Page 1 of The Tower

Prologue

Libby

I'm falling.

No.

Floating.

Darkness has set all around, swaddling me as I sway on the verge of fainting. The pain is too much, burning a path through my crippled body while gathering pieces of my crushed soul.

So many people died tonight.

And I was right next to them, watching as persons turned to corpses.

I ran. I was pulled to run.

I was sacrificed.

And then I was saved, swooped up by a strong hand still holding the gun that pierced a bullet through my body.

A deep voice is uttering ominous commands while I was carried away from the mayhem.

I'm helpless. I'm at his mercy. I have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Ican'trun,can'thide.

Tonight was supposed to be about ringing in something new.

A tower, high and mighty with its powerful light, leaving an imprint on the entire city.

I was there. A small and irrelevant sparkle among the stars.

I was smiling, pretending.

Living a lie.

And then my world collapsed.

It was loud, violent, a savage massacre.

It's quiet now. Just a cold breeze kissing my ears, drowning out everything else.

I'm falling.

A dark abyss waiting for me.

Flooded with blood.

And I know that nothing will ever be the same.

Chapter 1

Keane

Thirty-six minutes. Just a little more than two thousand seconds before all of this is over.

Half an hour and then I'm free.