Characters

Name: Shae Burke

Age: 21

Birthday: October 22

Appearance:
His hair is light brown, so light, in fact, that it often looks blond. He has an eye condition, heterochromia, which means his eyes are two different colors—so his right eye is hazel and changes from honey brown to olive green depending on the light while his left eye is blue-gray, sometimes mistaken for a light blue eye. His hair typically covers his right eye when it’s not disturbed by the wind or anything. Instead of what he’s wearing in the picture, he wears the Futhen uniform. Perhaps this outfit will make a comeback should he ever have a need for civilian clothing.

Personality: Shae has a very stoic personality. He’s loyal, intelligent, honest, focused, and determined. To say that he has a one track mind might be a bit of an understatement. After Derek saved him during an incident in his past, Shae vowed to do whatever he could to make sure he was always one step behind Derek—Derek’s right hand man, so to speak. He’s not left Derek’s side since. He’s very good at critical thinking and looking at the bigger picture. He uses this reasoning ability to deduce what sorts of things his superior might ask for in different situations to make sure that he always has such reports prepared and ready to be handed over to the captain. Aside from that, Shae’s fairly quiet; he doesn’t mince words and he doesn’t beat around the bush, so when he speaks, he’s blunt, to the point, and he never tells a lie. Most of the time, he talks if not in, than very close to a monotone and rarely shows any type of emotion on his face, which isn’t to say he doesn’t feel it. It’s pointless trying to make a joke around him because he rarely laughs. He does have a playful side. The only person who’s seen it is Derek as he’s the only one Shae lets his guard down around. He will do anything that man asks of him without questioning the request. He trusts Derek with his life and has no qualms laying his life down for his superior, should the situation call for it.

Hobbies/interests: Readying whatever Derek might need (this can include anything from gathering reports and reading about and/or studying up on a subject or tactical maneuvers to cleaning Derek’s office and making his tea), looking at the stars, thinking about his family, fencing, people watching, reading

Skills: He’s an excellent marksman and swordsman. He often fenced as a child and learned marksmanship so as to keep up with Derek. He’s got a vast array of knowledge and skills, mostly learned on the fly via all-nighters usually held ultimately for Derek’s benefit. He’s got a lightning quick mind and is an extremely fast learner. This is perhaps his most useful skill as he often exercises it to learn all he can about certain subjects as fast as he can (typically ten hours or less).

Weapon of choice: Will fill this out when I figure it out

Biography: Shae grew up in a family of six—his father, mother, older brother and sister, younger sister, and himself. Though his family was close and his parents truly loved each other, he was mostly raised by his mother, as his father was often away on business. Even still, he grew up happy, loved, and well cared for. Mostly, anyway. Shortly after he turned thirteen, Shae went to the park with his siblings and the neighborhood kids to play. He and his best friend at the time, Matt, decided to go exploring by the creek. Neither was ever heard from again. Kidnapped by a middle aged man and taken to join his makeshift family of similarly kidnapped kids in Futhen, Shae and Matt spent the rest of their early teenager years fending off various forms of assault—mental, physical, emotional, and sexual.

Despite the situation, Shae bonded with his new motley crew of siblings—Sarah, the oldest at 16, Gregory and Ryan, both 15, Rene, 14, Matt, 13, Holly, 12, and finally Katharine, the youngest at 11. Enduring similar torment, they eagerly reached out to support each other. Sarah tried her hardest to provide the mental and emotional support a mother might give to her children, since they received none from their actual “mother, the other girls tried to fill the holes Sarah missed especially in the chores, and the boys attempted to provide their newfound siblings with a semblance of protection. It was during this time in his life that Shae learned the value of loyalty, determination, vigilance, and adaptability staying alert. Constantly having to watch his back for fear of being attacked by those who should have been shielding him,

They survived in these dark conditions for three years, until finally an opportunity arose for them to escape. In the spring following his sixteenth birthday, discontented citizens in the Northeastern corner of Central Futhen rose up against the government. Upon hearing that the army was to be dispatched if the citizens did not quiet themselves, Shae quickly put together a plan through which he and his siblings could escape. Days later, when the Futhen army trumped into town and the area exploded into chaos, Shae and his siblings put their plan into action, though difficult, they managed to make it to the edge of town, where, after agreeing to meet again in the future, they all split up.

