“Sorry,” Caitlin said, a smile creeping onto her own face as Jamie and Christy untwisted from each other’s naked bodies and flapped around the room to retrieve their clothes. “Didn’t mean to disturb…this. If you like, we can come back in a minute. Let you guys finish off?”
“Good on you, mate!” Kain roared triumphantly.
“Eurgh, and with the pastor right there on the floor,” Mary-Anne added, pointing at the still form of the man tied and snoring on the living room floor.
Jamie turned a violent shade of crimson, but the smile never left his face. Not once.
When the CoR finally did arrive, they were joined by several new recruits—Tom, Laurie, and Joe. Caitlin smiled as she looked around them all—her team—and laid out her plans of uniting the towns.
Jamie and Christy sat on the panel, appointed by Caitlin to be the new representatives of Ashdale Pond. Caitlin, Kain, and Mary-Anne—whom folks had already started calling the “Holy Trio” again—would announce the new leadership to the town later that day and spread news of the union of the two communities.
“You know, it’s not going to be easy. Even with more people involved, there’s no telling how many Mad are in that forest. It’s going to be dangerous work,” Tom said, his voice like gravel as he pulled back his eyepatch and scratched the small bowl where his eye had once been.
“The things that are most worthwhile usually are,” Caitlin replied. “But as our number grows, and as more towns unite, the safer we can feel.”
“Unless every town we come across is filled with God-fearing pyromaniacs led by sociopathic nobodies with superiority complexes,” Kain added.
They all turned to look at Pastor Andrews, now seated in the corner of the room. He shrugged. “What?”
The Council of Revolutionaries fell about laughing. It was a beautiful sound, Caitlin thought. Despite all that they’d been through, she couldn’t help but feel optimistic. The governor was gone. Justice had been brought to Ashdale Pond. And, soon, the doors to Silver Creek would be open to the public.
Fuck yeah. Caitlin smiled, relaxing into her chair.
“Nice tattoo, by the way, Moxie,” Kain whispered to Caitlin. “Really rock ’n roll.”
Caitlin laughed. “What’s rock ’n roll?”
“Elvis? The Rolling Stones? Mick Jagger?” He rolled his eyes. “I sometimes forget how young you are. Old music from a time long ago. My parents made me listen when I was just a kid. Before I went all wolf and teeth.”
Even Mary-Anne smiled then. “Those were the good old days.”
“No,” Caitlin said, rolling her arm over and inspecting the burning church etched into her skin. “The good old days are yet to come.”
Epilogue
Silver Creek Forest, Old Ontario, Four Months Later
The wolf sniffed at the forest floor, his nose deep into the tangles of bushes and vines. Even in the shadows under the canopy of trees, his eyes burned a vivid orange.
As he lifted his head, he caught a scent—the scent he had been looking for.
His tail wagged in excitement. He sped through the brush in near-silence, padding expertly over thorns and brush. The scent grew ever stronger, making his heart beat so fast he could feel it in his own ears.
Voices sounded, now. Lots of them, which seemed a strange thing in the middle of the forest. For miles and miles, it seemed, all the wolf had encountered were odd clusters of Mad which he had avoided with ease. But to find a whole group of people in the forest who didn’t smell Mad was a most unusual thing.
He slowed, keeping as low to the ground as possible until he saw them through the trees ahead. Some men had axes. Some women carried swords. Most were busy patting the ground into a firm path several meters wide.
Were they making a road?
And there, sitting with his back to a tree, a hood low over his face as he snoozed and let the others do the work, was the man he had hunted for months, now.
The wolf turned on his paws and sped back through the forest, weaving between trees, scaring a nearby deer who pranced off into the undergrowth. He only stopped when he reached the others.
The three creatures waited patiently, picking berries off a tree—a bear, a panther, and another wolf. Their amber eyes turned to greet him as he concentrated with all his might and transformed before them into the form of a naked man. He was the youngest of them all. Tufts of fur clung to his body, but he figured he still had a fair number of transformations left in him.
He blinked, and the bear was gone, replaced by a tank of a man with ripped abs and bulging biceps covered in scars and a thick carpet of hair.
“Anything?” the man who had been a bear asked.
He grinned and nodded. “We’ve found him. We’ve found the traitor.”
The dark smile distinctly resembled the bear he’d so recently been, his teeth jagged and worn. At long last, Kain Sudeikis. At long last.
FINIS
More from Dan Willcocks
THEY FIGHT. THEY LIVE. THEY ROT.
Eight years ago, an infection hit London, before spreading outwards. 90% of the population was either contained by the military, trampled during the riots, or infected by the disease.
A disease that came to be known as The Rot.
Colin Bolton survived the incident but not without losing everything he held dear to him – his life, his love, and his humanity.
Now, he’s living at a farmhouse, acting as a bodyguard for a new surrogate family. Life is stable. He’s making do. He’s surviving. That is… until a vagrant scavenger comes knocking at the door, desperate for food and water.
An encounter that will spin Colin’s life into chaos once more, bringing him face to face with a murderous family, the dead and the dying, and the failures of his past.
THEY ROT is the first book in a brutal new series of post-apocalyptia set in Great Britain. It’s brought to you by Willcocks and Kondor, two of the groundbreaking authors behind the iTunes chart-busting podcast, The Other Stories, and the story studio, Hawk & Cleaver - A digital story studio bringing you the best new stories to watch, read, sniff, and absorb.
Available at Amazon
Author’s Notes - Dan Willcocks
August 20, 2018
What do you get if you cross a window cleaner and a giraffe…?
