Sofia's POV

The world dissolved in a blood-curdling shriek, a sound that wasn't of this earth but of something primal and filled with pure malice. It tore me from a dreamless sleep, ripping through the stillness of the night and scraping across my nerves. It was followed by a deafening crash that shook the very foundation of the house, rattling the windows and my bones. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird as I scrambled to the window, my mind struggling to process the terror. What I saw next froze the blood in my veins.

My mother stood in the yard, a log of wood clutched in her hand, facing a creature that loomed over her like a twisted shadow. It was a grotesque thing, a tangle of muscle and sinew, its mottled green skin gleaming under the dim light. Long, razor-sharp claws extended from its fingers, and its jaw, wide enough to swallow a head whole, was filled with rows of jagged teeth. My mother's face was a mask of sheer terror, her eyes locked on the beast, and I knew, with a certainty that chilled me to the bone, that she was about to die.

I wanted to believe it was a nightmare, that I was still trapped in a dream, but the horror was real. The air tasted of ash and fear, and the scent of blood was a metallic tang on my tongue. I stumbled down the stairs, my legs like jelly, only to be confronted with a scene that would forever haunt my waking moments. My nine-year-old sister, Natasha, lay motionless on the front door, a small body bathed in a pool of blood that seemed to suck all the light from the room.

The world went silent, save for my own shattered gasp. I knelt, my hands shaking, gently shaking her small shoulders, my voice a broken whisper. "Natasha? Please, Tash, wake up. It's just a dream. Please, wake up!" I begged, tears blurring my vision. But there was no life left, no flicker of recognition in her open eyes. My scream was a silent echo, lost beneath the pounding of my own heart. As I looked up, the creature emerged from the shadows, its jaws still slick with my mother’s blood. The fear in its eyes, the hunger, and the pure savagery filled me with a blind, desperate rage.

I grabbed the log and swung with everything I had. It swatted me aside effortlessly, like a fly. I crashed to the ground, my head spinning, as the creature closed in for the kill. But then, a gunshot. The beast roared as a bullet tore into the monster’s foot. My father, shaking but resolute, stood in the doorway, his eyes burning with a determined light. "Dad!" The word was a choked-out prayer of relief.

But it was a relief as brief as a single breath. Another creature, a carbon copy of the first, emerged from the darkness. It struck him down with a single, brutal blow. The life drained from his eyes as his body hit the floor.

Survival was the only thing left. I stumbled out into the night, my injured leg screaming in agony. The world had gone mad. The streets were a wasteland of twisted metal and shattered glass, littered with the bodies of the dead and dying. The creatures, monstrous forms born of shadow and rage, roamed free.

My body begged for rest, but my mind screamed for me to move. I saw things that no human should ever witness: a child torn from its mother's arms, a family slaughtered in their own home, a world destroyed in a matter of hours. I found a cave and collapsed inside, a shattered wreck of a person.

Alone. That was my new reality. I tore a piece of my dress to bind my wound. The creatures were everywhere, their twisted forms a constant threat in the shadows. I knew I had to find a way to survive. I had to stay alive in a world that seemed determined to kill me.