Tuesday teaser: Saving Raine

Enjoy this sample from the near-future apocalyptic sci-fi adventure

By Frederick Lee Brooke

Saving Raine by Frederick Lee Brooke cover

Chapter 3—Chicago

Matt hunted with exceptional skill despite his young years. Although darkness had fallen an hour ago, his eyes picked up movement ahead. Observing movements in the forest was another thing his father had taught him.

His Viper had locked on the doe. The animal stood at a stream in a glade of birches two hundred yards ahead, ears cocked, as if she heard something. He didn’t use drones to shoot, like so many cowards, only to see, like seeing around corners.

With no plane traffic over Chicago these days, the skies were eerily quiet. The skies had been quiet since shoulder-fired missiles brought down eleven passenger planes on the same day in different parts of the country. The government had blamed March22. Anonymous statements from March22 had insisted they had nothing to do with such a wanton act of terrorism. Since March22 was a shadow organization, nobody knew for sure.

Then it had come out that thousands of shoulder-fired missiles were missing from military bases in North Carolina and California. Homeland Security grounded air traffic in the United States until the missing weapons could be accounted for.

Matt peered through the naked branches, watching the doe. The insects were quiet and the birds were silent at this hour, except for one unseen crow cawing its long list of complaints to the world. He loved the smells of the forest on this mild November evening – wet branches, leaves decaying in the mud How ironic that it was quieter here than indoors, where TV programs barked for attention, robocalls clicked in unexpectedly, and people argued venomously over trivialities.

According to his father, there used to be so many deer people considered them a pest. The half-starved animals would wander into yards and strip the bark off trees, or nibble flowers. People smashed into them on the road. In the old days they left them to rot.

Once people realized empty store shelves weren’t going to be just a temporary headache, they’d taken to shooting deer in the streets.

Then, starting about a year ago, there weren’t as many deer.

People had to think a lot more about filling their stomachs now. The remaining restaurants charged astronomical prices. Trucks were hijacked every day. A gray economy had developed for everything from food to bedsheets, in addition to weapons and booze. Ration coupons had twice the value of actual money. Armed guards stood at the entrance to grocery stores, with Eliminators keeping surveillance on the sparsely stocked shelves.

Shadowmarkets opened spontaneously in out of the way places – church parking lots, empty warehouses, abandoned houses – where you could get food items they didn’t stock at the store. Various militias financed their activities by hijacking trucks and selling food at these hastily erected markets. Word travelled fast, and the tables usually emptied within an hour. If the authorities got wind of a shadowmarket, there were shootouts. For the militias, a way of life, but a lot of people stayed away for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.

In addition to deer, rabbits and squirrels had become rare. His father told fairy tales of fat squirrels in people’s yards when he was growing up. Whole flocks of Canada geese once spent most of the year on the landscaped lawns of corporate headquarters in the suburbs. They’d arrived back one spring, and ended up as Sunday dinner.

Matt sighted the doe and watched through his scope. No doubt she heard his Viper fifteen feet above her, though it made no more noise than the trickle of water she’d been drinking from. The deer just stood there, looking into the birches, sniffing the breeze. Drones gave off no smell.

The drone streamed video from above the deer to his Jetlink. Studying it, he couldn’t believe his luck. A yearling stood next to the mother on the far side. He hadn’t seen it before. He was starting a dangerous cross-country journey tonight. Two animals meant he could leave one for the family, and still carry provisions, something he hadn’t dared reckon with.

Matt lined up the shot, using his scope to sight the shapes through the tangle.

About Saving Raine

Saving Raine by Frederick Lee Brooke cover

Book One of the Drone Wars trilogy

“Matt, Raine went to California because her parents thought it was safe. It’s not. You’ve got to get her out as soon as possible. She could die, Matt.”

When 19-year-old Matt Carney gets a cryptic message from his father telling him to go to California and save his girlfriend, Raine, he doesn’t hesitate—he grabs his AK-47, revs up his blue pickup, and gets ready to make the 2,300-mile roadtrip.

But cross-country travel in 2021 isn’t easy—or, sometimes, even possible. The U.S. has become a near-military state: 17,000 checkpoints severely restrict interstate movement, Predator drones target innocent civilians without cause, and explosions rock cities daily.

Matt and his stepbrother, Benjy, face deadly attacks from a corrupt government, ruthless local law enforcement, and bloodthirsty terrorist groups as they embark on their trek. They’re about to find out that their trip is much more than a private journey, and their success could change the face of the country—forever.

Can Matt and Benjy outrun the drone missiles raining down on their heads? Can they avoid assassination by government officials hell-bent on taking over what little is left of the country? Can they outsmart the deadly schemes set in motion against them? Break the rules. Save the girl. He only gets one chance before she’s gone forever.

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