World-2600 A.D.

The calling of the almighty king ringing my ears.

Oh, what troublesome news to hear

The robots gather chaos to this land of mankind.

Rhythms of distortion distract the mind.

Blood of the innocence exposed to the air

This moment, everything but an affair

We must give them a sign from the heavens above

The elements will be gathered to belove

My sister, guide the heroes to their way.

Help bring this world to peace at this day.

"Very well, brother."

Robert sat, hunched forward and still. His eyes were empty. Glaze and shock ran over his features as he stared at the ground. Around him scores of others were frozen the same way, trying to comprehend how their universe suddenly changed. There were few that had finally managed the freedom of understanding. Yet even they were uncertain of how to move on. Thousands cowered in the grand train station, sheltering from the storm outside. This was where Robert's thoughts processed. Holiday in the British isles, meant to be a treat for him and his younger sister. Instead, four days into the journey, something happened. The first thing he knew was the screams and shouts. Then the surge of people stampeding through hundreds of unaware and confused pedestrians. Cattle-like humans, an indomitable force, crushed him. The press of people, contact and noise overwhelmed his senses. Nothing was solid and certain except the screams of his little sister and her dainty hand gripping his. It took a moment for him to gather himself. The crowd shoved him in their path and he began to push back, against the flow. Still clinging to Johanna's hand he searched for their parents in the chaos. That was when saw the terror that had gripped so many. Among the pristine low-rise structures dark, smoke billowing shapes stood. Towering humanoid shapes of metal and machinery. The sights froze him, the great ponderous strides filled him with fear. He turned and joined the crowd, walking with a steady purpose. He wasn't about to join the chaos and run, not when he had his sister to care for.

That had been over a day ago, a day since the military began their defensive operations. A day since London began to be evacuated to mainland Europe. Trains shuttled back and forth, flights redirected to the cause. Robert and Johanna had hunkered within the train station, waiting for the crowd to disperse and train to return them to Holland. Sleep was hard to come by with the almost constant explosions of combat outside. Yet both Robert and his sister had gotten a few hours of shut eye each. Now she still slept and he was awake, unable to close his eyes for worry. Their parents had not contacted them, not by phone at least. Robert didn't want to believe that he wasn't going to see them. He didn't want to think about the chance they were victims of the robots. He clung to the hope they'll meet again, his parents knew he was responsible. They would be heading home to Amsterdam and he would be expected to take Johanna there too. There was a subterranean train that would whisk them to the capital in little under an hour. It had only arrived once and Robert had been too far back in the mass that he didn't get on before it was full. That was roughly two hours ago.

He looked up from his patch of tiles, finally cognitive again. Johanna lay on the cold metal bench beside him, asleep and peaceful. She was an island of serenity and a now chaotic world. Thinking on that Robert looked about, people sat about conversing in hushed, fearful tones. That noise had been constant since the dutch boy arrived, yet the sound of explosives and small arms had quietened. The lack of ambiance set Robert on edge, something wasn't quite right.

New York City: Hopeless

“Fuck…” That was all Michael could get out as sat against the wall of an empty subway station that was stained with death. His clothes were sickly covered with blood as well as the left side of his face. As much as he wanted to stop his heavy breathing he couldn’t as he stared at the stairway leading up to the second level of the station. There were lifeless bodies piled up upon each other on the steps. The young man was struck with both fear and anxiety. Was someone coming for him? Or was he waiting on something to happen? He wasn’t clearly sure. It was mostly due to the fact that he kept thinking back to the horror that had just happened a few hours ago.

“Crush a bit! Little bit! Roll it up! Take a hit! Feelin’ lit, feelin’ light, 2 a.m. summer nights! I don’t care, hands on the wheel, I’m drivin’ drunk I’m doin’ my… Shit!” Michael exclaimed as a car whizzed past him in the middle of his sing along to one of his favorite KiD CuDi songs. He had his black Skullcandy low rider headphones on his head, enjoying his music publicly as he walked home from school. Trying to follow in his mother’s footsteps in business was difficult, but he found his own small shortcuts to get through the challenges quickly. He’d really have to keep himself from being too careless though if he wanted to make a big impact in the corporate world.

Reorienting himself from the close encounter with the vehicle, Michael actually took the time to look both ways before crossing the street. While catching sight of a few vehicles speeding down the road, Michael back up onto the sidewalk. He figured he’d just wait for these cars to go by or for the light to change for him to properly cross the street. He hated waiting and decided to go back singing along with his music.

