Warriors Read online

  One-Twenty-Six Press.

  Warriors

  Sarah Noffke

  Copyright © 2015 by Sarah Noffke

  All rights reserved

  Copyeditor: Christine LePorte

  Cover Design: Andrei Bat

  All rights reserved. This was self-published by Sarah Noffke under One-Twenty-Six Press. No parts of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. If you are seeking permission send inquiry at http: www.sarahnoffke.com

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Summary:

  Austin Valley appears as it always has, but Em Fuller knows that appearances aren’t what they seem. She knows under the surface, that cracks are starting to form in this seemingly well-manicured society. She’s responsible for creating these cracks and for planting a slow dissension among many of the residents of this once happy city. Broken in a way Em never thought possible, she turns into a well-calculated, strategic leader. With the help of the brightest minds in Austin Valley, Em begins building an army whose only purpose is to protect the population of Austin Valley from their President, Victor Vider. Em firmly believes the success of her army is inevitable, that is until a new blow strikes her heart and she questions whether she has the tenacity to go on.

  Published in the United States by One-Twenty-Six Press

  ISBN: 978-0-9862080-8-9

  Praise for Previous Works:

  “There are so many layers, so many twists and turns, betrayals and reveals. Loves and losses. And they are orchestrated beautifully, coming when you least expected and yet in just the right place. Leaving you a little breathless and a lot anxious. There were quite a few moments throughout where I found myself thinking that was not what I was expecting at all. And loving that.”

  -Mike, Amazon

  “The writing in this story was some of the best I've read in a long time because the story was so well-crafted, all the little pieces fitting together perfectly.”

  -The Tale Temptress

  “There are no words. Like literally. NO WORDS.

  This book killed me and then revived me and then killed me some more. But in the end I was born anew, better.”

  -Catalina, Goodreads

  “Love this series! Perfect ending to an incredible series! The author has done this series right.”

  -Kelly at Nerd Girl

  “What has really made these books stand out is how much emotion they evoke from me as a reader, and I love how it comes from a combination of both characters and plot together. Everything is so intricately woven that I have to commend Sarah Noffke on her skills as a writer.”

  -Anna at Enchanted by YA

  For Edie and Randy.

  Table of Contents

  Reading Guide

  Get your free book here

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgment:

  About the Author

  Reading Guide

  Get your free book here

  Reading Guide

  Sarah crafted the Dream Traveler universe and has 5 series that take place there. Characters from different series bounce between the books. The reading guide below offers a suggested order for consumption to decrease spoilers and stay on the timeline. The last three series listed can be read in any order.

  For more information please visit Sarah’s website at www.sarahnoffke.com or email her at [email protected]

  Join the mailing list here for freebies, updates and more! http://www.sarahnoffke.com/connect/

  A Dream Traveler Series: The Lucidites Series

  Awoken, #1:

  Stunned, #2

  Revived, #3

  A Dream Travelers Series: The Reverians

  Defects, #1:

  Rebels, #2

  Warriors, #3

  A Dream Traveler Series: Ren

  Ren: The Man Behind the Monster, #1:

  Ren: God’s Little Monster, #2

  Ren: The Monster Inside the Monster, #3

  Ren: The Monster’s Adventure, #3.5

  Ren: The Monster’s Death, #4

  A Dream Traveler Series: Olento Research

  Alpha Wolf, #1:

  Lone Wolf, #2

  Rabid Wolf, #3

  Bad Wolf, #4

  A Dream Travelers Series: Vagabond Circus

  Suspended, #1:

  Paralyzed, #2

  Released, #3

  Soul Stone Mage Series: An Urban Fantasy Witch Adventure

  House of Enchanted, #1:

  Dark Forest, #2

  Mountain of Truth, #3

  Land of Terran, #4

  New Egypt, #5

  Lancothy, #6

  Ghost Squadron Series: A Military Space Opera Adventure

  Formation, #1

  Exploration, #2

  Evolution, #3

  Degeneration, #4

  Impersonation, #5

  Get your free book here

  http://www.sarahnoffke.com/free-book/

  Chapter One

  I’m shocked. Three months after Rogue’s death and nothing appears different in Austin Valley. Three months after we destroyed the majority of the cerevitium stored in the lab and there isn’t a trace that one thing has shifted. Three months after we learned so many critical truths about Vider’s corrupt campaign and everything feels the same in town. I’m shocked, but I’m not sad about it in the least. I’m proud. We’ve done our job. Covered our tracks. The Valley looks as it always has, with its perfect rounded edges and starched appearance. There’s no hint that under the surface a war is brewing. No one would ever know that behind the manicured homes and polite manners, many of the residents of Austin Valley are having rebellious thoughts.

