Betrayed

Book 0: Altered

by Jennifer Rush

Genres: YA Dystopian; YA Contemporary Romance

Synopsis

After leaving Anna, Sam, Cas, and Nick behind, Trev is on his own and under the watchful eye of the Branch once more. But where do Trev's loyalties really lie? Riley, Trev's overseer, is determined to find out. On Riley's command, Trev sets off on a mission to a small Wisconsin suburb. His order: locate and kill a seemingly innocent teen named Charlie. Trev soon learns, though, not everything is as it seems in this quiet town--most of all Charlie. Find out what Trev's been up to behind the scenes in this Altered Saga original short story. word count: 10,910 words

Release date: August 26, 2014

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Print pages: 41

Sample

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas. A line from one of my favorite poems.

Never has it been more apt.

In the dark, it’s hard to know how many hours, days, weeks pass. Sometimes you wonder if you’re already dead, and if what comes after is nothing more than an infinite black. It’s why they put you in the dark to begin with. And the longer you stay in it, the further away from sane you feel. The further away from alive you feel.

It felt like I’d been in this holding cell for weeks.

I shifted, trying to stretch my body, ease out the soreness in my bones.

I’d spent the first few days—or what felt like days—in here, shackled to the ceiling, getting the shit kicked out of me. My old unit, the unit I’d turned on and delivered back to the Branch after they’d escaped, had disappeared from this building with dozens of stolen files in tow.

Of course, I’d been the one to steal those files, and I’d been the one to help them slip out a back door, but Riley, the Branch’s commander, didn’t know that, not really. Which was why I’d been subjected to such brutal questioning.

Riley wanted the truth, and he believed I’d helped Anna, Sam, Cas, and Nick escape. What he hadn’t counted on, though, was my unremitting resolve. I was sticking to this story—I didn’t help them escape. I didn’t steal those files. I wasn’t anywhere near the scene of the crime when it happened.

Stick to the truth, I whispered to myself in the dark, over and over again.

Didn’t matter that the truth was actually a lie. If I cemented it as the only truth in my head, then eventually Riley would believe me. And I needed him to believe me. Because the only way I could help Anna and Sam and the others now was by being who they thought I was. A Branch agent. An enemy. A traitor.

The best way to crumble the foundation of the corrupt is by cementing yourself as one of the bricks in the wall.

I heard the lock on my cell door scrape open, and every muscle in my body tensed.

They’d unshackled me a while ago, so I had full use of my hands if I needed to fight my way out of here, but it wasn’t the right time for that, and I didn’t much look forward to more beatings.

Still, I needed to prepare myself for it, just in case.

Light spilled into the cell and I squeezed my eyes shut against the burn. Too much light too quickly.

“It reeks in here,” Riley said.

The sound of his voice made my stomach sink. A visit from Riley was never a good sign.

He’d been second-in-command when I’d entered the Branch, the organization that had genetically altered me into a super soldier. But now that Connor, the Branch commander, was dead, Riley had installed himself as de facto leader. No one seemed to care that he wasn’t leader material. Guys like Riley were born followers, and always . . .