Prologue: How it all started (1/2)

Planet Earth, Year 2024!

In a certain place in California, US…

A young man was stunned still by the odd behavior of his father.

The young man's name was James Howlin'.

James was an 18-year-old college student hailing from Colorado.

He was anything but ordinary.

Not only was he tall and good-looking, but he also had an athletic body to boot. 

On top of that, he came from a wealthy family.

He had everything other people wished for.

The only thing sad about his life? His mother died giving birth to him, and perhaps it was for this reason that his father developed a deep-seated aversion toward him.

When he was just a newborn, his father left him in the care of his grandparents and went abroad.

James grew up thinking he would never see his father in his life. After all, his father was very much like those dads in viral internet memes who go out to buy milk and never return home.

Luckily for him, he had caring grandparents, who understood him deeply without needing words. 

They loved him wholeheartedly and always wished the best for him. 

He never felt alone nor did he feel the absence of parental affection in their presence.

Six years after he was placed in their care, James' grandparents grew fed up with their son's absenteeism from their grandson's life. 

Thus, they "kindly advised" Leon Howlin' to fulfill his responsibilities as James's father or risk losing his right to the family's substantial fortune, which included properties valued at $15 million and another $7 million in cash. 

The threat worked. 

Leon bent to his parents' will and took the 6-year-old James to live with him in his villa.

James thought he would finally get to bond with his father, but Leo's lifestyle as a digital nomad meant he was seldom home.

No deep-seated bonding took place between them, leaving James pretty much disappointed.

But he didn't have much to complain about. Leon wasn't entirely a neglectful father. He provided for him financially and also hired butlers and nannies to look after him.

James knew he lived a pretty privileged life; he never had to think twice before buying luxury items and even had people who took care of his needs without him needing to say a word. Still, he couldn't help but think Leon fell short as a father, as being a parent meant more than just providing financially.

He wanted to spend time with him, hoping to share his thoughts, hear stories of his travels, and simply connect with him on a personal level. However, Leon always seemed to have no time to spare for him, and even on the rare occasions they were together, their interactions were brief and superficial.

Each time Leon returned from abroad, he would present James with souvenirs—often intricate artifacts or local crafts that hinted at the exotic places he visited. He would then casually inquire about his well-being before excusing himself. Their interactions were just that short and uninteresting.

This time too, when Leon returned, James expected brief and superficial interactions to take place between them which would end with Leon handing him a few gifts and excusing himself. 

However, to his amazement, Leon broke his pattern of twelve years. 

He not only equipped James with all sorts of weapons but also dressed him in defensive equipment such as padded shoulder guards, reinforced elbow patches, reinforced cargo pants with deep pockets that held a few important things, and an advanced tactical military suit, which seemed comparable in design and utility to the gear used by elite military units as it had a vest that featured multiple magazine pouches for easy access to ammunition among other stuff.

Sheaths for daggers were incorporated into James's vest and strategically positioned—one on each side of the waist for swift, ambidextrous access.

He also made him carry a massive backpack.

It was filled with basic necessities of life such as water bottles, wartime food that could last a long time, and so on. 

After dressing James up, Leon looked at him and narrowed his eyes.

As if seeing him armed to the teeth wasn't enough for whatever it was that he was planning, Leon slung an AK-47 over James's shoulder.

Only then did he nod in satisfaction.

'What the fuck,' was James first thought after he was dressed up by his father who he wanted to get close to but not like this!

"Am I being sent off to war?" James asked, his throat feeling rather dry.

Leon shook his head and replied, "Silly boy, you have a powerful background; you will never be sent off to war to fight for someone else's beliefs and ideals." 

James could feel his father's disdain for the elites in his voice, but as for where that disdain came from, he had no idea. 

"Then, these things aren't needed, right? Can I take them off?" 

As he had a lot of things on him and he wasn't used to carrying so much stuff, James felt stuffy as if something heavy was pressing down on him. He wanted to take them off.

"No, you can't," Leon said strictly.

"I have to keep wearing them?"

"Yes!" 

Mouth agape, James asked, "Even when I am doing no.2?" 

Leon looked into his son's eyes with a serious kind of look and replied in a grave tone, "Even when you are doing no.2. You must never take them off until I say so."

James's expression fell. Shitting while carrying all this stuff seemed like a nightmare, and how would he shower without taking them off? 

"Why are you demanding such a ridiculous thing from me?" James asked.

Leon's expression turned grave.

Noticing the change in his father's expression, James felt that things were more serious than they seemed, and he might have greatly underestimated the reason behind his father's odd actions.

"It's going to be a long story. Let's sit down first."

After saying these words, Leon sat James down around his study table and took a seat himself. 

Then, he delved into the mysteries that prompted him to arm his son to the teeth. 

He was armed himself, but his equipment wasn't as pronounced or exaggerated as James's.

"During my most recent visit abroad, as I was sitting in a coffee shop across from New York's Times Square and discussing business with my client, I heard a woman announcing that people all over the world were disappearing. 

"I still remember her announcement clearly as she used a megaphone to make it, leaving an impressionable mark on my mind.