“I’m on the pursuit of happiness and I know everything that shines ain’t always gonna be gold. Yeah, I’ll fine once I get it, I’ll be goooood….” Michael sang softly to himself before the several cars whizzed by. It seemed like everyone was just speeding today. When the light changed, Michael smirked at his opportunity to finally walk across. There were cars coming, but he knew they’d have to wait for him like he had for the previous cars that stalled him crossing. Strangely though, as Michael made his way across, the cars made no effort to slow down. Michael quickly wacked his headphones off his head so they could fall down to rest on his neck as his eyes shot wide open. Other people hadn’t been as eager to cross, so all they had to do was back away. The several cars honked at Michael before slimly swerving around and past his body that was basically in the middle of the street. The young man’s heart raced in that moment, afraid to be taken out so suddenly. The wind coming off the cars blew across his royal blue shirt and jeans. Once cars were past him, Michael’s shock soon turned to anger. “What the fuck!? The light’s still red!” Michael shouted before hearing a crashing sound from the same direction from which the cars came from. He stood in the middle of the street for a second trying to figure what he was hearing. His music buzzed through his headphones, only hinting at what was playing.

With a simple sigh, Michael across the street and was about ready to put his headphones back on to enjoy his music and the rest of his walk home, until he heard not just one scream, but many. People in the vicinity looked in the direction of where the large crash came from before hearing a loud alarm across the city. Michael hadn’t heard this sound before, only in movies. The sound never meant anything good. He didn’t move though. Not even when a military aerial vehicle flew directly over him. Then Michael saw it.

Coming into view, were what Michael could only identify as robots coming down the street. They were shooting at the aerial vehicle relentlessly. The vehicle fired back, but had to strafe from their fire. Unfortunately, that gave these robots the opportunity to turn their guns on the street. In that very moment, Michael turned around, and did what he did best. Michael ran as fast as he could, moving past people with ease. There was no way he’d stop for anything. He was grateful that being on the track team was saving his life right now. Michael slowed down when he saw an explosion take place ahead of him.

“Shit…” Michael turned right, trying to get away before spotting a subway station where many others were trying to get into. It was too flooded though. “Next stop.” Michael said to himself before sprinting past the entrance and running completely astray of the masses of people trying to save themselves. As panicked as Michael was, he tried his best to keep his breathing controlled. He cursed internally with every several strides as he noticed the decrease of people around him. Soon there was no one around him, not a soul. He could hear the screams of people blocks away from where he was. He questioned if the lack of people meant the place was safe, but shook the thought away. With a grunt he continued to run until he found another entrance to a subway. To his horror, there were bodies upon bodies along the steps leading down. The place had been compromised. With look of sheer disgust, Michael found himself hesitant to go down. Hearing a few shots blocks away pushed him to step over the bodies and down the steps. He couldn’t even count the dead bodies he had stepped on or take notice to the amount of blood on the ground. He was literally stepping in countless puddles of blood, staining his white and blue sneakers. He shut his eyes and tried to ignore what he was stepping in, but that only caused him to stumble before slipping and falling right onto the death covered ground. Michael groaned in disgust before looking straight into the eyes of a dead woman. Getting up ferociously, Michael ran on top of the bodies, no longer caring. He went through the gated emergency door to get to the lower level of the station. Michael had done this a few times with his cousins in order to get on the train without paying the fare. He didn’t know where he was going or where he’d end up.

That was what happened before he ended up now; on the floor of the lower level of the station. He was contemplating running through the train tunnels, to get home, but what would he do afterwards? His iPod had stopped playing, due to him being tired of it and stopping the music. His phone had no signal in the confines of the underground station, so there was no way to call his mother or anyone. He felt nearly hopeless, and thought he’d just end up dead sooner or later. Then he heard the quick sound of beating wings echo through the station.

Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

The city of Tokyo, Japan is always active from day to night. Trains filled with citizens needing to perform errands, or just go out and about to local restaurants and shops. The only difference was that the pop culture audience was still located in their schools, as class hadn't ended yet.

A cutting-edge schoolgirl with lengthy black hair relaxed on her desk, legs crossed to flaunt them. She let her leg swing slightly in case it got a little too comfortable and decided to doze off. She was in instant boredom once the class even began. Months in this classroom will do that to a student. Decorating her notebook was what she usually did in moments like this, since she wasn't allowed to pull out her music player.

Mathematics, the subject that she despised. She only wanted to know the basics and call it a day. At how long the class is, she could get out of school becoming the Japanese female equivalent to Albert Einstein.

Summer was along the way, and impatience was growing amongst the students. The summertime was the time where they could do anything they wanted: go out to eat, swim in the pool, and in the schoolgirl's case, raving in nightclubs. Even though she was underage, she knew how to sneak herself into one. Besides, with her blossomed physique, she could gull anyone to believing she was of the legal age.

A male student, sitting at a desk next to her, crept to her ear, whispering small bites of vulgar provocation. His disoriented hairstyle proved for him to be somewhat unique from the crowd, but she knew this boy. She knew that he only wanted to fit in with the wrong crowd, and was having a bad time showing it.

“Fujiko-san, kono ato de nani suru no? Fera shitekureru? “

“Honto?” (Really?)

The alpha teen simply nodded with a wicked grinch grin.

“Sate, anata-ha makoto-ni desu itaka.”, Fujiko stated as she leaned up to him with fake satisfaction in her eyes. She began to variate her communication skills by speaking English, even though she still had an obvious accent. “I may like boys with confidence, but...there is a difference between that and desperation, Kusot-tare. Besides, at how scrawny you look, I would crumble you and throw you away.”

