He yawned.
Even before opening his eyes, he knew the kind of day that awaited him.
He would go through the usual routine: waking up, taking care of his hygiene, no breakfast, and not expecting lunch either.
Then he would walk to the mines.
Lucas couldn't complain though, this kind of life suited him just fine.
And it was fairly simple as well.
Doing what needed to be done to get the rationed loaf of hard bread at the end of the day.
That was it.
If he did well—well enough to impress the supervisor—he could get a sample of rotten cheese to spread on his loaf.
He smiled, opening his eyes.
He looked up to the ceiling, a portrait of his mother was supposed to hang there.
He would watch it every morning before starting his day.
Today was different.
There was no ceiling.
'What the hell?!'
Instead, Lucas stared at an open sky.
Vast sheets of deep red clouds rolled overhead, like a blanket of smoke spreading across the sky. A cool breeze washed over his skin. He felt both awed and uneasy.
The unease was stronger.
The first thing that came to mind was that the roofing sheet atop his shack had been ripped off. As Lucas looked about, he realised he was mistaken.
He wasn't in his home anymore.
He wasn't even in the slums. Rather, he had awoken on a cold mountaintop.
And he wasn't alone. He saw bodies scattered all around. Some lay fast asleep, some of them had just woken up, the grogginess clinging to them.
A few had clearly been awake for some time.
There were children on the floor, adults, and the elderly as well.
Already, three men were moving about, searching some bodies for loot.
They all had something in common, though: they were all from the slums.
Each and every one of them. The rags they wore were enough to identify them.
Lucas slowly shook his head.
'Heh. Not surprising. The worst things always happen to slum people.'
But then,
'How in the world did someone take this many people from their homes in the dead of night without anyone waking up?'
No one in the slums was ever truly asleep. And if they did, it was with one eye open.
Lucas clicked his tongue.
More importantly, why were they even taken?
'It can't be organ harvesting. Our organs aren't exactly the best choice for that. What then? Forced labour? Trafficking?'
"Hey! Does anyone know where we are?"
He heard someone shout in the distance. "Please, I need to get home. My kids are there"
They all turned to her, some people stirring in their sleep. No one replied.
'Interesting.'
Lucas found it interesting that there was still a mother in the slums who cared about her kids. What he found more interesting was that her kids weren't taken away as well.
The lady frantically searched the faces spread about, her eyes checking for the familiar faces of her children.
The sky trembled.
She paused, looking up.
The fiery red clouds churned and wrestled against themselves, contorting into an odd shape.
By then, everybody was awake, holding their breath as they stared at the sky.
The clouds stopped.
And the shape they had formed was a grin.
A wide, horrifying grin.
"What is that?" one man asked, pointing at the sky. He was one of the looters, and at that moment his hands were still buried in a woman's pockets.
"How is that possible? It's got to be a smoke and fog trick, right?" He stared at the lady whose pockets his hands were in. "Right?"
The lady pushed him away, before turning to look at the sky.
Another man stood up waving his arms in the air.
"I said it. I always knew it would come to this." He chuckled.
"It was the aliens! Aliens, I tell you! And from the looks of it, the government has joined forces with them too!"
Lucas watched silently.
'Is it a test for military weaponry? An experiment for bio-weapons. Is that why we are here, to be tested on?'
But none of the explanations could account for what he was seeing.
It was just unnerving.
And as quickly as it formed, the clouds dissipated.
What remained of it—still colored like blood—fell down towards the people below.
"Fuck*k!"
Lucas jumped to his feet, landing on the chest of a man too slow to move. It was an old man. Lucas didn't care.
He hurried towards the mountain's edge, a stampede just behind him. Kids were knocked to the side. Some screamed while others pushed forward.
The mountain was isolated, and its peak was only wide enough to contain the number of people present.
Lucas leaned over the edge, peeking down. He shook when he saw the steep vertical side of the mountain.
"No! No! We are all too far up!"
He turned.
"Stop! Whoa, hold it!"
He knew they wouldn't.
He heard the crowd rushing forward. They'd push him down just to see if there was a shot at escaping the clouds.
They eventually did.
Someone slammed into his back, and Lucas found himself falling.
He shut his eyes, refusing to watch the ground quickly approach.
But gravity's hands never reached him. He felt himself suspended in the air.
Surprised, he opened his eyes to search for the miracle that had stopped his fall. His relief vanished when he saw what had.
The red clouds had reached him.
His vision swam as the red consumed everything.
Those still on the mountain had been consumed first.
There were others like him, hanging midair after being pushed down. The clouds swallowed them too.
'What now?'
As if to answer, Lucas Grimm felt solid ground beneath his feet.