Billie-Bob's Birthday: Part IV

Branches fell to the ground around him and he returned fire, the double ought buckshot finding its mark, doubling the boy over as he dropped to the ground in a tangled heap.

“Help me,” the girl screamed behind him and he swung around expecting to find another attacker in the depression with them. Instead he saw the crown of a baby’s head as it emerged from between her upraised legs.

“Don’t let him fall on the ground,” she shouted as she pawed at the ground with her hands. He was keeping his distance, his finger still sore from being nearly broken by her relentless grip.

Grabbing a towel from his pack he scooted over and gently removed the emerging baby,

“You have to make him cry or he wont breathe on his own.”

“How do I do that?”

“Smack his ass.”

“What?”

“You heard me, turn him upside down and smack his ass, you’ve got to get the fluid out of his lungs or he won’t survive.”

Pounding footsteps came from behind him and he swiveled around on his hips, drawing his revolver as he did, firing at the boy running towards him. The baby that had been nestled in his arm jumped in response to his gunfire and struggled to take a breath, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Quickly he suspended the child by his feet and slapped his bloody bottom. Amniotic fluid was ejected from his mouth and he cried in a shrill voice with his eyes screwed tightly shut.

“Give him to me,” she said as she reached for the child.

Todd wrapped the baby in the towel and handed him to his mother as another contraction slammed her onto her back and a second baby’s head emerged.

“There’s another one,” Todd said as the second child emerged much easier than the first. This time he knew what he had to do and quickly had the child wrapped in a t-shirt, as he only had one towel, and suckling at its mothers breast.

“We have to cut the cords, and you have to get the afterbirth out of me,” the girl said and Todd’s stomach performed several lazy somersaults.

“Just tie them off in two places and cut between them,” she said, “after that you should be able to pull the placenta out, but do it gently.”

Todd was sweating as he tied the cords, his hands shaking so bad he was hardly able to tie the knots. Finally he managed to do what he had to and was able to put everything behind him as he turned his attention to the task of getting them out of there. He knew where an old woman lived who’d be able to help the girl heal, but first he had to get rid of those around him.

Gathering up his shotgun and pistol he filled the pockets of his jacket with shells.

“Where are you going?” she said.

“We gotta get out of here, and we can’t do that while they’re still out there.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to do what I do best, I’m gonna go out there and kill every one of them.”

“What about me?”

“I’ll be back for you.”

“But what if one of them tries to sneak up on me while you’re gone?”

Todd pulled the forty five semi automatic from his pack and after checking to make sure it was loaded passed it to her.

“Safety’s off, all you gotta do is aim and squeeze the trigger, but be careful, it’s got a bit of a kick. When I come back I’ll let you know it’s me so you don’t shoot me.”

With that he turned and vanished into the forest.

He was alone now, unencumbered with the extra weight of someone who didn’t understand the true brutality of the world in which they lived. It was time for what this world had turned him into to emerge and take the fight to them. Hands that had recently helped bring new life into this world, would now be used to reduce the population of those who dared to come after him.

As night slowly descended upon the forest he moved like a wraith through the shadowy depths. The first group he came upon didn’t even know he was there until it was too late. He emerged from the shadows with his guns blazing and three of the attackers met their end, the other two fleeing into the night as he moved on to his next target, and his next, each with the same result.

At last they were alone and he returned to the depression where he helped the young girl to her feet and cradled one sleeping baby as he led her into the forest depths where an old woman would tend to her and ensure the survival of her twin boys. As he looked down at the sleeping child he realized he could really get comfortable being a dad. 

The End

I hope you enjoyed this brief foray into the world inhabited by Billie-Bob and his friends. To read more about their adventures in a post apocalyptic world follow the links below.

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Billie-Bob's Birthday: Part III

From his pack he removed a 12 gauge shotgun loaded with double ought buckshot, powerful enough the cut a man in half. They were in a slight depression in the ground and from the East came the sound of the boys racing towards them. Firing on the run the boys had Todd and the woman pinned down, but he had a little surprise for them.

Bullets zinged through the air above them, some slamming into the dead tree limbs that formed a dead fall on the right side of the depression.

The girl began screaming next to him and he quickly checked her, believing she had been hit by a stray round. Finding no blood he could only assume the was having the baby. He hadn’t been hired to deliver a baby, in fact he didn’t know how to, before the apocalypse he’d been a hardware clerk more concerned with the customers and their orders of screws and nails and such.

