The LZR Project - Episode #8 Now Available!

Episode #8 is now available for download in PDF format for your reading pleasure, and best of all, it's only $1 for those not on a series subscription! Check out the official web page for links to individual episodes. Want to subscribe to The LZR Project and only pay once to get a new episode each and every Wednesday - and catch up on back episodes? Head to https://gumroad.com/products/LqzG for more information.

In this episode: During a mission to Crystal City to find the Sindaris Stone, Carrie Green finds a vision of her questionable future with David Corbin.

Enjoy!

Flash Fiction Friday #25 - Moonlight

Moonlight

I packed my bag light in case trouble decided to pursue me along the road. It was a mistake leaving Avernon, but if I stayed with her she would have been killed. We both would have been killed, probably in our sleep. Instead, I decided to kill her in her sleep. Not actually, but figuratively. By leaving while she slumbered, I know she will awaken to a nightmare of my creation. I doubt she will ever forgive me. It is for the best, regardless if she is ever able to see it that way.

I shift the bag higher on my shoulder, shoving my fingers between the bag strap and the bone of my collar in the hopes of alleviating the dull pain the weight of the bag is causing. Even though I did pack light, the strap of the bag itself seems intent on tearing through my skin.

The path in front of me is mostly dark, save for slivers of moonlight that sneak through the massive tree branches spread overhead. A dark fog attempts to flood my path, but the slivers of moonlight will not allow it to consume my way. I am glad for this. I sense ill specters within the fog, but have yet to see them.

The air is damp, and my lungs feel as if they are filling with wet cotton. I wonder how long it will take for the Separsese to catch up with me. Even though I displeased him by stealing the talisman, he will not be pleased when he discovers what I did with it. He will undoubtedly hunt me to the corners of the planet. That is why I had to leave Avernon. That is why I had to leave my love behind, sleeping, naked after a night full of passion. I doubt I will ever cross paths with one like her again. If 

I don’t outwit the Separsese, I doubt I will cross paths with anyone ever again.

Suddenly, like mice scurrying out of the path of giant’s feet, the slivers of moonlight which have kept me company thus far flee, and the dark fog fills in the path around me. I am left in pure darkness. I set my bag on the ground and quickly pull out my pack of matches, lighting one upon the side of my shoe. The small glow barely illuminates the area around me, but it is enough to show me who I face here in the Drashard Woods: the Separsese.

His face hangs in the darkness as if he has no body. The wrinkles traveling his face create a map upon his countenance, one that hints at many adventures and much age. But the texture of his face is nothing to his eyes which glow a soft amber color in the darkness. The smile upon his lips are filled with poison as he opens them to speak to me.

“Victor. Did you really think you could outsmart me?”

“You came for your talisman?” I ask.

His body comes into view. He is wearing a flowing purple robe. It is what he usually wears when he sentences his people to execution. “You took a holy artifact. Where is it?”

He circles around me, but I refuse to follow him with my sight. Instead, I stand straight and tall in the hopes of hiding my fear. “I don’t have it.”

“You destroyed it?”

I nod.

The Separsese hisses like a serpent. “Why?”

“You were going to use it on me, weren’t you?”

“How do you know that? The talisman you took was the Oborong. An ancient artifact with the power to heal. Why would I use that on you?”

“In order to heal one, it drains the life from another. You were going to use it to drain my life to heal you.”

He stopped and grinned madly. “More clever you are than I ever gave you credit for. Yes. My intention was to destroy you to build myself up. However, now that you have destroyed the talisman, I will have to take your life in other ways. First I will drain your life, your blood, and then the blood of your beautiful Avernon. And the blood of her child.”

My heart slams against my ribcage, screaming to get out of my chest. “Child?”

“You did not know?” he says, flashing his rotted teeth. “She carries. I sense the power in the life she holds within her womb.”

“Leave her. Take me. I’m the one you wanted all along.”

