The rain fell heavily and loud, turning the area into an endless fog with the only thing illuminating the area being flashing car lights and blaring car horns. The smell of a burning engine clung to the air like a warning. She stumbled over the shattered remains of the driver's side door, her hands slick with blood that wasn't hers. Her father was groaning, pinned against the steering wheel, while her mother's voice was a cracked whisper in the dark.
She didn't think. She just keeps moving.
Pulling with every ounce of strength she had, she freed her father first, dragging him across the road shoulder. A gash across her dad's forehead bled into her hoodie as he lost consciousness. Her mother was next. The car creaked, groaned, shifted ominously. She ignored it.
Pain lanced her side, sudden and white-hot, but there was no time to acknowledge it. She didn't even notice the shard of metal until her mother was clear of the wreckage and the adrenaline began to drain from her veins. She collapsed beside them, one hand pressed to her stomach. It came away crimson. Breathing became difficult. The world started to tilt. Sirens wailed somewhere in the distance. Too far.
The rain slowed. Or maybe time did. The colors dimmed, the sound dulled. Her body felt weightless. Detached. She tried to focus on her parents' faces but everything was smeared like a painting in the rain.
Then silence.
A light flickered in the darkness behind her closed eyes, cold and silver.
And a voice, soft and unfamiliar, whispered from the void:
"Hello new Wanderer."