There had been one time a pregnant woman nearly gave birth in the store, but they had called nine, one, one, and the paramedics had arrived to take the woman to the hospital. It was as close as he’d ever come, or even wanted to come to a woman giving birth. Now he was pinned down in the forest with a pregnant woman beside him about to have a baby, while the forest around them was filled with people trying to kill them.

The first of the attackers appeared over the lip of the depression they hid in, a young boy, no more than twelve, who lifted his rifle for what he thought was an easy shot. The roar of the shotgun caused a pause in the firing as the young boys face was obliterated by the wad of double ought buckshot that took his head clean off. He dropped to the ground without firing a shot, dying before he even knew he was dead.

The woman continued to scream as Todd crawled over to her.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

She stopped screaming, replacing the vocalization of her pain with a hard panting in an effort to control the process, sweat covered her face, and she looked at him with a wild expression. “You could make them stop shooting,” she said between deep breaths.

“Sure,” he chuckled, “I’ll just pop up and ask everyone to be quiet for a moment while you give birth.” He said as a fusillade of rounds slammed into the deadfall. He heard running feet coming in his direction and got ready.

There were two this time, one to his left, the other on his right. The one on the right came into view and Todd took a shot, the spreading buckshot hitting the older man in the hip, and spinning him around as he fell to the forest floor where he lay screaming in pain.

The one on the left managed to make it all the way into the depression, his revolver aimed out in front of him as he jumped into the hole with a shout of triumph. The woman kicked him in the knee, sending him sprawling as his shot went wild, vanishing into the trees with a splatter of sound. He scrabbled backwards on his hands and feet in a crabwalk as Todd brought up his shotgun. He let the boy reach the lip of the depression, believing he was about to get away, before he caressed the trigger and sent him sprawling through the forest.

What had begun as a wild chase through the forest settled into a drawn out stalemate as each side considered their options. The man on the right continued to scream for another twenty minutes before his cries dwindled to a whimpering moan that quickly became silence as death took him.

“You have to help me, I can’t do this alone,” the girl said grabbing Todd’s sleeve.

“Me, I’ve never delivered a baby before, I don’t know what to do.”

“You won’t have to do much, wrap the baby in a towel, tie off and cut the cord, I’ll do the rest.”

“I can’t.”

“You have to, I can’t hold off any longer, the baby’s coming,” and with that she squirmed out of her pants and panties. “Do you have rubbing alcohol?”

“Yes,”

“Use it to sterilize your knife, we’ll also need some sterile string to tie off the cord.”

“I can soak some in alcohol.”

“That’ll work. You will also need to help me remove the placenta.”

“The what?”

“The afterbirth, you know what the afterbirth is don’t you?”

“No, I told you, I’ve never done this before.”

“Well there’s always a first time. Do you have any bandages? I’ll need to stop the bleeding.”

“What bleeding?”

She squeezed her eyes shut, lifting her head as her grip tightened on his hand, very nearly breaking his finger. Then she relaxed with a deep breath.

“He’s coming,” she said as she pulled her legs up and spread them. Todd glanced down and looked away, embarrassed, it was nothing like the magazines he once read.

The sound of running feet came from his left and he swiveled around just as another young boy emerged from the forest, running towards them with a shotgun spitting flames. A spreading wad of BB’s, like a cloud of angry bees, slammed burrowed through the limbs over his head.

To Be Continued!

I hope you enjoyed this brief foray into the world inhabited by Billie-Bob and his friends. To read more about their adventures in a post apocalyptic world follow the links below.

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Smashwords

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Also available in paperback.

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Billie-Bob's Birthday Part II

The boy spun around and leveled his weapon at Todd who had been caught unarmed, his pistol still resting in its holster.

“Who the fuck are you?” the boy said, the massive muzzle of the gun wavered slightly as he started to squeeze the trigger. He fired, the muzzle blossoming flame in slow motion as the roar of the shot washed over Todd and his eardrums were flattened by the concussion. The round went wide, passing harmlessly through the air to the right of Todd’s head.

The boy was pulling back the hammer for another shot when his eyes widened with surprised shock and the hand holding the gun fell lifelessly to his side.

“Gaahhhh,” the boy said as he reached up with his free hand towards the back of his head. He dropped to his knees revealing the girl Todd had been tasked with protecting as she stood over the boy, her face twisted into a mask of savage anger, her hand wrapped around the handle of the hammer growing from the back of the boys head, the claws buried deep in his brain.

She wrenched the hammer free as Todd rubbed his ears in a failed attempt to restore his hearing. She screamed silently as she raised the hammer over her head and brought it down savagely onto the boys head. He dropped to his knees in front of Todd, the gun still held in one hand, resting lifelessly against the ground, forgotten. The boy looked at him with a questioning expression as the light of life faded from his eyes and he fell face first to the ground at Todd’s feet.