“Yes, but you have destroyed the artifact that would have allowed me to fill myself with your essence alone. Now I need more than just yours in order to fill myself with life. That child will be the perfect source…unless.”

I can’t help but sneer. “Unless what?”

“I will allow you and your significant others to live. You pledge yourself to me. Your spirit. Your soul. Your life. You do my bidding, and I will allow you to live.”

“Never.”

He shrugged. “Fine. Have it your way. Lay down.” He waves his hand and I feel my body collapse to the dirt. “Roll over.” I roll onto my back. “Die.” My insides suddenly feel as if they are being drowned in corrosive acid.

“No!” I scream.

The pain stops.

The Separsese looks down upon me. “Did you say something?”

“I will serve you,” I say with a whisper.

He waves his hand and I stand to my feet. I feel something prick my right hand. I look to it and see a strange purple skull stamped into my skin.

“Go back home,” the Separsese says. “Go back home and enjoy your Avernon and enjoy your new child. Just know that I will have need of you soon.”

In the blink of an eye, the Separsese is gone and the slivers of moonlight return to my side like fair-weather friends.

The LZR Project - Episode #7 Now Available!

Episode #7 is now available for download in PDF format for your reading pleasure, and best of all, it's only $1 for those not on a series subscription! Check out the official web page for links to individual episodes. Want to subscribe to The LZR Project and only pay once to get a new episode each and every Wednesday - and catch up on back episodes? Head to https://gumroad.com/products/LqzG for more information.

In this episode: Feeling slighted by her older brother, Cybil Corbin decides to take matters into her own hands. Donning a homemade costume, she ventures into the city of Lysallis to find a way to prove her worth to Anaisha's greatest hero.

Enjoy!

Flash Fiction Friday #24 - Contessa

Contessa

Pieces of Earth drifting into space. A scene Contessa was accustomed to, and yet still alarmed by. The sounds of war had died out, leaving in its place an eerie silence that she didn’t realize she had ever known. As the Dark Army fled, leaving Earth nearly uninhabitable and scorched by war and soaked in blood, Contessa struggled with a desire to stowaway on one of the Master Vet ships she had seen them leave on. It would have been a serendipitous opportunity to infiltrate the enemy ranks and possibly find a way of sabotaging them.

Instead, she decided to stay here on the planet she was birthed on. She knew there were pockets of people residing underground, in caves, and in some of the cities that were fortunate enough to still be standing after the war. She was uncertain as to whether or not she would join up with others. She had grown warm to the idea of being on her own. It made things easier. She had no family. Her mother, father, and sister died in the war. The only friend – rather acquaintance – she had lived in Akoron to the east.

Contessa stretched her arms into the air, her eyes scanning the valley below the cliff she sat on. Her thick black overcoat did its job of keeping her warm against the harsh wind that blew through the area. It was a wind that had appeared once the war ended days earlier, and hadn’t quit since then. She rubbed her gloved hands across her thighs, grateful for the long pants she had been able to scavenge out of a nearby shack. The two corpses she found in the shack had died in each other’s arms in the bed of the master room. The pants had been covered in light blotches of blood, but running water in the shack’s bathtub allowed Contessa to wash them as clean as they would ever be in this post-war world.

A white blur crossed the dark sky in front of her. She let out a relieved sigh and put her arm out as the white dove fluttered to her and landed on her wrist. The bird’s blue eyes always alarmed her with their vibrancy. She took the small scroll from the carrier case around the bird’s neck and flicked her wrist, sending the bird off on its way back to Akoron.

Before reading the note, Contessa stared out at the valley once more, her spirit screaming at her, scolding her for not hitching a ride on one of the Dark Army’s ships. If she had done so, she could have found out where they had gone to after destroying her precious planet. Instead, she decided to stay grounded on Earth, grounded on a scorched planet that was as barren as her own womb.

She unfurled the small scroll: Akoron has fallen due to civil war. We are heading to Eradi to the west. See you there.

