by James Master
He was dead by the time she got to him. The fall combined with the gunshot wound to the chest was too much for his body to handle. She was cradling his head in her lap when she heard the man's labored breathing above her. “He told me to kill you both. I'm sorry about him, truly. I've never killed a person before. I used to be a computer hacker and software specialist before this all happened. I’m sorry but I have to kill you now or he’ll kill me. It's a simple fact. I'm so sorry.” Hank lifted the gun using both of his meaty hands to aim it at Ashley. The gun began to shake because of the weight and the nerves. The resulting gunshot was deafening. Hank's face went as white as a ghost as he realized that the gun shot was not from his gun, but from the girls.
Ashley had taken Roland's hand that still held his gun and squeezed the trigger. Hank fell into the seat closest to him and died without as much as a last curse. He left the world as he lived it. Ashley sat there in total silence as she realized that she was alone in a world where the dead surrounded her. She numbly stood and looked down at the man she loved. There was too much emotion, whirling inside of her like a tornado, but she only allowed a single tear to invest the little time she did have. She still held hope that Tim was still alive. She had to think that there was still someone that could help her through this. She couldn't face her demons alone.
*** 10 ***
Ashley opened the door to the announcer's box in time to see Velius stab Timothy in the gut with the katana. She didn't waste time in yelling or screaming for it to stop. She lifted the single shot pistol Roland had given her in the beginning of her adventure and fired it into Jessica's chest. Velius turned and looked at Ashley with frustration and anger. Ashley reloaded the pistol quickly and shot it again into her chest dropping Jessica/Velius to the floor. Ashley ran to the table Timothy was trapped on and cut him loose. He sat up in pain and thanked her.
“Get the relic, but don't touch it with your bare hands. Use a piece of cloth.” Timothy limped over to a mini refrigerator and opened it. “Here we go. Just what I wanted.” Ashley picked up the mirror with her shirt and held it out to Timothy.
Timothy grabbed an empty coffee cup and poured the water he found into the cup. “Bless this water Lord so that it might become a part of the body of Jesus Christ Almighty. Amen.” Ashley didn't notice any changes in the water, but Timothy quickly told her to drop the mirror into the cup. She did as she was instructed and when that happened, the water began to bubble and boil. Tim set the cup down onto the table and they watched for a minute as the water bubble. After the second minute, the bubbling stopped. Timothy stared at it expecting something else to happen, but when it didn't he smiled. He glanced at the body of Jessica and frowned.
“Well, I guess that's the end of it, I think I saw a first aid room down in the lower level of the building on my way in. Would you get Roland to help me down there and....” He trailed off when he saw the look of anguish on Ashley's face.
“He didn't make it did he?” Ashley shook her head and started crying. Timothy, despite his wound, wrapped the teenager up in his arms and hugged her. She sobbed into his chest for a while. Then, together, they went down to the nurse’s room to patch Brother Timothy up.
Epilogue: An Entry from Ashley's Diary
The stab wound Timothy had received turned out to be just a flesh wound. He was trained as a medic at the monastery he currently resides. He said God had blessed him so that none of his vitals were pierced. When we went back to the room where I shot Velius/Jessica, we found that her body was gone. There was blood from where I had shot her and a trail leading away from the room. We followed the blood trail to the entrance of the building where the trail ended. Neither of us knows if Jessica regained control or if Velius is still in control.
When I retold the message Velius had told Roland and I, Timothy theorized that the demon had transferred into the child that Jessica was pregnant with. I'm not too sure if I believe that or not, but it seems that we have to find her to make sure one way or another.
I write this on the steps of the Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts. I'm not sure where this will lead me and Timothy, but I know that we will be together as we do it. I only wish Roland could have been with us. I tell Tim this but the only response I get from him is: “God wills it, so it must be done.”
Was it God's will that Roland and thousands of others die so that Velius can rise up? Or was it His will that we destroy Velius once and for all?
I'm guessing that the authorities will come in and try and sort this out, but they will be as flabbergasted as I was through this adventure. I'll leave my diary here so that they can either believe this or not. I guess what you believe makes you strong. What I believe is that Jessica and Velius are one and that they must be stopped before the child is born.
