Chapter Text
Everyone knows Jade as being the outgoing tomboy. Keeping spirits high with her attitude and music. It’s who she is. It’s who she’s been ever since she found her love for music. Before that, she was a farm girl helping her family around the fields, living with her mom, her dad, and her two brothers. Of course she liked the field’s, she loved the animals, and she never minded manual labor. Though, she sort of felt like there was an empty spot in her life. She just couldn’t figure out what it was. She was doing well, she had loving parents, she had good friends, so why wasn’t she exactly happy? That was a question that would soon be answered.
At 14 years old, she was walking down the hallway at her school about to walk home. That was until she heard a heavenly noise. Tight, warm, shimmering waves from the strums of an electric guitar. Jade followed it to a single room where she found her friend, Harley, practicing her guitar as a boy named Spike played on the drums. Curious, Jade watched Harley. She became intrigued with the sound. “What is that music?” Jade wondered. Harley noticed Jade watching from behind the door, then invited her in. Harley and Spike could tell that Jade was interested. “Not bad huh?” Asked Harley. “What was that? It sounded outworldly.” Jade exclaimed. Harley and Spike couldn’t help but smile. “It’s called rock.” Harley explained to Jade. “Rock?” Jade asked curiously. “You never heard of rock before?” Harley giggled. Jade felt a little embarrassed. Her parents weren’t really known as music people. At least, she never saw her parents listen to much music.
Spike equipped some headphones on Jade as Harley plugged it in a cd player. Harley then played an album from Twisted Sister. As soon as the drums played, Jade was already mind blown. Her eyes widening. This is something she’s never heard before. “We’ll fight the power that be just! Don’t pick our destiny cause, you don’t know us, you don’t belong!” Jade was smiling ear to ear, the biggest smile anyone has ever seen on Jade’s face. Her eyes were lit, beaming with joy and excitement. Her body began to move on her own, foot tapping to the rhythm, her head nodding up and down. “So Jade, what do you think?” Harley asked. At that moment, Jade immediately stood up, her body moving on its own with the music. “We’re not gonna take it!” She sang out loud. “No! We ain’t gonna take it! We’re not gonna take it anymore!” Spike approached and smiled. “I think she loves it.” He answered.
For an hour, Harley and Spike showed Jade other album’s such as Metallica, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, and a few others. Jade was having so much fun, she didn’t even notice that her mother was calling her. “Jade, Jade!” Harley called out as she paused the CD player. “Hey, what’s the big idea?” Jade asked, disappointed that her groove was interrupted. Harley showed Jade that her mother has been trying to call her for the past hour. Jade took her phone, and finally answered her mother’s call. A child would be scared at what their own mother would say if they didn’t answer them. Jade though, she was so excited to tell her mom about her new found interest. “Jade Norel! Where are you!? I have been calling you for the past hour! You made me worried sick-!” “Mom!” Jade interrupted. “I wanna learn how to play guitar!” Jade was so giddy, she didn’t even realize her words were a little unheard. “What?” “I wanna learn how to play guitar.” Jade explained again, this time more clearly. Her mother was quiet for a moment. She wasn’t expecting Jade to answer with that. “You want guitar lessons?” Her mother asked. “Yes yes yes!” Jade shouted out. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do for guitar lessons. I’ll study extra long, do night shifts, cook dinner.” Jade’s Mother was laughing, amused by her own daughter’s excitement and desires to learn how to play guitar. “Alright Jade, I’ll find you some guitar lessons.” Jade was happy. Really happy. On that day, her love of music began.
Seven years later, she turned into a full grown adult. Ready to move on to the next big step in the journey we call “life.” Using her dad’s old truck to store and move her belongings. She then parked it in the driveway. The house was not too big, not too small, and not too expensive. It was a little worn down, but Jade thought of it as the perfect house for her to start with. “Yea, just arrived at the house.” Jade said on her phone, talking to her mom. “No, I got it, you can just relax back at the farm.” “Okay sweetie, good luck moving in. Love you, Jade.” Her mom replied. “Love you too mom.” Jade hung up and prepared to settle into her new home. She went to the back and opened it up, already pulling out a box of her old stuff. Jade sighed in happiness. This was it, the big step to an independent life. There was so much to do, so much to unpack. “Better to start now than wait later.” She thought.
