In the After

miles is nothing. I can be there by tomorrow morning.”
    “She’s tough and smart,” Gareth tells Kay, giving me a wink. “She’ll be fine.”
    “We’ve got to get back,” Kay says. “We would take you closer, but we’re working under tight time restraints. They’ll check to see how many miles we traveled.” Gareth waves good-bye and heads back into the hover-copter. Kay stands on the same spot, watching me.
    “Amy, one more thing. The director visited me when you were first sent to the Ward. She told me what floor you were on. Your mother knows the problem I have with authority. She knows I’m fond of you.”
    “You think she planned on you helping me?” I ask.
    Kay nods. “I do.”
    The tears come again as I remember my mother’s face when she first discovered I was alive. Then I shake the thought from my head. I don’t have time for contemplation. Right now, I have to focus on staying alive. I switch on the sonic emitter.
    I watch the hover-copter take to the air and disappear in the distance. Quickly I change into my synth-suit and strap on my pack. It’s a little heavy, but I’m fit and I know I’ll need the extra supplies.
    I stretch my legs and listen. No Floraes yet. I set out at a walk, hoping that the emitter will shield me until I reach Fort Black. If not, I have my gun and my knives, though I am loath to kill Them, knowing They are people. Were people. But if it’s my life or theirs, I won’t hesitate.
    I start to run, slowly at first and then faster and faster. I quietly disappear into the After.

Credits
    Cover art © 2013 by Sammy Yuen
    Cover design by Sammy Yuen

Copyright
    HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
    IN THE AFTER. Copyright © 2013 by Demitria Lunetta. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
    www.epicreads.com
    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
    In the After / Demitria Lunetta. — 1st ed.
    p.     cm.
    Summary: In a post-apocalyptic world where nothing is as it seems, seventeen-year-old Amy and Baby, a child she found while scavenging, struggle to survive while vicious, predatory creatures from another planet roam the Earth.
    ISBN 978-0-06-210545-5
    EPub Edition April 2013 ISBN 9780062105479
    [1. Survival—Fiction. 2. Monsters—Fiction. 3. Science fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.L9791155In   2013
2012038127
[Fic]—dc23
CIP
 
AC
    13 14 15 16 17 CG/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

    FIRST EDITION

About the Publisher
    Australia
    HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
    Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
    Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
    http://www.harpercollins.com.au
    Canada
    HarperCollins Canada
    2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
    Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
    http://www.harpercollins.ca
    New Zealand
    HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
    P.O. Box 1
    Auckland, New Zealand
    http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
    United Kingdom
    HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
    77-85 Fulham Palace Road
    London, W6 8JB, UK
    http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
    United States
    HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
    10 East 53rd Street
    New York, NY 10022
    http://www.harpercollins.com