Everything is different now. My world is different, and it's about to get a whole lot worse…
I really had nothing before the blast; I was just another homeless child on the streets of the Neon. Another one of the unfortunate souls whom you help only when you feel as though you need to pity someone. Oh well, I didn't need their help. I was good at surviving, mostly by theft and kicking the lights out of anybody who messed with me. And that's saying something, because I'm a girl. It was after the blast that I started to feel venerable, and that was what kept me up at night. The fear. The fear of not waking up in the morning, the fear of being hurt, the fear of being kidnapped. It festered deep inside of me, and it was like a ball of ice that I would not melt.
Every time I would go to sleep, if I even did at all, my dreams would be haunted by images of Reapers, and then the voice would come. It was the voice of a woman, calling me by name. She said her name was Sasha and she would tell me how she had big plans for me, how she would make me powerful, strong, and untouchable. Her voice was like a poison in me, it started in my dreams and soon I could hear her during the day. She scared me shitless. Every day was like a fight for my life. I would wake up; find something, if anything, to eat. Then I would run from the Reapers, and try and not go insane from Sasha's messages in my head. When night came, I would hide out, and try and fight off sleep so I wouldn't have to have those horrible dreams.
Then Cole came. He was like a beacon of hope wherever he went. Blasting Reapers out of the streets of the Neon, helping deliver food and medical supplies, and just plain being there for the people. For a while Sasha didn't talk to me, which was a relief to me. And for that short time, I felt like a normal 18 year old. But then, she came back. And it was worse this time. I got splitting headaches, had hallucinations of monsters and Reapers, and felt weak all the time. By the time I figured out she was coming for me, it was too late.
The Reapers came for me in the middle of the night, the only night that I had a peaceful sleep. They grabbed me by the hair, and one of them stuffed a black bag over my head. I tried to fight back, to land a kick or punch, something that would help me get away. But they put me in handcuffs, and tied my legs together. I lay there, on the cold concrete of the abandoned apartment I called home, waiting for them to pull the trigger on my death. But it didn't happen. Instead I heard the sound of bare feet on the floor. Deep inside I knew it was her, and I so wanted to scream at her so many bad things, but I just laid there.
"My sweet little girl, mother is going to take you home now. I'll make sure you get better, I made the medicine myself." She said sweetly from somewhere above me. Then I felt a hand go to my neck, the sharp pain of a needle, and then nothing but darkness.