by William Oday
“You sent paper? Bob, why can’t you send email like a normal person? I don’t do paper. Can I look at paper on my phone while I’m lunching at Serenity Tao’s?”
Bob’s fingers squeezed the chair’s armrests and his jaw tightened.
Veronica tapped his shoulder and he glanced up. She shook her head and waved a finger at him. She touched her heart and mimed breathing slowly and deeply.
Bob rolled his eyes. “Listen, Malcolm. It’s called Sole Survivor. It’s going to be the next big thing. Guaranteed.”
“You’ve got thirty seconds to save your job. Speak.”
Speak? Like a dog.
What a schmuck.
Bob drew in a deep breath and swung for the fences. He rattled off the overview, coming in at thirty seconds on the dot.
There was silence on the other end.
That was good.
Maybe.
“I’ve got it all set up, Malcom. I just need the green light from you. Don’t let this one slip away.”
Another few seconds of silence and then the reply.
“Is anyone going to die? Isn’t that place known for having killer bears?”
“The island has the largest bears on the planet. Around thirty-five hundred of them. Point seven bears per square mile. So I’d say it’s highly likely that there will be dangerous confrontations. That’s part of the allure.”
“If someone dies, legal is going to throw a hissy fit. And I don’t like hissy fits from legal, Bob.”
“I’ll get waivers. Legal can draw them up. Iron-clad waivers that’ll keep this network out of any unpleasant entanglements.”
“I want them on my desk by tomorrow morning. Everything better be tighter than a gnat’s cornhole. Capiche, Bob?”
Malcolm Calhoun was no more Italian than the Spaghetti Warehouse. Hearing him pretend to be some kind of Godfather almost made Bob want to get whacked.
“I understand.”
“You’ve got your green light.”
“Yes!” Bob’s death grip on the phone relaxed. A flood of relief washed over him. The pressure in his chest subsided. He took a deep breath and smiled. The release lasted half a second.
“With one condition.”
“What condition?”
“I want you on site to ensure everything goes according to plan.”
“What? Why? It’s ten million miles away. It’s a frigid wasteland of eskimos and ice. I’m not going there.”
“You’re going there or you’re fired. Your choice.”
Wasn’t much of a choice.
“Fine.”
“This is your last chance, Bob. Screw it up and your career is FUBER.”
With that, the line went dead.
Veronica giggled. “Did he mean FUBAR or UBER or both? Like you’re screwed and will end up as a personal taxi driver?”
Bob would’ve laughed if it wasn’t his neck on the chopping block.
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Other Works
Extinction Crisis series
SOLE CONNECTION, a Short Story
SOLE PREY, a Prequel Novella
SOLE SURVIVOR, Book 1
SOLE CHAOS, Book 2
ZOMBURBIA, a Short Story
THE TANK MAN, a Short Story
THE PLUNGE, a Short Story
Edge of Survival series
THE LAST DAY, Book 1
THE FINAL COLLAPSE, Book 2
THE FRAGILE HOPE, Book 3
THE DESPERATE FIGHT, Book 4
The Best Adventures series
THE SLITHERING GOLIATH
THE BEEPOCALYPSE
THE PHARAOH’S CURSE
Short Stories
THE GENDER LOTTERY
SAINT JOHN
SHE’S GONE
Questions or Comments?
Have any questions or comments? I’d love to hear from you! Seriously. Voices coming from outside my head are such a relief.
Give me a shout at [email protected].
All the best,
Will
The Goal
I have a simple storytelling goal that can be wildly difficult to achieve. I want to entertain you with little black marks arranged on a white background. Read the marks and join me on a grand adventure. If all goes well, you’ll slip under the spell and so walk alongside heroes and villains. You’ll feel what they feel. You’ll understand the world as they do.
My writing and your reading is a kind of mechanical telepathy. I translate my thoughts and emotions through characters and conflict in a written story. If the transmission works, your heart will pound, your heart will break, and you will care. At the very least, hopefully you’ll escape your world and live in mine for a little while.
I hope to see you there!
Will
My Life Thus Far
I grew up in the red dirt of the Midwest, the center of the states. I later meandered out to the West Coast and have remained off-center ever since. Living in Los Angeles, I achieved my Career 1.0 dream by working on big-budget movies for over a decade. If you’ve seen a Will Smith or Tom Cruise blockbuster action movie, you’ve likely seen my work.
The work was challenging and fulfilling… until I got tired of telling other people’s stories. I longed to tell my own. So, now I’m pursuing my Career 2.0 dream—a dream I’ve had since youth—to write stories that pull a reader in and make the everyday world fade away.
I’ve since moved to a more rural setting north of San Francisco with my lovely wife, vibrant children, and a dog that has discovered the secret to infinite energy. His name is Trip and he fits the name in four unique ways.
WILLIAMODAY.COM
Copyright
William Oday, March 2019
Copyright © 2019 William Oday
All rights reserved worldwide
All rights reserved. With the exception of excerpts for reviews, no part 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.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, dialogues, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Individual book covers by Christian Bentulan
Note that this series was originally titled The Last Peak. The books were titled The Darwin Protocol, The Darwin Collapse and The Darwin Sacrifice.
