The Bounty Series - Boxed Set Dystopian Romance: Dystopian Romance Saga

By Third Cousins and Kacey Lu

When the world government realized that the world was about to be damaged beyond repair, they had to take drastic action. A thousand years later and the last of the population are living without technology and under the strict regulations set by The City of Hope council. The problem is that nobody can fight back. Each person is required by law to have a chip inserted into them at birth. This chip can be deactivated at any time and once that happens, your life is deactivated with it. There is a small fraction of people, though, who fight against The City of Hope. They are “old worlders”. They've managed to hide for generations and can’t be tracked, because they were never chipped. They're the reason that Sarah was forced to become a bounty hunter. They're the reason that the most important thing in her life was taken from her. When Sarah finds a huge camp of old worlders, she knows that she only needs one to finish paying of the council. But when she chooses to take a girl with wild hair and leave the rest, she doesn't realize that there’s one man who will stop at nothing to get that girl back. Follow Sarah along her journey to fight for us all!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Speedy Publishing LLC
• Release date: Feb 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781683681038

Third Cousins

Romance is defined as the quality or feeling of mystery, excitement, and remoteness from everyday life. This is epitomizes every book that is published by Third Cousins, an imprint of Speedy Publishing. If you enjoy reading books that hinge on the edge of romantic excitement and avoids the explicit scenes, then every book in our catalog is just for you. Find yourself immersed in danger, excitement and romantic adventures in every turn with brilliant visualizations that allow you to join the characters in the story and moves you from cliff hanger to cliff hanger with an unexpected twist leaving every reader satisfied and thrilled! Grab a copy of any Third Cousins publication and be ensured that every copy is professionally edited and a must have in both your print and eBook libraries. Never leave home without a Third Cousins Book!

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The Bounty Hunter Series

Young Adult Science Fiction

Boxed Set

Dystopian Romance

By: Kacey Lu & Third Cousins

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The Bounty Hunter

The Cost

Book 1

Dystopian Romance

By: Kacey Lu & Third Cousins

A SYNOPSIS...

When the world government realized that the world was about to be damaged beyond repair, they had to take drastic actions. A thousand years later and the last of the population are living without technology and under the strict regulations set by The City of Hope council.

The problem is that nobody can fight back. Each person is required by law to have a chip inserted into them at birth. This chip can be deactivated at any time and once that happens, your life is deactivated with it.

There is a small fraction of people though who fight against The City of Hope. They’ve managed to hide for generations and can’t be tracked, because they were never chipped. They’re the reason that Sarah was forced to become a bounty hunter. They’re the reason that the most important thing in her life was taken from her.

When Sarah finds a huge camp of old worlders, she knows that she only needs one to finish paying of the council, but when she chooses to take a girl with wild hair and leave the rest, she doesn’t realize that there’s one man, who will stop at nothing to get her back.

INSPIRING WORDS

Love consists of this: two solitudes that meet, protect and greet each other.

- Rainer Maria Rilke

CHAPTER 1

Sarah

The air was filled with the sweet smell of corn and sunshine, which was pouring down from an almost perfect blue sky. I could only count a handful of small fluffy white clouds in the entirety of the sky. I walked down the broken paved sidewalk that had been left to decay when the old world fell. It was among the last known remnants of the old world that existed outside of The City of Hope.

The City of Hope looked strange compared to the world outside of its walls. I’d heard stories that thousands of years ago the world had been covered in imposing, tall gray buildings and narrow, sun shy roads, but The City of Hope was the only place you could find them now.

A gentle breeze played through the tall corn that was growing in the fields beside me. It felt good, as it caressed my skin and cooled off the sun’s hot touch. I reached a small row of huts. They were all built of clay and wood and their roofs were thatched. It had been long since outlawed to build houses with bricks and cerement. It was considered too permeant.

