She staggered alone on the road as dusk was approaching rapidly,she needed to get back to the hideout before night fall.
Everything that had happened that day was just replaying slowly in her head as she walked back,how flames had shut out of her hands the mysterious man or was she just being delusional from losing much blood.
Anyway she just needed to get treated and Lucas was just the man for the job,she knew he would be worried sick about her.
Poor Lucas,he had protested on all her scavenger hunts but that's how they could survive,deep down she knew his fear was looking out one day and not seeing her figure return.
She reached an abandoned underground railway station as neon lights flickered on and off,she crawled underneath one of the tracks as she opened a trap door.
This was a hideout which was now her home,ever since the outage people were forced to hide in places like this as no electricity or electronic appliance worked they used scraps and metals to build miniature tents.
It wasn't that they couldn't build it above but above here wasn't safe as they were being hunted and the hunting was worse at night only few demons had he ability to walk in daylight and they were the most deadly ones.
The people down here were just part of a lucky few whose hideout weren't yet discovered by the hunters or Prowlers(demons).
As each night was a nightmare,only a few brave people like her volunteered to go scavenging by day to find food for the people but only few returned alive but somehow she's made it this far and somehow she was grateful but what happened today was something else.
As she got down the last ladder a tiny figure ran to her screaming, Jackie! Jackie! Jackie...
It was Layla a five year old she had rescued and brought here the demons had killed her mother and she was here now alone just like Jackie.
Jackie had already taken her as family as they both shared the same story, Layla was now her responsibilities as only she took care of her as they both had no one.
"Jackie your hurt,"another figure said following the little girl,it was Lucas.
"I'm fine",she said Stubbornly squatting down to face the little girl.
"Jackie did you get any food?", Layla asked
"Unfortunately no, but I can trade a little of my silver for food so you won't go hungry"
"Let's get you checked before the injury gets infected", Lucas said reaching to grab her unwilling stubborn arm.
Typical Lucas, always worrying,she was lucky to have him though,they went back a long way growing through the chaos together they were practically siblings looking out for each other although she thought he acted like a wimp at times.
"You need to be careful out there, you could get yourself killed one of these days",he said as he dressed the injury with some stacked up ancient wine and some dirty rag clothe.
"I'm here in one piece so it's something to celebrate"
" Really Jackie,you need to stop"
"And watch you guys starve to death no way"
"You are being childish and stubborn now,you know we can always find something down here to sustain us"
"Like those disgusting scraps they share"
"We could always manage!",he said angrily.
"Manage scraps that barely reach us or always end up in a fight,no,no way,"she said as she got up to leave.
"One of these days you are going to end up dead leaving Layla and I alone and trust me I dread that day, anytime you go up there I always have this feeling that I would never see you again."
"That day is never going to come you know that,so I would be fine".
"I'm just saying,you need to be careful"
"I need to rest,trust me I just had a long day",she said walking away.
She lay on the dirty torn sheet watching the metal roof,the make shift room was an air vent which she had worked hard to create room for herself to have her privacy.
Here she stashed her precious belongings,it wasn't much just pictures of her and mum together,she didn't want to forget her face and some precious items she could trade anything for food.
As she lay down there,her mind drifted to what happened earlier today.
So many unanswered questions ran across her mind,who were this resistance?what was this power?were there people out there just like her or was she alone?was she a monster?
As she thought she also tried to figure out who this unknown man was and what he said about surviving,was it a threat?
Still in her chain of thoughts, nature overtook her as she drifted to slumber peacefully as the world fell silent around her.
Her dreams weren't at all peaceful,as she kept seeing her mum and voices kept whispering her name in the dark calling out to her from anguish, ancient symbols arose from the ashes all around her,cloaked faces formed a circle chanting in a weird language as she saw another version of her tattooed with ancient markings and killer deadly eyes and instinct.
She jolted awake in panic as she stared at her arms to find nothing there,her arms scared with injuries from her fights and nothing more.
