DUSTWALKER
A SYNTH SEARCHING FOR PURPOSE…
Walk. Scavenge. Destroy. Trade. A simple cycle that’s suited Ronin for one hundred and eighty-five years. With no clear grasp of his programming, the barren wasteland known as The Dust offers him purpose, a place where his armored undercasing, amped-up processors, and advanced optics can be put to use. The ramshackle towns on the edges of the waste serve merely as resupply stations between increasingly long treks. But one night — one human woman — makes him question everything.
A WOMAN WHO BRINGS HIM TO LIFE…
Lara Brooks struggles to survive under the strict rules imposed by the bots in Cheyenne. With her sister missing, she’s been on her own for weeks, and fears the worst. Her only hope comes from Ronin, a bot she catches spying on her. He promises to provide for Lara and search for her sister. All she has to do is dance. It should be easy; she’s done it before. But the longer she spends with Ronin, the harder it is to see him as just another bot.
A SANCTUARY HIDING DARK SECRETS…
In a city where humans are relegated to live in squalor, Ronin discovers a threat greater than any in the Dust — Warlord, Cheyenne’s tyrannical leader. When Ronin ignores the rules, he unwittingly puts Lara in danger. Warlord is as intolerant of disrespect as he is of mankind.
Walk. Scavenge. Destroy. Trade. A simple cycle that’s suited Ronin for one hundred and eighty-five years. With no clear grasp of his programming, the barren wasteland known as The Dust offers him purpose, a place where his armored undercasing, amped-up processors, and advanced optics can be put to use. The ramshackle towns on the edges of the waste serve merely as resupply stations between increasingly long treks. But one night — one human woman — makes him question everything.
A WOMAN WHO BRINGS HIM TO LIFE…
Lara Brooks struggles to survive under the strict rules imposed by the bots in Cheyenne. With her sister missing, she’s been on her own for weeks, and fears the worst. Her only hope comes from Ronin, a bot she catches spying on her. He promises to provide for Lara and search for her sister. All she has to do is dance. It should be easy; she’s done it before. But the longer she spends with Ronin, the harder it is to see him as just another bot.
A SANCTUARY HIDING DARK SECRETS…
In a city where humans are relegated to live in squalor, Ronin discovers a threat greater than any in the Dust — Warlord, Cheyenne’s tyrannical leader. When Ronin ignores the rules, he unwittingly puts Lara in danger. Warlord is as intolerant of disrespect as he is of mankind.
EXCERPT
DUSTWALKER
Lara grasped the edges of the large board and heaved. Rock, dirt, and debris tumbled from it as it rose. She shoved it backward. It kicked up a thick cloud of dust when it landed, which was, swiftly carried away by the wind. Crouching over the exposed rubble — bits of splintered wood, rusted metal, and broken ceramic — she sifted through it with her fingers.
“Well, what did you think you’d find?” she asked herself, sitting back on her heels, and ran her gaze over the nearby crumbled buildings. The ruins of another world surrounded her, blanketed in a thick layer of dirt.
A drop of sweat trickled between her breasts. Though the cloth wrapped around her head and body protected her skin from the sun, it couldn’t keep out the heat. If it weren’t for the stinging bits of sand carried on the frequent guests of wind, she’d tear the sweat-dampened fabric off.
“What the hell’s left to find in this trash heap?”
Her sister’s voice replied from the depths of her memory.
There’s always something to find, so let’s make it a game. Whoever finds the best treasure gets a larger portion.
Tabitha had always been good at distracting Lara in little ways, suggesting games and competitions to mask the truth of their situation. And, regardless of who found the best items, she always gave Lara the larger share of food. Whether Lara liked it or not, scavenging was the only way to find things the bots deemed valuable. Otherwise, she’d have nothing to eat at all.
“Damn bots.” Lara swiped at the debris, knocking aside pebbles and dust. Thinking about Tabitha sent a worried pang through her chest; she hadn’t seen her sister in almost two months.
She picked through the rubble, tossing every bit of metal she found into her bag. The pieces were small, and in poor shape, but they’d at least be worth something. Still, after hours in the relentless sun, she’d hoped for something more significant.
The soft clink of a rock against a piece of ceramic gave her pause. She picked up one of the shards and turned it over. Though faded with time and wear, the blue pattern on it was still visible — it was part of a flower. Carefully, she brushed away the loose layer of dirt atop the ground, revealing more pieces with the same coloring.
Once, each piece had been part of a larger whole. Bowls, plates, and cups, each beautiful in its own right. What good were they now? They weren’t worth the dust they lay in.
Lara was about to toss the large shard back, but the pattern caught her eye again. She’d only ever seen flowers in pictures, and even those were difficult to find. She tucked the shard into a fold of cloth around her waist, away from anything that might damage it further.
More digging yielded a few more items; two rusted forks and three spoons joined the scrap in her bag. Moving aside a smaller plank of rotted wood, she found a solid piece of glass. She tugged on it. The resistance told her it was much larger than she’d thought.
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