This should have been one of the best moment’s of Jade’s life. However, things were not as they were meant to be. The sound of a fighter jet caught jade’s attention. She looked up to the left to see a squad of fighter jets. They separated from each other, one of them coming towards Jade’s direction. Jade was confused, she started to get a sinking feeling in her heart. Her heart beat started to become faster as she realized that the jet was flying to her. The jet pointed its nose down to her house. Jade took action, and she started to flee right as the jet fired a missile. BOOM! The missile struck the house, blowing up everything. The explosion knocked Jade away. She felt the heat of the blast blowing her away as she tumbled against the ground, ears ringing from the high decibel of the explosion. She laid there with her hands over her head as rubble from the explosion rained around her. Jade has never felt this scared before in her life. She could hear her heart beating as her body struggled to gain vision and hearing. Finally, the ringing began to fade just as her vision came back. Eyes darting around, the aftermath of the destruction of her new house came in view. The roof was ruined, the walls were blown, the house was on fire. Distraught, Jade could only think of questions “How? How could this have happened? Why was this happening?” Tears streamed down her cheeks as she kept staring at the ruined house.
The sounds of explosions and screams interrupted Jade’s thoughts of the process. She looked over past the trees, smoke could be seen. The rural area was under attack, but what could she do? She’s just a farmer girl with a love for music. The sound of a loud and harsh belching noise of an A-10 Warthog startled Jade, making her cower in fear and putting her hands over her ears as it performed a dive bomb. “I should just leave now, they could come for me next.” As Jade was about to leave, she looked back at the rising smoke behind the trees. She should just leave, but her conscience told her to go see if anyone was still alive. “Damn it! Why do I have to be so stupid!?” Jade asked herself as she ran towards the rising smoke.
Jade reached the rural neighborhood. The one piloting the warthog made sure to do a great amount of damage to the houses and road. As Jade wandered the streets, she found the houses in ruins. Jade was startled and stumbled back as she found the corpse of a man with his intestine exposed. Jade saw animals being slaughtered and butchered before, but seeing the dead remains of another person just made her feel sick. She couldn’t hold it in, she fell on her hands and knees and vomited on the road, more tears falling out. A moment of catching her breath took place. As terrifying as the scene was, Jade had to calm down a little. A small amount of composure was regained, Jade had to move on. So she got up, and kept walking down the street. She looked to the left and found a house only a little damaged. The roof had a hole, some bullets from the warthog hit, and a few broken windows. Despite the damage, there could have been someone still alive in there. Jade cautiously approached the house. Looking through the window, she was greeted with a trashed interior and darkness. Still, Jade had to make sure. She slowly crawled through the window, careful to avoid the broken glass.
Wet and crunching noises greeted Jade’s ears. Jade didn’t know what that was, but she was already feeling nervous. Jade knows she shouldn’t be going any further, but something just told her to keep going. Jade quietly made her way to the noise. The noise led her to the kitchen, once she stepped foot, her heart came to a complete stop. A disturbing scene that would stick with her for a very long time. Blood was dripping onto the wooden floor, as a figure was kneeling over the body of a woman. Something was wrong with the figure. The shape was man, but the features were not. His face was alien-like. No, bug-like. Dark green skin with armor plating? No, those platings were part of their bodies. Antennas moving about as the pincers where the mouth would be chewed on something. Jade almost threw up again as she realized exactly what those mandibles were chewing on. The monster was eating the woman by her arm, the hand was already gone.
Suddenly, something caught Jade’s eye. She turned her head to the cupboard to find a little girl hiding in it. She was barefoot, wearing a dark plaid suspender-skirt, and white shirt. The door was slightly open as the girl watched the monster eat who was probably her mother. The girl kept staring, the expression of horror stuck on her face. She couldn’t stop staring, her eyes looking almost lifeless, her body still. Jade snapped out of it, and immediately knew what needed to be done. So Jade quietly made her way under the table, the monster still devouring the corpse. “Psst.” Jade whispered. Jade looked back to make sure the creature didn’t hear her, then she looked back at the girl and tried again. “Pssst. Hey, kid.” She whispered again. The girl looked at Jade, showing no change in her expression. “Kid it’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.” The girl said nothing. “I’m going to get you out of here, just slowly make your way to me.” Shaking her head, the girl slowly starts to retreat further back into the cupboard, the door closing. Everyone immediately stopped as it made a slight “creak~.” Jade’s head jerked back to the creature as it lifted its head up. After a moment of silence, it went back to feasting on the body. Relieved that the creature didn’t notice her yet, Jade looked back at the hiding girl. “Listen, I know you’re scared, I’m scared too.” She whispered. “But you’re going to be okay, just slowly come to me. I promise, you’ll be fine.” Jade said, trying to be reassuring.
