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The Second Before: A First Responder Novel of Trauma, Choice, and What Comes After
Paperback
Series: Awakening, Book 1
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Apr 26 2026
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.67
Height: 0.47 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Every call has a moment.
A second before everything changes.Dalton Hayes has spent twenty years making life-or-death decisions without hesitation. In his world, instinct is everything-until one call changes that.
During a flood rescue, Dalton is forced to make a split-second choice: save a civilian within reach or go after a fellow responder caught in the current.
He follows protocol.
The civilian survives. The responder does not.What should have been the right call becomes the moment that never leaves.
As Dalton returns to the job, the calls continue-but his certainty doesn't. Sleep fades. Focus slips. The instincts he once trusted begin to fracture.
Some calls don't end when the shift does.
This is not a story about failure.
It's about what comes after.For readers of emotionally grounded, character-driven fiction that explores the unseen weight carried by those who serve.
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