PW #229: YA Science Fiction: DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE

Manuscript Status: Finished

Mentor Name: Rebecca Sky
Mentee Name: Kayla The Rivera
Title: DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE
Category: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Word Count: 99,000

Pitch:

To rescue her family from war-torn Mexico, seventeen-year-old Rebecca Leroy must win a televised fight to the virtual-death where top-gamers battle for billions. But once her mind synchs with the game, its corrupt matrix takes control, transforming every in-game death into a real-life game over.

Excerpt:

Rebecca Leroy sat back in her seat and pretended not to notice the knife hidden beneath her taxi driver’s leg.

He must have bought it twenty minutes ago, at their last electric station fill up, because the leather hilt wedged under his right knee hadn’t been there earlier. She eyed the beak-nosed man as he steered them off the freeway, onto a narrower highway curtained by snow-streaked trees.

From under the seat, she slid a taser out of her rucksack and into her sleeve. “So, where are we going?”

If he knew her safe house address she’d have to do more than tase him. She couldn’t have her location slip out to other opponents and ruin her chances of making it to the first round. She’d already fought off two attackers in New Jersey, and the time it took delayed her practice by forty-five minutes. Now she’d have to mentally rearrange her entire gaming schedule.

A smirk twitched through the driver’s mouth. “The Global Gaming officials got your location locked away in here.” He tapped the GPS set into the dashboard. “I’ll know when you know.”

So he didn’t have the address—yet.

She scanned the small, blue screen. It listed directions but no end location. In the right corner, the miles counted down, dwindling at just one-point-five. Close enough that she could find it, far enough away that the taxi driver wouldn’t find her.

She kicked her rucksack to the side. She’d come back for it later.

After she’d wrestled the knife from him.