The girl stayed in the cupboard for a moment longer before she slowly opened it to make her way out, her small bare feet making contact with the wooden flooring. Small creaking noises being heard. Jade nodded, gesturing to the girl to come towards her. As the girl stepped down from the cupboard, she looked at the creature, hands shaking, tears streaming. “Hey, hey. Don’t look at the monster, keep looking at me.” The girl couldn’t move, legs shaking as if she was about to collapse. Jade had to think fast, that creature wasn’t going to eat forever. Then she had an idea. “Hey, are you good at counting?” Jade asked calmly, but still a little shaky. The girl nodded slightly. “W-We’re gonna- We’re gonna count your steps. Everytime you take a step to me we’re going to count it. We’re going to count to three, are you ready?” The girl couldn’t stop looking at the creature eating the corpse of her mother. “Don’t look at the monster, look at me. Are you ready?” The girl nodded again. “Okay, one.” The girl took one small step. “Two.” The girl took another step. “Three.” Three steps, but she hasn't made it yet, still, there was a feeling of relief for going this far. “Good job, you’re doing great. We’re gonna count again, are you ready?” Jade was sweating from the stress and heat. The girl could tell that Jade was just as scared as she was. “One.” The girl took another small step. “Two.” Two steps, one more to go to reach Jade. As the girl came close, Jade held out her arms. “Three.” As soon as the girl came close enough, Jade quickly pulled her close. The girl made it to Jade under the table. Jade held her close, feeling relief. “Good job, kid. Okay, let's get out of here.”
Jade held the girl in her arms as she carefully got up from under the table, being as quiet as possible with each step as the creature kept gnawing. Almost there, they just need to make their way through the living room. Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering was heard. Jade looked down to see a picture frame that was knocked over by the girls feet. Jade actually felt her heart come to complete start as she heard clicking noises from behind. The creature’s mandibles clicked against each other as its head slowly turned, its yellow pupil illuminating in the dark as it looked straight at Jade. Jade moved quickly, her legs running faster than she thought her legs could.
As she ran out of the house, she could hear that creature roaring angrily from the building, she had to move fast. The girl looked worryingly at Jade as she held on tight. “Don’t worry kid! I’m gonna get you out of here!” The girl couldn’t help but whimper. Jade spoke again, clearly out of breath. “O-Okay, okay! Let's start with names, I’m Jade, what’s yours?” The girl was still scared, but she worked up the courage to speak. “J-Jasmine.” She replied shyly and still scared. “Okay, Jasmine, that's a good name.” Jade’s eyes darted around. She knew that thing was following her, she just couldn’t tell from where. It wasn’t from behind, it wasn’t above. No, it was somewhere in the trees.
Jade stopped and put the girl down. “Listen to me, you need to run, and whatever you do, don’t stop until you find someone.” Jade said. “But what about you?” Jasmine said worried for Jade. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll stall that monster while you go look for someone. You’ll find them eventually, I promise.” Jasmine didn’t want to go. She wanted to stay there with Jade. Jade could hear that clicking noise of that insect-like creature. “I’ll be fine, but you need to run.” Jade started pushing Jasmine away, ushering her to keep running. Jasmine did what she was told and ran. “Don’t stop!” Jade shouted. “Don’t look back!” Jasmine did what she was told, running as fast as she could.
Jade looked around and found a machete at the ground near a knocked over truck. She picked it up, holding it the way she remembered her father taught her. Frantically looking around, she kept looking out for that creature. Her heart was racing, but she knew she had to buy time for Jasmine to escape. After all, she was so young and she still had a life ahead of her. How could Jade let her life end so young, especially from that monster. Jade clenched her teeth, she held the machete tightly. “Alright you bastard! Come on out and face me and leave that girl alone!” Jade shouted. Jade looked around, she couldn’t hear that creature anymore, but she just knew that it was nearby. “Didn’t you hear me!?” Jade shouted again. “Fight me you coward!?”
