The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three

by Mike Marlinski

Later that night, Gallon returned to his home and began preparing dinner for himself on an old fashioned looking gas stove. Ancient Man’s version of Classical music played in the background, while Gallon whistled along and sifted various seasonings onto a piece of meat, sizzling in a frying pan.

  As he prepared to turn the meat over with a spatula, he heard a loud knocking at his door, which surprised him because he wasn’t aware anyone had been buzzed into his section of his apartment complex.

  He flipped the meat, lowered the heat on the stove top as well as the volume of the music, and cautiously approached the door. Upon looking through the peephole, he saw his teenage daughter’s smiling face staring back at him.

  Without a second thought, he opened the door, only to find that he had been fooled by a holographic projection of his daughter.

  A filthy looking, long dark haired man, wearing a black leather jacket, whom he had never seen before, was standing in her place. Frozen with shock, Gallon’s attention was drawn to a pool of blood on the floor beside the strange visitor.

  He followed the thick red trail to his daughter’s body. She was lying dead on the floor; killed seconds before after her image was captured for the intruder’s projector.

  Gallon’s eyes widened as he struggled to scream, but couldn’t make a sound. Instead, only a quiet wheezing sound escaped his lips, as the intruder raised an energy pistol into Gallon’s view.

  The intruder pulled the trigger and sent a hot white flash of energy crashing into Gallon’s face, which caused his entire body to disintegrate instantly; leaving behind not even the smallest trace of blood, skin, bone or ash.

  The killer used the same weapon on Gallon’s daughter a moment later. The blast not only erased her body, but absorbed and disappeared all of the blood that had spilled as well.

  It was all done silently and efficiently. Not a single neighbor so much as opened their door during the course of the event. Then, once all of the evidence had been successfully erased, the killer quickly packed up his equipment into a dark suitcase and calmly left the building.