Hello and first draft chapter 1 of my newest work.
So a quick hello. Hi. Book 2 of the zombie series is with the proofreader (still) and as soon as I get it back it will be good to go. While waiting for that I have done a few things, most notably starting a half dozen new projects that were paused because they weren't quite right. Below, is the first, very rough draft, chapter of the work I hope to be continuing. Have a read, enjoy and I hope to have more info soon.
The city for once was silent. Each twisting road that snaked between the buildings, empty of all but the occasional ground car. The lights dimmed, the hustle and bustle stilled for the moment at least. The city was in mourning.
A night and a day of unparalleled violence that had shocked even the most jaded of its denizens. Man, woman, child. Old or young, it mattered not. Death walked those streets and the people of the city died in their tens of thousands. I’d failed.
Behind me, the sound of the party spilled out onto the balcony as the sliding glass doors opened, then faded once more as they closed. The soft scrape of leather on the stone paving came to me and I turned, a smile already fixed in place.
“You need to stop this moping,” Joshua said with a wide smile that suited his handsome face far too well.
He held out a hand that contained a crystal flute filled almost to the brim with a deep crimson liquid that threatened to spill out and stain the pale white cuffs of the shirt that poked out from beneath his jacket sleeves.
With one silk gloved hand, I took the proffered glass and held it carefully as I leaned back against the smooth stone balcony. My back arched slightly and one leg extended to show just enough skin through the slit that ran the length of my dress.
His smile widened as his gaze moved down my body, tracing the lines of the crimson silk as it clung to my breasts, fitting like a second skin over the curves of my body to hang loosely around my legs. So predictable.
I brushed aside an errant strand of blonde hair as it fluttered across my face, caught by the wind that bore with it a most unpleasant scent from the city below. A stench of death and despair even high above the city, managed to overpower my perfume and Joshua’s cologne.
“Do you not notice that?” I asked him as I wrinkled my nose at the odour.
“You get used to it,” he replied with a shrug as he leant against the balcony beside me. His hands cupped his own glass and he swirled the wine as he stared down at the darkened streets.
A faint glow formed beneath the skin around his eyes as he accessed his implants to enhance his vision and see through the darkness. A faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Pleased with what he saw.
“Your first purge?” he asked and it was my turn to shrug.
“My first party celebrating it,” I said and he turned his face towards me.
“You disapprove?”
“No,” I lied and forced my lips to curve upwards in a smile. “Just out of sorts.”
I folded my arms beneath my breasts and hugged myself, hands rubbing at the bare skin of my arms. Joshua noticed, pushed himself upright and slipped one arm around my waist, stepping close.
His breathing quickened as he leaned in, lips close to mine, his leg and signs of obvious excitement pressing against me as he moved closer. His lips met mine with a heat and passion I’d not expected from the usually reserved man.
“You’re probably going to have to fuck him you know,” a voice said in my head.
Shut up, I sub vocalised back to him as I snaked one arm around Joshua's neck, my hand pressed against the back of his head as his hands slid around my waist to grip my rear.
He pushed me back against the balcony, his tongue probing against mine and I allowed myself a moment to enjoy it before I sent the activation command to the implant in my forefinger.
A slim filament a tenth of the width of a human hair, shot out through my skin and penetrated his skull as he stiffened in my arms. His eyes widened as the filament worked its way into his brain and began to take control of his motor functions as well as his implants.
“I’m sorry sweetie,” I whispered to him. “This is going to hurt a lot. But don’t worry, you won’t be able to cry out.”
He stared at me with panic filled eyes and I flashed the first honest smile of the night as I kept my hand pressed firmly against the back of his skull. The filament had limited range, so the last thing I wanted was to lose contact with him.
Joshua trembled as I stripped away his control of the implants in his skull, starting with the internal communications one that would have allowed him to call for help. I glanced over his shoulder to the brightly lit door that led back into the party.
His bodyguard stood with his face averted. A ridiculously over-muscled man who stood at almost seven feet tall and likely bristled with implants. He was alert but careful not to intrude into his employer's privacy. Something to be thankful for, I thought. After the last three days of disaster after disaster, I was ready for something to finally go my way.
