The Change: Episode one (37 page)

It's been five years, but I still see the
deep red streams of blood running down rain-soaked trees. I still
smell men burning alive in their metal coffins. I dream of it
sometimes: of the cold, wet night when I was the bait, and I'm sure
Adrian does, too. It was the moment we knew our people would live -
because of one man’s dream and his lies.

From the very beginning, Adrian kept us
alive, gave us everything he had - and he always did what was best
for the camp, no matter what it cost him personally. He taught us
to be stronger than we thought we could be, to look out for each
other, and ourselves, and through it all… he lied by omission,
knowing these scared, hurting survivors would never have trusted
him, would never have given him a chance, if they had known who he
really was.

We came a long way together in the year
after the War, over thousands of miles of heartbreaking
devastation, and it hurts those of us who remain loyal to see him
accept their unfair judgment without a fight. It makes everything
we went through seem less important than it was, weakens the magic
somehow, and I can’t allow that.

I’ve been seeing open doors again, and that
sly ocean cautions me, says the return trip will be just as hard as
the one we undertook to get here. If there’s a storm headed toward
the flock, it’s our Shepherd we’ll need to see us through it.

So, for Adrian and for those of us standing
by him, still ready to die for him, and for the dreams he made me
believe in from almost the first minute I set foot in his Refugee
camp, I will tell our story and leave nothing out. Maybe then these
people will realize what he did for our country, accept how much we
owe, and allow him to reclaim what’s rightfully his. Us.

Before I tell you about our harsh, ugly
journey, let me show you what happened on that day, what they did
to us and what we did to each other. This is how America’s story of
survival began…

The Survivors – free on all retailers.

All Angela White
Titles

Life After War series

The Survivors

On The Road

Safe Haven

Adrian’s Eagles

Bachelor Battles Trilogy

The Change

Changeling Winds

Flash Fiction

Twisted Shorts

Alexa’s Travels

A Prelude

Bone Dust & Beginnings

Upcoming Releases

The Network

The Killin’ Fields of Nebraska

Liberation