Chapter 1: Six Men...

(Character's thoughts in certain colors in italics.Jay-red Conor-orange Victor-purple Anthony-blue  Mark-green Isaac-brown )

One shot, two men. These two men were ‘soldiers’, guarding a certain target that Jay’s employers were not too happy with. Both of them wore body armor and bore automatic weapons gripped tightly in their hands. They stood in front of the door to a sleek, black car. Jay was aiming through the scope of his Cheytac Intervention, from the roof of a nearby building.

It was a sniper rifle he had acquired not too long ago and he hadn't had that much experience with it yet, so he took it out with him on a hit. There was virtually no wind at all, so adjusting sights wouldn't be a big problem. It was a nice, clear day out, with the sun shining. A perfect day for a hit.

Jay's family was a crime family. Almost every man in the family was involved in crime in some way, from petty thieves to godfathers. You name it, there was probably a relative Jay had that did it. Of course, this got certain family members in trouble with the authorities quite a lot, but they always managed to snake their way out of trouble. His father tried to break the ties with others of the family by joining the Marines, but still couldn't get out of that life of crime. He hated being in the crime business, unlike Jay and many others.

'Easy enough...' Jay quickly lined up a grenade on the belt of one of the guards and took a moment to carefully ensure his shot. He fired, and quickly pulled the bolt up, back, and down, all within a second. The resulting explosion was heard by the rest of the guards in the building that his target was supposed to go to. Suddenly, four men, weapons in hand, burst out of the front door. In that instant, the target ran towards a nearby truck for cover. The guards began shooting at specific buildings, doing anything they could to suppress the assassin.'Oh no, you don't...'  Jay readjusted his sights on the head of the target, and was just about to pull the trigger, when he heard the cocking of a gun behind him.

Jay layed there for a second, and let out a deep, drawn out sigh. 'So this is how it ends...great. Just great.'

"Don't move." The voice said, no remorse whatsoever in his voice. And Jay instantly recognized it.

"I was wondering just when the hell you were going to find me..." A few more seconds passed, before the assailant spoke up again.

"Time to die, old friend." Jay closed his eyes, accepting his fate. He didn't bother fighting back. He had a good run as a hitman. He was quite infamous, some in the business would even call him legendary. He was honestly just waiting for this day to come. A few more seconds passed, before the loud BANG! echoed through the streets.

***

Victor was hunched over his newest invention. It was a prototype version of an advanced kind of body armor. Victor worked on all kinds of things. From everyday computers and gadgets to the latest military equipment, he was your guy for the newest and most improved things on the market. Sure, he had been involved in some...illegal business before, but it got him money, and allowed him to do what he loved, which was invent things. The body armor Victor was working on was supposed to be a better version of modern body armor. Not only was it better in terms of being bulletproof, but Victor had also integrated an early version of an AI into the suit, which allowed for things that no other suit had, such as a heads up display on a helmet mounted eyepiece. Of course, such a thing was only heard of in movies and videogames, but Victor was determined to make that a reality. Doing such a thing was very difficult though, because it wasn't every day that someone made an AI, let alone integrated into a suit of armor.

Victor suddenly had a burst of creativity.'Wait a second, Ah ha!' Victor quickly grabbed a nearby blueprint for an industrial mining suit idea he had. He thought for a little longer, before it hit him. Victor quickly decided that he should integrate tubes into the armor's design, that could carry a stimulant of some kind through the body to enhance performance on the battlefield. 'Hmm...what should that stimulant be?'  The tubes would act like arteries for the human body. 'Brilliant!' Victor quickly grabbed a nearby welder, and got to work. He put on a welding mask, and began the process of adding tubes. The sparks started to fly. A spark flew, and found itself on an open barrel filled with .22 ammo that Victor was going to modify for different purposes. The barrel caught fire, and the ammo quickly began heating up.

Victor turned around, to see the barrel on fire. 'FFFFUUUUU....' That was the only thing Victor could think, before one of the bullets flew out of the barrel, and found itself going in the direction of his head. Just as he was about to move, the bullet made impact with his head, making a soft Fft! sound as it hit.

***

Anthony was walking outside of the bar. He had a bottle of beer in his right hand, and his car keys in the other. His girlfriend walked out right after him.

"I told you, Anthony! It's me or the booze! You have to stop this!" She shouted, clearly angry with the way he had been acting lately. Anthony gave her a dismissive gesture.

"I'm fine, *hic*...honey!" Anthony said, taking another chug of his alcohol. His girlfriend walked up to him, and slapped him right across the face. He rubbed his cheek, confused with what she just did.

'What the hell?!!?'

"We're done! Over!" She screamed at Anthony. Before he could do anything, his girlfriend was out of sight.

'Who needs her? I don't care...' Honestly, Anthony didn't really care. He didn't love her back at all. He slowly walked down the street, in the direction of the parking lot.

Anthony was constantly stumbling, he was that drunk. He could barely keep himself awake. He eventually reached his car. He fiddled with the keys a little bit, before unlocking his car door. Anthony went in, hitting his head against the top of the door frame. 'Ow! Damnit...' He took another swig of his beer, and put his keys into the ignition.'Hehe...success!'  The car came on with a satisfying thrum of the engine. Anthony licked his lips, and sped off. He didn't enjoy anything more than a good ol' speed run through town, along with some booze.

