Crescent (Book 1)

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All things must die... but hope dies last.

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I never thought my world would end in fire.

Memories burn in the flames that lap at the walls. Picture frames become ash, photo albums go up in smoke, and it isn't until the smell and sound of it all hits my senses that I shoot out of bed.

Fire. Fire. Fire.

I roll to the floor to keep from inhaling the smoke, my eyes shooting to my sister's bed across the room. She's gone.

"Rosie!" I scream. I'm frozen, coughing, trying to listen for her or my parents. Glass breaks somewhere downstairs, and outside, people are screaming, their voices crying out. I can't smell anything past the stench of gasoline.

I need to get out. And fast.

The door handle is scorching hot, and I kick it open to get to the landing outside. The stairs are in flames, and my parents' room is gone with it. The fire is getting hotter, the flames higher, the smoke heavier. My thoughts race as I search for escape. My only chance is to jump over the railing. It's a fifteen foot drop, but my blood is rushing. I jump, tumbling onto my back before I can even blink.

Fire covers every inch of the house now. The smoke is almost unbearable, and the screams are getting louder. I run like hell down the hall, past the kitchen and the study where pictures of my life are shriveling in the heat. Flames lick the sides of my face as I sprint toward the front door. I burst through the door, wood splintering as I hit the porch. Cold air bites into my face, my muscles groaning as I stand.

One breath of relief. That's all I allow myself.

"Please!" someone cries. I know that voice. Though my body protests, I stand, turning.

Across the yard standing in patches of falling snow, I see my family. My mother is sobbing, bucking wildly against soldiers in black uniforms who force her to her knees. They shove her into the mud, a rifle pressed to her back. My father growls as they yank Rosie away by her blonde hair. Her face is wet with tears, but she looks at me like it's the first time she's ever seen me. Terrified.

Rosie screams before I can get a closer look. "Look out!" It's too late by the time I see it: Gunshot cracks, and a bullet whizzes past my ear.

"Please!" my mother screams.

Another shot sounds, and the air is suddenly knocked from my lungs. I feel pain. My chest burns. My muscles contract, my whole body battling for control. I collapse forward, backward, upside down. Blood floods out of me as I grip the porch steps between my numb fingers. My vision goes cloudy. Help. Need help.

Distantly, someone's shouting. Despite the wave of dizziness that overcomes me, I try to focus.

There's no help coming.

There are footsteps by my head, and I feel featherlight. Two men drag me onto the lawn. My mother is sobbing in my peripheral, and I'm forced to my knees in front of her. She clutches my chest, her hand plugging the hole that's oozing blood. She sobs something I can't hear. My vision spins. A gun presses against my back, but I only look at Rosie whose blue eyes are now red. She's too young to see this.

"What do you want?!" my mother begs. The soldier slams the barrel of his gun into her temple, and she falls to the ground with a smack. Rosie whimpers beside me. I grip her with every ounce of strength I have as the men continue assessing my family. Take them... or leave them.

"Load them up," a larger man orders. He's tall, dressed in the same all-black uniform except a golden badge glistens on his chest, signifying he's the leader of the bunch. "They're all mutts," he dismisses. Mom screams as they drag us towards the vehicles.

"S-Stop," my voice is a whisper, quiet as the soldiers yank me up. The commander walks towards me, smiling when he sees the blood staining my shirt. I meet his dark eyes, knowing one look will likely cost me my life- whatever little is left. His gaze goes blank as he looks at me.

He yanks me by my hair suddenly, pulling me close enough that I can smell the bloodlust on his breath. Surprise etches across his features. "She's pure," he growls, releasing me. He grips my father's shirt with hands covered in white scars, finds his eyes, and shoves him back only to grab my mother and look between the two of us. "They come with us."

Another soldier speaks up. "Sir? All of them? Lord Sh-"

The commander grips the soldier's uniform, hauling him to within an inch of his face. It's pure venom in his voice now: "That was a direct order." He releases the man who then pushes me and mom towards one of their rovers.

"Let them go," I gasp, acutely aware of the truck door creaking open. The sound makes my head swim. My senses are betraying me, running into overdrive. I can barely hear, smell, or see anything past the smoke.

Deep down, I know... if I don't fight now, I won't see them again.

As one of the soldiers lifts me into the truck, I knee him hard. At the same time, my mother punches the man holding her. We fall to the ground in a heap of limbs, both soldiers fumbling backwards long enough that I catch one last glimpse of the world around me.

My home is gone. Dad and Rosie are being thrown into the back of a different truck. Rosie sobs and my father clutches her close, his eyes catching mine briefly before the soldiers grab us again.

One of them slaps me or, at least, I think they do. I'm numb enough that I hardly feel anything. The man I kneed is yelling a string of curses at the back of my head. This is it. The barrel of his gun grinds into me. I close my eyes.

"We can't kill them!" the other soldier yells. The pistol drops. "You heard our orders."

A moment later, I'm shoved back in the truck, my mother in tow. The door lock, confining us within four walls of impenetrable steel. She stifles her sobs, gripping my face tenderly; my eyes droop and my life fades.

Every bit of me aches to fight, aches to hold my mother's hands. I know it's worthless. My voice is a whisper as the truck roars to life beneath me. I fall against my mother's chest: "Rosie."

And, then dizziness takes over me.