Chapter One
Hannah dove cleanly into the water. She was on a local swim team and spent hours every day during the summer training to get faster. Someday she wanted to be in the Olympics and get more gold medals than Michael Phelps. She was sure she could do it, too. She’d already broken some local speed records, and she was only twelve.
When she started junior high, in September, she was going to join the swim team at school. She couldn’t wait.
She swam hard pushing for her personal best. She loved swimming. She could clear her mind, and just concentrate on how it felt to swim through the water. She’d gone with her parents to Cozumel once, and swam with the dolphins. Her love of swimming had begun then, and her goal, every time she swam, was to swim as fast as a dolphin. She knew it was corny, but it really worked for her.
She was halfway through her first lap when the vision overtook her. There had been lots of visions over the years. Each time she’d had one, something terrible had happened. The first, when she’d lost her Grandpa had been the worst. She didn’t remember it, but her parents had told her the story enough times she felt like she did.
This vision was more powerful than all the others combined. It showed a world torn apart by warring factions. It showed a small group of survivors, all children and teenagers. It showed her burying her parents and every other adult in her life. But most importantly, it showed her how to survive.
As always, the vision made her lose consciousness. When she came to, a lifeguard had her on her back, slowly pumping water from her chest. She rolled to her side and vomited on the pavement, then lay back, panting. She remembered the vision. All of it. And she knew what she had to do.