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    An Unexpected Life
    An Unexpected Life
    An Unexpected Life
    Ebook289 pages4 hours

    An Unexpected Life

    By M.E. Clayton

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    About this ebook

    What happens when the world leaders forget about peace?

    Unfortunately, a world war no one was prepared for.

    Raine
    At only sixteen-years-old, Raine Tyler had been thrust into a world war so vicious that it had destroyed everything she knew. Three years into the war, she’d lost her family and had been forced to set out on her own. Hollow and afraid, she’d had no choice but to create a new life for herself, and it hadn’t included any thoughts of a happily ever after.

    Ten years later, Raine’s life is better than most, but there’s no room for error in this new world of hers. Everything runs like clockwork, and loyalty is the foundation of her success. With a new family, a new way of life, and a new sense of purpose, Raine is tougher than everyone around her. She has to be with the way everyone depends on her. The last thing Raine needs is a man messing it all up.

    Kade
    At only twenty-years old, Kade Montgomery had seen enough in life to know that humanity lacked compassion when it needed it most. Surviving a world war hadn’t been easy, especially when his mother, sister, and brother hadn’t been so lucky. With only his father and cousin to walk with him during those dark times, Kade had known that his future looked bleak, but at least he was alive.

    Ten years later, Kane’s life isn’t the best it can be, but it’s not the worst, either. With his father leading the way, he’s been biding his time until he can find something better. Not wanting to surrender to a new government, the tides are turning, and Kade knows he can’t go on like he has been. However, the last thing he expected was for that changing tide to be a woman he couldn’t believe existed.

    When survival meets betrayal...
    With the protective instincts of a mama bear, Raine doesn’t just accept anyone into the life around her. Tasks with the responsibility of everyone’s safety and wellbeing, she’s wary when Kade Montgomery makes his way to her compound. Still, she can’t very well ignore that the man is injured.

    With an injury that can’t be ignored, Kade is helped in a way he could never have imagined. Taken to a compound that is completely self-sustaining, he’s blown away by the intelligence and drive it must have taken for such a thing to come to be. He’s fascinated by Raine Tyler the second he meets her.

    Raine doesn't trust Kade, and he’s very aware that she shouldn’t. However, there’s no denying their attraction to one another, and they eventually stop fighting it. So, will they'll bring to light a new way of life, or will they destroy the life they already know and everyone around them.

    NOTE: This book contains adult language, adult situations, explicit sexual encounters, and violence. If sensitive to any of the aforementioned issues, please do not purchase.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherM.E. Clayton
    Release dateJun 1, 2019
    ISBN9780463762769
    An Unexpected Life
    Author

    M.E. Clayton

    M.E. Clayton works fulltime and writes as a hobby only. She is also an avid reader and Pinterest addict. When she's not working, reading, writing, or on Pinterest, she is spending time with her family and friends, or her dog, Boy, or her cat, Seatbelt. She lives in California with her husband and enjoys doing nothing but reading. Seriously. She does nothing but read. However, that's how she likes it.

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    • 5/5
      Awesome characters, intense situations, great plot. M EClayton is fast becoming one of my favourite authors?

    Book preview

    An Unexpected Life - M.E. Clayton

    Just a couple of things before I let you go and get your read on. While I am doing my best to work with better editing and proofreading software, all my books are solo, independent works. I write my books, proofread my books, edit my books, create the covers, etc. I have one beta who gives me feedback on my stories, but other than that, all my books are independent projects.

    That being said, I apologize, in advance, for the typos, grammar inconsistencies, or any other mistakes I may make. Since writing is strictly a hobby for me, I haven’t looked into commitments in regard to publishers, editors, etc. My hope is that my stories are enjoyable enough that a few mistakes, here and there, can be overlooked. However, if you’re a stickler for grammar, my books are probably not for you.

    Also, I am an avid reader-I mean an AVID reader. I love to read above any other hobby. However, the only downside to my reading obsession is when I fall in love with a series, but I have to wait for the additional books to come out. So, because I feel that disappointment down to my soul, when I started publishing my works, I vowed to publish all books in my series all at once. No waiting here…LOL. Now, the exception to that will be if enough readers request additional stories based off the standalone, such as in Facing the Enemy. At that point, if I decide to move forward with a requested series, I will make sure all additional books are available all at once. As much as this is a hobby for me, I am writing these books for all of you, as well as myself.

    Thank you, for everything!