Shae made a beeline for the capital. The journey took him about a week, preying upon the kindness of strangers to give him lifts, food and money, but finally he arrived whereupon he immediately enlisted in the army, a small token of his appreciation for indirectly helping him escape the hell he’d been forced into. Shae quickly excelled in his training; his instructors noted his prowess with various weapons and his ability for thinking fast on his feet. It didn’t take long for him to be marked as exceptional. Of course, this drew both admiration and resentment from his peers, and occasionally from those higher than him who had not excelled quite as much as he had and were in danger of being replaced. One such man decided to take it upon himself to put Shae in his place.

Walking home one night after squeezing in an extra workout between dinner and lights out, Shae was called over by one of his superiors to help him carry something. They headed towards a lesser frequented area of the facility. The man made idle chatter as they walked, headed down stairs, rounded a corner and indicated something at the end of the hallway. Shae walked toward it, and suddenly the man jumped him from behind, pinning Shae’s arms to his sides. Though Shae attempted to struggle, the man quickly managed to undo Shae’s pants. As the man turned him around and pushed him against the wall, edging the younger boy’s shirt off, flashes of his time spent in that Hell House entered his mind, involuntarily bringing tears to his eyes. Uncharacteristically, Shae began to beg as the tears trickled down his face and dropped onto the cheek of his molester who was now fiercely attacking the boy’s neck, working his way up towards Shae’s mouth while his hand traced a path down towards the top of his pants. The man’s hand grabbed his cheeks roughly, forcing the brunet to look at him. Shae saw was the glint of sadistic pleasure in the man’s glistening eyes before Shae squeezed his eyes shut. He heard the man’s voice, whispering hotly in his ear, “I’m gonna enjoy this,” followed by the sound of a fist making contact with a body.

Shae expected to feel a pain in his stomach, but instead he heard a groan, a clump, and realized that he no longer had a body pushed against him, pinning him to the wall. Hesitantly, Shae opened his eyes and saw his attacker being beaten by another man, tall, gruff, and silent. Without a word, he dragged the assailant away, taking Shae’s abject terror with it. His bottom lip quivering as he shakily moved to button his pants, Shae bit his lip in a futile attempt to both steady it and stop the resurfacing tears from flowing. He failed. Hadn’t he just escaped from that? Or was this God’s way of telling him he could never escape? Was this his destiny?

He thought of the man who had saved him and gratefully thanked a higher power that he had not had the chance to look the man in the face. How could he stand it after being caught in such a weak position? He had to get away—footsteps! Fear gripped at his heart. Had his assailant freed himself from his savior and beat the man up and was now returning for more? Out, he wanted out! But the hallway was a dead end. A sudden nausea over took the boy and he doubled over, sinking slowly to the ground. Despite himself, his body continued to tremble. He was 13 all over again. The footsteps stopped right beside him, and a voice began to speak, but it was not the voice of the one who’d attacked him. His savior? Embarrassed, Shae could not bring himself to move or look up at the man. He just listened, until suddenly the man cut himself off, reached down and pulled Shae sternly to his feet and then continue as if he’d never stopped himself in the middle of his speech. A comforting hand clapped down on his shoulder caused Shae to turn to the man surprised. Tears still resting gently on his cheeks, mouth slightly agape, Shae carefully took in each and every feature of the man’s face, memorized the timbre of his voice, the manner in which he held himself. “Hey, I already said that man is gone for good,” he reminded Shae. “Give me a break! If he so much as LOOKS dirty at another private again, he'll lose more than his place in the blasted army. Got that kid?!” They made eye contact for a brief moment and then the hand was gone and the man turned on his heel and headed back down the hall. It was at that moment that Shae vowed to follow that man wherever he might go.

