The air hung heavy with smoke, dense and unyielding, every breath a battle against the suffocating heat. It was as if the very world had been set ablaze, a furnace pressing in from all sides. Each inhalation seared her lungs, leaving her gasping and coughing, her throat raw. The tang of ash coated her tongue, bitter and unrelenting.

Her eyelids fluttered open, but the world around her was a distorted nightmare. 

Jagged shapes loomed in the haze, their edges softened by smoke that curled and twisted like phantom tendrils. Her vision swam, the landscape a surreal blur of light and shadow. The acrid smell of burning metal and plastic mingled with the sickening stench of charred flesh. Somewhere in the chaos, the dissonant symphony of screams and collapsing structures played on, fractured and faint against the ringing in her ears.

She struggled to remember. New New York. 

The memory was hazy but hauntingly vivid in fragments, the sky alive with the shimmering streaks of a celestial event, a cosmic rarity that had drawn crowds into the streets. Stars streaked across the heavens in a mesmerizing dance, their brilliance reflected in the awe-struck faces below. She had stood among them, her lover beside her, his hand warm in hers. His smile had been a steadying presence, grounding her as the day unfolded.

Enjoying this sample?

Continue reading this book and enjoy unlimited access to a diverse library of Pinsmack fiction ebooks, with new ones added every Friday. All included in your Pinsmack subscription plan.