One ordinary drive changes everything. Aylin is on her way to her best friend Laila's house when a blue truck suddenly appears in her lane. Seconds later, her world is torn apart in a devastating crash. She wakes up in a hospital believing she survived an accident. But something doesn't feel right. The memories don't add up. The nightmares keep repeating. And the blue truck... shouldn't have been there. As Aylin begins searching for answers, she uncovers secrets that someone is willing to bury at any cost. Every clue leads to another lie, every truth raises more questions, and the line between memory and reality starts to blur. Was the crash really an accident? Or was Aylin never meant to survive? In a story filled with mystery, psychological suspense, shocking twists, and dangerous truths, one question remains: Why was the blue truck waiting for her?

𝐆𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐢𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧. 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐓𝐅, 𝐜𝐲𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞; 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝-𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲. 𝐒𝐮𝐳𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬. 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭. 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬... 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐞𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐃𝐍𝐀.

The world didn't end with a warning. It ended with an bite. Within days, cities fell silent, governments collapsed, and the infected spread faster than anyone could contain them. Forced to adapt to a world of military quarantines, desperate survivors, and horrors lurking beyond the safety of fortified walls, twenty-year-old Serena Fontaine struggles to find her place in the ruins of the old world. As the months pass and civilization fractures into survivor settlements, raider kingdoms, and ruthless warlords, Serena finds herself drawn deeper into the mysteries surrounding the outbreak and the secrets buried beneath its ashes. But when the people she trusts begin to disappear and old truths refuse to stay buried, her search for answers becomes something far greater than survival. Because somewhere in the ruins of yesterday lies the truth about how the world ended. And some secrets were never meant to survive it.

A possible future in less than 500 words, if plastic wins. This was my entry for the WattPad/National Geographic #PlanetOrPlastic competition back in late 2018. It reached their Top 10 Submissions which, given that there appeared to be well over 5000 entries, was a very pleasant surprise! The competition itself had a limit of 500 words so, for those who keep asking if I intend continuing the story, the answer (for now!) is no - unless I can find a very good reason for adding any more. Many thanks to everyone reading and voting on this story and getting it to number 1 in the #sciencefiction category in May/June 2020! I did try to thank the voters individually on their pages but Wattpad have a daily limit on the number of times I'm allowed to do that and there are now too many of you (not that I'm complaining)! Here's the top 10 submissions page: https://www.wattpad.com/list/738243473-planetorplastic-top-10-submissions If you want to read the story in Polish please head over to https://www.wattpad.com/story/236405960-m%C4%85dro%C5%9B%C4%87-staro%C5%BCytnych-t%C5%82umaczenie-pl where @juliatlumaczy has done a fine job - thank you, Julia! @juliatlumaczy has now sent me a version of the cover she used for her Polish translation - thanks again, Julia! @alex_sokolova has also translated the story into Russian as well. You can read that here: https://www.wattpad.com/976002417-мудрость-древних - many thanks, Alex! We now have a third translation! @AlfonsoLucassen has kindly translated it into Spanish and you can find it here: https://www.wattpad.com/1063634347-la-sabidur%C3%ADa-de-los-antiguos