    Contact Me

    I really appreciate you reading my book and I would love to hear from you! Now, unfortunately, because I do have a full-time job and one part-time job, plus a family that I love spending time with, I’m not very active on social media. However, for the sites I do participate in, here are my social media coordinates:

    Website

    News & Updates

    Author Pages

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    Dedication

    For my mother, my sister, my daughter, and granddaughter –

    If anyone could be a Raine, it’s the women in our family. I’m so proud of you all.

    Playlist

    Heaven – Julia Michaels

    Believer – Imagine Dragons

    Centuries – Fall Out Boy

    At The Beginning – Richard Marx

    I’m Bad At Love – Maddy Benson

    The Unforgiven – Metallica

    Wasting My Time – Default

    Let Me Go – 3 Doors Down

    Right Here Waiting – Staind

    Find You – Zedd

    Pain – Three Days Grace

    Pray For Me – The Weeknd

    Light On – David Cook

    Rooms On Fire – Stevie Nicks

    The Catalyst – Linkin

    Survivor – Destiny’s Child

    Dayz Of Our Lives – Bone, Thugs & Harmony

    Piano In The Dark – Brenda Russell

    Uprising - Muse

    Wild One – Faith Hill

    Prologue

    I never imagined that my life would end like this.

    I mean, while I’d thought about it often, I never thought that it would all come down to one moment of weakness; one moment of weakness that would set off a chain of events, then multiple other moments of weakness that would lead me to be betrayed and sacrificed.

    Now, don’t get me wrong, because I was taking full responsibility for the situation that I was currently in. See, the problem with me was that I’d been through a lot during my less-than-stellar life span. I’d seen a lot, and when you’d seen as much as I’d had, the experience could create a false sense of security.

    I mean, if you got shot during a drive-by shooting but survived…well, then you might actually convince yourself that you were bulletproof now, causing you to fear nothing.

    I was only twenty-eight-years-old, but I’d seen a world war.

    I’d seen the destruction of humanity.

    I’d seen families torn apart and lives lost.

    I’d even had to experience the loss of my own family.

    My parents and sister had been just three of the hundreds of millions of people that’d been lost. To the world, they’d been just three more casualties of war. However, to me, they’d been my entire world.

    I had experienced things that I never would have imagined that I could experience and still come out of it alive.

    I had survived.

    Along with the remaining one million other people left in the world, I had survived.

    The world had gone from over seven billion people on the planet to roughly one million, and out of that one million, I’d been lucky enough to meet the one person that would lead me to my demise.

    It was situations like this one that almost forced you to believe in fate, destiny, or whatever. I mean, with the population so scarce, what were the odds that I’d meet the one person that would…

    I mean, hell, what were the odds?

    So, if war hadn’t killed me, if hunger hadn’t ended me, if disease hadn’t consumed me, then I must have been meant for this.

    My death…dying this way…it was going to have to mean something, right?

    Every decision that I had decided, every choice that I had chosen…they were all on me. I’d had no undo influences, no peer pressure, no uncertainty, no coddling, or confusion.

    I’d seen something-or rather, someone-that I’d wanted and had surrendered without a fight.

    He hadn’t forced me.

    He hadn’t bribed me.

    He hadn’t encouraged me.

    He’d done nothing, other than be himself.

    I was the one that had decided to ignore the signs.

    I was the one that had chosen to believe the lies.

    I was the one that had decided to pretend that it was all something more.

    I was the one that had chosen him.

    Over everything else, I. Had. Chosen. Him.

    I let out a humorless laugh.

    I had chosen ignorance, and now I would die for my stupidity.

    However, it was fine.

    I wasn’t going to beg or plead for a reprieve that I knew wouldn’t come.

    I wasn’t going to cry…well, maybe I would. I wasn’t sure the exact method of torture that I might have to endure before I met my maker, so I might cry.

    However, I wouldn’t beg.

    If I was going to die, then I was going to die the same way that I’d been living for the past ten years.

    I was going to fight tooth and nail.

    Of course, I kept that little detail to myself.

    Instead, I stood in the cold, darkened room, staring down the most gorgeous man that I’d ever seen. He was looking back at me with eyes so cold that the grey in them looked like ice. Every moment that we’d ever shared was now just a forgotten experience, a glaringly obvious mistake.

    I lifted my chin, ignoring everyone else in the room, and said, Well, if you ask me, the world could do with two less people in it.

    Chapter 1

    Raine – (2058)~

    It wasn’t often that I let despair rule my emotions, but today had been extra exceptional.

    The war had ended over eight years ago, so you would think that I’d be used to the desolate landscape that covered the earth, but today, everything looked a little more deserted, a little more lifeless.