Anthony sped right through town, somehow not hitting a car in the process. He rolled his window down, and laughed maniacally into the night. Just as Anthony put his head back into its proper position, a wall had somehow found it’s way right in front of his car. 'OH SHIT!' Anthony's car slammed into the building, and was launched right out of the windshield. He flew into the brick wall, and died upon impact.

***

Conor was unloading some crates on his night shift. He decided to work into the night, just to make ends meet. One of his co-workers quickly walked up to him.

"Hey, Conor! How are you doing?" He asked. Conor hadn't actually seen this guy for a few days, and wondered why.

"Hey, man! I'm good. How are you?" Conor said, a smile on his face. He enjoyed hanging around other people.

"I'm fine, was just sick for the past few days. Why I missed work. Hope boss doesn't fire me." His friend said, putting his hands into his pockets, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He pulled out a lighter with his other hand. "Smoke?" He asked, holding out the cigarettes.

Conor slightly pushed the pack of cigarettes from his face "Ah, no thanks, man."

The co-worker quickly gave him a confused look, and then shrugged it off "Whatever...suit yourself!"

Conor quickly turned back around, and began unloading more crates from the boat.

"Here, lemme give you a hand with that." The fellow co-worker said, lifting up another crate.

"Thanks." Conor grunted from behind a large crate he carried. They went on through the night, unloading crates from a boat that had come in a half dozen or so hours before. After just about finishing off the crates that could be carried by hand, the co-worker quickly went up the ladder of a large crane.

"What are you doing?" Connor asked.

"Just getting some of the heavier stuff. Don't worry about it. Can you direct me to the other drop off point?" The co-worker shouted back from the operator's chair of the crane.

"Yeah, sure!" Conor shouted back up. Conor quickly made his way into a clear area, making sure his friend could see him from there. The crane slowly rotated, and picked up its first crate. Conor signalled over to a pile of large crates that the crane could set down the cargo at. The crane carried the crate right over Connor's head, and set it down right in the pile. As the crane moved, it started to give off a creaking sound. 'That doesn't sound too good...' The crane picked up its second crate, but something was wrong. The creaking sound got worse and worse, and just as the the crate was over Connor's head, the line snapped. Conor's eyes widened as he looked up in horror.'SHIIIIIIIIITTTTT!!!'  The crate began its rapid descent down, and smashed into Conor before he could do anything more. He was crushed between the concrete dock floor and the large metal crate. Pancaked.

***

Isaac was walking through the streets. He had just come from the supermarket. He carried his groceries in both of his hands, and was going home. Isaac was eager to go home and just read. He was content with the events of the day so far, and was about 20 minutes or so away from home. He looked up at the sky, and realized just how late at night it must've been. Isaac quickly looked at his watch. 8:00. 'Wow...I gotta get home!' Just as he was about to start jogging home, he heard the unsheathing of a knife from behind.

"Hey there...buddy..." A man said from behind him. Isaac quickly turned around to find three men standing there, one possessing a large knife.

The largest of them gestured to him. "Come here...we just want to talk." The thief said as he walked towards Isaac. He found himself slowly walking back, which was instinct for him.

'Uh oh...'

"Yeaahh....we just want to have a little...conversation." another of the men said, smirking at his partners in crime.

"I'm....fine. No need for you to talk to me!" Isaac said, backing away more. Isaac turned around, and dashed off.

"Get 'im!" The largest criminal shouted, running at Isaac. Running was one of the things that Isaac had plenty of experience with. He picked up speed, and was just about to get away. Until one of the criminals caught up, and tackled Isaac. The criminal began to swing punch after punch into his face. Isaac tried to fight back, but he was no boxer. Isaac began to feel more and more pain as the trio of thieves delivered kick after kick into his chest and head. His vision began to blur, and he felt himself slipping away.

Quickly, the leader of the criminals pulled out his knife, and embedded it into Isaac's chest. He let out a scream of pain. One of the other criminals quickly snapped his hand over Isaac's mouth. "Shut him up!" he shouted. Isaac bit down, tasting the blood of the criminal. He quickly let go, and slugged Isaac across the face. The other criminal put his hands into Isaac's pockets, and managed to get his wallet.

"Got it, boss!" The scum shouted. The thieves quickly bolted off, leaving Isaac to die.

'Ugh..' Isaac's vision was blurring even more as a dark haze closed in around him. He could feel himself bleeding out slowly. Isaac slowly closed his eyes, for what he believed to be the last time.

***

Mark made his way to the top of his apartment building roof. He had nothing left to live for. Mark had no friends, and no family. He was an orphan. As Mark walked up the stairs, he thought about his life. 'Well, I guess tonight is the night.' Mark walked to the edge of the building's roof. He looked down to see a drop that was at least 20 stories. He gulped. 'Time to go, I suppose.'  Mark looked up to see a magnificent, starry night. It was the most beautiful night sky he had ever seen. 'Good night to die, I guess.' He let out a long, drawn out sigh. 'If only life had gone a little bit more in my favor...' Mark closed his eyes, and jumped off of the building. 'Goodbye, cruel world.'