CHAPTER 1
ALETTA
“It doesn’t matter how many times you open and close the door, food isn’t going to appear miraculously,” Aletta said to her sister, Dylan, as the younger woman opened the cupboard for what had to have been the twentieth time that morning. And it wasn’t even eight yet.
Dylan sighed. “I’m just so hungry.”
Aletta scowled. She was hungry too; it wasn’t as if not eating for two days was going to result in anything other than hunger.
“Letty?” Dylan shut the fridge door and turned to face Aletta. “What are we going to eat?”
Aletta pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. It had been a long few weeks. First, the reports of strange spaceships orbiting the planet, then the power outage. They’d tried to see what they could from the windows of the apartment, but the pollution that choked the skies made it hard to see far. Before their tablets had run out of charge, they’d taken turns watching the news feeds until, one by one, they’d dropped off the air. Now it was silent.
Silent news feeds. Silent streets below the residential tower where they lived. Silent halls in their building.
They’d talked to their neighbors in the first few days, and shared what Aletta could spare of their supplies until, one by one, they’d left to get food and not returned.
“Maybe they found somewhere better?” Dylan’s hopeful tone had Aletta’s stomach twisting. She knew that wasn’t what had happened to their neighbors, but if it kept Dylan from completely losing her shit, then Aletta was happy to humor her.
“Sure.” She forced a smile.
But it was when Dylan turned back to the cupboard and opened the door once more that Aletta snapped. “Right. Grab your boots. We’re getting out of here.”
It might be dangerous, but maybe Dylan was right. Maybe it wasn’t as bad out there as she thought?
It was early morning, neither of them having slept well due to the gnawing hunger that was their constant companion. If they were going to leave, now was the best time.
Aletta pulled on a pair of worn jeans—the ones with the tear in the right knee that Dylan had mended with bright green thread—and her sturdiest pair of shoes, a pair of sneakers that had seen better days.
Even before the invasion, the sisters had barely scraped by. They lived on what Aletta could earn from three service jobs, while Dylan finished her university course and tutored online. Between the two of them, they were able to afford rent in this tiny, one-bedroom apartment in the shittiest part of the city. And they were together.
Dylan was wrong to be optimistic; Aletta decided a little while later as they left the safety of their apartment and stepped quietly into the dark hallway. They were the last people left on the floor—possibly the entire building—of what had been a crowded residential block. It had been ten days since the world had gone to shit, and the shelter-in-place orders had come.
She and Dylan had been lucky. One of Aletta’s jobs before the crisis was in a cafe, and her boss let her take tinned food that was out of date, so they’d had more than most. She’d shared what she could with their neighbors but had no qualms about pretending they had less than they actually did. Even Dylan hadn’t known the extent of Aletta’s stash, which had turned out to be a good thing. Kind-hearted Dylan would have given away everything.
Aletta snorted as she pulled the apartment door shut behind her. As it was, they’d rationed everything to make it this far, holding out for some sign that the city hadn’t gone completely to shit. She just hoped there was some food left, though Aletta kept that thought to herself.
Their footsteps echoed in the concrete stairwell as they made their way slowly to the street, and by silent agreement, they didn’t talk. The air smelled of concrete, dust, and urine, and Aletta and Dylan pulled on the masks they wore in the city to ward off the air pollution.
Apparently, you used to be able to see the ocean from their building. But that was long ago, before the air pollution had settled like a grey cloud over the city. The irony of living so close to the ocean and yet not being able to see it, even from their high-rise apartment building, was not lost on Aletta.
The echo of Dylan’s boots softly scuffing the concrete steps followed Aletta as they reached the ground floor. The door was propped open, which had Aletta frowning. Anyone—anything—could get in.
Aletta went to step out, but Dylan grabbed her backpack, almost yanking her off her feet.
“Oof!” Aletta grunted as the straps dug into the front of her shoulders.
Dylan’s hands shook, her eyes wide. “It’s not safe!” She hissed. “Maybe we shouldn’t go.” Dylan’s eyes were huge, her expression stricken. “I can’t lose you, Letty!”
They’d lost so much. Both parents. Their grandmother. Everyone she had relied on had died. Aletta dropped her forehead to touch Dylan’s, making a tiny world between the sisters. “I know. I don’t want to lose you, either. But we have to eat.”
And that was the problem. Stay and starve, or leave and… Well, who knew what happened to those who left?
“We can’t stay here, Dylan.”
Dylan nodded and scuffed the toe of her boot against the floor.
“Dee?”
