“Yes, Officer Andy, I’ll go tomorrow,” Waiz replied mechanically as he toyed with the pipe inside his sleeve.
“It’s your ass. If you don’t go, you’ll go back on probation so it’s all on you,” Andy said before driving off.
The boys watched as the SUV drove on down the road and turned the corner. Bob noticed the protuberance in the back waist line under Ibrahim’s coat, recognizing what it was. It had to be them, I know it…
They turned back toward Bob, faces set with grim determination. They wanted Wayne, and they were through talking about it. That didn’t bode well for Bob. Waiz let the pipe slide out of his sleeve and bounce on the concrete, taking a small chip out. It was a small thing that would eventually fill with dirt and become a mere feature of the surface itself, but tonight… tonight while it was fresh and new, it meant something. It was a lack of respect and a signal of intent all at the same time.
“That pipe hitting the ground has a very distinctive sound to it,” Bob said. “It’s the kind of sound that you never forget, like the whish, whish whishing of a worn brake pad or the grind of a wheel bearing going south. The mental trigger must be a metal on metal thing, don’t you think?” Bob said and they rolled their eyes in mock boredom and set themselves to finish this in their own way.
“No, really,” he said, causing them to hesitate. “These are sounds that you will always remember and recognize instantly when you hear them. A pole hitting another pole; the rattle of loose copper pipes or the ring of a hammer on an anvil and even a length of black steel pipe bouncing off of concrete. I swear if you hear those sounds, you will never forget them. Just like the sound of a 9mm millimeter round being racked into the chamber of a semi-automatic.”
They heard the sound of the Glock mechanism sliding into place before they could focus on the hollow eye of a barrel.
“Hey, do you boys remember when I took you up to the sand pits to learn how to shoot? Yeah, Boomer from the gun store was there, and he explained how they work and what you can do with them.” Bob paused and scrutinized the boys for a reaction. Their faces dead panned. “Boomer was killed last week; someone broke into his shop and stole all of his high end gear, or at least as much as they could fit into their vehicle. It’s a shame, all the good that man did and his life drew a price of twenty thousand dollars of inventory, not counting the damage to the shop that will have to be repaired at his widow’s expense. Do you remember Boomers’ wife, Becky? She must have made lunch for you guys a dozen times.”
“Boomer was a redneck and a capitalist fool just like you, old man. You’re not the only one with a gun, you know. Besides, you won’t use it anyway,” Ibrahim said as he started to slide his right arm behind his back.
Bob pulled the trigger. The report from the Glock .17 broke the silence of the night like the first firecracker on the Fourth of July. No one would call it in. Those who might have been witness knew what was up and were probably watching right now. It was a tight neighborhood, and they had been notified about ignoring things tonight. Some even hoped that Bob would finish it right here and now. They didn’t like what their town had become and wanted to see something done about it—they really didn’t care what.
The bullet went through the meaty part of Ibrahim’s arm, possibly nicking the bone. Not fatal or really even all that damaging, but enough to get his attention. Waiz withdrew a step.
“Don’t go anywhere, Waiz; we still have much to talk about. Come over here, Ibrahim, so I can get that gun out of your waist band. I am assuming it is a Heckler and Koch since that’s what Boomer specialized in for semi auto’s. That Taurus revolver strapped to Waiz’s ankle being one of the exceptions. Oh yeah, I knew it was there as soon as you approached. I can see the bulge in your pant leg. No, no; don’t you go for it, son. I will blow his head off and shoot you in the face before you even got the security strap off and you know I can.
“Forty caliber, Ibrahim? Is it necessary to use something so big? You must really want to do some damage. Throw that pipe on the grass over there, Waiz. Easy now. Don’t do anything that I will regret. I would say “you regret”, but there won’t be a you if it doesn’t play out just as I have planned.”
“Planned? You didn’t plan shit, you senile bastard,” Ibrahim said through a grimace of pain as he held the bullet wound in his arm.
“It’s planned; we’ve been planning it for a long time. In fact, things had been planned a long time before I became involved. Now throw that pipe down and come on in here, boys. I got some things to talk to you about.”
All men can be brave to a point. But when one’s demise is evident, the investment for courage increases, and the boys weren’t willing to make that investment here and now.
