Prologue

Ten Years Ago

Concern sparked through me at the sight of my father sprinting towards the driver’s side of the vehicle, my eight-year-old mind not comprehending the extent of what was happening around me, but I was already on edge from being roused in the middle of the night.

My mom hurried over the center console as soon as the truck came to a standstill, fumbling with her seatbelt due to her shaking hands, but my dad didn’t waste any time, tearing off down the road as he closed the door behind him.

The stench of burning rubber and gasoline filled my nostrils, and I couldn’t stop my right leg from bouncing up and down as I watched our surroundings whiz by in a blur, blaring horns and wreckage following in our wake.

“What’s going on Daddy? Mom?”

The questions spilled out at last as fear began to set in, but they remained unanswered as my dad weaved through traffic, blatantly ignoring the stoplights as we barreled through the semi-crowded streets.

I was terrified of what would make my normally collected father act this way, but I was also equally frightened to find out the cause. That wasn’t even mentioning the anxiety my mom plainly felt, her head swiveling everywhere as if we were racing some type of clock.

It seemed like we had been driving for hours. Although I knew that wasn’t the case, my dad never relaxed his tight grip on the steering wheel, and no one told me where we were going as silence reigned within the confines of the truck.

All the same, my eyes refused to stay shut longer than a few seconds, so I’d pieced together that we were heading out of town based off of the few times we’d ventured that far as a family in the past, but I didn’t know the reason why.

The buildings were getting further apart with the more miles we covered, and I could tell we were almost to the tree-lined road that led into the nearby nature reserve if I was remembering correctly.

I knew it began shortly outside of the city limits, but we hadn’t journeyed into nature much as a family, opting to remain inside of town for the most part. It made our current trip all the more out of place.

Nonetheless, my nerves started to settle as nothing unusual occurred after we broke free from the heavier traffic, and I kept my eyes glued out the window as my dad continued driving.

Then, I blinked, and all the lights went out.

Next, screeching tires and the metallic groan of a car as it smashed into a building in front of us rend through the night air, and I realized with shock that our vehicle seemed to be the only thing with power in the area as I whipped my head around to glance at another accident playing out nearby.

Muffled screams reached us through the thin glass of the truck’s window not long after, yet my father didn’t stop or react to the scene unfolding from what I could tell, his gaze laser-focused on the path in front of us.

“Dad! What’s happening?!” I exclaimed, unable to remain soundless for a second longer as the situation got the better of me.

To begin with, he maintained his unyielding silence, too busy zigzagging his way around any problems that cropped up in our way, and leaving me to clutch the seat beneath me with my fists clenched tight around the old leather as he drove up onto the sidewalk to get past the blocked route ahead.

From what I could tell, the light from the truck’s headlights was the only illumination guiding us, other than the moon and stars, but I saw plenty as my dad navigated us out of town and down a deserted looking road ahead, wide pin oaks lining the semi-familiar lane towards the mountains.

However, I didn’t miss how my dad avoided the brakes despite the bumpier terrain. In fact, I think he might have inched the gas pedal down a little further.

Piercing silence ramped up the tension as he drove on, my mom gripping his thigh in support as she nervously peeked at me over her shoulder from time to time.

The branches got closer to the side of the vehicle the more distance that my dad traveled into the wilderness, and my slight form was jerked around in the back until we finally came to an abrupt halt.

Hurt spiraled out from where the restraint had kept me securely in the back seat, the strap no doubt leaving behind a deep bruise in its wake, but the ache faded as panic took over in its place.

There was too much happening, and I dreaded what else might be next in this bad dream I’d found myself wholly entrenched within.

The darkness amongst the trees surrounding us felt ominous, rogue limbs seeming to reach out as if to swallow my parents up into its sinister depths.

I knew my imagination was likely running wild given all I’d experienced tonight, but it was hard to remember that right now.

My body refused to move an inch, and I felt sweat beading on my skin, notwithstanding the somewhat cool temperature of the night air, as it dawned on me then that I would have to leave the relative safety of the vehicle.

At any rate, my mom took my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as she encouraged me out into the forest and over to where my dad was adjusting a bulky pack on his large shoulders.

“We have to walk from here.” He explained, briskly handing me a much smaller bag as my mom pulled on a backpack of her own, but I still didn’t have a clue what was going on.

Nevertheless, after taking several calming breaths at my mom’s request, I was able to shove back the worst of my worries, and I gripped my backpack tight to ground myself in the present.

