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About Type X by M.A. Phipps
Title: Type X
Author: M.A. Phipps
Series: Project W.A.R. #2
Genre: Young Adult Dystopia
Feared by many. Frightened of few. Torn between humanity and the monster she’s become.
When Wynter surrendered to the DSD two years ago, she thought she was protecting her friends. Lured by the promise of a cure, she hoped she might finally be rid of her devastating disease or, at least, be on the path to controlling it. But Dr. Richter was never interested in curing her.
With a collar around her neck keeping her unstable powers in check, Wynter is transformed into an unstoppable weapon. Compelled to do the State’s bidding, she kills without feeling, remembering nothing of the people she gave herself up to protect. Her only thought is to obey.
When a mission goes wrong, triggering suppressed memories, Wynter finds herself determined to piece together her past. But as she uncovers the truth, she realizes it’s no longer clear who the real enemy is, and with the threat of war looming, she must again make a choice. Can she escape her role in the impending destruction?
Or is she doomed to remain a monster forever?
Excerpt from Type X
© 2021
M.A. Phipps
A grunt resonates in the back of my throat as the toe of a boot kicks my legs out from beneath me. Wincing, I drop to my knees in the dirt.
Through a scalding veil of tears, I stare down at the ground. How could I have allowed us to wind up like this? Why did I just sit by and do nothing?
Rough hands pin my arms behind my back, binding my wrists in thick, metal shackles. I don’t struggle because I already know from experience there’s only one sure-fire way out of this. One way to undo the mistakes—my mistakes—that got us into this mess in the first place.
That nagging voice of doubt returns, holding me still. What if using my power here results in the one outcome I’ve sacrificed so much to avoid? What if it endangers the very lives I allowed myself to become a weapon to protect?
My eyes dart between Ezra and Jenner as they’re both forced down onto their knees beside me. I could do it. I could save them. I could get us all out of here alive. But I also know that my plan could go horribly wrong. One wrong move, that’s all it would take. One split second of hesitation or miscalculation and they would be dead because of me.
Then again, if I do nothing at all, we all die now, on our knees in this field. When I look at it that way, the decision is easy.
I only have one option.
Footsteps plod along the overgrown earth, pacing back and forth behind me. Three sets of tramping boots reverberate in my ears.
One armed guard per hostage, I note.
There were more than that when Nolan left us, but Quinn ordered the others to go on patrol. It shouldn’t surprise me that Nolan left the ex-Enforcer in charge of overseeing our executions. Quinn has hated me from the first moment we met. Of course, he would want the honor of slaying the monster himself.
Considering his motivation for joining PHOENIX, I wonder if his conscience is at all conflicted about gunning down unarmed hostages, or if he sees our deaths as just punishment for the crimes I committed on behalf of the State. He wouldn’t be wrong. I’ve done horrible things to protect the people I love and even worse things out of fear of what might happen if I didn’t. Every step I’ve taken, every move I’ve made, was selfish. I can own up to that.
But Ezra and Jenner… They shouldn’t die, not like this. They’ve done absolutely nothing wrong except love a broken girl who doesn’t deserve to be loved.
They shouldn’t have to pay the price for my sins.
I swallow the rising lump in my throat, asking myself the one looming question I’ve considered at least a thousand times before.
Can the future be changed?
If I had believed that it couldn’t, I wouldn’t have handed myself over to Richter two years ago. If I had thought the future was set in stone, I would’ve spent what little remaining time I had left with the two people in this world who mean everything to me. I wouldn’t have forced myself to forget them. I wouldn’t have allowed myself to inflict so many untold horrors on so many innocent people.
Even now, after everything I’ve been through, I have to believe I can still make things better.
Otherwise, what am I fighting for?
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About M.A. Phipps
M. A. PHIPPS is an American author who resides near the ocean in picturesque Cornwall with her husband, daughter, and their Jack Russell, Milo. A lover of the written word, it has always been her dream to become a published author, and it is her hope to expand into multiple genres of fiction.
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