Avernus: Book One

by Steven Webb

  “Well I’ll be.”

  “Yeah now who beat who. Hey speaking of beating each other have you seen or heard from Bryce?” Kaylen looked around in hopes of seeing his green suit poking out. Maybe he was just hiding. She ran around and searched the nearby wreckage. No sign of him anywhere.

  “Now that you mention it the last time I heard from him was when you were telling us about the box.” Dan’s face showed more concern than his voice let on to.

  The best option Kaylen could come up with was to head his direction and hope they found him. “Let’s go take a look. He might be lost. Dude doesn’t have a great sense of direction.” walking side by side, the pair set out to find their companion. Under normal circumstances one would just call out for their friend and listen for a response, but these conditions were anything but normal. “Bryce, come in.” Nothing. “Olly, olly, oxen free.” Kaylen kept her eyes sharp. She spotted a bright green patch and headed towards it only to realize it was a plant. She gave it a swift kick while ranting, “Stupid fucking bush.”

  Up ahead, a beam of light moved along the ground. At first she thought it was the wind, but it wasn’t moving in a regular pattern. There was no way it could be Dan since he was off to her left. “I think I found him,” she hollered over the headset forgetting that it would come out directly into Dan’s ears. She could apologize later. The beam didn’t seem to change it’s erratic movement. If Bryce was under there there was no way he could hear them. She hurried around the bend and found him trapped under a fallen sheet of wire mesh and a steel beam. “Dan get your ass over here.” On command, he appeared in front of her. One look at him was all it took to get him to start lifting the beam. She pulled the wire mesh aside and reached her hand in. Bryce was still conscious. The green glove locked into hers and she used the weight of her boots to help her pull him out. His body broke free just in time to see the mess come crashing down. Dan had lost his grip on the beam. The collapse threw a cloud of dust into the air.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Steven Webb was born in Chandler, Arizona in 1989. He grew up in Phoenix where his imagination flourished while reading indoors to escape the long hot summers. His love of animals then took him to Colorado where he studied animal biology at Colorado State University all with the dream of one day becoming a Veterinarian. It was at this school that he first envisioned the concept for this book. He fell in love with the state and all of its beauty, making it hard for him to leave. Realizing that moving back home was the change he needed, he packed up and move into an apartment with his dog, Lunette. Being able to live on his own and the change of scenery inspired him to finally set to work on his first book when he wasn’t busy helping foster group home children though his job at OCJ Kids.