PROLOGUE
2010
A tall figure watched in silence as the flames rose higher thriving on the open air, then observed the scattered rubble littering the road. Night had begun to fall, streaks of magenta slashed through the befalling dark blue. It is a horridly beautiful combination. With hands stuffed into his jean pockets, he ignores the smell of burnt rubber and gasoline, kicking pass a discarded window wiper until he saw what he was searching for.
A pair of blue zeroed in further into the distance, a body is laid face down onto the pavement, an Arm stretched in front of him but the other was nowhere to be found. He swore under his breath, He might be too late. He picked up the pace knowing full well that authorities could arrive at any moment, He had to finish this quickly. Finally, only a foot before the body he could make out that indeed it is a boy. Couldn’t be older than sixteen. His denim jeans torn with a patch of blood seeping through his lower left calf. Blood red flesh, peaked through a stained torn sleeve, white bone marrow peaking past it, as he earlier suspected; he’s missing an arm.
Blown off in the explosion. He notes internally, readying to leave, it may be the trick of the light, but he held onto the small hope that it was otherwise. He thought he had seen the younger lad’s hand twitch.
He stooped down to his level, brushing away his curly mop from his damp forehead. Slowly, there was a heavy inhale, “Help..please..,” He begged, his voice rough and whispery.
Sirens shrieked in the distance zeroing into their location, “Potential...” The stranger murmured in content.
“Help..” The boy repeated, He just wanted it to all go away. The burning heat surrounding him, the searing pain throughout his vein, and the numbness of his arm...
His lips curled into a smile of satisfaction, he had found what he was looking for.
“You check the left perimeter! Search for survivors!” Came an authoritative voice.
A firefighter pushes through the blinding heat, kicking past the rubble. He deemed there were no more bodies involved. As he is about to turn, a pale arm catches his eye in the distance. Quickly he approaches it, rounding the corner of the flipped vehicle.
Of his many years of being a firefighter, he has come to terms with the horrors accidents can cause, this being one of them. With a heavy heart, he carries the severed arm over to the paramedics, keeping it out of the line of view of the hysterical Mother.
“My baby,” She cried.
The firefighter holds up the arm to the officer in charge of this case, the officer shook his head sadly.
“Can’t find the rest of the body sir,” Reports another cop.
The firefighter’s grim expression sent a feeling of dread down the officer in charge’s spine.
“What is it?” He commands, almost afraid of the answer.
Wordlessly, the other officer motions him to follow; Eventually trailing back to where he had found the dismembered arm.
"For the love of God." The officer exclaims in disgust.
Painted with an unidentified substance onto the gravel road, was one simple sentence.
"I will save this boy from the hell you have borne him into.”
