There is no brand, no company, or anything of the sort behind this piece. This is me, a person the same as the rest of you speaking up about a catastrophe.
I was following the scene in case wounded needed help, and for the report, like any other reporter. It's easy for us to say it'll happen to the next guy. Never me, only the man or woman next to me. But it can happen to you. My legs were like cement when I saw one of those brothers clear a city block and a half to run me down in just three or so seconds. You think you can take a punch until you meet someone who can throw one. To the mysterious stranger who was there and saved my life today. Thank you, and I hope you managed to get away safely as well. Words cannot express how grateful I am to you. The only reason I am alive today, get to write this article today, get to see my family today, is because I got lucky that someone with the means to do good did so for me.
So many other people doing similar things were not.
Today, June seventh, 2030, a wide-scale terrorist attack was carried out in New York City. Two brutish, blue men by the name of The Break Brothers coordinated an attack on Vantage, as well as many of the New York citizenry in Times Square. They arrived on scene armed and dangerous, announced their presence, and all hell broke loose.
The exact reasoning can only be speculated as of right now. But I am certain it was more than one, at least.
The CEO of Vantage made a statement that this was purely to keep us in fear. To some extent he's right. It hasn't even been two weeks since the attack, and now another mass casualty event has taken place.
Having been on the scene of the catastrophe myself, I can say for certain that bloodlust was a reason too. Those villains were killing people and laughing about it.
I'm sure, in some way, someone made some money off this. These are the things we know with certainty.
But I know there was more to it than that. As a journalist, it's poor of me to make such a baseless statement. But I can feel it in my gut. There was a reason for this, and the average person does not know what it was.
These "Brothers," evil and cruel as they are, are intelligent. It's a horrifically dangerous combination, and it is also why I cannot fathom them throwing themselves into such a deadly scuffle for fun and the instillation of fear in New York. They were after something. Not knowing what it is, whether they got it or not, or if my hunch is even right is what's got me shaken.
Several officers and a number of innocents were brutally murdered today. I won't describe what it looked like. For those who saw it, they can't unsee it. Trust me.
The Vantage building was blown apart, and went up in flames. According to the statement, forty-three people at Vantage alone passed away in the attack. But the death toll is much higher than that if we include the civilians and officers killed for the sake of it by vile, evil men who were running off bloodlust alone by the end of it.
I know we are all feeling unified, and a strong sense of togetherness is warranted given the events of the last week and a half. But please be smart. There were dozens of civilians on scene today who were impeding the cops, the heroes, and their own livelihoods. I would know, at the end of the day, I was one of them.
I'll say it again. I know we all have a strong sense of unity following the attack at the end of May. Standing outside staring into the window of Manhattan Hospital's Room 909. That's good. Be there for each other like Last Light said, but don't do what happened here today. Help rebuild a broken city. Dedicate yourself to a hospital or volunteer work. Donate blood. Cook your family a homemade breakfast in the morning so that if they HAVE to run, they have all the strength to do so. Just do good for the people you have the means to do good for. But do not charge at a man five times your size and ten times your muscle density thinking you're invincible.
The sad reality is you are not.
New York City, I am afraid. I imagine many of you are too. But that's okay. Fear means we are human, fear means we are loved, and fear means we want to fight hard the next day for our own, and others', lives. That is why when we are afraid, we must also learn to be brave.
Please, be brave for yourselves, for each other, and for the men, women, and children who were brave today in their final moments.
In loving memory, we mourn for all of you.
"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. I felt fear myself more times than I can remember, but I hid it behind a mask of boldness. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."
-Nelson Mandela