note: an important epilogue is still coming after this! It will answer a few things and lead into part 2. It will either be a duology or one long book with two parts, but I will post part 2 separately (I'll add an update here when I do).

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There wasn't time to panic.

One second, shimmering flakes of snow were swirling above me, landing on my face like cold pinpricks. The next moment, light broke through the clouds—blinding light, like a second sun—with a churning metallic groan. It sounded like the sky was falling.

Simultaneously, military fighter planes shot across the sky with a sonic boom that made my eardrums ache. More planes followed behind them, flying in formation. They circled around began to fire missiles into the clouds at something I couldn't see. If I closed my eyes, it almost sounded like fireworks.

I had no idea what was happening, other than one apparent fact: all-out war was staining the skies above me, contrails slashing through the thick clouds. I propped myself onto my elbows, staring in disbelief.

Just then, a lone soldier burst through a hatch to the roof, carrying an intimidating machine gun. The soldier pointed it at me, face obscured behind a black mask. I tried to stand but stumbled, landing on my knees. Time stretched, my mind growing hyper-alert as the seconds passed.

The soldier stopped and spoke into a cuff around his wrist. "There's one here, a female. They're coming for her." He sounded young, but his voice was low and full of contempt.

A distorted response came from the cuff. Through the crackling of static, I could make out one clear word: "Exterminate."

My eyes widened. I scrambled violently away, my veins burning with the rush of adrenaline. I cursed that it could all end this way after everything I'd been through.

No, it wouldn't—I wouldn't let that happen.

With a backward glance, I saw the soldier ready his gun, bracing it against his shoulder.

"Wait!" I shouted, holding my hands up as if in surrender. The war above faded from my hearing, the world going silent. I panted, trying to think of what I could possibly say to buy myself time. Then my frantic eyes landed on the edge of the roof, and an idea sprouted in my mind.

"Let me go out on my own terms," I said, jerking my head toward the ground below.

At this side of the building was the fire escape, but the soldier might not know that. Maybe I could catch myself on the ladder and fool him into thinking I'd splatted on the ground.

Okay, I'll admit it sounded like a long shot, even to me. But I couldn't think of any better options.

The soldier hesitated, his weapon lowering an inch. He tore his mask off, staring with eyes devoid of emotion. "Fine. Make it quick."

With the mask off, I realized that the soldier looked not like a young man, but a woman—not that this made her any less threatening. Her features were sharp and angry, eyebrows arched downward and mouth set in a hard line. And, of course, the gun she held was still just as deadly.

She began to approach me slowly, and I answered each of her forward steps with my own step back, toward the sheer drop over the edge of the building. My legs started to shake, and I couldn't calm my hyperventilating breaths.

"It's okay, girl," she said, face still expressionless. "Trust me, this is better than them taking you. It'll go quick. You probably won't feel a—" She glanced up, surprise claiming her hardened features.

I craned my neck to follow her gaze. The beam of light was now rapidly stretching down to where I stood on the building's roof, the highest point for miles. As it got closer, I realized it was something more than light—something with mass, translucent and glimmering as it approached me.

The soldier and I met eyes for a split second. She aimed her weapon again, but it was too late. When the light touched me, everything changed.

There was a flash—more than blinding, it overtook all else until there was only pure concentrated light. I felt certain I'd been instantly blinded. My eyes were open wide with terror, but I perceived nothing.

There was searing heat against every inch of my body. It was excruciating, worse than the electric shocks from the government's implant. More agonizing than Doc and Jason's betrayal, leaving my parents behind, and losing Kyle—all combined. Multiply every painful memory by a thousand, and it still wasn't close.

The pain permeated deeper than skin. My blood was boiling, flowing through my veins like molten lava. Every nerve was aflame.

I could vaguely feel I was being thrown about, jerked this way and that. Then there was the nauseating sensation of free fall in the pit of my stomach. It felt like all of my blood was forced toward my feet as I was hurled headfirst in some indiscernible direction. My teeth chattered uncontrollably. I soon blacked out from the force of it, my head light and my consciousness fading. It was a relief as the all-encompassing pain disappeared with the rest of the world.

When I became aware again, after what could have been seconds, hours, or days, the fiery burn had been replaced with growing arctic coldness. The air tasted bitter, and my skin prickled with static electricity, like a current was surging through my flesh. The iciness slowly transformed into numbness, as if I were succumbing to hypothermia. As if every nerve was being turned off, unstoppable coldness spreading to the marrow of my bones.

I was suddenly sure I was dying. All feeling, all sensation was slipping away from me—no, being savagely torn from my skin.

I gasped for air, choking on its bitterness until my lungs grew numb, too. My body left my control, like its connection with my brain had been severed. I couldn't move. I couldn't feel anything.

This was it. I was slipping away.

Don't fight it. Just let go.

Let go.