by N.W. Harris
Proving to be quite the amateur doctor, Tracy recruited some of the healthier people to treat the wounded with the medical supplies they scavenged. She even found antibiotics and had those with deep cuts and gunshot wounds, including Shane, take them to prevent infection. Maurice and Steve acquired a couple of large military trucks in which everyone could ride. After gathering all the weapons they could carry, they drove away from Atlanta.
They visited every grocery and convenient store they saw along the way and loaded up on canned goods and other nonperishable supplies. Some of the stores had already been picked over, and they kept watch for other groups of kids roaming around north Georgia, but they didn’t see any. Shane knew that when the grocery store food ran out, he’d need a way to provide for the kids for whom he and his friends were responsible, so he decided they should try to find a farm that could supply them with everything they needed.
That night they stopped in a rural area forty miles northeast of Leeville on a large farm. Seeing the cattle and other animals made Shane nervous, but they took no interest in him and his friends. The civil war-era mansion had plenty of room to sleep everyone and a generator out back got the power going. They all took showers and had a large meal with hardly a word spoken the entire time. Shane passed out on an old, musty couch in a hallway near the front door of the home, a half-eaten plate of food on his chest.
“Good morning,” a woman’s voice roused him.
Shane sat up, groping for his gun. Unable to find it, he raised his hands and blinked his eyes at the sun blazing through the open door. An adult—a woman in a black suit—stood in the doorway.
“What?” he bumbled. “How…?”
“Some of us survived,” she explained.
The thumping of a helicopter wound down outside, and another one flew overhead.
“You guys are safe now,” the woman said. She looked to be about thirty, a slender brunette with intelligence glistening in her eyes. “But you’ll have to come with us.”
The End—The Last Orphans Series Book I
As I think about who to thank for helping me in my journey as a writer and ultimately in the creation of this book, dozens of faces and names come to mind. Writing, and art in general, draws influence from life, and in life I’ve encountered so much inspiration each day. I am inspired by my fellow writers, my friends, my family, and even random strangers who spark my creativity just by being who they are. So, writing acknowledgements is a daunting task to say the least. An incomplete list of those who deserve recognition will have to do.
I want to thank my wife Amanda, who reads everything I write and cheers me on through the joys and tribulations of being a writer. Thanks to Emily and Logan, my beautiful children, who constantly remind me that we are born with imagination abound, that we just have to remember to listen to our inner child and creativity will come naturally.
Thanks to the amazing Clean Teen Publishing team. From the first interaction I had with you, I knew I was dealing with a rising star in the publishing industry. Thanks Dyan Brown, Rebecca Gober, Marya Heiman, and Courtney Nuckels. From cover to cover, you helped me polish The Last Orphans and make it into the book it is today. And thanks to Cynthia Shepp, my editor, who found a home for orphaned commas, ironed out confusing sentences, and was always there, tirelessly helping with edits to the last detail.
Thanks to Jennifer Anne Davis, my writing partner from the beginning and my friend of many years. I am happy to follow in your footsteps and learn from your persistence and unwillingness to settle for anything short of success. Thanks to author Mary E. Pearson for believing in me and encouraging me to keep writing. And thank you Celso, Andy, and coffee shop Kevin, those early readers who had the patience to see past the crudeness of my rough drafts and offered enthusiastic encouragement. Also thanks to the beta readers at Clean Teen Publishing and Melanie Newton and the Clean Teen Publishing Street Team for reading and promoting my book—you are integral to the success of all CTP writers.
Born at the end of the Vietnam War and raised on a horse farm near small town north Georgia, N.W. Harris’s imagination evolved under the swaying pines surrounding his family’s log home. On summer days that were too hot, winter days that were too cold, and every night into the wee morning hours, he read books.
N.W. Harris published his first novel—Joshua’s Tree—in 2013. It was no wonder, with his wild imagination and passion for all things word related, that N.W. Harris was named a quarter finalist in Amazon’s Break Through Novel Award Contest. In early 2014, N.W. Harris joined the ranks with Clean Teen Publishing when they signed his new young adult apocalyptic adventure series—The Last Orphans.
In addition to writing, N.W. Harris has been a submarine sailor, corpsman, and business owner. His studies have included biology, anthropology, and medicine at UCSB and SUNY Buffalo. He is an active member of SCBWI and lives in sunny southern California with his beautiful wife and two perfect children. He writes like he reads, constantly.
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