00: Prologue
The sky was eerily dark, the lights of the city buildings miles away, faint in the distance. I sat in the backseat of my mother's car, twirling my fingers around each other. It was a nervous habit of mine; one I'd picked up when I was only seven-years-old. Ten years ago felt like a lifetime ago now.
"Mom, I'm hungry." my younger brother spoke from the car beside us. He was sitting in the open trunk of a car belonging to someone we'd just met, playing checkers with a girl about his age.
My mother nodded. "I know, Carl. We all are."
I tuned my family out once again, continuing to twirl my fingers. We'd been stuck in traffic for what felt like hours now, waiting to get into the city. We'd been told it would be safe there-safer, at least.
"I'm gonna go up the road, see what's going on," Shane spoke. My mother nodded, offering to go with him and asking me to keep an eye on my brother before heading off.
Shane was my father's best friend, his partner in the force. He'd been around as long as I could remember, the two of them growing up together for the most part; he was family. After losing my father, I knew how badly my family needed Shane. We would've never made it this far without him.
"Josie!" I hopped out of the car, making my way to my brother's side. "Look!"
I followed his finger, though it would've been hard to miss it anyways. Helicopters flew over the city before explosions began spreading across.
"Holy shit…" I mumbled.
"What's going on?"
I couldn't bring myself to respond. How was I supposed to tell my baby brother that the government was bombing the city? The only place we had been told we would be safe. What the hell were we supposed to do now?