The Year of the Hydra

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The Year of the Hydra Page 56

by William Broughton Burt


  Seven mutants. One chocolate bar. Unfortunate ratio.

  I like my new room. I enjoy haunting the ballparks on Saturdays, warming the first-baseline bleachers, shelling peanuts and listening to the perfect pop of leather on leather. I feel as though I’m waiting for something without knowing exactly what it is. There’s just a certain curiosity about the next moment, as though something splendid might happen.

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  About the Author

  Author William Broughton Burt grew up in Greenville, Mississippi, home to authors such as Ellen Gilchrist, Shelby Foote, Hodding Carter, William Alexander Percy, and Berne Keating. Burt began writing at age sixteen, honing his craft while pursuing a career in radio announcing.

  Burt attended Mississippi State University, promptly winning a literary scholarship and various awards that brought his work to the attention of established writers such as John Grisham and Padgett Powell. Upon receiving his masters from the University of Memphis, Burt was enlisted to teach English for a year in Shenzhen, China. During that year, the SARS epidemic broke out, and Burt’s experiences became the basis of his first novel, The Year of the Hydra.

  Among William Broughton Burt’s interests are various martial arts, including Tang Soo Do, in which he holds a second-degree black belt, and Tai Chi, which he taught for decades. Burt’s non-fiction book, Moving at the Speed of Truth: Tai Chi Decoded, is his personal synthesis of the underlying principles of the ancient art.

  Now living in Latin America, Burt is a university professor, essayist and musician.

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  But what happens when a failed rescue mission causes a small band of escaped clones to begin questioning their lives, their society, and their very existence? Hunted by deadly killing machines, confused and scared, these renegade slaves are about to find out—for better or worse—just what it means to be human.

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  When Phoebe suspects a technological cause, her strange, beautiful, antisocial new acquaintance, Mila Bremer, a software engineer, agrees to help. Mila may be part of the cure… or she may be the cause… or maybe she’ll prove to be indifferent to the fates of thousands of people, including Phoebe’s brother.

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  Text ©2015 William Broughton Burt

  Illustrations ©2015 by Grey Gecko Press.

  Design by Grey Gecko Press

  All rights reserved. Other than for review purposes, no part or portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons (living or dead), events, or entities is coincidental.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Burt, William Broughton

  The year of the hydra / William Broughton Burt

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2014951636

  ISBN 978-1-9388211-2-7

  ePub Edition

  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

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Sidebar Begins

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Epilogue

  Su
pport Indie Authors and Small Press

  About the Author

  Recommended Reading

  Grey Gecko Press

 

 

 


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