1 PROLOGUE

All around me, people screamed. Dust filled the air, choking me and covering everything in a silty layer of powdered cement. Explosions rocked the ground every few seconds, each bringing a new wave of horror.

I sat huddled between a steel beam and a slab of broken cement. Cuts covered every inch of exposed flesh, and a gash ran the length of my right thigh. I could hardly move my hands to staunch the flow of blood. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew if the artery was severed, I was likely to bleed out any minute.

Not that I had much chance of surviving, anyways.

I didn't cry, didn't call for help. No one was around to hear me. My parents lay under the mountain of rubble that had once been their law office. I was saved only by a few feet of distance and the fortunate placing of a news vendor's cart. The river of falling concrete and glass engulfed it, but the force of the blow threw me out of harm's way.

My scalp was sticky, the screams slowly being drowned out by the ringing in my ears. I blinked heavily, ready to lay down and give up, when a pure white spot among the grey caught my attention. A man in a suit stood in the middle of the road, staring in abject horror at the carnage surrounding him.

"Help," I coughed, barely audible, even to my own ears. "Help!"

His eyes snapped to me. I shrank back at the pure rage within them, pressing my back to the cold metal behind me as he approached, kicking shard of glass out of his way.

"Don't," I said, as he grabbed my forearm, hauling me, staggering, to my feet. The world tilted around me, the sudden movement too much to bear. I retched once, and passed out.