Escape from Dystopia - Finding Hope in a Very Dark World is an allegorical trilogy composed of Book 1: The Journey Begins, Book 2: Unraveling the Mystery, and Book 3: The Road Less Traveled Leads Home.

This trilogy was written to help young people find a hope that they can depend on as they transition through life during incredibly challenging times. This hope is designed to link with active faith, resulting in genuine love – for themselves, for God, and for others.

Book 1: The Journey Begins provides the dystopian context for this novelette and introduces the main character, Tim, along with the other seven teens who are seeking freedom. It also introduces the guard, Sergeant Drexel and his wife, Alicia. Two grinders, Alpha 101 and Omega 101 are also introduced. The Grinders have implanted AI chips which they acquired during their early teen years. The teens are bound together and bonded as a cobbled family with a common quest of finding their way out of their dystopian society so they can live a long, fulfilling, and free life. Their other alternatives were to be terminated by their 20th birthday, become Grinders with AI chips, or go “all in” to find the rumored key to break them free from a life of slavery. They live in caves and seek out the answers for their quest by exploring other caves. After disheartening results, they begin to make progress as Tim discovers some clues that will put them on the right path to freedom.

Book 2: Unraveling the Mystery begins where Book 1: The Journey Begins ends. Tim returns to tell the group what he has discovered. The group discovers their hideout has been discovered, and they are forced to flee. They find refuge in another cave while they are being hunted down. Tim continues his search for clues in translating a mysterious and ancient book he found in a cave. At the end of the second book, Tim finds what he needs to translate the mysterious book and translates enough to give him a breakthrough and a path forward to leaving the dystopia behind them. It is not an easy path, and all the teams work together to find the answers they need. They also get unexpected help from outsiders who expose themselves and the teens to additional risks.

Book 3: The Road Less Traveled Leads Home is yet to be written and should be released early next year. In it, the mystery will be solved, and the teens will discover all the keys they need to lead them to freedom and a long, fulfilling life. They will find a noble purpose for their lives which will enable them to also lead others out of the dystopian slavery into a fulfilling and long life marked by hope, faith, and love. The three e-books will be combined into a paperback novel, Escape from Dystopia, next year immediately following the release of the third e-book.

The first two books have just been released on Amazon as e-books. They are $2.99 each. Watch for a special sale on Book 1. It is also free for members of Kindle Unlimited. Thanks! You can go here to read a sample of the first two books: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=escape+from+dystopia&i=stripbooks

Thanks, and may God bless you!

                                    PREFACE

During the previous fifty years, longstanding moral and ethical principles had been abandoned and replaced by an “anything goes” culture supported by a “survival of the fittest” evolutionary worldview. The educational system and media had done its job well, and there was very little resistance to the takeover. The silence in the public square from those who saw the danger was deafening. The crumbling moral and ethical foundation of the previous republics had all but disappeared. And so, like the frog who was gradually boiled to death, freedom was lost as the “God is dead” movement gained control. And so, the Third Republic was born.

The Third Republic allowed the parents and guardians who complied with its directives to raise their children until their thirteenth birthday. At that time, they would be taken away from their parents to participate in a year-long program that immersed them in the culture, beliefs, and doctrines of the Third Republic, ensuring that they would become obedient model citizens. Until then, they would be subjected to the misinformation and brainwashing from their state-run schools, reenforced through the state-run media that was piped into their homes 24-7. This method had proven to be very effective. Those who steadfastly resisted were subjected to extensive “reprogramming.” Upon completion, they were implanted with AI chips to control their higher cognitive functions and make all their significant decisions. Those who continued to resist and refused the AI chips were terminated.

A small band of courageous teens loved their freedom enough to fight for it. This is their story.

Book 1: The Journey Begins

1 MISSING IN ACTION … AGAIN!

An eerie darkness covered the hills with a thick fog that swirled around and through the valley below. A threatening storm sought to extend its icy grip into their adopted home. The small group of teens had been branded as recusants because they resisted AI bonding, the cornerstone belief of a society that had lost the ability to think for itself. They wore the badge of recusant as an honor given to unconformable dissidents in a controlled society that regarded personal freedoms as a threat.