He didn’t know where she got the hammer, and quite honestly didn’t really care, she’d saved his ass and given the boy exactly what he deserved.

Blood sprayed against the rusted hulk of the tractor beside them, glistening in the sunlight as she pummeled the boy’s body with the hammer in a frenzied attack fueled by terror and rage.

More attuned to the need to survive, even though he couldn’t yet hear, Todd knew the others would be coming soon and they needed to be out of there when they did. He reached for the girl and she slashed savagely at his hand with the hammer. He jerked his hand back and pulled his own pistol, leveling the muzzle in the direction the others were coming.

Her eyes went wide with terror as she fell back, only becoming aware of the direction Todd was aiming when she dropped to her knees at the boys lifeless feet. She glanced back over her shoulder as Todd fired and the first of the approaching attackers dropped to the ground in a tangled heap. He fired again as another appeared, the round catching the boy in the shoulder and spinning him around as blood splattered across the dusty ground.

Through it all the only thing Todd could hear was that persistent ringing in his ears that cast the whole scene in an eerie light. He felt more than heard the sound of a round ricocheting from the rusted hunk of the tractor beside him and he hunkered down behind its bulk as he returned fire. 

The girl crawled around behind the tractor with him and he glanced in her direction as he kept a watch over the edge of the tractor. He knew if they were smart the attackers would be trying to flank him soon and with that in mind he swiveled his head left and right, searching for new threats he felt sure were even then sneaking up on them.

“We have to get out of here,” he said to the girl who looked up at him with fear and anger battling for control of her emotions. Another round ricocheted from the tractor and this time he heard a faint whickering sound as the round spun harmlessly by them. His hearing was coming back, slowly.

She cried out in pain, the sound of her voice coming to Todd as a faint whisper within a static filled hiss that had replaced the ringing in his ears. He glanced over to find her doubled over her swollen belly with her arms wrapped around her middle. A wet stain covered the fabric of the front of her pants and he realized she was having the baby, right there, in the middle of a gun fight.

“No,“ he shouted, “not here!”

She cried out in response as she cradled herself with her arms, curling up into a fetal position on the ground behind the tractor.

He gabbed her arm and pulled her up to a sitting position. “If we stay here, we die, and that includes your baby,” Todd shouted at her and she nodded in understanding, pain etched across her features.

Another round slammed into the bulk of the tractor, followed by a fusillade that pelted the old steel protecting them. Todd knew they would be moving during the gunfire and he peaked around the side of the tractor, catching sight of two boys running towards the tree line that would provide cover as they moved to flank them. He glanced back the way he had come, inside the tree line was his gear, if he could reach that they would have a better chance of surviving.

“We have to get to the trees,” he shouted, his voice coming to him as if from a great distance away.

She nodded in understanding and Todd pushed himself to his feet, his hand latched onto hers, if she fell he was gonna drag her ass all the way to the trees.

“Now,” he shouted and they took off, running bent over across the overgrown field, every step brining them another step closer to the tree line. Bullets whipped by through the air around them, some slammed into the ground at their feet, sending small geysers of dirt into the air upon impact.

They reached the tree line just as another group of boys emerged to their left and Todd went to ground, diving for his pack as they fired at them.

To be continued!

Follow Billie-Bobs adventures as he explores a post apocalyptic world with his three friends. 

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Billie-Bob's Birthday Part I

They had come to him two weeks earlier with their proposal, arriving as the last of the days light fled to the safety of the west. Three men dressed in an a way he’d never seen before.

They all wore heavy denim jeans that appeared hand made, and leather vests over plain cotton shirts. The vests were covered with odd symbols that had been hand worked into the aged leather. Two of them struck him as manager types used to giving orders, and being obeyed.

It was the third man who elicited a tiny spark of fear in him, a sensation he hadn’t felt in years. He stood behind the other two, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes every watchful from beneath the shadowy brim of his hat. On his hip he carried a massive pistol whose sandalwood grips dwarfed his own hand.

Looking into his eyes he knew this man could kill him in an instant.

What they asked for had at first seemed odd. One did not normally approach a mercenary of his reputation with a request to keep the target alive. At the ripe old age of Eighteen he had earned  a standing as one of the most brutal guns for hire out there. He had only been fifteen when the dead rose up and the living fled as the society they all knew crumbled.

