Cynetic Wolf
Page 30
There was a wheelchair in the far corner. Someone had prepared for me, the cripple. I stumbled into the chair and wheeled into the hallway.
Everyone froze.
No one knew how to react. It was awful.
“There you are,” Caell said with an awkward smile. “We wondered when you’d be up. Hungry?”
Was he kidding? Hungry? Why was he being nice to me? It just highlighted the emptiness inside. How could he—my stomach grumbled.
“Yeah,” I said grudgingly. “Thanks.”
“We got bacon and eggs,” he replied with a forced cheer. “Sound good?”
I shrugged, unable to speak. Whatever.
Henk came over to check on my leg. “It doesn’t look half bad.” He motioned to my foot. “Thanks for saving me. Would have been in some trouble if it weren’t for you.”
“It was my fault you were there in the first place. How many made it back?” I added, dreading the answer but needing to know.
“Just us,” he said. “We got Calter though,” he added, as if somehow that made things better. But how could it? And how had Mom fallen for Calter? Was that why I was so wicked?
So many questions left unanswered, dying with him.
“The plan failed!” I snapped. “We needed him alive. Even then…”
A long, awkward silence until Caell interrupted. “Hungry?” He handed me a heaping plate.
I forced myself to eat, downing the tasteless food. Halfway through, I choked on bile and tears came. She was gone, our son too.
Henk excused himself, leaving me to mourn. Sitting in my wheelchair, surrounded by the energetic buzz, I was more alone than ever. What was I going to do?
Ages later, someone tapped my shoulder. “Room for one more?” Ania asked.
I nodded, unable to speak or swallow that last bite.
She sat and put her feeble arm around me. “How you doing?”
I shrugged, not wanting her to know how bad it was.
“I’m sorry about Zedda,” she said at last. “I’m sorry about everything.”
“It’s not your fault.” It’s mine.
“It’s still horrible. I feel bad.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, voice failing me like I had our unborn child...
“Seen the news?” she asked, saving me yet another gravity well of despair.
I shook my head. What did it matter?
“The military fell apart. You were right, Calter was pulling the strings. The government lost it this time. There are stories of the DNS facing off against the army. And the alliance with the elites has imploded. We’ve captured a dozen tier one and tier two cities in the last thirty-six hours. Even the WNN’s calling for peace.”
It barely registered, or maybe it just didn’t matter. “Thirty-six hours?” I was out a day and a half?
She nodded. “You didn’t know?”
I shook my head. I could care less.
“It could end any day,” she continued, her excitement the mirror opposite of the emptiness I felt. “You did it, Raek. We’re almost there!”
Ganla appeared. “We didn’t want to wake you, figured you needed the sleep. But things have been moving. We might see peace in our day. You can say I told you so,” she added with a grim smile.
A hopeless laugh escaped me as the impact of what they were saying reached me. “It’s not about right or wrong. I’m glad...” A deep breath, hold it together, Raek… “Glad maybe it was worth it,” I finished, choking back tears.
Ganla put her hand on my shoulder. “Ania, can you come with me? Raek needs some time.”
The next few days passed much the same, everyone avoiding me and unsure what to say.
One morning, we got the news, the war—if you could call it that—was over. The other sides were tired of the bloodshed and ready to end it at any cost. Celebration and high-fiving all around. It was sickening.
In the middle of it, I wheeled to the door, unable to stand their joy and happiness. Rolling along the breezy winter trails, I thought about all I’d lost, everything that had happened. Elly, my town, Fitz and his murder. Being on the run, meeting Lars, sparring. The time Zedda rescued us, making love, our future. The son my monster of a father robbed us of.
So much, both incredibly good and incredibly bad. The world would never be the same. Neither would I. And somehow, it would continue on. It couldn’t just end.
At the fork in the path were the first signs of spring, an oak sapling sprouting tiny green buds through the cold, dead earth, emerging from a hard winter for the seasonal cycle of growth and repair.
A wolf howled in the distance.
Something about the rawness of the moment gave me comfort. I don’t know why. Zedda would have liked it; the beauty of nature and of simple wonders always made her smile. I should check her message. If a tree could fight for its life, defying all odds through the worst of winter, so could I.
Her face materialized and my heart skipped a beat.
‘Raek,’ Zedda began, her face so beautiful. ‘I realized there’s a chance we might not see each other again, that something could happen tonight. I didn’t have time to tell you everything I feel, everything I wanted to say.’ She paused.
‘Raek Mekorian, I love you, and my future is with you! I didn’t want to distract you earlier. But there are no guarantees. In case anything happens, I wanted you to know. And,’ she added with a smile that took my breath away, ‘You’re going to do great things. The world demands it of you. It needs you. I don’t know if we’ll be together, if that’s what fate has in store.’ She took a deep breath.
‘You’re the smartest, strongest person I’ve ever met, remember that. Remember it when times are hard. You’re capable of much more than you know. Don’t limit yourself.’ She smiled and turned as if someone was coming. ‘I need to go, Raek, it’s time. Before I do, one more thing: When this is all over, if it ever ends, you’re the type of leader I’d follow. You’re the type of person that could unify us. Don’t change, don’t back down. Do it for all of us, do it for me. Love and stuff. See you soon.’
