I had always thought I was just a bit tough, that most physical pain just washed off of me. I had gone through training, top of the top. I never broke down, was never too tired to go. I always gave one hundred and ten.

Of course, then things became chaotic. Wars have to be fought by the best. I was put into a situation where I was dropped in to recover a critical bit of intel, that would leave a huge amount of the military vulnerable. They would be scrambling to fix the hole, but it could take weeks. We had days.

My operation was definitely on the black books.

I never thought that the same time that I recovered the data. I'd be looking out a window to see devastation. The city was being bombarded.

"Fuck me-"

Ten stories of building. Tumbling away like shattered glass. Fire. Metal. Cement.

I never expected to see anything ever again.

'USER CATEGORY TWO DANGER'

...

'ADMINISTERING SHOCK'

I screamed my body was left twitching. I looked around and I was sitting in a pile of rubble. My clothing was mostly ruined, but I was...fine. I glanced around wondering what had happened. What was that sound I had heard just before I lost consciousness?

I checked my pockets and found that the USB was still intact, the container was completely undamaged. Shaking my head, I tried to reach my evac but all my gear was completely fried. With the city in ruins it was doubtful that I would find an easy way to communicate. Luckily I knew how far the nearest base was.

It was quite far but all I need was a working vehicle and I could get there in a couple days. Even as ruined as it was, that was possible. Of course I had to deal with something new. The local militia had surrounded the city and put check points up. If I had thought about it I would have changed my appearance more, while I wasn't in military gear they had apparently made me off of some security networks that had survived.

They were on a shoot first questions later mentality.

'USER CATEGORY FIVE DANGER'

The first shot hit dead in my chest. I had a moment of panic, but then immediately wondered if they had a misfire. Didn't matter. I gunned it through the checkpoint.

"What the fuck is going on?"

I was definitely going to be chased down, and the beat half dead car I had wasn't going to out run them.

"What do I do now?"

'USER ADVISE - PULL OVER AT DEFENSIVE LOCATION. APPREHEND WEAPON. DEAL WITH ENEMY FORCES. COMMENDEER ENEMY TRANSPORT.'

"What the hell is that?"

'USER RESPONSE - I AM THE AUTONOMUS NANOMUSCULAR PROTOTYPE THAT YOU HAD ACTIVATED JUST BEFORE YOU WERE KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS.'

"I did?"

There was no response to that, but following it's tactical advise, I was able to make it back to base. With a frown, I had to deal with a lot of questions. The problem is...

I had the information. It wasn't some nanomachine. No matter who I spoke with no one understood what I was talking about. I had to talk to a therapist who told me that it was a rationalization. My mind made it up, to rationalize how I survived.

I didn't argue, if I did they would force me out.

As I was leaving, I was stopped again. I didn't recognize the man wearing thick dark aviator glasses, but I recognized his rank and stepped aside with him.

"Well son, I don't know how to say this other than, you're out."

"What!"

"Well, we can't have an X-Factor in the military."

"X-Factor?"

"The nanomachines. They aren't how do I say this...let's just say they are an anomaly, and thus you are an anomaly. Following the Concords of the Shadow we can't have you in the conventional military."

I paused. There was a lot in that sentence.

"Don't worry son. You aren't done protecting this fine nation. You are just moving to the real black ops."

I froze when he removed his sunglasses revealing inhuman-looking, cat-like eyes.

"Welcome to the End Game son. We are the last line. The first line. The only line between us and things you've never imagined. From today on, you are one of us."

He handed me my orders, and I felt a bit reassured. I was always a bit different, but today I was ready. The world was even wider and for once I really didn't know what tomorrow would hold.

On the day the missiles fell in Dallas, my family and I went about our daily lives only a few hundred short miles away in Sa0n Antonio. The news came to us when we were at a frozen yogurt shop, nearly finished with our cups.

A blaring breaking news alert and grainy footage of smoldering buildings crackled onto the screen. An old bloke started on about how the news is all negative in these days, and insisted the pimply worker turned it off.

The worker obliged. At that time Helen and I assumed a factory exploded or some such nonsense.

We discovered otherwise later that evening, yet the air still oddly did not change.

The next day, Helen and I went to our respective jobs. Almost everyone did in a kind of stupor, moving as if controlled by puppets. I think we were all in shock, really, in those early days. We just needed to occupy our hands with some bleeding task.

Anyway, that evening, after a long day of productive faffing about, Helen and I cuddled up at home with the little ones in front of the tube.

Texas' Governor instituted a preemptive, "extra-cautious", lockdown throughout the entire state after sundown. This was winter, my friends, so by six in the afternoon the roads would be bleeding empty.

It didn't matter, my friends.

There we were: me and Helen and our two tykes, Garret and Sophia. Frozen was just beginning in the background, the gents were still sawing their lovely blocks of ice.

Then our beige apartment walls crumpled inward with extreme rapidity. Darkness swallowed.

I have a lot of respect for the men and women in the recovery effort, I must tell you. My apartment was one of thousands in a sprawling, enormous maze of buildings. Yet, I saw the light of day within a month, despite being on one of the lowest floors.

Unfortunately, my survival was noticed. And what I guess you'd call bigwigs were on the scene when they pulled me out of the rubble.

Yet, they got the wrong idea, my friends. The military men were horrified, certain I was an imposter from another land. They learned quickly that though physical means did not puncture me, chemical damage could.

And, my friends, they had many, many means of inflicting chemical harm.

Welcome to the Prompt! All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments.

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>* No AI-generated reponses 🤖 >* Stories 100 words+. Poems 30+ but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* [RF] and [SP] for stricter titles >* Be civil in any feedback and follow the rules

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