Overnight the world he’d known had ceased to exist. Cell phones quit working, the internet followed shortly thereafter, and it wasn’t long before the first long night came as the electric grid failed. All of the conveniences of modern life had fallen by the wayside as roving bands of heavily armed men and women took what they wanted, killing any who dared deny them. Not to mention the wandering groups of undead who sought sustenance from the living. It was like they had jumped from the frying pan into the fire, a phrase his father had always used.

He’d witnessed his mother and father’s death at the hands of one of these groups. On that night his alter ego had been born, and he stopped being Todd Franklin, who had a secret crush on his neighbors daughter who happened to be three years older than him, and hardly knew he was alive.

That night he became the Angel of Death.

For six months he tracked the group that had killed his parents with a single mindedness that bordered on obsession. Carving away at their numbers as opportunities presented themselves, until he cornered the last few members in a small town West of the capitol of a nation that lay in a smoldering ruins. That final confrontation had been brutal and bloody, with the flames of the fires he’d set consuming the entire town in which they had hidden.

He had walked away satisfied in a way he’d never known before. Over time he earned a reputation as someone not to be trifled with. Someone in fact that it would be best to avoid at all costs. Someone willing to trade any life for the right price. But even he had his limits. No kids, and especially no pregnant women. They were off limits to him. He’d kill anyone you asked for unless they were a part of those two groups.

Now he was being asked not to kill, but to protect another person from the brutality of a world that had been turned upon its ear. When he’d asked why, the only thing they would tell him was the child she bore would take part in saving untold worlds that had been thrown into turmoil. The idea had appealed to the fourteen year old kid still trapped within him, an innocent side that had once marveled at the worlds created in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. 

But what sealed the deal for him was their offer to let him escape this desolate place if he was successful. Yeah, they might be lying, but they struck him as not being from this world so he took their word for what they offered. Besides, if he hadn’t accepted, what if he was wrong?

There was always that chance.

They told him she would be by this way within the next few days, and he’d been keeping a cold camp for a week now as he waited for her. Several times roaming bands of Zombies had wandered by, and each time he had gone to ground until they passed, his weapons always at the ready in the event they wandered too close to him.

He had just laid down for a short nap when a shout from the roadway he had been watching drew him back to the edge of the forest. A group of people appeared from around the bend in the road. A number of them were heavily armed and a few appeared to be wounded.  He’d heard some distant shooting earlier that day but hadn’t gone to check on it, preferring to stay where he was so he wouldn’t miss his target, and his only chance to escape this dying place.

There were four girls tied together in the middle of the group and as he watched one of the men, really nothing more than a boy, walked over and cut the ropes binding one of them. The boy called over another, younger boy, and handed him his pistol, pointing towards the field that was between Todd and the group. She was pregnant, he noticed as he realized he was looking at the girl he was supposed to protect.

They were going to shoot her.

The thought shot through him and he moved from cover to get into a better position from which to save her. Crawling forward behind the rusted remnants of a tractor he heard the girl sobbing as the young boy led her by the rope tied around her neck. He felt his anger rising at the thought that another innocent was about to die.

“Quit your damned crying and get on your knees, bitch.” The boy said as Todd came around the side of the car in a crouch. The girl looked up and screamed as he came into view.



To be continued!

Follow Billie-Bobs adventures as he explores a post apocalyptic world with his three friends. 

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Sign up here! 

Windows Birthday: Part III

Artwork by James Skiles

Windows Birthday Part III

Joe knelt at the side of the small grave and wept for the loss of his unborn son’s life. They knew it had been a risk when Darlene became pregnant. It was not the time or place for such an event. But they had hoped everything would work out all right, and had taken every precaution possible, but some things weren’t meant to be.

Before the dead walked Joe had been leading an average life with his wife in the suburbs outside of Washington D.C. An analyst for the government he’d seen a problem looming on the horizon and had taken the necessary steps to protect himself and his family. Purchasing several secluded acres along the edge of a small lake in the mountains of West Virginia. He knew it wouldn’t be long before the end came, and when it did, he was as surprised as everyone else.

At the time Zombie fiction had become quite popular, with several highly rated television shows appearing weekly. No one cold have predicted that life would imitate art when the earth passed through the tail of a comet and the recently deceased were reanimated by an extraterrestrial virus.

With his wife Darlene, Joe fled into the mountains as society collapsed and the cities became free fire zones as survivors battled for what supplies remained, and the dead filled the streets in their endless search for sustenance. 

As he stood up he became aware of the sound of a horse approaching and through the trees to his left a rider appeared, slumped over his saddle, blood staining his right pants leg. His left arm was wrapped around a small bundle and from the shadowy depths Joe heard a baby crying.

Darlene was drawn from the depths of the cabin, her features pale and drained, and with Joe at her side together they approached the wounded rider.

