Lullaby for a Deserter

By Ivan Kushnir

In a near-future America hollowed out by endless war and algorithmic rule, survival is no longer a right-it's a calculation.

Elias Grant is just another name in the system, another young man slipping through the cracks of a digital draft that hunts bodies with AI precision. As wars grind on and exemptions quietly disappear, patriotism becomes a slogan for the poor, and the front lines devour those without connections. When Elias's deferment collapses and the state brands him a deserter, he runs-into the frozen spine of the Rocky Mountains, chasing rumors of places the drones don't reach and the algorithms can't see.

What he finds is not freedom.

Hidden deep in the wilderness is a remote cabin, warm against the cold, silent against the war-a place that feels, at first, like mercy. Its sole inhabitant is Martha, an enigmatic woman shaped by loss, betrayal, and a pandemic-era promise that stole her future. She offers Elias shelter, food... and an escape far deeper than hiding.

But mercy has a cost.

As loyalty fractures and truth erodes, Elias is forced to confront an impossible choice:
die screaming for a system that already erased him-or live on, emptied, comforted, and obedient.

Lullaby for a Deserter is a dark, unsettling dystopian novella that explores systemic corruption, bodily autonomy, and the seductive danger of surrender. Blending psychological horror with political dystopia, it asks what freedom truly costs in a world where survival itself has been weaponized.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GTYND6F4
• ISBN13: 9798246746943
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 56 Pages
• Weight: 0.19 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"