Prologue

Evangeline

I remember it like it was yesterday. The heart-wrenching screams, cries for help, and blood, so much blood.

It was August 10, 2026, and I had just picked up my lunch from the cafeteria when I noticed something peculiar. Smoke billowed from various parts of the city, as if fires had been ignited. How I wish I hadn't ignored those ominous signs, how I wish I could have acted in that very moment. But I was frozen, and that's how I lost you.

In an instant, chaos descended upon us. Before my eyes was a nightmare I'd only ever witnessed in movies. They stumbled toward us, tearing us apart. I didn't want to believe it. I couldn't believe it, but it was horrifyingly true.

I watched in shock as one of them took a bite from you, and I witnessed the unthinkable as you transformed into one of them. I still can't fathom that my own hands were the ones that ended your existence. And I still can't accept that you're gone.