I didn’t understand what was going on, why we were leaving our truck to trudge into the thick trees, but I trusted my parents, so I followed them as best I could.

Still, bugs kept flying at me, and I couldn’t help crying out a couple of times in spite of my best intentions. I’d never liked insects in general, and I was already on edge with everything else going on, so my bravado was severely lacking.

Along the way, my father helped keep me upright as I struggled over obstacles using the dim light his head lamp provided, and I continued stumbling after my mother as we tramped onward through the trees, her vibrant, cherry-red hair serving as my marker.

I was out of breath before long, but the noise of me sailing into the rough forest floor must have alerted my dad that I needed a break because he was by my side a few seconds later.

While dusting myself off through the twinge of discomfort, it didn’t escape my notice how restless my father was as he knelt down next to me, but I forgot all about his strange behavior with the words leaving his mouth.

“The world’s changing, Bella, and I’m not sure I’m strong enough to protect you and your mother from the shadows clawing their way to the surface. I can buy us time if we make it to the shelter before it’s too late, but we need to move fast.” He pronounced, simultaneously seeking out my chestnut-colored orbs through the gloom.

My mom sat beside me, reassuring me of her love the best she could under the circumstances as my dad’s statement sank in.

It didn’t make sense to me in the moment, but I committed his declaration to memory anyway, determined to remain strong for as long as I needed as we continued our impromptu hike.

Even so, my resolve was tested far too soon as an explosion rattled the earth beneath our feet a few minutes later, sending me into a heap on the forest floor as the sky above us was lit up in a flash as if it was the middle of the day.

Pain lanced through me as my palms met the rough rocks littering the makeshift path we seemed to be following, but the ache retreated with my dad’s renewed urgency, adrenaline racing through my veins in an instant.

“Open your mouth! Don’t look up!” My dad yelled, a booming sound echoing around us as he hauled me up onto my feet a minute later, “We have to keep moving!”

I did my best to listen to his directions, and the burst of light thankfully vanished as quickly as it had appeared, allowing me to focus on moving forward as my vision adjusted.

My dad led the way, shouldering my bag on top of his own as I fought to keep up with my mom a few feet in front of me.

I was dragging my feet as the land grew steeper, but both of my parents spurred me on as my legs grew weak, not letting me fall too far behind.

My dad had instructed us to be looking for an opening up ahead in the rockface when we were resting earlier, and I used his order as my point of focus, scanning in front of me in desperation as my muscles screamed out for me to stop.

Joy sprung up inside me as I detected the gap not far ahead in the distance, but a fine powder like sand began raining down on us before we could reach it, leaving me confused as ever as to what was happening as my father’s voice rang out once more.

“Run! Get out of the open!”

I pumped my arms as I flat out sprinted without a second thought in response to my dad’s shouted command, my exhaustion forgotten entirely, but he didn’t stop moving even after we cleared the cave.

He continued deeper into the cavern, pressing against the stone walls until he miraculously discovered a doorway that I was convinced he must’ve known was there all along. It was the only way he could have found it so swiftly with how well the entrance was concealed.

Without checking anything out, he ushered my mother and I inside where we hastened down a slight walkway until we came across a pair of startled men along the way.

“Where did you come from?” One of them asked, alarm coloring his tone, but my dad was there to step in front of us, blocking me fully from the strangers as he handled the situation.

My mind was shrouded in a haze as my body operated on autopilot, the spurt of energy having fled me with our entry into the shelter, but I vaguely registered the upheaval that our arrival caused the further that we wandered into what I now understood was a military bunker.

I don’t remember much of the trip to the tiny room that I now found myself in, but my skin was still tingling from the rushed shower my mother had insisted on as I eyed the bunk taking up the majority of the space available.

The only thing I wanted after all the drama and physical exertion was to fall into a bed and sleep for the next twenty-four hours. I’d been so close to attaining my goal, but then my dad was there to foil my plans, gently shaking my shoulder before unconsciousness could claim me.

He urged me to sit up long enough to swallow some type of pill with a glass of water, but I was too tired to wonder what it was for at the moment.

When awareness came later, it was the furthest thing from my mind as I learned how the world was plunged into pandemonium overnight, nuclear bombs having devastated the majority of human society.

My childhood ended that day, my world tilting on its axis as I realized everything that we’d left behind was now another page in the annals of history.

Whether I liked it or not, I knew there would be no going back from this point forward.