Eden by Keary Taylor: Excerpt and Trailer + Giveaway!

Today is the fourth day of our event! Are you having fun? How is it?

We're going all dystopian today with Keary Taylor and her book, Eden. Eden has been optioned for film already! Now if you haven't heard of what it's all about check the trailer below and I have some excerpt for you!

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ONE

“Good-bye, my friend,” Avian whispered, closing his eyes with silent words of regret that echoed through the rest of us.
We all shut our eyes as Avian pressed the device to Tye’s arm, unable to watch the death of the man who had been our family member and protector since the formation of Eden. The sounds reverberated in my brain, the hum of thousands of volts of electricity racing through Tye’s infected system. The back of my throat tightened as I heard the sharp hiss of the nanites under his skin short out and die. Agonizing seconds later, he took his last gasping breath.
Avian set down the one piece of electronic technology that existed in Eden on the wooden table. I finally opened my eyes again when I heard his suppressed sob. Bill and Graye bowed out of the medical tent silently, unable to deal with Avian’s grief in the moment of their own. I could only stand there and hug my sides, trying to keep myself from falling apart. It felt like everything inside of me had cracked.
My eyes couldn’t keep away from Tye’s body.
His lifeless form lay limp on the table, one of his legs about to slip off. His left arm rested at his side, the skin shredded and torn where he had tried to rip it off. The dirtied, bloodied wires shone from under the torn skin. His head had lolled to one side, staring emptily at me with one still human eye and one metallic cybernetic one.
I wished Avian would stop sobbing. I knew I should try to comfort him, but what do you say to the man who had just had to kill his own cousin? His tears seemed like too much of an invitation to let my own fall. But that wasn’t me; Eve didn’t cry. Ever.
Avian looked up at me from where he stood, braced with his hands on the table next to the body. “Thank you for bringing him back, Eve.”
I bit my lower lip and could only manage one small nod. He held my eyes with his own for a long moment, each of us knowing what the other was thinking. We both knew we would never hear Tye’s hesitant laughter again, never urge him to take a break from his watchful post to eat a few bites. He would never hunt through the woods or go on a raid again. Our beloved protector and brother had been taken away from us forever.
“Let me help you,” I offered as Avian started picking up the body. He graciously accepted, his entire frame trembling as we carried what was left of Tye to the furnace. We couldn’t even bury our fellow men and women in the ground after they were infected, couldn’t visit their graves. Even the destroyed cybernetics were too dangerous to keep around. They were melted down and transported away.
Avian collapsed to the ground as we slid the heavy door closed. Another round of tears consumed him as I lit the fire beneath it. I sank to the ground next to him, hugging my knees as I watched the flames grow in intensity and consume our friend.
I knew I was going to have to speak to Graye again. With how few of us there were left, you couldn’t ignore anyone. Maybe in a few days I would be able to look him in the eye but for now he was nothing but the man who had gotten Tye infected.
All it had taken was one brief touch from the Hunter. Tye had tried ripping his own arm off before the infection could spread any further. The attempt had been useless. Less than an hour later, Tye’s eye started changing. He’d turned on us within three hours and tried to return to the city. It had taken the entire unit to drag him back to Avian. Bill had had to knock him unconscious so he wouldn’t try to kill us all.
If it had taken us any longer, we would have had to shoot him in the forest and leave his infected, untouchable body for the wolves.
“Why don’t you go to bed?” I said quietly as I stared at the flames. “I will take care of things.”
“No,” he said as he shook his head, wiping a few tears away with the back of his hand. “I can handle it.”
“You don’t have to,” I tried to argue, but only half-heartedly. Saying good-bye to our friend was as hard on me as it was everyone else.
“Go home, Eve. You’ve done your job.”
Without another word, I stood and walked out of the tent, never looking back.
Small fires glowed in the darkness, scattered about in the village of tents. No one looked up at me as I walked by on my way to my own. They knew I wasn’t the reason Tye had been killed but they all expected more out of me. I was the one who always got everyone out, no matter how close it had come. Tonight I had finally failed.
I pulled the flap of my tent aside and stepped into the darkness. My worn out cot felt more uncomfortable than ever as I collapsed onto it. I stared up at the blackness above me, my arms resting above my head. The sound of Sarah’s breathing a few feet away let me know she was still awake.
We lay in silence for endless minutes, an unspoken conversation flowing. Tye’s death would be as hard on Sarah as it was on Avian, brother and sister in painful loss.
“How’s Avian?” she finally spoke.
“I helped him with the furnace but he sent me back,” I forced the words out of my mouth. All I wanted to do now was sleep. I just wanted this day to be over.
Sarah was silent again and I knew there would be tears rolling down her flawless, pale cheeks. I understood why she had not come to the farewell. It killed a little piece of us all whenever we attended one. Sarah was too tender, she couldn’t handle watching that happen to anyone, much less her own cousin.
I faintly heard her roll away from me before I fell off the cliff of consciousness into the dark.

Eden by Keary Taylor Trailer:

Eden by Keary Taylor
Add Eden to your Goodreads list

Eve knew the stories of the Fall, of a time before she wandered into the colony of Eden, unable to recall anything but her name. She's seen the aftermath of the technology that infused human DNA with cybernetic matter, able to grow new organs and limbs, how it evolved out of control. The machine took over and the soul vanished. A world quickly losing its humanity isn't just a story to her though. At eighteen, this world is Eve's reality.

In their Fallen world, love feels like a selfish luxury, but not understanding what it is makes it difficult to choose between West, who makes her feel alive but keeps too many secrets, and Avian, who has always been there for her, but is seven years her senior.

The technology wants to spread and it won't stop until there is no new flesh to assimilate. With only two percent of the human population left, mankind is on the brink of extinction. While fighting to keep Eden alive, Eve will discover that being human is about what you will do for those you love, not what your insides may be made of. And even if it gets you killed, love is always what separates them from the Fallen.

Eden is now out in Paperback on Amazon and Barnes and Noble

GIVEAWAY TIME! WIN A COPY OF EDEN BY KEARY TAYLOR!

We are giving away a copy of Eden! But this time it's only open to US residents. I'm sorry international peeps! The rest of the contests are international though, so don't be sad! If you live overseas and you have someone in the US who can receive the book for you, then you may enter.

Answer this question:
If you had to choose: Remain a human being and die young (and frail) or have your DNA altered with cybernetic matter and live (stronger and) longer? Why?

Then fill out the form below. Make sure to leave a comment first before you answer the form or your entries will not count!


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