eventually saw a bridge leading over the large body of water, stretching out as far as his eyes could see. It was almost as if it lead to the very end of the world..

Above was a sign. Highway 66...something. The final letter was covered in rust and not visible anymore. He didn’t know where it led...in fact he didn’t even know that this road bridge existed...

But he had no other way to go so with no hope, no reason, no direction and no life to return to he walked onward. Onto the endless road ahead, as the red sky became ever darker and the cold of night settled in...