Redemption-After Earth: Ghost Stories(2013)

Peter David

On a distant planet called Nova Prime, the United Ranger Corps defends the galaxy’s remaining humans from an alien race known as the Skrel and their genetically engineered predators, the Ursa. But one young man discovers that, in the fight against annihilation, the Rangers need more help than they realize. “Ghost Stories: Redemption” is the fourth of six eBook short stories that lead up to the events of After Earth, the epic science fiction adventure film directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Jaden Smith and Will Smith.
 
Anderson Kincaid was only seven when one of the monstrous killing machines known as the Ursa tore off his arm. It would have killed him, too, had a Ranger not sacrificed her own life to save his. Ever since, Anderson has wanted to be a Ranger. After years of relentless training with an artificial limb, his hopes are crushed the day Cypher Raige himself comes knocking—to explain the Corps’ strict rule against accepting applicants with prosthetics. His dream denied, Anderson joins the Civilian Defense Corps, only to find himself once again face-to-face with an Ursa. No savior in sight, he must rely on himself—and a power he never knew he had—to survive.