“Now just sit down right there,” Bob said, nodding to two art deco chairs. The thick, fiber, padded seats in a faded and worn turquoise skin showed large ass-cheek prints from past use, turning the ancient material almost white.
“Wayne, go ahead now, son,” Bob said to the hidden figure standing between the old, south-facing garage and the new, west-facing garage. The young man, who was almost ten years older than the two in front of Bob, stepped out from the shadowed area with zip ties in his hand. They had leather straps that would be used once they were secure, but the efficiency and speed of a zip tie can’t be beat.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this sample of Wayward Son. If you would like to continue enjoying this story you can find it on Amazon in e-book and paperback or if you prefer to listen you will find it on Audible narrated by the great Kevin Pierce.
About the Author
Joseph Hansen is a self- studied author who has written several full-length novels, including: Zombie Rush (apocalyptic), Splinter (absolute horror), and Wayward Son (science fiction)
He also written several short stories that have appeared in various anthologies.
Joesph was a founding member of Phalanx Press.
_________________________________
Sixth Cycle
Carl Sinclair & Darren Wearmouth
Nuclear war has destroyed human civilization.
Captain Jake Phillips wakes into a dangerous new world, where he finds the remaining fragments of the population living in a series of strongholds, connected across the country. Uneasy alliances have maintained their safety, but things are about to change. -- Discovery leads to danger. -- Skye Reed, a tracker from the Omega stronghold, uncovers a threat that could spell the end for their fragile society. With friends and enemies revealing truths about the past, she will need to decide who to trust. -- Sixth Cycle is a gritty post-apocalyptic story of survival and adventure.
The Invasion Trilogy
Darren Wearmouth
Aliens have planned against us for centuries... And now the attack is ready.
Charlie Jackson's archaeological team find advanced technology in an undisturbed 16th Century graves. While investigating the discovery, giant sinkholes appear across planet, marking the start of Earth's colonization and the descent of civilization.
Charlie and the rest of humanity will have to fight for survival, sacrificing the life they’ve known to protect themselves from an ancient and previously dormant enemy. Even that might not be enough as aliens exact a plan that will change the course of history.
Dead Island: Operation Zulu
Allen Gamboa
DEAD ISLAND: Operation Zulu
Ten years after the world was nearly brought to its knees by a zombie Armageddon, there is a race for the antidote! On a remote Caribbean island, surrounded by a horde of hungry living dead, a team of American and Australian commandos must rescue the Antidotes' scientist. Filled with zombies, guns, Russian bad guys, shady government types, serial killers and elevator muzak. Dead Island is an action packed blood soaked horror adventure.
Dead Island: Dos and Dead Island: Ravenous are available now!
INVASION OF THE DEAD SERIES
Owen Baillie
INVASION OF THE DEAD SERIES
This is the first book in a series of nine, about an ordinary bunch of friends, and their plight to survive an apocalypse in Australia. -- Deep beneath defense headquarters in the Australian Capital Territory, the last ranking Army chief and a brilliant scientist struggle with answers to the collapse of the world, and the aftermath of an unprecedented virus. Is it a natural mutation, or does the infection contain -- more sinister roots? -- One hundred and fifty miles away, five friends returning from a month-long camping trip slowly discover that death has swept through the country. What greets them in a gradual revelation is an enemy beyond compare. -- Armed with dwindling ammunition, the friends must overcome their disagreements, utilize their individual skills, and face unimaginable horrors as they battle to reach their hometown...
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
W.J Lundy
Alone in a foreign land. The radio goes quiet while on convoy in Afghanistan, a lost patrol alone in the desert. With his unit and his home base destroyed, Staff Sergeant Brad Thompson suddenly finds himself isolated and in command of a small group of men trying to survive in the Afghan wasteland. Every turn leads to danger.
The local population has been afflicted with an illness that turns them into rabid animals. They pursue him and his men at every corner and stop. Struggling to hold his team together and unite survivors, he must fight and evade his way to safety. A fast paced zombie war story like no other.
Zed’s World
Rich Baker
BOOK ONE: THE GATHERING HORDE
The most ambitious terrorist plot ever undertaken is about to be put into motion, releasing an unstoppable force against humanity. Ordinary people – A group of students celebrating the end of the semester, suburban and rural families – are about to themselves in the center of something that threatens the survival of the human species. As they battle the dead – and the living – it’s going to take every bit of skill, knowledge and luck for them to survive in Zed’s World.
