The City was in chaos by the time she got there, half-starved and dehydrated, every fibre of her body aching with exhaustion. She knew it was the wrong place to be before she'd even arrived, but what other choice did she have now?

Everything that she had once had was gone, Pandorax had seen to that. Not just the adults, civilisation and her bright dreams for a normal future: but literally everything she had ever had.

The dark haired girl hadn't made it back to her home – small town, suburban NZ with its lush green trees and beautiful houses – the iconic Cherry Valley settlement, flagship town for Pandorax Inc, in time. She'd arrived at the outskirts as the explosion had torn through its centre bringing down not only the large corporation building it housed but the school she had once gone to, the ice cream parlour they'd all hung out in, Bill's parent's fish and chip shop, the playing fields, her tree, the youth club where she'd first met…

Her home. Her lovely bedroom with the fairy lights around the headboard and the crochet blanket her grandmother had made her; her kitten – well, he'd be a cat fully grown now – Gingerbread, her photographs, those stupid snow globes she'd collected since she was a kid.

Judy's ridiculous birthday presents – always unsuitable clothes or makeup – and the postcards she was always sending her telling her to Brighten up or live a little surrounded by hearts and stars and winky faces.

Those friends of hers were what brought tears to her green eyes as they took in the savaged settlement: what hadn't been destroyed in the explosion was now burning in the aftermath. She had said a silent prayer hoping that they'd been far away when it had happened and then, to some greater force than even God, had made a wish that this explosion had had nothing to do with Gray Zachary.

Her heart ached for her parent's too – of course it did – but the spread of the dreaded virus had already ravaged much of the adult population before she could reach them. She was sure that it would've been already too late for them, living so close to the epicentre of what was assumed to be the outbreak.

She'd come as quickly as she could, but even that had been too late or, perhaps, being a little late had been the thing to save her.

Her eyes had hurt from the smoke and the tears. Once, not even that many months ago, she would've broken down on that hilltop – she would've heaved with desperate sobs. Once this would've broken her heart into a million pieces, savaged through her innocence, brought her to her knees. But a lot had changed in six months, a year. Everything.

She'd dashed away the tears from her cheeks, but as soon as she'd done that they were there again, tracking their way down her face. Her heart was already torn to pieces, that was the truth, she'd cried many tears for her parents and friends and old life over the last few weeks.

I'm sorry, had been her final thought as she swept her eyes over the landscape, Mum, Dad: I love you. Judy, you were right, you were always right about everything. Bill, Kyle … Na lu e-govanned Vin.

Standing in the flames and ash of the explosion, she'd pulled out her map. She had a number of leads to follow: Cherry Valley had literally just gone up in smoke.

"Next stop, the City" She'd said grimly, putting up the hood of her coat and starting in that direction.

It had taken many days and many nights to get there. She'd stopped counting at ten moons; her feet were so blistered in her old trainers that she barely even felt the pain anymore.

She became clumsy the longer it went on, she forgot to jump behind a tree or dive for cover whenever more than two kids crossed her path. She was filthy: matted hair and dirty faced, she hadn't eaten in days.

Every step brought more chaos: precious, wonderful books burning on heaps, torn and defaced or just thrown into the fire with delight. Kids proclaiming that the old world was dead; this was the future. Power and chaos.

Sirens sounded in the distance, the stench of old, dead bodies made her heave. Children younger than her with silverware adorned hair and funny markings on their faces spat at her in the street, ravaged her bag for food and batteries – of which she had neither.

She felt certain then that she would not make it out of the City alive. She had come so far and yet … she would die here, in a gutter, stripped of her belongings, dirt in her hair. In the days to come she would think that death would be a more favourable option.

"My, my, my … and what do we have here?"

Had the girl been able to open her dry mouth, she didn't know what sort of reply she might've made. A girl, just a girl. Not a fighter or a warrior, not special in any way. No remarkable talents, nothing to write home about, just a sad, broken girl, looking for something she had lost a long time ago.

An arm in front of her stopped her in her tracks. She reeled giddily against that wall, not caring that the pebbledash scraped her hands as she used it to keep her upright. Her vision swam in and out of focus.

