Release date: February 2, 2015
Subgenre: Dystopian science fiction
About The Girl in the City
With the oppressive Transport Authority controlling every aspect of their existence, Leah and her father do what they can to carve a good life for themselves. Leah spends her nights scavenging in the rural zone around the City, risking capture by the Wild Ones as she hunts for salvage her father can trade for food and other essentials.
But when Leah takes a bag of salvage from a dying stranger, she and her father are drawn into the world of Transport and its war against the terrorist organization, TRACE.
A war that could cost them both their lives.
The Girl in the City is a standalone science fiction novella set in the world of Michael Bunker's Pennsylvania and is approximately 60 pages long.
Excerpt:
LEAH
GRABBED THE SALVAGE AND RAN. Metal and plastic clattered and rattled in
the cloth bag hanging around her shoulders as she threw herself down
the slope, slipping and sliding on the loose earth. The lights of the
encampment behind her cast long shadows across the ground but made it
just about possible to see where she was going. She heard the Wild Ones
shouting as they ran towards the pile of discarded circuit boards,
wires, and lumps of rusted iron she'd just raided. She felt the familiar
rush of adrenaline, and a smile slid across her face. She let gravity
do its job, pulling her faster and faster down the hill until she was
afraid she'd topple forward.
A
dark shape reared up out of the gloom—a woman armed with a heavy wooden
club. The woman swung the weapon at Leah's head. Leah dived to the
right. She landed awkwardly, the bag caught beneath her. Something hard
dug into her ribs, a piece of metal or the big circuit board she'd found
buried at the bottom of the salvage pile. She cried out, winced.
The woman shouted, “Weasel's over here, boys.”
Leah
pulled herself to her feet and took off running again. She risked a
backwards glance. The woman was out of shape and weighed down by layers
of heavy animal furs, and she was already falling back. There were
others, though—two men, leaner and less encumbered. They were past the
woman and gaining on Leah. She zigged and zagged, trying to confuse the
men and slow them down, but they were too close. She needed to get out
of their line of sight; she couldn't let them follow her back to the
City.
Leah
headed left, away from home and towards unfamiliar territory. There was
a crack, and a puff of earth kicked up a few feet ahead of her.
Leah
yelped in surprise. She'd never been shot at before. For a moment, she
considered throwing the bag away and giving up on the day's bounty. But
she couldn't go home empty-handed.
She
ran towards another hill. The ground beneath her feet became harder.
That made it easier to run, but she had to dodge stones and rocks. Twice
she nearly tripped and fell.
Another
glance back showed her the men had slowed. One of them held a longrifle
to his shoulder. Leah ducked as another gunshot rang out, and the
bullet ricocheted off a nearby boulder. She pushed harder, desperate to
reach the top of the hill, expecting any second to feel the punch of a
bullet hitting her in the back. Another shot whined past her ear as she
reached the crest. She flinched and threw herself forward.
Immediately, she realized her mistake. The ground dropped sharply away from her, and she plunged over the edge.Amazon
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