Lie scowled and shook his head as yet another woman fell to her knees in the red dust. They little party had been walking for days, trying vainly to find their way to the nearest human civilization. These little ‘towns’ were few and far between, and making the long journey through the treacherous wilderness was too much for some, especially children and women. He sighed and helped the girl up; she was only twenty or so, but her face was lined with grief and her bright blue eyes were sunken and lifeless.

People shouldn’t have to live like this… The government could help them, Lie knew it. They were all probably sitting comfortably in their own little houses somewhere, enjoying their little experiments while everyone else was left to die. No one really knew what went on within the government’s hypothetical walls, but all the poor people living on the land and what they could scavenge certainly made the bunch sound really awful. Human experiments, artificial intelligence… None of this was really necessary, yet, according to most, these needless things were what the government was pouring the last bits of money into. There was no need for any of that anymore; the money should just be eradicated. The only thing humans as a whole should be focusing on was rebuilding, but that just wasn’t happening for some reason.

Lie suddenly sat down, ignoring the looks of the other refugees around him. He had finally made his decision. No more would he wander aimlessly, hoping to make a better life for himself. No, he would go to the government and tear them down, bit by bit, then he himself would foresee the rebuilding of cities and the earth’s population. He would be seen as a hero, but, more than that, he could make a life possible for any wife or children he may have, though he didn’t see that happening any time soon.

Yes, this was a good idea. Lie’s lips curled delicately into a small smile and he stood, looking up at the hot sun to tell what direction to go in. He knew government headquarters was due east, so he struck off in that direction, his once empty heart full of grim determination. He would not fail this mission; he could not fail.

----------------------------------Zylan Royce

Living in the town was like living in a place that war covered during the war, the apocalypse. It was as though the small town was covered by a glass dome. Well, aside from the wasteland that was around them, and the dirty, dusty ground. The town had rebuilt itself from the ground up, striving to make a better place for everyone. There were very few towns left on the earth with survivors, and their children. Most men had died to save their families, giving the women and children to the government for protection when they fought in the longest, most destructive war in the history of earth. It was now the year 20 PA, or post-apocalypse. It had been twenty years since the war, the end of the world, and the majority of the people still alive where the children saved by the government. These people were luck to be alive. After all, they could have been dead like the rest of the people.

The government had set up a one-world government, beginning in 2981 AD. All of the United Nations had band together to create a central way of living. Naturally, that wasn't acceptable. And so, the war began. The war had last into the third millennia, nearly all the way through the year 3000. But in the end, it had turned from nuclear warfare and ended up destroying civilization as it had been known. There were approximately 60 survivors, not including children, from each side, the rebellion, and the government. Zylan Royce had been on the government's side, as well as his mother and older sister. Of course, he was just an infant then, so he had barely known about the war that had plagued humanity for nearly 20 years.

He had been sheltered, while the world was about destroyed in battle. He has grown up in a facility, built for safety, his whole life. That was all he could remember. His sister, only five years older, however? She had known the war much more. She had been thrust into knowledge she was far too young to understand. She had watched as innocent people of the rebellion were turned away from their sheltered world, only to die. It made no sense, none at all. These were people too, innocent people. It had only taken another 6 years before Nylia had committed suicide, age eleven.

Zylan, only five at the time of his sister's death, watched on as his mother self destructed herself for years before passing away when the boy turned 15. Ten years of watching someone suffer a loss so tragic had its way on the young boy's heart, and it made him cold. Cold minded, cold hearted. And by the age of twenty, in the year 20 PA, Zylan was a member of the government's research labs, working on creating and regulating human test subjects to be more durable for the world outside. After all, it was a dangerous place. It was almost like brainwashing, what he did, but he believed every word he told the patients. 'The government is always there for you. We are all happy here. The rebels are still out there. With our help, we can stop them from destroying the world again. We will make the world a better place.'

In his dark pants, made from government issue fibers, and his white, government issued shirt, Zylan was the perfect picture of what a government follower could be. He was wealthy, as far as people in the world could be, ate the best preserved food substances, and drank real water. People looked up to him, girls wanted to date him, and he was always on the line to be bumped up, or promoted. To Zylan, he was just fortunate enough to have a mother and father who were smart enough to choose the government's side. That was all he had known, and he liked it that way.

Lie shivered under the shining midnight moonlight; the world was hot in the daytime, but quite cool at night, considering a lot of the atmosphere had been burned away when the atomic bombs had gone off. He broke into a slow run, steadily moving faster as he realized how much warmer it kept him. In only a few minutes he was bounding across the flat, dusty land in great bounding strides, lean muscles and sinew bunching and rippling beneath his pale skin. His breathing barely sped up; years of making a living all by himself in this wasteland had made him tougher than steel.