She heaved a sigh of relief,it was all a dream she told herself.
Then what happened earlier today was it a dream to?,no there must be an explanation to it or maybe sheer luck.
She sluggishly pulled herself out of the bed and decided to walk around,she was still contemplating whether or not she should fill Lucas in on what happened or to just let it slide as there was no probability of it repeating itself.
The walk around wasn't a pleasant one as she just watched the human race being more degrading than ever, sometimes she wondered if it were only the demons that were the only monsters.
She had a vivid memory of watching a man beat an old lady to death for a scrap of food which the lady had refused to share and on later investigation the old lady was the man's grandmother who was saving the food for a little girl.
Everyone were just monsters to themselves, just so they could fight hunger and survive,as they fought the demons they also fought themselves for survival.
She just saw it as being cruel and vile, no wonder she trusted only herself and her blade,if she hasn't know Lucas for this long she could have been a total loner.
Still on her walk she stopped at a drum fire to warm herself up as the cold had started again.
While warming herself up her ear caught a conversation of a small group of males,they were talking about a group of saviours and on closer attention she picked up the word resistance but before she could react they had quickly dispersed,she just turned around to find no one there.
Were this resistance really real? if they were she needed to find them and ask a few questions,but where?she asked herself.
She was still in her thoughts when a hand grabbed her shoulder as she quickly reflexed and twisted it just to find,Lucas he had just found her standing there alone confused as he had walked up to her to ask if she was okay.
"Ouch,was that necessary",he asked rubbing his released arm.
"Hey, just self defence,sorry though",she said apologetically.
"So?what are you....he had barely finished his sentence when a huge bang was heard.
The hideout has been discovered,they were under attack .
Panic spread every where as people screamed and ran for their lives pandemonium was everywhere as this demons were marked.
Marked demons were those who looked like humans but with claws,speed and agility,the marked were those who gave up their bodies so they could be protected and used by higher demons,you could tell them apart because their eyes glowed golden as they bore markings on their faces.
Terror was everywhere as Jackie's only aim was finding her little Layla.
She pushed against bodies as she screamed her name in the chaos as she and Lucas screamed and searched.
They finally found her squatted in panic by the side of a fallen metal covering her ears.
As she reached and grabbed her,she had totally forgotten they were under attack as she hugged her Layla.
They quickly got up and joined the crowd to run as they all held each other close.
In the all the chaos,a demon burst out from one of the walls and grabbed the little girl and before they could react she was being pulled away.
Lucas jumped in and fought it off with all his might as Jackie joined in too as another demon had just joined in and just when the little girl was free and they were about to run.
Lucas was stabbed in the chest, Jackie screamed as she cut its arm off and rushed to his side crying.
She couldn't believe she was about to lose another one she cared about to this ruthless monsters.
She boiled in anger and grief as she held his body while he breathed slowly almost his last.
That's when it came again the sensation burning all-over her body this time.
She screamed in anger and everywhere began to burn,the demons and the humans both cried as they burnt in anguish.
The demons fled but the flames caught up with them setting them ablaze.
She was angry and out of control as everything turned to ashes as she cried out,only those close to her were spared by the flames,the rest perished.
The markings were now fully glowing all over her body as her eyes were devoid of humanity as it was now darker than night.
She knew not what she was doing for she couldn't even stop it as she bled from her eyes and nose but couldn't stop as the flames danced.
A figure from nowhere walked through the flame and reached to her as he grabbed and held her down.
The figure blew a substance at her which knocked her and the little scared girl unconscious.
He stared at the unconscious girl and thought out loud."She was powerful no doubt and she needed to keep her emotions intact thank goodness he came on time ,she was a powerful weapon and asset now she was in their hold."
Another figure walked in too,the two figures wore the same black cloak with a hoodie which covered their faces as one of them spoke.
"No doubt she's the one we have been looking for, finally the daughter have returned"...