Prologue: An Echo

Short Chapter

A vicious wind ripped through the empty city, bending the naked trees in the parks and slamming into the war torn skyscrapers with breathtaking force. These skyscrapers had once glittered, even popped, with life, but now, where there were once windows that gleamed in the sunlight, there were only dark, sad holes. Like life in this once bustling mecca, the windows had been shattered, leaving only a faint echo of what once was. Life had stopped here, but that's because there was no one left. Save for two very lost, very angry men.

Malcolm McCullum crouched low, signaling for his companion, to follow suit. His large arms stood out in stark contrast to his lean, wiry torso, suggesting that he'd once been a formidably sized man before this happened. He sported tangled blond hair and electric blue eyes, two attributes that had drawn many women to him over the years.

Two crimson jets shot through the sky towards the city, presumably combing the lifeless landscape for survivors to kill. Malcolm cast a shadow over his eyes with a meaty hand, peering up at the airborne predators as they circled the skies above the city. After a moment, he found what he needed to find. Two words crudely painted in black across the sides of each plane.

Order or Death. The words had been burned into his brain ever since that fateful day three years ago, when people turned dark and killed their brothers in a brutal coup d'tat orchestrated by traitors hiding amongst actual government officials. It forced him to question everything he'd sacrificed, every risk he'd taken. He tightened his grip on his gun, hot anger boiling up inside him.

“Nate!” he barked to his companion, who scrambled up from his sitting position on the sidewalk and threw up a hand in a hasty salute. Beads of sweat slid down his sunburned face and dripped from his bandaged chin.

“Time to move,” he said, turning away from Nate. “And put that damn thing down. I'm not your commanding officer.”

“Yes sir!” Nate said, scooping up his backpack from the scorched pavement and scurrying after him.

Malcolm rolled his eyes, adjusting the strap of his own backpack as they made their way through an abandoned outdoor mall.

“Where are we headed?” Nate asked, panting heavily as he fought to keep up. Malcolm glanced over his shoulder, a small smile touching his lips as he watched his wild-haired friend lumbering along behind him.

“We're paying the b******s who did this a visit.”

Reviews

[D.L. Coleman]

Good writing. Maybe delete a couple of the modifiers. After a piece of dialog, it's better to end the sentence with a period, then start a new sentence for further action or description. Ex: the sentence toward the end that starts with "Nate!" he barked..." Start a sentence with "He." Otherwise, the reader might give out of breath trying to keep up.

[Hayden M.]

Thank you so much! I'll fix that!

[D.L. Coleman]

Good You're welcome.