BOOK TWO: ROADS LESS TRAVELED
A terrible plague has been loosed upon the earth. In the course of one night, mankind teeters on the brink of extinction. Fighting through gathering hordes of undead, a group of friends brave military checkpoints, armed civilians, and forced allegiances in an attempt to reach loved ones. Thwarted at every turn, they press forward. But taking roads less traveled, could cost them everything.
BOOK THREE: NO WAY OUT
For Kyle Puckett, Earth has become a savage place. As the world continues to decay, the survivors of the viral plague have started choosing sides. With each encounter the stakes - and the body count - continue to rise. With the skies growing darker and the dead pressing in, both sides may soon find out that there is No Way Out.
Grudge
Brian Parker
The United States Navy led an expedition to Antarctica in December 1946, called Operation Highjump. Officially, the men were tasked with evaluating the effect of cold weather on US equipment; secretly their mission was to investigate reports of a hidden Nazi base buried beneath the ice. After engaging unknown forces in aerial combat, weather forced the Navy to abandon operations. Undeterred, the US returned every Antarctic summer until finally the government detonated three nuclear missiles over the atmosphere in 1958. Unfortunately, the desperate gamble to rid the world of the Nazi scourge failed. The enemy burrowed deeper into the ice, using alien technologies for cryogenic freezing to amass a genetically superior army, indoctrinated from birth to hate Americans. Now they’ve returned, intent on exacting revenge for the destruction of their homeland and banishment to the icy wastes.
The Path of Ashes
Brian Parker
Evil doesn’t become extinct, it evolves. Our world is a violent place. Murder, terrorism, racism and social inequality, these are some of the forces that attempt to destroy our society while the State is forced to increase its response to these actions. Our own annihilation is barely held at bay by the belief that we’ve somehow evolved beyond our ancestors’ base desires.
From this cesspool of emotions emerges a madman, intent on leading the world into anarchy. When his group of computer hackers infiltrate the Department of Defense network, they initiate a nuclear war that will irrevocably alter our world.
Aeric Gaines and his roommate, Tyler, survive the devastation of the war, only to find that the politically correct world where they’d been raised was a lie. All humans have basic needs such as food, water and shelter…but we will fight for what we desire.
A Path of Ashes is a three-book series about life in post-apocalyptic America, a nation devoid of leadership, electricity and human rights. The world as we know it may have burned, but humanity found a way to survive and this is their story.
As the Ash Fell
AJ Powers
Life in the frozen wastelands of Texas is anything but easy, but for Clay Whitaker there is always more at stake than mere survival.
It's been seven years since the ash billowed into the atmosphere, triggering some of the harshest winters in recorded history. Populations are thinning. Food is scarce. Despair overwhelming. With no way to sustain order, societies collapsed, leaving people to fend for themselves.
Clay and his sister Megan have taken a handful of orphaned children into their home--a home soaring sixteen stories into the sky. With roughly six short months a year to gather enough food and supplies to last the long, brutal winter, Clay must spend most of his time away from his family to scavenge, hunt, and barter.
When Clay rescues a young woman named Kelsey from a group of Screamers, his life is catapulted into a new direction, forcing him to make decisions he never thought he would have to make.
Now, with winter rolling in earlier than ever, Clay's divided attention is putting him, and his family, at risk.
Human Element
AJ Powers
Human Element
The Neuroweb began as the greatest invention since written language. A simple brain implant that allowed the user to access information, entertainment, and even pain relief. The Neuroweb was the beginning of a golden age for mankind...
Until it was compromised.
Everyone with the implant lost their most important commodity: their free will. The collective human consciousness was hacked, and now directed by artificial intelligence. Only those without the Neuroweb have a chance of resisting...If they dare.
Aaran has legitimate reason to believe he's the last free-thinking human alive. After his family was killed in the purge, he fled for his life. Now, he aimlessly wanders through the suburbs of Cincinnati alone, desperate to find a reason to live.
When he meets a girl like him - another free thinker - they search together for a cause worth fighting for. Worth dying for.
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