Gerard was awoken by a loud crash, followed by muffled shouts in the room next to his. His brother's room. It took his mind less than a second to process what was happening before he jumped out of bed. Running out into the hallway, he stared in shock at Frank, laying unconscious on the floor. He spun around, hearing footsteps directly behind him, and caught a glimpse of a face before everything went black...

---

Slowly, he opened his eyes. Everything appeared to be at a slant, it vaguely reminded him of the drunk goggles he'd had to try on in driver's ed. His head was pounding and the lights seemed unbearably bright. He gently tried to pick himself up off the floor. Dirt, or maybe sand, scraped against him as he moved. He made it up to a sitting position before the world started to spin. He slumped against the wall and blinked a few times, trying to reorient himself.

He glanced around the room. White brick walls and a gray tiled floor lay before him. Where was he? He noticed a window on the wall. He craned his neck to see into the other room, before realizing that it wasn't a window at all. It was a mirror. Probably a two-way mirror at that. Gerard tensed up, wondering who might be on the other side, watching him.

Suddenly, the door beside the mirror burst open. A man, a few inches shorter than Gerard walked in, his spiked books thudding against the floor. His hair was long and black, and he wore sunglasses despite the fact that they appeared to be in some sort of dungeon.

"Morning sunshine," the man said, squatting down next to Gerard. He reeked of cigarettes and sounded like he should've quit smoking several years ago.

"Why am I here?" Gerard spat.

"You tell me, you're the one who tuned into our station last night," Gerard squinted at him.

"Who are you?" He murmured. The man smiled, revealing slightly crooked teeth.

"You know, these weren't the kinds of questions I was expecting from you. I thought you would be more concerned for your family's safety." Gerard's face paled, his eyes widening.

"You took them?!" He roared. "Let them go,"

"It's funny, I expected your brother to put up a good fight, but I seriously underestimated the girl," the man grinned, standing up.

"Let her go, she's seven, she has nothing to do with this." The man said nothing. "I'll kill you, I swear to God I'll kill you, let her go," Gerard tried to lunge at him, and realized his left arm was handcuffed to an anchor in the wall.

"Relax, tough guy. We're not gonna hurt them, or you for that matter," the man sneered. "We need you," Gerard blinked in confusion.

"For what?"

"I'm building an army, and I need some soldiers," Gerard scoffed.

"You must really need help if you're drafting seven year olds." The man's face fell.

"I am giving you one chance, and one chance only, to protect yourself and your family. If you walk away from this, they die, you all die,"

"You just said you wouldn't hurt them, and now you're threatening to-"

"I won't, but Korse will!" The man bellowed.

"Who?" Gerard asked, furrowing his brow.

"Korse, the commander-in-chief of Better Living Industries."

"Oh please, BL/ind doesn't have a commander, its run by a bunch of mindless idiots following orders," Gerard scoffed.

"Yeah, no shit. You ever wonder who's been giving the orders?" The man crouched back down, just inches from Gerard's face. "And you can bet your stupid ass that if we know you were listening to us last night there is not a chance in this world that he doesn't know that, too." Gerard said nothing for a moment, not sure what to make of this information.

"So what," he muttered, softly, "either I become your soldier, or that guy, Korse, is coming after me and my family?"

"Yes, the Killjoys will offer you no protection whatsoever unless you join us."

"Why can't you just help us?" He cried, the desperation plain on his face.

"Because we do not have the man power to waste time protecting people who aren't willing to support the cause, so like I said, you have one chance. If you walk out that door, if you walk away from us, you sign you, and your family's death warrant."

Gerard stayed quiet, thinking things over. He wasn't a soldier, he had never even been in a fist fight, let alone a battle. Would Mikey get the same choice he was getting now, or would Gerard be forced to decide his little brother's fate? And Annalise, she couldn't fight, she was just a child. He couldn't agree to making his baby sister a child soldier.

"I can't," he whispered. "My sister, she's just a kid, I can't make her fight."

"Your sister will not be asked to fight until she is old enough to be trained. She will, however, be required to support the cause in other ways, such as, making weapons and fixing or building army vehicles like the other children," the man assured him.

"What like a sweatshop, no, she's not gonna do that," Gerard protested.

"There is a war coming, do you understand that? Unless you want her to be butchered in her own home right before your very eyes, I suggest you let her make a few bullets for us."

"And my brother? Does he get a choice in this?" Gerard looked at the man's sunglasses, trying to see past them into his eyes.

"Your brother is being offered the same deal you are, so what is your answer?"

"Fine," the man looked at him, surprised. "I'll do it."

"Great!" The man smiled, cheerfully. "You start training in twenty minutes," he began walking towards the door.

"What?" Gerard was startled by the man's sudden change in demeanor.

"See ya then!" The man yelled, closing the door behind him.

Notes