Prologue

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Ellie:

     "So Ellie," Walter calls out to me, pulling me away from my book. "Why aren't you heading up to The Eye to help Vladimir with repairs?" Walter sits down next to me, with a bottle of wine. Walter is the Constellation's wallet. Anything we need, he always gets for us. He used to have a wife, but she died due to an accident at work. He gave his company to his brother-in-law, Simon. Walter still gets some of the profits. He spends most of his time here at the Lodge. If he isn't at the lodge, he's at the nearest bar.

     "Vladimir said it would be best if i stayed here in case Jake needs me here." I answer. Jake is my half-brother. We grew up on Neon. When we grew older, I left to make a mechanic's career. I enjoyed it, maybe even a little too much. Eventually, I joined Constellation to keep everyone's ships repared. I had heard from Mom that Jake had gotten a job at Argos Extractors. I reunited with Jake when I got back from my last mission with Sam Coe. I was so excited to see Jake. I hadn't seen him in years! We had drinks in the common area, and we caught up quite a bit. Sam came and also had drinks with us. Sam has a wife named Lillian and a daughter named Cora. Most times, they would be together when Sam got back from missions. Sam stayed here at the Lodge while most of everyone else went up to The Eye to help repair. The only ones here are me, Walter, Sam, and Noel.

     "Ellie!" I hear Noel yell. Noel is, in a way, the brains of Constellation. She takes care of technology and has a fascination with the artifacts. Jake has been bringing them a lot. I walk over to the table. She looks panicked.

     "What's up, Noel?" I ask. Just as she's about to respond, Jake opens the door. He runs and puts the artifact with the others and heads up to the table.

     "Noel," Jake says, starting to look worried, "What's wrong?"

     "Just listen." She says and presses play. There was a lot of shooting, and we could hear Sarah Morgan scream,'Take the artifacts and run! The Hunter is at the lodge!' Sarah Morgan is the leader of Constellation. I overheard her telling my brother that she was in a band for a little while. Imagine her with the hairstyle and makeup. They got together a few months ago. They already keep everyone awake with their "wrestling matches." None of the less, it is good to see Jake happy.

     "How long ago did she send it?" I ask.

     "A few minutes ago, but no one is responding." Noel replied. We quickly discussed and devised a plan: Jake, Noel, and Walter were going to take the Artifacts and head up to the Eye and make sure everyone was okay, then Jake was going to get everyone who could still get up and fight back here so we could protect the Lodge. Jake wanted to take me with him, but I insisted on staying because Sam and I were the only ones who weren't afraid to use a gun. We wished them luck as they left us at the lodge.

     "Can I be completely honest with you, Ellie?" Sam asked. I pulled out my pistol and nodded.

  

     "I don't think The Hunter is going to let us live after finding out that we don't have the artifacts. Also, I am quite scared." Sam said. He looked a bit sweaty. I walked over to him

     "Don't worry," I put my hand on his shoulder. "I am also. We'll make it out." We sat there in complete silence waiting for our impending doom. I could feel my heart pounding against my chest with everything it had. It did seem like a long time for the Hunter to attack here. 'Maybe he figured out our plan?' I thought. Suddenly, Sam gets thrown towards the door. I jump up, and the Hunter is in front of me, blocking my way to see if Sam was okay.

     "Where are the Artifacts?" He yelled before kicking me towards the bookshelves. I glance over at Sam. He looked unconscious. I jump up and start shooting at The Hunter. He laughed and used his power to make a double of himself. The double starts to head over to Sam. I aimed my gun at The Hunter's foot and pulled the trigger. The Hunter Double had disappeared, and I started to run to Sam. 

     I get pulled back by my hair. I screamed and threw an uppercut at The Hunter. He caught my hand and threw me at the fireplace. I quickly get up, despite my body begging me not to. Sam had finally got up and started firing his shotgun at The Hunter. I grabbed my pistol and continued to fire it at The Hunter.  He turned around, quickly grabbed my neck, and started squeezing. I fought with everything I had, and it wasn't doing anything. I could hear Sam run out of ammo. The Hunter had pulled out a sword and stabbed it through my stomach, and began to twist the blade.

     "SAM RUN!" I took a huge breath and yelled. The Hunter pulled the blade out of me and disappeared. I fell down and hit the cold floor. I hear Sam run up to me and pull me up onto his lap. I rested my head on his warm shoulder as I could hear his heart beating rapidly.

     "Jake is going to be mad at me." Sam said. I tried to chuckle but ended up choking a bit on my blood that started pooling into my mouth.

     "I'm not too worried about that. Are you alright?" I ask, touching his wound on his temple.

     "I will be," He said, "but you won't be." I leaned my head back to look up at Sam. I could feel my eyes start to water.

     "At least you're okay and can see this to the end." I said, choking a bit on blood. 

     "I'll tell you all about it later, but just relax. Maybe Jake will get back here in time." He said. We sat there in silence. His tears fell onto my nose. With the little strength I had, I wrapped my arms around him. He started gently rubbing up and down my upper arm. Despite bleeding out all over him, this felt nice. He moved my hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ears, then went back to rubbing my upper arm. I felt myself slowly fading away. 'Jake is taking his sweet time getting back.' I thought. I just hope he isn't having sex with Sarah. I smiled.

……

Jake: 

     "Sarah, Vladimir, and Barrett, come with me and help me in case Sam and Ellie need it. Noel, Lillian, Cora, and Walter, stay here and keep an eye on The Eye!" I ordered. Everyone nodded and did what they were told. We bolted to The Frontier, the ship Barrett let me use while he helped Lin. I hope Ellie and Sam are doing okay. Ellie and Sam were best friends by the time I showed up to Constellation for the first time. One time, when Ellie and I got to drinking, she told me she had liked Sam but didn't say anything because he was married and had Cora. 

     "Hopefully, Sam and Ellie are okay." Sarah said as I jumped in the pilot seat. 

     "They will be, I know it." I said, keeping up hope. Sarah walked off and started trying to contact Sam and Ellie. There was no contact. I quickly pulled out of dock and flew towards the planet. We get to New Atlantis. Still no contact. Of course, there's only one ship yard, and we have to ride trains just getting to the Lodge. I landed the ship and jumped off. Sarah tagged along with me. We got onto the train and took our seats.

     "We're you able to get in contact?" I ask Sarah. She shook her head. Gosh, I hope we didn't lose both of them. We finally got to the Mast district, and we quickly ran up the Lodge. The outside looked messy. I could feel my heart pounding against my chest. My hands started to sweat. Me and Sarah got to the door and glanced at each other with the same worry that something had  happened. We opened the door and ran in. 

     "I'm sorry, Jake." Sam said in a shaky voice. I saw Sam holding a lifeless Ellie in his lap. Her hands were on the ground, and a pool of her blood around them. I feel my heart drop to my stomach at the sight. The door opened, and Mom walked in to see the sight. 

     "Oh no," Mom called out, "Not my baby girl!" She cried, running toward her. I walked over and knelt down. Mom pulled Ellie's body into her lap. Sarah ran up to Sam and hugged him. Lillian walked in. I looked up and didn't ask how she got here. She ran up and saw Ellie and hugged Sam. Sarah walked up and put my face into her shoulder as I cried. 

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