The engines roared to life one after another.
For the first time since the world had changed, the familiar sound of cars brought everyone a strange sense of comfort.
At least some things still worked.
Liam got into the driver's seat while Trisha climbed in beside him.
The others divided themselves between the remaining vehicles.
Nobody wanted to travel alone.
Not anymore.
The streets of Asteria City looked nothing like they had the night before.
Stores were open but abandoned.
Traffic lights continued changing colors despite the empty roads.
Several cars had been left in the middle of intersections.
Their doors hung open.
As if their owners had simply disappeared.
Nobody spoke.
Even Henry was quiet.
That alone was enough to make everyone uneasy.
Liam drove carefully through the deserted streets.
His hands rested on the steering wheel, but his mind was elsewhere.
Moon Werewolf.
The title kept repeating inside his head.
It sounded impossible.
Yet so did giant wolves and floating messages.
He glanced at Trisha.
She was staring out of the window.
Her reflection looked pale.
"Tired?" he asked.
She looked at him.
"A little."
"You should sleep."
She laughed softly.
"In this situation?"
"Fair point."
Silence returned.
Then she looked at him.
"Are you scared?"
Liam did not answer immediately.
A few seconds passed.
"Yes."
The honesty surprised even him.
She blinked.
"You are?"
"I have powers I don't understand. Monsters appeared out of nowhere. The world is trapped in eternal darkness."
He tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
"I think I'd be crazy if I wasn't scared."
Trisha stared at him.
Then she smiled.
"That makes me feel better."
He frowned.
"Why?"
"Because I thought I was the only one."
His expression softened.
Without taking his eyes off the road, he reached over and held her hand.
"You aren't alone."
Those simple words warmed her chest.
For a moment, she almost forgot the darkness outside.
Then something moved.
A shadow darted across the road.
Liam immediately hit the brakes.
The car stopped.
Everyone behind them stopped as well.
"What happened?" Trisha asked.
Liam stared through the windshield.
"I thought I saw something."
The darkness ahead remained still.
Nothing moved.
Then a small figure slowly stepped into the middle of the road.
It was a child.
A little girl.
She looked about seven years old.
She wore a white dress.
Her long black hair covered most of her face.
Trisha immediately unfastened her seat belt.
"Wait."
Liam grabbed her arm.
"What?"
Something felt wrong.
The little girl stood completely motionless.
She wasn't crying.
She wasn't scared.
She simply stood there.
The air suddenly became cold.
Very cold.
More car doors opened.
The others stepped out.
Britney looked confused.
"Why is there a child here?"
"I don't know," Gold answered.
Trisha's heart pounded.
The little girl slowly raised her head.
Her face became visible.
Everyone froze.
Her eyes were entirely black.
No whites.
No pupils.
Only darkness.
Grey nearly jumped backward.
"Nope."
The little girl smiled.
Then her neck twisted.
Once.
Twice.
Until her head faced completely backward.
Britney screamed.
The little girl giggled.
The sound was soft.
Childlike.
Yet it somehow felt wrong.
Very wrong.
Then she spoke.
"The Heir..."
Silence.
Her black eyes slowly moved.
They settled directly on Trisha.
"The Heir has awakened."
Trisha's blood ran cold.
Those words.
She had heard them before.
In her dream.
Nobody noticed her face had gone pale.
Because at that moment, the little girl's body suddenly dissolved into black mist.
She disappeared.
Completely.
Silence followed.
Nobody moved.
Nobody even blinked.
Several seconds passed.
Then Henry pointed at the empty road.
"I officially resign from this apocalypse."
Nobody laughed.
Because they all looked equally terrified.
"What was that?" Hazel whispered.
No one had an answer.
A deep sound suddenly echoed in the distance.
DONG.
The crimson rings glowed.
DONG.
Another sound answered.
This one was not a bell.
It sounded like something enormous breathing.
Everyone slowly looked upward.
The darkness above the city seemed deeper somehow.
As if the sky itself had become alive.
Then every phone suddenly vibrated.
One message appeared.
MIDNIGHT APPROACHES.
SEVEN HOURS REMAIN.
SURVIVE.
The message disappeared.
Silence returned.
The convoy moved once more.
This time, nobody complained about the silence.
They kept looking out of the windows as if expecting another monster to appear.
Asteria City had become unfamiliar.
A police station stood open with no officers outside.
A bus had crashed into a street sign.
The doors were open.
No passengers remained inside.
The deeper they drove into the city, the more uneasy everyone became.
Then they passed a giant electronic billboard.
It flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Suddenly, an image appeared.
It was a map.
Nobody recognized it.
A red dot slowly pulsed at the center.
Then strange words appeared beneath it.
THE FIRST SANCTUARY.
The screen immediately went black.
"Did everyone see that?" Amazon asked through the open car window.
"Yes," Liam answered.
"What does it mean?"
"I don't know."
For the fourth time that day, those words became everyone's answer.
The unknown was slowly surrounding them.
And the worst part was that it seemed to know far more about them than they knew about it.
Trisha looked at the dark sky and suddenly realized something. Since morning, she had never seen the moon that started all of this. Only the three crimson rings remained, hanging like eyes above the dying city.
Liam slowly looked toward Royal Crest University, which was still visible far away.
Its clock tower rose above the surrounding buildings and darkened skyline.
For some reason, he felt they needed to reach it.
Immediately.
He looked at everyone.
"We're wasting time here, we should leave."
Nobody disagreed.
One by one, they returned to their cars.
As Liam started the engine again, Trisha looked through the rear window.
The road was empty.
The little girl was gone.
Yet she couldn't shake the feeling that those black eyes were still watching her.
And somewhere beyond the eternal darkness, something ancient smiled.