How could they have gotten to that situation? How could his world have gone to hell like that? How come no one had been able to prevent it? Why did it have to happend to them? Where was his brother? These and many questions had Tristan gripped, collapsed on the sofa in the living room of his house. He felt very confused but, above all, he felt guilty. He felt that he had failed Luis when he needed him most. He could never forgive himself…

It all started on the night of the so-called Disaster in Seville when his entire life turned into chaos. He remembered watching the television images with his parents squeezing his hands, all with sad faces full of tension. All with a single thought, that of hoping that Luis was okay, that he had found refuge and that nothing was going to happen to him. All attempts to call him had been in vain. They only knew that when the attack began he was in a restaurant in Alameda and that he was fine. Nothing else.

Tristán had told his parents that he wanted to go to Seville for Luis, even if he went with his skateboard, but they flatly refused. Stunned, they watched the arrival of the new spaceship and the turn the battle took. He remembered everyone going out to the garden to watch the sky. It did not stop being illuminated by the beams of lights, the explosions and the fighter planes and unknown spaceships traveling from one side to the other. He didn’t remember anymore. The next thing he saw was his mother’s worried face the next day with tears streaming down her face and giving thanks that he was okay.

They had told him that when there was the great burst of blue energy in the sky, caused by the mysterious large armor that emerged from the spaceship that arrived to attack 2012 UA, he started shouting Luis’s name with his eyes rolling and white to fell dead on the ground after. The doctor who had treated him, one of his neighbors, since the hospitals and medical centers were overwhelmed by those injured in the tragedy, had told them that it had been an episode of traumatic stress. He said that Tristan was just a teenager, that he was still very impressionable, and that what had happened in Seville had been too hard for him. Especially not knowing if his brother was alive or not.

Tristan was irritated by his words but he had to recognize his weakness, for whatever reason he had lost consciousness and had not been able to help look for Luis when the battle ended, not the next day or any day. His parents had forbidden him to leave the house. That had mortified him and had increased his state of anxiety. Well, every day that he passed without news from Luis made him feel like something inside him was breaking down. That helplessness also caused him a lot of anger. And even more so since the night before he had heard the news of his father’s investigation.

He arrived late at night, when they thought he was already asleep. He could hear the voices and decided to leave his room and go down several steps of the stairs to listen to his parents’ conversation. He could see the tension and nerves in the atmosphere, especially for his mother, who was devastated, although his father looked very, very tired, like he had never seen before. He was just recounting his whereabouts…

‘Isabel, please calm down. This way we’re not going to get anything clear,’ Guillermo tried to reassure her.
‘How do you want me to calm down? Our son is still missing and you tell me that you haven’t discovered anything yet,’ she replied reproachfully.
‘That’s not exactly right, you’re not letting me finish. Let’s see, calm down and listen. I’m going to start from the beginning, again…’

<<You already know that until today it had not been possible to go to any of the areas affected by the battle. I got the permits thanks to a friend in the Policía Nacional and tried to get to Alameda. There were many areas cordoned off, believe me, you can’t imagine how it turned out, everything is devastated. At first I had no problems accessing it, but when I tried to get closer to the part where Los Viajeros restaurant was located, I found a perimeter fenced by a wall. I couldn’t see what was on the other side and when I tried to go through security access they denied me passage. The thing is that when I identified myself as a retired colonel from the Air Force, the soldiers told me that it was the same, that the operation was not being directed by the Army. Which surprised me a lot, when in other parts of the city I had seen how our soldiers were taking care of all the remains.

Desperate, I managed to get on one of the transports that was going back to the Morón Air Base. There, after waiting more than an hour and a half I was finally able to speak with Colonel Hidalgo, looks like that Juan was injured during the battle and that he was hospitalized. After explaining my situation to Colonel Hidalgo, he understood me immediately and was also surprised by what I had told him. After making some calls, he revealed to me that apparently someone in high command had ordered that the management of the “hottest” points of the battle be in charge of a private security company named Blackfire Security. It is a private military company, come on, mercenaries to give you an idea. They have been used in Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, Africa and in Asia by many countries. It is one of the most important, from what I have learned they have their own mobile fleet of combat vehicles, both land, air and sea.

The point is that after insisting that I needed to access the place where Los Viajeros was located, Colonel Hidalgo ended up assigning me a special authorization signed by General Echevarría and two military police soldiers to serve as my escort.

I returned with them to the Alameda and, although those at the security entrance put on a bad face, they had no choice but to let us through after reporting it to whoever was giving them orders. The very rude people made me sign with my fingerprint and give them my information to be able to pass. Anyway Isabel, when I arrived at the restaurant my heart sank. Everything was in ruins. The structure of the building was barely standing, but the entire façade had collapsed. There was a large team of technicians working there. I asked if they had found survivors but no one wanted to tell me anything. I only managed to find out that it was top-level classified information.

