Long time ago, during the advent of the Extinction:

The girl was screaming helplessly in the dark. Her body was strapped to the wheelchair by the belts. Mommy and Daddy did not do this out of malice. No. Mommy told her she was special. The girl knew it herself. Sometimes she would act wild, throwing things out of the blue or screaming with excitement when she saw something curious. Deep down, the girl knew there was something wrong with her. Other kids kept their cool; they were always listening to their parents. She tried to follow this example; she truly tried! But she could not even speak properly, let alone control her impulses. It was as if someone had flipped a switch and she had gone wild against her will. She heard how meanies told her parents to give up on her, but Daddy and Mommy were always there for her, always with her, trying their best to help her be happy. Yet, as she got bigger and her parents got older, they had to strap her into the wheelchair to move her around, or she might have run under a car or a train. Or she could have hurt Daddy or Mommy.

But today was a special day! Her parents told her she has been approved for a "pragramm". She will finally, finally be normal; she will be able to speak! Her mind went wild with the idea. Could it be true? Once, a famous singing group called "The Hive" came to perform for the special kids at the rehabilitation center. As they sang, the girl felt a touch of something; she struggled to explain what it was, but her body was in control! The song was so beautiful, even better than the opening songs from the morning cartoons about heroes. And the other children felt it, too, sitting next to her and clapping. What a happy day it was! They all got chocolate milk and lots of goodies, and no one was in a bad mood! The girl tried to sing along, but all that came out of her mouth were meows and whimpers.

Heroes and artists were the best! The girl saw heroes on TV and ignored the words of the medical staff's words that the cartoons weren't real. What do they know? Heroes always come to help, they always have a kind word to say, and none of them would scold a sick child who accidentally hit a nurse. The girl wanted to be like a hero; she bit her lips to blood when madness crept over her limbs and demanded that she lash out. When the situation became unbearable, the girl would dream of visits from musicians or clowns who cheered on children like her, or of Daddy and Mommy coming home from work to pick her up.

Her parents took her to the medical center when everything suddenly began to shake and crumble. People started screaming in fear, kicking and punching each other as they tried to get to the exit. Pale light was visible from windows outside. The girl had never seen so many scared people. And then she saw something even more terrifying. The wide hospital windows showed part of the city, with flying cars, a sprawling network of streets, and skyscrapers touching the sky. Only now, the cars were falling out of the sky, fleshy tentacles were breaking out of the ground, wrapping around the skyscrapers and toppling them. Lights fell from the clouds, turning entire sections of the city pale, and when the light receded, not even a trace of the buildings was left in their wake. A pipe fell in front of the horrified people on the opposite street, and green gas spewed from it, causing people to cough and fall down, red from their mouths.

Clouds were ripped apart and the top of a huge metal mountain appeared, banishing the clouds beyond the horizon. It was bigger than anything the girl had ever seen before—bigger even than the giant monsters the heroes fought so often in cartoons! Even skyscrapers looked tiny compared to it! Covered in blinding lights and explosions all along its hull, the object descended, spewing fire from its rows of batteries and setting the city ablaze. A single volley left a skyscraper hollowed out; the outline still stood, but everything inside was gone.

Doctors led her parents and her to a "safe room", along with a few others. The horrible screams of people outside of the building were heard even here, filling the corridors with desperate wailings. An elderly couple fell on their way to the room. Her parents rushed to help them... And then a strange thing fell.

They were in the basement of the building when a strange, glowing thing fell through the ceiling from above. The doors to the room closed automatically, and the lights dimmed. The last thing the girl saw clearly was the men near the glowing thing begin to twitch and fall. A doctor pushed her wheelchair away from the glowing thing, and then his skin began to blister and peel at his touch. She did not know what happened to him as the room fell into almost total darkness. Only the glowing thing gave any light to the room. Green. Purple. Pink. Green. Purple. Pink again. Again and again.

The worst part was the silence. She could not move, but never before had she been in such total silence. She was the only source of sound. Twisting her head, she looked at the watch that her Daddy had given her. It had two arrows and twelve numbers. Daddy told her she would never be alone. When the long arrow makes a full circle, he or mommy will always come back. They always, always keep this rule. But now the long arrow made one full circle after another, the short arrow made at least three full circles, and no one came.

She wanted to eat and drink, and her lips became dry. No one came. Her fingers became weak, and she let go of her plushie, her favorite toy. She cried for someone to help her. A good person always gave her the stuffed animal back when she let go of it. No one came. She called heroes for help. They did not respond either.

"Mommy, Daddy, where are you?" The words sounded clear only in her head, because only meowing and whimpering came out of her lips. Her stupid, stupid body. If only she could move, if only she could speak…

Something moved. Help? Will someone finally open the doors and let her out? Maybe Mommy and Daddy had finally come back?

The sound was like thousands of needles running across the floor. The glowing thing started working again, and the girl saw what looked like a big black carpet that was coming at her, washing over the bodies lying on the floor. This carpet came out of the cracks in the walls, filling the room as more and more black mass poured in. Her legs tingled as the things crawled across her legs. And then they bit her. To the blood.

"No, go back, you meanies! Don't hurt me! Please!" She meowed and whined as things ran up and up to her eyes and mouth. "It hurts!" She tried to scream, feeling how the meanies started chewing their way under her skin. "Go away! Go…"

She choked, opening her eyes wide one last time. A stream of black bodies pushed down her throat, filling her with such pain the girl never knew was possible. In her mind, she begged anyone to come and save her. Mommy, Daddy, heroes, anyone… Please, anyone, it hurts so much!

The insects reached her eyes, and the girl lost her sight.