by B. T. Wright
“Do you think we can breach the side of the building, find our assets?” Lund said.
“No sir. There’s more coming. Multiple more infected. An army of those sons of bitches. I think the two Humvees were just the distraction. I’ve seen multiple hostiles that ran from the trees, and all are moving in on the structure.”
“Fine then. Hold off as many as you can. I’ll alert home base.”
Lund reached for his satellite phone and dialed. The phone rang once, then a man picked up the open line. “Operator,” the man said.
“Operator, this is Gunnery Sergeant Clayton Lund. We’re at the rally point. We’re taking heavy action from the infected. There was a breach, sir. I don’t know how, but I assume the infected interrupted the transmission between you and the plane. It looked as though there were at least two stolen Humvees filled with infected. Our boys walked right into a damn trap.”
“Do you have eyes on the prize?” the voice said.
“Negative. They’re holed up inside a building—a structure just near the runway. I assume all are inside, but we cannot know if they’re still alive. And with the sun setting and no power, I don’t think we can mount a search. Not in this situation, sir. It’s too risky.”
There was a pause on the other end. Then the voice came back. “What are you saying, Gunny?”
Lund didn’t want to say the words. They weren’t in his nature. But by all accounts, he couldn’t risk his men. Not since they didn’t have proof of life.
“Honestly, sir, we need more firepower. More men. Maybe an extract with the chopper.”
“The chopper is out on assignment. We don’t have any idea when it will return. Can you hold the infected off?”
“Sure, but for how long? Once nightfall hits, we won’t be able to see the infected as they attack. We’ll be firing blind, sir.”
“You just do what you can. For as long as it takes. The vice president is in there. He is priority to this mission, understand? We cannot leave him. We cannot fail to offer support. We’re counting on you and your team to battle through the night.”
“Roger that, sir.”
“Once we get wind of the chopper returning to base, we’ll refuel the bird and put her back in flight. We hope to see her soon, but she’s out on mission and we can’t raise her. There is another package, too important to leave behind. Do you hear me, Gunny?”
“Loud and clear, sir. We’ll do what we can here.”
“I expect nothing less. Not from a Marine.”
“Thank you, sir. If anything changes and we get eyes on the prize, we will radio back to base.”
“Thank you, Lund. Be careful, marine, and God be with all of you.”
UNCIVIL WAR: RECKONING
Book Five
Wright & Dudycha
Preorder today!
Sample: Uncivil War: Reckoning
Chapter 1
The helicopter hovered high above the Emergency Operations Center at Mount Weather, Virginia. Jake Maddox looked out over the mountains, they were majestic and grand. Dark clouds had moved in above them. The pilot said the radar looked like a fairly major storm was rolling in. Jake moved his gaze from the mountains to the parking lot outside the above ground buildings. The number of aliens had grown since they’d left to go pick up his brother Colt a couple of hours ago. And it looked as if they’d grown substantially. There were hundreds, if not thousands of them now.
Jake then turned his attention inside the helicopter. It was good to see his brother Colt and his two sons. Dylan and Wesley had changed entirely in the couple of years it had been since he’d seen them. Colt had changed too, but only in the graceful way a man who spends time in the sun would. Lines had begun forming on his rugged face, and what used to be dark brown ends of some of his whiskers were starting to show sprouts of white. Jake wasn’t really old enough for grays, but he imagined if he spent too many more days like the last week had gone, they’d be visiting him soon as well.
The helicopter dipped down and began its decent to the top of the roof. As the four of them exited the helicopter, the boys were excited to have a place to settle for a bit. But Jake could see the torment swimming in Colt’s eyes that was lingering from the loss of his wife. He and the boys would feel that for the rest of their lives. As if living in the world wasn’t hard enough, it had to be compounded by another species coming for what was theirs. As the boys and Colt went inside to take the elevator down to the bunker, Jake detoured over to the side of the building.
The sea of infected humans—aliens—was vast. They were shoulder to shoulder, just standing and waiting for Jake, or anyone like him to come along and make a mistake. Jake was anxious to talk to Amy. The aliens’ Element Zero, as they called her. He wanted to learn everything he could about the aliens from her, because he was ready to take the fight right back to them. Now that Emily and the other doctor had figured out how to rid the people of the alien inside them, he was chomping at the bit to get at them. They had taken enough from humanity, and it was time to take some of that humanity back.