He was tall, so tall. She had to tilt her head right back to look up into his face and … oh she was further out of it than she thought. He was made up like some carnival of the dead ringmaster – dark ringed eyes, smudged red lips. He had this grin that made her stomach turn dangerously.

"Speak up, my dear, we can't quite hear you…"

She gulped and tried to say something. His cronies were a strange mix of rainbow coloured lycra and crazy headdresses. They had bits of metal stuck to their faces. They looked at her like a pack of rabid dogs; she was dinner.

"I…I…"

The boy, the ring-leader, put his fingers to her chin and tilted it upwards "Yes sweetheart. Let's hear it"

"Please"

He grinned baring a row of perfectly straight, white teeth. "Oh yes, I do so like it when they beg" The hounds cackled at that, moving closer. He held up a staff in their direction, halting them "She's mine first"

"Don't hurt me" She managed, blinking her eyes, focusing her attention on him, mustering some strength.

He clicked his tongue "Oh, it'll only hurt for a moment…"

She blinked, big, beautiful eyes "You can only manage a moment, huh? Every girls dream"

This made his smile change, deepen "Oh, not such a frightened little mouse afterall"

She gulped, reeling against the wall again. Blood on her hands. "Are you finished yet?"

He laughed "I like this brave little mouse" And then, his hand on her throat, he shoved her up against the wall. The pain of that, at least, felt real and sure, unlike everything else which just felt all swimmy.

"Tell me, little mouse, why I shouldn't just finish you right here?"

Her mouth opened and closed. She honestly couldn't think of a single reason. There was no air left in her anyway to speak. Her brain felt like it was swelling, getting too big for her skull, her eyes burned, she was done now; her body hurt so much that it was done.

Then the boy let her go. Despite her best efforts she was heaving for air, bringing life back in to her almost spent body. Weak little girl, she thought. She was wrong.

"Any last words, little one?" His voice was but a gentle whisper at the back of her mind, his hands on her shoulders a mere annoyance, like a fly. She swatted at him uncoordinated. She opened her mouth to say something and instead of words coming out, it was music as she started to sing.

The girls voice was haunting and melodic. It was fragile and afraid. It spoke of a life lived much older than her sixteen years. Her eyes closed as the music came pouring out, more readily than words or breath…this was her life, her oxygen, her survival.

And then she blacked out.

The grass was warm against her back, the sky so dark and rich that it looked almost purple and the stars shone so brightly that it was breath-taking. She found pictures in them, linked the dots, pointed out the constellations she knew and made up the ones she did not, liking the low rumble of his laughter as she pointed out the bunny rabbit and the singer and the tiger.

"What about that one?" He wondered, pointing to a lone star that shone brighter than all the others.

"Oh, that's lonely star." She whispered, turning her face she that she could look at him in profile.

Gray Zachary. Her heart started to race.

The edges of him were blurry and she blinked to clarify him. His hair and clothes were so black that under the night sky he was almost a shadow. His eyes were dark too, not black but a dark, dark brown. She'd looked into them often enough to know the flecks of amber in them, the black dot in the iris of his left eye, the frame of dark lashes. Looking into his eyes made her stomach hurt. She'd done it too many times before.

Lonely star was something her father had made up for her when she was a child, upset at him going away for work. He'd sat with her in her bedroom window and they'd named the stars. He'd pointed out that lonely start, so bright and clear and all alone in the sky. He'd told her that every night he would find that star in the sky and think of her; that she could do the same for him and they'd be close because of it.

She'd told Gray this before.

"Really it's the North Star" She said, turning her eyes back into the sky, too old now for fairy tales and happily ever after "Wherever you are in the world, if you can find the North Star then you know I can too. It'll be like we're not so far apart"

"We aren't as far apart as you think" Something in his voice let her know that he wanted to touch her, but he didn't move.

She tried to feel the warm from the grass but realised suddenly that she couldn't feel anything anymore.

"Oh" Her voice was soft "I'm dreaming Gray."

She gulped and closed her eyes, squeezing them tight. When she opened them again the stars had disappeared, he was fading too. She reached for his fingers but couldn't get a grasp on them "I don't want to wake up." She admitted, but it was already too late.