Chapter 22: The Day It All Changed

A month ago

The helicopter blades whirred to a slow stop as Lisa Hayward and Rick Marshall touched down on the helipad at their station. The setting sun cast long shadows over the city as the dust from the explosion still hung thick in the air. The devastation they had just witnessed—and broadcast live—was incomprehensible.

Lisa sat in the co-pilot’s seat, staring out at the skyline, or rather, the absence of it. Galewood had been wiped off the map. The sheer destruction was still settling into her mind. She was a seasoned reporter, had seen chaos, violence, and disasters before, but nothing like this. Nothing that erased an entire city.

Rick, pale and sweating behind the controls, was silent. His usual easygoing banter had disappeared sometime during the flight back. He seemed rattled, his hands shaking ever so slightly as he pulled off his headset and slumped against the seat.

“We need to go live again, Lisa,” he finally said, voice hoarse. “People need to know more.”

Lisa nodded slowly, but something about it didn’t sit right. The footage they had just aired… the two boys they’d caught on camera… One of them wasn’t normal. They both knew that. The boy with white hair and glowing red eyes—he hadn’t looked like that at first. In the unreleased footage, he’d had black hair and brown eyes. Whatever had happened in the brief time they lost sight of them, it had changed him, and they had witnessed it live.

But now, all Lisa could think about was what they’d seen after. The destruction. The sheer, unfiltered devastation.

She exhaled shakily, pulling off her own headset. “We need to debrief, Rick. Get the facts straight before we go live again.”

He nodded, still looking distracted as he swung open the helicopter door. But as soon as he stepped out, he froze.

Lisa followed his gaze, and her stomach dropped.

They weren’t alone.

On the rooftop, near the edge of the station’s building, a group of men stood. They were dressed in tactical gear, dark uniforms with the faint outline of an insignia she didn’t recognize. The Academy. There were soldiers, armed and tense, but standing behind them were several people who… didn’t look like soldiers.

They were younger, late teens or early twenties, but something about the way they stood, the way they watched her and Rick, felt wrong. Almost predatory. Lisa’s eyes darted to their posture—too still, too quiet for civilians. They were out of place in every way.

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“Who the hell are these people?” Rick muttered, stepping back instinctively.

One of the men in tactical gear took a step forward. He was tall, built like a tank, and his expression was unreadable behind the black visor of his helmet.

“Ms. Hayward. Mr. Marshall,” he greeted them, his voice cold, clipped. “We need you to come with us.”

Lisa exchanged a glance with Rick. This didn’t feel right. “And who exactly are you?” she asked, her tone steady, though she could feel the tightness building in her chest.

The soldier didn’t answer, but the insignia on his shoulder patch caught her eye. It was some kind of emblem, but she couldn’t place it—official, but not something she had seen in any typical government agency.

She felt the pressure building in her gut. These people weren’t local authorities, that much was clear. And that meant they weren’t here to help.

One of the younger figures behind the soldiers stepped forward, and Lisa felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. He couldn’t have been older than twenty, but the way he looked at them, with piercing, unblinking eyes, made her shiver.

“We saw what you broadcasted,” the young man said, his voice eerily calm. “We know what you’ve done.”

Lisa stiffened. Rick turned, his expression one of disbelief and confusion. “What… what do you mean? Who are you?”

The young man didn’t respond, but there was a flash of something behind his eyes—something sharp, something dangerous. Lisa could feel the tension between the soldiers and whoever these kids were.

“You’re going to come with us,” the young man said again, this time more firmly. “No one else needs to get involved. You don’t want that.”

A chill crawled up Lisa’s spine. Her instincts screamed at her that this wasn’t just a matter of an interview or a government debrief. They wanted something from her—something more than just her report. She exchanged a quick glance with Rick. His face was pale, his hand instinctively reaching toward his camera bag.

The soldiers shifted, a quiet signal passing between them. They were getting ready for something. A move.

Lisa’s eyes darted to the door that led into the station. If they could just get inside, reach the rest of the crew, maybe they could make sense of this—find out who these people were and why they were here. But the soldiers seemed to read her thoughts, because the moment she looked at the door, one of them stepped forward, blocking the way.

“You can’t go back inside,” the leader said, his voice low and final.

Lisa swallowed hard, her pulse racing. “Why? What is this?”

The man in tactical gear stepped closer, towering over them now. His voice dropped to a menacing whisper. “You’re not in control of the situation anymore, Ms. Hayward. The only thing you need to do is cooperate.”

Rick took a step back, his camera bag slung over his shoulder, his eyes darting between the soldiers and the strange young man standing behind them. “Lisa,” he muttered, his voice barely a whisper. “What do we do?”

The pressure in her chest grew, but Lisa’s mind worked quickly, analyzing the situation. These people weren’t playing by the usual rules. Whatever was going on, it was bigger than them, bigger than a news crew reporting on a disaster. The Academy—if that’s who these people were—had no intention of letting them walk away from this.

She glanced at Rick, catching his eye. There wasn’t much time. They could run, try to escape, or they could…

Before she could finish the thought, the leader of the group nodded to one of the young men behind him.

The air shifted. A pressure built around them, and suddenly Lisa felt the strange sensation of something unseen pulling at her, tightening in her chest. She gasped, stumbling back, grabbing Rick’s arm for support.

“What the hell—” Rick started, but his words were cut off as the air seemed to close in around them.

The young man stepped forward, his eyes fixed on Lisa. There was no doubt in her mind now—he wasn’t normal. His presence filled the air with a tangible weight, something pressing down on them both, making it impossible to move.

“You’re coming with us,” he repeated, voice quiet but with an undercurrent of power. “One way or another.”

Lisa could feel her pulse hammering in her throat, her mind racing, but she couldn’t speak, couldn’t move. All she could do was look into the young man’s eyes as the world around her seemed to fade into a dull haze.

The soldiers closed in.