I woke with a start and checked my head. There was no hole there, but there really should have been. You don't blow your brains out, and NOT have one. But I was alive. Or was I? This couldn't be a dream, dead people don't dream. Maybe this is heaven, but then heaven can't look like this. So this must be earth. Maybe God has granted me a second chance. But the world looked... different. This was not the city I once knew. Where was the giant "jungle" of steel I once knew? The many skyscrapers and the bustling business of the famous "City that never sleeps"? My hometown of New York City seemed pretty dormant now. All I could see was rusty metal beams protruding from the ground and piles of old concrete and rubble, the old taxi cabs parked in the street that were trademark of New York. It has to be New York, I could clearly see the skeleton of the Empire State Building reaching out to the sky, yet it seemed broken, almost dead. "Why am I here, I should be dead, more importantly, how am I here" I thought to myself. Only then did I look up and see- I backed off. Some sort of metallic orb in the air! It was scanning me, I reached out to grab it but it flinched away. "Not so hasty Guardian." It could speak, was it some sort of A.I., a robot. "What are you?" I asked the orb. "You've been dead a very long time, there's lots to explain and not time to explain it right now. For the time being, call me Ghost." Ghost, that's an odd name for a machine. "We need to call in a dropship. The hive cannot be allowed to get you." What's a Hive? "Where do we find a damned dropship in New York?" I questioned aloud. The Ghost replied with, "there's an old shipyard not far from here, we can make our way there on foot, hold on a second." The Ghost disappeared. "I'm still here" came a voice from inside my head. "I don't like voices inside my head" I said aloud "Don't speak aloud, I can hear your thoughts, talk to me inside your head, if the Hive hear us we will die a very painful death" the Ghost explained. "Where do we need to go?" I thought. "The shipyard is only a little bit to the north, near the Empire State buildings ruins." The Ghost replied. And so I headed towards the building, it wasn't far, only about a block away. I knew where I was going, I had walked these streets many times before. I was turning the corner of the street the skyscraper was located on. "Tell me about yourself." The Ghost requested. "I don't like sharing" I said exasperated. "I brought you back from the dead, I think I deserve to know a little bit about you." he said. "Im 15, I like being alone and I don't like telling people about myself." I thought, it sounded harsh, and I know that I should probably be nicer to someone that brought me back from the grave, but it was true. I like being alone, I've always been alone. Ever since my mom died and my dad left me and my sisters alone. I took care of them, until the orphanage took them away. They tried to take me too, but I ran. Ever since then I've been alone. "You do understand I can read your thoughts, I'm sorry for your losses, what's your name?" the Ghost asked sadly. "Don't pity me Ghost, I'm Chris." I thought to him. "We're almost there Chris but something is lighting up my sensors, we need to hurry" he said as I began to run, I could see the shipyard, I was almost there when I felt something cold breathing down my neck. I turned just in time to see a figure made of bone as it swung a giant sword down at me. "A KNIGHT" the Ghost yelled inside my head. "RUN" he proceeded to yell. But I didn't run, I don't know what came over me, but for some reason instead of dodging and diving out of the way I had an urge to thrust my hand up at the figure of bone. I think I surprised myself more than I surprised the Knight as a wave of white hot flame shot out of my palm at the Knight's nightmarish face. "A Sunsinger" the Ghost gasped as I watched the Knight's face burn into ash. "How?" Was all I can think as the Ghost reappeared into existence. "Not now, we need to find a jumpship and get you out before more of them find us." He explained as he started scanning the piles of rubble and scrapmetal. "Here" I looked over and witnessed as a giant ship rose from the ground. "We need to get you to the city, climb in" as he opened the pilots hatch and I climbed in. "I hope you can fly this thing" I told the Ghost. "Oh I can do more than fly it" Character Limit: Continued Below