Transmission ended.
No. That couldn’t be it. There had to be more. I replayed the message twice, but that was it. She was gone...
I sank to the frozen ground and sat there for a long time, eyes closed. “Do it for all of us, do it for me.” Her dying wish reverberated through me. Unify mankind?
It was too much to ask.
But she’d asked it, damn it, with her last immortalized breath. There was no un-hearing that. And who was I to deny her? I couldn’t let her down. My fists clenched as her impossible mission engulfed me. That was it. That’s what I’d do. I had to.
Haunted memories and burning pain spurred me as I rose from the ashes around me.
I’d do it for her. I’d do it for all of them.
I headed back to the farmhouse.
It was time to get to work.
* * *
To be continued...
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About the Author
Matt Ward is an author, entrepreneur, host of the Disruptors.FM tech podcast, and the #24 ranked futurist worldwide. His work focuses on the intersection of exponential technologies and the ethical issues confronting humanity in the 21st century, as do his novels, which are inspired by the cutting-edge scientists he interviews on his show. Today, Matt writes fast-paced science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction technothrillers with a dystopian bent on the question: what does it mean to be human?
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Also by Matt Ward
Death Donor
Would you sell your life to save another?
Special forces vet, Samantha Jones, is a lowly bodyguard for Ethan Anderson, the biotech billionaire who revolutionized life extension. But at least she’s got a job, unlike most, and won’t have to sell her organs to support her family. Sure, they’re poor, but she’s got death insurance and a roof over her head. Life is livable...
But then Sam’s daughter is kidnapped and sold for parts. Overnight, her life (and belief in the system) shatters. When the rich bastards get off scot-free, Sam’s weak husband commits suicide, and the ex-assassin snaps.
Someone is going to pay.
The question: how to kill the heartless elites that use the poor like livestock and whose security rivals the president? And then there’s the senator fighting to abolish life extension, the trillion-dollar corporate standoff, and bloody protests in the streets as conditions deteriorate. Things are about to get ugly.
Death Donor is a speculative fiction technothriller by renowned futurist and sci-fi author, Matt Ward, that features espionage, political drama, and fast-paced adventure in the dark dystopian world of synthetic biology. If you like Michael Crichton, Daniel Suarez, or Neal Stephenson, or loved dystopian classics: the Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World, and Ready Player One, you’ll love this page-turning science fiction thriller.
Buy Death Donor today for an action-packed techno thriller… right up to its shocking conclusion.
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Raek’s Adventure Continues Soon in Wolfish:
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His impossible hybrid rebellion crushed the immortal government. But then, his wife died, and his unborn son, both at the hands of his all-powerful father.
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Now a cripple, Raek must rise once more to fulfill his wife’s dying wish: to unify the splintered species of humanity... Even the cyborgs and fallen immortals push for war, revenge, and the absolute decimation of the once subservient hybrids.
* * *
Unimaginable destruction amidst a veneer of peace, until a mysterious figure from Raek’s past emerges once more.
Overnight, Raek’s world is obliterated. Politics, power, betrayal… a new world order? There’s a war coming for humanity’s future, one with murder, massacre, and intrigue. An awful game, yet all that stands between tyranny and total destruction is a seventeen-year-old wolfish warrior with built-in blasters, and a dying promise he dare not break.
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Welcome to 2097, the beginning of the end, or of something much greater. Only time will tell.
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Also Coming Soon:
Neanderthal King: Imagine Game of Thrones, but with Neanderthals
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It’s 1107, and the once-great Neanderthal empire is no more, laid waste by the dark Sapien king, Isaac, the same bastard who slaughtered the Thal queen’s young heirs. A brutal reversal of medieval power forged in blood and fueled by Sap ingenuity.
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But one babe escaped the mad king’s wrath.
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Raised the son of a simple Thal herder, Maralek’s a rough lad with the ferocious pride and temper of his ruined people, a scorn for rules and rulers, and less than a little creativity in his thick skull. In a word, your average Neanderthal.
* * *
And life’s livable, until King Isaac resumes his bloodthirsty crusade, and Maralek’s forced into slaving shackles. Then, a rowdy caravan, a mysterious gypsy, a whispered prophecy… A whirlwind of devastation and war as his master is murdered, his fate unwoven, and his world ripped asunder in an epic battle to end all.
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Pre-Order Neanderthal King today for a bold new take on the heroes journey… right up to its shocking conclusion.
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Copyright © 2020 by Myrmani LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
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ISBN: 978-1-7345922-0-7 (Paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-7345922-1-4 (eBook)
ISBN: 978-1-7345922-2-1 (Audioboook)
Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author's imagination.
Printed in the United States of America
First edition 2020.
Myrmani LLC
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Contents
1. Claws
2. Adventure
3. A Pin Drop
4. Autumn
/> 5. A Bright Light
6. On The Hunt
7. Home Is Where The Heart Is
8. Trust
9. Flushing
10. Darkness, Light And Gravity
11. Smoking Gun
12. Hunted And Hunting
13. The Spider
14. Unleashed
15. Pitstop
16. An Apple A Day
17. The Bus
18. Hitting The Deck
19. Old Friends
20. Hope
21. Troublemaker
22. Wake Up
23. Always Prepared
24. Decisions