After the Fall

By Janean Worth

AFTER THE FALL is the prequel to THE NARROW GATE.

Centuries after the Fall, the world is a different place than it used to be...

When she suddenly becomes a Stray, Kara is forced to flee the relative safety of GateWide in order to avoid becoming a slave to the cruel Sovereign. Hunted deep into the wilds by the Sovereign's Enforcers, Kara must find a way to survive, relying only on her own scarce knowledge of the decimated wilderness outside the settlement's walls.

Surrounded by mutated creatures in an unfamiliar environment, Kara soon realizes that many of the things that she thought she knew about the wilderness had been based on lies that had been taught to all the people of GateWide.

Why have the people of the settlement been misled and how will she find the truth with only one small clue to guide her?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Janean Worth
• Release date: Apr 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311453679

Janean Worth

I love reading.I love writing.And I love Jesus.That's the story of my life right there.Life is a journey, but like the fictional tale of characters through a beloved story, on this journey through life we must all make choices: right or wrong, good or evil, God or Satan.I hope we all choose wisely.

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AFTER THE FALL

THE NARROW GATE PREQUEL

By Janean Worth

AFTER THE FALL (prequel in THE NARROW GATE SERIES)

Copyright 2015 by Janean Worth and Author’s Art books

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, recording, xerography or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the author, Janean Worth and the publisher, Author’s Art, www.authorsart.com

For my own mother, who is simply the best. Thank you for being the wonderful person that you are.

Chapter One

The door to the cottage bucked wildly against the leather hinges, banging against the wooden frame and showering Kara with dust from the daub and wattle ceiling as she rushed to answer the summons.

Already filthy from her day of cleaning for Mrs. Malmont, the dust falling into her hair from the shabby ceiling didn’t bother her as much as the racket caused by the pounding. After a day of putting up with squalling toddlers and Mrs. Malmont’s constant nagging and screeching, Kara just wanted a few moments of silence and a little something to eat to ease the gnawing hunger in her belly.

Who could be coming to visit at this time of day, anyway? And for what purpose? No one ever came to the tiny tumbledown cottage that she shared with her mother. Kara grumbled her irritation as she removed the sturdy wooden bar that held the door closed, then jerked open the heavy leather-bound door.

Maude, her mother’s good friend, who was forced to work at the Sovereign’s House alongside Kara’s mother, stood on the threshold. From the expression of fear and anguish upon Maude’s face, Kara knew immediately that something terrible must have happened at the House.

What is it, Maude? Kara tried to control the tremor in her voice, her petty irritation at the interruption to her afternoon solitude now gone, replaced by an anxious fear that clawed up the inside of her throat and threatened to choke her with its intensity. Where is my mother?

Maude’s face twisted with emotion at the question, her red-rimmed eyes filled with tears and her mouth flapped opened and closed several times as if she were trying to speak. The elderly lady knotted her chapped hands into the stained apron that she wore over her threadbare dress, as if the action could wring her own words from her mouth.

Kara’s anxiety turned to terror as she watched Maude trying to form words. Seeing the state that Maude was in, she almost didn’t want the woman to find her voice and blurt out the words that Kara was sure were coming. In that second, Kara wanted desperately not to know what Maude was there to tell her.

After scrubbing her eyes with the back of one work-worn hand, Maude swallowed hard and found her voice.

I’m sorry, child, but your mother is dead.

A grief-stricken scream welled up within Kara, but she would not let it pass her lips. Anguish filled her chest until she though that her heart might explode from the pain of it, but she stood silently before Maude and waited for the rest. Somehow, she knew there was more bad news coming.

She was, Maude’s voice quivered and she gulped again, as if holding back sickness. "She was mauled and killed by a rampaging Tracken at the House."

A Tracken! Kara had never seen one of the beasts, but the creatures that the Sovereign forcibly kept as pets and companions to the Enforcer patrols were supposed to be fearsome beasts. The animals were known for their savagery and for their skill at tracking prey.

Kara swallowed hard, trying to keep another cry behind her teeth. The thought of her beautiful, gentle mother being ripped apart by such a monster and killed in that manner was too much to bear. She forced the imagery from her mind, fearing that she would loose all self-control and dissolve into a wailing mess in front of her mother’s friend.

Maude glanced over her shoulder at the narrow empty street that ran in front of the run down cottage, looking left and right as if searching for someone. Fear sharpened the older woman’s features then, and she leaned closer, whispering now, though there was no one around to hear.

Your mother was a friend, Kara, you know that. That’s why I snuck out of the House to warn you before the Enforcers get here. They be coming to get you now that you’re a Stray, Kara, the woman’s voice was sharp with fear. They be coming, and I came to warn you first. You need to run, child.

Kara shook her head mutely, her mind unwilling to take in this extra burden on top of the knowledge that her mother was now dead. She couldn’t fathom being a Stray, even though her newly orphaned status made her one. She couldn’t run, even though