False Flag (Battle Ground #2)

Ketty Smith is an instructor with the Recruit Training Service, turning sixteen-year-old conscripts into government fighters. She's determined to win the job of lead instructor at Camp Bishop, but the arrival of Bex and her friends brings challenges she's not ready to handle. Running from her own traumatic past, Ketty faces a choice: to make a stand, and expose a government conspiracy, or keep herself safe, and hope she's working for the winning side.

The Battle Ground series is set in a dystopian near-future UK, after Brexit and Scottish independence.

*****

Trapped. Cornered. And all I can feel is the pain. The bullet against my knee.

I crawl between the trees, into the darkness, fighting to get away from the voices on the path.

Survive, Ketty. Live through this. Get out of sight, and away from the guns. Away from the tiny fighters.

I crawl, clenching my teeth against the pain, while the children behind me argue about putting a bullet in my back.

Discipline, determination, backbone. Keep quiet, and keep moving.

Let them go. Protect yourself.

Get through this.