SYNOPSIS

1st grade teacher turned super-soldier struggles to keep her two sisters-in-arms safe during a bloody war. But, the process that created these powerful living weapons is also turning some into psychopathic, schizophrenic killers.
"You think being a genetically enhanced super-soldier is hard? Trying being a 1st grade teacher."
That was a joke Jocelyn use to say to her teammate in training camp. Today, many of those she befriended in camp are dead. Desperate to keep her two sisters-in-arms alive, Jocelyn is willing to throw herself into any challenge. Sadly, that's going to be harder than she thought, because Ophelia is slowing going mad and Patricia is just a normal human who just happens to be an incredible sniper... but still just normal.
How do you defeat foes that can turn the earth herself against you?
How do you defeat foes that can dodge bullets?
How do you defeat foes who've already signed their own death warrants?
With the war between the Northern Alliance and Keynosa leaving both of their lands in ruins, Jocelyn's and her team are finally poised to win and end the war for good. But, a new weapon, one that can instantly stop even a super-soldier with a single shot, has hit the battlefield.
Together, Patricia, Jocelyn and Ophelia are sent on a mission to destroy this new weapon and their enemy is willing to throw all they have to stop them. These living war machines are in a race against two enemies, but which will destroy them first? The lethal new weapon from Keynosa or their own inner demons?

Ophelia stands atop a pile of rubble covered in tall grass, above the once-chaotic battlefield. Below rest the remains of the mangled dead and shattered machines. There would be a nice breeze today if it were not for the billowing, acrid black smoke of war that occasionally blots out the warm spring sun.

I know she hears my approach. She’s just as aware of my footsteps as I am of her breath and calm, steady heartbeat. Her uniform is torn in the back, exposing where she took direct hits from gunfire and a black-worm seed infestation. The bleeding may have stopped hours ago, the wounds completely healed, but her skin still shows remnants of black-worm barbs and the rapid-growing roots that tore into her flesh. The scars are reminiscent of the mountain ranges on those old, plastic topographical maps my students loved to touch. A me that existed two years and a lifetime ago.

The inflamed welts on Ophelia’s back are slowly disappearing, but some scars don’t fade so easily. The haunting memory of her screams linger in my mind. It’s tough to get black-worm roots out once fully implanted. It’s even harder to get them out of a Finger of God.

I reach her, giving her a hip bump as I stand by her side. Slowly, I scan the field replete with dead bodies, burning vehicles, and debris. What draws my attention aren’t the corpses and scorched earth, but the patches of vibrant green foliage, dotted with blue, red, and orange wild flowers, that punctuate the battlefield. The infinitely invasive Keynosian plant life seems to grow anywhere and under any condition. Every Alliance territory taken by the Keynosians bears these beautiful green scars.

This city, Steel Harbor, was at the heart of our nation’s war machine, its occupants armed to the teeth. The Harbor’s citizens pushed aggressively for war early on, convinced that the primitive Keynosian forces would be no match for our advanced Alliance technology.

Steel Harbor was taken within a few days. Now all that’s left of the city’s magnificent factories are a few towering smokestacks blanketed in the gentle pastel colors of Keynosian occupation.

Good story. Has interesting characters.