Chimera King Box Set Books 1-3
Page 1
Chimera King
Box Set Books 1-3
Atlas Kane
Contents
Book 1: Rebels of Last World
1. Of Beer, Bitches, and the Dregs of Chivalry
2. Muscles and Minding the Gods-damned Demon
3. Somewhere Between Atrocious and Gaudy
4. The Common Trials of Tourism
5. Heroes Scream Too, Dammit
6. Joining the Scouts is Way Overrated
7. The Intrigues of Incredible Hygiene
8. Lunch with the Captain and His Parrot
9. Killer Boots, Man
10. Brand-New Pants Around the Ankles
11. Scars of the Body, Scars of the Heart
12. The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend with Benefits
13. (Bugg)bear Baiting
14. First Date to the Grasslands
15. Life, and Killing Shit, on the Prairie
16. Of Ruin and the Promise to Rebuild
17. Moves Like Jaguar
18. No Need for Elbow Room
19. Between a Rock and a Grove of Goddamn Trees
20. What Makes the Water Fall
21. Temple Headache
22. A Job for the Handy
23. The Alpha in Me Eats the Alpha in You
24. A Helluva Lot Worse than Frogs
25. Of Meat and Mushrooms
26. Far From a Boaring Day
27. Hung Over and Hanging On
28. The Harlot and the Herald
29. Three, the Best Sort of Crowd
30. Epilogue: New Blood
Book 2: Champions of Last World
Prologue: To Hold the Flame
1. Pussycat Recon
2. More of a Recon, Really
3. Who is Hunting Who… or Whom?
4. Rest and Riding the Storm
5. A Hell of a Pony Show
6. From a Valley Deep, the Harem Rides
7. Tucked Between His Bitch-Ass Legs
8. Interview in Conference Room A
9. I Ain’t Scared(y) Cat
10. An Appealing Predicament
11. Treasure Beneath the Floorboards
12. The Double D Dungeon
13. First, a Creepy, then a Crawl
14. Trapdoor Plot Twist
15. Forgotten Fields and a New Friend
16. Holler at Your Tasty Maw
17. A Titanic Tantrum
18. Worse than a Hickey or a Mouthsore
19. Like a Cow, Maybe, But Missing the Bell
20. End to the Friendzone
21. Strike the Snake as it Coils
22. (A)pples and (Ba)Naynays
23. Thank God for My Protein Shake
24. Some Serious Braveheart Shit
25. The Heist, Hellacious
26. The Hangry Hetacomb
27. A Lion’s Feast
28. Vocations, a Vote, and Victuals
29. Feast, and Life Most Abundant
Epilogue: From Darkest Night
Book 3: Rulers of Last World
Prologue: Like Crack or Kryptonite
1. The Fruits of Mankind
2. The Bounty of Bureaucracy
3. The More You Eat
4. Going Down?
5. Less than Human
6. Ghoul in the Machine
7. Between the Chicken and the Pita Bread
8. The Limitations of Day Drinking
9. Closer to Banter than Bickering
10. Before and After the Morning Blowie
11. Delegating and Dungarees
12. Deep Within, a Lot of Slime
13. Winging It
14. The Intersections of Culture and Class
15. Before the Levy Breaks
16. To Be Locked and Loaded
17. Convoy Caterwauling
18. Wrestling the Mountain
19. Big Shoes, New Roommates
20. With a Little Help from My Friends
21. The Wine and the Coconut
22. Of Daggers and Dark Places
23. Picking Up and Diving In
24. Hu(Man) Nature
25. Man Vs. Self
26. One Last Look Under the Hood
27. Big Legged Woman
28. More Than One Way to Break Ground
Epilogue: In the Palm of His Hand
Towers of Acalia: Sneak Peak
Friends and Family
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LitRPG
Book 1: Rebels of Last World
1
Of Beer, Bitches, and the Dregs of Chivalry
Caderick Shelby Clarke walked down the street, hands thrust deep in his pockets. He studied his boots, weaving between and around puddles, his back hunched. For all the world, Cade looked like nothing more than a man to avoid.
He wasn’t nearly as mean as he appeared. If a man version of resting bitch face existed, he had one. Resting dick face? Resting grumpy asshole face? None quite rolled off the tongue, but regardless, people walked out of their way to avoid his permeating glower.
He wasn’t the only vet who put off this vibe. In fact, it used to be a lot worse. Back when he’d first put his boots back on US soil, he scared everyone he met. Hard to adapt to life as a soldier. Harder still to go back to the way you were, pretending you hadn’t mad dogged a thousand men in a country far from your own.
A text from an old Army buddy had roused him from his cave. Normally, he wouldn’t leave his home without good purpose. Groceries. Christmas shopping. And, god forbid, an occasional night of feminine attention. This last had become more elusive in recent years, his soldier’s physique withering over time, and his personality not improving in the slightest.
