Reborn: The Allies of Old (Book One)

Chapter One

Anna awoke to agony. Her entire being was on fire, the blood flowing through her veins a river of lava. There was a strange whimpering noise coming from somewhere...me, it's me, she thought in growing horror. She felt panic rising in her chest and bit down hard on her lip, forcing the eerie sound to cease. She slowly opened her eyes then quickly shut them against the excruciating pain of light hitting her pupils.

She managed to drag her hand to her face and massage her eyelids before hesitantly cracking them open again. Little by little she widened them and her ears seemed to pop and all at once she could hear sounds above the dull roaring in her head. She was accosted with voices-screaming, shouting and...cheering? What the hell, she thought feverishly, and believed that fitting. She was on fire, people were screaming, she was in hell.

Panic gripped her as she heard the eerie keening again and she bit down on her lip once more, forcing herself to reason. If she were in hell, wouldn't she be filled with bitterness and hatred? She pictured the faces of her friends and love for them burned fiercely inside her. She calmed and made herself focus.

She was lying on a cold cement floor and appeared to be facing a wall. The loud and terrifying sounds were coming from somewhere behind her and she knew that when she turned she'd be in the middle of a nightmare, but unless she planned on lying here forever she had to figure out where she was and what to do, and that required facing it. She took a deep breath and nearly screamed, her body hurt so badly. Clenching her teeth she slowly turned and immediately wished she hadn't.

Oh God help me, she thought desperately.

There were people in the center of the room and they were fighting like feral cats, clawing and ripping, biting and tearing into one another. Flesh was splattered with blood in pieces scattered across the cement floor. Not real, her mind whispered in horror, this can't be real. Panic began to build once more and she tore her eyes away from the gory scene to look at the others in the room, those on the sidelines cheering. It was as if they were gathered around a dog fight, but instead of dogs they were people who now behaved like rabid beasts.

She heard more keening noises and bit her lip again, then realized it wasn't coming from her. She slid her gaze down the length of wall and there were other bodies, mostly female, lying in fetal and contorted positions.

Ten feet away a pair of sightless eyes were facing her...dead her mind supplied, he's dead.

Suddenly a girl leapt up from her place against the wall and started spitting and hissing, saliva flying from her mouth as she snapped at the air. She did not appear human and Anna was filled with a bone numbing dread as the taste and scent of blood overwhelmed her every sense and she was sooo hungry, and she wanted to eat, and Oh God ravenous....

NO,NO, NO! I will Not become that, I will Not become that, I will Not become....that.

The alien craving finally receded and she took a long breath, exhaling slowly before returning her attention to the center of the room. She saw the snapping girl in the midst of the carnage and recoiled in horror as the crazed female jumped on another girl's back tearing half of her neck away with her fucking teeth! Revulsion writhed in her stomach and for a terrifying moment she feared she would start retching and alert others to her conscious state.

She was blessedly distracted by a wheezing sound a little to her left and turned slightly, staring into the eyes of a girl who smelled of death.

Smelled of death? The girl was still holding on, but somehow Anna knew it wouldn't be long. The pain and fear reflected in the unfocused gaze tore at her heart and she wished she could comfort her. But self-preservation was a powerful thing.