Prologue

P R O L O G U E

IT WAS DARK. That was all I could see. Blackness, emptiness, nothingness; whatever you wanted to call it. My hearing wasn’t as vague. I didn’t know whether to be thankful or upset about that. I could hear the loud drumming of my heart and my panting could probably be heard from halfway across the world. The forest floor was soft yet relentless and I cursed as I tripped over yet another overgrown root. Before I could fall, I scrambled to put my left foot in front and immediately righted myself. 

               I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when an image of her lying limp on the stone cold ground flashed through my mind. I flinched. The image was so real. Her blood was pouring out of her stomach, along with other various internal organs. Her hands clumsily fumbled at her spilled innards and her big round eyes slowly turned glassy. Her head lolled to face me and I screamed. The memory of the scream pierced through the horrid scene and pulled back to reality.

               I clenched my teeth and fought back tears as I pushed on. I finally broke through the woods and ran into the clearing where the camps were halted immediately. It was completely deserted. Breathing heavily, I surveyed the area grimly. I’m too late, I thought. The tents that were spread out in the clearing were all ransacked and the animal pens were deduced to broken pieces of wood that used to be fences. I remember she and I spent three weeks putting together all those fences three years ago when I was ten and she was twelve. A wave of sorrow slammed into me like a riptide, and I was in danger of being pulled under and suffocated.

               Overcome by sudden grief, I almost didn’t hear the rustles near me. My eyes widened and I realized my mistake a little too late. I shouldn’t have stopped, I thought frantically before I whirled around, my knife in hand, and stared straight into blood-chilling red eyes. I looked at the monster’s face and my heart stopped.

               No, it can’t be.

               The smile was so familiar, yet it was cold and emotionless.

               They can’t do this so quickly,

               The thick blonde hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, so much like what she used to do before she died.

               And yet, here she was.

               “Hello, dear sister,” she said in a chilling voice. Her head cocked to one side as that red-eyed gaze burned holes into my eyes. “You never did like to stop playing hide-and-seek tag.”

               I couldn’t find my own voice, but I wanted so badly to speak. My heart started pumping again, but now I felt as if each time it beat it was pumping out gallons of blood. I felt faint and scared. So undeniably scared.

               As if seeing the fear in my eyes, my sister grinned like a Cheshire cat and whispered, “Tag, you’re it,” before lunging forward and chopping my left arm off in one clean slice. My scream didn’t get a chance to escape my mouth before my head hit the ground and the darkness I hated so much earlier consumed me whole.

               I shouldn’t have stopped.