|
Prologue
"We were lucky that
diner was open or else we would have spent another night
hungry," Melina said as she crept down the alley, taking
a shortcut to her home.
With the imposed
curfew at night, she took a great risk, but going now
was still safer than venturing out in the daytime.
Despair threatened to overwhelm her, but she tamped the
feeling down. Nothing would be gained if she lost
control of her emotions.
"I wish everything was
back to normal, Mel. Why did this have to happen now?"
Adam asked around a mouthful of hamburger.
"We all knew the
apocalypse would happen sooner or later. We just thought
it would be much later. We need to stick together. Those
monsters roaming the streets are looking for humans. It
scares the living daylights out of me when you go off on
your own. If they were to capture you…" Melina’s whisper
drifted off, and then she tried to shrug the idea away.
"We’ve seen what happens to people they capture." She
forced the words out, and with it came the nightmarish
vision of the past few months.
Melina shivered
against the terror of losing her best friend. Beth
Williams was one of the first people she and Adam had
seen beheaded, because she refused to take the mark of
the beast. Hidden in an alcove with her brother, Melina
witnessed the barbarian act as her heart beat furiously
with fear. She would always remember the terror mixed
with resolve in Beth’s eyes, and how they glazed over,
sightless and blank when death claimed her body. Melina
admired the stand Beth took for what she believed in,
but her violent death also spurred Melina and Adam to
run for their lives.
"Don’t worry, sis.
I’ll be fine. They can’t catch what they can’t find. The
boys and I are going out again tonight. We’ll watch each
other’s back," Adam replied, tossing the wrapper on a
trash bin, overflowing with smelly garbage. He reached
inside the bag and grabbed another burger as if he was
unaffected by the disgusting smells in the air. Melina’s
stomach rebelled at the odor of waste along with the
demonic slime on the asphalt. The demons’ warts
constantly oozed a gross glop of gunk that always left a
trail in their wake. She heaved at the sight, her
stomach threatening to erupt what little food she had in
her system. Melina swallowed tightly.
"I don’t think that’s
such a great..." Melina’s words died in her throat as
she stood frozen in shock and fear. Her thoughts
scattered.
Adam bumped into her.
His muffled, "Ooof," snapped her out of her paralysis.
Melina yanked Adam by
the shoulder, shoving him down as they scrambled to hide
beneath a large bush. Her brother peered around her, and
understanding dawned in his eyes.
Four demonic spawns
were in front of their home, wielding large metal
swords. The tallest one seemed to be their leader and,
with a kick to the front door, the ugly monsters entered
their home.
Anger burned inside of
her as Melina fought the urge to run to them, and strike
the demons down for making life on earth a living hell.
But she wasn’t stupid enough to think that she alone
could take down those things.
She turned, clutching
Adam’s hand tightly and fled down a narrow road, before
heading back to the obscurity of the city’s shadows.
They needed to find a new place to stay. It was going to
be a very long night. |
.jpg){kind=small}