Colt walked up and stood beside Jake. “What do you think they want?”
Jake let his eyes wander over all of them again as he pondered the question.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t believe they came here just to stand around in a parking lot.”
“I suppose not.” Colt ran his hand down his his freshly growing beard. “So, what are they waiting for?”
Jake was quiet. A streak of lightning shot down from one of the darker clouds, and a rumble of thunder sounded in the distance. The question Colt asked was one Jake had already been contemplating since the first time he saw the mass of aliens surrounding the underground facility. He didn’t have any idea what they were waiting for, but he had a terrible feeling that something he and all the other living humans didn’t know was about to bite them in the ass. You don’t come from some other planet and try to kill off an entire population just to linger. There was something they wanted, or needed, Jake was sure of that.
“You think they will come in another form?” Jake said.
Colt turned toward him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean surely these things aren’t all microbial in size. Or do you think that’s why they have come here? Because they needed bodies?”
“I wouldn’t count out anything at this point. I just know the longer we wait to find out, the worse whatever the answer is, will be.”
Jake nodded. He had felt the same way from the beginning. The longer they took to mount an attack—at the very least—the smarter the aliens would become inside their human bodies. Regardless of if they would come to Earth in other forms, the forms they took over would be almost impossible to stop if they were able to work at the full-functioning capacity of their host humans.
Jake walked away from the edge of the building and over to the entrance. “Sounds like we’d better get busy then, brother.”
Colt smirked and gave a nod toward the door. “You lead the way, soldier.”
UNCIVIL WAR: RECKONING
Book Five
Wright & Dudycha
Preorder today!
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, we want to thank you, the reader. We love what we do, and no matter how many people help us along the way, none of it would be possible if you weren’t turning the pages.
To our family and friends. Every creative person is neurotic as hell about their creations, and we just want to thank you for always helping to keep our heads on straight. And for indulging all of our ridiculous ideas.
To our editor, Josiah Davis. Thank you for your hard work in making our story sound better, and for helping our writing become sharper.
To our advanced reader team. You are our megaphone in helping spread the word about each new novel we release. You all have become friends, and we thank you for catching those last few sneaky typos, and always letting us know when something isn’t good enough. Jake and Colt appreciate you, and so do we.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
B.T. Wright and Jonathan Dudycha are the authors of the Uncivil War series. They found common ground in 2016 because they discovered they are adults still playing make-believe, and they had a similar background playing college baseball. Because they have penned novels in similar genres, it made sense to collaborate on a project just for the sheer fun of it. B.T. lives in Lexington, Kentucky with his wife and son. Jonathan hangs his hat in Ponte Vedra, Florida with his wife, son, and daughter. Though they are “blue steel” in the photo, in reality, serious is a rare occurrence.
Join the online family:
www.wrightanddudycha.com
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Also by Wright & Dudycha
Both B.T. and Jonathan write thrillers under different names.
If you enjoy espionage and crime thrillers B.T. writes under the name Bradley Wright. Here are his other novels:
Bradley Wright
Xander King Series:
Whiskey & Roses
Vanquish
King’s Ransom
King’s Reign
Scourge
Vendetta (prequel novella)
Lawson Raines Series:
When the Man Comes Around
Shooting Star
If you enjoy espionage and sea adventure thrillers Jonathan writes under the name J.D. Dudycha. Here are his other novels:
J.D. Dudycha
Gage Finley Adventures
Scavengers
Dark Descent
Buried Secrets
Deep Blue
Hurricane
Niki Finley Thrillers
First Shot
Second Best
Third Degree
Baseball Stories
Paint the Black
Sitting Dead Red
Chasing the Dream
Inside the Dugout: A collection of Baseball Stories
For information on upcoming releases, contests, freebies, and deals on future novels, head over to-
www.wrightanddudycha.com
-and join the reader team. We don’t write often, and we will never spam you or share your information. Thanks for being a part of the team. Talk to you soon!
