Tuesday Teaser: BURN OUT by Kristi Helvig

In my YA sci-fi debut BURN OUT, seventeen-year-old Tora Reynolds is one of Earth’s last survivors when the sun burns out way ahead of schedule. While battling devastating conditions including a lack of water and severe sun storms, a group of soldiers arrive at her door. Her elation turns to dread when she realizes that her fellow survivors are even deadlier than the hostile environment. Here is a teaser from BURN OUT that takes place during one of the lethal sun storms:

 

A strong urge yanked me off the ground and I held on with every ounce of strength I had left. I yelled in frustration, and soon realized I wasn’t the only one yelling. A body flew past me. Someone had lost their battle with the storm. I craned my neck and watched as the body was flung higher and higher into the air, like a rag doll. It must have been fifty feet in the air when it got caught in the wind shear. The wind slammed it straight into the cactus grove. Several of the sharp spines drove clear through the body, pinning it halfway up the cactus. It didn’t move and I guessed it wasn’t going to.

Still clinging to the rock, my only thought was a selfish one.

The odds just got a little better.

Kristi Helvig is a Ph.D. clinical psychologist turned sci-fi/fantasy author. She muses about Star Trek, space monkeys, and other assorted topics on her blog and Twitter. Kristi resides in sunny Colorado with her hubby, two kiddos, and behaviorally-challenged dogs. Grab a copy of BURN OUT on Amazon, Indiebound, or Barnes & Noble.