Only 5, Lily is intellectually gifted, precognitive, and sightless. Lily's family is the epitome of American materialism but when a tragedy beyond imagining shatters her perfect world, she finds herself alone, lost, and hunted by unspeakable terror in a cold and forbidding forest. Blind, yet she is mysteriously blessed with the gradual auras of second sight, she stumbles through the midnight forest hunted by both zombies and shadows. Her only hope of surviving even a few more hours is Grace, who is 200 miles away and has yet to realize the little girl is real.
Not letting go of Seth’s hand, Lily started towards the door in the kitchen, which opened to the staircase that led down to the basement. She opened the door and let go of Murphy’s collar as she nudged the dog ahead of her down the stairs.
Seth flipped on the light switch that lit up the stairwell and the room below, and followed numbly at her side, holding her hand. He didn’t know what to do, nothing felt right, there was only one thing he did know for sure and that was that Klaudia was right, he needed to protect Lily.
Lily held onto the railing and let Seth guide her down the steps. She did not count them this time and she did not hear Klaudia following behind. She stopped while Seth took one more step down before he felt her resistance.
“What is it Lily?” he asked.
“Kyaudia. Where’s Kyaudia?” and then a little louder, “Come on Kyaudia,” she called in her small, sweet voice.
“Lily, honey, please go with your brother. Get away from here. You have to hurry now,” Klaudia replied.
“No, Kyaudia, you habe to come wiff us!” Lily, panicked now, tried to make her way back up the stairs to fetch Klaudia herself, but Seth held her firm.
“I’m going to stay and make sure you get away,” Klaudia took a step back, “I am sorry my darling Lily, remember, I love you, I love you both!” and she shut the door and locked it.
“No!” Lily screamed and tried even harder to get back up the stairs as huge tears ran down her little cheeks.
Seth scooped Lily up into his arms and carried her the rest of the way downstairs while he tried to soothe her, “Lily, Lily, listen to me, Klaudia is trying to help us. She’s buying us time, we have to do what she says and get out of here before it’s too late. It’s what she wants us to do. We have to do it for her.”
“Seff…” Lily wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words.
They both jumped at the sounds of a loud thump and grunts that came from the other side of the kitchen door at the top of the stairs. Murphy barked wildly as he backed slowly away from the stairs. Still holding Lily, Seth ran straight through the basement towards the storm shelter. Lily screamed and wailed hysterically.
Once all three of them were in the shelter Seth set Lily down, turned on the light, and bolted the door behind them. He picked up Lily again and stood holding her tight to his chest. Her sobs were heartbreaking but he didn’t try to stop her. He let her have her cry and he too cried. They cried for their parents, for Emily, for Klaudia, and for themselves.
In Lily’s mind, wrapped in her grief and misery there were no words, there were no thoughts. There was something else though. It was the feeling that something or someone was in her mind with her. It was someone that shared in her woe and heartache. A nice lady, a good lady reached out to Lily. A nice good lady that was grape-purpaw just like Seth, except there was another color, maybe cherry-red, on the spot where her face would be. Lily thought the spot might feel bumpy and lumpy like cauliflower but softer and squishier and the nice good lady wanted to comfort her. Then the nice good lady whooshed away and the feeling was gone.
Klaudia had quickly turned from the door and had taken a few steps towards the kitchen counter. Just as she slid the butcher knife from the knife block, Troy came round the corner like a rabid bull. He leapt at her like a lion and jumped on her, knocking them both to the floor, both face down, he on top of her back. The side of Klaudia’s arms slapped against the tiles and the knife slipped from her hand, sliding six inches from her reach.
She started to struggle and squirm in an effort to get out from underneath him, but Troy easily denied her attempts. He took hold of the hair bun she had fixed tightly on top of her head and began to pull. She screamed as she frantically flung and stretched out her arm and tried to lay hold of the knife. The more he pulled her hair the harder it became for her to reach for the knife. She could see it through the tears in her eyes and her heart sank with every inch he pulled her upper body away from it.
Troy pulled harder, yanking her head back. The skin on her face tautened and her whole head felt on fire. She felt like the skin on her scalp was going to slip off.
