Preface
Blurry, fragmented images floated within Brian’s mind, but he couldn’t piece them together. He opened his eyes but found only darkness. A strong weight on his wrists and ankles kept him in place: he couldn’t move. A gag muffled his groan of pain, and when he inhaled, the sickeningly sweet scent of a sedative tingled his nose. He felt dizzy.
An icy wave of dread engulfed Brian as the situation dawned on him…
He was a prisoner.
Were they going to kill him?
After everything they’d done to get to him, was Lufos truly going to kill him? What had been the point of project Atolla then? And the Great Strife?
The drugs pulled him into a dreamless slumber, but he fought against it, held on to the only memory that could dissipate, at least a little, the thick black fog. Laughter. Three beautiful voices ringing through the silence of a warm spring evening.
John, Freddie, and Roger. His first friends in this new life. His only friends.
If they hadn’t noticed him that day, in school, then who knows… Maybe none of this would have ever happened.
No. He knew that even that day had been too late.
The attacks had already started, advancing slowly but surely towards the city.
The spark before the flame.