Day of Reckoning

DARIO

I went to bed and lay in waiting, my eyes fixed on the ceiling. Every nerve in my body was awake. The house was too quiet, the kind of silence that hums before a storm. When the time finally came, the lights flickered once, then went out. Total darkness. The power had been cut.

This was it.

I rolled out of bed, reached for my weapons, and armed myself without hesitation. My pulse was steady.