“I thought Barry and Beth would take you in while I established the source of the wastelanders' movement. I knew it wouldn’t take long for you to establish your credentials. I was right about that.”
“You could’ve told me when you picked me up in Omega.”
“Baby steps, Jake, baby steps. You had enough on your plate, and I needed you focused on the task at hand. I planned to tell you after a few days, and I have.”
“I’m surprised you bought into the system. The Mills I knew wouldn’t.”
“The story I told you about taking over from Trader four is all true. I aligned myself with the modern world. I never thought one man would be able to change it.”
Jake puffed his cheeks. “I guess this means we’re working together again?”
Mills laughed. “What do you think we’ve been doing for the last few days? You can make this a better world. Make sure you do.”
Jake gazed around the stronghold at people clearing up yesterday’s carnage. Mills' revelation hadn’t properly sunk in, but it tied up the loose ends in his mind. He would make sure they built a stronger society, free from oppression, working together again, like previously, as the sixth cycle.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Finch huddled in the corner of a crumbling stone building and shivered. The morning after the battle should have been special. Instead, he spent the night limping through the forest on his damaged ankle, and sat alone as morning sunshine poked through the surrounding trees outside.
He winced and rose to his feet. His left arm hung limply by his side and his shoulder throbbed with pain. Two bullet wounds, cracked ribs and a damaged ankle were his only rewards for attempting to release humanity from its pain.
Skye’s betrayal cut the deepest. He cared for her like his own daughter and arranged her deliverance at the outlaw camp. She repaid him by helping to destroy his glorious future. She stamped on his butterfly.
It would take months to rebuild again. When he did, she'd pay for her insolence, along with the rest of the predators inside Omega. It took more than this minor setback to stop Alexander Finch. Sky Man would return and bring violent revenge.
The forest was dense enough to hide in while recovering from his injuries. After that he would head south and gather an army again. Omega wouldn’t be able to resist a second attack. He knew the locations of two more bunkers. If people thought they’d heard the last of him, they were wrong.
He shuffled outside, surveyed the area, and laughed. He’d destroyed this settlement ten years ago. The irony wasn’t lost on him. He’d been led here by a greater force, to show him his legacy and the path ahead. People didn’t understand that he was on this planet for a reason.
Finch plucked a small apple from a tree and bit into the tough green skin. His eyes squinted at the sour taste, and he threw it to one side. They couldn’t even make fruit grow properly; that was the extent of the foolishness he faced.
His eyes wandered to a row of scruffy crosses planted in the ground on the edge of the former settlement, and Finch remembered the two pine ones at the end. He’d helped that ungrateful bitch erect them, against his wishes.
Finch picked up a stick, used it to take some of the weight off his left ankle, and hobbled over. He sneered at the wilted flowers by the foot of each one.
He thrust the heel of his shoe against her father’s cross and cried in agony. It remained in place and teased him. The memory of Sky Man should be the only thing honored here. Not Skye’s worthless parents.
Finch growled and dropped to his knees. He grabbed the arms of her father’s cross, clenched his teeth, and ripped it out of the ground. He threw it to the dirt and shuffled over to the mother’s vulgar wooden memorial.
A dying rose lay in front of it. He crushed the petals in his hand and vowed to do the same to every one of the backward species who defied him.
He strained, tugged the cross out of the ground, and threw it on top of the other. Both would make a nice fire to warm him this evening.
Finch used his stick to haul himself to his feet and stared at both graves. He smiled to himself and unzipped his fly.
Something hard pressed against the back of his head.
* * *
Skye kicked Finch in the back of his knee, and he dropped to the ground. She remembered him doing it to Sam outside her cell, although this wasn’t just about his revenge. Finch had many lives to answer for.
“Who’s this?” Finch snapped.
“The daughter of those murdered parents. It wasn’t hard to track you.”
Finch’s head jerked to the side. “Skye, remember all I’ve done for you. We can talk about this.”
Skye knew exactly what he had done for her. That’s why she left Omega at first light to find him. She watched Finch closely for any sudden movements and jabbed her muzzle against the back of his head. “Why don’t you start by telling me why you did it?”
“Did what?”
“Now isn’t the time for games, Finch. Why did you arrange the deaths of so many good people?”
“You’re just like your father. He couldn’t see the bigger picture. I should’ve killed you when I had the chance. I stupidly thought I could turn you into a better person. You’re not trainable, like a wild animal, just like him.”
