The Dawn of the Lost: Prequel to The Lost and the Wicked Read Online Free PDF

mountain of broken down classrooms, throwing pieces of walls, desks, and doors to the side. I uncover a few bodies, but none of the students I find are my sister. As the minutes trickle by, my body shakes with fear. There is simply no way I’m going to find my little sister. And even if I do, the gas will probably just take her the same way it took Rob.
    “Andrew.” Now I’m certain I’m going crazy. I’m even hearing her voice calling me.
    “Andrew!” her voice echoes, a little louder this time. “Behind you.”
    My stomach hardens as I turn and see her there. She is crouching behind the school sign. There is another girl beside her. They both looked scared out of their wits. After what just happened, I can’t blame them.
    It takes me a while to realize that she’s not looking at me. She is looking past me. A haunted look traces her face. I look behind me, certain that whatever she’s looking can’t be that bad. The entire city has been attacked and thousands of people have died. Nothing can surprise me now.
    Very quickly, I find just how wrong I am. Off in the distance, in the middle of the street, is a metallic creature that looks to have escaped from a science fiction movie. It has two curved, bird-like talons on its feet. Its thin, long body reminds me of the raptors I’ve seen in children books. It has a large circular saw in one hand. My vision looks past all that and settles on the razor sharp fangs on its long mouth.
    “Get back here!” hisses Gia, yanking me out of my reverie.
    Mind still racing, I stumble behind the cover. “What in blazes is that?”
    “I don’t know,” says Gia. “But there’s more than one. Tania and I…” She gestures to the trembling girl beside her. “We saw three of them come down from the park. They were cutting people with that saw on their hand.”
    For the first time, I notice the stains of blood spread through street and my body turns icy. There’s no denying it now. We’re definitely under attack! I try to gain composure. For now, the attack is irrelevant. I need to get Gia out of here.
    “We need to make a run for it.” I point over to the only car that is not overturned. It’s an old Ford Vision that rests on a home’s front yard about one hundred meters away. All the windows are shattered, as are the side mirrors, but it at least looks drivable, which is something I can’t say for the rest of the vehicles littering the street.
    Gia nods. “Okay. You tell me when.” She looks scared, but determined. The other girl, however, does not seem to share in my sister’s tenacity. Her teeth are chattering loudly, and she is now mumbling to herself, growing louder by the second.
    “Who is your friend?” I ask Gia.
    “She’s not my friend. I found her after that strange gas hit. Before she stopped talking, she told me her name was Lana.”
    I grab Lana’s shoulders tightly. “Listen, Lana. You need to get a grip of yourself or we’re all going to die.” But I quickly see that my words are doing nothing. She is zoned out, lost in her own little world.
    “Snap out of it!” A hard slap smacks her across her face.
    Lana turns toward Gia, caressing her red cheek. “You slapped me!”
    “I had to. You weren’t listening.”
    “But…”
    “But nothing,” I interrupt. “There is no time for idle chat. On the count of ten we’re going to make a run to that car.”
    “REEEEEEEK!”
    Before I turn, I already know what it is. Sure enough, the raptor-like creature has spotted us. Its metallic talons clank on the street as it puts its head down and rushes toward us at an alarming speed.
    “Run!”
    Gia grabs Lana by her hand and pulls her out of the hiding spot.
    I quickly surmise that there is no way they’re going to reach the car before the creature gets to them first.
    “Over here!” I shout, also jumping from behind the hideout. I take off toward the school.
    “What are you doing?” I hear my sister call out.
    “Leading it away from