*Knock knock knock*

Drenched in sweat, Hyde reactively did a barrel roll to his right. Still half-asleep, he fell from his twin-sized bed. The already awake part of his brain registered his mistake, but it was a half-second too late for him to stop his already falling body. Gravity rewarded his error with a faceplant onto the wooden floor. The sudden jolt of pain made for a rude awakening, as the rest of his brain was fully alive and alert now.

*Diiiiiiiiing Dong*

Finally realizing why he was woken up in the first place, Hyde pushed himself up from the floor, using his bed for support. Groaning, he quickly cursed at whoever was ringing his doorbell, as he made his way out of his room and towards his front door.

"I'm coming, keep your damn pants on!" he shouted at the door, as if whoever was outside could hear him. But he didn't care, he just felt the need to shout something.

As he walked down the hallway and approached the entrance, he stole a glance at the clock on the wall. It was 7 a.m. Looking back on his old job, he was reminded of his habit to wake up right at 4 a.m. His body had naturally grown accustomed to this, but he quickly dropped the habit only after a few short months out of the service. Slightly admiring the human body's ability to adapt, he toyed with the idea of getting back into the habit. After all, "The early bird gets the worm" wasn't so widely known for nothing, and he couldn't deny that after becoming a civilian, he had started to become a little too complacent for his tastes.

Hyde's mind returned to the task at hand, though. Those thoughts could be resolved later. For now, he wanted to know who in their right mind was knocking on his door at 7 in the morning on a Saturday. When he reached the door he stole a glance out the peep hole before unlocking the door. Hyde was a cautious man. You had to be if you wanted to survive, in his old line of work, and after years of service and several deployments, he held no delusions of safety. His apartment and vehicle were stocked with what he needed for self-defense and emergencies: weapons, first-aid kits, emergency contact numbers, you name it, he had it. Modern society would normally find such measures "paranoid", or potentially signs of a "dangerous person." These just might have been true, but Hyde took no risks. He valued his life, and would defend it. It was as simple as that.

Through the peep hole, Hyde observed a delivery man holding a medium sized box and clipboard.

"I didn't order anything! The mailroom is downstairs, at the end of the hall!" Hyde informed the man, thinking he perhaps had the wrong address.

"Mr. Hyde Settles? I was instructed to deliver this package directly to the man himself."

Weird. There was a sign near the front entrance to the apartments that gave clear instructions to the mailroom. Aside from not leaving when he was corrected, why was this man so intent on giving the package directly to him? Checking to make sure his .12 gauge was still within arms reach, neatly concealed among the coat hanger in the corner behind his door with umbrellas and several tops, he unlocked all but the iron chain connected from the doorframe to his door.

"Who's it from?" Hyde asked after opening the door just enough so the delivery man could barely see Hyde's face and silhouette, but Hyde could observe the man completely.

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"Ah, lemme see... A Mr. Cris O'Neal? The package was sent in with a request that it be delivered in person or not at all. I apologize, we don't normally inconvenience our customers like this, but it seems this is an exception."

The man gave Hyde a calming smile to assure Hyde of his sincerity. Hyde had come across plenty of strangers, and his tendency to observe people and their interactions led to him being confident of his judge of characters. And something about this guy made him second guess his reassuring smile. But he reminded himself that he was a civilian now, and had to at least attempt to trust people, if not at least give them the benefit of the doubt. This is his home country, not everyone is out to get him.

After eyeing the man one last time, he closed the door, undid the chain, and opened the door, this time just enough to let the man fully see him. The man ignored Hyde's unkempt appearance, with bed-hair, stubble growing in around his face from not yet shaving, and Hyde's absence of shirt, with only his sweat pants on. Most people would be uncomfortable with this, but Hyde was sure the delivery man had grown accustomed to being greeted by many strange people and their quirks.

Hyde motioned for the package, noticing the delivery man's nametag "Jason", while he did so. After setting the package down behind the door and out of the way, Hyde turned around and signed his signature on the paper presented to him on a clipboard.

"Thank you, Jason." Hyde halfheartedly said, somewhat unconsciously emphasizing to the man that he now knew his name.

"Ah, this is actually a co-workers uniform haha. But you're welcome, have a nice day, Mr. Hyde." Jason replied.

Slightly uncomfortable with the way "Jason" addressed him by name, Hyde just gave him a sour, fake smile as he watched the man retreat back down the hallway. After confirming the man's exit down the stairwell door, Hyde double-checked the hallway before closing and securing his front door. He turned around to look at the package that he had just received. Cris had, in fact, told him to expect a package, but he wasn't expecting it to arrive so early.

Hyde picked up the package, which felt to be a little more than 10 lbs, and set it on his kitchen counter. While he was more than a little curious as to what Cris' "gift" was, he had just woken up, and needed to get started on his day. It was also probably more of his anxiety about the gift, than anything, that made him put it off for later. He decided to go about his normal routine to begin his day, before sitting down to discover whatever it was that Cris was so hellbent on giving him.

Hello again! As my FF was just approved, I am trying to crank out the "Prologue" as fast as i can! It shouldn't be too long, but it might be at the MOST 24 hrs before the next chapter(s), as I have to go to work at 0400 and it's already 0015 where I am. A big heartfelt thanks to all you who have read so far! The pace will start out slow and drawn out while i introduce Hyde and his introduction to the fantastical world of VR, so please bare with me. As it progresses, I promise it will pick up. That being said, look forward to a verbal illustration of Hyde as well as his reaction to discovering what Cris sent him, in the next chapter!