“You killed my parents and destroyed our settlement because he didn’t agree with your ideals?”
Finch shrugged, raising Skye’s blood pressure. “There’s no room for niceties when trying to rebuild a society. Darwin’s law: the strong survive. Kill or be killed, my dear.”
“You aren’t even remotely sorry for what you’ve done, are you?”
“Why would I be sorry? You’re too stupid to see the genius of my plan. If you gave me ten minutes to explain, you’d understand.”
“You’re delusional.”
“Am I? After wastelanders destroyed your home, what happened? Strongholds continued to trade petty goods and built larger walls around themselves. The world was trapped in a spider’s web. Blood has to be spilled to get progress. You are naïve if you think otherwise.”
Skye felt her hands trembling as her anger rose. “You helped build some of those walls.”
“I didn’t build all of them, and when someone tries to create God’s temple without his permission, he can destroy it. Just like your parents—”
Skye tensed and pulled the trigger. Finch slumped forward as the shot echoed through the forest. She dragged him away from her parents' graves and planted the crosses back in the ground again.
For half an hour, Skye gathered dry wood and used it to build a small pyre. She rolled Finch’s body on top of it, lit the kindling at the bottom, and waited.
Wisps of smoke drifted up, and tiny flames took hold of the pieces of wood around the bottom of the pyre.
Skye lay back, resting on her elbows, and watched as fire engulfed the man who attempted to destroy her world. The flames built to a crackling roar and smoke billowed through the canopy. She could finally look forward to a brighter future.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank our cover designer, Jason Gurley, and our editors, Aaron Sikes and Pauline Nolet. Also, as ever, thank you to everyone who agreed to read an early copy and give us your thoughts. Collectively, you’ve all helped make this a better book. Thank you!
Darren Wearmouth’s Facebook author page.
Carl Sinclair’s Facbook author page.
WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT SERIES
The world is at war with the Primal Virus. Military forces across the globe have been recalled to defend the homelands as the virus spreads and decimates populations. Out on patrol and assigned to a remote base in Afghanistan, Staff Sergeant Brad Thompson’s unit was abandoned and left behind, alone and without contact. They survived and have built a refuge, but now they are forgotten. No contact with their families or commands. Brad makes a tough decision to leave the sa
fety of his compound to try and make contact with the States, desperate to find rescue for his men. What he finds is worse than he could have ever predicted.
W. J. Lundy
DEAD ISLAND: Operation Zulu
Ten years after the world was nearly brought to its knees by a zombie Armageddon, there is a race for the antidote! On a remote Caribbean island, surrounded by a horde of hungry living dead, a team of American and Australian commandos must rescue the Antidotes' scientist. Filled with zombies, guns, Russian bad guys, shady government types, serial killers and elevator muzak. Dead Island is an action packed blood soaked horror adventure.
Allen Gamboa
INVASION OF THE DEAD SERIES
This is the first book in a series of nine, about an ordinary bunch of friends, and their plight to survive an apocalypse in Australia. — Deep beneath defense headquarters in the Australian Capital Territory, the last ranking Army chief and a brilliant scientist struggle with answers to the collapse of the world, and the aftermath of an unprecedented virus. Is it a natural mutation, or does the infection contain — more sinister roots? — One hundred and fifty miles away, five friends returning from a month-long camping trip slowly discover that death has swept through the country. What greets them in a gradual revelation is an enemy beyond compare. — Armed with dwindling ammunition, the friends must overcome their disagreements, utilize their individual skills, and face unimaginable horrors as they battle to reach their hometown…
Owen Ballie
SPLINTER
For close to a thousand years they waited, waited for the old knowledge to fade away into the mists of myth. They waited for a re-birth of the time of legend for the time when demons ruled and man was the fodder upon which they fed. They waited for the time when the old gods die and something new was anxious to take their place. A young couple was all that stood between humanity and annihilation. Ill equipped and shocked by the horrors thrust upon them they would fight in the only way they knew how, tooth and nail. Would they be enough to prevent the creation of the feasting hordes? Were they alone able to stand against evil banished from hell? Would the horsemen ride when humanity failed? The earth would rue the day a splinter group set up shop in Cold Spring.
H. J. Harry
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Other Authors
Sixth Cycle Page 24