A series of low sounds were coming from his mouth as he tried to speak and I patted him gently on the side of the face. “You can’t talk, so don’t try. It’ll just hurt more.”
I swept my gaze around the balcony area, noting the decorative marble urns with brightly coloured plants and the smooth walls of the governor's mansion. A quick look over my shoulder confirmed I had no easy escape that way. Options were limited.
“This is your own fault,” I told him and his eyes met mine, full of pain and fear. “If you’d just done as you were supposed to, I wouldn’t have had to spend three days in this body seducing you.”
His memory files began to transfer to my implant and I exhaled a soft sigh as his bodyguard turned to watch us, a leer on his face. I leaned in closer, my lips pressed to Joshuas’ until the bodyguard turned away once again.
“All I need from you now,” I said quietly. “Is to know how you managed to screw up my operation so royally.”
From the look of incomprehension in his eyes, I doubted even he knew. It would have been pleasant to be able to question him, but if I gave him back control of his speech then he’d just cry for help. Then I’d have to kill a lot of people.
“You should do,” the voice said directly into my head again.
Not every mission needs to be a bloodbath Tomaz, I subvocalized and laughter sounded in my skull.
I shook my head, blonde ringlets brushing my skin in an irritating manner. There was no way I’d ever get used to the sheer amount of effort that was needed to look presentable in the female form on this world. Way too much effort for me anyway.
The last of the memory files transferred and I smiled brightly at Joshua. “Bye sweetie, it’s been fun,” I said as I sent a command that stopped his heart beating.
He slumped in my arms and I held him for a full count of sixty seconds to allow the filament time to retract back into my implant, then I let him drop and gave voice to a high pitched scream.
The bodyguard was beside me in seconds, his ARC pistol in one hand as he swept the area for threats with his eyes and hidden implants. He reached down to place his free hand against his employer's skin as I stepped away from the body, arms raised before me in what I hoped would look like shock and surprise.
“What happened?” the bodyguard asked in a surprisingly high voice for such a big man.
“He just collapsed,” I said as I hugged myself and widened my eyes to look as shocked and distraught as possible. “One minute we were being… intimate…”
I waved my hand towards the body and then raised it to cover my mouth as I choked back a sob. The bodyguard seemed to buy it. He looked down at his hand that had a number of glowing lines traced along the back as he received a full report on what had happened to his employer’s body.
“Stay here ma’am,” he said as he tilted his head and closed his eyes. A sure sign that he was communicating with someone sub-vocally but wasn’t quite familiar with it.
People were staring through the glass doors, faces showing shock and apprehension. I ignored the bodyguards order and made my way to the doors on shaking legs, the only sound the click of my heels on the stone.
The door slid open as I approached and I ignored the cry of the bodyguard as he finally noticed I was missing. People moved aside for me, all too eager to avoid contact with someone who may be in a great deal of trouble.
I passed through the grand ballroom as swiftly as I dared without actually running. Most of the people there in their brightly coloured dresses and dark tuxedos that had been copied from the ones last seen on Earth almost two centuries ago were more interested in the balcony than me anyway.
If there was one thing you could always count on, it was that people would love to gawk. Well, that and that the fashions from Earth of old would always be popular. Give me a simple bodysuit any day. All the primping required to wear some of those ancient fashions was just tedious.
“Alerts been sounded,” Tomaz said through my comm implant, the words audible to me alone. “You’ve got incoming.”
How many?
“Far too many. Get out of there.”
Easy for you to say, I subvocalized as I pushed through a door and found myself in a corridor with three dark-suited security guards dashing towards me.
I pressed myself against the wall and they ran straight past, barrelling through the door with ARC pistols in hand. I allowed a grin as I increased my pace through the huge and ridiculously ornate mansion.
“Cameras’ can’t see you but I can,” Tomaz sang the words into my skull and I swore softly as I pushed open another door and stepped through.
“You!” Another large man who could have been a twin of the first bodyguard pointed at me and started walking towards me down the corridor. “Stay there.”
Initiate Alpha one, I subvocalized and a cackle of laughter sounded from Tomaz as the implant at the base of my skull set the subroutine going.
“Oh crap,” I said quietly as a glowing Heads-Up-Display appeared in my vision.
