Description:
All I ever wanted was to be a normal girl. I had dreams of joining the ranks of the Military Police and making my family proud. But the nuclear war that laid waste to our country destroyed any hope I had of being normal ever again. They took everything away from me, including my humanity. I am now half-human, half-machine, part of the never-ending freak show that is the Restoration Project.
They hate what they created and they fear us for being powerful.
And so they hunt us, destroying our lives so that they can bury what they built. What they don’t know is this: there is a Resistance out there and The Bionics aren’t going down without a fight.
Description:
We stand on the brink of a double rescue mission, a plan so foolhardy that even our bravest men are quaking inside with fear. Storm the capitol, free the prisoners, don’t get killed. It seems like a suicide mission, but not a single one of us has anything to lose.
In my past life, I was a scoundrel; a drug peddling street thug who cared nothing for anyone because I had no one to care for me. The nuclear blasts of 4006 reminded me of the value of life, and a girl with the saddest eyes I’ve ever gazed into gave me someone to care for. Now, as we embark on our most dangerous enterprise, I can only hope that we can make it out alive and that those we have lost can be recovered.
Foolishness … fear … hope … These are the elements that threw our revolution into motion. As the momentum of the Resistance continues to build, we can only pray that hope continues grow larger our fear.
EXCERPT:
“I
wish that I had died that day,” I admit, unable to look away from his gaze no
matter how much my mind tells me that I need to. “I wish that all the time.”
He
inches closer to me on the bed. “Is it really so bad? Professor Hinkley gave
you and the others a second chance at life. It’s not fair that the government
has decided you and others like you pose a threat.”
I
think about a news broadcast I saw a couple of weeks ago, showing a
surveillance video of a man with an arm identical to mine smashing in the
window of someone’s car and beating them to a bloody pulp for no reason, before
pulling a limp body from the driver’s seat and driving off in the stolen
vehicle. Of course the thief was found and immediately executed; no trail, no
jury, no questions asked.
“Some
of us are dangerous,” I answer, and of course, it’s the truth.
“Some
people are dangerous,” he insists.
“Bionics are still people….just modified.”
“Right
now your blood pressure is 124/90, your heart rate is an elevated 70 beats per
minute; not bad, but still high for a healthy male that I assume is athletic.
You have a tattoo on your left arm of an eagle, and a fractured rib.”
“That
is amazing.”
I
shrug. “It’s my eye. It is capable of reading a person’s body heat signature as
well as their vital statistics. It allows me to pull away individual layers,
such as clothing, skin, and muscle to expose what’s underneath. It’s how I knew
about the rib.”
I
reach out with my bionic arm and poke the rib for emphasis, raising my eyebrows
as he winces in pain. “Still think I’m human?”
Gage
reaches for my arm—my robotic arm—and grabs it by the hand. I can’t feel it, or
his hand circling the wrist above it. His eyebrows wrinkle as he turns my arm
over, inside facing up. He traces the inside of my arm, his fingers sliding
over the cool metal and, for the first time since I woke up with that hunk of
machinery on the other end of my elbow, I am wishing that I could feel the damn
thing.
“Cold,”
he murmurs as he draws circles on the metal. His fingers stop on the inside of
my elbow, on the line where the titanium ends and I begin. I hear his breath
catch in his throat and another noisy swallow as the pad of his index finger
slides over my skin. I gasp as he trails it up the inside of my arm, flesh now
on flesh. The human contact that I’ve denied myself for years has left me
sensitive to every touch, and I feel as if I’m being caressed for the first
time.
Of
course Dax has held my hand from time to time; he’s even held me against him
some nights when the nightmares get particularly bad until I fall back asleep.
But he’s never touched me like this, and while I’m no virgin I certainly feel
like one right now. A thousand emotions are exploding in me at one time and
just as many sensations are following the path his finger traces up to my
shoulder, pausing at the strap of my tank top.
“Warm,”
he says with a smile. “Only about….what…ten percent of you is metal. When I got
past your elbow, I felt skin, blood flowing through veins, muscle, and…goose
bumps?”
He
says that last bit with a smile, forcing me to look away in embarrassment. He
holds his arm out toward me, pulling up the sleeve of his shirt and revealing a
tanned arm sprinkled with light blond hair, which is standing on end. He leaves
the sleeve above his elbow and holds his arm out in front of me.
“See?”
he says gently, his head way too close to mine, his breath brushing my cheek.
“I have them too.”
I
reach out with my human hand and touch his arm. His opposite hand comes up to
cover mine.
“If
anything,” he says, his fingers gripping mine tightly, “the additions to your
body give you character. They tell a story about where you’ve been.”
He
pauses, leaning in so close that locks of his hair brush my forehead. “Where have you been, Blythe?”
I
know he’s referring to the screams and my nightmare. I wonder if I can put him
off like I do the others, but quickly realize by the glint in his eyes that
he’s not letting me off that easy. I clear my throat and open my mouth, but no
sound comes out. Gage leans forward and presses his lips to mine, taking
advantage of my open mouth to nibble on my lower lip.
With
a soft sigh, he closes the distance between us and cups my face in his hands,
taking my breath away with the simple act of molding his mouth to mine. My
hands resting on his thick thighs, I come up on my knees on the bed, leaning
into him, trembling both inwardly and outwardly, unsure of what I’m doing or
why I’m doing it, but know that I can’t stop. Kissing Gage feels like walking down
the street used to be before the government labeled Bionics as dangerous. It
feels like freedom.
“Hey
Blythe, I couldn’t sleep and I was thinking…”
Dax’s
voice trails off as the door to the bathroom we share knocks against the wall,
pushed open by my bone-headed best friend who never knocks because he knows I’m
never doing anything he can’t see me doing.
Except
this time.
This
time, guilt propels me away from Gage and back against the headboard, my
lowered eyelids shielding me from Dax’s dark glare.
“Sorry,”
he says, sounding anything but. “Didn’t realize you’d have a visitor at three
o’clock in the goddamn morning.”
Part
of me wants to rip Dax a new asshole for being such a jerk. What right does he
have being mad at me when I know he’s screwed Olivia on several occasions, and
who knows what other groupies he’s got salivating over him in both Mosley and
Hexley Halls? Another part of me feels like I just got caught doing something
unforgiveable, although I’m not sure if it was that I kissed someone, or if it’s
just the fact that the someone I kissed happens to be Gage.
About the author:
Ever since she first read books like Chronicles of Narnia or Goosebumps, Alicia has been a lover of mind-bending fiction. Wherever imagination takes her, she is more than happy to call that place her home. The mother of two and wife to an Army sergeant loves chocolate, coffee, and of course good books. When not writing, you can usually find her with her nose in a book, shopping for shoes and fabulous jewelry, or spending time with her loving family.
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5 comments:
I've never read this kind of books, but I'm going to.
I realy realy want to read this book.
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The cover looks awesome book looks very interesting.
Amazing book.. thank you for sharing and the chance!!
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