Lily is a conscientious college student with a gift for songwriting and a passion for music. Life on Ember Island is pretty conventional until the morning Lily wakes up to a transformed world. As she begins to discover her roommates and entire campus have been impacted by some sort of fiendish disease, Lily finds herself all alone and heads for the city in an attempt to understand what is going on. In the scramble for survival, Lily meets the charming yet unpredictable Halen, and comes to understand they are now living in a dystopian society.
Although the quick-tempered Halen has a distrust for almost everyone she encounters, she seems to make an exception for Lily. They have an instant attraction to each other, which Halen is more forward about and finds enjoyment in making Lily nervous by this sudden attention.
With only each other to depend on, they face dangerous obstacles to escape the island. As they fight for their lives, Lily finds herself fighting her feelings for Halen just as much while Halen develops a strong urge to protect Lily. Will the two be able to trust their connection and find refuge on the mainland and within each other?
As we approach the town, we begin to make quick observations. “It looks abandoned,” Halen states to me.
I nod. “Let’s see if anyone is in any of the buildings,” I suggest.
As we walk toward the main street, we come across a small bank, a barbershop, and a diner. We peer into the bank and see nothing. Halen pulls on the door to see if it will open, but it doesn’t. Next, we walk by the barbershop but have no luck there either.
As we walk toward the diner, Halen stops. “This town feels eerily familiar to me, but I can’t think of why. It’s like I remember it from a dream,” she tells me.
I stand with her for a moment as she looks a bit perplexed by this revelation. “Should we check out the diner, just in case?” I ask her.
She nods. As we come up to the building, Halen puts a hand out to stop me. “Stay here.”
Halen walks down the side of the building to the back door of the kitchen, and it opens. She waves me to come with her. As soon as we step inside, we are taken aback by the horrendous smell.
“What is that?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “I’m hoping it is the smell of spoiled food because right now it smells like death to me.”
As we walk through the entrance and into the kitchen, we stop in horror. I turn around as I cannot face it. I sense Halen take a step forward. “Bro, you did not leave this life well, did you?” I hear her say.
She takes a step back toward me and puts her hand on my shoulder in comfort. “I know it’s gross, but let’s go into the diner and see if we can find anything else.”
I nod and she takes my hand. I try not to pay attention to the body that lies face down on the grill beside me, but I can’t help but take another glance. “Did he fall onto the grill or did someone hold him down?” I ask Halen.
“Let’s not think about that,” she responds.
As soon as we enter the diner, it appears empty. “Really, nobody was here besides the cook?” Halen asks inquisitively.
Just then I see behind the counter that there appears to be shoes on the ground. I point to it, and she nods and slowly walks toward it while I follow behind. We peer behind the counter and notice a woman in a waitress uniform lying face down on the ground. Halen bends down and pushes her over, where we can now visibly see she was attacked. Halen looks at me in confusion. “These aren’t the wounds from the familiars, this looks like she was stabbed by a knife.”
Before we can process this information, three large men walk out from the kitchen. “Well, aren’t you smart,” one replies.
Halen quickly stands up and grabs my hand. They walk closer to us and Halen moves in front of me. “What do you want from us?” she demands.
Just then, one of the men grabs her and put a cloth over her mouth. As she struggles, I run to her, pleading with them to stop. I feel a bright white light explode behind my eyes and a pain coming from all directions. The sounds and images begin to blur and the last thing I can make out is Halen.