“Where did he come from?” Darlene said.

“I don’t know,” Joe answered as he surveyed the man’s strange dress. His jeans were stiff, dark blue, stuffed into well worn boots that came up to mid calf. He wore a leather vest covered with odd patterns, swirls and vortexes that made little sense. 

“Protect the child,” the man whispered as the horse stopped, rolling its eyes as it lolled its head back and forth, nibbling as its bit. The rider slid from the saddle, and Joe caught him before he hit the ground. Darlene stepped in to ease the swaddled baby from his arm.

She held the bundle close to her chest, tears welling up in her eyes as she cradled the child, looking from Joe to the stranger with an expression of maternal need.

Joe pulled back the vest the stranger wore, exposing the wound in his shoulder as the stranger stirred. His eyes snapped open, and Joe was mesmerized by the brilliant green of his gaze.

“Where’s the boy?” the stranger said as he struggled to push himself to his feet.

“He’s safe,” Joe said as he stepped back and the stranger towered over him. He noted the leather gun belt slung low around the strangers waist, the odd designs worked into the leather, the hoops filled with massive 44 caliber rounds, their blunt heads pointed at the ground. The Sandalwood butt of a pistol protruded from the leather holster.

Gunslinger, the thought filled Joe's mind.

The stranger looked from Joe to Darlene, and back again, his gaze pinning Joe to his spot.

“I’m Joe, this is my wife, Darlene,” Joe said as he extended his hand and nodded to his wife at his side.

The stranger glanced at Joe’s hand, ignoring it as his gaze drifted to the tiny cross at the head of the small grave, then back to Darlene.

“The future of all worlds depends on his survival,” he said, his gaze dropping to the bundle in her arms as the sound of other horses approaching came from the forest that had birthed the stranger.

Faster than Joe's eye could follow, the stranger drew his revolver and spun around to confront the new arrivals. So fast it was as if his pistol had magically appeared in his massive hand. Before either of them could react, four men emerged from the forest and the stranger opened fire, his pistol speaking in a deadly voice, as the first two men met their end before they even recognized the threat.

The other two ducked into cover and returned fire as Joe and Darlene dropped to the ground, Darlene held the small bundle close to her body as rounds whizzed through the air above them. 

Joe looked up to find the gunslinger still on his feet, wading into the fight, his gun singing a song of death as bullets filled the air around them like angry bees.

As suddenly as it had begun the fight was over, the last remnants of gunfire fading into the mountains like distant thunder. Joe pushed himself to his feet and crossed to the stranger who stood weaving back and forth. The four intruders dead in the dust before him.

The stranger, gunslinger, unbuckled his belt and passed the holster to Joe, nodding towards the baby in Darlene’s arms.

“It is his birthright,” he said

Without another word he dropped to his knees and fell face first to the ground.

The End 

Follow Windows adventures as he explores a post apocalyptic world with his three friends. 

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Windows Birth Part II

Weaving back and forth William clung to the side of the horse, riding on its flank as he had been taught when he was a child, so as not to be knocked from his saddle by low hanging branches. The ground sloped down towards the sound of rushing water, the pounding hooves of his pursuers thundering through the forest behind him. They would make good time racing across the field, but once they reached the forest their progress would be slowed as his had been.

Allowing his horse to pick its own way down the hill that was growing steadily steeper, he glanced back over his shoulder to find two of his pursuers already within sight.  He recognized the one on the left, that wide brim hat a dead giveaway for the one known as Preacher. It was a nickname he’d earned because he always allowed those he hunted down an opportunity to make peace with the god of their choice before he took them out. If they had called on the Preacher, that meant they were dead serious about ending this child’s life.

But why. It was a question he’d been asking himself ever since he’d learned of his lady’s pregnancy and the resulting flight from the royal court. What did this child represent? What was his purpose? How could his survival threaten a dynasty that had outlasted the very reign of man?

Somewhere within those endlessly circling questions that spun about like a whirlpool that consumed all it came into contact with, the truth lay.

As they neared the bottom of the hill, his pursuers matching him step for step he scanned the bank of a narrow river, looking for a place to cross. He would be vulnerable then, his back to those who would run him down to the ground, he knew he couldn’t make it easy for them.

Coming out of the tree line he laid into his horses flanks with the whip, driving the beast forward at an insane run, the horse struggled at first, its massive lungs pumping the air in and out as it ran headlong along the bank of the river. Behind him he heard his pursuers and chanced to take a look back. When he did his horse hit a hole with one hoof, screaming in surprised agony as the bone snapped and his flight was brought to a jarring stop.

