The darkness is impenetrable. I cannot see the girl to my left or right. I have experienced this before. When the Gatherers first took Jenna, Kim and me.

Jenna was chosen by the Gatherers to be a wife of some rich man. Kim and I were not. We were herded to the van like cattle. Then one by one they started shooting at us dead. Fear over took me as I had pushed myself through the crowd not seeing any faces just a blur. One Gatherer grabbed at me and I fought him off like a savage dog. Then I ran. I ran to all the way to our house before realizing. I had left Kim. That haunted me forever. Out of my own fear I ran like a coward and left my little sister to die.

The doors opened and it was like a tunnel of light penetrated the darkness. We were shoved out and my legs wobbled not able to even hold up my own body weight.

We were arranged in my line and it was mostly silent except for the occasional hiccup or sob interrupting the quiet atmosphere. Men in long gray coats walk up and down the line searching for suitable wives among the "contestants".

One grabs my chin forcing me to look straight into his ugly black bottomless eyes and he grinned. His grin was like the mouth of hell dark and able to cause painful death with one word 'Yes or No'.

He nods, satisfied, and continues walking down the line. The girls are all taken until I'm the only one still standing in place.

The man that grinned at me took me at the am to a limousine. He pushes me inside and I am engulfed by the smell of after shave and something I cant identify. I can hear a shot as his closes the door.

All I know before I black out is that that shot it's the first of dozens more to come.