Lost in Ash (The Phoenix Experiment - Book 1)

CHAPTER ONE

"Run."

A soft breath ghosted across her ear, as a whisper of voice shocked life back into her. Immediately her lungs filled with something warm, almost hot, and she began to cough. She forced her eyes open, only to have them begin to start running down her face. The heat felt like her eyes were melting right out of her skull. Her vision began to swim.

"Run!"

She gasped. A sensation running through her body that bred fear. Her breathing quickened as she scrambled to stand. Her hand reached out into the black smoking, reaching for anything that could help pull her up.

"They're coming," the voice called to her from further away.

"Wait," she tried to plead, but more black smoke pushed its way in.

Her panic rose as she watched her mouth open, and a cloud of thick black, tar-like smoke seemed to be sucked into her. Tears pooled in her eyes, only to be evaporated by the time they hit her cheeks. She tried to push herself to her feet, but the weight of the smoke pushed her back down. Again, she tried to scream only to be silenced. As she tried to crawl on the ground after the voice, the floor burned her skin.

"Please," she whimpered.

"Too late," a deep, mechanical voice came from the shadows.

Out of the smoke appeared a soldier. When stepped out, it felt like he stepped into a stoplight. Every detail was suddenly easy to see when moments ago she hadn't been able to see a thing. The soldier was dressed from head to toe in all-black combat gear. Their face was covered by a tactical helmet, with the eyes of the helmet blacked out and a covering that went all the way down to cover the face. No doubt feeding clean air into the soldier. Some scary-looking firearm was clutched between black-gloved hands. The barrel pointed directly at her chest.

Why hadn't she noticed that?

"Order, Command?" The figure's muffled rasp echoed.

"Terminate target."

Pop.

✶

Alva jolted awake, grasping frantically at the ground beneath her.

For a moment, the panic subsided. For a moment, she hoped she was dead. That would've been a kinder reality.

She watched as the pink began to paint the night sky, as specs began to fall from the sky above. A big breath of air was released through her lips, and she watched entranced as the steam danced until it disappeared. The cool snowflakes landed on her face, she flinched at each one. Each was a cruel reminder of the feeling of hot ash on her skin. Around her, she could hear the rustling of wildlife waking up for a busy day. The tops of the trees were still singed, but the brush was well on its way to a regrowth. The simplest way to describe it was peaceful.

But Alva knew peace wasn't something that ever lasted long.

Alva closed her blue eyes, taking a deep breath in through her nose she calmed her racing heart and began to listen. While it was morning that didn't mean there wasn't danger. Ever since The Great Fire things had changed. Safety had become a luxury.

Minutes of silence passed; no noises that sounded like anything other than nature rebuilding. Slowly, Alva sat up from the cover of a cluster of dried bushes. Her eyes scanned the sparse forest, her heart aching as she looked at the burn marks that marred so many of the trees.