Seattle, Washington, Earth
Unlike most days, Sean woke up that day to the sound of gunfire from somewhere across downtown. He got up and looked switched the electrochromic window off, making the once pitch black room light up with the morning sun. He looked down at street level and could see crowds of people running back and forth, and others running away from the city toward the surrounding communities. He could see smoke billowing across the sky from various locations in downtown. Something had happened.
After getting quickly dressed he ran for the living room of his apartment and turned on the latest news report.
"...It's an absolute mess down here in the streets, many roads have been barricaded by the local Terra Firma soldiers, shooting at any form of law enforcement agents including Seattle police officers, Alliance soldiers and Marines, even several civilians have been killed in the last few minutes... *loud explosion* ...Fighting is becoming more intense here in downtown and the local government has urged all Alliance loyalist residents of Seattle to evacuate the city... ...I have never seen anything like this, and it seems as if it will not end anytime soon. Wait; hold on...MOVE OUT OF THE WAY! GET IN THE BUILDIN..."
A loud explosion ripped though the city a few blocks away, sending a shock wave that shattered many of the windows in the nearby structures. The television was showing nothing but static, a sign that the camera was probably destroyed in the explosion, probably along with the news team.
Sean wasted no time grabbing a few of his most precious belongings and other items, packing them all into a single suitcase. Lastly he grabbed his wallet and keys and locked the door to his apartment behind him as he left, hoping he would be able to return once the situation was over.
The elevator hit the 5th floor when suddenly the power want out, leaving Sean to force the door open and run down the stairs the rest of the way as the backup generators hummed to life somewhere below, lighting up the stairwell and the exits. Once he reached the lobby of the tower he was amazed at what he saw. The windows facing the streets were shattered by rocks and other debris as panicked citizens ran and drove down the streets as marines ran the opposite direction to try to stop the violent protestors. He pushed his way onto the sidewalk and ran along with the crown toward the edge of the city, and eventually to the spaceport about 3 miles away.
He had run about a mile along with the crowd when he tripped over a piece of debris, hitting the concrete sidewalk face first. Another person ran over, but instead of helping Sean up he instead took his suitcase and ran. Sean tried to get up, but he was quickly trampled by the human stampede of evacuees, leaving him helplessly stranded as he could hear bones break as people crushed his limbs in a terrified flight.
Once the crowd had passed on, Sean lay in the street, face down on the sidewalk. He couldn’t remember a time when he was in so much pain. Never in his life had he ever seen something like this happen. As he thought about it he could hear someone walk up behind him. A young man, probably about 20 or 21 was looking down at Sean, holding an assault rifle. “Well what do we have here,” the rebel said in a powerful voice. He kicked Sean over onto his back, making him cough from the force of the kick. “Looks like you got quite a beating there running away.” He reached into the pocket of Sean’s jacket that contained his wallet and pulled it out. “Hmm, worthless,” he said as he pocketed the fifty dollars Sean had carried with him in the wallet. Sean tried to reach up but his arms wouldn’t respond with nothing but pain, probably both broken. The rebel looked at Sean’s old military ID, laughed, and spat in the Sean’s face. “Alliance, eh? Well I guess I could always do you a favor then…” Sean’s eyes widened in horror as the rebel armed his assault rifle and pointed it right at his head. “P… Please,” Sean weakly said to deaf ears. All Sean could see was a blinding flash, followed by complete darkness.