CH00 - Blink Once, Twice

Chapter 00

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The sound of firing machine guns thundered in the darkness of the storm.

“C’mon!” My little brother yelled at me from halfway across the campsite, “We gotta find Mom!” “Brian, go without me! I… I can’t go any farther.” I called to him, biting back a sob.

“No, I won’t go anywhere if you are not coming.” He shouted, “Andrea, get up! I’m not leaving you here.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but a high-pitched scream blasted through the loudspeakers, shaking our eardrums and twisting our guts.

“Andrea! Brian! RUN!”

It was my mom, but where was she?

“Mommy where are you?” Brian screamed with tears streaming down his cheeks.

“Brian! Just go!” I said, “When we are out of danger, I will find you.”

“Andrea, you have to promise me you’ll do everything to come back to me. Say it!” He sobbed.

The pain from the bullet wound shot up my thigh like fire.

Momentarily blinded with stars exploding in my head, I knew deep in my heart that the odds of survival were against us.

I looked up one last time at my beloved brother.

“I promise, Brian. Cross my heart,” was all I could muster.

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As I crumpled to the ground, a pair of black leather boots came striding toward me.

“Honey, why don’t you come with me?”

A voice, deep and resonating, spoke ever so casually as though it was just a normal conversation.

The man raised his revolver in a nonchalant way, and circled me slowly in amusement.

“The legendary Anders family, now at my feet. Ha, you never expected this day, did you?”

Lifting my chin, he forced me to look straight into the darkness of his eyes.

I blinked once, twice and said nothing.

“Tsk, tsk. Maybe you need a little more motivation to speak,” the man flashed me a smirk, “Here you go, honey.”

A tearing pain erupted from the back of my right shoulder.

“Wh… What have you done?” I cried.

With that, I fell into unconsciousness, free-falling through complete and total darkness while the excruciating pain receded into a deep throb.

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