Silver Lining

The Reethers.

A race of aliens who attacked earth about two hundred years ago. We don’t know why they came to earth, and after the mother ship was destroyed, neither did they. But thanks to them, the earth’s nothing like it used to be. If you wanna make a livin’ with the way things are, you gotta fight, steal, and kill for any and everything that looks like it has even a crumb of value.

Luckily for me, stealin’s a simple job.

Dressed in a blue jean jacket with a dusty white shirt, ripped jeans, and boots, was a young man with almond-hued skin, messy black hair, bright, emerald green eyes and a smooth, round face. He was exploring the inside of some unknown craft that was covered dirt and rust. Wires dangled from above and any footing was something one would have to search for to avoid falling. Armed with a backpack, flashlight, and sidearm, the young man maneuvered his way through the wreckage with shafts of dusty sunlight coming in through the cracks to aid in his sight.

It wasn’t long until he found a wide open space that appeared stable enough to safely walk in, though he still moved quietly and with caution.

“Was this like a mess hall?” He asked himself quietly, shining the flashlight all around to see what he could find. Tables and chairs were strewn all about, along with decayed corpses and strange substances that he couldn’t exactly make out. He decided to keep moving further, and that was when he heard what sounded like running water. He froze in place, his eyes scanning the area as he slowly reached for his sidearm resting on his right hip. He proceeded as quietly as possible, and that was when he found it.

Off in the distance, someone stood behind a glass door under running water, no doubt washing away the filth they encountered outside.

Judging by how tedious it was to get this far into the vessel, it made sense to let your guard down. Not wanting to let this chance slip by, the young man began looking for the belongings of the other in hopes of finding something of worth.

By far, the most valuable thing he could see was a silver, heart-shaped locket with ornate design. Nothing else seemed as expensive, so without a second thought, the young man snatched the locket and placed it in his backpack, filled with various other treasures that were stolen as well. With his mission accomplished, he decided to flee the scene before the other could finish his shower, as he didn’t feel like getting into a fire fight at the moment.

Once out of the ship, he took a minute to look at what was once clearly a thriving metropolis. A city where you could go and make memories with those closest to you now was nothing more than destroyed and abandoned buildings. Taking a deep breath, the man leaped from the wreckage and dashed over to a motorcycle. Starting it up, he took off, leaving the ghost of the city behind.

Overgrown foliage, scattered cars, and the remains of both people and aliens made it difficult, but not impossible to traverse the interstates and highways that the young man would have to travel to reach his destination.

A warehouse located four hours away from the city he left, and about one hour outside of another. Passing security clearance and entering the warehouse, he ran past several armed guards and military grade vehicles. He rushed up a flight of stairs and swung open the door revealing a rather well furbished office. Jarring, given the current state of the world. A polished wooden desk accompanied by a large, comfortable looking chair for the owner of said desk, two smaller, yet still comfortable chairs in front of the desk, and a couch off to the side.

A man with pale skin, a full length, black beard with noticeable grey hairs in it, slicked back black hair and wearing a business suit saw the young man and nodded, an amused smile on his face.

“A’ight, Boss! Here’s the score!”

Feeling proud of himself, the young man took his backpack and emptied the contents onto the desk.

“Good job, kid. Let’s see wha-“ Pausing mid-sentence, The Boss’s amusement immediately shifted from amusement to pure terror once his eyes caught sight of what rested at the top of the pile. He leaned forward onto his desk, placing his hands together and closing his eyes as if to silently pray.

“Leon… where did you find that?”

“Boss, y’know my name’s-“

“I don’t care what silly name you go by!” Jumping up from his seat and grabbing the item at the top of the pile, The Boss came within inches of Leon’s face before dangling the item in his face. “Where. Did. You. Get. This?” The Boss’s tone was low and threatening, and the look in his eyes were a mix of fear and rage.

“The necklace? From some guy in the woods. It looked expensive, so-“

“Do you have any idea who this belongs to?!”

Leon was silent, his head tilting to the side as he studied the locket. He tried, but when no one came to mind, he simply shrugged. Taking a few deep breaths, The Boss sat back down in his chair and looked to his right. He began eyeing the full bottle of clear liquid that sat on his desk, pondered for a moment, then reached for it. Without hesitation, he removed the cap and began drinking straight from the bottle to calm himself before looking back to Leon.

“When did you find the locket?”

“Huh?”

“Leon. Now is not the time to have me repeating myself, do you understand? I’ll ask you one more time. When?”

“A few hours ago. It was the last thing I grabbed before I came back.”

Taking the answer in, The Boss took another swig of his drink as he shifted his attention to phone on his desk. “It was fun while it lasted, I guess.”

