The year is 2002. Seattle, once a city of lights, innovation, and endless motion, is now a graveyard of shattered glass and abandoned streets. A mysterious virus has swept through the world, infecting the living and mutating them into monstrous husks of their former selves. Society crumbled in mere days, leaving only ruins-and the few who were lucky, or cursed, enough to survive.
Selene never imagined she'd witness the end of civilization. She was just another soul in the vast metropolis, going through the motions of everyday life. But when the infection spread, turning people into something *other*, she was forced to fight, to run, and to survive. Yet, as she navigates the chaos, she begins to realize she isn't like the others. The virus should have taken her, but it didn't. It changed her.
Haunted by questions about her own existence, Selene embarks on a journey to uncover the truth-about the virus, about her past, and about the strange power awakening inside her. Along the way, she encounters others, each carrying their own burdens, their own losses. Some will fight beside her. Others will try to take what little hope remains.
But something darker lurks beneath the surface. The infected are evolving. Cities have become hunting grounds. And whispers of a hidden sanctuary offer a fragile glimmer of salvation-if Selene and her companions can survive long enough to find it.
As the world teeters on the edge of extinction, Selene must decide who she is meant to be: a survivor, a savior... or something far more dangerous.
The truth lies in the ruins. And the last survivors are running out of time.
Emmy's life is going just as she'd planned: She's living in her own apartment, dancing every day and is just leaps away from being named her company's next Prima ballerina. And she's only 17. But all of Emmy's plans come to a screeching halt when the FBI shows up at her door to let her know that she's being stalked by a serial killer. Suddenly, the safe, insulated world she created for herself is riddled with violence, fear...and a growing pile of dead bodies. At first Emmy wants nothing more than to forget her chilling new reality - but her admirer isn't finished with her yet, and before she knows it, Emmy's stuck in a nightmare she can't dance her way out of.
Content and/or trigger warning: This story contains detailed scenes of murder, rape, torture, sex and stalking, which may be triggering for some readers.
[[word count: 80,000-90,000 words]]