• Prologue: Chance


    Damn, sucker got away, she thought bitterly as the black figure disappeared to the rooftops. She would have chased it had she not been bleeding to death; she lost her concentration for one second and it went in for the killing blow straight through her ribs. Her chest was split open far enough that breathing was becoming uncomfortable, feeling it whiz through her skin making an awful noise, and she could feel the cold of the concrete on the inside of her body. She was disappointed it got the final blow; she, the best fighter of her time, only got a few chunks out of the monster, only a few scratches. They were getting better.

    She slowly laid herself down, rolling to the side before anything really touched, mouth opened wide as she gasped for breath she couldn’t hold. What else could she do but lay and wait? No one would find her. They wouldn’t know she was missing until tomorrow when she wouldn’t pick up the phone, answer the door, and they’d see her truck still parked outside the house. Why did she have to chase the damned thing so far? That was what it had wanted; to draw her away from everyone else, so they wouldn’t find her too soon. She had to wonder why it didn’t kill her and use her corpse as a threat to everyone else. Isn’t that what those monsters did?

    She closed her eyes when she felt warm liquid by her face. She didn’t want to see. What would her family say, seeing her the way she was? Would they think she was a disgrace? Everyone looked up to her because she was the strongest; descended from a long line of warriors it was only right. She whined without meaning to. Thinking of her family was leaving terrible images in her mind. What would happen to them? They could defend themselves, they had strong males, but even he looked to her for strength. He depended on her. How could she possibly let him down like this?

    Another whine, another terrible sound from her injury, and her body was slowly going numb. White flashed in front of her eyes, her already closed lids squinting with the brightness, trying to block out the light. This is it, she told herself and waited for the flashbacks to begin. All the good times, bad times, where she went wrong in life, love gained, love lost, and that traumatic experience she would never be able to fix. That same experience that got her into this mess. She should have stayed safely in her bed instead of investing the noise—it would have saved her and her sensibilities.

    But the flashbacks never happened. She heard a voice, breathy and frantic, “Oh my God! What happened? Hang on, I’ll help you!” She whimpered. It wasn’t anyone she knew. It wasn’t them, the only ones she wanted to see standing around her with teary eyes so she would finally get the chance to mumble that sarcastic phrase, “What took you so long?”

    She felt hands carefully feeling her neck, moving around her back, pressure on her wound. Then she was cushioned from the concrete, not by much, but enough to help. She was rolled over and yelped in pain; maybe she could still feel.

    “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” the voice said. “Just hang on. You’ll be okay.”

    How could a stranger possibly promise her that? She wanted to open her eyes, growl at the person to go away, but she couldn’t. She forgot where her eyes and mouth were. They just weren’t there. She could feel herself being dragged on the soft material over the rough concrete. It wasn’t helping her one bit; she couldn’t help the whines and whimpers threading through her. Whoever this stranger was, they were no good at first-aid.

    “Not exactly small, are you?” the voice asked breathlessly when the tugging and dragging stopped. “This will probably hurt but I can’t get you into the car any other way, unless you’re willing to get up and walk.”

    She was losing herself little by little thanks to that awful ride. First she was disorientated even with her eyes closed, the black was slowly turning white and the colors swirled like they just had to touch each other; then she really couldn’t feel anything except her life slipping away, and then she was hearing things from a great distance off. The stranger’s efforts would be wasted, she knew. She couldn’t hold on. She felt like she was flying when the black and white turned to solid black.