The next day, after some extensive research, Shae managed to locate the man’s name: Sergeant Derek Richards. Though his instructors didn’t think it possible, Shae quickly began to throw himself into his training even more, determined to always be Derek’s right hand man. It was through this hard work and determination that Shae ended up where he is today.

~

Name: Hayden Sumner

Age: 19

Birthday: February 5

Gender: Female

Appearance:

Personality: Hayden, while easy going, can be completely judgmental. She is big on first impressions and trust. Though it may take a while to completely gain her trust, once a person has it, they’ll have it for life, unless they do something to betray it; consequently, because she puts so much emphasis on trust, once lost, nothing short of Hercules’ Twelve Miraculous Feats can make her regain it. She has a photographic memory too, which doesn’t help on the trust front. She can remember almost every wrong ever done to her and holds grudges like no other. Needless to say, she doesn’t forgive easily.

Despite her flowery appearance, Hayden is actually very headstrong and determined. She doesn’t like being told what to do and exudes so much confidence (her father often joked that she has so much it practically seeped out of her ears onto the floor) that she has a very powerful presence and easily commands a room if that’s what she wants to do. She is surprisingly aggressive when the situation calls for it.

She can be a bit brash and harsh at times. She doesn’t bother hiding any animosity she might have towards others, and is not easily intimidated—she has no qualms confronting someone with whom she has a problem in the middle of a crowded hallway, and has been known to say extremely biting comments in the midst of such verbal confrontations. She is very observant.

Hobbies/interests: Hayden has a strong interest in fashion. Growing up in a family of means, she was often entitled to whatever she wanted, which resulted in an expansive, expensive closet. Unfortunately, most of that was left behind when she left home, so she’s since taken an interest in sewing. She likes to draw. It’s a creative activity that requires little mental attention, the perfect thing to clear her mind. In addition, she enjoys running, playing soccer and softball, listening to music, and wearing sunglasses because of the ambiguity it gives her eyes, freeing her to direct them wherever she pleases.

Skills: Though female, Hayden has strong upper body strength thanks to her love of softball and gymnastics, which made her very flexible. She likes to run (and is good at it; she’s extremely fast), so her sport of choice in high school was soccer. Even though her upper body strength is good, she could still be over powered by a strong enough male. She’s got a surprisingly mean punch. Also, Hayden has perfected The Look, glare, and icy stare down to a tee and uses them liberally as needed.

Weapon of choice: None.

Biography: Born Adriana Muntoli, Hayden led a fairly normal family life—if you can call normal being the daughter of an extremely successful businessman turned politician with enough influence to get even distant relatives into the hottest hot spots. Despite this supposed gateway to happiness, Hayden’s family splintered when she was very young. Her father, Aberto Muntoli, and mother, Raina Sumner divorced, and she and her two younger sisters were left with Aberto, who raised them with the help of their nanny, Maria. Per her father’s (unofficial) request, Hayden and her sisters had limited contact with their mother, the result being that their stepmother, Chance Isaacs, was able to quickly step into the motherly role. Aberto and Chance met at a charity fundraiser about a month after Aberto and Raina divorced. They began to see each other shortly thereafter. The girls took to Chance like a fish to water. Eager to have someone whom they could legitimately call mother whom they loved and who seemed to love them back, the girls warmly welcomed her into the family. A ncb that became official when she and Aberto married the following spring.

About a year after graduating high school, however, Hayden came across some strange figures in her father’s account books. He’d donated large sums of money to a mysterious research facility in West Futhen, a discovery made even more surprising considering her family rarely traveled to West Futhen. Further research revealed that the research at this facility was to develop a biological weapon that could ultimately be used to wipe out entire cities and eventually countries with a single missile. When she confronted her father about supporting something that promulgated such a profligate facet of her father’s personality with the man she’d always known, Hayden ran away the next night, assuming her birth mother’s surname and adopting the name Hayden as an alias.

Several months have passed since that night. She’s been on the run ever since, trying to avoid being detected by her father’s men, lest they catch her and drag her right back to her dad. She hung low for a bit and recently moved in with her mother. Finally able to speak to each other on a consistent basis, the two are beginning to bond. With Aberto seemingly unsure of where to look for his daughter, Hayden is taking the opportunity to kick back and enjoy life.