It was another moment of silence. Then, she heard a sound behind her. The creature just appeared out of nowhere, like it was just invisible. Jade turned around, eyes widened. Before she could even face the creature, she felt a strong blow to her stomach as the creature kicked her, knocking her to the ground. Jade looked up and saw that creature slowly approaching. It was wearing a mask now, but Jade was sure that it was the same one that killed and ate Jasmine’s mother. Jade was then caught off guard again as she saw two blades coming out of their wrists. “You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me!” The creature slashed his blades down. Jade rolled dodging his blow. Still holding onto the Machete, the creature made attempts to stab her over and over again, until Jade kicked him in the face, knocking him back. Jade quickly pulled herself up, pointing the machete at the creature growling. The creature growled back, his mandibles clicking together. It made Jade stand down a little, shuddering from that sound as it traveled through her ear, but Jade still stood.
Jade struck at the creature, however, he dodged with incredible speed. Once again, Jade was surprised, but she didn’t let that distract her. The machete was swung, again and again. Still, the creature dodged with speed and grace. The creature saw the open opportunity, and he sliced Jade’s cheek. Jade groaned with pain, feeling her warm red liquid running down. She saw the creature pulling back his blade, and she quickly blocked it with the machete. The blades clashed, the sound of the metal making contact was heard. Jade did not have experience when using a blade in combat, but the creature, that was one of his main purposes. Using Jade’s sloppy ability as his advantage, he used his blade to knock the machete to a tree.
Jade screamed out in terror as she just saw her only use of defense getting knocked away, its blade tucked into the tree. Jade looked back at the creature, expecting him to land a finishing blow. To her surprise however, she saw the creature stripping itself of his armor and equipment. He unbuckled the strap around the chest, and let it drop to the ground. Finally, there was a hissing sound, as the mask was let loose. Slowly, the creature removed the mask, revealing its face in broad daylight. Jade was horrified, disgusted to see the face of the monster so clearly. The face looked human, but most of it was mantis. “You are one ugly mother fucker.” Jade commented in a scared and soft tone. The mantisman’s mandibles clicked together, and he roared loudly, the sound echoing through the ruined neighborhood.
Slowly, the mantisman circled around Jade, Jade followed the Mantisman’s movements. Knees bent, slowly walking sidley in a circle with her hands out. Her hands slowly clenched into fists. Jade might not be the best at fighting with a blade, but her mother taught her how to defend herself well. Jade held her fists up, looking aggressively at the mantisman. The mantisman charged in and threw in a punch, but Jade ducked down, easily dodging it, and gave him an uppercut. He threw in another punch, but once again, Jade dodged, and gave him another punch in the face. “Ha! How the tables turn!” She shouted. Jade ducked, avoiding another blow before giving two punches to his gut. Saliva escaped the mantisman’s mandibles as it was knocked back.
Jade pulled back her fist and gave a hook punching, aiming at his face. Instead of making contact with the mantisman’s face, it was blocked by his arm. He grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards him before giving a hard blow to Jade’s face, breaking her nose. Jade stumbled back, smelling copper as her blood ran down her face. Jade started to become more aggressive, and she grabbed the mantisman by the antenna’s, pulling his face, headbutting him so hard that his left mandible was knocked out like a tooth. The mantisman screeched out in pain as thick yellow-green blood escaped his wound. Jade stepped back, a smirk on her face as she wiped some blood off of her face. It hurt because of her broken nose, but there was still a spark of pride in her.
That only made the mantisman feel more resentful. He roared loudly in anger, catching Jade off guard. Jade actually cower in fear a little, that pride quickly retracting. The mantisman pulled his fist, then swung a punch. Jade quickly ducked, only to be met with an uppercut before another hook to the face. Jade was being pummeled, bruises being made as more blood escaped. Finally, she felt the most devastating blow she has ever felt in her life right to the stomach. Jade tumbled on the ground to her belly. That kick to her gut was so hard that she threw again, a mixture of vomit and blood puddling on the ground. Another kick to her side and she was rolled on her back. Suddenly, she felt the weight of the mantisman on top of her before she felt a tight grasp around her neck. It tightened harder and harder. She found it a challenge to breathe as she felt pain growing in her neck. Her eyes looked up at the mantisman, tears streaming down her cheek as she gripped on the mantisman’s wrist, trying to separate them from her neck. Her legs kicked, she can already feel her head getting light.
