Prologue

Spread messily over the glass top of a coffee table were practice exams, books with fevered covers and notebooks that had seen better days. A university student salutatorian leisurely wrote amongst the mess while flipping the pages of a calculus book. His tired eyes rose to stare at the muted television, it had been turned on for background noise and soon was muted halfway through the students studying. 20 year old, Akira Myles, rested on his arm as he silently watched the television screen.

Even as the sound was not heard, he could still perfectly hear the fires that raged on the screen. They vigorously licked the buildings it engulfed, hungrily craved more fuel as it greedily spread its arms to other devastated structures. The camera paned to show a young man, maybe early thirties. Regardless of how tightly he gripped to his microphone, it still shook restlessly in his hand. In the thrashing winds, the man continued to inform the audience as his once combed brunette hair whipped into his face. As he spoke, Akira couldn't shake the stoic gaze of the reporters eyes, they seemed to bore though the camera, through the television and into the eyes of the audience.

Akira set his pencil down and reached for the remote, unmuting the volume on the television. He was met with harsh winds and the wavering yell of the reporter. Just below them, as they moved over the chaos by helicopter, was the aftermath between ghouls and the extermination squads. The extermination squad in Rose's territory was created to uphold the protection of the public from ghouls. They've been fighting this losing battle for almost a decade now, all that has come form it were more burning cities within the country Rose. The squads, more formally known as GTA, was an association trained in subduing the threats in the streets. They weren't doing well, and their work was wasted as another sector of Rose has fallen.

"Reporting live right here on channel 8, breaking news, Sector 3 and 4 have collapsed. Ghouls have wiped out the responding GTA forces, emergency facilities have been established on the boarder of sector 2-"

"Should just call for an evacuation of Rose," Akira muttered, not truly wanting it to come to that, as he looked down at his books absently, "we've already lost most of the country to ghouls anyway." He let out a sigh, resting back against the sofa behind him. Akira closed his eyes as a migraine threatened to submerge, it was late into the night and he had planned to wait for his father to get home. However, it looked like another late shift.

Akira's father was the commander of a squadron in GTA, his group was responsible for the sector they lived in, Sector 1. The total squadrons created a wing of GTA which was over looked by a higher branch of office in GTA, the director of Ghoul Termination Association established in Roseate. There were a total of two wings, one established in Rose and based in sector 1. Another wing in Turkonian, the neighboring country. The wings were then directed by the Country Defense Office, based in Turkonian. Turkonian and Roseate, aka Rose, being sister countries and at one point in time weren't separated from each other. The reason behind the separation was due to this ongoing genocide, a way to build walls between the war and the center of the country residing in Turkonian.

The rising threat, Ghouls, were similar in appearance to humans. They looked and blended into our society. However, they were far from similar to us in many ways. They ate human flesh, they gained their sustenance from devouring us. Akira sneered at the thought, fucking cannibals. More like zombies with a conscience.

There had been media attempting to explain the current events, the Ghouls had made a statement with their destruction to the empire based in Turkonian. They wanted to prove they did not need to hide in the shadows, to put an end to the nervousness of walking amongst us in fear of being discovered as to what they were. The only thing they've accomplished was the brutal extermination of cities and towns, the slaughter of men, women and children. Their actions only left the human race trembling, never will they be able to walk amongst us as equals at the rate they were destroying everything they came in contact with. The empire had already forced the annihilation of Ghouls, to wipe them out. They didn't gain freedom, they only gained their death sentence. Testing for Ghouls has increased, borders have increased security and ghouls were to be killed on discovery. If they did achieve anything, they achieve making it more difficult to blend in.

With that being said, Akira sighed, gathering his study materials and neatly stacking them on the coffee table. Ghouls were animalistic, they had no remorse as they sunk their teeth into defenseless and innocent human beings. They were fighting for no reason, they started a war with no goal other than to destroy the country. Akira stood, stretching his tight muscles from sitting for so long. Making his way into the kitchen, Akira grabbed a glass, filling it with water from the tap. 'If it were up to me, I'd have them all wiped out. Every last one of them.' Leaning against the counter and staring out of the window over the sink, Akira took a steady sip.

