Chapter 1
"The test results are in. She's completely infertile." The examiner threw the report in my face, her eyes full of disgust. "The base doesn't keep useless people. Throw her into the radiation zone as bait right now."
The women around me looked at me with pity, but I bit down hard on my lip to keep myself from smiling.
The officer shoved me onto the exile truck. "If you get another life, pray you're born with better breeding potential."
The second the door was welded shut, I finally laughed and rested a hand on my slightly rounded belly.
None of them knew. I wasn't just pregnant. I was carrying the only SSS-rank power user in the entire galaxy.
Let them keep acting like breeding machines. My children were going to destroy this wasteland one day.
*****
The exile truck rattled violently across the rough wasteland.
More than a dozen women huddled in the corner, shaking nonstop.
Their faces were pale with fear and despair.
I leaned against the freezing metal wall without saying a word.
A burst of static crackled from the speaker overhead.
Then Ellen Beck's voice came through. "Vivian, how's the scenery in the radiation zone? Rowan picked that grave just for you. Stay there and enjoy the mutated beasts' welcome party."
I raised my head and stared straight at the camera with the blinking red light.
A second later, Rowan Tenny's voice followed. "Vivian, you useless woman who can't even have children. Stop looking at me like that.
"The base wasted so much food and clean water raising you, and you couldn't even carry a low-level C-rank embryo. Keeping you alive is a waste.
"Ellen's different. She's about to give me a B-rank power user. At least you can feed the mutated dogs in the radiation zone and pay back all the food you ate."
The women around me looked at me with even more pity.
In this wasteland, a woman's only value was giving birth.
Women who couldn't reproduce got thrown into the radiation zone as live bait.
I bit my lip again to hide the smile tugging at my mouth.
I rested a hand on my stomach. "Rowan, I hope you won't end up kneeling in front of me and begging me to come back."
Ellen laughed from the other side of the monitor. "She's about to die, and she's still acting tough.
"Rowan, open the bait door already. There's a huge pack of mutated wolves outside.
"I want to watch them tear her apart. I want to see her guts dragged across the sand."
The truck screeched to a stop.
Then a giant opening split open beneath my feet.
An officer shoved me hard from behind. "Get out. In your next life, pray for better breeding potential."
I dropped straight into the radiation zone and slammed hard onto the burning sand.
The truck doors sealed shut immediately.
I brushed the sand off my clothes and slowly stood up.
A dozen mutated wolves with glowing red eyes surrounded me.
Each one was as big as a grown buffalo.
Their rotting fur hung off in patches, exposing dark red muscle underneath.
Rank saliva dripped from their jagged fangs.
Every drop that hit the sand burned tiny holes into the ground.
A small drone hovered overhead.
Ellen's excited voice blasted from its speaker. "Kill her already. Tear her face off. Rip off her arms and legs!"
I stood there without moving.
The biggest alpha wolf let out a roar and lunged straight for my throat.
I still didn't dodge.
Right before its fangs touched my skin, a blazing red light burst from my belly.
An overwhelming pressure exploded outward.
The air around me cracked loudly from the force.
The alpha wolf froze midair.
Its massive body was smashed straight into the ground by an invisible force. It crashed into the sand, leaving behind a huge crater.
The red light swept across the rest of the wolf pack.
Just seconds ago, they had looked vicious enough to tear me apart alive.
Now, every single one of them lay flat on the ground, trembling in fear.
They pressed their heads into the sand so hard that they almost buried themselves.
Soft whining sounds came from their throats as they begged for mercy.