William was thrown from his mount, the baby clutched close to his chest as he curled his body around the child to protect it as they slammed into the ground. They rolled through the grass, small rocks and limbs dinging his back, and arms, and legs. Stars exploded behind his closed eyelids as he hit his head on a larger stone, and he struggled to remain conscious as they rolled to a stop.

Getting to his knees he gently laid the child in a shallow depression. The baby watched him with an interest that belied his age. Strangely enough the child had not once cried out during their flight, as if it were instinctively aware that it must remain silent if it wished to live.

Shaking off the effects of his fall he pulled himself to his feet and turned to face his pursuers as only a true gunslinger could. His hand loose above the sandalwood butt of his revolver protruding from the holster on his hip, he pulled the brim of his hat down to shade his eyes as he squared his shoulders to meet their attack.

They came around the bend in the river, riding low against the backs of their mounts, digging their spurs into the bloodied flanks of their massive steeds.

Faster than the naked eye could follow he slid his revolver from its holster, bringing the barrel up as he focused on the point he wanted the round to strike, thumbing back the hammer, and squeezing the trigger all in one fluid movement.

The .44 caliber slug covered the dwindling distance between him and the approaching riders almost instantly. Slamming into the crown of the hat of the rider beside Preacher, shattering bone on impact, jelling the brain, and killing the man instantly. His lifeless body, no longer able to hang onto the reins, was thrown from the saddle, coming to rest in a shattered heap that would become his final resting place.

The man known as Preacher drew his mount up short, stopping twenty yards away, and slid down from the saddle. With measured steps he moved away from his mount, never taking his eyes off William who tracked his every move.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Preacher said, “give me the child, let me return him to his rightful place.”

“The child has found his rightful place,” William said as he returned his revolver to its home.

Preacher shook his head slowly from side to side as he spread out his arms and turned to look at the wilderness that surrounded them. “You call this backwards world his rightful place, he belongs in the royal court, not out here among the savages.”

“You ask me to return this innocent child to die?” 

“That’s not your decision to make. Ours is but to follow orders, do as we’re told, fulfill the obligations of our forefathers.”

“What about protecting the innocent? Isn’t that what our forefathers really wanted? When did we become servants to the royal court?”

Preacher shrugged, dipping his head to the left, and as he did he made his play but William had seen it coming. Two shots rang out as one, their deadly voices rolling away like distant thunder as both men stood facing one another.

Preacher looked down at his chest, at the hole that had suddenly appeared there, dark red blood pumping from the wound to stain his vest. He could no longer hold his pistol steady and he let his hand drop to his side as he fell first to his knees, then onto his face.

William staggered back, Preachers slug having slammed into his shoulder, and he felt the sickening way his arm hung lifelessly from his side. Blood stained his shirt, trickling down beneath his vest. He had to find a place to hole up soon. A cry from the horse reminded him of its agony and he quickly dispatched it to ease its pain.

Gathering up the reins for Preachers horse he retrieved the child and painfully climbed into the saddle, turning towards the stream he urged his mount across. He had reached the other side of the stream by the time the rest of his pursuers rounded the bend. The sight of Preachers dead body would stop them for a moment, but it would also drive them to double their efforts to bring him down and return the child to the royal court.

First blood had been drawn and it had become a feud

As his pursuers gathered around the two bodies William faded into the tree line and began making his way up the steep incline. He had to find a place soon to take care of his wounded shoulder if he hoped to survive.

To be continued!

Follow Windows adventures as he explores a post apocalyptic world with his three friends. 

 

Available exclusively at Amazon 

Read for free with Kindle Unlimited

Get it here! 

 '

Available exclusively at Amazon 

Read for free with Kindle Unlimited

Get it here!

Don't forget to sign up to be updated and notified of my new releases when they become available. 

I promise not to share your email address with anyone else, and will only send you an email for important updates and new releases as they become available. I'll even throw in a free book just for signing up.

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Windows Birthday Part I

Windows Birthday

 She was too frail to carry her pregnancy to term, and the doctors had warned her that to give birth to the child growing in her womb would surely end her own life. What the doctors had not counted on was a stubbornness that ran counter to the frailty of her physical being. She was determined to have this child, no matter what, and William, who had pledged his fidelity to this child queen stood behind her every decision.

She had once been royalty, before the world they all knew ended, and she had used what resources she had at her disposal to bring them to this desolate place. Far from the danger that now stalked the remnants of a civilization that teetered upon the brink of extinction. Surrounded by dense forest and mountainous ridges that served as a natural barrier against any but the most determined foe. They had come to what was once a summer home but now served as a refuge from those who would do them harm.