Leon’s confusion only grew. He looked around The Boss’s office, wondering what was going on and why he was acting so strange. “What are you talkin’ about? What’s gonna happen?”

The Boss simply looked up at Leon when, as if on cue, the phone rang. Leaning forward to push the speaker button, the sound of what could only be described as pure chaos was on the other end.

“Boss! Boss! He’s here! We can’t stop him! He’s taking all of us- Aaaaah!” And with that, the call ended. It didn’t take long for the sound of gun shots and explosions to be heard in the office. Leon ducked as this caught him off guard, but The Boss continued drinking.

“What’s goin’ on, Boss?!” Leon’s voice was now full of panic and confusion. Looking out the window of The Boss’s office, he could see what was going on, and to say this had him bewildered would be an understatement. What he saw a single man who stood about 6’ tall with a black hood and mask to cover his face, along with a shirt, black pants, and a pair of black boots. No signs of armor or weapons. Only his hands which were covered with black, fingerless gloves.

“Move, move!” Yelled one of the guards as he got into an armored truck with a mounted turret. Wasting no time, he opened fire, but the black figure was too fast. “Where’d he go?! Did we get him?!”

It soon became clear that the answer was no as the truck was lifted from the ground and hurled a few hundred feet into another group of men.

Back in the office, Leon couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Is it one of the Reether’s?!”

The Boss simply shook his head. “No. He’s what we used to fight the Reether’s. Well, one of them anyway.”

After a few minutes, the carnage ceased. A stressful silence loomed in the air before the sound of boots walking up stairs echoed in the office.

“During the war, they created super soldiers with Reether tech. I wasn’t born at the time, but I heard the stories. Soldiers that couldn’t be killed by normal means. Strong enough to withstand missiles and bust tanks.” The Boss took another swig of his drink as the man who had caused them such trouble kicked down the door into the office.

Once inside, he removed his hood and face mask to reveal a mocha-hued man with mid-length dreadlocks and silver eyes that had sapphire blue bursting from the pupils. His face was smooth like Leon’s, but his features were sharper, more distinguished.

“Was that all? Didn’t even take me five minutes. I’ll be honest, I’m a little disappointed,” the man said laughing. “But then again, I guess ya wouldn’t have access to much.” Making his way over to The Boss himself, Nomad took the bottle of alcohol from the man and took a swig of it himself. He pulled back for a moment, sticking his tongue out in disgust before handing the bottle back.

“Ah- that’s nasty. I thought you’d have better taste.”

“Who… who even are you?” Leon asked.

“Leon. This is Nomad. He’s a Silver Lining.”

“Silvs for short. Now, I’ll be taking my locket back.”

Nomad grabbed the item which brought about such destruction and placed it around his neck, tucking it under his shirt. As he began to leave, however, Nomad looked back to Leon who seemed terrified. “How old are you anyway?” Nomad asked, a brow raised in interest.

“T-twenty-three… Look, man. If I knew who you were-“

“You’re still a baby. If ya want some advice, make sure you can see the person you’re stealin’ from so you don’t make this same mistake twice.” And with that, Nomad simply left, leaving The Boss and Leon alive.

“I honestly didn’t think he’d let us live.” The Boss placed the bottle down and stood up, wiping his hand down his face while taking a deep breath. “But it’s probably because you’re still a kid.” Glancing out of the window in his office, The Boss watched Nomad pull his hood up and get into his car.

“You’re lucky he didn’t kill you, but because of your ignorance, I’ve lost everything.”

“Wait a second, Boss- he didn’t take anything! I can fix-“

“Shut up! You’re dead, Leon!”

Furious, The Boss reached into the pocket of his suit jacket, but before he had time to pull out a sidearm, Leon took off, leaving the office and making his way to his only saving grace.

“Wait! Nomad! Wait!”

About to slip into gear, Nomad paused. Before he knew what was going on, Leon was in the passenger seat, breathing heavily. With the sound of gunshots being fired, Nomad didn’t wait and took off before The Boss could even make it down the stairs.

Leon was still catching his breath when he heard Nomad speak up.

“You better not be more trouble than you’re worth, kid.”

Nomad sighed as he reached under his shirt and grabbed his locket, opening it up to reveal a faded picture of himself, a Caucasian woman who was roughly a foot shorter than himself, and a small boy of mixed descent. Keeping his eyes on the road, he ran his thumb over the picture he had stared at so many times before, but took one, meaningful glance at it before looking back to the road and thinking about everything that had transpired. He brought the locket close to his face and placed his lips softly on the picture, kissing it, before closing the locket again and tucking it under his shirt once more, unsure of what the future held for him and his new partner.