Lie had been born two years after the war had ended, making him eighteen now. His parents had both died soon after he was born; they were too stubborn to join the government, and so had died of ‘mysterious circumstances’ when Lie was only six years old. He was then raised by the members of a tiny colony close to where Ontario had been. The city, of course, had been completely destroyed before the war had even ended, leaving the land as bare and ugly as the rest of the world. It took nearly fifteen years, but the inhabitants of this little settlement had finally decided to seek government protection, and Lie had went with them. But now he had something new to do, and he was thrilled.

The overly bright sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon when Lie thought that he should probably sleep, but a few minutes of lying around restlessly told him this wasn’t going to happen. He regained his former pace once more, and soon saw the relatively large city begin to appear before him. Here was where the government resided; here was where Lie would get his sweet revenge.

Lie had overheard a few of his village companions talking about a secret way into the government city; a network of underground tunnels to smuggle outsiders into the town. As far as he knew, these hadn’t been discovered, so this is the way he would get into the city. He doubted the government would let someone like him into their ‘perfect’ society; he was shirtless and shoeless, and his long silver hair was unkempt and dull. He hadn’t bathed in weeks, and it was starting to get on his nerves… Maybe there would be a place to stay in the city. He could only hope they’d accept someone as unseemly as him.

It was around midday when Lie reached the outskirts of the city. He was getting less strange looks than he thought he would; perhaps he didn’t need that secret entrance after all? No, he could do without. If only he could find a place to wash himself up…then maybe he would be able to get into the center of the city, where the government was sure to be hiding. He strode aimlessly around the fringes of the city, until he finally came across a little motel. After a short argument with the man behind the front desk, he secured himself a shower and a wash for his pants. He then walked back to the room the man had pointed out, quite looking forward to the quick reprieve from the skin-cracking dryness he was so used to.

It didn’t take Lie long to finish his shower, and he got out, though he was a little sad to be doing so. He hadn’t been thins clean in ages, and he quite enjoyed it. He dried himself and wrapped his now damp towel around his waist, then inspected himself in the mirror above the sink. His silver hair was now shining in the artificial light, and his strange, heterochromic eyes glared back at him with a burning intensity he hadn’t seen there before. His eyes were one thing Lie was very proud of; one was tawny gold, while the other was a bright orange, giving his face a strange, alien look. His features were quite striking now that they were free of grime; he had high cheekbones and slightly slanted, almond shaped eyes, which, along with the long hair, gave him a sense of masculine beauty that was rather hard to find these days.

Soon after this little self-examination, Lie heard a knock at the door and went to get his pants. They were black and plain and showed off his pale skin quite well. He thanked the motel owner and went to sit on the floor, waiting for his shoulder length hair to dry a little before venturing out, back into the almost sandy streets. He set off with long, deliberate strides, reaching the center of the little city as night was just about to fall. He inspected the world around him; most of these buildings were obviously for the governments use, and that offered plenty of targets for his revenge attempt.

Several minutes later, Lie had selected his building of choice. He could see a man moving around inside, perhaps making himself dinner… Lie could not see if anyone else in the house, but he didn’t really plan on hurting this man; just getting a little information. After a quick examination of all the entrances, he found the front door to be unlocked, and raised an eyebrow. Well, these government folk were pretty confident, weren’t they? He shook his head and entered the house, his bare feet making no noise on the hard floors.

It wasn’t long before Lie could hear the man moving around inside his home; there was obviously no one else in the house, as Lie’s acutely sensitive nose could only smell one distinct person. He took several deep breaths, then strode confidently into what he assumed to be the kitchen. His voice was low and dangerous as he spoke to the man with his back facing the door.

“Hello sir… I assume you work for the government? I have a few questions for you…”

--------

((This is, of course, assuming that Zylan lives in a place like this... If not, then just kind of change the house in your post. I wanted to get the characters together as quickly as possible. :3 ))

Zylan's shirt had been unfastened as he walked along the cold floors of his vacant home. The kitchen was bright white, with lots of black. His counters were black, as well as all the furniture that one needed and received from living in the governed city. He felt lucky to have this place in the beginning,but he soon grew used to it and took the space for granted. After all, his home was rather shabby, as far as government worker homes went. The place was only about two storied, the walls thick enough to keep noise out and conversation in, but not thick enough to stop a bullet. But that wasn't an issue. Bullets were a thing in the past, when the war still raged outside the walls. Now that the rebels were mostly decimated, there was no need for most safety procedures. After all, no one in the city would ever think to try and harm a government official, if they knew what was good for them.

Crime was punished highly and publicly. Anyone who committed a crime was sentenced to public humiliation, and the worse the crime went up, the higher the penalty. The highest penalty was on people who were hateful to the government. They were to be punished by death. After all, a perfect city did not need imperfections in it. The city was not ready for another war, therefor the rules had to be strict. Zylan lived by the rules. Rules were what kept order. A necessary thing. Whoever broke them deserved what they had coming to them. No matter who they were. Say, for instance, the month previous? A government official was caught stealing information from the research lab and was sentenced to torture and death. Even though crime was not high anymore, there was no telling what someone could do with the information they might steal. It was later found out that the man had simply wanted to work more on his own, but nevertheless, that was covered up and the man was written off as a rebel sympathizer.