Contessa sighed and stared up into the dark sky. If the Dark Army hadn’t already destroyed everything, now the rest of humanity had to begin bickering and arguing with one another over the crumbs. It was pathetic. Too pathetic.

She dropped the scroll over the edge of the cliff and watched as it coasted downward into darkness and vanished. Loner it is, she thought. Loner it is.

The LZR Project - Episode #6 Now Available!

Episode #6 is now available for download in PDF format for your reading pleasure, and best of all, it's only $1 for those not on a series subscription! Check out the official web page for links to individual episodes. Want to subscribe to The LZR Project and only pay once to get a new episode each and every Wednesday - and catch up on back episodes? Head to https://gumroad.com/products/LqzG for more information.

In their pursuit of Enera's most notorious hacker, David Corbin and the rest of the Lazerblades find more than they bargained for in the form of a mysterious rogue sniper.

Enjoy!

Flash Fiction Friday #23 - Imprisoned

Today's piece, Imprisoned, is derived from two different things. One, I have been wanting to write a zombie-type piece for a while now. And two, I started playing the Alpha version of The Dead Linger on Steam. The second time I tried the game, I spawned inside of a prison full of zombies. So there, you have it. Enjoy!

Imprisoned
The smell is the first thing to hit me. Not light. Not the pain in many of my extremities. But the smell. A combination of rotting flesh and burnt wood. I’m not sure what is causing that smell, but I’m almost certain it is what has woken me from the darkness.

At first, I am not able to open my eyes. I reach my right hand up to my eyelids and find them coated in a sticky substance of which I am certain is blood. I lick my fingers and apply sputum to my sealed eyes. When the blood is wiped away, I try to open them again. Slowly. Flickers of light sneak in through the darkness. As soon as my eyes are opened wide, I see the debris around me: large chunks of cement, metal bars, and small pockets of fire here and there.

My arms and legs are spotted in blood. I am able to stand, but my left leg is sore. I wonder if the cement debris collapsed on me at some point. I realize I am in a very small room – a prison cell, indicative of the bars in front of me.

What am I doing in a prison? What caused this damage?

On the other side of my cell door is a mob of beings that look human but are shuffling around in various directions, as if they are brain dead and inattentive. They flood the open area between my cell and the others. We must be in a barracks of some sort. Each individual is clothed in rags that look shredded and torn from whatever caused this damage. Most are male, but there are a few females in the bunch. Only a few. The skin of these strange beings is whiter than snow, and they each have a black stripe down the center of their face.

I spot one of them staring at me from the center of the crowd. His eyes are glazed in a pearl white. He makes a clicking sound with his tongue and the others suddenly turn their attention toward me. All of the males, anyway. The females keep shuffling around, oblivious to the world around them.

The ones that have noticed me shuffle to my cell door, grab hold of the bars, and began pulling on them. They are not strong enough to destroy this protective cage I am in. I glance around me and find a large chunk of cement which I lift into my hand. I see a set of keys sticking out of the lock of my cell door. I quickly grab them to keep them away from these strangers.

The grim realization suddenly hits me: I either stay in here – protected from whatever these beings are, or I open my cell door and fight through them to get out of this place.

How long until hunger sets in? How long until help arrives? Is there anyone left in this place who hasn’t been turned into one of these things?

I shove the key back into the cell door…

The LZR Project - Episode #5 Now Available!

Episode #5 is now available for download in PDF format for your reading pleasure, and best of all, it's only $1 for those not on a series subscription! Check out the official web page for links to individual episodes. Want to subscribe to The LZR Project and only pay once to get a new episode each and every Wednesday (and catch up on back episodes)? Head to https://gumroad.com/products/LqzG for more information.

After destroying the Corolex gang - and losing her brother in the process - Ridley Grant thought the city of Lysallis was safe from their malevolence. In this episode, all of that changes when the ghosts of her past return to exact vengeance upon her.

Enjoy!

