Vine

In a world of raiders, indent gangs, and acid rain, a hidden secret lays waste to the best made plans...

Evan Sardichuck was assigned the role of Mech for SubUnit F. Sent to the backside of the Front in the war with Eli, with Hollister, Hillard, Goss, Goherty, and Roberts, his duties were to assess Mobile Station Units and build habitats for wildlife seeking shelter from both the war zone and the heavy, damaging acid rains. His secondary functions were to work with his new bag buddy, Orrin Goss. Goss and Hollister did not get along, at the beginning of the assignment, even though all of Sub F came out of their original SubUnit C.

In one year, since leaving his nomadic, pacifistic village, soft-spoken Evan has been dumped by his fiancé for another man, trained in combat and retrieval, killed three men, fought forest fires, and assigned security at the hospital, checking wagons and incoming packages for contraband, poisons, and hidden compartments. Then, he was sent to the front. It didn’t feel like it, at first.

Sub F was split off from the rest of the unit because they had the most chance at turning into a Rainbow Blood. A mutant. In a routine, step out of the fire tower to collect wood from the nearby tree line, Evan became a casualty. A feral pig, infected and released by Eli into the war zone, came screaming out of the woods and gored his leg, tearing through muscle and tendon. And then… then… then… he mutated.

For six weeks, he has battled with suicidal rages, fevers, lucid moments, the knowledge that he has been cut off twice over from ever returning to his home, only to find out he has changed. His outlook on life has completely, utterly changed…

Can he deal with it?  Can he deal with all of his overwhelming feelings?  All of them, which he doesn’t understand, even if he can start to accept them?  Will he tip over the edge?  Will he lose his mind or his battle to stay alive?