“Jiguko e ike kono ama”, the vulgar student whispered.

“Ah-ah, watch what you say.”, Fujiko interrupted with darting charcoal eyes, having an even tighter grip of her pencil than before,“You will regret it.”

The delinquent remained hot-headed, yet quiet, after Fujiko's threatening words, even though he thought that the moment wasn't over. He would wait another time. Anything to get this woman to become submissive, instead of dominant.

Fujiko loosened the clutch of her pencil, before going back to her usual routine; listening to the teacher, until words began to mumble in her head to the point that she didn't feel like learning anything. This boring day, however, was beginning to change at this very second.

“Dare mo ga, sugu ni, taiikukan ni o susumi kudasai. Kore ha kunren de ha nai .”

Fujiko, as well as everyone else in the class, felt curious of the principal's alarm through the intercom. It wasn't until more loud explosions and screams caught everyone's ears, quickly shifting to the source; outside of the school building, far in the cityscapes. The students of Shinjuku Yamabuki High School rushed to the classroom windows, including those from across the hall. What seemed like a busy yet clear morning, later darkened by a large cloud of disaster. An alarm rang thunderous enough for the country to hear.

“Barikēdo o akutibu ni!”, a voice yelled out from the front of the school campus. One of the faculty rushed towards the campus gate, activating some sort of device, while others directed students back inside of the building, rationally as possible.

The teacher in Fujiko's classroom directed everyone to the gymnasium. Students began to panic, weeping tears as if this was a nightmare coming to reality. Some students even fell to the floor, increasing their chances of being trampled on by others. Everyone was unaware of this disaster even occuring, and was even more anxious about how they would survive.

Fujiko was no different. She began to express mixed emotions in her head. One of them was annoyance of still being in this school. She was also afraid that she would have to remain in the school until some miracle happened, and the city would be saved.

Los Angles, Califorina, America

Los Angles, a city of fashion, plastic faces, and drama. It was even considered the city of wonders and dreams to some.

But to Diane, it was no more than a hellhole. She sat on the balcony, strumming her guitar boredly. School was already out, and her shift at the record store wouldn't start for another hour, so naturally she was bored out of her mind. She hit a chord twice, swaying with her music. She was trying to make a song for her boyfriends birthday, and this was her way of getting inspiration.

"D.A! Turn that ruckus down! Are you trying to make me go deaf?!" a shrill voice sounded from downstairs. A voice with the power to give Diane instant migraines, the nagging voice of her mother, Josie. She decided to respond with another deafening chord, and she smirked as she heard her mother groan in annoyance. Some people just couldn't appreciate music it seems. She hung her legs over the edge and looked down at the bustling city. She took a breath of air, polluted by smoke and toxins. She coughed slightly, before shaking her head, okay, stupid idea. I forgot how dirty this air is. Funny, we can design revolutionary machines, yet we can't remove this shitty air. I should invent some kind of really awesome air filter she amused herself with the thought and design of said machine for a moment, before something drew her attention.

It was a sound, not loud, but kind of echoing like a scream. It was apparent that the screaming was coming from a woman, but D.A was too far away to judge where it came from. Suddenly, more screams followed, and the sounds that accompany panic followed, the footsteps of those running away, children crying for their parents, and adults and teens screaming shrilly at some danger that was unseen to Diane. She leaned forward, gripping the safety bar with one hand to make sure she didn't tumble over.

"What's going on?" she muttered, seeing a store, no less than 4 blocks away from her condo blow up into a firery inferno, followed by more screams. She still couldn't see anything, the thing that was causing this destruction and panic. Suddenly, she heard a scream that took the place of all the others. The scream of that nagging voice that was scolding her a moment ago.

Diane quickly jumped over the banister back to her room, her guitar strapped to her back, "Mom! Mom!" Diane flew down the stairs and stopped in her tracks, a scream caught in her throat. Some collosus of metal, a... robot. The kind you'd expect in a science fiction comic was standing there, it's silver metal stained red with blood. And her mothers body...

She let out a sound, she wasn't really sure what it was, because it was meant to be a scream, but it got caught in her throat and became more of a gurgled, animalistic moan.

"Oh, oh god" she whispered, stumbling to her knees. She heard a mechanical beep, and her heart nearly stopped. Something kicked in, pushing adrenaline into her veins, and even though she wanted to stay on the ground and bawl her eyes out, she just couldn't, not yet. She ducked to avoid something, she wasn't even sure what it was, and she ran, just ran out the front door, praying that the mechanical beast wasn't following her.

She wasn't sure how much time passed before she finally stopped, crumpling to her knees in a dark alley. It was still daylight, the sun shining brightly in the sky, as if nothing was wrong. Those robot things were in the skys too, but she didn't even care for the moment, they proabaly wouldn't notice her immedeaitly. She took a breath, before beginning to cry her eyes out. How could this day have changed so drastically in less than 30 seconds?