Prologue

PROLOGUE

SIX MONTHS AGO

D eath...

...that's my future.

I wished someone would save me.

I was wrong.

So very wrong.

Something unsettling burrows its way into the depths of my stomach, setting like hard cement. I pick up my pace, almost running. Footsteps sound faster behind me, the crunch of boots on dirt and snaps of twigs follow closely. He isn't quiet, his heavy breath filling me with dread.

Whipping around, I chance a look over my shoulder, and in amongst the shadows of night, under the city streets, I catch a glimpse of a large body charging at me like a bull. My breath hitches as my heart hammers, and fear swims through my veins as though it's running a marathon. My feet attempt to pick up speed as I keep running. I don't look back again.

My need to survive takes over. Here, I thought I'd gotten ahead. Only, within what feels like seconds since my glimpse of the body following me, arms wrap tightly around my torso. His hard-as-iron grip and what breath I have left are slowly squeezed from me, but not before a deathly scream erupts from my lungs, and something hard hits me in the head.

Then nothing.

Blackness.