    A little more hopeless.

    Twelve years ago, the planet had erupted in a world war that had made the previous two seem like marital spats. When egos and money had finally collided and war had broken out, it had been like nothing I had ever envisioned.

    Of course, my only source of comparison had been what I’d been taught in school or whatever snippets that I’d caught on television from foreign countries at odds within themselves. However, I had lived in America. I had been sheltered from having to witness actual war.

    The United States of America had been safe ground; impenetrable. America had been the country that every other country had feared. We hadn’t been at risk; we’d been bulletproofed.

    Here’s the thing though…

    Over time, when you had too many men bumping dicks over who was the most powerful, who had the most money, and whose wife was the prettiest…well, a fight was bound to break out eventually, and one had.

    I’d been only sixteen-years-old when all the nations in the world had decided that their wife was the prettiest, and they were going to prove it.

    I was never going to forget the paralyzing shock of the American Broadcast Station announcing that The United States of America was at war. I could never forget how my father had locked us in the house, then had left in his truck. I could remember being so confused as to why my father would abandon us. How was my mother-with two teenage daughters-going to survive a war?

    However, I could still remember the relief that I had basked in and how safe I had felt when my dad had returned with his truck full of water, canned goods, medical supplies, and so many other necessities. He had packed his truck so full that the bed had dragged.

    While most of the planet had been trying to figure out if it was a joke or not, my father had been out gathering everything that he could to ensure that we’d be okay. He had made trip, after trip, after trip, and had brought home gas cans filled with gasoline, more water, more medical supplies, chargers, two-way radios, etc.

    We had lived in Northern California where basements hadn’t really been a common thing. However, by the grace of God, the house that my parents had purchased years ago had come with one, so we had stockpiled the basement with everything that my father had brought home.

    It hadn’t been until he had come home with things that you couldn’t just buy over the counter that I knew things had been getting rough out in the streets. After the initial first day when he had brought home stuff for survival, the next day he had started coming home with stuff for protection.

    He had come back with guns and ammunition. He had come back with pharmaceuticals. He had come home with knives, and he had even brought home a couple of hunting bear claw traps.

    Still, it hadn’t been until he had come home with library books that I had started to really feel the panic of our situation set in. While everyone else had been doing the same thing my father had been doing, my father had taken things a step further. He had gone to the public library and had brought home books on agriculture, science, mechanics, medicine, poisons, plant life, etc. He had even brought home How-To books on sewing and cooking.

    Incredibly, it had been the books that had made it all too real in my head. He’d been bringing home books on how to live again; on how to start a brand-new life.

    Anywhere.

    Normally, I didn’t let myself drown in the memories of my family, but today felt…distinctly different; emotional.

    Looking around, even though I was only a mile or so away from the waterfall, I had decided to sit down and rest a bit. I hadn’t wanted my negative energy returning home with me.

    I scanned the scenery, and there were still these rare moments when the difference between now and when I had been a naïve teenager shook me.

    The war had lasted four years because while everyone had wanted to flex their muscles, no one had really wanted to actually end all of civilization. I mean, what good was it to win a war and have ultimate power if everyone that you’d have power over was dead?

    Incredibly, no nuclear weapons had been fired during that entire four-yearlong hell. Narcissists weren’t big on suicide.

    Nope.

    They just sent in casualty, after casualty, after casualty to bring home the trophy for the prettiest wife.

    Everything had also stopped.

    School had no longer been necessary.

    Work had no longer been required.

    Money had ceased to have value.

    My father and mother had turned into killers and not against the enemy, sadly. The enemy had been fought off by our military, and God bless those men and women because they had gone out and had done their jobs. They had fought for their country with their every breath.

    No. My father and mother had been forced to kill looters and scavengers that had threatened to steal our food, water…basically threatening to take over our home.

    The most horrific serial killer was no match for a person desperate for survival.

    Within a year after the war had started, people had been calling on all their survival instincts, and our home had no longer looked like a home; it had become a goddamn fortress.

    Also, within those two years, my father hadn’t been the only warrior in our house.

    We had read all those library books cover-to-cover, and we had learned how to cook what we had to last. We had learned how to plant food. We had learned how to make home repairs. We had learned everything that my father had thought to teach us, including how to shoot and clean a gun.

    It hadn’t been until the third year that the body count had started polluting the skies. Funerals had become a thing of the past, and the government had started throwing matches on the piles of corpses and calling it a day.

    I let out a sigh. My body so desperately wanted to lay back and look up at the sky, but I feared that if I gave into the urge, I’d never get back up again.