I stopped when I reached the first door and I wrapped my knuckles against it briskly. I had a lot of houses to cover and I didn’t want to feel like any of my time was getting wasted. I heard a shuffle of feet on the other side of the door and then it opened. A friendly looking, rosy cheeked woman with fly away brown hair looked at me hesitantly. I knew that she knew who I was. I could tell from the way all of the friendliness she had first shown dropped from her expression. Can I come in? I asked her and then I pushed open the door without waiting for a reply.

Why are you here? The woman demanded to know. I’ve paid my taxes and my crops won’t be ready until the end of the month, she declared.

That’s always good to know, I said with a curt nod. That’s not why I’m here today though, I explained, as I pulled the small leather bag off of my shoulders and opened it. Is your husband here? I would really rather speak to both of you at the same time.

She shook her head. He’s working out in the field.

Well, I’d appreciate it if you could go and call him back, I said to her with a forced smile, because she wasn’t being very helpful.

I’m sure you would, the woman said and she looked at me in a stuffy kind of way. The crops need to be seen to though, if you expect your harvest on time, so you’re just going to have to do without him. Her eyes gleamed, as though she’d just won the argument.

Look, I said to her sternly, because I wasn’t in the mood for people thinking that they had a right to prevent the course of justice. I’ve been told that there is an old world camp settlement close to here. If this is true and you have been helping them in anyway, then the punishment will be deactivation of your chip. I stopped. I could see the small flicker of fear in her eyes, when I mentioned the deactivation process.

I haven’t seen or helped no old worlders, she said to me quickly.

I’m sure that’s true, but I’d like to speak to both you and your husband, so that I can be sure. I gave her a long hard look, until she nodded and headed towards the back door of her hut.

I’ll be back as soon as I can, she said with a flustered face.

Hurry, I said with nod and then I took a seat next to the small hearth, so that I could wait in at least some comfort. My feet ached with relief, as I took my weight off of them and I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of comfort, until the woman came back in.

What is all of this about? Her husband asked gruffly as he walked into the room.

Ah, good, you’re both here, I said and I stood up and walked back over to my bag. I reached inside and wrapped my hand around the cool, metal device, which I would be using to see whether they were telling the truth. So, I’m going to explain to you how I like to do things, I said in a friendly tone. I’m going to ask you both a series of questions, but on an individual basis. You’re both to be in the same room when it happens though. This machine, I paused, as I pulled out the chip reader. Well, it can read all of your bodies vital signs from the chip that you have implanted. So, I’m going to hook you up to make sure you’re not telling any lies. I finished with a warm smile, which wasn’t greatly received.

What happens if it says that we’re lying? The woman asked and she looked worried. Almost a little too worried and I could almost taste the victory that would lead to.

It will deactivate your chip, I said to her simply.

You can’t just kill us, she said and she sounded as though she was about to lose her shit.

Well, if you don’t lie, then it won’t happen, I explained to her, because the choice was hers to make. She nodded. I’m going to ask your husband some questions first, I explained and then I turned on the machine and held it over his arm, so that it could start scanning his chip.

The woman looked like she was on the edge of breaking. I already knew that it would be her that I got the truth from, but I also knew it would be because I’d threatened her husband’s life. I started my questions and waited for her to spill.

CHAPTER 2

Nathan

I walked back into the thick line of bushes that would take me back to camp. The thick vines of thorns torn into my legs, but I ignored the fiery stinging feeling. My back ached with the weight I had been carrying since that morning. I’d been trying to sell scrap metal saucepans to the farming town that was close by, but I’d been mostly unsuccessful in my quest.

My friend Natasha had been right. She’d told me that no one would be willing to buy wares from an old worlder. It was too much of a risk for them. I should have listened to her and then I wouldn’t have wasted my entire day on a fruitless effort.

I found Natasha waiting for me on the border of the camp. Her small little nose was wrinkled in annoyance and her cheeks flared red, when she saw me. I thought I told you not to go? She said, as soon, as I was in earshot of her. I thought I talked you out of it? Why would you do this to us all Nathan? Why would you put us all at risk?

