The Change: Episode one (36 page)

C

We arrived in time for the post, and my hand
already knew what I held even as I slid the disk into the wall
screen.

“
Candice Marie
Pruett!

You are under investigation by the Network
Council.

The charges include murder of Network
trackers, treason against the Network, aiding and abetting rebels,
and hijacking a Network train. Your personal account is frozen to
prevent flight. Y must turn yourself in immediately! If you do not
comply within 24 hours of receipt this message, we will come for
you.”

Except I’d cleaned out my account the
instant we hit civilization. Computers were lightning fast, but
they still depended on people to put in the information, and I’d
been banking on it. The Pruetts were traveling heavy now, and I
made a mental note to take the heavy gear and the large UPV instead
of our backup fleet of Mopars. We would need real protection for
this trip.

My Father flipped on the news station that
it was illegal for us to watch, and we viewed the evening report in
silence.

“…
rebel base hidden in the
vine-covered jungles of Atlanta was destroyed by Network forces. We
have reports of over a hundred dead, including the escaped convict
and suspected leader, Richard Baker. Cleanup crews at the scene
have now removed his remains. They are en route to New Network City
for positive identification.”

“
Trying to hurt the other
rebels who don’t know he’s alive?”

I nodded at Angelica’s question and went
back to listening, but underneath, I was topping off my plans.

“
The surviving rebels
managed to overtake the Network Rider, a very fast train that has
already been found abandoned on the outer edges of the Missouri
Borderlands. The group of wanted males swarmed from the
Kudzu-covered jungles just hours after the blast, arriving in such
numbers that they were able to overpower security. The guards and
passengers were removed without injury, though shots were said to
have been fired when the Changelings tried to reestablish
control
.

“
The Network considers
these males armed and dangerous, and they are wanted dead or alive.
Troops have been dispatched to the Borderlands to deal with the
growing problem. This group of rebels is rumored to be led by
Candice Pruett and her new mate, who she recently won from the
Network during an episode of the…”

I snapped off the screen.

Baker hadn’t intended on burning the train,
and I doubted he had cleaned it. The Network had seen the tapes and
knew I wasn’t on the train, or even a part of the hijacking, but
they had made sure I would have a hard time catching up and
helping. My face was already known, and it was only a matter of
time before our neighbors grew a spine and tried to claim the
reward the Network was sure to post when my 24 hours passed.

I moved back outside. My family flanked me,
and I ran through it one more time. I couldn’t miss anything now,
not when it was all starting so suddenly. Every Pruett would be
under watch for suspected involvement. Did it matter if all of us
left town for a while? I didn’t want to confirm the Network’s
thoughts about the rest of my family, but it wasn’t safe for them
without me, and I wouldn’t forsake the cause to stay here. They
would come.

They felt it, standing behind me as I
planned a future that might spell the end of us. The Pruetts had
been on the Network side of the line for as long as we’d been
around… until now.

I turned to look at them and saw that my
parents already knew which way I’d go. “Maybe you two should get
out of here now. We’ll catch up when we’ve gathered things, seen to
our holdings.”

My Father nodded, but my
Mother didn’t. I hadn’t expected her to. “We’ll go
together,
and
we’ll
stay
that
way.”

It was an order from the legal head of our
household, and I bowed to it reluctantly. “You’d be safer…”

“
But you wouldn’t
be.”

I smiled at her, this usually sparkless
parent who I thought I could learn to love again, now that I
understood the urge to fall into Daniels’s arms and never come back
out. If she had helped me save Daniel back then, before I could
help, we might have all been lost. “We leave in three hours.”

Something else I considered mine had been
taken – all those males I would have trained to help our world -
and this time, there was no way for me to bring them home. The best
I could do was to honor their memory by taking down the Network.
Help was high on the list of things I needed, but I knew someone
who needed the constant workout and testing of her control.

Angelica read it on my face, but instead of
volunteering as I’d been expecting, she paled a bit.

“
You’re kidding, right? Me,
in another compound, but with 500 of them this time?”

My voice was a shard of
inner agony that I took out of my hiding place and stabbed her
with. “Four hundred. The
Network
already took their cut.”

It burned her, as I’d meant it to, and I
pushed the pain in where it would eat her alive unless she found a
cure… my cure. “They’ll have us next, Angel. You, me, Daniel,
Baker. We’re all dead to them as soon as this war starts. If you
don’t get one of them now, you won’t ever.”

She could have her pick of Baker’s rebels
and probably most of those waiting in the Safe Zone once they got
to know her, but my little cousin wouldn’t settle for buying a cow
from the market. She needed to hunt one for herself and there was
only one place to do that.

Her eyes shuttered into full red and she
flashed a Games grin I would have been proud to wear.

“
To the death!”

I nodded. “Yes. The Pruetts have been
manipulated long enough. Now, we’ll be the ones to fix the
show.”

End of Episode One

Notes

The first episode was written in hopes of
being chosen as a Kindle Single. As it grew, I realized there was a
lot more to the Bachelor Battles than a single short story. There
is a rebellion brewing against the Network, and the Pruett family
will be at the center of it. Are you as eager to watch them fall as
I am? As curious to see what role everyone will play in their
downfall? I’ll try not to keep you waiting too long.

If you’ve read my big series, Life After
War, then I’m sure you recognized a few things from it. Does this
Bachelor Battle future connect? Yes. This is the world that might
have been, if Adrian hadn’t been able to get his refugee camp of
gifted survivors to work together. Not familiar with my
post-apocalyptic fantasies? There’s an excerpt at the end of this
book.