The teens were being hunted down to be sent away to a retraining facility where they would be “reprogrammed” and brainwashed through any means possible to force them to conform to their intolerant society. Yet they were resolute in believing that halfway around the world the sun was blazing brightly. They knew there was no reason to abandon hope -- not now, not ever.

It was not the first time their fearless leader, Tim, known for his steely will and dogged determination, was missing in action. He would habitually embark on important missions that required the utmost secrecy, such that no one would know what he was doing, where he was going, or when he would be back. He had earned his position among them as their leader through trust, and he had maintained it the same way.

*****

Tim’s dad had been a principled politician of the Second Republic, and his mom had been a psychologist at Prince University, the most prestigious university in the land. They realized what was happening and did their best to resist the accelerating destruction of faith and freedom. They knew that without necessary corrections being implemented soon, the Second Republic was doomed to failure. When it became apparent that very few citizens and politicians raised their voices in defense of the truth, Tim’s parents could see the handwriting on the wall. They also knew that, with the collapse of the Second Republic, they would be in imminent danger of imprisonment or annihilation. They felt they had no choice but to arrange for two-year old Tim to be brought up by his paternal grandparents. A week later, a combination of internal corruption and secret alliances brought down the Second Republic.

Tim’s grandparents never knew whether his parents had gone into hiding, been sent to a prison camp, or been terminated. They loved and cared for Tim as if he were their own son, faithfully praying for and with him as often as they could. Two years later, a sergeant of the guards went out of his way to inform them that Tim would soon be taken away. Despite their fervent prayers, it happened as the sergeant had said.

Tim was placed in the home of an older couple who had no children of their own. His foster parents did all they could to teach him how to use his mind so he would become a capable leader, able to hold his own and take care of himself. They were not religious like his grandparents had been, but they recognized the Third Republic did not value the individual lives of its citizens. It was all about what was best for the Third Republic. They knew that really meant the ruling class – the Keepers.

As Tim’s thirteenth birthday drew near, his foster parents completed their self-appointed task of preparing Tim to live on his own. Tim followed their advice and urging and left the day before his thirteenth birthday. The next day, guards from the Third Republic knocked on their door and grilled them about Tim’s whereabouts. They simply said that he wandered away and had not yet returned. The guards didn’t believe them and took them away for lying to the Third Republic, a capital crime.

*****

Without parents raising them, out of necessity, the small band of recusants associated with Tim had bonded together to become a family. The teens knew they had to learn to work together and resolve their differences if there would be any hope of them breaking away and escaping the cruel bondage of mindless cookie-cutter conformity. They also knew it was critical for them to maintain their focus on their mission, especially when Tim was away. He would evaluate their progress to make sure everyone stayed on track until another secret mission called him away. Although Tim was short, slim, and wiry, his compassion and intelligence, when combined with his will, made him a force to be reckoned with.

No one knew how many times Tim would disappear and reappear, or when his frequent sojourns would come to an end, but the teens knew they could not give up. They were desperate to find a cure for the horrible ravages of the sinister wave that affected their planet millennia ago. This scourge was so destructive that it gradually reduced the lifespan of the populace from almost a thousand years to around a hundred, and, in the last century, drastically reduced it to a mere twenty, multiplying sorrows and death on their planet. The Keepers governed the Third Republic for the common good and assured everyone that the only way to extend one’s life was by receiving an AI implant chip. Of necessity, this meant surrendering one’s freedom of self-determination, something the teens refused to do.

The teens' will to survive and their unquenchable thirst for freedom melded into one and crystallized into a determination to seek out a cure. They were willing to invest their lives in trying to find a way to reverse the scourge, both for their own sakes and for the sake of humanity. Were they following a pipe dream? Or was it a living hope with substance and a real possibility of materializing into reality? Only time would tell.