Chapter 1
Chapter 1Before Everything Changed
DAY 06:17 A.M.
The first thing Luna heard that morning was laughter.
A tiny, sleepy laugh coming from the other side of the bed.
“Mommy…”
Luna opened one eye.
Her four-year-old daughter was standing beside the bed, holding her favorite stuffed rabbit against her chest.
“What?”
“Wake up.”
Luna pulled the blanket over her face.
“No.”
A small hand grabbed the blanket.
“Mommy.”
“No.”
“Mommy!”
Luna smiled beneath the blanket.
“Five more minutes.”
“No.”
The blanket was pulled harder.
Luna finally opened her eyes.
Her daughter was staring at her with the most serious expression a four-year-old could possibly make.
“You’re late.”
Luna blinked.
“Late for what?”
“Everything.”
Luna laughed.
“Everything?”
The little girl nodded.
“Breakfast. School. And Daddy said you’re lazy.”
From the other side of the room, her husband’s sleepy voice came through.
“I never said that.”
Luna turned her head.
He was still lying in bed, barely awake.
“You absolutely did.”
“I said you’re difficult to wake up.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“It’s really not.”
Her daughter giggled.
For a few seconds, Luna simply looked at them.
Her husband.
Her daughter.
Her little family.
Nothing special.
Nothing extraordinary.
Just another morning.
The kind of morning nobody thinks they’ll ever lose.
Luna finally sat up.
Her daughter immediately climbed onto the bed.
“Breakfast.”
“You’ve been awake for five minutes.”
“Breakfast.”
“You’re very demanding.”
“Breakfast.”
Luna sighed dramatically.
“Fine.”
Her daughter smiled.
“Yay!”
She jumped off the bed and ran toward the door.
“Slow down!”
The little girl stopped.
Turned around.
Then immediately started running again.
Luna shook her head, laughing.
Her husband sat up.
“You know she’s going to be spoiled.”
“She’s four.”
“Exactly.”
Luna looked at him.
“You’re the one who spoils her.”
He smiled.
“Maybe.”
Luna got out of bed and walked toward the window.
Morning light spilled across the room.
Outside, the city was already awake.
Cars moved along the street.
People walked to work.
Shopkeepers opened their doors.
A bus stopped at the corner.
Everything was normal.
Almost painfully normal.
Luna reached for the curtain.
Then she noticed something.
Several military vehicles were moving down the main road.
She frowned.
“That’s strange.”
Her husband looked toward the window.
“What?”
“The army.”
He stood and walked beside her.
They watched the vehicles disappear around the corner.
“Maybe something happened.”
“Where?”
He shrugged.
“No idea.”
Luna kept watching the empty road.
Then her phone vibrated.
A news notification appeared on the screen.
BREAKING NEWS — BORDER AUTHORITIES REPORT UNUSUAL VIRAL OUTBREAK IN NORTHERN REGIONS
Luna stared at it.
She opened the notification.
The article was short.
Too short.
Authorities were investigating a rapidly spreading illness reported near the northern borders.
The exact cause was unknown.
Officials urged citizens to remain calm.
Luna raised an eyebrow.
“Another virus?”
Her husband glanced at the screen.
“Probably nothing.”
“That’s what they always say.”
He smiled.
“And then everyone forgets about it.”
Luna locked her phone.
She didn’t think about the notification again.
Not for the rest of the morning.
She didn’t know that hundreds of kilometers away, hospitals were already filling.
She didn’t know that several border checkpoints had quietly been closed.
She didn’t know that the first infected person had already crossed into another country.
And she certainly didn’t know that this would be the last normal morning of her life.
8:42 A.M.
“Mommy!”
Luna looked up from the kitchen.
Her daughter was standing in the doorway wearing her tiny backpack.
“Are you ready?”
The little girl nodded proudly.
“Yes.”
“Where are your shoes?”
She looked down.
Silence.
Luna stared at her.
Her daughter stared back.
“Don’t tell me…”
“I forgot.”
Luna covered her face with one hand.
Her husband laughed from behind her.
“She’s definitely your daughter.”
“Don’t start.”
Luna crouched down and helped her put on her shoes.
The little girl wrapped her arms around Luna’s neck.
“Mommy?”
“Hm?”
“When I grow up, can we travel?”
Luna smiled.
“Where?”
“Everywhere.”
“Everywhere?”
“Yes.”
Luna kissed her forehead.
“Then we’ll go everywhere.”
Her daughter smiled.
“And Daddy too.”
Luna looked at her husband.
“Of course.”
He smiled.
“All three of us.”
For some reason, Luna held her daughter a little tighter.
She didn’t know why.
Maybe it was instinct.
Maybe it was nothing.
Outside, a siren began to sound.
Then another.
Then another.
Luna slowly looked toward the window.
The city was still moving.
People were still walking.
Cars were still driving.
But somewhere in the distance…
something had changed.
And nobody knew it yet.
The world had already begun to end.
END OF PART 1