…
Thanks so much for making it all the way to the end of this book. It’s been an absolute whirlwind of a journey, not only with Caitlin and her crew (who, by the way, might just be my favourite kickass band of characters I’ve ever created), but with Michael and the guys behind the scenes as well.
When I started writing, I could never have foreseen this journey. I remember sitting down at a keyboard in early 2015 and just toying with sentences, playing with a few paragraphs, and wondering what life would be like as a full-time writer.
I imagined the classic scene: me, sat at the vintage oak writing desk that was far too heavy to ever lift out of the room (God knows how it got in there!). I imagined myself smoking a cigar, a whisky in one hand, and a typewriter clacking away as the pages dinged and made their way through the roller…
Who was I kidding!
There is something romantic that comes when you think about the writer’s life. But—and here I may shatter some illusions completely—that’s not what it’s like at all.
As I write these author notes I can safely tell you that I’m sat, cross-legged, on my sofa. There’s a coffee in front of me, and a bowl of porridge. It’s 6:45am and I’m getting ready to start the day-job. I’ve already made my way through book 3 of this series (oh my God, oh my God, you’re in for a treat!), and I’m already thinking of the writing I’ll be doing on my hour lunch break at work.
Somewhere upstairs I can hear my 3-year-old snoring. In about 15 minutes I’ll be up, dressed, and cycling into the heart of my city.
No cigar—I don’t even smoke!
No whiskey—such a shame, but I discovered morning drinking doesn’t exactly help my morning bike-rides go any
faster.
No typewriter—okay… so this one I’d love to have. Did you know they do USB plug-in typewriter keyboards?
I digress…
I suppose all this is to say that, if I can do it, anyone can write. Anyone can do this. It took a long while for me to build the routine of writing, and it’s with the encouragement of other writers that I realised how easy it can be to just… do it. My end goal was never to write an international bestseller—thank you so much guys!—but it was simply to tell stories. And that’s all I continue to do.
As per my last author notes, I wanted to add a few extra nods of thanks—though there may be some unfamiliar names in here.
Last week myself and the writers from Hawk & Cleaver (my story studio responsible for the chart-busting podcast, The Other Stories) celebrated 2 million downloads on our podcast. Not only that, but the damn thing has also been optioned for possible TV adaptation, too.
That’s not to say it’s definitely going to happen… but we’re certainly moving in the ‘write’ direction (see what I did there?).
So a massive thanks to Ben Errington, Matt Butcher, and Karl Hughes who continue to contribute to an amazing podcast and deliver amazing content. And, particularly, to Luke Kondor, my original writing collaborator, for all the work you put in to producing the podcast, and for being an absolute rockstar to work with. If it wasn’t for you, I know I wouldn’t be here now.
And, most of all, thank you to you, dear reader. Without your eyes on the page I would just be another crazy guy in his bathrobe, drinking himself silly with whiskey, and wondering why there’s pee-pee on the Twister mat.
Oh! And in case you were wondering…
A window cleaner who doesn’t need any ladders!
(I know, it’s terrible. But I’m a dad now and terrible jokes are all I have…)
Until next time.
Dan
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
August 18, 2018
First, THANK YOU for not only reading this story, but also reading through the back to our Author Notes, too!
Right now, I’m in the AC Hotel (San Jose) about six blocks from the Convention Center where WorldCon 76 is being held.
This is the first time I’ve ever attended this con.
It started Thursday and will finish on Monday, and I have seen a few interesting things I NEVER expected to see. One of them is the Han Solo carbonite block that was used for the Star Wars film Return of the Jedi.
Another was someone cosplaying Leeloo from the movie The Fifth Element (a favorite of mine.) Now, I’m fifty, pushing fifty-one years in a few weeks, so there was no way I was going to tell the young woman playing Leeloo that I thought it was cool that she was playing the character.
(No way I’ll be accused of being a creepy guy, thankyouverymuch.)
However, I found that my not saying anything was kinda sucky on two levels. The first was my reaction of embarrassment (I thought it was cool she was playing a character I really like in a movie, and my embarrassment grabbed the excuse that it might be seen as creepy as a reason to not say something). Why?
Fear of rejection, of course.
When you look up “Fear of Rejection” on Wikipedia, they should have my picture there as an example. I’m not nearly as bad about the fear as others who suffer (and don’t leave their homes.) Rather, I fear walking into rooms with people I don’t know. My first reaction is to find a corner and hide. The second level of sucky is that the person put in effort to look like Leeloo, and I missed an opportunity to show that someone appreciated it. I’m sure I could have said something nice in passing, waved, and walked on (I assume that is normal reaction and etiquette. It’s my first time at a larger con.)
So, for those of my readers who love cosplay, I salute you. You bring much fun to the cons! And while I work on my rejection issues, know that many of us appreciate the work you put into your costumes and some of us wish we had the ability to pause the embarrassment button in our lives and live it up like you do.
Keep cosplaying,
Michael Anderle
Other Books by Daniel Willcocks
They Rot (Book 1 of ‘The Rot’ series)
They Remain (Book 2 of ‘The Rot’ series)
Lazarus: Enter the Deadspace
Twisted: A collection of dark shorts
Sins of Smoke
The Caitlin Chronicles
Dawn of Chaos (1)
Into The Fire (2)
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Books by Michael Anderle
For a complete list of books by Michael Anderle, please visit
www.lmbpn.com/ma-books/
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www.lmbpn.com/audible
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Into The Fire: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Caitlin Chronicles Book 2) Page 23