  After we destroyed roughly eighty percent of the cerevitium in the lab Vider called for drastic measures. I knew he would. However, I underestimated him. I didn’t fathom that upon waking up to find his son dead on his doorstep and an entire year’s supply of cerevitium destroyed, he’d order the entire Defect population to be converted to Middling immediately. It was upon learning that news that I realized how little we’d thought through our plan. We thought we could take his ammunition and that he’d run for cover. We never considered that this would encourage him to bring out his bombs and cannons.

  I wasn’t unprepared fo
r Vider’s command to sever dream travel abilities from over a thousand young adults. After witnessing Rogue die in my arms and walking out of Parker’s house, I’d wasted no time preparing for the attack I knew would come. And because of that I was able to act fast. Now thanks to Ren, most Defects have been saved from conversion. Thanks to my uncle, I’ve been able to infiltrate the department where converting happens and intercept Defects before a part of their brains is irreparably cut away. Most Defects, after listening to me, have consented to my plan and the dangers it promises, and therefore they have escaped conversion. Most.

  However, the Conversion department can only handle so many. The rest of the Defects are still being injected with the cerevitium that we failed to destroy the night we broke into the lab. This will be the case until they can be converted. And every day more cerevitium is produced to ensure these Defects’ gifts are suppressed until their conversion happens.

  Parker’s patients are the exception to this. Three months ago they received the same news and decision I give to those facing conversion. And if they decided not to receive their injections anymore then they know they must play the act, the same as all the Rebels. Nona, my sister, serves as a perfect example. She’s a Defect who is supposed to still be receiving the injections and yet Parker hasn’t stuck her with a needle in three months. And for most of that time she’s had her gift, but no one knows that. They all look at her with troubled eyes, the same way they’ve always regarded Defects. Most Reverians can’t wait until all Defects are converted and therefore ridded from our society.

  The whole population of Defects and converted Middlings looks the same but I know that inside something different is pulsing in their brains. Not Vider’s voice, but mine. The speech I gave them runs on the inside track of their brain. I’m the one encoding their thoughts but I did it through dispelling the lies, the ones Vider has told them since they were born. I did it through giving them what they wanted. Each and every one of these Defects has what they’ve craved. It’s not what Vider promised: safety, love, happiness, security. It’s something purer. Richer. Unique. In compensation for their compliance I gave these Defects their gifts. I showed them how to find them. How to hide them and therefore keep them. I gave them that which belonged to them.

  And now, because I have a population of Defects, and Defects who everyone thought were converted to Middlings, I also have an army. An army of ready, capable, and motivated individuals who all see the truth. Who all feel robbed. Who are all ready for revenge and waiting for my signal to attack the President.

  But we aren’t ready. We need people to join us. Without these people we’re useless. We’ll squander our chances. Without them we are just a bunch of kids with superpowers. We need a force. One that can persevere against any power and has throughout the history of mankind.

  We need Middlings.

  Chapter Two

  “Em, you’re doing it all wrong,” Soon-hee, Parker’s mother, says to me, the scowl heavy in her tone. Her bushy eyebrows are pinned up high, close to her graying hairline.

  “How hard is it to feed chickens?” I say, dumping the rest of the feed into the trough.

  “According to your imbecilic move it’s exceptionally hard,” the old woman says to me, scooping the feed back out of the chicken feeder with her wrinkled hands and into a pail. She shakes her head and mumbles something under her breath in Korean.

  I stand regarding her with a small bit of amusement and huge bout of exhaustion. The sun is already setting and after the long ride with the old lady barking orders in my ear the entire way, I’m way more tired than I am on a usual trip back to Rogue’s fa—my farm.

  “Don’t you see that you’ve fed them too much?” she says, waving her hands at the overflowing trough of grains.

  “They never seem to complain,” I say through a long yawn.

  She shakes her head, her shoulder-length black and gray hair swaying with the movement. Clicks her tongue three times in disapproval. “A fat hen isn’t necessarily a happy one,” she says, her Korean accent heavy in her words. I understand most of what she says, although her words are usually a bit muddled between her urge to throw them at me and also keep them in a language I can understand. Parker’s mother is nothing like him. She’s isn’t polite or complacent or nice, like the good doctor. And even still, she brings a smile to my face more than most people these days. I think I’m endeared to ornery old ladies. “You fed them too much,” she repeats.

  “They don’t have to eat it. Aren’t animals natural about consuming in moderation anyway?” I say, making for the gate, intent on lying in bed and resting my aching back.

  “Not ones that live in captivity and don’t have to fend for themselves, Em,” she says, marching up next to me. For almost seventy years old she’s fast and has a spirit I don’t think can be broken. I hope it can’t.