"Hope your home soon." He whispered, his father in his thoughts. In the distance an orange hue lit the night sky, the light pollution created by the fires from the neighboring sectors. He couldn't let the current events shake him. Tomorrow morning was the entrance exam into Rose University. He would pass, he always passed. However, he had lost valedictorian last year by a merely one question. Usually he never spent much time in his books, but this was his last year. Akira had graduated high school early at the age of 17. He had perfect grades, and could hardly care for the entrance exam, if he had just come first last year. The only exam he hadn't come on top. He would retake the title as Valedictorian. Akira would have stayed there for a moment in thought, but the words of the reporter on the television pulled Akira's attention back to the shaken man.

Making his way back into the family room, glass held in a tight hold, Akira stared at the television in bewilderment. "Turkonian has made an official retreat out of Rose. In a weeks time, preparation will be made to evacuate the remaining civilians in the country. There has yet to be any closure of schools and offices, but we do recommend to stay in doors if at all possible."

"What...?" Akira said out loud, 'they're retreating? The Turkonian Union is pulling back.' "They're abandoning Rose." Akira walked up to the television, inches away from turning the application off, until they began to broadcast the burning streets of sector 4. Akira watched with wide eyed curiosity. On the screen a women wearing a chipped black mask stumbled through the empty roads, the bridge of the interstate, leading to sector two, in the back ground had collapsed. Fire raged from the under belly of vehicles, smoldering structures filled the streets with smoke. Stopping in her tracks, the woman, no, the ghoul slowly looked over her shoulder towards the camera. Un-focusing and refocusing, the camera picture finally cleared. It became clear, the woman was peering into the camera from the slit of her mask. An unmistakeable red mist seemed to collect around her, just as her iris exploded into a fiery red, the camera screen cracked causing Akira to jump back in surprise.

"We have declared a state of emergency, the rebellious group of ghouls going by the name of Hanran, have halted their movement for the time being to regroup and we can only be sure that sectors 2 and 1 will be the next targets. Roseate has fallen to the Hanran." The reporter continued. Akira switched the television off just as the woman's body began to contort from under the black cloak that covered her body.

"I don't need to hear this. I still have my exams tomorrow." Akira mumbled, his frown slowly turning into a scowl. Even as he tried to blow off the thought of the ghouls, and the rebellious group they had formed, he still couldn't shake the uneasiness settling in his stomach with how close they really were to home. How closely his father was involved in all of this. He wasn't even aware these monster could even form groups or work together. They were purely run by blood lust, yet they moved in articulate formations. Struck on command and moved according to planned attacks.

Akira walked into the bathroom down the hall from the family room, he opened the mirror cabinet and grabbed the bottle of migraine relief pills. Knocking two from the bottle and tossing them in his mouth, followed by a sip of his water. Setting the glass on the counter, Akira closed the cabinet and stared into the mirror. Just for an instant, his eyes flashed red, the same fiery red of those demons. In a blink of an eye it was his usual deep brown, he still couldn't deny the sudden thumping of his heart in his chest. He leaned into the mirror, his palms resting onto the vanity on either sides of the sink. Taking a deep breath, he rose to stand straight. Shaking his head slightly in disbelief.

Akira rubbed at his eyes, before his hands ran down his face in exhaustion, "Its just late." He whispered as he took his leave from the bathroom. Walking back into the family room, he took his satchel from where it lay against the coffee table and placed his note books and pencil inside. He chewed his lip in thought as his eyes fell on a second pencil, smiling faintly, Akira placed the spare pencil in his satchel as well. Then, setting the satchel on the table stand next to the front door, Akira looked at the black screen of the television.

With an eeriness he couldn't quite place a reason behind, Akira made his way back down the hall. Switching the lights off in the house on the way. It was an eeriness that seemed to crawl up the back of his neck, an uncomfortable feeling that made him think something terrible was about to happen. Entering his room and closing the door behind him, Akira pulled his phone from his hoodie pocket before sitting on his bed. He found his fathers number and dialed it.

Pulling his phone to his ear, he listened to it ring. Three times, four, 'please answer', five, voicemail. Akira let a sigh escape as he looked down at the screen and canceled the call before the dial tone to record a message, "Still busy I guess." His voice laced with feigned disappointment. Instead of trying again, Akira texted his father a goodnight and to drive home safe before he laid the phone on the bedside table. "I'm too old to be worrying about a bad feeling. I'm not four anymore." He muttered as he turned the table lamp off and laid in bed to wait for morning.