Prologue

Jaeden's POV:

Father has requested me. I rush towards his office, where he always works at, as soon as I returned from victory. Nods from various people. I follow. After all, I'm of high status here. Being Father's son, I have the respect of almost everyone here. Apart from those who hate me, of course.

Once I reach those huge, red double doors - a significance of someone of high authority, I push them aside. I'm met with Father sitting on his red chair, at his desk. His chair is facing the opposite direction (turned away from me).

"Sit." He orders. I follow. It must be urgent for Father to request me once I return from my completed mission. Father must have a new mission for me again. This time, a very important one.

"I assume you have a new mission for me, Father?"

"Oh, yes. I do." Father replies. I can even feel his smirk, even though he isn't facing me.

"Father, I'll complete it successfully again." I say with confidence. After all, I have completed all my mission successfully. I have failed none of my missions. I'm sure this will be swift again.

"Are you sure you'll complete it successfully?" Father asks, uncertainty in his voice. He doesn't trust me after all. All his words nothing but pretty lies. Just to feed me them and make me do his bidding. Everything was just a coverup.

Ask me why I'm still following Father? Well, that's because he calls me a wimp, one that I'm certainly not.

"Of course. Don't you trust me?" I challenge, though it's the last thing anyone will ever want to do unless they have a death wish. Trust me, the last person that did that ended up badly.

Silence.

There, I knew it. He doesn't trust me at all, after all I've done. All he has in his mind is his perfect son.

"Yes, yes. I do." Father says. Liar.

"Well then, since I have your trust, I'm sure I can complete it."

Father swivels around in his dark red chair and slams his palm on the desk. "You cannot fail, do you understand?" Father shouts, his eyes filled with murder.

I do not flinch. I never have, and never will. If I do, it shows that I'm weak. It shows that I'm a wimp, it shows that I have no right to be Father's son.

It's a sign of being a coward.

But I don't understand. Why is he so mad? Doesn't he know that I've never failed before? Never. So why? He knows that I won't fail this time round. I would rather die than fail. My pride is everything.

"I don't understand. I've never failed before. I always complete my mission successfully." I say.

"Seems like you haven't gotten hold of the news, have you?" Father snickers.

Well, of course. What do you think? I've only just returned from my long journey. What do you expect?

"What is it, Father? What have I missed?" I ask, pushing away my sarcastic thoughts to the back of my head.

A soldier must always have a good attitude, so that you can win other's trust.

Right before you attack.

"Your brother is dead. He failed his mission." Father spits.

"W-What?" I stammer.

Great job. Such a great job. Now Father will continue treating you like a wimp. But. How can Jude be dead? He's great at his missions. Apart from me, he's the only other person who's never ever failed before. What happened now?

Jude was always the best son; the one that Father always valued more than me. He was the perfect role model, cold and heartless, always on task during his missions, but a great son and brother after completing his task.

He never let anyone down. And even though he was a caring brother, I always hated him for all the attention he had.

I was awfully jealous, and jealousy never leads to something good.

"Oh yes, I know you're thinking that he can never fail his mission. But turns out, he did." Father shrugs.

"So you can't fail this time," Father smirks evilly, one that used to send shivers down my spine when I was younger, but now, it doesn't.

"Yes, Father,"

"Now leave, and collect File D. You'll get a reward if you succeed." Father's voice booms.

I turn and leave, just like the little soldier I am all my life. Used by Father to do his dirty work.

Even so, Father is a very strict person. Just like Mum. However, he doesn't want to hear the slightest mention of Mum.

I know the feeling. I never want to talk about her too. She was the only one who could break the shells of the three males in the family, and we were always at her beck and call. I always stayed by her side, protecting her.

When she died, Father isolated himself, shutting himself out from the world. Jude, being the flawless son he is, took care of everything.

Being the strictest person I've ever met, Father is obviously very hard to pacify.

A speck of dust on our uniform is unacceptable. It must be totally clean. Being late is unacceptable. Believe me, I tried that before and ended up getting whipped by Father. My wound was so serious that I lay in bed for a week. A frickin' week. Since then, Father started calling me a wimp, which I was obviously not. In order to prove to him that I was not one, I was never late again, never slacked off and I excelled in fighting. Basically, I excelled at everything I did.

As soon as I'm out of the room, I slump my shoulders. Father would never allow it if he sees it. However, I'm too exhausted to bother about the consequences. Father just stresses me out. I feel constricted, having to listen and obey every word he says.

I collect File D, just as I was told to. Checking its contents, I smile.

File D
Subject: Methys
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Immunity: Yes
Family members: Mother (not                    immune)
                                  Father (not immune)
Traits: Eye Colour - Heather Gray
           Hair Colour - Caramel Brown

Weakness: 1. Afraid that those closest to her will die any moment
                   2. Afraid of needles
                   3. Afraid of pain
                   4. Gullible
                   5. Insecurities that only best friend knows of
Motive: Bring Methys to The Lab.

Clipped to the file were a few pictures of Methys - a stunning girl who has smooth porcelain skin and thick brown hair, and her gray eyes sparkled back at me.

I wasn't going to fail. I wasn't going to let myself fall into the hands of death. I wasn't going to be the cause of my own death.

Trained by Father, I have learnt to be ruthless, malicious, as long as the mission is completed. Nobody is more important than the mission. Failure is never accepted. Nothing will stand in my way. Those are important points and must always be remembered, as Father said.