Thank you to my new editors, Kim and Sharon,
and to the Betas for doing such a wonderful job. My ever-lovin’
gratitude, Ladies and Gents, really.

If you’d like to contact
me,
my
website
is a great place to
start. I hope to hear from you, and in the meantime… Are ya
ready?

Extras

Episode Two

Episode Three

Rules of the Bachelor
Battles

The
Survivors

Episode Two

Changeling Winds

1

"And the final contestant is... Angelica Eve
Pruett!”

Voice fades to a mutter not meant for the
wildly cheering audience. "Is that the same family as last year's
winner?" A Pause.

"Wow, folks, it looks like this episode of
the Bachelor Battles will feature another twist. Not one celebrity
family - two! That last contestant is a cousin to the infamous
Candice Pruett who I'm sure you all remember so well from last
year's brutal battles..."

Another fade and mutter. "Is she a
Changeling?"

Pause, fingers typing.

"Oh, wow, folks. This is gonna be good.
Angel is a Level One Changeling!"

I snapped off the wall screen with a nasty
smirk and stepped toward the packed Mopar. She’d called me Angel.
Strike one for the reporter.

Episode Three

Unnamed

1

The War
Changed
all of us in one way or
another – and some of us in every way possible. Even now, in
2513AW, the Games are on every wall screen, in every home, in
Network Land. We kill ourselves by the thousands each year… living
for the chance, the tiniest hope, of an end to this
torment.

“
It looks like we'll have
another of those infamous, Bounty-hunting Pruetts with us for this
episode..."

Almost 500 years of complete Network
rule.

"Has there ever been a family so merciless,
so Mate-hungry..."

It was past time someone challenged
them.

"Samantha J. Pruett!"

I grinned, moving onto the Time Trials
field.

I hadn't come for the taste
of blood or because of the
Change
. I was here for the Network…
and I hadn't come alone.

Episode Three

Rules of the Bachelor
Battles

*
10
Contestants will fight to the Death for their choice of one
Bachelor. Mercy is discouraged.

*A single viewing of the Bachelors will be
provided. Only one contestant is permitted in the Cells at a time.
Light sampling is allowed.

*Attacks and battles are forbidden in the
halls or private rooms. Everywhere else is fair game.

*Anyone can kill a contestant, including
friends, family, and outsourced labor.

*Battle loot belongs to the winner to be
disposed of as they see fit.

*Broken rules will result in the contestant
being arrested and replaced.

The Fine Print...

*A week before each episode, the contestants
are required to run time trials to determine their rankings for the
start of day one. The top time will receive the Network logo patch
and an extra one million UD credits.

*Each contestant must submit to an interview
a day.

*Once a contestant has entered, they cannot
withdraw from a match or the game.

*When Round Two is achieved, the remaining
contestants will be given larger, private rooms in a more secure
wing of the complex.

Stars & Guards

*Stars are given for each kill, for high
popularity and by Network decision.

*Each star gains the contestant one Network
guard (only in the halls and private rooms) and a fresh cache of
food and medical credits.

*Stars cannot be lost, but can be given away
to protect someone else, such as visiting family.

Matches

*Round One (Days 1-3)

Battles are chosen by Luck of the Draw. One
contestant is chosen to face three randomly-drawn matches in a row.
If they fail, the Network will choose who takes their place with a
second Luck of the Draw. The survivor moves on with fresh credits
and more guards. No other battles are held during this time, but
attacks and assassination attempts are encouraged.

*Round Two (Days 3-5)

There are two matches a day, chosen by the
viewers, until seven total contestants are eliminated.

*Round Three (Day 6-7)

The three remaining contestants will face a
Network-picked challenge, and the winner gets a set place in the
first elimination match. The challenger will be chosen by the
Network computer.

The winner and the remaining contestant will
then star in the feature fight. This is the final match, though few
episodes make it so far. Due to assassination attempts and mind
games, most Bachelor Battles are over by Day 6.

The Survivors

Prologue

Like most days now, the sound of the ocean
haunts me.

My name is Angela. I'm a mother, doctor,
soldier, and now, in the year 2017, I've become a leader of men.
Thanks to the end of our world to nuclear war, I'm the Guardian of
an American refugee camp named Safe Haven.

Surrounded by carefully watching guards, I
sit beside the immense Pacific Ocean as my people work and play
nearby, confident my Army will look after them while I tell you
about the War of 2012…and how we were forced to leave our beloved
Country. It was a nightmare from which we couldn't wake. Some of us
still haven't, and soon, we'll be at the water's mercy again. In
less than two months, we're going home.

America waits for us to reclaim and to
rebuild, but mostly, simply, for us to return. Before we undertake
that perilous journey, I have to get the 357 souls here ready for
the trip, and I only know one way it can be done - Adrian has to
come back, and lead us home, as he promised.

Adrian… That incredibly patriotic man has
been exiled, even though he’s the only reason that we survived. His
secret was the only excuse the camp needed to turn on him, but I
won't. I can't. I swore myself to him the same as the rest of his
Council, and like them, I still believe.

I’ve gotten way ahead of myself, far beyond
the beginning, when our future didn’t look as good is it does now.
Most people here in New America won’t talk about the War or the
long, ugly journey we made together. They say the memories have
faded, but I know a lie when I hear one. Some horrors you never
forget. Like our final battle with Cesar and his large band of
ruthless Mexican guerillas.