Rotting Foundations Collection The Outside

Short Story from Book 1 of the PendleFall series.Does anyone alive remember what lies beyond these towering city walls? Generations have been raised to believe that the outside world is a lifeless wasteland crawling with monsters. But is it? A woman with heavy eyes and a head weighed down by mundanity, has spent her life in subservience to her town. Compliance feels safe, but that won't calm the itching questions in the back of her mind.She slips into the shadows to learn the truth. She will be Ember, the one to ignite the flames of change. The people cower and stay in their homes at night, when the ravenous beasts are out on patrol. Those that violate curfew, won't see the sunrise.As Ember uncovers the city's hidden agenda, she realizes that this goes much further than the confining walls that surround her. A group of citizens became tired of the bloodshed. They meet in secret, hiding from the beasts of the night. By joining them, she can uncover what they know of the company that seems to run this place. And that same truth has claimed many lives before her.When their carefully constructed illusion begins to crack, Ember must decide whether to expose the nightmare that has imprisoned an entire city, or let the town die in their own delusions.