His work was remote, teaching English to privileged kids in China through a web cam. Cade had remodeled a portion of his studio apartment, plastering the wall with color and cutouts, and going so far as to buy a few finger puppets. The company wanted him to give each lesson pep and personality. When he finished a twenty-minute lesson, he felt drained of all decency, the over-performance coming at a cost to his normal personality.
“Watch where you’re going!” a woman growled at him as he brushed into her, more conscious of the puddles than the people around him.
Instead of speaking, Cade just tipped up a hand in apology and kept walking.
A few more business fronts passed by him as he made his way to the bar. The blaring orange of an old-fashioned neon light burned out from a Chinese food place. Dumplings Are Here! the sign declared in a garish font. Got it. If I ever need dumplings, I know where to go, Cade thought as he crossed in front of another store, this one purple and flashing. Lingerie, a few disreputable mannequins, and three very familiar letters, XXX, told him exactly what the store sold. Enough vibrators and lube to fuck a herd of buffalo were for sale.
Finally, Cade arrived at The Dirty Kitty, a creepy dive bar that pretended to be a club. The bouncer nodded to him as he went in, not bothering to card him. Though Cade was only thirty-two years old, he looked a sight older. Lack of a consistent sleeping pattern and poor diet did wonders for the skin.
A single tired dancer looped aimlessly around a greasy, brass pole. A few couples danced in the back on the ten-by-ten marble floor, their dates not nearly drunk enough to be impressed. Across the walls, group photos hung at odd angles, taken by happy people who were so much older now they hadn’t seen a night club in years.
But the bartender was cute.
The girl was twenty-five, maybe older, and had brown hair spun into buns on the sides of her head. Chopsticks stuck through them, and her bangs fell down over her face, too short to be tamed quite so easily.
The woman thum
bed the screen of her phone, biting her lip unconsciously. Wonder if it’s some political nonsense or else a new cursed plague she’s looking at. Poor girl’s worried, but by the heavy thighs of Athena, she looks good doing it. Still not noticing, she pursed her lips, her attempt maybe to calm herself. A deep purple gloss covered her full lips, just a touch of sparkle in it, the kind of lipstick girls like ‘cause it makes them feel pretty.’
She leaned against the bar, hip thrust to the side, her faded jeans shorts just short enough to make them sexy. She had small breasts and delicate collarbones.
Feeling like a proper creep at this point, Cade cleared his throat and nodded to her when she looked his way. The bartender ambled over casually, giving him a yeah I know what you were looking at look, and asked him what he wanted.
Cade ordered a local stout and watched the girl pour his drink. His friend wasn’t there yet, so why not get started?
“Six dollars,” she said in a tired voice.
He reached into his wallet and pulled out a ten. “Here ya go. Keep the change, and thanks.”
She smiled, taking the tip happily, then went about her business trying to clean up the disheveled bar.
A place like this was always on the verge of going out of business, so it was understaffed. A single bartender and a single bouncer, staffed the place alone. On weekends, that might double, but it was Wednesday, and only six people occupied the space.
Cade sat at a table nearby, enjoying the comfort of the thick-cushioned seat if not the cleanliness. Sipping his beer, he sighed. Flat as a crepe and barely cold. Totally worth six dollars, he thought, and took another pull. One sure way to make a beer taste better, drink more.
He studied the bartender again, her face somehow familiar. Then he saw it. In her eyes and the angle of her cheekbones. She looked like the memory of a half Italian and half Chinese girl Cade had slept with on his one trip to New York. He’d found a random bar, not knowing anyone in town to go out with, and ended up hanging out with a gorgeous girl and her gay friend.
Cade was extremely friendly, making sure both of them felt a connection with him. One of those rare nights when his mood lifted enough to let his natural charisma take over. He was hilarious, handsome, disarming. When it was last call, he’d locked eyes with the girl, name completely forgotten by now, and asked her exactly what plans she had for the evening. Since the night was already over, his question meant only one thing.
She’d looked back to her friend, a plea in her gaze, and the man only shrugged politely and said dramatically, “I’ll be taking a cab then! You two have a great night.”
Her apartment was disheveled and tiny, a one bedroom in Harlem they arrived at after taking a short cab ride. Cade was offered some water, which he gladly accepted, a burgeoning headache already taking hold.
He remembered looking around, taking in the place she called home. Everything was cheap but cherished, too many discarded bras and unwashed dishes for her to feel comfortable, but to Cade, it was an intimate view of who she was.
They’d shared a cigarette on her cast-iron fire escape, the kind seen in every movie about New York City. Cade never smoked regularly, but when he used to party, he’d do nearly anything the girl he was hanging with was.
When they kissed after, menthol smoke and alcohol fought for dominance. She was a soft kisser, the patient kind. They didn’t move, just stood there near the window, the moon falling through the old glass, kissing.
