Fated Grey (Fated #1)

Prologue

There were no signs of what was to come in the days leading up to the Last War.

No sirens to warn us. No negotiations to consider.

No time to prepare. It was as if an invisible veil separating our two worlds had suddenly shattered.

Only there was no veil. Just human ignorance that had us believing the monsters we read about in bedtime stories were too evil to be real.

But ignorance was just one of our many flaws.

We were also na?ve and self-centered. We spent our centuries of life fighting one another over land and power, completely oblivious to who the real enemy was.

We were a weak species in comparison, and yet that wasn’t the cause of our downfall.

Instead, it was our pride that killed us.

We could’ve come together as one. We could’ve united our forces and protected one another against the monsters that came for us all.

But we didn’t. We chose to look out for only ourselves.

A catastrophic mistake that would cost us our existence.

Twelve days.

Twelve days was all it took for them to nearly eradicate the human race from existence.

First came the werewolves. Beasts disguised as humans, hiding in plain sight.

By the time we knew what was happening, it was already too late.

We weren’t prepared, and even if we were, it wouldn’t have mattered.

These beasts were not like the ones we read about in books.

The full moon didn’t control them. Silver didn’t slow them.

They were wolves the size of bears, and we were no match for their razor-sharp teeth and claws that could cut through doors like knives through butter.

At the time, we thought we knew what animal attacks were like. But these weren’t animals, they were monsters. Monsters that acted with no hesitation and no mercy as they shredded their victims one by one, working in packs to make sure the job got done.

The day they came for us is one I will never forget.

I was only seventeen at the time, a few weeks from turning eighteen.

About a week before, I had decided to run away.

It wasn’t going to be long until I was on my own anyway, so I thought why wait?

I packed what little I could carry and headed for Seattle.

I was hiding away in a model home in one of the nicer neighborhoods several miles from where my foster family lived.

I had made myself comfortable in the attic, settling in for the night, when I first heard the screams. I thought there had been an accident, but when I peered through the tiny circular window, I saw them.

Cars crashed into houses and mailboxes as wolves jumped on top of them, pulling the passengers out with their teeth. Heads and arms were torn from those who tried to run. As I watched the chaos ensue, I knew there was nowhere to go.

Hours passed as I sat in the corner with my eyes closed and ears covered, wishing it was all just a terrible dream.

More than once, I heard the muffled sounds of them rummaging through the house, but I didn’t move.

No matter how sore my body got, I stayed completely still.

Eventually, night had fallen and so had the heart-wrenching cries.

Only then, did I move back to the window.

At the time, I had thought it was just some freak attack.

A new, mutated version of the wolves that I knew lurked in the forests.

But that theory was quickly debunked when I watched the four-legged beasts transform into their human skins.

It was a shocking sight, but one I accepted almost immediately.

Stories of werewolves had been told for as long as I could remember.

Of course, the movies and books romanticized the creatures, whereas in reality, there was nothing romantic about them. They were lethal, and they were real.

For two days, I waited in the attic before I was sure they had moved on.

I didn’t know if they would be back, and I wasn’t about to wait around to find out.

Instead, I grabbed a few supplies from the abandoned homes and took off into the woods.

For most, that probably would’ve seemed like the worst possible place to go.

And for most, that way of thinking is the reason they’re dead and I’m not.

The way I saw it, these beasts had attacked us for a reason.

It wasn’t because they were bored or because they could.

There was something else at play. For whatever reason, they chose that day to come out of hiding.

After seeing the mess they left behind, I knew they weren’t done.

Their sights were set on killing, and they weren’t going to find what they wanted in the woods.

While I took up refuge in a cabin I broke into, I followed the news on my phone.

The attack I had witnessed was nothing compared to the carnage that was taking place in the bigger towns.

The police did what they could, but they weren’t prepared for something like this, and by the time the military came, it was already too late.

The wolves had taken over, leaving blood and mangled body parts behind to mark their path of destruction.

After five days, the only sign of humans left in the rural towns and small cities were the bodies turned inside out like corpses lying in the middle of an autopsy table.

Finally, on day six, the werewolves retreated, leaving the bigger cities like Seattle, unscathed. We had thought the worst was over… but we were wrong.

Before hope could fully blossom, phase two began. Unlike the wolves, the vampires didn’t attack during daylight. Instead, they came at night while the world slept. Their ghostly skin and white irises were impossible to hide, so they lurked within the shadows, lying in wait until it was their turn.

