The Reluctant

A Graphic Novel Outline

Brad Wardell, July 2006

Chapter 5: Monsters & Eternity
Chapter 4: My dad isn’t a hero
Chapter 3: You will do what we tell you to do…
Chapter 2: We're from the government...
Chapter 1: They're coming for you Ha Ha.

Mr. Miller, Amanda Miller’s father and DL Bradley’s father-in-law has arrived at DL Bradley’s house.  The Millers were very close to their only daughter, Amanda. They spent a lot of time at the Bradley house after Amanda died to help DL adjust.

But DL never did adjust. Frank Miller had known DL for 15 years and always thought the young man to be solid if perhaps a bit cynical.  But DL was constant. He had not changed since he met the man.  Frank Miller was certain of one thing, if anything were to happen to Ethan Miller, DL Bradley would be gone never to be seen again he was sure of it.  That DL Bradley loved his son was without a doubt. And now he was here to take Ethan away from DL for his safety.

DL Bradley had already managed to kill 3 of the other-worldly powerful “Intruders”.  In the decades the vile Intruders had been on this world killing millions of people, only 1 of them had ever died.  Now, in the past 72 hours, 3 more had died at the hands of one seemingly ordinary man.

Frank Miller had served in World War II and in Korea. He had seen war at its worst. DL never mentioned any service but he could see in DL’s eyes that he had seen a lot more than he let on. DL now had that look of foreboding. The grim determination of a soldier as he prepares himself for battle. And he did not want his only child to see it. And for that reason, Frank Miller was here to take Ethan away from that war.

Frank: DL, don’t you think it would be wiser to go into hiding? You’re a heck of an engineer and a great lad but these Intruders will be coming for you. There’s supposedly only around a dozen – now less than a dozen – all over the world.

DL had known Frank even before he met Amanda. He was perhaps the only man on this world that DL fully trusted.  It was now or never.

DL: I am going to kill any who come here.

Frank was about to chuckle when he realized that DL wasn’t kidding.

Frank: How can you possible hope to do that? The government give you some new secret weapon?

DL: No. I don’t need any weapons. In all the years you’ve known me, you’ve never asked me much about my past.

Frank: None of my business, I suppose.

DL: Maybe. When Amanda died, I…was reminded why I didn’t get close to people. Sooner or later, they die.

Frank: Everyone dies, son, sooner or later.

DL: Not everyone.

Frank: What do you mean by that?

DL: I have been alive a very long time, Frank. A very long time. And the longer I live, the more I can do.

# # #

Meanwhile, in Shanghai China, the primary base for the Intruders, 9 Intruders have gathered to discuss what happened to Tendath.

Tendath, an “Intruder”, faced DL Bradley and him and Kanath were defeated and Kanath died. Tendath was injured but escaped.

Tendath: My lord, this human defeated the two of us in exactly the way he said.

Tendath was speaking to Lord Vagath, and while Vegath looked like Tendath in that he looked like a human, he absolutely reeked power and malevolence. Tendath could potentially walk down the street and blend in as a normal human. Vagath could not. He had an otherworldly quality about him that made him menacing from afar.

The race that the Intruders belonged to were not of this Earth. But more than that, they were far more varied from one to the next than human beings are. One Intruder could be, literally, hundreds of times more powerful than another. Vagath was one of them.

The Intruders, as a race, had a problem. Each subsequent generation was less than the previous in terms of might and potency. Vagath was literally eons older than Tendath who himself was thousands of years old. Their mission to Earth involved trying to solve the problem that their race was experiencing.  And part of that solution involved harvesting the life energy of these mortal humans while they still contained as much life energy as possible.

Vagath: Are you certain it was not just by luck? He had one of your weapons.

Tendath: No human should be able to hurt us, not even with one of our weapons.

Vagath: Truth. You are certain he is not a renegade?

Tendath: I am positive. He is definitely not one of us.

Vagath: I do not want to have to report to the emperor this set back without having first dealt with the problem.  I will deal with him myself.

…back at the Bradley house…

Frank: I don’t understand you then. If you believe you could deal with these Intruders, why haven’t you?

DL: Because…I don’t care.

Frank: How can you not care? Are you that cynical? They’ve murdered millions of people.

DL: It’s not that black and white. It’s easy to say that but for me, I’ve done this hundreds and hundreds of times. 

Let me use an analogy that probably won’t improve your opinion of me but might grant some understanding. 

Imagine if you were on a world in which everyone lived exactly one hour while you lived a normal lifespan.  Let’s say you had the power to save people from an untimely death, which in their case would be deaths that occurred before their hour was up.

Would you do it? Would you give up spending time with your family and those you cared about to continually go and help people?

Frank: I think I would.

DL: Let’s be specific – let’s say you did decide to help. You have the power, you should help right? And let’s say you do that for a thousand years – knowing just how many generations of these people have gone. You have no personal connection to them. And they have no personal connection to you. They can’t even begin to relate to you. And as soon as you get to know some, their hour has passed and there is always – an endless – number of things threatening them.

Frank: I think I understand what you’re saying but still, I don’t know.

DL: You would know. Believe me. It’s just a matter of time. Because in the end, only one thing matters.

Frank: What’s that?

DL: Living each moment. Trying to get as much out of the tiny slice of time that we’re given.  I don’t care about people in general. I care about individuals. I care about Ethan. I care about you and Mrs. Miller. I cared about Amanda – and even with her, with all that I can do, I could not keep her hour from ending early.

If you live long enough and have the power to go…to places…different planes of time. You will eventually realize that there’s always an Intruder or a Dread Lord or a plague or megalomaniac or menace of some sort in which people would be greatly aided if someone with the ability to make a difference stepped in. 

But eventually, it is all for nothing, because in the end, their hour will end no matter what you do.

Next: Retribution…