Flash Fiction Friday #22 - Solitude

Today's FFF piece didn't seem too compelling once I finished writing it and read it over, however, I can see that it's more of a character sketch and plot idea than it is a full-blown story. After watching the season finale of 24: Live Another Day, I felt compelled to write out a sketch of a character much like Jack Bauer, someone who has nothing and nobody left and who is captured by his enemies and left with little to no hope. I'm not sure how this FFF piece branched from that intention to a plot about a full-blown plague epidemic but I'll take it.

Solitude

“Solitude is man’s greatest comfort, yet can also be man’s greatest nemesis.”
 

I read that quote many months ago. It was in a book…no, a magazine article on the human brain and the effects of solitude and its connections to insanity. I was waiting in the doctor office for Claire. She was there to get a checkup on an infection that had manifested in her lungs. The doctor office was busy that day. I complained to her later that it was too busy, but now I would welcome that busyness with open arms and pursed lips.
 

These shackles have cut and bruised my wrists. Mildew fills the air – and my lungs – making it hard to breathe normally. I haven’t eaten in days – too many to count – and I am ravished. The water they bring me is simply a collection of the condensation from the pipes that run through this compound. Aside from the guard who brings me that water, I haven’t seen another living soul in this place since I woke here. Where here is.
 

Memories come back to me in painful flashes of light and color, but I can’t seem to recollect exactly what brought me here. When the plague attacked New Haven, Claire and I were packing up to move West toward Lockly. We weren’t able to leave before Claire died. I found out – too late – that the infection in her lungs had been spurred on by the Rack Plague, and I could do nothing to save her.
 

I fled the city, taking what few supplies I could transport in our small sedan. I made it into the Wastelands and set up camp at the base of Mt. Sel. I grieved Claire’s death for days. I almost killed myself, but resolved to do what I could to survive. It’s what Claire would want. It’s the only reason I haven’t killed myself in this place.
 

I was going to leave my camp, to head further West and hopefully reach Lockly, but…I can’t remember…bandits, maybe, ambushed me. I remember men with cloth over their mouths. I remember guns. I remember the smell of sweat and urine. Everything after that is shrouded in darkness in the recesses of my mind. I woke up here, chained to the floor, half naked and starving.
 

There is nothing left for me except for the memory of Claire and that hideous plague. I wish I knew where it came from, what caused it, and how to stop it. It swept through the continent within a matter of weeks. I have no idea how I escaped its clutches.
 

Come to think of it, I haven’t seen the guard in a day or two. I haven’t seen anyone in a day or two. I’ve only seen the beam of sunlight which pours through the dirty window and shines light across me, bathing me in warmth, for a time each day.
 

Has the plague reached here into the depths of hell?

(Click the Flash Fiction Fridays link at the top of the page to read past pieces!)

Brand New Expired Reality Covers!

After months of hard work, I'm pleased to reveal the brand new cover designs for the three books in my Expired Reality series. These new covers will be showing up on Amazon and other sites over the course of the next couple of weeks, so keep your eyes peeled for them. The interiors of these books have been slightly altered as well, mainly in terms of font design. You'll also notice that the name of the novella, Picture Perfect, has been reverted to its original title: Drather's Story.

Endangered Memories - an Expired Reality novel

Lost Birth - an Expired Reality novel

Drather's Story - an Expired Reality novella

The LZR Project - Episode #4 Now Available!

Episode #4 is now available for download in PDF format for your reading pleasure, and best of all, it's only $1 for those not on a series subscription! Check out the official web page for links to individual episodes. Want to subscribe to The LZR Project and only pay once to get a new episode each and every Wednesday (and catch up on back episodes)? Head to https://gumroad.com/products/LqzG for more information.

In this episode, Carrie Green wakes up in a hospital, injured from a battle with Mr. Big. With David Corbin by her side, things don't seem to bad - until an unwelcome guest decides to pay her a visit.

Enjoy!