Skye O’Connor’s boyfriend never returns after his gang attempts an assassination of the Governor, and the State Building is destroyed. Worse, crazed moonshiners addicted to the chemical Morpheus have stormed the city, and she must find a safe place for her and her boyfriend’s daughter. When a heroic man saves her, Skye asks to accompany him on his quest to find the last colony ship left on Earth.
As the city falls around them, James and Skye must work together to build a new future, all the while rediscovering their ability to love, before the apocalypse claims them both.
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“They want to nuke the areas with the largest concentration of moonshiners before the mobs grow out of control. As it is, the force outside these gates could rip through this entire population within days.”
“They’re targeting us? Citizens?”
“Bingo.” Dal sighed. “We think this bunker would hold during the attacks, but we’re not sure we could live here until the fallout dispersed. We have the fluorescent greeneries, and the stocks are piled high, but it would take years for the radiation to return to safe levels.”
“Not acceptable.” James shook his head, refusing to resign to such a fate. “There has to be another way.”
“There is.” Dal’s fingers flicked across the keypad and a picture of a gigantic chrome hull loomed over their heads.
“The Destiny.”
“Wait a second. We were deemed unfit for the Expedition. Who’s to say whoever built this ship wouldn’t conclude the same thing? I’m sure they have their own people to transport.”
“The project was abandoned three months ago. It’s not finished. The biodome hasn’t been completed, and it isn’t stocked with enough energy cells. It won’t be able to fly us on a hundred-year journey, but with a little work it could get us off this doomed rock.”
James put his hand on his hip. Every paradise planet he’d heard of was hundreds of years away, which could only mean one thing. “You’re thinking Outpost Omega, aren’t you?”
“It’s the biggest space station within a parsec of Earth, fully equipped with biodomes, solar panels, and energy cells.”
“It’s also the most important and the most heavily guarded. They’d never let a ragtag army like us live there. Only government workers are allowed to set foot on it.”
“Then we’ll take it by force.”
James exhaled a long, slow breath. “No. It’s too dangerous. Too many deaths.”
Dal leaned back in his seat and raised his hairy eyebrows like when he had a winning move at chess. “And staying here isn’t?”
James considered the impending attack of moonshiners coupled with the plan to nuke them all. Even if his group survived the mob and stocked their shelves high, did they really want to huddle underground for the rest of their lives, hoping rations wouldn’t run out? “You’ve got me there.”
“Exactly.” Dal slumped forward, clicking off the screens as if in resignation.
James’s mind whirled with all the possibilities and probable outcomes. “Even if we secure this quasi-built ship, who’s going to fly it?”
The room had gone black, and only their haloed heads illuminated their faces. Dal folded his hands on the table as if further discussion was unnecessary. “You.”
“You’re kidding me. I’ve never flown anything that large.”
Dal grinned. “Practice makes perfect.”
James’s wristband beeped. He glanced down at the time and his stomach sunk. “Dammit, Dal, the Expedition is leaving in fifteen minutes.”
Dal gave him a knowing twitch of his eyebrow. “Do you really want to see it take off?”
“I have to.” James shot toward the door, adjusting his backpack.
“Whatever you do, don’t try to defend the governor. Leave that to her bodyguards. They view all gangs as threats, and you’d be killed along with the Razornecks.”
“I won’t.” Although the governor had always been a thorn in his side, James still worried about her and her family surviving the attack. Yes, she blew up Utopia and planned to abandon her own city, but she didn’t deserve to be taken out by the Razornecks. Besides, James needed some sort of structure until the Expedition took off and he could get to the Destiny. If the Razornecks gained control of the city, every street would go to hell. He pressed the panel and the sides parted, revealing a crowded corridor.
“James, you never agreed to fly the Destiny.” Dal’s voice was a gripping force, holding him back.
James turned around. “You know me better than that, Dal. You know it’s a yes.”
Dal’s face softened. “All the more reason to be careful. We can’t have the most important person in the Radioactive Hand disappearing on us. Every time you go through those passages, you risk your life.”
James shot Dal a steady stare. “I’ll be back. Besides, some things are worth the risk.”
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ReplyDeleteI'll be honest and confess that I noticed this book when I first saw its beautiful cover. It caught my eye and then when I read the premise my interest was piqued :-)
ReplyDeletestella.exlibris (at) gmail (dot) com
Thanks for the great excerpt and giveaway! I would love to read this book as I love the cover and the premise! I love dystopian/end of the world stories and this is a new to me author.
ReplyDeleteI think I would really enjoy the futuristic elements to this story... thanks for the chance to win!
ReplyDeleteI'd like to read it because I enjoyed the excerpt and the story sounds good.
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ReplyDeleteI've read paradise 21 and really liked it. I guess I'll like this book too when I read it :)
I have not read this author and the book looks wonderful.
ReplyDeleteYvette
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