Prologue
"Somebody please help me!"
The scream pierced through the silent night as the woman stumbled barefoot through the dark woods. Her body was trembling, scraped and bruised, her breaths sharp and ragged. She was naked, her skin freezing under the moonlight, branches cutting at her as she ran.
Tears streamed down her face as she looked back—nothing but darkness behind her, but she knew he was there.
Somewhere.
Then, suddenly, a hand shot out from the shadows and yanked her backward by the hair. She screamed again, but it was cut short when a cloth was pressed hard over her mouth. She thrashed wildly, her vision spinning, her lungs weakening as the strange chemical took over.
Her knees gave out.
As her body collapsed, the hooded man knelt beside her, breathing heavily. His eyes glinted with madness.
“You’re number eleven,” he whispered, almost lovingly. “I only need one more.”
Then he laughed—long, sharp, and wild—his grip tightening around her hair as he dragged her limp body deeper into the woods, where the others waited.