The ladies screams filled the short hallway and William turned from the window he’d been gazing out of, watching the forest for anything that might threaten his charge. Doctor Forester was hurrying down the hallway towards him, the blue smock he wore pressed tight against his wide girth.

“You must speak with her William,” Doctor Forester said as he struggled to catch his breath, “she can’t go through with this, and I don’t have the facilities to save her if she does.”

“It was her choice, you know as well as I do how stubborn she is, besides it’s not our place to question her.” William returned to watching the forest.

“Is that all you have to say?” Another scream punctuated the doctor’s words.

“You better go to her, she’s going to need you,” William said without turning away from the window. It was the way of the world, fate was not as set in stone as many believed it to be. There was another reason they had come to this place. To follow a path the lady felt had been laid out for her.

He listened to the doctor’s footsteps retreating down the hall as another set approached. These were much more stealthy than the doctor’s had been, and in the window next to his head he spotted the reflection of a man dressed in camouflage clothing.

“Sir, the outlooks have spotted a group of riders approaching.”

“How long do we have?”

“About an hour.”

William nodded, dismissing the man as another scream cam from the room at the end of the hall, this one more primal than the others before, more terrified, and the sound tore at his heart. Though he may have been her personal bodyguard, nothing more than a well trained servant, he harbored a deep love for his charge. A love that would compel him to give his own life if needed to spare hers.

It wouldn’t be long now, and as her last scream faded to silence, another cry replaced it. That of a child, crying out for its first time as it took its first breath. Turning from the window William quickly strode down the hallway to the room at the far end.

Inside he found her, lying motionless in the massive four poster bed that dwarfed her small figure. Her eyes were closed, her hands folded over her chest, dark hair framing a delicate face. Doctor Morrison was pulling the blankets up to cover her head when William entered the room. He stopped him and knelt beside the bed, taking one of the lady’s hands into his own as his emotions surged at the sight of her dead body. Sorrow and anger battled for dominance as he bowed his head and placed her cold hand against his forehead.

I’m sorry. He thought to himself as he warmed her dead flesh with his own body heat. Then he stood, ready to do as she had asked.

“There isn’t much time,” William said, “give me the child.”

A nurse handed over a swaddled bundle and he looked down into a wrinkled face. From outside a shot rang out, followed by another.

“I thought you said we had time,” Doctor Forrester said.

“Obviously I was wrong,” William said as he turned to leave the room.

“What are you going to do with the child? What about her? What about us?”

“It’s now every man for himself, but remember your oath to her, just because she’s no longer with us doesn’t mean you’ve been released from your obligation. As for the child, that’s really none of your concern. The less you know the better.” With that he turned and raced down the hallway as the sound of booted feet came from the main entrance.

“Give us the child,” a familiar voice shouted as gunfire erupted in the entrance.

William raced down the rear steps, the bundled child held close to his chest as he fled through the house and onto the rear deck. Gathering up the reins of the horse he’d stationed there he pulled himself into the saddle as the sound of booted feet came from the deck above his.,

Hunkered down low he held the baby close to his chest as he jabbed the horse in its flanks with his heels, and sent it racing across the open ground towards the distant tree line.

If he made it to the forest he could lose his pursuers among the trees. A bullet whickered over his head as he neared the tree line. It was obvious they didn’t care if they hit the child, confirming his worst suspicions.

Then he was in the trees, darting to and fro to avoid the slender trunks as the sound of bullets pelted the leaves around him like a lethal rain shower.

Follow Windows adventures as he explores a post apocalyptic world with his three friends. 

 

Available exclusively at Amazon 

Read for free with Kindle Unlimited

Get it here! 

 '

Available exclusively at Amazon 

Read for free with Kindle Unlimited

Get it here!

Don't forget to sign up to be updated and notified of my new releases when they become available. 

I promise not to share your email address with anyone else, and will only send you an email for important updates and new releases as they become available. I'll even throw in a free book just for signing up.

Sign up here! 

The Reaping Excerpt

As many of you may know I've been hard at work getting my next book ready for release. THE REAPING is book two in my DREADLAND CHRONICLES series that follows a group of four boys through a post apocalyptic world. The story was inspired by the westerns I watched growing up and Stephen King's Darktower series that follows the adventures of the last gunslinger, Roland Deschain as he pursues the man in black.

For me a Gunslinger represents a force of good whose purpose is to bring order to a lawless land. But where did they originate? The DREADLAND CHRONICLES is my attempt to answer that question.

