The Battle Begins (23 page)

Authors: Devon Hughes

BOOK: The Battle Begins

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EPILOGUE

Your paws pound the cracked pavement. With each breath, you pull short sips of recycled air into your lungs. Your shoulder muscles keep rhythm as your legs shoot out in front of you. Again. Again. Faster. Don't stop.

Around you, others echo your progress. Paws, claws, hooves.

No footsteps, though: no men. Not yet.

There is no alpha in this pack. You each take a turn to follow and to lead. You draft behind your friend when you are tired. You stop to help one another up when you fall. And when all seems lost, you work together to find the path again. In this pack, all are equal, all are family. All are free.

Together, you run through an unfamiliar new city. Up above, you know the mirrored blocks the men made are rising high into the clouds, but
down here, ceiling replaces sky, and light panels replace sun. Otherwise, this underground city is not much different from where you began. You still recognize the sound of a bone machine, and the smell of a rotten river, but you are not afraid. You can read people's signs and pack lines alike. You know how to find food and where to find shelter in alleyways. You know how to stay alive.

And, with your collar off, you are more alive than you've ever been. You don't know what risks lie ahead or what troubles you may face. You don't know the secrets of the green forest, but you don't care. For now, what you know is freedom.

Your tail wags behind you. Your tongue flops against your smiling jaws, trailing spit in the wind. You inhale the rank stench of garbage in the street, and delight in the scratchy film of pollution at the back of your throat. You love all of it, because it cannot be contained or put in a cage.

You pause to lift up your voice in song, to call to your brothers, wherever they are, and tell them your story. Once, you thought you'd come home to them, but now you know you can never go back. You know something else is out there, a
place without the hard street lines or the men's hard rules, a place with a lot more green.

Together, you and your team push forward, a blur of feathers and horns, hopes and fears. You keep searching for the route that will lead you to the other side of the river, to the wild forest that you remember from dreams, sprawling and untamed.

Only this time, it won't be a dream. Around the next corner, or the next, you know you'll see it, plain as the fur on your faces.

It's there.

It's real.

It's waiting for you.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

F
OR STARTERS, THANK YOU, EVERYONE AT
K
ATHERINE
Tegen Books, for all of your hard work carrying this project from pitch to finished book. I especially want to thank my talented editors, Claudia Gabel, from whose brain Castor flew, winged and wonderful, and Melissa Miller, who made him soar. I owe you both so much for your sustained faith, which amazes me still. Your grace and good humor saved this book, and likely my writing career with it. And Alex Arnold, who I'm sure worked some Pookie-esque behind-the-scenes magic, know that I appreciate it! I couldn't ask for a better publishing team.

To “Ms. Soup,” without whom I never would've started writing in the first place, and Andrea Spooner, without whom I never would've come back to it, I owe a whole lot.

To James Patterson, a living legend: thanks for giving a newbie like me a shot. You taught me so much about
storytelling and work ethic, and I'll be forever grateful. Still working on cutting out some of those poetic flourishes, but hey, it's a process!

Siobhan, Kate, and Connie, thank you for your endless encouragement and advocacy. You're the women I aspire to be.

Thanks to my parents and sisters for the steady stream of love, particularly in the form of messages on “group channel” that make me laugh until my stomach aches.

Many thanks to my bluetick pup, the Hellhound, Bertie. With bounding excitement, aggressive affection, a cocked head or a whipping tail, raised hackles or yogic stretches, and various yips, barks, snarls, and howls, you helped me bring Castor and his pack to life. You've also been a champion snuggler during all those hours I've spent at the computer, trying to get this story just right. How about I forgive the shredded window screens and gutted couch, and we'll call it even?

And finally, most of all, to my husband, Adlai: thank you for putting up with this writing life. For making me another coffee and cooking me another meal during all those late nights and early mornings. For taking the dog out or going to the event alone when I was on a roll and
needed to write just one more paragraph. For the bottles of cheap bubbly to mark each milestone, no matter how small. For every expression of support and declaration of love. Without you, I'd never make it to the last page.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Photo by Eric Acquaye

DEVON HUGHES
is the author of the Unnaturals series. She has always been inspired by the frontiers of nature and science and enjoys imagining how our ever-changing relationship with animals will look in the future. Like some of her characters, Devon lives in a city next to a river, with a view of distant trees that always seem to beckon her to another adventure. Though Devon did grow up with a beloved pet named Pookie, she is actually terrified of spiders.

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CREDITS

Cover design by Tom Forget

COPYRIGHT

Katherine Tegen Books is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

UNNATURALS: THE BATTLE BEGINS
. Text copyright Â© 2015 by HarperCollins Publishers. Cover and interior artwork Â© 2014 by Owen Richardson. 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 hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.harpercollinschildrens.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hughes, Devon.

Â Â The battle begins / Devon Hughes. âFirst edition.

Â Â Â Â pages cm

Â Â Summary: “When Castor the street dog is captured, he learns there is a nefarious underground fighting ring in Lion's Head where animals are injected with DNA-changing serums, transformed into dangerous hybrids, and forced to battle one another to survive”âProvided by publisher.

Â Â ISBN 978-0-06-225754-3 (hardcover)

Â Â EPub Edition Â© September 2015 ISBN 9780062257567

Â Â [1. DogsâFiction. 2. Genetic engineeringâFiction. 3. DogfightingâFiction. 4. Science fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.1.H82Bat 2015	Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2014041257
[Fic]âdc23	Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â CIP
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15 16 17 18 19 CG/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1