The only other thing he recalled about that night, other than the glint of her eyes and the tilt of her elegant tits, was when she pushed him off and climbed on top.
Awkward at first, moving slowly and pushing back her hair self-consciously. Then she turned around, facing his feet, and glanced over her shoulder. She smiled wickedly, already grinding again, and asked, “Is this okay?”
“Yes,” Cade said. “That is perfect.” And he watched her lithe form dance above him, moving to a music only she could hear, but they both felt, until she broke and shuddered above him.
The rest, him climbing on board, so to speak, giving her his best game, all seemed vague and unimportant. It was that one question, the look in her face, both trust and a touch of insecurity there. It was as if Cade were important, his opinion of her on that one night mattering enough to ask him if it was okay. That one moment never left his memory, and he knew he’d pay a thousand dollars if he could relive it.
This bartender probably didn’t look a thing like the girl in Cade’s memory other than the curve of her chin or the sleek lines of her body. Who knows how memory works anyhow? It could even have been the right combination of Red Bull splashed on the countertop and stale beer that triggered his recollection of the girl, but he was glad it did.
He gave the memory up and watched the couples dancing. Jesus. Who stole that man’s right foot? Dances like troll with gout. Cade chuckled at his stupid joke and took another sip of his beer.
An impending gloom was prevented as the lanky but somehow handsome figure of Brandon Smith ambled through the front door, snapping him out of his reverie. Now wasn’t the time for all of that. It was a bro night, a sacred thing, and one he meant to honor.
Cade stood and welcomed Smith with a hug.
“Been years, brother. How you been?” Smith asked, his face drawn back into a wide grin.
Cade couldn’t help but smile back. It had been years. “I’m fine, man. You’re still tall, huh?”
“Yeah, I get plenty of protein. Let me get a drink and I’ll be right there.”
Cade watched his buddy order, hunkering over the counter with his spindly elbows. The bastard was probably flirting, little good it would do him.
They’d been good friends since serving together. Smith became a team leader, earning his sergeant rank just a year before they both discharged. Cade had only ever been an E-4, little more than a private, so their friendship was strained for a while. Nothing about having to listen to a buddy and call them sergeant makes people grow closer. Still, Cade had put up with it to encourage the younger soldiers to do the same. It was the least he could do.
Smith returned with a pale, golden beer and two shot glasses.
Cade silently apologized to his stomach and ask, “Whiskey?”
“Whiskey,” Smith said with a devilish grin. “I got a shit hotel less than a mile from here and I’m walking home. It’s been too long, buddy. We are getting tanked.”
“Okay. Fine. But I ain’t holding your hair back.”
Smith laughed, his teeth flashing bright, and he rubbed his bald spot. “Un-fucking-likely!”
They each took their shot and tossed it back, the wood-smoke and brass flavor burning away the last of Cade’s reservations. It would be a good night, and one he deserved.
Smith’s eyes flashed amber, reflecting the dim light of the bar as he lifted his shot glass. “To Shelby? The sweetest girl I ever did—” he began, but Cade cut him off with an aggressively raised finger.
“Call me Cade or call me Clarke. The middle name shall not be spoken.”
The two laughed at the old joke, still not funny but familiar. Familiar was all that was required of this night.
“Your wife?” Cade asked, wanting to get small talk out of the way before they began diving into old stories.
Smith nodded, wincing from the bite of the liquor. “She’s good. Been going nuts with work though, and when I get home, she pretty much wants me to take over the kids immediately. We don’t spend a lot of time together. But things are fine, I guess. What about you? Still dating college girls? Or have you found anyone with a job?”
“Girls with jobs know better than to date me. No. No, my luck has dried out a bit.” Already regretting his choice of conversation, Cade moved on. “You seen any of the boys? I spoke with Heinz on the phone a few weeks ago.”
Smith grinned, staring down into his empty cup. “I still talk with Shin. He lives in Monterey, so we even had some Korean barbecue awhile back.”
“Doing okay?”
“Not really. Works as a Sheriff now. Pay is good but he’s still pretty scattered.”
Cade laughed. “Aren’t we all. What about you, then? Still seeing that VA counselor?”
“Not in a few months, but it did help. You still need to go back yourself, man. No offense, but you don’t look good. When’s the last time you got outside during the day?”
Cade squirmed in his seat, not wanting to tell his friend to back off. He also didn’t want to answer, so instead, he dropped one of his favorite stories. “Hey, you remember that one time in Knox when we were on lockdown for a week, so we ate so many donuts it felt like we were high?”
Smith paused a moment, concern in his eyes. Cade knew he didn’t want to give up on an honest talk. But then he dropped it, looked Cade straight on and smiled. “Of course. God that was rough. Locked down on base without a car, without girls, without even a Playstation for weeks. Worse than pulling twelve hour shifts of tower guard.”