~

Name: Christopher Dale

Age: 21

Birthday: March 12

Gender: Male

Appearance:
Chris’ hair looks like this though:
As are his clothes like the ones that the second young man wears.
Oh and he has deep blue eyes.

Personality: Chris is a kind spirited young man, who believes strongly in the things his country does, he always tries to lend a helping hand and to do what is asked of him. He believes in his country and he is a proud man. He will however do what he thinks is right. Chris is someone that remembers a lot about his past, but mostly the bad things. Certain situations might trigger a memory that can kill Chris’ mood in one shot.

Hobbies/interests: Military, technology

Skills: Part of his military training involved; surviving behind enemy lines with as little as possible, using a gun and getting muddy.

Weapon of choice: MP5

Biography: Chris was born and raised by his parents in a small town in Futhen. His parents strongly believed in their country’s leader and in anything the country said to them. “The government wouldn’t lie to us. What they tell us is always right and is always the truth. When they do something they do for us and with their best intentions at heart.” Those were some of the lines that his parents used to raise Chris. Chris of course, adapted those thoughts.

When Chris was 16 years old he fell in love for the first time, the girl being about the same age as him wasn’t exceptionally pretty, but… well she was a looker and she didn’t look bad at all. Her personality was amazing as well; she was kind, sweet and… well she was just perfect to him. He thought he had her for his own when they spend time after time together on their own after school and they shared their first kisses, but nothing could be further from the truth. One year later when he was 18 years old, on one day while he was on his way to where they had arranged to meet, he stopped in his tracks and looked in disgust as the girl he thought so highly of and loved was kissing some other guy than him. The girl had spotted him and reached out to him, knowing she was caught, but with a painful look as if she regretted it. Chris had simply smiled wryly and had then turned around, walking away not listening to her pleas to not walk away. She followed him and walked next to him and tried to explain to him, even trying to explain that he forced her too, heart being broken however, he simply kept facing forward and kept walking. The girl starting crying and begged him to listen to her, but Chris couldn’t… he was crying on the inside, he was torn, broken and he couldn’t think about anything else than what he had seen. That moment he vowed that he never would love again, to prevent himself from ever feeling like this again and ever having to go through this.

When school ended that year, Chris decided to drop out. Never wanting to see that girl again, nor being reminded of it, he thought up an excuse, based partly on facts, that would make sure he wouldn’t. He decided that what he learned there wouldn’t help him in any way to help his country or himself. Still nothing ever happened and it bore Chris to no ends. After doing nothing for half a year he grew tired of the town, which had grown into a rather big town and bordering on the size of a city. He decided to put the things he was taught by his parents to good use and as a way to support his country and it’s government, he joined the military one year ago. Chris wasn’t exceptionally skilled and didn’t really rise through any ranks during the time that he was trained and tested. He simply was there to serve his country and while of course he wants to do more and even lead a whole squad in the end, if not more, he is happy with where he is; a simple private and part of a squad under the command of Captain Derek Richards. Having never experienced a war… or even a firefight… he is soon to be tested because he will experience one of the hardest and toughest times he has ever experienced soon enough…

~

Name: Derek Richards
Age: 32
Birthday: December 11th
Gender: Male

Appearance: Typically the kind of guy you don’t want to mess with, Derek has “badarse” written all over him. His hair is red, thick and straight, kept long enough to fall a few inches below the shoulder line and usually tied back at the base of his neck. His eyes, like his face, are hard and unrelenting, daring people to come and mess with him. They are, also, a harsh black color, and for the most part clearly uninviting, even frightening at times. This said, his face is as chiseled and sculptured as is the remainder of his lean, muscular body. His complexion, although naturally fair, is now quite tanned from many extensive years in the military. He stands at 5’10”.

