Alexa's Travels: A Prelude by Angela White Read Free Book Online Page A

fluttering flag.
    Putting it there was the equivalent of suicide for a businessman in this new Hell: proclaiming them to still honor the old ways that had destroyed the world. Alexa instantly respected the one who’d had the stones to do so. Love of country was part of what she’d come for - as was courage.
    Before the woman reached the grimy, green vinyl behind the flag, the flap opened. From the dimness, a cloaked man of tall stature and wide shoulders stepped into the gritty wind with no hesitation.
      He held the flap for her without showing his face, and the woman moved inside with a hand still resting on one of her Colts.
    She evaluated the layout in seconds, marking weapons, signs of no employees or customers, and she turned to observe the merchant. Was he the one she’d come for?
    The man kept a clear distance, able to feel her judging him. Would he be enough this time? The others who had searched here hadn’t liked his bravado or anything else. Would she understand him and what he needed?
    “May I offer you a drink?”
    He slid his hood back as he spoke, and the woman studied him closely. Yes. He was a killer. It was evident in those pale eyes and the way his hand stayed near the 9 mm on his lean hip.
    She shook her head, sending bright dust flying from her filthy braids. “I have no thirst. Only a hunger.”
    The raspy voice echoed like a bell, made his face darken a bit with desire… the kind she’d come for.
    “What would please you, Mistress?”
    That one word settled her choice and brought a short-lived smile to her weathered face, “To be a man up when I leave this place.”
    Alexa took a step closer, not caring about the scarlet drips she was leaving, or the exhaustion surging through her body. “Do you have a mind to fill that need, tradesman?”
     
    End of Prelude

  Notes
     
    Alexa’s Travels is another long story, which will be broken into several editions and cover only a short amount of time. Each town, challenge, or part of the quest will have its own book. The one you’ve just finished is a prelude, setting up the action and giving a small taste of what their adventure will be like. The first book, Bone Dust & Beginnings, is now available.
    This new tale connects to my popular fantasy series, Life After War , which takes place right after the bombs have fallen. The hero that leads Safe Haven refugee camp is Alexa’s family. He was forced to leave her behind when they fled the United States, but he trained her to be strong, and nothing will stop her from being reunited with her father.
    This spinoff carries my usual end of the world obsession to another level, and I can’t wait to explore all of the dark and dreadful places this group of fighters will cross through on their quest to find the impossible myth called safety.
    Interested in a little more? My website (below) is a great place to look for contact forms, new releases, and my complete library.
    http://www.law-angelawhite.com
    Have a wonderful year,
    Angela White

Bone Dust & Beginnings
     

    When they reached the bend of the Little River, the sight of the small town gave no comfort that what Alexa had come for was here.
    River City hadn’t existed before the War. Set near the back hatch of NORAD, the town had begun as a refugee camp that was wiped out by foreign invaders and then rebuilt. A few months later, it was destroyed again by the emerging government, who’d also come searching for what was left. Now there was a new war between the old tyrants and the sacrificed citizens surviving on their own. Few groups of people remained this far west.
    River City had been rebuilt a second time, after the volcanic eruption that had coated everything with ash, trapping refugees inside for weeks at a time. The population had taken another large hit, and the town had remained. It now boasted seven businesses inside real wooden frames and nearly twice as many slanted, prone-to-collapse homes made from scavenged debris. The people had