D.C. Maxwell
RESISTANCE
An Extinction Cycle Novella
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to thank Nicholas Sansbury Smith for his wonderful EXTINCTION CYCLE series. If you haven’t read this series, and his other books, you don’t know what you’re missing. I loved reading them so much I moved on to the Extinction Cycle Kindle World novellas and loved them as well. There’s nothing better than finding an engaging series like this one. After devouring them I decided to try my hand at writing one. I contacted Nicholas and he was amazing and encouraging. Thank you, Nick, for giving me the chance to write about your wonderfully, terrifying Variants.
And thanks to the following authors for their Extinction Cycle novellas. Anthony Melchiorri, Rachel Aukes, Adrian J. Smith, E.G. Michaels, Owen Baillie, WJ Lundy, Brian Martinez, NJ Paige, Michael Patrick Hicks, and Mike Evans. I hope I didn’t miss anyone but if I did, then you know when I find your book I’ll be jumping with joy before I settle down to read it. Thanks to all of you for your wonderful imaginations.
Check out the EXTINCTION CYCLE series at
http://nicholassansburysmith.com/
Edited and Formatted by Anessa Books
ONE
April 19th, 2015
GRACE PRESSED her weight on the suitcase and forced the zipper to move the last inch. With a snap it closed just as her cell phone rang. She answered without checking the identity of the caller, then silently cursed when she heard her bosses’ nasal voice. For a second, she considered hanging up, but before she could he rushed into speech.
“Ms. Walker, I have a task for you.”
I just bet you do. Sitting down, she rested an arm on the suitcase and drummed her fingers on the side. A call from him was never a good thing and experience had taught her that trying to hurry him along would just slow him down. “Mr. Edgar, I’m officially on vacation. Someone else will have to deal with it.” While I interview for a job in sunny, warm Florida, she thought, but didn’t say.
“You’re going to have to postpone your plans. We have an emergency at the school.”
Drumming her fingers on the suitcase, she waited for him to get to the point. This wasn’t the first vacation he’d ruined with a last minute call. After almost seven years as the Nutrition Director at the Edgar Military Academy she knew that by ‘we’ he meant ‘she.’
“I can’t think of a single thing that needs my attention.” She ran through a mental list of tasks she’d completed before she’d left the campus the day before. The galley kitchen for the six cadets who remained on campus year round had been stocked; she’d shut down and secured the main cafeteria; and the order for next semester’s food had been sent in, confirmed, and would be delivered the day after she returned from Florida.
“There’s a problem with next semester’s food order.”
“You approved it when I gave it to you on Monday—six days ago.”
“My wife looked it over this morning. You missed a three percent discount we’re eligible to receive. That’s a saving of thousands of dollars and a mistake that should cost you your job.”
She wanted nothing more than to tell him to take the job and put it where the sun didn’t shine. Instead she drew in a deep breath and remained calm. “Mr. Edgar, we’re only eligible for the discount if we include a delivery of fresh produce. Food that will spoil before the cadets return from break.”
“On the contrary, with this unpleasant business taking place in Chicago over sixty cadets have been ordered by their parents to remain on campus.”
“What’s happening in Chicago?” she asked, her mind on the scheduled interview in Florida, and how she could feed sixty cadets without actually being in Colorado to cook for them.
“My dear Ms. Walker, I realize you’re just a cook—.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Edgar, but I have a master’s degree in nutrition. I’m not ‘just a cook’, although there is absolutely nothing wrong with that profession.”
He harrumphed. The sound scraping across her nerves. “My point is that at your professional level you should keep up with current events.”
I know you’re an obnoxious prick, she thought, then bit her lip to keep from saying so. She couldn’t afford to lose this job before she had another one lined up. “I should have been notified immediately that so many were staying on campus—when did you say you were notified?”
“I don’t see the significance of that question, Ms. Walker. In any case, this is your job and I expect you to do it.”
“Mr. Edgar, just one thing. There isn’t enough food in storage to feed sixty cadets for eight days. You’ll have to release funds to purchase food locally.” Take that you tight-fisted son-of-a-gun, she thought, and smiled.
“No need. I’ve already arranged for the food order to be delivered today—including the fresh produce. The trucks will have arrived by the time you return to the campus today.”
“Receiving, inventorying, and storing that much stock is a huge job. How do you propose I accomplish this without my kitchen staff?”
“Call them back.”
“When they see my number come up they won’t answer—not if they’re smart.” And, they are, she thought, then wished again she hadn’t answered his call.
Several moments of silence passed. She waited him out, denying him the pleasure of rattling her.
“Ask Bruce to help you.”
Grace rolled her eyes. The security guard was the laziest waste of space she’d ever met. “What do you suggest I do when he refuses?”
“Tell the dorm mother, Hilda Baker, I said I wanted the cadets to help you. It won’t hurt them to earn their supper. Feed them lots of salads and fresh vegetables over the break.” He paused for a moment while someone spoke in the background. “Ms. Walker, straightening out your mess has made me and my wife late for an important charity event in Denver.”
Before she could retort, he hung up. She wasted a few minutes pacing and fuming Then, knowing it was useless, she began calling numbers while she watched the snow thicken and dusk arrive. As expected, her calls went unanswered and she knew the messages she left would be ignored. She’d do the same in their shoes. She turned to grab her coat but caught her reflection in the window. It was distorted and a shiver of awareness ran through her. I should have left yesterday but my damn instincts wouldn’t let me.
Shaking her head, she grabbed her purse and suitcase and carried them down to her SUV. It was going to be an exhausting eight days cooking three meals a day for sixty cadets and processing case after case of fresh produce by herself. She’d sleep in her office as she’d done in the past when Mr. Edgar had managed to screw things up. At least this week she’d lock the cafeteria doors and change into the shorts and shirts she’d bought for the beach while she chopped and froze fresh vegetables.
The city streets were unusually crowded with people driving crazy and honking their horns. It didn’t take her long to become one of them as she dodged cars and trucks that pulled in front of her without warning. After a nerve-racking twenty minutes she turned onto the road that dead-ended at the Academy. Two sets of tire tracks ran down the center of the road. They hadn’t filled in with snow yet so the supply trucks weren’t very far ahead of her.
She stayed in their tracks. On the last curve before the straight-away to the school something leapt out of the forest in front of her. Startled, she slammed on the brakes and jerked the wheel to the left. Her purse slid off the seat, spilling its contents on the floor as the car slid over the road. She steered into the skid and pumped the brakes, finally getting the car stopped with the headlights pointed into the trees where the animal had disappeared.