H.O.P.E. Battle Scars

By Autumn Taylor

Sixteen years ago, the Dekons came; an alien race bent on controlling everyone and everything. Now the year is 2030, and after a terrifying, life-changing encounter with the Dekons, teenager Zelda Caldwell finds herself part of a rebellion group known as H.O.P.E. Their only mission is to destroy the Dekons, and restore peace to the world that was once ours.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Autumn Taylor
• Release date: Aug 2, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311145871

Autumn Taylor

I am the author of H.O.P.E. Battle Scars, the first book in my series. I like spending time outdoors and I find inspiration from nature. Listening to music helps me write, especially cinematic music.

Book preview

H.O.P.E. Battle Scars

Autumn Taylor

H.O.P.E Battle Scars

Copyright © 2014 Autumn Taylor

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, companies, businesses, locales or events is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this book to my family, who have always been there to support me and to help me get this book finished. It wouldn’t be possible without them.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

About the Author

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my older brother for helping me make the book cover. I would also like to thank my friend, Aura, for all the help and feedback. Lastly, I would like to give a big thanks to my family.

Prologue

My name is Zelda Caldwell. I used to be a normal teenager who lived a normal life ... except the part where our world is run by an alien race called Dekons. I am 5'6" and I have brown hair and blue eyes.

I was born January 4th 2014, one week before the Dekons came to earth. I was told all hell broke loose and every government in the world had to join together, despite some of their hatred for one another. We fought and killed, but a lot of us were the ones being killed. In the end, the Dekons had more power and better weapons. We lost and the world was claimed as theirs.

At first it was chaos. Thousands upon thousands were killed in cold blood, but when the Dekons came to a better plan, they took control of our rules, history and humanity. They destroyed everything that meant something to us … almost everything that made us human; our passion for the things we do, our creativity, our own opinions and minds. But, in this world of misery, we still found a way to keep our humanity. We still found a way to grasp onto hope when there was nothing in sight.

I grew up in this world, but even when I knew nothing about our past, I still felt like something was lost. I felt like it wasn’t the way Earth was supposed to be. It confused me greatly, but I still lived the way everyone lived. I went to school and learned about the Dekons, obeyed the rules and stayed quiet most of the time … even though I was screaming inside, wishing I could just fill the empty void inside of me.

Chapter 1

Hania, wait up, I called to one of my best friends. He was a Native American whose family had taken the surname Jones. He had dark brown hair that almost looked black and his eyes were nearly the same color.

He stopped walking and turned around. He was halfway down the school hallway and I was just walking through the doors. He may have had a faster walking pace than me, but I could run faster than him, though I wouldn’t dare run in the halls of the school. It wasn’t because of the possibility of hitting the other kids in the hall. It was about the Dekons. When I was thirteen, I had saw a kid running down the halls and the Dekons snatched him up. I haven’t seen him since. People said he was killed, but the more logical theory was slavery. If a child or teen disobeyed the Dekons, they were sold into slavery, but every now and then they would grab a few normal, obedient kids if they were running low on young slaves. If an adult disobeyed, they were killed or beaten nearly to death. Literally. If a Dekon beat you, you pretty much became a vegetable.

You betrayed me, Hania, I said, staring at him with squinted eyes. You made me walk down the hall … by myself. Hania chuckled at my use of playful drama. Come on, we need to find the others and get to class, I said, tugging on his arm.

We walked down the halls and I saw my other friends Sydney Strange, Skarlet Nelson and Vincent Levine. They were all talking and Sydney looked like she was waiting to speak. Vincent’s girlfriend, Kelly Cooper, had joined the group too.

What’s up? I asked as I joined my friends.

Okay, so I heard that there’s this rebel group called H.O.P.E. and they’re planning to attack the Dekons, Sydney said, waving her hands around for dramatic affect.

Be quiet, I snapped quietly. Sydney looked shocked at my sudden harshness, but I found it extremely necessary at the time.

I’ll talk about what I want to talk about, Zelda. Stop being so rude.

Fear raced through me. How could she have not known about H.O.P.E? They were the Dekons worst enemies. A rebel group composed of people who swore to destroy the Dekon race and restore our planet to peace. The Dekons hated it when we talked about them and if we were caught doing so, we would be punished.

Sydney, I would seriously shut up right now, I said as calmly as I could.

Yeah, I would too, Hania said, glancing around uneasily.

What’s the big deal? I’m just discussing school gossip! You two seriously need to learn how to not be rude, she fussed. With the words ‘school’ and ‘gossip’ being mixed in the same conversation as H.O.P.E, I actually started getting really worried. If kids around school were discussing H.O.P.E, it could put the whole school on red alert.

We’re trying to stop you from being punished. We’re not supposed to talk about… I paused at looked around carefully. H.O.P.E, I finished.

Sydney had a look of horror on her face as she looked around the school. Oh my god … I swear, I didn’t know, She said, sounding on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

Let’s just forget about this and go to class, Hania said quickly. We all nodded in agreement and headed off to our first class.

• • •

The Dekons found the planet, Darvenstar in the twelfth Century. They killed the Darvians and made the planet their own, our teacher, Mrs. Donna explained. She looked up and cleared her throat. Can anyone tell me the names of the planets the Dekons have claimed? A few kids in the classroom raised their hands and she picked one of them to answer. Yes, Erik?

Darvenstar, Ralengahl, Evengah, Edenshaal, Adgallas and Yalahteel, Erik said, sounding prouder than