My friends newest book comes out!
When We Were Human is written by my friend Kate L. Mary, and it's a YA
Post-Apocalyptic
Synopsis:
Eighteen-year-old Eva has spent the last year punishing herself
for her sister’s death and hiding from everyone she comes into contact with,
human or otherwise. With the population destroyed and the Earth left in ruins,
she sees little hope left for the future.
But when she crosses paths with Walker and Tara something inside
her awakens. Something she thought had died along with her entire family. In
these new friends Eva sees a promise of what the future could be, as well as
evidence that humanity might not be extinct after all.
When a ghost from Eva’s past makes an unexpected appearance, the
group sets out on a cross-country trek that will teach Eva how to love and hope
again, and will remind her what it truly means to be human.
Excerpt:
When the camp comes into view I have a difficult time not
throwing up. Water and carrots slosh back and forth in my stomach. The sweat on
my palms has nothing to do with the humidity, and my legs are so weak they feel
like pipe cleaners trying to support a rubber ball.
The fence surrounding the camp is down in most places, and the
majority of the hastily set-up tents have blown away. The few left are ripped.
The canvas blows in the warm breeze, flapping back and forth like the wings of
an ominous bird.
The storage building is still standing, though. If it isn’t
empty this trip might be worth our time, but if it’s been cleaned out all this
emotional turmoil and pain I’m going through right now will be for nothing. And
I don’t have a lot of optimism that things will turn out in our favor.
Atlanta is just visible in the distance. Or what’s left of it,
anyway. A ruined building juts up here and there, but for the most part the
city is flat. It looks as if like the earth had just opened up and sucked the
city down. It’s what the creepers did in the first wave. Wiped out the all the
major cities until there was nothing left but a landscape of rubble and dust.
Killing millions in the blink of an eye.
Walker heads into the camp, and I follow silently, trying not to
think about those terrifying days. My throat tightens when we step across the
toppled chain link fence. The rusty metal clinks under our feet and my heart
pounds harder with each step.
When I finally enter the prison camp where my sister lived out
her final days, it feels like I’m walking into a cemetery. In many ways I am.
Bones of the former inhabitants are scattered across the ground as far as the
eye can see. The bodies have been picked clean by animals and bugs, and the
clothes have long since blown away, but the skeletons remain as a
heart-breaking reminder of everything we lost.
Which one is my sister?
“This way,” Walker says, tilting his head toward the storage
building.
The three of us pick our way across the camp, stepping over
debris and remains. Tara won’t stop looking at me, and every glance causes my
insides to harden even more. I wish I’d never told them I lost my sister here.
I hate thinking that they associate me with this place. Even worse, I hate that
I associate myself with this hell.
I catch sight of a charred,
mangled tree and the urge to hurl hits me so hard that I almost have to stop.
The stump juts up from the ground, and to the left of it sits a small crater.
It’s like a missile took out the top of the tree, then hit the ground next to
it. The black circle from the fire extends for about ten feet around the hole.
The fire burnt the tree to a crisp, leaving almost nothing behind.
Our tree. Mine and Lilly’s.
I force myself to turn away from the remains before I burst into
tears. I shouldn’t have come here.
We get closer to the storage building but something looks off.
The brightness of the sun makes it hard to see and forces me to squint. Then it
hits me. The walls are covered in writing and discarded cans of spray paint by
the dozens lay on the ground. At first I’m not sure what I’m looking at, but it
only takes a few seconds of scanning the words to figure out what it all means.
They’re notes left by survivors. People hoping to find loved ones they’ve lost.
Stupid people clinging to hope that doesn’t exist.
“What is this?” I ask, coming to a stop about ten feet from the
wall.
“Survivor’s wall.” Walker glances toward Tara, then turns at the
entrance of the building. “People leave messages behind just in case a family
member comes through. We’ll check it out before we leave, but we should look
for food first.”
Tara nods and follows him, but her eyes are glued to the wall.
They never stop moving, never stop reading the names.
I keep my eyes on the back of Walker’s
head as I follow him inside. Away from the wall and the words of desperation
painted on them. There’s nothing on that wall for me.
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About the Author:
Kate L. Mary is a stay-at-home mother of four and an Air Force
wife. She grew up in a small town just north of Dayton, Ohio where she and her
husband met at the age of twelve. Since their marriage in 2002, they have lived
in Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and California.
Kate enjoys any post-apocalyptic story - especially if zombies
are involved - as long as there is a romantic twist to give the story hope.
Kate prefers nerdy, non-traditional heroes who can make you laugh to hunky
pieces of man-meat, and her love of wine and chocolate is legendary among her
friends and family. She currently resides in Oklahoma with her husband and
children.
Be sure to check out her best-selling BROKEN WORLD series, a top
100 book in dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction on Amazon.
Other Books:
The Broken World series
Available now on
Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, Paperback and Audiobook!
