Crumbling

Rafael went home in a rush, holding a small bag with canned food. His mother and sister were preoccupied, yet, got surprised when he arrived.
"That was fast, did you bought everything?" his mom, Andrea, asked while rapidly locking the door behind.
"No, there is almost a war waging outside, this time the ARC's weren't sufficient, so they also called SCU's. I had to run back, hope this will be enough for today" Rafael explained himself.

ARC is an military armor, which enhances the senses and mobility of the user, and also protects him from physical damage. On the streets, there was a group of eight ARC's and three SCU's trying to supress an large amount of civilians armed with all sort of improvised wapons. Actually, it was a massacre, the soldiers were shooting, and even killing them, until they spread out.

"Oh Lord, this should be a pacific sector, and now it's the third insurgency in this week" Andrea complained, almost shaking in anxiety "And your dad and Marcos never come home, what i-"
"It's okay mom, it's okay, they will come back..." Sophie tried to comfort her mom, and then looked to Rafael "right?"
She also wasn't sure about her answer, actually, none of them were sure about anything.
"Well... It's already been a month since the suppose arrival of the Corruptions, but nothing happened. After a week they released a few people of the bunkers for them to work, the city couldn't stop for so long, and then the next week, it was planned to everyone carry on with their lives like nothing ever happened." Rafael sighed "And now, everybody thinks it was all a lie to keep the investments on the Fenix project. We are lucky with only three revolts in our sector, the city is crumbling in favor of overthrowing the government"

Rafael leaned over the wall and sitted on the floor with a sad expression in his face. The room was dark, only being enlighted by a weak lamp on the ceiling; there was small moment of silence, none of them was in the mood to keep talking. Suddenly, quick and intenses hits on the door started, someone was desperately trying to open it, the three stood still, in shock.

After a few seconds, the lock broke, a man showed up, in a regular factory uniform, wearing a gas mask and with a knife. He hastly looked the entrance room, pointed the knife to Andrea, who was closest to him
"You, get up, get up, NOW"
He runned towards her, Andrea was still standing up, trying to process what was happening, when he reached her, roughly grabbed her by the arm. At the same moment, Rafael approached, the man reacted pointing the knife in Rafael's direction: "STAY B-", instantly, Rafael leaped towards the suspect, before he could use Andrea like a shield and also using his arm to prevent the knife.

The man dropped Andrea, and then, him and Rafael fell on the kitchen, Rafael on top, his hand was bleeding, yet he threw two punches on the suspect, who pushed him off, Rafael gasped when hitted his back on the oven. The man, then tried to stab him, Rafael holded his opponent's arm with all the strengh he had, but slowly the knife was approaching him, Sophie, who stood still this whole time in shock screamed "RAFAEL".

A loud noise of a shot and then, silence. Sophie still couldn't move, Andrea was recovering her senses and Rafael was paralyzed, there was blood all over his face, the man stopped pushing the knife against Rafael and fell on the ground. Heavy steps disrupted the brief silence, an ARC entered the apartment, took a moment to analyse the situation, and then, grabbed the corpse with one hand and headed out.

On the door, he stopped, looked to Rafael and said "hey, if you want to protect your family, in a few days there will be an military enlistment, join the army and help us stop this nonsense" and left.