I wasn’t quite sure what to say to her. The camp needed money. If we ran out then we would be reduced to stealing for our food. I did this for the camp, I said to her, even though I knew she would never be able to understand that.

What if you’ve brought a bounty hunter back with you? She demanded to know. Her small hands reached up to her waist and she settled them on her hips. What if one of the farmers decides that they are going to report you, what are we going to do then? Do you have any idea how unsafe our camp is now?

Natasha, if we don’t start making some money soon, then the camp is going to starve to death anyway. You know, as well, as I do that the farmers aren’t happy with The City of Hope. They’re just as persecuted as us. They have nearly everything they work for taken off them. Is it really so crazy to believe that they might be willing to help someone like me out?

Yes, she said bluntly. No one helps out strangers in this world. We look after ourselves and our families. If a bounty hunter does ,catch wind that you’ve been to the town, then I guarantee you that she’ll find out the truth at the first door she knocks at.

Then we better hope that there aren’t any bounty hunters close, I said to her with a warm smile. You worry far too much Natasha; it won’t do your health any good.

Neither will getting caught by a bounty hunter, she said bitterly, as she realized that I wasn’t prepared to continue the conversation much further. I glanced over and she was scowling at me. Do you want to know what you’ve missed while you’ve been gone? She asked me, when the annoyance finally started to subside.

Sure, I said to her with a shrug.

I’ve managed to break into the mainframe at The City of Hope. It looks like they have a huge database there of chips. I’m not sure yet whether it had every single person on record or whether it’s just the surrounding districts, but I am sure that there might be a way to deactivate them all without deactivating the person.

Are you saying that you could kill all the chips? I asked her and I couldn’t help but give her a look of admiration.

I’m saying that it’s starting to look like a possibility, she said with a small nod. I could tell she was trying to hide how proud she was of herself, but I couldn’t understand why. She deserved to be proud of herself. The old worlders had been trying to find a way into the main system at The City of Hope for years.

I think that’s amazing, I said to her. You’re going to be the girl who sets the world free, I joked and gave her a gentle nudge with my shoulder.

And yet, I still won’t be good enough for you, will I? She asked me in a wistful kind of way.

I thought we’d talked about this? I said to her, as a familiar feeling of discomfort returned to me. You know that I’m always going to love you Natasha, but we’ve grown up together. We’re like brother and sister. It would be totally weird for anything to happen between us.

Whatever, Natasha said to me and I could hear an edge of frost in her tone. You better go tell Eric where you’ve been. He’s been asking about you all day.

I nodded. Eric was kind of our camps leader. It wasn’t like he’d been elected into the position or anything. He just had a natural ability to organize people and before him, our camp was anything but organized. Eric, I said, when I pulled back the sheet of leaves, which was acting as a door to the small hut he’d made for himself.

Ah, Nathan, I’ve been looking for you all day, he said with a warm smile, as I walked into the small hut and took a seat on the hard earth that had long since dried out with the hut’s protection from the elements. Where have you been?

I went to the farming town to see whether I could make any money, I told him honestly.

Eric looked concerned, but I could tell that I hadn’t angered him. I know that times are hard for the camp right now Nathan, but that doesn’t mean that we should take unnecessary risks.

I nodded. I just wanted to help, I explained to him.

I know that, Eric said and he sounded supportive. Did Natasha know where you’d gone? He asked me.

She knew that I was planning to go, but she had believed that she’d talked me out of it, I explained to him, so that he wouldn’t find reason to scold her.

That sounds about right, Eric said with a chuckle.

CHAPTER 3

Sarah

I asked him simple questions at first. I asked him what his name was and how old he was. I asked him when he’d married his wife and whether they had any children together. He told me the truth through all of them and his vital signs stayed steady on the machine. I knew though, that I couldn’t build up the comfort for long. There was still a chance that they really hadn’t seen the old worlders and I needed to talk to the people that had. I’d like you to tell me about the old worlder camp that is close by, I told him. "I’ve got reason to believe that people in this town have been communicating and even trading with these