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I hung upside down, held in place by the belt that Mom had checked just minutes ago. My head spun, and something warm trickled down my face. Blood, I realized dimly.

“Mom? Dad?” My voice came out small and broken, like a wounded animal's. The silence that followed felt endless, filled only by the soft hiss of snow through the broken windows and the tick-tick-tick of the cooling engine.

How quickly the world can shatter. One moment, secure in the love of family. The next, dangling upside down in a broken car, calling out to parents who might never answer again.

Finally, Dad groaned, shifting in his seat. Blood ran down his face from a gash above his eyebrow, but his eyes were sharp, alert in a way I'd never seen before. “Elizabeth, get Cade out. Now.” His voice held an edge that made my stomach twist.

A heavy thud landed on the car's undercarriage. The metal buckled with a screech that set my teeth on edge, and thewhole car shuddered. Through the spiderweb of cracks in the windshield, I saw it, looming upside down from my inverted perspective. Even now, years later, I struggle to describe what I saw that night.

The thing wasn't human. Its body was wrong. Its skin gleamed wetly in what little light remained, stretched too tight over a frame that kept shifting, changing. But its eyes... God, its eyes were the worst part. They caught what little light remained like pools of oil, reflecting back a cold intelligence that predated civilization.

Mom's hands found my seatbelt, trembling but determined. “Sweetheart, listen to me.” Her voice was steady despite the fear I could feel radiating from her. “When I say run, you run.”

“I...” The words caught in my throat. I wanted to protest, to say I wouldn't leave them, but the look in her eyes stopped me. A look I would carry for the rest of my life, the final gift of a mother's love.

“No questions.” Her voice cracked with desperation, her fingers working faster at the buckle. “Do you hear me? Promise me, Cade.”

Above us, something growled. It made my bones vibrate, made my primitive brain scream danger in a way I'd never felt before.

The seatbelt finally gave way, and I tumbled into Mom's waiting arms. She caught me, her body shielding mine as claws punched through the roof. The metal peeled back with a shriek that hurt my ears, revealing more of the creature looming over us.

Dad moved faster than I'd ever seen him move. A gun appeared in his hand, and he fired upward. The muzzle flashes lit up the night in strobing bursts, the sound deafening in the confined space.

The bullets hit the creature. I saw them impact, saw dark fluid spray from the wounds. But it didn't die. It didn't even flinch. Instead, it turned its head toward Dad, its face splitting open to reveal row after row of teeth.

“Run!” Mom shoved me toward the broken window, glass crunching under my hands as I crawled out. The snow was deep enough to cushion my fall, but the cold hit me like a slap. I stumbled to my feet, my new sneakers already soaked through.

That's when I saw the others.

They emerged from the shadows between buildings, from behind parked cars, from places too small to hide things so big. Some walked on two legs, others crawled on four or more. Some looked almost human, if you squinted and ignored the wrongness of their proportions. Others didn't even try to mimic humanity.

The street I'd known my whole life had become a nightmare gallery, and my parents were trapped in the middle of it.

Dad's gun kept firing, the sound somehow both too loud and not loud enough against the chorus of inhuman sounds filling the air. Mom had something in her hand. Light glinted off it as she moved, and whatever it was made the nearest creatures hiss and recoil.

“Go!” Dad's voice carried over the chaos. “Run, Cade!”

My feet moved before my brain could process the command, years of listening to that authoritative tone taking over. I ran, snow spraying up around my feet, my breath coming in sharp gasps that hurt my chest.

But I couldn't help it. I looked back.

I wish I hadn't. That image is burned into my memory, a snapshot of the moment my world ended. Dad staggered as one of the creatures drove its claws through his chest. The gun fell from his hand, disappearing into the snow. His eyes met mineone last time, and I saw something there. Not fear. Love. A father's last gift to his son.

Mom screamed. Not in fear, but in fury. She lunged forward, the thing in her hand blazing with sudden light. For a moment, I thought she might actually win, might somehow save Dad and everything would be okay.

Then another creature caught her from behind, lifting her off her feet like she weighed nothing. The light went out. The night swallowed everything except the sounds, terrible sounds that I tried to block out but couldn't.

Blood splattered the snow in dark patterns, steaming in the cold air.

I ran.

I ran until my legs felt like they were on fire, until my lungs burned with each breath, until the familiar streets of Manhattan became an endless maze of shadows and snow. Every corner looked the same, every alley a potential death trap. Sounds echoed off the buildings.

Was that a car backfiring, or something else? Was that laughter from a late-night party, or something hunting me? The line between reality and nightmare blurred with each step.

The alley I finally collapsed in smelled of damp concrete and rotting garbage. My breath came in ragged gasps that turned to steam in the frigid air, my small fingers clutching the fabric of my ruined coat. The birthday dinner felt like it had happened a lifetime ago, to a different boy, one who still had parents, still had a future.

Blood had dried on my face, pulling the skin tight. Every part of me hurt, but none of it compared to the hollow ache in my chest where my world had just been ripped away. I wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. Maybe I was too scared, or maybe I'd gone somewhere beyond tears, to a place where grief is too vast for something as simple as crying.