  “Reverians live in captivity and don’t have to fend for themselves and they don’t get fat,” I say, stopping to regard the woman who’s about a foot shorter than me.

  She straightens, pulling her shoulders back as she does. “And are these hens ruled by corrupt dictator who makes demands on every part of their life and forces them to act only in ways he sees fit?”

  I roll my eyes. “No, they’re ruled by Steven the rooster. He’s pretty laid back as far as roosters go, I guess, but what do I know?” I say.

  “Not a damn thing, as far as I can tell,” Soon-hee says, pushing the pail into my arms and trudging toward the house.

  I take my time circling back to the house, returning the feed to the barn and taking a stop off to see the goats. Jasmine, my goat, is just as happy as ever to see me. Each visit she bounds at me, finally knocking me over when she arrives at my hip. She’s grown and her coat is coarser these days. I give her only enough attention to allow her to let me go off to the house without “mawing” at me too much. By the time I return to the house I find that the old woman is curled up in my bed and snoring. I guess, although she’s unwilling to admit it, that Soon-hee is pretty tired from the whole day of riding. We only just arrived an hour ago and although I know she wanted to get a full tour of the farm we only managed the house and the chicken pen. I’ll have to leave her to care for things tomorrow, but judging by her behavior tonight I think she’ll do fine.

  I’ve been returning in physical form to the farm every week. I’m able to keep up with the day-to-day jobs just fine while dream traveling, yet that doesn’t offer the animals the care and attention they deserve. And also, my dream travel attention can be used in other places, securing our footing in this war. For all those reasons I recruited Soon-hee, Parker’s mother, to help me out with the farm. Her husband died a month ago and since then I’ve watched her grow restless. Each secret meeting to Parker’s house I’d spy her in the background listening and looking at me with strange eyes. Parker worked hard to keep the truth from his parents. He didn’t want them to know what kind of President’s rule they lived under. But just as poor Parker has had to learn too many times, he doesn’t see things quite clearly. His parents have known for quite some time what kind of dictator Vider is, but have felt powerless against him. They were content to live in the modest home they were assigned as long as their overworked son was happy. And they weren’t different from many wise people in the Reverian population.

  One night I spied Soon-hee’s curious eyes poking through a crack along the door and knew then what her role would be. Since her husband’s passing she was fidgety. She had months to prepare for his passing and almost looked relieved when it happened. So after the meeting I bolted through that door to find her scrambling back and pretending to be inspecting the nearby wall. “I have a question for you,” I said, pinning my hands on my hips.

  “I wasn’t listening,” she said, not meeting my eyes. “I was just wondering if this wall looks slanted. Does it look that way to you?”

  I shook my head. “That’s not my question. I want to know if you will watch over Rogue’s farm.”

&nbs
p; “Why would you think I’d have any interest in that?” she asked, scurrying around, pretending to be tidying up an already tidy house.

  “Because I’ve seen pictures of you in the house. You grew up on a farm, didn’t you?”

  “Oh, Ji-hoon shouldn’t be so sloppy with my effects. How dare he?” she said, referring to her son by his Korean name.

  I’d actually spied the album laid out in Parker’s suitcase when I’d confronted him about trying to escape the Valley. It was that night I convinced him to stay, that I convinced him to take on such an important role.

  “Do you want to do it or not?” I asked, growing impatient with the woman I later learned like to play games with conversation.

  “Why do you think I want to take care of some dead man’s farm?” she asked, batting her straight long eyelashes at me.

  “Because your husband has died as well and you look like you need something to keep you out of trouble.”

  “That’s true, I do like farms. Know them well,” she said, all the while keeping a causal manner like we were discussing lunch. “Even so, it’s some dead man’s farm. Seems a bit strange.”

  “It’s my farm,” I said, trying to loosen the knot in my throat.

  “Oh, really?” she said, a ring of doubt in her voice. “Tell me more.”

  Rogue knew exactly what he was doing when he convinced me to say the farm was mine too. I was reluctant. Not just reluctant, I was mortified to accept such an honor from him. At the time I thought he was being romantic. Little did I know that he knew he was going to die and was ensuring that by me accepting a partnership with the farm I would take care of it after his death.

  “Look,” I said with slow restraint to the woman who was trying my patience. “I own full rights to the farm.” And it was true. Rogue had seen to it. “It’s mine and I need someone capable to care for the animals and garden every day. If you want the job then I’ll take you there. Your husband has passed and Vider will think nothing of you going off to live with your family in the south. It’s the perfect excuse. But if you’re not interested then save me time and trouble and tell me now. No more games.”