Author’s Note
As I lie on my bed listening to Johnny Cash, I am amazed that this book has been published. Don’t get me wrong; I really hope you all liked it because I loved writing it. “The Book of Roland” has been my baby for more than ten years of my life. There are multitudes of people I want to thank, but before I do I’d like to explain what it took to get this book out in the light of day. So if you’d indulge me…
It all started June 2005. At that time I was a computer science major at Indiana University South Bend and the end was drawing near. I had no interest in that field and my grades reflected it. I was spending my second summer at my aunt and mother’s house in Illinois and working at my aunt’s motherhouse in the grounds keeping department. The month earlier, I had picked up a copy of Max Brooke’s “The Zombie Survival Guide” and absolutely fell in love with it. That’s when I knew that I wanted to write a zombie book. So I did what any good author does before writing. I researched. Visiting my local video store, that’s how old I am, I rented every zombie movie they had. After taking notes and filling my head with enough blood and gore, I started writing my book called “The Zombie Story.” It obviously got renamed later on to the one that’s on the cover now.
It was put on pause as I suffered through one final year at IUSB. Feeling defeated, I retreated back home to North Liberty, Indiana where I picked up my old job as a gas station attendant at the local Citgo. That’s when I began writing again. And I haven’t stopped since.
I have always encouraged writers to get together and socialize. Bounce ideas off each other, network or even just drink some coffee and get some things off their chest. When I returned to IUSB as an English major, I kept to myself. That’s one of the regrets I have to this day. I didn’t get active with other writers until my last three years at the college. To my friends from the IUSB Creative Writing Club (Lucas, Lizzie, Brandy, Heather, Joe, Joe, Rebecca, Lori, Victoria, Russ, and Angie) thank you for your friendship. I’ll never forget that terrible week selling fireworks in the Walmart parking lot to raise funds to go to AWP; it’s one of my most cherished memories. To my lifelong friends Ben, Jeff, Joe, Ashley and Tim you have no idea how much your friendship means to me.
A big thank you to Burning Willow Press on taking a chance on an unknown author such as myself. Some of you know that this book and the other six in the series were contracted with another publisher before BWP had picked it up. I won’t name which publisher, but after two major kerfuffle’s, I was dropped from their lineup. I was pretty devastated, but I soon picked myself up from the ground and submitted to three independent publishers, one of them being BWP. I can’t begin to express how glad I am to be a part of Burning Willow Press.
I remember getting my first book from my father. It was Hardy Boys #2: The House on the Cliff. I’ve been an avid reader since. There isn’t enough space to go into detail how supportive my family has been or how they’ve influenced me in arriving at this point. If I had to pinpoint the biggest influence in my life, it would be my wife, Deanna.
When I returned to work at Citgo, she was my boss. I thought it impressed her that I was writing a book during my lunch break. So, I continued writing. Eventually, we started goin
g out which then progressed to getting married. Deanna was the one that suggested that I go back to college for writing. In a sense, none of this would have been possible without her love and support. She gave me my purpose in life. She didn’t even read my work, she would often say that she didn’t have to read my work; she just knew that I’d get published. She had such great faith in me, even when I didn’t have faith in myself.
Getting this book in your hands, means so much to me that I can’t express it in words. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope that you’ll read the next one in the series, “The Book of Mark,” that’s coming in the near future.
-Jim Master
2016
About the Author
A natural born reader, James tackled the likes of King and Crichton by the time he reached sixth grade. His influential young mind now warped and twisted by science fiction and horror, James did what any respectable child would. He started writing. Luckily for him, he had some talent.
Having been picked up by a publisher while still in college, James thought everything was planned for him. Then disaster struck and James found his series, “The Soul Eater Chronicles”, without a home. James didn’t give, he resolved to find a home for his work and found one in the open arms of Burning Willow Press, LLC. Having graduated from Indiana University South Bend with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. By day, James works as a mild-mannered reporter for The Pilot News, Plymouth, Indiana’s local newspaper. By night, James is the author of “The Book of Roland” which is the first of seven books in “The Soul Eater Chronicles” soon to be published.
Among being an author, James also reviews books for The Reader’s Hollow and freelances as an editor for Master Editing Services. If James had free time, he would be playing Magic: The Gathering with his friends.
Contact him here:
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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
Epilogue: An Entry from Ashley's Diary
Author’s Note
About the Author