First Chapters: Traveler by Carlie Simonsen

Traveler is a teen post-apocalyptic paranormal urban tale about a girl who survives a war and the loss of her family. When she ends up alone, she sets out to find the one family member whose fate she doesn’t know. On the way, she encounters cannibals and a mysterious boy. And from there, things get distinctly weird. Traveler is the first book in the Traveler’s Tales series.

Traveler knows she must cross the Rubble by dusk. At dusk, the cannibals come out, and they will want payment. She doesn’t count on the gang living on the other side of the Rubble to deny her passage until evening arrives. And she doesn’t count on being the prize in a turf war between the two groups. When a boy who seems to be made of mist helps her escape, she refuses to believe she is finally safe. The city is full of danger. Traveler knows she hasn’t found them all.

Traveler is about embarking on a journey, and overcoming anything that might stand in the way—even if that means having the courage to offer friendship, in times when it’s hard to trust. Or helping someone other than yourself.

Traveler is available from Smashwords, Amazon-Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and iTunes.

First Chapter: Traveler

Traveler 

My name is Traveler. I am fifteen years old.

My mother said I was wild. My sister said I was weird. My father didn’t say anything. He was dead.

They’re all dead now. I could not save them. I was not there. If I had been there, when the bombs went off and the germs came, I would be dead as well.

I was away from the city in a place they called The Wilds. The Learning Centre called it Recreational Training, but we all knew it was a survival exercise.

They took us back to the city, once the fevers had died down, and told us what had happened. I cried when I heard. That first week was a week for tears.

We had to clear the city, block by block. I did not see my mother or my sister, until three weeks after my return. Their bodies had been wrapped in black plastic. By then, I knew better than to look inside, but I did, anyway. By then, there was nothing left to cry. I had run out of tears.

The next attack caught us in the open. We were burning the dead. They flew low over us acting like storm clouds, raining down bullets as we dived for cover.

After that first wave we were ready, springing for the shelters at the first sound of their engines. That saved us from the bullets, but did not stop the bombs, or the soft, grey mists that came after.

By the end of the fourth week, I knew I would survive. The constant danger had woken some, dormant sense within me and I was able to avoid the worst of the trouble.

Others were not so lucky. Either they had not developed the same sense I had, or they had never had it. One by one, their luck ran out, until I was left alone.

My name never used to be Traveler. It used to be Anne. The others that met me called me Traveler when they found out what I was looking for. They said I would be travelling for a long, long time.

My first step to becoming Traveler came on the day I started to escape the city.

 

END CHAPTER ONE

If you would like to read more, Traveler is available from Smashwords, Amazon-Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and iTunes.