Deep in the water of the Atlantic, a mysterious creature held its breath and swam. It did not know any sense of direction or guidance, it simply swam. This was the first time it could remember leaving its island, and so it didn't have the slightest idea of what was what in this broad world.

Even swimming was difficult; it had learned to live a life mostly on land, although it had some experience in the water catching fish when animals on the sand became scarce. But then even the fish became rare, and it had to migrate to follow the food. There were all sorts of new fish in these waters, and the creature watched them with glowing curiosity as they fluttered past.

The creature noticed it was starting to lose its breath and rose to the surface, but was quickly horrified by what it saw. It was surrounded by more foreign creatures, swarming in hordes in all different shapes and sizes. There was a flurry of noise and bright lights as they noticed its ascent, sending the creature into a panic, rushing for the shore.

"WHAT'S GOING ON!?" Blake asked desperately to the EDF troops driving him away. The last thing he had seen was a boat suddenly capsized under a massive wave that had sprung from nowhere before the EDF found him. He would never back down, that was true, and he had tried to spy on them to see what was going on.

"YOU SHUT UP!" one of the men in the jeep barked at him. "I don't think you really understand the consequences of you're actions. You were just caught spying on a government agency. How do you think that's gonna look for you?"

"You're the one that needs to shut up, Barkley!" the driver of the jeep shouted back at them, glaring at them through her dark shades. "We have bigger issues at hand here."

"I don't think we shoulda saved this punk," Barkley continued, never taking his fury or his eyes off of Blake. "Someone must of told him to stay away and he completely disregarded our orders!"

"He's a civvy, Barkley, he doesn't know who we are or that he should listen to us. But he will, in due time."

"Seriously, I won't write about it if you don't want me to, I just want at least a little bit of an explanation as to what's happening," Blake tried to bargain. The driver looked up in the rear view mirror again and then nodded.

 "We'll explain everything once we get out of here."       

"You can't be serious, Sarah!" Barkely cried out, taken aghast.

"I think in a few days we won't be so secret anymore," she said, shaking her head. "Might as well start being open to people."

Sarah swerved the jeep to a stop and took a large rifle from the shotgun seat. Barkley took up his own rifle and jumped out the car seat, telling Blake, "Stay here or you're toast," and then running off into the distance with his partner.

Blake idly twiddled his fingers in the seat of the strange EDF jeep. But he couldn't help himself. He unbuckled his seatbelt and took off after them.

In the center of New York City a large crowd had gathered to hear Gabriel Donahue give a speech for his coming induction as Mayor. A number of controversial issues had begun to come to light during the course of his run, and the reporters and politicians were so intrigued to hear his responses even as it began to rain.

There was a brief round of applause as Donahue walked up to his podium and looked over his sizable audience. With his finger he tapped his microphone to ensure it was working and then began to speak.

"People of New York City, I speak to you now not as a man of election, but a man of induction. I fully realize what's being placed upon my shoulders as I take this role of Mayor of New York City, but I assure you that I am ready to bear that load. The corruption in our businesses, the underhandedness in our market and trade... it will come to an end!" he loudly declared, sending the audience into another fit of clapping.

"It is not with my power alone that these feats are accomplished, however. The city of New York needs the help of all of its citizens, and that's why as of my official induction, I am kicking off our efforts with the beginning of the New York Care foundation, a charity organization dedicated to healing and maintaining our great city." That announcement was particularly astounding, and the applause returned with cheering and flashes of photography.

"And furthermore--" he began before his voice was interrupted by a loud thud, the ground shaking underneath them. Donahue looked around the block, startled, but the sensation had vanished as soon as it had come. Then it happened again, and the ground shook. A security guard stepped on to the stage and whispered something into Donahue's ear, making him visibly upset, and then morbidly terrified. He stepped up the microphone again and said,

"We've got to get out of here, folks."