    I might just lay here and give up.

    I never would though. Give up, that is.

    I’d been the only person spared the night that intruders had come into our house and had slaughtered my family. I’d been the only one left alive, and I wouldn’t insult my family’s memory by taking my life for granted now.

    Whereas my father had been a university professor, and my mother had been a legal aide, they had become a military force of two. They’d been succeeding where many had been failing and word had gotten around. Somehow, someone had found out that we’d been growing our own food and making our water last. They had found out and had come to our house to steal it all for themselves.

    Except that they hadn’t.

    My father and sister had already been dead when my mother had hidden me in the hidey-hole that my father had carved out for situations just like that one. I had hidden in there for two days before I’d found the courage to come out and face the reality of my situation; the reality that my family was dead, and that I was all alone.

    I had mourned them for one day, and then I had packed up whatever I needed to ensure my survival, then had left the only home that I’d ever known.

    My father had disabled his truck whenever it hadn’t been in use to prevent anyone from stealing it. Nevertheless, because he had taught us everything that he’d ever known, I’d been able to repair his simple sabotages and use the truck to flee my home in search of somewhere safe.

    I had driven for days before I had accidentally come across the most beautiful waterfall that I’d ever seen, located somewhere in the state of Wyoming. I could remember how the only reason that I’d known that I was in Wyoming was because of this little diner sign that had stood strong and proud against the ravages of war.

    The diner and all the surrounding area had been a decrepit disaster, but that little sign…that little sign had sustained life and had been still standing. It had been that little sign that had me turning left and driving in the direction behind it. I had driven and drove until I had found the most stunning waterfall I’d ever seen, creating an illusion of beauty and peace.

    I had stopped the truck, gotten out, then walking to the edge of the cliffs, I had observed the magnificence of the water, thinking how magnificent it would be to just jump in and spend my final minutes of life basking in the waterfall’s crashing waters.

    I had spent an hour enrapt with the waterfall’s surroundings, and when I’d finally reached the point where I was going to either pick up the pieces and get on with my life or jump into the beauty and give myself over to fate, I had spotted a twinkling light in the distance, right behind the rush of water.

    So, instead of driving off or jumping into the water below, I had climbed my way over the rocks, cliffs, and rugged terrain, then had discovered that the shiny glint dancing off the sun had actually come from behind the waterfall.

    It’d been a no-brainer.

    I’d had nowhere to go, no one that would miss me, or any kind of plan on what to do with my life. So, I had held my breath, then had made my way through the bruising rain of water until I found myself standing on a rock so flat that I hadn’t been positive it had been created by nature. I had turned around, and when I couldn’t see past the rushing waves of water coming down, it had been then that I had realized that I could be completely hidden away from the world behind this waterfall.

    I had turned my back on the falling water, then had made my way through the cave inlet, not thinking about my truck or any of the contents in it. I had made my way through the caved tunnel until I had reached the end, about five minutes later.

    When I had stepped out of the tunnel, I’d found myself standing before wilderness so stunning that I had felt perfectly content with dying where I stood.

    I hadn’t though.

    Instead, I had taken everything that my father had taught me and had used that knowledge to chart a course around the waterfall until I’d been standing next to my truck again.

    The terrain had been rugged and untamed, and I’d known that there was no way that I’d be able to get my truck up and around the cliffs. Armed with that knowledge, I had opted to find the most secluded, hidden, safest area where I could set up house in my truck until I could find a way to get it around the waterfall.

    I had ended up spending the next six months working day and night to make the land beyond the waterfall tunnel habitable. After about a year, I had finally been able to create a patchy dirt road that would make way for my truck.

    That first year had been spent with countless drives to the nearest unauthorized towns and cities, scrounging up everything that I could, so that I wouldn’t run out of supplies. I’d had many close calls and had gotten into many fights, defending what was mine during that time in my life.

    The truth of the matter was that it had been a miracle that I had survived that first year at all, what with being nineteen-years-old and all alone.

    Hell, I had counted every day since the war as a miracle.

    Now, ten years later, I had land that had been cultivated to produce food, shelter made to sustain most weather conditions, clothes, heat, and most every basic thing that a person needed in order to survive. Only I shared it all with fifteen other people now.

    Once the war had come to an end, and people had started picking up the pieces of civilization, the streets had become safer, and I had met certain people along the way. One by one, they had made their way back to my secret hideaway to live with me in peace and security.

    Since I was the one who possessed all the knowledge, no one had ever challenged me for control, and no one ever questioned our way of life. We farmed, we built,

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