Thinking of my dead brother, I snicker. He was always the apple of Father's eyes and I was forever second. However, now that he's dead, I can take over his role and be the first. Besides, in the army, no one was better than me, other than Jude alone. Once I complete this mission, Father will forget him and I wouldn't be the wimp anymore.

I will prove to Father that I'm just like Jude, if not better. Capable of anything, nothing will stop me, even if it means death. However, failing isn't an option. It was impossible. Besides, I was the best now.

This was going to be easy.

Laughing to myself, I return the file and return to my room. Now Jude was the wimp, not I. After all, I will always emerge as the winner. There was no doubt about it.

As I enter my room, I grin from ear to ear. I will get my reward. Nothing will stand in my way. Not even that pretty girl, Methys.

~*~

As I prepare for my journey, I sigh contentedly as I think of how chaos will start, my first pleasure.

The alarm sounds, the jarring alarm slicing through the silent ambience. It was time. Time for us to rule the world.

I stop what I'm doing and gather around our safety zone, outside of The Lab, our comfy home.

Everyone is already starting to fill in, the wide empty space slowly becoming cramp and crowded, with little space left to stand. Even so, the front is as spacious as ever. That space is for people like me, of high status. People like Father, me, Jude, and those commanding officers. I make way towards my designated place.

"Jaeden, come on here." Father commands.

"Yes, Father," I say in monotone.

"Do you know why we have gathered here today?" Father asks.

Oh shit. I forgot. However, I should know. What is it? I only know that it has to do with ruling the world. But I forgot what it was about. My mind turned blank when Father asked me that question.

"Father, I-" I start to say but am cut off by Father.

"We're here for the start of chaos, son. Today will be the day where we activate the virus. Today we'll take over the world." Father answers for me, clearly excited about the whole operation.

Oh, yes. Everything hits me at once. We're here to witness the end of the world. It isn't exactly the end of the world, but instead, it is the end of the government's ruling. In return, Father will rule over the world. People will become faithful worthless servants, and obey Father's every command.

I know, Father's mind is twisted in such a way that I hate it. His thoughts are so sick. And it's all because of Mum.

What I don't get is why Father prefers half-dead servants. They are more dead than living, so I don't understand why Father wants that to happen. They will be aimless, mindless souls walking the world. It won't be of any help to his sick, twisted mind. I may not like Father's method, but I cannot defy Father's wishes. It is punishable by death. That's why I'm always at Father's beck-and-call, like his other little army.

"Now," Father's voice reverberates around the area, snapping me out of my stupor, "is the time. Witness the becoming of us. Now we'll rule the world."

Everyone cheers and applauds. This was really getting into their thick skulls, wasn't it? It was hopeless. It isn't like they'll actually rule the world. So, I sigh.

"Let it out." Father orders. Machinery clanks and something shoots out of them. More and more comes out till the machine clicks, signaling that all of the virus has been shot out.

"Now it has started. Return to The Lab in one minute," Father pauses, smirking, "or you'll catch the virus."

Almost instantly, everyone rushes into The Lab. You might think that they were shoving each other aside in order to get back in time. But no, they were moving in an orderly manner. If they didn't, they would suffer worse than the virus. As I said, Father was very strict. So it's not surprising that he's a cruel person... right?

Wait... If they can catch the virus, then I can too. What if...

"Father, I-" I say.

Father silences me. As if he read my mind, he explains himself.

"No worries, son. You've been fitted with the immunity to the virus. You can't catch it."

"I have? But when?" I ask.

"I'm sure you don't know. Remember that medical checkup? It wasn't an ordinary one, it was to fit you with the immunity. Surprising, isn't it?" Father says.

"Father, you're really wise." I comment.

Yeah, and sometimes, you're really dumb too. Just to say, it wasn't surprising. We wouldn't have a medical checkup for no reason at all. I just didn't know that it was about the immunity.

"I have always been. You wouldn't think that I would let out the virus if I didn't have the cure, did you? That would be foolish of me. You must always take precautions, son. You never know when you're plan might go wrong - though I'm not saying mine will. That's lesson one of taking over the world." Father chuckles.

"Yes, Father. I'll remember your teachings." I say.

"I hope you will." Father's eyes darkens and it's gone almost the instant it came. Turning around, Father leaves the area, his laughter still etched in my mind. The commanding officers salute me before leaving with Father too.

I could do this, couldn't I? Bringing Methys to The Lab was as easy as one, two, three wasn't it? I could do it, right?

Well, that was a question to be answered when I find her. I clench my fists. I will get her, and prove to Father that I'm not a weakling.

I have to prove to Father that Jude's the weakling and not me. This time, I have to be the best. And then Father will be talking about me all day long; he will be bragging about me, and not Jude. Not him.

Never again.

Ever.

No.

At that moment, black gooey stuff began falling from the sky. As soon as they touched my skin, they began to dissolve, or maybe evaporate, I'm not sure. But it felt like water, yet it turned into clumps when it touched the skin. It didn't look like anything deadly, but I felt something tugging at the back of my mind. However, I fought it off with no effort required. It made a hissing sound as it evaporated - or dissolved, and immediately the weight was off my skin. I squinted my eyes and took a closer look as the substance fell from the sky. They were not in the form of a gooey substance, instead they were small black pellets, that looked like a cockroach's egg, which turned gooey only when coming into contact with the skin.

As I stood in the black rain, I swore to myself that I would prove to Father that I wasn't a wimp, like him. Instead, I was the best and nobody would be better than me.

Nobody.