Every Wednesday over the next five weeks I will be sharing a different short excerpt from THE REAPING to, I hope, whet your appetite for its release on June 24, 2016. That weekend, the 24, through the 26th, the first book in the series ALL ROADS LEAD TO TERROR will be free on Amazon. There will also be a contest featuring a unique one of a kind prize for the winner with smaller gifts handed out to everyone who participates. See the end of this post for more details.

Without further delay I give you the first except from THE REAPING.

They heard her before they saw her, whistling a soft tune, a haunting melody that was anything but  upbeat. Like a funeral dirge best shared during the procession when the casket takes its final journey to the grave. From around a bend in the small stream the sound came, competing with the babble of the water rushing over smooth stone, and the restless voice of a soft breeze that stirred what leaves remained, their dead bodies chattering against one another like skeletons dancing a frenzied jig.

Cautiously they approached the sound, coming upon an old woman kneeling on the bank as she washed clothes in the cold waters of the stream. Her calloused hands were red with the cold, and as they rounded the bend she pushed herself to her feet with the help of a gnarled cane, tilting her head to one side like she could hear their footsteps on the grassy bank.

“I been waiting for you boys to find me. Mama said you would be around,” she said as the hem of her long dress caught in the moving water and the fabric drank its fill. She wore a black shawl stretched across her shoulders, her white hair in stark contrast as it rested against her back.

“Don’t be bashful now, I know you’re out there, I can smell ya.” She turned her head to look in their direction, the cataracts coating her eyes capturing the sunlight to lend them a silvery appearance. Her face was a road map of wrinkles, each one denoting a different emotion, the lines radiating out from her narrow lips ready at a moments notice to punctuate a smile or a frown.

Window moved past the others, following the narrow strip of brown grass that served as a bank to keep the stream on its course. She blinked several times as he approached, taking a hesitant step back as he got closer, his six two frame towering over her diminutive five three posture.

“He got to you, didn’t he boy?” She said with a faint quiver in her voice. It was obvious she was frightened by Windows sudden movement, but at the same time she carried herself like one who was prepared to meet her end. She reached out with one hand, and gently caressed Windows cheek like a mother comforting her child.

“How did you know we was coming?” Window said.

She smiled then, relaxing her grip on the walking stick she used to keep herself upright. “Mama told me back when I was a young un. She said, Sophie, you help them four boys when they come, you wait right there, don’t go running off, cause they’s gonna need your help.”

“How long ago was that?” Window said.

“All my life I’ve known, and I’ve waited, cause mama told me I had to. From the time I was a wee child running barefoot down to old man Winner's little store, I’ve known of you.”

“But that was before we were even born,” Window said as the others joined them and the old woman tilted her head to each in turn.

“You can see us?” Billie-Bob said.

She laughed then, her voice filled with a joy that helped push back the chill of the late fall day, offering a brief respite from the cold as a spreading warmth filled each of them at the sound of her merriment.

“Everything that has been, and is yet to be, has been writ down for those who know where to look,” she said before turning to look in Billie-Bob’s direction.

“I can see you with my heart, and that’s all I need. I can see your pain, you did something you thought was bad, but it wasn’t. Sometimes we are pushed to do things we otherwise would not do, for these things we can’t be held accountable, least ways not to ourselves. Where each of you are going you need to leave your guilt behind, it’s the only way you will survive, the only way the world as we know it will continue on its way.”

“What good is this world?” Einstein said, “why should we worry about letting it continue on its way.”

The old woman reached over and touched Einstein’s cheek, “I feel your pain son, but sometimes we have to know loss before we can know joy. It’s the way of the world and it won’t do us any good to fight it. You can’t see that now, but you will.”

“Can you help us?” Meat said.

“That’s why I’m here,” she said as she took Windows hand into her own, “he’s got something very bad in him," she said as she nodded at Window, "they calls them reapers, I can see it hunkered down next to his soul, trying to hide from me. I can’t help with that, but I know what you need to do. Let’s go inside where we can talk.” She looked around, searching the woods around them for other intruders, the boys followed suit, finding only the empty forest.

When they turned back a small cabin stood behind the old woman. It hadn’t been there before, Meat was sure of it, it was like it had materialized right out of the forest behind them.



End Excerpt

THE REAPING is available for pre-order HERE!


Book II, THE REAPING is due to be released June 24, 2016. That weekend, the 24, through the 26th, the first book in the series ALL ROADS LEAD TO TERROR will be free on Amazon.

Anyone who grabs a copy and leaves a review, (good, bad, indifferent) will receive an autographed bookmark, and will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a one of a kind glass mug. I'll have a photo of the mug next week.