Children of Zion

They simply appeared in the sky just as the twilight bestowed upon the earth its warm glow, what should have been a beautiful evening turned out to be the most bizarre event in history as we know it.

Instead of an amber serenity, the sprawling haze emanating from the ever so strange crafts had cast a deep purple hue over the sky. Awed spectators abandoned their mundane activities as they were disturbed by the rather unexpected appearance of the sky. As sudden as the crafts appeared they simply vanished into thin air taking along with them the terrifying but yet the alluring firmament. No one was prepared, it happened without warning. First people started missing at alarmingly high rates and the next morning people woke up to bloodied streets. All along the cobbled London streets were torn apart pieces of flesh. It was the same all over the world. Many believed the aliens were shape shifters who morphed into anything and anyone. The horror this fateful morning recklessly displayed had to be a warning. They were among us and no one could see them except they wanted to be seen.

Petrified, the Government announced martial law, curfew was enforced thanks to the military that swooped the streets past 6pm. Life became a strict unilateral activity of work, school, essential shopping and home. Nothing else in between and no one argued. Tales of demon like creatures that were afraid of the sunlight flooded the news. Eye witness accounts of strange beings that hovered over the ground with beaming amber eyes and no form or structure at all but a silhouette that appears to be like fluttering shadows and shrieks that pierced your soul. The government’s response? Compulsory human tags. Each human was to be chipped and given a serial number. All the information sent to a central computer system with its location remaining highly classified. They thought they could at least keep track of the missing and hopefully track anyone who was unfortunate enough to be captured by humanity’s new enemy. In a bizarre turn of events even the military were pulled off the street and replaced by drones that circled every frame of the city, country and everything else in between. The idea was to record as much footage of the Rifters and learn what they could in the hopes of fighting their unseen enemy.

Gilly hurried through the woods screaming out to his dog Frankie. It was almost curfew and he was yet to find his Labrador. He knew it was insanity to be out after curfew but he had to find his loyal dog. He shook in fright as the sirens sounded and he panicked as he bellowed out a soft whistle for Frankie one more time. This time he heard what sounded like a loud shriek and he stood still clamping up from the fear of the unknown.

She hated the sounds of the siren. No matter how normal your day seemed the eerie sound of the siren would jolt her back to the reality she lived in. No one was actually free. The Rifters were never seen during the day. Something about the sunlight scared them off. It wasn’t until it was pitch black that these vile creatures that had now invaded the earth would roam about. The night filled with high pitched terrifying squeals and silent whispers were said to be so diabolical they could send a man mad if you listened for too long. Dahlia knew something was wrong as she paced the front steps of the orphanage in deep anticipation of Gilly’s return. It had been too long and if only he had listened to her when she told him to wait till the next day before going in search of the children’s pet dog Frankie. Now she could get into serious trouble if she was found outside the orphanage. It was time for roll call and she would be missing. She was terrified. This wasn’t any ordinary orphanage. In fact, most of the children here still had families. But with the new world came new rules that tore families apart. It must have been just a few months ago that some children started showing signs of strange powers. From super strength to abilities that controlled electricity, fire, water, even torrential winds. These children out of nowhere starred to manifest abilities they hadn’t been born with.

Out of fear the government formed a special task unit called the Eye to recruit agents who had one mission. Locate all children that had developed powers and bring them into designated government facilities to be monitored and controlled. They were called the Children of Zion. People believed that God sent angels to the earth to bestow strange abilities to children who would fight the aliens and free the earth if the filthy entities. The world deemed the Children of Zion as humanity’s only hope. Officials told families it was for society’s safety as they ramped up as many children as they could find but that was far from the truth. Their lack of freedom conveniently omitted sending parents into fear for their children who showed abilities but the downfall was the fact that everyone in this was chipped. Somehow the chip could send frequencies to its mainframe which monitored body signs. Each time a child manifested abilities their vitals spiked exponentially and they were picked up. As heart wrenching as it was no one could do anything about it if you resisted the entire family was executed as a result of being in breach of government policy.

