I heard their screams as they were cut short, the gurgling before death came wrapped in dark velvet night, darker than the eyes of my parent's killer. My sister and I glanced at each other before a loud thump near our room sent us scrambling to each other.

I could see she was terrified and so was I, when I heard footsteps staggering down the hall I shoved her under the bed. I made her promise not to look or come out, death was in my house that night and she was too young to see it.

The door creaked open and a man I barely recognized fell in, he crawled to me and all I could do was stare. His nose had been broken, bruises formed across his face and the blood; the blood was everywhere. I dropped my baseball bat and ran to him, dropping to my knees for my father.

My hands hovered over him, I didn't know what to do or how I could help but before I could ask he grabbed my shirt front and pulled me down to him.

"There's a ..." His choking silenced him, he clutched tighter to my shirt front painting it in red. He dragged in a breath and looked into my eyes again.

"There is... a ...cure." His voice died in a whisper and I felt something deep down shatter.

The door creamed open and a black pillar stepped in, It took me a minute to realise it was a tall man dressed in black. He held a hand gun loosely in his left hand and on his face was splatters of dark blood and a sadistic smile that curled at his mouth.

"Your father never could keep his mouth shut, always had something to say and someone to save."

His voice was deep and even, a beautiful voice for a beastly man.

"There's a cure?" The question seemed to stumble out of my mouth before I could help it and that smile gleaned like razors ready to slice.

"You wouldn't understand and besides it wouldn't be much use to you, you'll be dead in a few seconds, as will your sister." He pointed the gun down at my face and mumbled something about this being easier than he thought. I closed my eyes and waited for death, but it never came.

I heard a commotion and opened my eyes to see my older brother Gavin wrestling with the man. The gun skidded but I was paralyzed, a problem my sister didn't seem to have as she slid out from under the bed and clutched the gun.

In the world before the experiments a ten year old girl would have never been aloud to have a gun, but this isn't that world anymore and everyone has to protect their own and that's what she was doing.

She aimed and shot. The bullet sailed in what felt like silent slow motion at the tangled, fighting men and when the bullet hit a target both men fell. Gavin had gotten in the line of fire and he wasn't moving.

My paralysis seems to evaporate as I sped to my brother and the man in black who was also unmoving. Now crying harder than before I rolled Gavin over and gagged, the bullet had taken off a chunk of his lower jaw.

"Gavin!" He was barely breathing and I could see upon closer expectation that the man in black had been knocked out cold by either my brother or the bullet I didn't know.

"Gavin ... I-"

"Run!" He cut me off in a gurgling voice.

"Now." He hissed and then he, like my father died in my arms and that was that. Except this time the murderer was my sister. I turned to her and wanted to scream and yell and leave her to die but when I saw her face I knew I could never do that because whatever I could do would be nothing in comparison to the guilt and hate she'd have for herself for the rest of her life.

"Lets go." I said and that thing deep inside me that I thought had shattered dissolved and a wall of steal replaced it.

After that we ran and I never looked back. I've still never looked back and its been six years.

....Present ....

My name is Theodore Silva, but that doesn't matter.

I'm eighteen years old, it doesn't matter.

I live in an apocalyptic world of nightmares, I survive.

I have a sister named Elena, I WILL protect her at all costs.

Revenge is a funny thing when you think about it, it doesn't satisfy anyone in the end and someone usually ends up dead. Or that's what they tell me, truthfully I don't care what the others say. They survived, I survived and that's; that, but my revenge is all I have to keep me going.

My anger and rage are what keep me so calm, they're what make me who I am and I vowed the day I ran I would find the people who killed my parents.