“The First Hunt” is the first book of my Bounty Hunter series. It’s set in northwest Arkansas. Most of book one takes place in the Ozark outback, away from the populated towns or cities.

I’ve been working on revising and polishing the second draft and thought I’d post a little from today’s work. Let me know if it piques your interest.

Chapter Nine
Leaving City Limits

Nothing looked the same on the outskirts anymore. Nothing was the same anymore in town either, but the change was more drastic out here. Lowell and Springdale looked like ghost towns. Where there had once been shopping malls and service stations and restaurants, now there were empty parking lots with weeds and cedar trees growing in the cracks. The buildings were little more than empty shells. Some of them had been partially demolished.

The large department stores were still in use, but they weren’t for public use any longer. DRSS noticed me craning my neck to better see what used to be a Neighborhood Market grocery store.

“They use them for warehousing now,” he said.

“For warehousing what?” I asked.

“Food, commodities. Whatever. All those things that are delivered weekly in the People’s Care Packages,” he said.

“Oh.”

As we passed it, I noticed the guard station at the entrance to the complex.

“So where do all the things come from if there aren’t any more factories here to produce them?” I asked. No one I knew worked in such a facility. I’d never paid much attention to where my food and toilet paper had come from since they started arriving in boxes.