I bolted upright in the night at a horrific noise.
The room was lit by fiery flashes through the window, orange shadows throwing demonic shapes into the corners.
Screams of pain and terror rose from the street outside.
When I looked out, I found a scene of total destruction and chaos.
Two nearby streets had been all but wiped out.
The wrecked, blast-mangled remains of buildings loomed over the bodies of our soldiers and ordinary people alike.
Terrified residents ran wild through every street.
Somewhere, a small child was sobbing and screaming for their mother.
I could clearly make out a charred black hand sticking out from under the rubble of a wall, a face with glassy, lifeless eyes, a figure wreathed in flame thrashing wildly from side to side.
An inhuman scream tore out of my throat.
My vocal cords felt like they were about to snap.
Gripped by full-blown panic, I curled up in the far corner of the room, praying it was just a nightmare, one that would end any second.
But it didn’t.
Another burst of explosions tore through the air off to the right, but it was quickly drowned out by the roar of a starship’s engines.
Gathering every scrap of courage I had, I leaned out the window.
Ships descended onto the square with a grim, almost ceremonial gravity, and soldiers in black armor poured out of them.
Last to emerge was a figure in a cloak—a metal mask flashed in the firelight.
The figure gave some order, raised a hand, and the soldiers snapped into a line.
The hand dropped slowly, and one quiet command landed like thunder out of a clear sky.
“Kill everyone you see.”
I understood what was about to happen too late—and even if I hadn’t, there was nothing I could have done.
“Noooo!”
My cry drowned in the roar of blaster fire.
Everyone running around their homes—men, women, children, the elderly—all of them, cut down systematically, mercilessly.
Their only crime was living inside our territory.
I saw blaster bolts flying out from the ground floor, but it wasn’t enough.
All our soldiers were out on night patrol—there was no way anyone could get back here fast, if there was even anyone left to come back.
I bolted for the weapons store, grabbed the first blaster I could reach, and ran to help.
But it was already over.
Dead silence from the street, nothing but a banner snapping in the wind, red letters spelling out: This isn’t over yet.
Every soldier in black armor had vanished, and only the dead remained, sprawled like broken dolls.
The fire made the shadows shift and dance, and it felt like dark spirits were staring down at us all, asking one single question: WHY?
Morning came grim.
The ruins of houses stood like twisted skeletons under the light of dawn.
We’d been searching for survivors for five hours straight, but all we found were bodies, eyes staring at nothing.
The moment I looked into those eyes, I threw up.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, and fear locked up every part of me.
After that it was bodies, bodies, bodies—pick one up, carry it to the pile, set it down gently.
Then start over.
I moved through it all like I was underwater, helplessness curdling into rage.
It churned inside me, straining to break free, but the dead needed tending to first. Get faster updates on g.com.
My feelings could wait.
The Boss held a funeral for every single victim.
Now, next to the burned-out districts, there’s a mass grave with the names of everyone who died that night carved into it.
He looked like he’d aged twenty years overnight—deep lines cut through his face, his once-bright eyes had sunk deep with heavy shadows underneath, and his whole body seemed shrunken, wrung dry.
Of the cheerful, powerful being he’d once been, only a shadow was left.
He turned to face every surviving member of the organization, gathered there to see the dead off on their last journey.
“There’s no other way out.
As of today, the Shadow Front is disbanded.
I’ll meet my end alone, at that monster’s hands.
There have already been too many deaths on my account.” He dropped to his knees and bowed his head.
“May your lives be free.”
“May your death be easy,”
echoed back through the ranks.
Our unit’s old motto.
It had never sounded so grim.
Tears streamed down Mama’s cheeks.
She took my arm, and we walked back toward the home we’d soon have to leave behind.
“It’s all right.
We have the money—we’ll move to another planet, and everything will be fine.
Right, Seth?”
“Of course, Mom.
How could it be anything else?
Let’s pack up and get out of here.”
She couldn’t hold it in any longer.
She sank onto the bed and broke into sobs.
I did what I could to comfort her.
“You’ll see.
A happy future’s waiting for us.
Everything’s going to work out.”
Tears were running down my own face too.
Over these eight years, this place had become my home, all these people family or friends.
Leaving hurt—unbearably—but it had to be done.
Packing dragged on all day.
Our gray-haired instructor stopped by.
“Seth, the boys and I are going after the Boss.
He got it into his head to meet his end in battle—this city’s our territory.
He posted a video to the holonet with his coordinates on it, challenging the bastard to a duel, at dawn.” The Old Man’s eyes turned cold as death as he said it.
We’ll cut down every monster that comes for him.
Not one gets through.
Are you with us?”
My brothers were calling me.
For one moment, I actually considered it.
But then I felt the fear pouring off Mama, and I answered without a second thought.
“Forgive me, sir.
But I have a duty that matters more than revenge.
My family’s safety.”
“You’ve become a real man, Seth.
May your life be free.”
“May your death be easy.”
My voice cracked traitorously on those words, my lower lip trembling.
I couldn’t hold back—I threw my arms around the man.
He hadn’t just been an instructor to me.
He’d been a grandfather, gruff and short-tempered, but so caring, so much a part of my family.
“Easy, easy now.
You’ll crush an old man.”
He stroked my hair.
“Come find us once this is all over.
Promise me you will.”
Without answering, the Old Man disappeared through the door.
I thought I saw a tear glinting on his cheek—but I probably imagined it.
Our packing dragged on until late into the night, so we decided to spend one last night in the place that had been our home.
I woke with a violent jolt, a sense of danger locking around my chest from the inside, every instinct in me screaming that disaster was coming.
I slipped carefully out of the room and crept down to the bunker—there had to be some weapon left down there.
With every passing minute, the danger felt stronger, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
There was the familiar door.
I looked over the empty bunker—unnervingly empty and grim now, no more kids shouting, no more grumbling or laughing from the older ones.
Scanning the weapon racks along the walls, I spotted a familiar DC-17.
Since the start of the Clone Wars, blasters like it had flooded the black market.
The moment I’d first seen one, I’d wanted it for my own.
Lucky for me, nobody had taken it.
There should be a holster around here somewhere too—ah, there it was.
A sharp jolt of dread burned through me, like cold fire rolling through my insides.
I bolted upstairs, nearly tripping—damn it!
The main hall was empty, but some kind of noise was drifting in from the street.
I edged up to the window and peered out—and there he was.
A man in a mask and a cloak, standing in front of a line of prisoners.
And among them was my mother!