PROLOGUE
February 6th, 2008. A world that was not that different from this one. In fact, it was similar in nearly every way, in the sense that super humans were unheard of. They only existed in comic books and movies. But that would change tonight. Clear, 79-degree skies. Crickets filled the eerie silence with their chirps. Two voices could be heard chattering about US politics of the time.
“Hey Luke, heard that guy…Barack Obama was sworn in.”
One of the voices spoke. His voice, deep and rugged, cut through the cricket chirps. The other voice replied, “Wait…wasn’t that the guy who wanted to close this facility down?”
Luke then chimed back in, “Heh…what an idealist. Obama said he was going to get troops out of Iraq.”
Of note, something could be seen streaking through the sky. Not a plane either, since the object seemed to be growing larger. “Hang on…what is that?”
Luke noticed the engorging object first. Panic filled his face as he realized – the object wasn’t growing larger; it was coming closer! All of the guards posted around the facility were immediately alerted to brace for impact…but the impact never came. The object struck just beyond the shore of Guantanamo Bay, and while the beach was doused with seawater, everything was intact. Soldiers began moving in closer to inspect the object, rifles drawn, jackboots squelching the sand beneath them. But when the dust settled…the object looked strange.
For starters, everyone assumed it was some kind of meteor. And while they were correct, this meteor didn’t look like a stereotypical meteor. It didn’t have veins of a precious metal, and its surface didn’t have any craters or dimples. It looked more like some kind of giant coconut, as it was brown and covered in hair. Hairs that extended from within the surface. The soldiers attempted to breach the surface of the meteor to see what was inside, but to no avail. The meteor was simply too durable, it seemed.
Almost immediately, the US government was contacted and alerted about the meteor. The Pentagon scrambled to call forth its top officials, and an emergency meeting was held to discuss the meteor. The meeting consisted of the White House joint chief of staff (Alissa Edytha), the director of USSPACECOM (Cissy Cyril), the CIA director (Benedict Niles), the director of NASA (Dash Raydon), and the USSOUTHCOM director (Pamela Ulysses).
Once the meeting started and everyone took their seats, Pamela spoke first. “Around one hour and 14 minutes ago, some kind of foreign object struck 200 meters off the coast of Guantanamo Bay.”
Pamela turned to Cissy and Benedict. “What do either of you know?”
Cissy spoke up first. “Well…it seemed to come directly from outer space based on the trajectory. It came from too high into the atmosphere to be an object from Earth.”
Alissa spoke up next. “Whatever it is, we cannot risk whatever it holds destroying Guantanamo Bay. How do we neutralize it?”
Yeah, easier said than done. The meteor would turn out to be impervious to any weaponry the US government had. Well, any weaponry that wouldn’t also pose a risk to Guantanamo Bay itself. Eventually the meteor would be placed under surveillance, yet unbeknownst to the soldiers, the US government or anyone on Earth, this meteor would change the trajectory of humanity.
It didn’t take long. Three days after the meteor crashed into the Caribbean, the large hairy sphere opened up. Well, not fully – it opened just enough for a single creature to get through, about the diameter of a snake. It crawled out from the opening at the top before sliding down the meteor’s edge and falling into the water with a plop.
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Meanwhile, in Miami the streets were buzzing. Cars driving around, alongside sidewalks littered with palm trees. People raving about the latest movies. A nearby club blasting Pon de Replay by Rhianna. But not everyone was having fun.
In an alleyway in Eastern Miami, a few meters away from the beaches, lied two corpses. A male and a female, both of whom were middle aged. A teenager leaned over them, sobbing his eyes out. He was around 17, African American, and was muttering prayers in Kreyol as he wept. The corpses were horribly emaciated and suffering from malnutrition at the time of their death.
The teenager’s prayers and cries would not go unnoticed. His sobbing would drown out the noise of something moving within the sewers. This something was similar in appearance to a sea lamprey, but metallic black and had four pairs of legs. It was, believe it or not, the same creature who crawled out of the meteor in the Caribbean a few hours prior. Once it reached a storm drain nearest to where the child was weeping, it crawled upwards and out of the drain, sneaking up on the teenager and taking him by surprise. The sea-lamprey thing forced its way down the child’s throat and began taking root in his brain.
The teenager’s screams of sheer pain would go unnoticed. Though what would also go unnoticed was the extreme transformation. The teenager, who had not been wearing any shoes at all, noticed his feet change to something akin to metal bird talons. His fingernails grew and sharpened into strange claw-like appendages. He grew a second set of giant, metallic teeth atop his normal teeth.
He looked at his claws and his feet in utter horror. Whatever he was…it was clear he wasn’t human. Not anymore. But unbeknownst to himself, while he was correct about not being human, he was something greater. Something far, far stronger than even the peak humans ever could be.