If she’d had time, she’d have activated her home’s alarm system, but she’d rushed up to the second floor. She also figured that if they could cut off the internet and cell phone service, they could hack into the alarm systems. Who are these people? Before tonight, her biggest concern was next week’s AP Chemistry exam on intermolecular forces and properties. Pretty sure lethal force isn’t one of the properties.

The wind continued to batter the house in gusts, the siding rattling under the barrage. Sam checked her phone. Still no service.

A loud pounding on the front door startled her, and she dropped the phone on the carpet, the iPhone landing on its face next to her. As if in tune with her own heart, the pounding continued for several seconds. There was a pause in the relentless beating, and Sam breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe they got the hint?

The front door crashed open, and the reality of her situation threatened to shut her down. The terror was paralyzing, threatening to suffocate every thought and action. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. While her father had trained her to effectively operate the shotgun, that training hadn’t included the horrifying vulnerability that now assaulted her. Sam felt her world teeter on the brink, as if plunging over the edge could somehow make her reality disappear.

Honey, breathe. It will be okay. No matter what, I love you. Just focus on what you have to do. You are strong enough for this. Show them, she heard her father’s soothing voice in her head. Show them all.

Sam hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath until she heard her father speak to her, trying to save her even in his absence. She exhaled as she heard footsteps moving quickly up the main hallway, and she knew with a final certainty that her time was upon her. All actions, events, relationships, interactions, her entire being, the core of who she was, had prepared her for this one moment. But as her father, the man who had raised her to be the strong, young woman she was growing into, had often told her, You can prepare all you want, sweetheart. But when the moment comes—and it comes for all of us, one way or another—how you face it will determine your fate.

The first man appeared below her, and all thought ceased. She suddenly felt detached from her body even as her senses heightened, stretched beyond what she’d thought had been their normal limits. The panic, the fear—all of it—just stopped. She placed her finger on the trigger and waited.

More noises erupted from somewhere outside the front of the house. She ignored them and watched the first impersonator, a slow anger forming in the pit of her clenched stomach.