The bell rang out across the town, signaling the town meeting, and jarring me from my peaceful sleep. I sighed, today was the day. They were going to pick the person who had to stay behind when the angel came. They did this at every town I had gone to so far. Anyone within the ages of 17-60 were eligible. This year I just made the cut, I was seventeen, lucky me. I probably wouldn’t be picked, but you never know. The less family you had and the closer your age was to the middle the more times your name was put in. I had no family left, they had all been killed by the angels, my mother, father, and older sister. I had no other family, so that left me alone, I traveled from village to village, avoiding the angels trying to kill us all. About ten years ago is when the angels first arrived. They came out of nowhere, but came in with a bang. Killing everyone in Los Angeles. Then they spread out throughout the world, slowly killing everyone else. The world erupted into chaos, buildings were all looted, jobs abandoned, people went crazy. Eventually with no one taking care of anything most electricity went away, cars stopped working because there was no gas to fuel them or energy and it went into the dark ages. About four years ago my family was killed. We lived in New York, in a big apartment in the Upper East Side. One day I was out collecting supplies in Virginia and when I got back the whole city was dead. I went back to my home to find my family dead, their bodies cold, drained, lying on the ground. I remember sitting there hugging them for hours, sobbing. Before I got the strength to leave. I was barely twelve at the time. I took a deep breath, this was not the time to be recoiling things of the past. I peeled myself out of bed and made my way over to the bathroom. I glanced at my reflection. Deep bags hung under my usually bright green eyes which were now dull and murky, my light brown hair resembled a bird's nest, my cheeks sunken in. I peeled my pajamas off, then I turned the water on and stepped into the shower, the cool water ran down my back. We usually didn’t have the luxury of hot water anymore, I missed it. After my cold shower I quickly got dressed in blue jeans and a white T-shirt, throwing a leather jacket over, and lacing up my black combat boots. I put my wet hair in a tight ponytail then stepped out the door, and headed towards town square. Everyone had gathered around the platform. I checked in, a quick prick to my finger, then joined the crowd. A few weeks ago we got notice that an angel was coming to demolish the town. So we started to prepare, this was the last step. Someone would stay behind to try to kill the angel. Sacrificing themselves, to try to stop a part of the apocalypse. In total there were ten angels spread out throughout the world. I guess the goal was to get rid of them, but so far not one had been successfully killed. The mayor walked up to the podium where the two baskets were, one female and one male were chosen every time, and every time they both died. In every town we train, just in case we get chosen, so we are prepared, that’s what I had been doing ever since I was twelve. I was ready to get chosen, but that didn’t mean I wanted to. It was considered an honor to be chosen, sacrifice yourself to help the world. But I wasn’t ready to die, I had barely lived if you called this living. The Mayor, Mayor Fallon straightened her grey dress, brushing away invisible wrinkles. She walked up to the microphone. “Hello ladies and gentlemen.” She said happily. “Today we will be doing the honor of picking the chosen, perhaps today we can make history.” I held in a laugh, make history? This was a small town in the middle of freaking nowhere if others couldn’t what made her think we could, she was probably just trying to keep everyone’s spirits up. Plus the angel coming was called Bloodshadow. No one knew the angels real names, if they had any, so people just came up with names based on what they did. There were two angels in North America, Soultaker, who left her victims drained, cold, and lifeless, the one who killed my family, and Bloodshadow, who come quickly and not noticeably, he usually just blew everything up creating a bloody mess, hence the name. I was surprised how we found out he was coming, no one ever knew when he came. Mayor Fallon continued with her speech. “Anyway, continuing on.” She said trailing off and waking over to the first basket. “Ok, males first, like usual.” She stuck her hand in rummaging thru the paper. “Steven Collins.” The crowd went silent as they made way for Steven. A man with graying blonde hair and a beer gut, carrying a shotgun made his way to the platform. He looked about at least forty five or older a decent fit, he didn’t seem to have any family, or his family didn’t care, usually when there was family they were screaming and crying. The Mayor moved to the ladies basket, my chest tightened. “Now for the ladies.” She said a wide smile on her face, she put her hand in, I held my breath. She picked up the piece of paper. Folding it open. “Adelina Lazarova.” My stomach dropped, of course it was me. I clearly did not have any luck on my side. I took a deep breath, accepting my fate. I walked to the front, catching glances of pity stares. I frowned, I didn’t need their stupid pity, I held my head up high, proudly, I would serve the world justice and try to complete the impossible, even if I died, which I probably was going to, I would die trying, I already had a plan in mind. Whether or not Steven did it with me didn’t matter, I was prepared for this. I climbed the steps and stood next to the Mayor, she shook my hand, her skin felt cold and clammy. “Thank you for your sacrifice.” She said. Way to make it sound morbid. I thought, I nodded, then faced the audience, who bowed down to us. Then everyone left and went back to their homes to get their stuff and leave. I walked back to apartment to gather my weapons, time to put my plan to action, we still had a day till the angel came, he was coming tomorrow at sundown. At dawn I was supposed to meet Steven in the main gazebo. I gathered my stuff and put it into a backpack, ready for tomorrow, I didn’t have much just, a family photo, pair of daggers, and a small gun. I didn’t even bother changing, this was good enough. I climbed into bed pulling the light blanket over me. I closed my eyes. Tomorrow would be it.

