Rehabilitation: Romantic Dystopian (Unbelief Series Book 1)
Read Rehabilitation: Romantic Dystopian (Unbelief Series Book 1) Online
Authors: C.B. Stone
Tags: #Romance, #ruin, #trilogy, #christianity, #revelation, #dystopian, #god, #unbelief, #young adult
C.B. Stone Books
Copyright © 2014 by InkedPlot Media
Copyright © 2014 by Author C.B. Stone
Cover Art by Kellie Dennis at Book Cover by Design
Cover photo by Shutterstock
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
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Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Printed in the United States of America.
This book is dedicated to God and my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to my family and friends. Without you all, life wouldn’t be nearly as colorful.
John 14:12-14 ESV
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
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Synopsis:
If you are a fan of books like The Hunger Games and Divergent and enjoy short reads, you will love book one in this fast-paced dystopian trilogy.
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"My name is Sinna Reardon. I suppose deep down I'd like to believe God exists. But he doesn’t, not since the war. Most days I’m OK with that. Jacob calls me a pessimist, but I’m a realist. How can I Believe when a place like Rehabilitation and a regime like the Elite exist, dictating our every move?
If God were so great, he’d do something. But he hasn’t. We’re forgotten. And that scares me, because it means I might have to do something myself..."
Sinna has spent her life walking a fine line between breaking the rules and obeying them to a fault. In a Godless world where science and logic reign supreme and people are punished for Believing, are friendship and love reasons enough to abandon unbelief? Enough to put her faith in something bigger than herself?
IT
he world’s changed. I don’t know this because I
witnessed
the change, or even because I felt it. No. This is all I’ve ever known, but I know it’s changed because I see what’s left behind.
Destruction.
Jacob is striding ahead of me, his strong back broad and straight, his steps sure and true. I often imagine he’s balancing the world on those shoulders. His unruly blond hair is brushing past the nape of his neck, and I know his ice blue eyes are laser focused as he makes his way through the rubble. He’s quiet, as am I, every step stealthy because though we know there aren’t any people out here anymore, there are other things.
Dangerous things.
We pick our feet up as we walk and make sure not to kick any of the debris surrounding us on accident. I grimace, eyes scanning the ground looking for anything that might be of value. The pack I carry slung across my shoulder is light at the moment, but I’m hopeful we’ll be able to find something useful today.
Ahead of me, Jacob stills. He lifts a hand, signaling me to stop, then drops to his knees, crouching. I immediately follow suit, making myself as small and insignificant as I can, so whatever he’s spotted, won’t spot
me
. After several slow, quiet moments, hearing nothing but the sound of my breath as it clouds the air in front of me, I shuffle closer to Jacob.
“What is it?” I whisper in a voice quiet enough I don’t think it’ll carry beyond us.
He inclines his head in the direction in front of us. I squint, eyes searching along the cold terrain for the threat spurring us to crouch down out of sight. At first, I don’t see much beyond the norm. There isn’t anything visible other than the ruins of the Old World city. Then I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t notice it before, because its coloring matched the gray landscape around us, but now I see what has us stopped.
“A cougar,” I mutter. The hairs on the nape of my neck rise and I suppress a shiver.
The large animal’s gray fur looks mottled, missing patches here and there, striped by burns in others. It looks skinny, no doubt starving as are most things in the Old World. But I don’t need telling to know its teeth work just fine, regardless of its meager appearance.
And its claws.
We wait in silence, holding our breath and watching the mangy animal limp and sniff at the air. After a while, it finally decides it’s not going to find food or water in this area and lumbers off.
We wait a few minutes more for it to disappear from view before we straighten back to full height. I shrug my shoulders as I do, trying to loosen muscles gone tight with nerves. I expel a puff of air, its smokey tendrils drifting off toward the sky like a lazy feather. “Guess it didn’t find anything good out here,” I mumble, then look over at Jacob, unable to hide the relief in my tone or my face. “We got lucky.”
Jacob looks down at me, a small smile on his face. “Luck has nothing to do with it.” He winks.
I roll my eyes and start moving, passing him before he takes the chance to start this conversation again. Maybe if I just ignore him, he'll get the hint and won’t start babbling on about fate and what not.
“Don’t roll your eyes,” he chastises, his voice carrying with it a gentle laughing tone as he follows behind me. “It’s true.”
Apparently, I am wrong about his babbling. I sigh. It doesn’t matter if I keep walking or not, he’s
still
going to bring it up.
“Can’t we just keep moving?” I ask, my voice reflecting irritability as I try to derail the subject. But Jacob isn’t to be sidetracked.
“We
are
moving,” he reminds me, laughter still coloring his voice.
Which is true, we are, but that isn’t the point. I meant
just
moving, as in no talking to accompany it. I sigh again, the small crease indicating I’m cranky appearing between my brows. But Jacob is Jacob and he’ll keep instigating this conversation—no matter how dangerous it is—because it’s the type of man he is.
That’s how much he... well, how important it is to him. I frown, a part of me proud he’s so firm in his beliefs, another part worried it will get him in trouble one day.
“Think about it, Sinna,” he tells me, and I can hear the excitement in his voice. “What were we doing the first time we met?”
I try not responding. Instead, I scan the area, looking for potential places that might hide things we can use or trade when we get home. It’s the main reason we’re out here anymore anyway, but it isn’t the
first
reason we came into the ruined city.
“We were looking for a—”
“There!” I point ahead of us, not caring I just interrupted him. In the distance, maybe a mile away, there’s a long building, the space of several Old World houses, and it’s about the height of three of them piled on top of one another.
Jacob looks, bright eyes filled with hope as they search. Too late, I realize how my exclamation must have sounded to him. Sure enough, when he spots the building, his shoulders slump a little in disappointment and he lets out a sigh.
“—a church,” he finishes. “We were looking for a church.”
I feel guilty for getting his hopes up. Although we go out mostly now to find Old World items we can trade, Jacob still can’t resist keeping an eye out for that fabled church.
“There aren’t any left Jacob.” My voice is quiet as I rest a gentle hand on his arm. “They were all destroyed after the War.”
He only nods. I know he still dares to hope one survived, even though he knows the truth. I’m convinced that’s why, out of everything the Elite has banned since the War,
belief
is most dangerous in their view.
You’ll do crazy things for what you believe, even when you know what you’re doing is pointless.
“Let’s go,” I tell him.
In perfect sync, we start moving toward the large building. I’m not sure
what
it is—maybe a school or a prison perhaps. Those are the buildings we find most often, and most of the stuff inside them is deteriorated beyond any recognition or value. But every once in a while we we get lucky and find something good.
Personally, I hope it’s a hospital we’re walking toward. Hospitals always hide the good stuff. Drugs, antibiotics, and other medical things most people back home don’t possess and can’t get. A hospital would be best case scenario in my book.