Personality: Derek is, typically, exactly as he appears. Blunt and aggressive, he has a quick temper and goes easily over the top. Nevertheless, he is stubborn to a fault, making his levels of perseverance and determination exceptionally high. That being said, he demands everything he wants to be done exactly to his specifications, and will make certain the man that fails or disregards that is appropriately (perhaps even more than so) disciplined for it. Still, though he maintains exceptionally high expectations for himself and his men, he is fair and not liable to punish a man who does not deserve it, unless the situation is ‘unique.’

Hobbies and Interests: Besides chess and training, he takes interest in little else. On occasion he has been known to sit down and play a few games of cards with his men over—what else?—cigarettes and alcohol, though he keeps his own indulgences on a short, tight leash. Along with this! It is not that uncommon for him to engage his men in a few sports—soccer, football and baseball being the favorites, even though he still remains the laughing stock in baseball.

Skills: Adept in handling all sorts of handguns, he is a skilled marksman and also is capable of some remarkable handiwork and fighting with a variety of knives and shorter blades. He has an irrefutable grasp on pinpointing directions and has considerable talent in tracking down prey, both animal and human. Speaking of, although he finds it far from flattering, he is known amongst his men for being a notorious dog whisperer, and is able therefore to handle even the most difficult of them with remarkable ease. This being said, he makes use of extreme strategy-composition on a daily basis and is deft in achieving results within a given time and situation.

On a normal level, he knows little besides how to scavenge and cook, conceal himself and use his environment. Of the simpler things of life, he never had the time to learn.

Weapon of Choice: Handguns, usually of the Beretta or Springfield variety, although he has a fondness for the old Smith & Wesson line, though they are far from productive or a weapon of choice on the battlefield. As mentioned before, knives and blades are also a specialty, and he is known to carry at least three upon his person at any given time.

Biography: Few know the past of this man, as—to be quite truthful—he knows very little as well. The first portion of his life was spent as an orphan, with no knowledge of his heritage, birthplace, or if he even had a family to return to someday. Yet upon the age of 15 he was released from the orphanage in which he’d grown up and went off in search of making a living for himself—this proving much easier said than done.

Amidst countless firings from jobs—not because he could not get them all done, but partially because of his flaring temper and lack of patience—he eventually gave up on finding a means to support himself through the labor force altogether. Instead, he scavenged and lived off the streets, finding such a life far easier to his tendencies. It was during this time that he began to take once more the interest of his past, and took to the searching down of his family like a fish to water. Most of the time he ended up in trouble more often than not, even getting thrown into prison for a year due to breaking and entering on the intention of pilfering confidential government information.

In the end, however, he hit gold.

His family, it turns out, was made up of a long line of military men and women who had been in every division of the armed forces one could possibly encroach upon. With this knowledge firmly in his grasp, he took up—not his last name—but instead the name of the man that was his grandfather, and greatest inspiration to him of all the family he’d uncovered: Richard.

Not long after he did what he could and raced off to join the army, which rejected him twice before he finally was able to make it in at the age of 22. Once there, things were as though he’d been inserted into his own personal war. He did not get along with others, not at all. However, due to his great efforts in becoming the best man he could be for any job they had for him, he slowly began to pick up on the nuances of army life, and made—for the first time—friends and not merely enemies.

Oh, and he had quite a few enemies. That was a guarantee. But with them came those that could stand his ubiquitous, aggressive personality—such as Private Burke, who he met when at the rank of Sergeant. Their meeting was one of those streaks of good will that showed he had more than just fiery passion in him, and set him up to regret his decency for the next countless number of years. Why? Because the dang kid followed him everywhere!

In Derek’s mind, this was the most terrible thing to ever have happened. Where others had tried the same, they could not find the persistence that Burke managed. Over time, of course, he was raised eventually to Captain’s level, and with him, Burke followed, now a Lieutenant under his command and most trusted officer. It was a mutual compromise, certainly. But pleasant enough.

Unfortunately, one thing did taint him from joining the army of Futhen. From the very first, even on the day of his signing up, people mistook his self-appropriated last name and called him ‘Derek Richards.’ While at first he vehemently riled away against them for such an insult to his inspiration, the additional letter stuck, so much so that before long he himself gave in and began too to write the additional ‘s’ at the end of his name. That, however, was just the beginning.