The bodyguard in the dark suit had an ARC pistol in one hand, held with the barrel of the sleek black metal rectangle pointed down towards the floor and not at the potentially innocent guest of his boss.
He also had at least four combat implants that my own implant identified buried in his flesh. There was also a ridiculously high, ninety-five point four percent chance that he had composite carbon armour plates directly beneath his skin.
“Ma’am, you shouldn’t be here,” the bodyguard said as I scanned his body for potential weak points. “You need to go back to the main hall with the other guests.”
“I’m sorry,” I said and altered my tone to sound as confused and scared as I could and held my hands out to show I wasn’t armed. “I think I’m lost.”
“Back the way you…” his voice cut off as I darted forward and snapped a quick punch to his throat.
I screamed as the bones in hand broke against the armour and the bodyguard grinned. He hit me with a backhand blow that knocked me from my feet and shattered my nose. Blood sprayed over the marble floor and I considered it a small revenge that it would be a pain in the ass to clean.
A large hand wrapped tightly around my leg and dragged me along the floor as the bodyguard made his way along the corridor.
With a command sent to my implant, the thin sheaths’ fell away from the five-inch heels of my expensive looking stiletto heeled pumps and I twisted my body enough that I could kick out with my free leg. The stiletto heel blade sank two inches into his buttocks and he yowled and released my other leg. No armour there then.
I rolled and came to my feet in one swift movement. Ignoring the pain from my broken hand and nose, I ducked beneath a swing of his arm and kicked out at his leg, my stiletto heel sinking into the side of his knee and sending him to the floor.
The bodyguard raised the ARC pistol and I slipped behind him and hammered the heel of my good hand into the base of his skull. He fell face down onto the marble floor and I doubled over, panting with the exertion as I did my best to stay upright on the dagger-like heels.
“You should stop the pain with your implant,” Tomaz said.
No, too easy to not notice dangerous levels of damage, I subvocalized back as I stooped to pick up the ARC pistol. I let it drop back to the floor with a grunt as I recognised the gene print hand grip that would allow only the owner to fire it.
An image flashed in my mind of a tall blonde woman in a black silk dress standing above an unconscious man. Blood streamed down her face and covered much of her exposed chest. Thanks, Tomaz. I know I look a mess, you didn’t need to show me, I sent to him.
“You’re too noticeable,” he replied. “Activate remote transfer now.”
No, the data is in a secure storage chip, I sent back to him.
“We’ll retrieve later.”
I considered it for all of two seconds. The people on this world weren’t stupid and it wouldn’t take them long to figure out some of my implants weren’t standard. I couldn’t afford to let them get their hands on me.
Sorry Tomaz, can’t leave this body just yet,” I subvocalized and promptly ignored the deluge of curses that came over the implant. I pulled off the pumps and held them in my good hand with the dagger-like heels pointed outwards. The only weapon I had and if I were honest, it was easier to walk without them.
On silent feet, I padded down the corridor and ducked into a room that appeared to be empty after a brief look through the door. The walls of the room were lined with shelving that contained actual books. I shook my head at the waste of resources and headed for a door set into the wall opposite.
Out of the library and along two more corridors before darting into a room just before a door opened at the far end and more security walked through. I pressed myself back against the wall beside the door and ramped up the audio implants behind my ears.
My own heartbeat thundered in my chest and the steady thud of the guard’s feet as they marched down the corridor was as clear as if I were stood right beside them. Their voices were easily audible and I guessed them to be low level since their discussion was centred around why they were on alert without any real detail.
I sighed and restored my audio to normal levels. Enhanced hearing is great right up until something loud unexpectedly goes off and deafens you. The pain from my hand and nose was fast becoming unbearable and I still had no clear way out of the mansion.
This is why you don’t improvise, I told myself as I looked around the room. Not much help there, it was a study of some kind with only the one door in or out. A place to sit before a faux fireplace and drink expensive alcohol as the leaders of this pissant backwater world discussed their evil plans. Ooh, alcohol.
A crystal decanter with a golden liquid that smelt divine sat on a cabinet set into the far wall. I found a tumbler and poured a generous amount of the liquid into it. I held it up to my nose and inhaled the fragrance of summer orchids before taking a sip.
