Excerpt from Waiting for Eden by Elliot Ackerman, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Around the kid's legs and hips the flesh was full and swollen. The old nurse put her hands on him there. He was still warm and there was a fullness that sloshed like a hot water bottle.

Footsteps came up the C-17's ramp, a lone paramedic. Parked behind him was a regular ambulance.

"Hell of a job you two," he said. Then he pulled a Motorola off his belt and wagged it at them. "They're five minutes out and he's still stable. You wanna get your other guy loaded up?"

The old nurse leaned heavily against the kid's gurney. She reached up, handing over his chart. "Bled into himself," she said. "We missed it."

The paramedic glanced down at the kid. "Looks like he went quick."

Then the three of them rolled his gurney out to the parked ambulance, taking their time with it.

Excerpted from Waiting for Eden by Elliot Ackerman. Copyright © 2018 by Elliot Ackerman. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.