In front of the restaurant was a large crater and debris from what appeared to be one of the alien ships. I wanted to get closer to see them better and question more technicians, but a Blackfire officer arrived and told me that we couldn’t continue there. He was accompanied by six guards with assault rifles and grim faces. It was no use showing him the authorization signed by General Echevarría or my escort, they invited us out almost with their guns pointed at us. I’m really going to have to talk seriously to someone about this issue, I find it outrageous that a company of dirty mercenaries has been allowed to take charge of the security of key points in the battle of Seville>>.

‘Oh my God. So there is still hope that Luis is hospitalized,’ said Isabel, trying to sound convincing.
‘Yes darling, we can’t lose faith in our son now. And you, have you had any more news from Eva’s mother?’
‘Well the truth is that yes, but it is very strange. She wrote me a message telling me that she thought she had found one of Luis and Eva’s friends and that she would call me when she had spoken to him. But she hasn’t told me anything, I have called her several times and her cell phone appears disconnected.’
‘It’s very strange, although she may have run out of battery. Tomorrow try again please. In any case, I am going to request a complete list of the health care centers and we will split up to visit them starting tomorrow. And when we finish we will have to do the same at the points of…’
‘Don’t even mention it Guillermo! I know Luis is still alive, I’m his mother!’

At that point Tristan got up and ran back to his room to sink into his bed while he couldn’t stop crying…

That morning his parents had left early and left him alone. Since then he had not stopped watching the information on television and all the updates that were being made through social media. At that same moment he was talking with several friends from Seville, who were also looking for lost friends and family.

He had all his attention on writing on his cell phone when the sound of the doorbell brought him abruptly back to the reality of his house. He got up quickly with his heart pounding, hoping that it was Luis who had managed to get home but had lost the keys.

When he reached the intercom, he saw a stocky, shaven man wearing black military clothing, although from the screen he could not distinguish which unit he belonged to.

‘Who are you?’
‘Is this the address of Luis Oden?’ asked the man with a serious accent.
‘Yes, what does you want?’
‘You see, I have information about him and I wanted to talk to his family…’
‘Come in, come in, I’ll open it right now’ Tristan said, rushing as he spoke.

Immediately he pressed the button to open the outside door and ran towards the door of his house. When he arrived he waited for the doorbell to ring and opened it. His surprise was enormous when he found three men, instead of just the one he had seen on the intercom.

‘Hello, thank you very much for letting us in. You are Luis Oden’s brother, right? Are your parents not here?’ Asked the shaved man incisively.
‘Yes and no, my parents have gone to Seville to see if they could find him. What information do you have?’ Tristan asked as he carefully observed the man from top to bottom.

Suddenly all his alarms went off. Both he and the other two who accompanied him were wearing black military clothing and were armed with pistols, which were holstered. On the clothing was an insignia that he did not recognize as any belonging to the Spanish army. But what alerted him most was the name on the badge: Blackfire.

‘Would you mind letting us in, we would like to talk to you,’ the man asked kindly.
‘Yes, of course, there is no problem…’ Tristan began to say.

Instantly he crouched down while holding his right arm, as he had done so many other times when training with Luis in martial arts, and he brought his fist down with all his strength into the man’s lower parts. Just as his knuckles impacted, he turned his waist to immediately launch a kick, which hit the man’s knee, and which helped him gain momentum and run into the house.

The man fell to the ground, holding one of his hands to his crotch amidst lamentations and before the astonished gaze of his companions. He glared at them as he activated a communicator that he wore in his ear.

‘To all units, intervene! Take the target alive!’ He shouted at the top of his voice.

Tristan arrived at the living room trying to think at top speed. He was interrupted when the glass of the sliding door that led to the garden and pool exploded. Immediately he saw three figures with assault equipment appear and head towards him. He ran towards the kitchen, closing the door behind him. He had to get out of there and tell his parents. There was a telephone there, he could remember. He picked it up but there was no signal, they had cut the line. Terrified, he grabbed a ham cutting knife and tried to head towards the kitchen door that led to the garden. But in a moment it was open due to a heavy kick and two other commandos appeared. He turned to try to leave the way he had entered. The exit was occupied by another man who was pointing some kind of gun at him.

He wanted to scream with all his might. But he couldn’t do it. He felt two stabs in his chest and instantly he screamed in pain and arched as he felt electricity run through his body. He fell to his knees on the floor and began to convulse until his glassy eyes closed. Not before seeing that burly, shaven man look at him with a look of hatred again.