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping. I yawned and turned to look at my cheep alarm clock, the red numbers glowing, it was four in the morning, I grabbed my pack from the corner and dashed down the stairs, quickly grabbing an apple. The last thing I was going to eat. I shook the thought away, no use thinking like that, it would only make me miserable. I rushed to the gazebo. I gasped. Lying on the ground was Steven, he had shot himself. A pistol was lying on the ground, dried blood pooled around him. I pressed my hand to his neck, no pulse, just cool skin. I huffed, great I had to do this alone. Fan flipping tastic. I tied my hair into a ponytail, it swished back and forth as I ran towards the forest, the town was completely cleared out, not a single person left, well other than me and dead Stevan, and it was really quiet, freaky. I found the log and fisted my hand in the hole near the end, I had hidden a bow and arrow in here in case of an emergency, this was definitely considered an emergency. I found my hiding spot near the main road, I climbed up the ladder into the tree house. It was a little while away from the town, but it was said that the angels did travel on the roads, so, I planned to camp out here till he showed. I had planned this a few months ago, just in case I got chosen or an angel came. I could so easily run away, but that would be cowardice, and I was no coward like Steven. I would face this head on. I leaned back against the hard wood wall and checked the clock on the wall. It was about two o’clock in the afternoon, just a few more hours. I couldn’t help but wonder if the angels, had a choice in this. Were they truly evil and enjoyed this, or was a higher power making them do this, did even they want to? Did they have a choice? I chided myself, this was not the time. I cleared my mind and tried to focus. Then a big boom went off, shaking the tree house. I checked my watch, it was five, the time had pasted fast. I stood up and ran to the window, grabbing my bow. I peeked out of the window, no one yet. A minute passed and I saw someone stalking down the road. I gasped. He had a pair of snowy white feathery wings, they spread out at least fifteen feet, his blonde hair fell almost to his shoulders with a slight wave, he had a muscular build based on what I saw, he was wearing white clothing plated with some sort of golden armor, his icy blue eyes focused on the road ahead of him, it was almost as if he was glowing. He was mouthwateringly beautiful. No one said he was so good looking. He looked about my age. I gulped, get focused Adelina, no need to risk humanity because he looked good. I lifted my bow, pulling the string back to my ear. I let it go, I watched it pierce his left shoulder, he let out a cry of pain. I immediately felt guilty, but I had missed, I never missed. I took my gun out of my pack, I had used the only arrow I had, plus I didn't’ want to torture him. He gripped the shaft and pulled it out, blood dripped down his armor. His icy eyes found mine, full of fury, I think, crap, crap, crap. I scrambled out of the treehouse and dropped to the ground and into a roll. I sprang up and ran towards him. He was marching towards me with a sword in his hand. I put on my fiercest scowl. I stopped a few feet away and raised the gun. Squinting, I squeezed the trigger and the bullet shot out with a bang. Another cry of pain. I ran towards him, he was collapsed on the ground, I had shot his abdomen. I stood over him, peering down. Blood soaked through his clothes and over his armor, pooling on the ground. I almost vomited all over him. Tears streamed down my face, I had never harmed anyone before, much less killed them. His eyes were closed, I couldn’t tell if he was alive. I knelt down, collapsing onto the soft grass. “I’m so sorry.” I whispered, closing my eyes. Even though he had helped bring the apocalypse, he was still living and felt pain, the least I could do was give him a swift death, but I had missed both times, now he was probably bleeding to death. I couldn’t bring myself to touch my weapons, not that I could find them anyway, the gun was somewhere in the bush and my bag was somewhere around in the swamp. Why was I so weak? I just sat there like an idiot watching him die, anyone else would've just killed him and been done with it. I cracked my eyes back open, he looked so human, other than his beautiful snowy wings, I wondered what had brought the angels here. I reach over and touched his face, brushing his golden hair out of his face. “I’m sorry.” I said again. His eyes slowly opened. I jumped back, he wasn’t dead. Oh crap, I was so dead now. I looked around, I had nothing to defend myself with, good going, Adelina. He slowly sat up and looked over at me, I froze, wide-eyed. How was he even alive? He stood up and started to walk towards me, his icy cold eyes on me. I shut my eyes and squeezed them, preparing to die. I felt something slam into the side of my head, or maybe it was the top, and then all went black.