by Drew Avera
74
CALEB FULTON
Victory was mine.
Sitting in my office, knowing what time it was, a smile curled my lips. I knew that, within minutes, the coming war would be over before it ever started. I was the one able to do what thirty years of my predecessors should've done before I took office.
Wipe our enemies off the map.
"Mr. President," Montgomery said, his voice high and shrill.
"What is it?" I asked. Annoyed he would distract me from my thoughts while the end of my enemies was moments away.
"Three of the missiles are deviating course.”
I turned my wheelchair around and moved towards him. "What the hell are you talking about them deviating course?" Skepticism dripped from my voice.
"Three of the missiles were heading south, before turning around and coming back in our direction."
"That's impossible." I snatched the tablet from his hands to look at it myself. Sure enough, I saw what he was talking about, and the relative happiness I felt seconds ago was completely wiped away and replaced with fear. "How could this have happened?"
Like an answer to a prayer, the door to my office opened and in walked General Lettum. "Welcome to the end, Caleb," he said as he raised a boom-stick and fired a shot straight into Montgomery's chest. I watched, eyes wide, as my aide collapsed next to me, blood oozing from his chest. He was dead before his body hit the floor.
"What is the meaning of this?" I backed my wheelchair away in fear. Two of my guards came running through the door, only to be met by General Lettum. Two shots and two bodies struck the floor with deadly precision, but neither shot was fired by Lettum as he swung a boom-stick striking each man in the head savagely. i heart sank when he reached down and grabbed one of the guns lying on the floor at his feet, knowing I was just a trigger pull away from eating a bullet.
"It's war, Caleb, and I'm going to put an end to it."
"Your orders were to target the United Kingdom and the South. Those three missiles were not supposed to come in our direction, and I went to great lengths to ensure we could not be targeted."
General Lettum laughed. "I know what orders you had, Caleb, but this was always my plan. The great lengths you went to ensure your victory is the very reason this is happening. The past is coming back to haunt you.”
I glared at him, wanting to choke the life from him with my bare hands. “Why are you doing this?”
"Do you know why America fell apart? It was because two sides of the same coin could never get along. It was because anyone who didn't think like us was an enemy. It was because we victimized those who thought differently than us, instead of taking one goddamned second to listen and hear another human-being’s point of view. The more we turned each other into enemies, the more we hated each other. The more we hated each other, the more we wanted to see each other die. You told me thirty-years ago that you wanted to start a revolution? Well, the revolution started almost one-hundred-years ago. The only thing I want to do is put an end to it."
"I told you we had a destiny for greatness," I said, my voice shaking.
"And I told you I don't believe in destiny," Lettum said as he lifted the gun and aimed it point-blank in my face. “I told you I would silence my enemies, and that is exactly what I’m going to do. Every . . . last . . . one of you.”
"What's the point of shooting me if the missiles are coming this way?" I asked.
"Because I want to give you a choice," he replied. “To show a little mercy in a world that never showed any to me.”
"What choice?"
"The choice to take your own life like a coward, or to let your flesh burn from the nuclear blast that's a minute away."
"Neither sounds like mercy to me," I said as my hands gripped the armrest of my wheelchair. I suddenly felt cold and wanted to vomit.
"Trust me, one of them is mercy."
"I choose neither," I said as I grabbed the tablet and watched the timer countdown until the missiles would be detonated.
He stepped closer. "No? Maybe you'll change your mind as the missiles draw closer." He placed the gun in my lap and took a seat on the couch across from me. Montgomery's dead body seeped blood on the floor between us as the timer on the tablet drew closer to zero. I looked at the gun in my lap and craved grabbing it and putting a bullet in his skull.
"You betrayed me, you son of a bitch," I said.
He put his hands behind his head as he leaned back with a smile on his face. "I didn't betray you, Caleb, I played you. There's a difference."
Enraged, I grabbed the gun and pointed it in his direction. He didn't even move as I squeezed the trigger. But no bullet fired.
General Lettum laughed at the fact the gun was empty. "Some security detail you had. Either way, time’s up,” he said, “and it looks like you and me are going out the same way, Caleb. You have only a few seconds left to live."
I dropped the gun to the floor and looked at the tablet as it ticked towards zero. And then the world went away.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Drew Avera is an active duty Navy veteran and science fiction writer. His bestselling series, The Alorian Wars, has sold thousands of copies worldwide. When not working for the Navy, or writing books, Drew enjoys playing guitar and spending time with his family. He lives in Virginia with his wife, kids, and two cats.
Be sure to check out my website and sign up for a free short story! www.drewavera.com
Also, please post a review if you enjoyed this book. It would be a great help for other readers who might want to read it too. Thank you!
Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
Part I
1. Chaplain Harris
2. James Kyle
3. President Fulton
4. Chaplain Harris
5. James Kyle
6. Stephen O’Neil
7. Travis Williams
8. Peter Drake
9. Chaplain Harris
10. Peter Drake
11. Stephen O’Neil
12. Sydney Tyler
13. Henry Burke
14. Peter Drake
15. Stephen O’Neil
16. President Fulton
17. Sydney Tyler
18. Peter Drake
19. Stephen O’Neil
20. Peter Drake
21. President Fulton
22. Sydney Tyler
23. Travis Williams
24. Henry Burke
25. President Fulton
26. Sydney Tyler
27. Peter Drake
28. Sydney Tyler
29. Sydney Tyler
30. Stephen O’Neil
31. Prime Minister Leonard
32. Prime Minister Leonard
Part II
33. Caleb Fulton
34. Peter Drake
35. Henry Burke
36. President Harrison
37. General Lettum
38. General Lettum
39. Sydney Tyler
40. Peter Drake
41. Stephen O’Neil
42. Caleb Fulton
43. Sydney Tyler
44. Peter Drake
45. Clive Williams
46. Peter Drake
47. Henry Burke
48. Peter Drake
49. Caleb Fulton
50. Peter Drake
51. President Harrison
52. Sydney Tyler
53. Clive Williams
Part III
54. Bradley Wilcox
55. General Lettum
56. Sydney Tyler
57. Peter Drake
58. Caleb Fulton
59. Prime Minister Leonard
60. David Calloway
61. General Lettum
62. Sydney Tyler
63. Peter Drake
64. David Calloway
65. Caleb Fulton
66. President Harrison
67. Peter Drake
68. General Lettum
69. Sydney Tyler
70. General Lettum
71. President Harrison
72. Peter Drake
73. Sydney Tyler
74. Caleb Fulton
About the Author