Mulling about his kitchen, drinking his water, Zylan was looking for a quick snack. Something easy, something not messy, something that would fill him up without requiring any real effort. Most of the food in the utopian city was made of capsules that one simply had to add water and heat to make a full meal, but Zylan simply did not want to wait to have the food heat up. Instead, he was just about to chose a meal supplement when he heard footsteps enter his usually quiet home.

Turning around as a man began to speak, Zylan's hand landed on his call. The call was made to be a protection device that all members of government had to protect themselves. It was made to signal authorities if there was ever a situation the person felt threatened. Wrapping his head around the question asked, the male began to debt wether this was a situation to alert authorities or not. After all, the man would probably be armed. And if he wasn't he still might be a rebel trained in hand to hand combat. After all, this intruder was certainly not a city member. The man did not have any identifying marks of identification. The usual city member, aside from gov't members, had a tattoo on the side of their neck with their ID number. This man did not.

"Who are you, why are you in my house?" Zylan's words were tense, harsh, but still calm and cool.

Lie smirked at the man in front of him. He didn’t look too dangerous, but Lie certainly didn’t want a fight. He sat on the ground, hoping to show that he was not here to exchange blows. Information first, destroying later; he knew this was the best way to go. He wouldn’t be any help to his people if his was captured or killed before he could do anything about the government.

Lie’s strangely colored eyes narrowed slyly, and he resisted the urge to smile. How dumb was this guy? Obviously, Lie wasn’t going to tell the man who he was or what he wanted; that was practically suicide, and Lie couldn’t die just yet.

“Why am I in your house? I think you should figure that out yourself. I’m not going to hurt you, so you can just leave anything that might alert anyone else alone. I don’t want to be interrupted.” His cool eyes scanned his surroundings, liking the city less and less every second. It was too cold, too hard, nothing like the warm colored plains he was used to. He snorted; everything was just to urban. More color, more heat.

“Give me your name, master, and I shall give you mine.” Lie stared up at the man, wondering how long it would take for his gaze to make the man uncomfortable. He let his eyes wander to the man’s chest and stomach. He was attractive enough, but, in Lie’s opinion, his own body was much more desirable than this government pawn in front of him.

((D: Fail.))

The intruder sat down, making himself comfortable in a place he didn't belong. Just like a typical rebel. But the man clearly wasn't armed with a weapon. Zylan was certainly not comfortable with the intruder, that was made clear as he ran his finger over the button, ready to press it at any time. However, Zylan was trained with rebel fighting styles. After all, he worked with a rebel who turned into a government test subject when caught lingering a little too close to the city. And now one of them was in his home. He would definitely make a point to talk about increasing security around the city.

As the other man spoke, Zylan noticed that he was surveying the wall coveted home. Sure, everything was very black and white, but it was clearly lived in. There were documents and coffee mugs from before the apocalypse all over the place. They were documents with people's names on them, rebels who might still be out there. And if this man got his greasy rebellious hands on them, Zylan was sure to be in a lot of trouble.

"My name is not your concern. After all, you are the intruder." His voice was more harsh that it had been before as his finger kept pressed just enough to not call the authorities, but enough that he could in an instant that he felt threatened. "Royce. You may call me Royce. And yes, I am a government official. And you are clearly a rebel. So what makes you believe you can get away from my house unscathed?"

He took a step forward, showing that he was not afraid of the man. After all, he had no need to be. In a fight, Zylan was sure he would win. He was tactical, intelligent, quick. All those things made him a formidable opponent. The only downfall to Zylan was that he was a little too cocky. Despite being a bit on the cold hearted side, he could also be a little too caring at times. That would not be his downfall, though. He was positive of it.

He decided that he would let the rebel talk his business five minutes, and if the man was not gone by then, he would alert the authorities. Simple and clean as though. Though, he did not have to make any eye contact with the clock. The government had replaced one of his eyes with a digital one after he lost sight in one eye from an explosion.

Lie’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. “Rebel? You dare call me a rebel after all your government has done to me?” He stood and straightened his back, standing a good deal taller than the man in front of him. “Your ‘government’ killed my parents and left me to die at six years old. I wouldn’t be in this crap hole if it weren’t for that. Don’t you dare look down on me, and don’t think for a second that you could beat me in a fight. I know all the tricks, all the moves, everything.” His voice was quiet and colder than ice. “And if you push that button, I’ll kill you before you can blink, even if it means I get killed. And that’s a promise.”

It wasn’t hard for Lie to figure out his situation; he had no idea if there was a button at all, but there had to be some way for this shrimp to alert the higher powers that an intruder was in his home. That was a given in a society like this. Lie was quite proud of his deduction skills, and they came in handy rather frequently in the situations he got himself into.

((Arrg, short. Sorry, I have a bad headache right now...))