With that eight pairs of eyes came to rest on me, there was five women and three guys. As I was looking them over Max walked in.

"Well, well look what the rats dragged in."

In response many of them greeted him back with one liners and middle fingers, which he responded with a light laugh. Erik slowly introduced them after they settled down, from right to left the girl sitting on the chair is named Emily. On the couch was the three guys Derek, Andrew, and Alex. On the loveseat to the right of the couch was a pair of twins sitting beside eachother named Jessica and Jasmine, apparently they go by JJ when together. Finally the two standing behind the couch were Sandra and Rose.

After the simple introduction Erik told me how these guys were all part of his squad when he was a mercenary. When they parted ways they laid down some plans in case of a terrorist attack or a heavy riot, I guess alien invasion wasn't in the plans at the time but it still worked out. The whole squad wasn't here yet, apparently there was five more but they are a bit farther out so it would take them another day or two to get here. At that point I asked "Why gather here?" to which Erik brought me downstairs to the gym.

Looking around I didn't see anything special until he and Max grabbed a end of the practice mat and pulled it up to reveal a hidden door. Beside the door was a key panel that he proceeded to punch a code into and opened up the door, only to reveal a stairway that lead to a hidden armory. I stared in shock as I look around to see shelfs full of weaponry from handguns to a.s.sault rifles, on the walls there is all types of melee weapons from combat knives to modified baseball bats. After looking around for several minutes I finally calm down enough to look at Erik and wait for an explanation.

"Look I never actually stopped being a mercenary, its it's just after mom and dad pa.s.sed I took on a government contract for a ainterriost response squad. Basically if a foreign country launched an attack on Canada my squad would provide urban tactical support. In return me and my squad got a decent payment every month and we got to build several private supply spots. The biggest weaponry supply depot we have is right here, downtown in a abandoned warehouse is our squad's garage with several tactical vehicles. Right now though I'm not to worried about the government so much, all this can help us get a step up in the new world. We both know your not normal like other people so I was gonna tell you after you graduated high school, guess there isn't a need to wait anymore. Welcome to the squad code named Wolf Pack little brother."

"Brandon, does he know?"

"Yup he is also a member but he prefers to stay busy, that's why he took a job at the factory but only works eight hours four days a week."

Nodding my head some things started to fit together properly, I noticed some weird things in the past but I never really tried to dig into it.

Erik walked over to the guns and did a quick glance over the inventory to make sure everything was as it should be. He looked over at me and continued his explanation.

"I taught you to fight, shoot, and hunt. Now you get to put all that to use, when the game really starts we won't just sit back and watch our world get taken from us. Humans have evolved to go to war, now we get to use that to our advantage against anything thrown at us."

With a smile he lead me back upstairs where Brandon joined in the meeting going on in the living room. When he saw me he just smiled at me with the same gentle smile, but it felt different now that I know that he knew the real me all this time but wasn't afraid. I always worried when he found out about my darker urges he would be disgusted or terrified of me. I smiled back wiping tears from my eyes knowing no matter what my brothers have always stood by me loving me for who I really am.

Erik patted my back and he went to stand front and center again.

"Ok people here is the plan. We use this remaining time to improve as much as possible so that when we fight the enemy won't overpower us. Brandon got a map with other species deployment information, were gonna use this information to launch a preemptive attack on the weaker races before they establish a foothold. Once the game starts out first objective is to complete the overlord task as soon as possible. This will give us a advantage to get even stronger right from the start and let us achieve the other task faster."

Looking around to make sure everyone is paying attention, he nods and continues

"We also have things to do before the game starts as well. First we need to loot some stores for more food and water, our supplies will last us for a while but more is better than less especially if we take on other survivors later on. Before that though we need to be on the lookout and on guard, at least two people at the house at all times and no one goes out alone. Secondly we need to get at least two of our vehicles over here to have a steady means of secured transportation. Thirdly we need to keep the law at least in this neighborhood, our homebase can't be in chaos. Remember we still have people coming so keep an eye out when you go on runs. Lastly if you notice people grouping together and becoming violent note down where, when, and how many. Mankind won't last if garbage is ruling the streets, we will take down any problems before they reach the point of no return."

With that he ended the meeting and started to catch up with his squad mates. All of them were curious about me, apparently they have met Brandon a few times and have heard all about me. I was a little overwhelmed at first but they were all like Erik, easy to talk to and accepting of me as a new member to their squad. Some of the girls were spoiling Frost, apparently they loved the look of her scales which had an almost snowflake like pattern to it. She resisted at first but they obviously knew about her beforehand and came prepared with treats. I shook my head as she got spoiled silly.

After an a couple hours we hand dinner Sandra made spaghetti, she had a bunch of cooking equipment that you would use for camping and set up in the backyard. Apparently she was the squad chef because most of the others could only make instant noodles. Everyone joked around as we ate the good food when it hit me.

"How are you gonna get the vehicles over here most of our tech was fried in the radiation wave, now that I think about it how did you get the generator working?"

It was one of the twins Jessica I think that answered me.

"The vehicles all had EMP proofing, same with your house's generator. That's why it probably only took Erik switching out a few parts to get the emergency system we built into your house up and running. Plus if any of the vehicles don't work we have the parts and tools to fix them up at the garage."

Turns out the twins were the squad's mechanic and weapons technician. Anything that you needed modified or improved they could do it. Looking around I asked what the others specialized in. Emily was the logistics expert she organized and maintained the squads equipment, she was also the one of the scouts. Derek and Andrew were demolition experts if you needed something blown up they were your guys. Alex on the other hand was the squad's medic he specializes in trauma injuries.

The twins learned about vehicles from their dad's garage as kids and with their smarts they wound up studying at MIT until they were scouted by the military. That is until they meet Erik and decided to follow him because of the extended freedom. Sandra was another scout and studied culinary arts before enlisting because of personal reasons, she was scouted by Erik after a joint operation between his mercenary group and the army. Rose was the squad's communication technician and she was in charge of making sure we were able to call for help.

After they told me about what they were good at I was amazed. They all had a role, which lead me to ask about Max's and my brothers' roles. Max just grinned and told me he was the sniper and was in charge of babysitting the squad which lead to a round of insults from the others. Brandon apparently went through heavy weapons training, everything from mounted machine guns to rocket launchers. Finally there was Erik and everyone just said he was the squads squad leader and apparently a jack of all trades. Erik just shrugged saying he didn't want to run into a situation where he couldn't do anything. I was still puzzled though and asked how he was able to become a squad leader so young and even became contracted by the government over such a short time.

He explained how he did most of his first two years on peacekeeping missions until the higher ups decided to put him in special forces. He never did it for his country so when a private military group tried scouting him a year after he joined special forces he accepted. By twenty-five he was a squad leader and a year later he already established his squad as one of the best until the accident with our parents. With the squads consent he accepted the government contract because it let him come home and take care of me. During the last year he also had Brandon join the squad and had the government put him through a heavy weapons training program which he completed three months ago. The plan was to just relax until I graduated, then he would have trained me and in all likelihood gone back to fighting in wars until we got enough money to retire wealthy.

With everything explained we put the past behind us as we cleaned up dinner and got everyone settled down in either empty rooms, the game room, or in the bas.e.m.e.nt with extra beds they pulled out from the armory's storage area which had emergency supplies. Finally the day was over and I was exhausted, hoping into my bed Frost curled up on my chest stuffed from the treats looking rounder than usual. Finally after laying there and thinking about what I learned throughout the day I drifted off to sleep.