This was how Dahlia wound up at this facility. She could hear voices and could tell what one was thinking even without talking. Feeling lost as it beckoned on her that she might never see her best friend Gilly again she turned to hurry back and then she suddenly heard a faint cry. Her ability to hear voices must have heightened because she was now sure it was Gilly she could hear. He shrieked loudly and without thinking twice she sprung off running into the woods following his voice. She ran as fast as her feet could carry her. Gilly’s terrified voice got louder and she called out to him I’m coming keep shouting so I know where you are. She ran like she never had. Suddenly it stopped. She couldn’t hear him any longer. She shouted but he didn’t answer. Drones flew above her as she wished she could burn them out of the sky. The government had turned what used to be a children’s channel to a 24-hour footage channel called the night watch as a scare tactic to keep citizens in line. The drones would feed most of the live footage they recorded to this channel. Many would gather round their televisions at night to see who was stupid enough to be out after dark. For the viewers it was pure fright, curiosity and sheer boredom until it was your own loved one getting flayed by these vile creatures. For the government it was also pure espionage to loin the Rifters looked like with the intent of figuring out their strengths and weakness.

She didn’t care that she was most likely about to become tonight’s entertainment across the world. Helping her only friend was all she thought about. Feeling defeated tears flowed down her bruised cheeks. She had been brushed by sharp branches and just realized that her face and arms were bleeding. Suddenly it felt like the air stood still with wispy cold breeze seeping through the tall trees as she heard multitudes of faint whispers. She turned around sharply but saw nothing. Who’s there? She asked but the silence kissed her fears instead. As the whispers got louder, she realizes it’s a strange language more like chanting. She spins around but sees no one.

Suddenly she feels something touch her forehead. She places her finger on her head and wipes off a smear of blood. Alarmed she slowly looks up trembling. There knotted within the tall branches of a tree was her dear friend Gilly. She gasped for air as her body cringed in horror and fright. Gilly! she faintly cried. But his cold eyes just starred right back at her. His lips moved as he whispered run! she watched as he took his last breath yet with a smile comforted by seeing her bright green eyes for the last time. His palm loosened its grasp to reveal a blood-stained heart shaped locket that fell to the floor right in front of Dahlia. No! She cried hopelessly yet she knew she was in danger.

The drones now in their dozens circled around her. Viewers in their homes all the world tuned in to the night watch channel to watch this silly child who was now stuck in the depth of the woods with no help in sight. Some even placed bets that she would be killed within minutes while others hoped the elusive enemy wouldn’t see her. If you ever saw a Rifter you never lived to tell what it looked like. The drones never seemed to be able to capture a decent image. All that could be seen was a fleeting shadowy figure. Nothing more. The shrieking became absolutely deafening and Dahlia started to feel unwillingly frozen in fear and her daunting slim frame hunched in despair as she could hear voices in their multitudes surround her. The voices became so loud and disturbing that they started to sound like terrified children. Some viewers threw up out of a mix between disgust and terror from hearing the screams of children through their screens. She tried to move but couldn’t as she became overcome by a strange chill that coursed through her veins. She began to feel the life leave her as she looked through the mist that had now surrounded her and suddenly, she could see the Rifters. Must have been about hundreds that surrounded her. She could barely react as they circled her, each taking their turn in sucking the breath out of her. It seemed like they withdrew the life out of her without even touching her.

She fell to her knees in surrender knowing she was about to die. Her finger felt something hard on the floor as she noticed it was the heart shaped locket. Her life flashed before her yet the memory that stuck out the most was the moment, she gave Gilly her mothers locket after he saved her from the depression she fell into weeks after she arrived at the facility. He was the only one that gave her hope to get up each day and dare to hope that someday things would be back to normal and she would see her mother again. She saw her mother’s face and remembered her warm hands. It was at that moment that fury filled her bones and her tears turned to rage. She tried to speak but the words failed her in between her pain and fury.

All that came out was a scream! A loud deafening scream even worse than the shrieking of the Rifters. Her scream became so haunting the earth beneath her palms to quake violently, the trees shook and the wind suddenly turned malevolent and in the blink of an eye lightning struck her but quite bizarrely the lightning coursed through her veins and onto the ground travelling the earth. Eruptions of light sprung through the earth and set each rifter ablaze all at once. No one could believe what they had just seen. Viewers at home stood still in shock. National security agents picked up their phones to discuss the reality of what they had just seen.

The world stood still!

Dahlia looking up drained of strength as the lightning disappeared. At that moment in time, she knew in her heart her life was about to change. The question was how.