"She claimed that the people who have mysteriously disappeared had been abducted by aliens to participate in a cruel game of survival where the lives of the weak and the powerless are cut short, and only the strong survive.

"Some of the onlookers dismissed it as the ramblings of a fool, while others took out their phones and started to record her, most likely to post it on their social media accounts to gain views and possibly go viral.

"There were also Karens among the onlookers and they reported the poor woman who was desperately pleading to be heard by the crowd to the police.

"Soon, police officers arrived on the scene."

Leon paused to take a breath.

"Then, what happened?" James eagerly asked.

This was the most his father had talked to him in a day, so he felt happy, and he wanted to hear the rest of his story to better understand the predicament that led to him being armed.

"I am getting to that part," Leon said before resuming the story he had been telling James.

"The police officers handcuffed her and took her away but not before announcing that she was an escapee from Bellevue Hospital. They emphasized that she was a dangerous mental patient and that her words were not to be taken seriously.

"The crowd had never believed her. In this world, who could be gullible enough to believe the words of a total stranger who sounds crazy?

"But I couldn't help but sport a seed of belief in her words within me when I saw a familiar face among the police officers who detained her. Upon reflection, I realized he was a prominent figure in my field of work.

"Why he was disguised as a police officer was puzzling, yet it was not entirely out of character for the type of covert operations our work sometimes entailed. I believed at that moment that his appearance in the disguise of a police officer hinted at the possible existence of a covert operation or a controlled scenario meant to manage or manipulate a situation that the public should not be aware of.

"In our profession, dealing with the unusual is more the rule than the exception. We are frequently called upon to manage situations that lie outside the realm of normalcy, involving high stakes and layers of secrecy that could easily be mistaken for the plot of a thriller or sci-fi novel. The fact that he was part of this suggested that there was more at play than a mere public disturbance caused by a supposedly delusional woman. His involvement raised valid questions about the authenticity of the woman's claims in my mind.

"Curiosity led me to investigate the matter properly. I snuck inside the local mental health facility, Bellevue Hospital, under the pretense of a routine inspection. To divert the attention of the staff members and nurses, I triggered the fire alarm, setting it off near the administrative wing. This caused chaos, as the staff scrambled to evacuate and deal with the supposed fire, giving me the chance to access restricted areas.

"While everyone was focused on evacuating and checking the source of the alarm, I secretly went through the list of patients. She was not on the list, confirming my suspicion that there was more to the story than a simple case of public disturbance by a mentally disturbed individual. 

"I continued to investigate her claims both physically and online through forums and the dark web. To my astonishment, I discovered reports and discussions that corroborated the mysterious disappearances she had described. People really had vanished under mysterious circumstances in recent months."

Leon continued, "Hundreds of families have lost someone to this chilling phenomenon. I tried to establish connection with these families through a burner phone, but most didn't reply, and those who did begged me to never contact them again or I would be risking my life along with theirs. Clearly, they were being threatened by someone who held considerable power, and who could it be if not the governing bodies of their lands? I didn't contact them again as I didn't want to get the local authorities on my case, but I didn't give up on my investigation either. When I get curious about something, I have to get to the bottom of it, and I was confident in my skill to remain discreet and hidden from the powers involved.

"I contacted the rest of the affected families I hadn't reached out to before. My efforts didn't bear fruit as none of them agreed to talk to me. 

"While I was investigating about the disappearances, I came across a post on an online forum in which a family was claiming to have seen their son disappearing while they were sitting around the dining table and having dinner. 

"In their post, they mentioned they haven't dared to report this matter to the local police as they were afraid that they either wouldn't be taken seriously or be suspected of murdering their son and reporting it as the work of aliens to fool the law. Besides that, the post was only a few seconds old. 

"It was no wonder they hadn't been forced to stay silent like the others in their shoes. The people from my line of work were yet to take notice of their situation and get the local authorities involved to terrify the family into remaining silent about this issue. 

"Before the situation could change, I contacted them through a fake ID I made up on the spot using a device I sneakily "borrowed" from an unsuspecting passerby.

"Maybe they saw hope in me. They replied to my email immediately and told me everything they had seen happen when their son disappeared as I promised to find their son in return."

"What did you find?" James asked.

Leon replied, "According to them, he disappeared in a flash. They could do nothing to save him. It's like he was kidnapped by aliens. 

"Reading their mail, I couldn't help but recall the words of the crazy woman I saw in New York.

"I believe we are facing a crisis where anyone could be abducted at any time and forced into a situation where they either struggle to survive or die. We too aren't safe from this abduction. There are billions of people on Earth, and we might not be chosen until the end of our natural lifespan, but it is better to be prepared than sorry."

James said, "It still doesn't explain why you want me to stay dressed up like this."

"The family reported that their son vanished along with everything he was wearing and holding at the time," Leon explained. 

A crucial realization dawned on James, and he said, "Now I understand why you are demanding such a thing from me. I need to stay equipped with my armor and weapons. That way, if I'm unfortunate enough to be abducted, I'll have my equipment with me wherever I end up."

"Exactly," Leon affirmed.

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