Frowning, Jack exchanged a look with Dee and Ben. “Hero? In the rule of three? Boss?”
“Yeah, you know, teenage guy or girl ripped away from his home, orphaned. Meets old wise man. Gets trained and fights back.”
Jack laughed. “Ah, you mean the classical hero's journey. And it’s twelve steps, I think.”
“Yeah, that’s the one, but whatever.”
Ben, now laughing, held his injured side. “Kid, don’t make me laugh, I’m still healing. Just so you know, the rule of three is a survival guide. Basic guide at best.”
Dee, laughing with Ben, wrapped her arm around Boss and held him close.
Jack smiled as he turned back to see the last of the sun dip down over his homeland. Despite all the horror and trauma he had been through, he was happy. He had survived. He had escaped the Variant nest. He had saved George. Amongst all the chaos, he had found Dee. He was determined not to let this second chance go to waste. To find his family. To give George, Boss, and everyone a world to live in.
He wrapped his arms around Dee, feeling her warmth as they watched the first of the stars appear on the horizon.
Not just my stars, but everyone’s. They belong to everyone. To shine a little light down on this dark new world. George squealed, the noise bouncing around the cliffs. Jack looked over and smiled. The child was chasing a cicada.
He could be forgiven for thinking everything was normal. It felt as if the last couple of weeks hadn’t happened. As if Dee and he were on a camping trip enjoying nature. Jack sighed as he looked back at the mainland.
Three weeks without food, three days without water, three hours without shelter, and three minutes without air.
The Alpha made his way through the field, his subjects following a short distance behind. He could smell the others approaching from the north, west, and east. He stopped in the middle of the field and bellowed up at the moon. Three bellows sounded out in answer. They were close. Soon his plan would be put into motion. Soon the remaining humans would be corralled into their nests. They needed to breed again, provide him with food.
A human fragment tugged at him. Didn’t he used to do this with animals?
He shook the memory away. The anger, the hunger, gnawed at his soul. First, he wanted to find the little one that had taken his eye. He wanted to feel the satisfaction of ripping the flesh from its bones and sucking out its marrow. The humans had escaped from his grasp in the thumping beast that sent stinging, burning rain on him. He had lost many of his tribe chasing them.
He watched as the others approached, the Alpha leaders towering over their minions. The other three stopped around him. Together, they bellowed up at the moon, their packs joining in.
He assessed the other Alphas, and grunted, “Where?”
The Alpha who had come from the north signaled behind him. Two Variants pushed two humans forward, shoving them to the ground at the feet of One Eye.
He looked down at them. The blonde hair of the female was matted against her head. He fought the urge to sink his teeth into the curvature of her neck and taste her blood. The last remaining human part of his brain bubbled to the surface. She’s a real looker.
Bellowing angrily, he grunted, “Where?”
One of the Variants kicked the male. One Eye looked down at the slightly overweight man, with his shaved head and beady eyes. He hissed at him, shoving his face closer. “I… I… I don’t know where they are, please…”
One Eye sniffed him. He could definitely smell them on him. With an angry bellow, he lashed out and speared the man through the head with his claw. With a satisfied hiss, he lapped up the spilling blood and brain matter.
One Eye turned to the Alpha that had come from the east. “Where?”
The Alpha from the east pushed a skinny male out onto the ground. Skinny held up his hands in surrender, pleading, “ Please… please don’t kill me… I know where they are.”
He pointed east, toward the mountains.
One Eye snarled in satisfaction. His anger barely contained, he let out a deafening bellow.
One Eye hauled on four chains, pulling the terrified prey at the other end toward them. Four children appeared, covered in filth. They were sobbing.
The four Alphas smacked their suckers. The small ones tasted so much sweeter.
Handing over his offerings in chains to the Alphas, he grunted, “Eat.”
The four gathered Alphas sank their teeth into the children’s throats, tearing them out, and forever silencing them.
The surrounding packs screeched and howled at the smell of the spilt blood.
Now that the Alphas had shared a meal, they were joined in blood. Bonded in evil.
AFTERWORD
First of all, thank you for taking a chance and reading my Extinction Cycle novella. I would be eternally grateful if you could leave an honest review. Doing so will help me develop as a writer.
Having read the Extinction Cycle, when it was opened up to Kindle Worlds, I realised I wanted to tell a story from a New Zealand point of view. I tried to imagine what would happen if an everyman and woman were caught up in an apocalypse. We are a small nation with a small, but determined and proud, armed force. We have stood by our British, Australian, and American brothers at times of war. As a whole, we don’t have a lot of firearms readily available, but they are there, mainly for hunting purposes.
Because this book is set in New Zealand, I have used UK spelling and there are some Kiwi phrases. If any of them confuse you, please email me for an explanation.
All the place names and locations in this book are real, and I encourage you to look them up on Google Maps. Or better yet, come and visit our beautiful country. Perhaps I’ll take you hiking.
Fate is a theme in this book, and it is indeed a funny thing, because it was fate that led me to the Extinction Cycle via another book in 2015. Reaching out to Nicholas led me to a great friendship and his amazing books. Which has now led me to write my first book.
Thanks again for reading, be sure to look out for the next adventures of Jack, Dee, and Boss.
You can contact me on:
Facebook: Guardians of the Apocalypse
Emaiclass="underline" adesmithwrites@gmail.com
With courage you dare to take risks.
Copyright
Text copyright© 2017 by the Author.
This work is made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Nicholas Sansbury Smith. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Extinction Cycle remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Nicholas Sansbury Smith, or their affiliates or licensors.
For more information on Kindle Worlds: http://www.amazon.com/kindleworlds