How Things Changed Forever...

PROLOGUE

A sudden and ferocious blissard tore through the christmas preparations of Moscow. Later, it was known to be one of the coldest, most devastating period the city has ever faced.

And during such trying times, a young woman ran across the snow covered roads towards the woods, a bundle of blankets held tightly to her chest. She was a young lass in her twenties, though she looked like someone who had gained years in a very short span of time. Her dark brown hair, which were once voluminous, now clung to her head in patches.

Her hazel eyes, which were once full of life, had lost their warmth. They looked broken and haunted now, as thought she had seen too much in her short life, as though she could not overcome the horrors she had been forced to witness.

For a passerby, she would have looked like a begger or a rag-picker, with no boots and mufflers, but only an old shredded fur coat or which barely covered her knees even in this bitter cold. What they would never know was that she had a claim over the most influential, powerful business empire of Russia, The Hiwatari Enterprises.

******

It had been a day since Natalie had fled the mansion. Her escapade was so unexpected, so suisidal, that not even her fathe, no monster-in-law had suspected it until it was too late. 

She had been running through the wilder suburbs of the city to keep away from the security cameras, to which the monster no doubt had access to. Not that she had any trouble navigating through them, for she had spent most of adolescence exploring these woods. 

But she was unprepared this time. She hissed in pain as another branch of a dried tree cut through her skin. She had torn through her sandals few minutes ago and her feet were already a mess of cuts and blood. Her teeth chattered terribly in the freezing cold. Her breaths came in short gasps, as a chill blew in the air, making her shiver. 

She emerged out of the woods at the highway, a few kilometres outside of Moscow. There was hardly any traffic due to the severe snow that had accompanied the blissard. She slid down against a tree, taking a moment's break. She gently lowered the bundle of blankets she had been carrying since yesterday.

 Her daughter's face came into view. She was a tiny little thing, small and full of energy for someone as young as two. She had made her swallow a bit of sleeping tonic as she did not want her to interfere with the escape. Her nose and cheeks were tinted pink due to the harsh weather and she seemed to be slowing developing a fewer. The blanket was hardly much of a protection when it was minus seven degrees in Moscow this winter.

She pulled her baby close to her chest, trying to give away all the body heat, all the life she had in her, which wasn't much. Her eyes caught sight of a milestone and she choked back a sob.

It read, 'Sortavala - 840 km.'

No, she thought with determination. She would not give up, could not give up now. It was her last and only chance to save atleast one of the people she loved. One last chance to make things slightly right. She wiped away the tears that threatened to fall as she looked at her daughter lovingly. Her only source of smile in the last few months... 

She had already lost her husband and son to the monster, she refused to lose her daughter too, even if it meant her own demise. But she had a promise to keep, and she was done suffering. 

******

Natalie stood in nothing but her nightgown now, her daughter wrapped in her coat snugly. Her hands were bluish in the moonlight, frostbites already setting in. The blizzard still raged in Mosco while the entire country suffered silently in heavy snowfall. The adverse weather conditions was the only reason she had survived three days without being captured by the monster.