The Change came silently, and yet, somehow, a sleeping figure managed to wake just moments before it hit. Maybe it was instinct, honed by years of intruding into places she wasn’t welcome in and doing things nobody was allowed to know, maybe it was simple coincidence, a result of having a little too much tea after dinner.

Either way, when blue flames started to flare up on the curtains, those instincts honed by years of active duty to a country she eventually betrayed took over, pushing her into motion. The unknown intruded into her familiar routine, normally a sign that something was going wrong. Routine was what kept operatives alive, to be one with their role and not give away that there was something hidden beneath that role. The unknown could easily mean that the role was shattered and that could easily lead to a trip into custody, interrogation and, eventually, a quiet execution and burial in an unmarked grave.

The woman now known as Wu Chunhua had managed to avoid those slings and arrows throughout her career, even managed to eventually “die” in the service while retiring to a comfortable life abroad. Not quite a tropical island, but with a man she still adored after decades of marriage and a job that kept her busy, there was little more one could want from life. Children would have been nice but alas, she had not been blessed with them. Not that the lack of an heir meant she was unable to pass on her skills and knowledge. Just that it wasn’t blood that chose her successor but interest, character and ability.

Knowing her body, the elderly operative noticed the strange current invading it, a small part of her flashing back to her interrogation resistance training and the use of electric shocks, but these currents weren’t the painful shocks of electricity, they were something else. And yet, getting invaded by something foreign was not something she could easily tolerate.

Without information about where the current came from, there was little one could do to evade and so, she tried to push against it with nothing but her will. Trying to will it all away. There was a momentary flicker of something blue within her field of vision but that, too, was pushed away, ignored in favour of the senses she had honed over decades.

Nearby, her husband let out a strangled, pained gasp, the noise making her heart clench in her chest but even with the knife in her hand, there was nothing she could do about this, without knowing what “this” all entailed. Strange, cold and not truly burning flames on the curtains, shedding just a tiny bit of light, even as more flames flared to life. Primal instinct said to run, but primal instinct was stupid and could easily be exploited by opponents, running into the unknown could be even more dangerous than staying put in a familiar position.

Reaching out, she tried to touch her partner, to soothe the obvious pain he was under, only for him to flop over, onto his back, a strangled wail of pain escaping his mouth, his entire body straining against some unseen force. Suddenly, his eyes, those calm, deep-brown eyes she had sometimes gotten lost in, were consumed in a flash of blue fire, leaving nothing but those flickering flames.

Instinct was the only thing that saved her, as she was staring at her husband’s body, her mind reeling. Instinct was what allowed her to dodge aside when a hand tried to strike her, a crude strike but one that was filled with a savage strength, so unlike the controlled movements both she and her husband had mastered and taught to their students.

Instinct was what drove her to counter, to use her attacker’s momentum against him, bring him trying to control her attacker. Her enemy. Instinct was what drove home the realisation that her husband was gone, that only the enemy, a savage beast remained, a savage beast that was trying to kill her.

And yet, instinct couldn’t keep the tears at bay, after she broke her enemy’s neck, the flames flickering out in his eyes, leaving nothing but scorched pits. Scorched pits and a strange, changed body. Subtle changes, but she had lived with the man for decades and been in close, intimate contact with him just as long. She knew his body, just like she knew her own, maybe even a little better. And this thing, it no longer was her husband, even before she had broken its neck.

Confusion, grief, horror and a whole host of negative emotions were taken and packed into a small box, to be dealt with later. The situation didn’t allow for any weakness and in stressful times, emotions were one.

Pushing aside the curtains, a little more light was shed on the situation. The weird, cold flames were now not only covering the curtains but starting to flare up everywhere, even on her own body. They didn’t burn, weren’t even warm, but they gave a strange, tingling sensation, similar to carbonated water, only that it was everywhere, seeping into her body.

Outside, the night was incredibly dark, the only light coming from the weird, blue flames and, much more pressing, from a few actual, normal fires.

With the limited information at hand, the aged operative formulated a plan. Given that there was fire everywhere, the blue fire harmless, the orange, normal fire not so much but that there didn’t seem to be any electrical light, an isolated incident, targeted at her, was discarded in favour of a large-scale incident of unknown nature, possibly an attack with enhanced weaponry of some type. Outside help, while possible, was deemed unlikely in her mind, meaning any plan could only rely on local resources and allies.

The first step of her plan was to collect some additional information, gain some allies and secure a shelter. Moving according to plans a lifetime of paranoid vigilance had spawned right after moving into the area, Wu Chunhua moved outside, keeping an eye out for neighbours or trouble. Whatever had happened to her husband, it was unlikely to be an isolated incident. Not with the way the blue flames were everywhere, the same blue flames that had consumed her husband’s eyes and turned him into a monster.

Maybe it was luck that she ran into one of her neighbours, acting in a similar manner as she did, maybe it was the result of similar habits, formed in the service of another country, with another purpose but formed due to similar circumstances. Few words were needed between the two operatives, just a few glances, signs and the odd gesture, nothing that would give away their position.

Together, the two aged operatives continued on, moving into a small square between the various buildings, gathering more of their neighbours as they went. And taking care of some things that wore their neighbour flesh and bones, setting their bodies to rest as their spirits had long departed.

“Over there,” Wong Chehai, one of the retired soldiers that had made a new life for themselves in the area, called out, gesturing towards one of their neighbours who was desperately trying to escape from one of the monsters.

Another of their companions, two generations younger than the aged operatives and still working as a policeman, pulled out his service sidearm, aiming in a smooth motion before pulling the trigger. A controlled, clean shooting a double tap that hit one in the chest, one in the head. Or it should have, if the weapon hadn’t misfired the second shot, the charge detonating with a pathetic amount of force, barely enough to get the bullet out of the barrel.

Luckily, the first shot was enough, sending the strange monster to the ground and giving the fleeing woman time to escape. To gather, with all the other survivors.

“Gather up, we need to organise,” Wong Chehai called out, his aged voice having lost little of the authority he once wielded.

“We need to make sure our homes don’t burn down, we need to organise supplies and we need to make sure those monsters don’t tear us apart. If you are trained in hand-to-hand combat, join Ms Wu. If you are trained in first-aid, join Ms Sugimori, if you are trained in neither, join Mr Sung.” he commanded and the many people looking for direction in the chaos, did just that. With someone in charge, groups were formed and organised, people were dispatched to keep the trouble contained. Working together, even if nobody truly knew what was going on.

And so, in the middle of chaos and bloodshed, order was formed. Order, created by people who had been forced to get used to chaos and violence, had thought they had long-since escaped. But for the sake of their community, they all were willing to delve back into their old skills, their old mindsets. Because if nothing else, it would keep them alive.