Protect

By H. S. Stone

THIS IS A SHORT STORY OF APPROX. 7,000 WORDS.

Claire is a Driver, tasked with helping to transport items between walled cities shielded from the Outside. On three previous runs, Claire successfully avoided the Outsiders to complete her missions. This time, the mayor asks her and her Protector, Shaun, to bring back precious cargo from Sacramento. From the start, Claire notices this run is different. She isn't allowed to see the cargo loaded onto a big rig truck, another Driver and Protector from Sacramento accompanies them, and there is a decoy truck to throw off the Outsiders. Despite all of the precautions, Claire's convoy runs into a trap set by the Outsiders. She's no Protector, and she doesn't know what she's transporting, but Claire knows that she's all that stands between the Outsiders and whatever lies inside the truck she has to protect.

• Language: English
• Publisher: H. S. Stone
• Release date: Mar 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311125279

H. S. Stone

Even before he could read, H.S. Stone wanted to write a book. Fascinated by the stories that seemed to leap from his kindergarten teacher's books, he went home and wrote his own book, with illustrations and bound by staples. Of course, since he didn't know how to read or write yet, the book was full of gibberish. Undaunted, H.S. eventually mastered the ABC's and continued to write throughout his grade school years, adolescence, and into adulthood. His publications include novels aimed at Young Adult and Middle Grade readers as well as several short stories. He currently lives with his family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Book preview

Protect

(The Driver Series #2)

by

H.S. Stone

Published by H.S. Stone

Copyright © 2014 H.S. Stone

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Is this unusual? I ask, standing blindfolded two hundred feet away from my car. The screech of a big rig truck’s cargo door sliding open on rusty grooves cuts through the air.

Yeah, I’d say so. I’ve never been blindfolded before, Shaun answers. In his usual calm voice, he adds, But I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.

He may not be worried, but I am. On my first three runs, at least I knew what I was picking up, but not this time. My only instruction from our mayor is to go to Sacramento on an important mission and to do what that city’s mayor asks of us.

This mission is so important that another car, with another Driver and Protector, joins Shaun and me on the trip from San Jose.

At least I’m paired with Shaun as my Protector again. Since my first run with him, I’ve driven to San Francisco with an older man with an itchy trigger finger and to Oakland with a guy named Mark who kept flirting with me for the duration of the run. I found him arrogant and obnoxious, but that didn’t stop him from talking about himself incessantly. Thankfully, both runs were short.

Shaun is different. He is serious but friendly. More importantly, I trust him with my life more than any other Protector I know.

I hear the clunk of footsteps and the squeak of wheels carrying heavy containers.

Shaun chuckles. Do you think those are crates of fruit and vegetables, Claire?

Sacramento,