My shoulders relaxed as the tension of the last few minutes of flight slipped away. Actarian liquor was expensive on Actaria, for any other world the price was exorbitant. The planetary governor had good taste at least, I’d give him that.
I swallowed the last of the wonderful liquid that seemed to dissolve on my tongue, seeping into my body at a cellular level. I was still stuck and had little chance of getting out alive but I felt a little more relaxed about it.
“Are you kidding me?” Tomaz growled over our comm link. “You really think it’s time to drink?”
Best time is when you’re facing death, I sent back and smiled at his growl of annoyance.
“Security coming your way, three of them, armed.”
I nodded, though he couldn’t see it, and placed the tumbler down on the cabinet. I pulled the crystal stopper from the decanter and with a moue of regret, I tore a strip of cloth from my dress and stuffed it through the opening to dip into the golden fluid.
Another thing about Actarian Liqueur is that it is quickly absorbed by most materials which is why you can only keep it in crystal, and it’s extremely flammable. Explosively so.
The door opened as I activated the self-destruct option of a minor implant in the middle finger of my broken hand. I sucked in a breath as fire burst painfully through my skin and was caught by the silk strip hanging from the decanter.
It went up in flames immediately and I tossed it towards the door as I dropped to the floor and covered my ears. The explosion from just the quarter full decanter was enough to throw the security guards to the other side of the corridor wreathed in flame, as the leather upholstered chairs were tossed across the room.
I glanced up to see flames spreading as hidden panels in the ceiling opened to release a fire suppression powder over the room. With a grin, I pushed myself to my feet and on trembling limbs, left the room.
Two corridors further along the first security appeared from a side door. I slumped against the wall and pointed back the way I’d come.
“My husband! He was caught in the blast, help!” I cried as all but one of the security ran past. The remaining one took my arm almost solicitously.
“This way ma’am,” he said. “Let’s get you to a medic.”
“Thank you,” I wailed before adding another cry of, “my husband!” for good measure.
With the aid of the security guard, I was escorted past another group of security and through yet another door into a bare room that looked to have been used for storage.
“What...” I said as I turned to the security guard.
“Who are you?” he asked as he raised his pistol.
I stared at him blankly, his voice sounded odd. The accent wasn’t quite right and neither was the timbre.
“Who are you?” I countered as something told me the need for pretense was gone.
He looked much like the other security guards. Dark suit, hair cut short and with more muscles than any sane man needed. He didn’t seem right though.
“Ah,” he replied. “Nexus agent.”
“Fuck!” Tomaz said in my head as my own eyes widened in shock.
“Who are you?” I repeated. No one knew about Nexus, no one.
In answer, he pulled the trigger on his ARC pistol and a flash of blinding light streaked from it to me and then I was on the floor, staring up at the tiled pattern of the ceiling.
I strained to raise my head but my body didn’t seem to want to respond. I sent a quick command to my implants to deaden all pain receptors and managed to raise my head enough to see the thin plume of smoke rising from the smoldering hole in my dress where my stomach had been just moments before.
“Normally I would take some time to play,” the security guard said as he knelt down beside my body. He seized my good hand in his as he placed the ARC pistol on the floor beside me and pulled out a short bladed knife. “But I’m in a hurry.”
“Who are you?” I asked for the third time.
“I’m the reason you failed here,” he said as he sliced cleanly through my forefinger, cutting through the skin to expose bone and the implant attached there. “I can’t have you taking this with you I’m afraid.”
He pulled the memory chip out of my implant and smiled as he held it between his forefinger and thumb. “You may want to transfer now,” he said with that smile still in place. “Don’t worry, I’ll destroy your implants afterwards.”
“Why?” I asked though my voice was fading as ever more of my life blood spilled across the floor.
“If they learn about you, they learn about me,” he said.
Tomaz, I sent.
“Already prepared, transfer when ready,” he replied over the comm implant.
“Before you go,” the man in the security guards body said. I was fairly sure he wasn’t still the security guard anymore. “I want you to take a message to the Nexus for me.”
“What?” I managed to gasp though it was so difficult to get the words out.
“Tell them Kane says hello,” he said as I initiated the transfer.
