Expiration Date – Chapter One

After Shattering

When I wake up, I am alone. The hum of fireflies vibrates in the air, and their winking yellow lights illuminate the moonless night. My nose prickles at the scent of pine and sap. Pushing myself up, pine needles dig into my hands, and I sit up in the middle of the forest.

I look down at my skin. My hands are clean, and there is flesh and blood. No glass, no cracks.

I am fully human.

And to be honest, I can’t believe it. How did I get here? Am I alive? Am I dead? How did my skin change? After Ari shattered, his body didn’t disappear. So how did mine?

Ari. I remember him with a pang that weakens my legs and prevents me from standing up. Could it be possible that he’s here? And has any time lapsed since I shattered?

If shattering is even real.

If Shatterproof was even real.

I don’t know if that possibility is terrifying or freeing.

Shakily, I get to my feet and walked towards the sound of heavy footsteps just past my grove of trees. My heart leaps into my throat. Is there someone coming for me? I wonder, a chill running down my spine. And yet, I took another step. What I thought was not a forest at all, but a clump of perhaps ten trees, and next to it, a paved pathway. In the near blackness, I can make out the figure of a broad-chested man carrying a flashlight.

I choke on the air. Before I can retreat into the shelter of the branches, his beam of light caught my pale skin and he halted. “Who’s there? Put your hands up and walk into the light!”

Put my hands up? I wonder, a sweat breaking out on my forehead. I jump into his view, clenching my hands in my red hair to hide their shaking, and squint at the bright beam of his light.

He lets out a low breath. His arm moves–I pray it wasn’t a gun–there was a small beep and a spat of static. “Can I get reinforcement by Parkman Bandstand? Code Gray.” Another beep. The flashlight beam wags over my face. “Don’t move!” the man barks.

Maybe I didn’t leave Shatterproof.

Maybe I’m still there.

Maybe I didn’t escape.

Maybe Hector didn’t set me free.

Rushing footsteps. Three more men, all with the same barrel chest, charge me. The one who caught me comes forward and points the flashlight directly in my eyes, two grab each of my arms, and the other attaches shackles to my wrist. I can’t move. I can’t see. I can’t breathe. Everything is frozen fear. If I didn’t die back in Shatterproof, I’ll surely die tonight.

Suddenly the light from the flashlight turns a devilish red. The skin over my collarbone shrieks in agony with its contact. But as soon as it started, the pain ebbs away and the light switches back to white.

“It’s an Expirational,” the one who caught me says.

A what?

“Did she escape? Or did she just get here?” Another says.

“Where did you come from?” the first jabs me in the chest with the butt of his flashlight. I yelp in pain, but it comes out as a wheeze. He knocked the wind out of me so easily. I feel weak.

“Shatterproof,” I choke out, bending forward. “I’m from Shatterproof. Where am I? What did I do wrong?”

No response. When I lift my head to attempt to see their faces, the flashlight beam is directed to the pathway in front of us. Though I had no idea where they were taking me, I didn’t struggle when they marched me forward.

I’m alive. I’m alive.

For now.