Fire rained from the sky.

Not like flames.

Not like burning wood.

But like living heat, hot enough to scream.

Desiree stood barefoot on black earth that smoked beneath her skin. The air tasted wrong. Thick. Metallic. Like blood had replaced oxygen. Above her, there was a red moon beating like a wounded heart, and with every beat, something in her chest was beating too.

She tried to scream.

No sound came.

She tried to move.

Her feet sank into the ground.

Not soil, but flesh.

She looked down and ...