The news outlets showed footage of the attacks taking place in the major cities, but even the news anchors weren’t safe from the vampires.

It didn’t take long before I turned to social media for updates.

Survivors uploaded their own videos and went live, doing their best to show what they could.

More than once, I watched someone’s death helplessly from the other side of my phone.

I spent hours watching the vampires claim human lives as if they meant nothing, and I suppose to them, they didn’t.

The vampires were faster than the wolves.

Moving like lightning. Already gone before you even knew they were there.

Those who tried to run never stood a chance, and those who hid were quickly found by their human scent.

But even though the vampires were different from the wolves, they were still just as deadly.

Where the werewolves made quick work of their kills, the vampires savored them.

They were more sophisticated, yet still animalistic in their own way, slowly draining the life from their victims until there was nothing left but a cold dead body.

Both species would’ve killed us regardless, but we made it easy for them.

Locking ourselves in rooms with no way out.

Sacrificing one another as if it would save us from our inevitable end.

They hunted us like professional assassins.

Stealthy and strategic. And by day eight, they had completely taken over.

All that remained were the ones who were smart enough to leave civilization behind.

But even that wasn’t enough. The wolves took to the woods while the vampires took to the mountains, and I was forced to leave the cabin behind.

I packed a small bag and hid high up in the trees, consumed by fear every waking moment.

For days, I would hear the distant screams and cries echo throughout the forest as the last lives were taken. Each passing hour, I wondered if it would be my turn.

Eventually, day thirteen came and went without any harrowing sounds of the dying, and I knew it was over.

The bloodbath had ended, and a new world had been reborn.

One where humans were now at the bottom of the food chain.

Where survival was the only way to live.

But survival was all I had ever known, and it’s the reason I’ve been able to stay alive the past three years—keeping to the woods, scavenging the small, abandoned towns, sticking to the rules I’ve made for myself.

Not long after the massacre ended, it dawned on me that if the humans were gone, what were the vampires feeding on? It wasn’t the animals. Those were left to the werewolves.

That’s when I decided to start watching the two species. Just as they had hidden among us, I began to do the same. In time, I’ve been able to learn more about them. I know their strengths and weaknesses. How they interact with one another and the boundaries the two species have come to agree upon.

I mostly stayed high in the trees where I could watch from a safe distance.

For months, I studied them and listened to their conversations.

Most of the time, I had no idea what they were talking about and was usually too high up to make out much of what they were saying, but over time, I was able to piece together the answers I had been seeking.

Over the years they spent living among the humans, the vampires grew tired of being the ones living in the shadows.

They were the superior species and believed the world should be theirs.

Ten years ago, it was decided that if the werewolves helped the vampires find a way to create synthetic human blood, they would join them in a fight against the human race.

The two species wanted nothing to do with one another, but their interests aligned, and with that, a deal was brokered.

I’m not sure how many humans remain in the world now, but each year that passes it feels like I’m all there is.

Left behind to survive in a world that is no longer recognizable.

No longer ours. It’s a kind of loneliness I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

The kind that has driven others to take their own lives.

The first time I stumbled upon another human was a year and a half after the Last War.

When I snuck into a pharmacy to stock up on some medicine, I found the body.

It was still warm, but the color was fading.

I spent half an hour doing everything I could think of to save them, but it was too late.

Too many pills had been swallowed, and too much time had passed.

That was the first time it occurred to me that maybe I’d be better off dead. For days, I thought about the peace it would bring me. I even went back to get a bottle of pills for myself. But I couldn’t do it. Despite the lonely and isolating lifestyle this new world brought, I was free.

My whole life I grew up in foster care, forced to move from home to home.

I was abused, neglected, and violated in ways that still haunt me to this day.

The system and the world had failed me time and time again.

So when the monsters came, and life as I knew it ended, I wasn’t sad.

I was relieved. For the first time in my life, I had agency.

It was a freedom I longed for. And although it came at a price, I quickly accepted my new way of life.

I had already known what it was like to survive with nothing.

I had experienced it during my time living on the streets.

Foraging for food, building shelter, defending myself—these were things I was already familiar with.

Skills that would allow me to outlast most of the human race.

For three years, it had been enough to keep me safe and alive. But just like the others before me, my luck was about to run out.