This couldn’t be the way she died, it couldn’t be. No, she refused to go down to a monster. Jade’s eyes darted around with whatever vision she had left. Just then, she found an open beer bottle on the ground. Desperate to survive, she reached out to it, but it was challenging from the lack of breath and vision. She felt around until she felt the end of the bottle. Her hand quickly grasped onto it firmly, and she slammed it against the mantisman’s face. It shattered on impact, some glass puncturing his eye. The force of the glass was so hard that it finally made the mantisman pull away and let go. He screeched out in pain, pressing his hands against his wound. Jade inhaled all the oxygen she’s been missing, her lungs welcoming that refreshing air, but she had to make a quick recovery. Jade lunged at the mantisman and pushed him back as she repeatedly stabbed it in the shoulder with the shattered end of the bottle. Jade screamed loudly as she rammed the mantisman up against a tree. The very same tree where the machete was knocked to. The mantisman kept screeching out in pain, trying to push Jade off as she kept stabbing his shoulder. Jade kneed the mantisman in the rib, causing him to lower down in even more pain. Jade had to pull as hard as she could, but she managed to pull the machete off the tree, and stab the mantisman deeply in the throat until it reached the bark of the tree again. The mantisman choked out as the blade trapped him against the tree, thick yellow-green blood oozing out of the wound.
Jade panted and watched the mantisman as it went lifeless, and no more breath escaped his bleeding mouth. Jade looked down at herself. She was covered by her own and mantisman blood. Her mind slowly processed on what just happened. A monster? A bug? A mutant almost killed her. She almost died fighting that thing, yet she survived. “How? How the hell did I survive against that thing?” Her hands were shaking, her heart sank. She slowly touched her face, flinching from the pain as she made contact with her bruises. She could hear nothing but her thoughts and her ears ringing. She could hear someone calling to her. Was she going crazy? What is she thinking? What could she think?
A hand gently touched her shoulder, which caused her to flinch and move away quickly with her fists up, ready to fight whoever was there. Her hearing suddenly came back as she was snapped out of her crises, seeing a single brotherhood soldier. “Woah woah easy ma’am.” Hearing his voice, Jade started to calm down. “It’s okay, you don't have to fight anymore.” The soldier reassured her. More brotherhood soldiers appeared from behind, a brotherhood medic wrapping a blanket over her. “We’re going to get you an escort, and we’re going to get you some medical attention.” Said the medic. Jade finally calmed down, and nodded at the medic, letting him lead her away from the scene. As they left, the remaining soldiers were stunned at the sight of the dead mantisman against the tree. They were surprised and impressed by how much damage she was able to inflict against the manstiman.
Jade was taken to a truck, where she saw Jasmine. Jade smiled as Jasmine approached, seeing that she was okay and that she was able to find help. Jasmine looked at Jade’s wounds, looking worried, but also relieved that Jade survived. “See? Told you that you would find help.” Jade said with a smile. “And I’m okay.” “You don’t look okay.” Jasmine said in concern. “Don’t worry, just a few bruises and cuts. I’ll be fine.” Jade looked down at the ground, thinking about her new home. How it was destroyed by that fighter jet. How it destroyed the rural area and the neighborhood. How that mantisman took away the little girl’s own mother. It made her sick, it made her furious that someone would actually cause so much terror and pain. No warning or anything, they just came and struck. Jade looked at one of the brotherhood grunts. “Hey.” She called out. “What does it take to join you guys?” The grunt looked over at Jade. “Well you just need to sign yourself up and go through a few weeks of training. Why? Are you interested?” Jade grinned and nodded. “Yea, if I’m able to kill that thing, then I think I should be able to handle fighting whoever is attacking my home.” “You’ve got spirit, ma’am. You should fit right in.” Jade was looking forward to joining the cause. If it meant preventing any more suffering of loss from these barbarians, she’ll gladly fight. She wasn’t going to let them get away with this.