• Prologue

    The dust blew wildly around the heavy, brown leather boots as they stomped across the hot desert sand alongside an endless forsaken highway. They were worn from the miles of aimless travel but wise in an inanimate way. They’d been through everything with the one of whom they belonged.

    The sun held its place in the middle of the sky directly ahead, and the woman could feel the weight of its scorching rays, sweat drops accumulating on her sun-burnt forehead. She secured the straps of her heavy, loaded backpack and tilted the front of her hat, protecting her skin from the burning sunlight. She’d learned the hard way how blistering it can be.

    She stopped curiously as a distant humming sound prickled her ears. Her heart-beat increased steadily as she turned around to locate the origin of the noise, praying it wasn’t what she suspected. Her breath left her lungs as the tiny outline of a vehicle came into view, miles down the straight flat road, but she could see the sand rising quickly around it as it became increasingly closer and closer.

    Hesitation was out of the question.
    The woman rapidly diverted from the highway, taking off toward a lone boulder not far into the desert. She groaned, annoyed that her backpack was slowing her down so much. As the sound of the vehicle became frighteningly closer, she knew that she had no choice.
    With a loud grunt, she loosened the straps of her harnesses without stopping and dropped the backpack onto the ground, not looking back as she sprinted toward the boulder. Her breaths escaped her lungs in short, burning bursts, her mouth dry from sucking in the desert sand.

    She could practically feel the vehicle getting nearer as she rounded the boulder and slid behind its rock wall. She tried to catch her breath as she leaned her back against the stone and pulled her legs in to hide them from view.

    Her eyes closed tightly as the vehicle zoomed by not far down the road. She swallowed hard and peeked around the corner, hoping they hadn’t spotted her. She sighed a breath of relief as the vehicle continued to drive away from her location.

    Her muscles had just started to relax right before the vehicle skidded to a fast stop.

    The woman felt as if her heart stopped cold in her chest. Panic nearly consumed her as the vehicle proceeded to turn around on the highway and speed toward her, diverting from the road onto the sand. She cursed aloud as she scuttled farther around the boulder, her hands trembling profusely as they attempted to open the fanny pack around her waist, immediately realizing that she was going to have to take action.

    Luckily, she’d learned a couple of simple rules in her defense against these monsters.

    The first—fire.

    She reached into her fanny pack and pulled out one of her M67 frag hand-grenades. She closed her eyes and inhaled a slow, steady breath as she listened for the vehicle to become closer and closer. If this was going to work, she was going to have to time it perfectly. She only had one shot.

    Her ears tingled as she listened intently to the loud buzzing of the large off-road SUV. It was almost time.

    Almost time.

    Now.

    The woman growled loudly as she unclipped the hand-grenade, leaned around the boulder, and tossed it toward the SUV. She watched only for an instant as it hit the ground and rolled forward. Right before ducking behind the boulder, she saw the vehicle try to avoid it, but it was too late.

    She’d timed it perfectly.

    The explosion rocked the ground beneath her, and her eyes rang from the loudness of the explosion, but there was no time to gather herself. It wasn’t over yet. She’d learned not to trust fire alone to get rid of these beasts.

    If the fire didn’t take care of them, she’d learned that there was only one other way to finish them off—a sharp blade.

    The woman stood confidently before unsheathing her only other companion. The cold metal of the katana gleamed in the sunlight as the woman marched toward the vehicle. This was the most frightening part, but she’d lost a lot of that emotion a long time ago.

    She watched in disgust as the hellish brutes threw themselves out of the exploded vehicle onto the ground. The high-pitched screeching emanating from their mouths was nearly unbearable.

    The woman snarled before stalking toward the first monster that was flailing madly toward her. She ground her teeth before swinging the sword gracefully across its neck, severing the head in one clean motion.

    The abhorrence of the whole thing had lost its effect a long time ago. She didn’t hesitate before turning toward her next victim who was already running wildly toward her. Suddenly, as it became closer and closer, she remembered the situation she was in and how she had gotten on this god-forsaken highway.

    Everything and everyone she had lost.

    And for the first time in a long time, she felt the sting of tears. She shrieked bitterly as she lifted the katana and sprinted furiously toward the beast. The woman screamed fiercely just before dodging the grasp of the fire engulfed monster and swung her katana around swiftly.

    She listened to the sound of its head thud onto the sand behind her, and she waited expectantly for more to follow. A few minutes passed, the sound of fire crackling and consuming everything it could find all around her, the smell of burning flesh stinging her nostrils, until she realized that no more would follow.

    It was finished.

    The woman released a sigh of what seemed to carry a hundred years of agony. She pulled a rag from her back pocket and wiped her sword clean, pausing for an instant at her own weary expression. When had her face become so etched with lines? As if she’d been sculpted out of clay and cracked under the sun.

    The metal clinked as she sheathed the sword back into its rightful place at her side, and the woman continued to limp sluggishly back toward the road, her lungs burning with exhaustion. But there was no time to rest. Soon the sun would go down, and her risk of being caught would increase significantly.

    She winced as she bent down to pick up her backpack, her back sore from the countless miles of aimless travel.

    The miles stretched on before her, and she began to wonder if she’d ever find shelter. Hopelessness nearly consumed her when she noticed a lone rock on the side of the road. Her body went numb from excitement.

    She sprinted immediately toward the rock lying beside the road, wincing as her pack bounced against her back. The stone was an ovular shape with one pointed side, which was directed to the right off of the highway. This was it.

    The woman looked both ways, making sure she wasn't going to have to relive the same event that had happened earlier. When she knew the coast was clear, she took off in the direction of the rock, hoping to find more like it.

    If it was what she thought it was, it wouldn’t be long until she found shelter. If it wasn’t, she’d be lost in the hot desert with only little water remaining.

    But it was a risk she had to take.