But I know it’s just a matter of time.
My fingers slide along the wall and find my sister’s as the strange static mounts to a deafening sound. The ground shivers beneath my feet and the glass windows of the building shake and splinter like tiny crawling spiderwebs.
My heart slams wildly in my chest. I will it to calm down as Claire whimpers softly against my shoulder; the one she’s folding herself into.My shoulder, the one that’s supposed to protect her from this world.
Our father stands in front of us, his eyebrows knit together in wonder, until the gradual realization hits and all the color drains from his face.
“The foil will save us,” he whispers, eyes wide with fear.
“No. No, it won’t, Dad,” I say, my voice high with panic. “We have to hide.”
I grab for Claire as she struggles to stand. We have to run but her body sags against mine, her cheeks wet with tears.
“Claire, we have to hide. Now. We have to move,right now.” I prop her arm over my shoulder and drag her forward when an explosion slams through the middle of the street. She stumbles and falls, taking me down with her. Through the heat and the flames, all I see is the bottom of my father’s boots running away from us. A sudden iciness fills my chest and I struggle to breathe. Not again.He left us alone again.
Metal whirs and spins before us, slapping away my anger for my father. There’s no time to think about him. There isn’t time for anything.
A flash of metal and fire—ash and alloy.
There’s nowhere to hide. It’s too late.They’re here.
The ones that ripped the world from under my feet. Steel creatures with metal wings of brimstone and fire.
I don’t know what they are.
And there’s no one left to ask.
All I know of is that they’ve destroyedeverythingand my life has becomenothing but non-stop survival.
More giant metal creatures plummet from above, smashing into the concrete, shooting thick chunks of rocks and asphalt into the air. There’re four of them. Screeching and spinning, clicking and humming, annihilating everything in their path.
Right in front of us.
