The Alpha Plague - Books 1 - 8: A Post-Apocalyptic Action Thriller

by Michael Robertson

  Support the Author

  Dear reader, as an independent author I don’t have the resources of a huge publisher. If you like my work and would like to see more from me in the future, there are two things you can do to help: leaving a review, and a word-of-mouth referral.

  Releasing a book takes many hours and hundreds of dollars. I love to write, and would love to continue to do so. All I ask is that you leave an Amazon review. It shows other readers that you’ve enjoyed the book and will encourage them to give it a try too. The review can be just one sentence, or as long as you like. Click this link to go straight to the book page on Amazon.

  If you’d like to be notified of when the next book in this series becomes available, you can sign up to my spam-free mailing list HERE.

  The Shadow Order - Chapter One

  A white flash of light exploded across Seb’s vision. The Mandulu hit him so hard it felt like the entire planet shifted beneath his feet. With the copper taste of his own blood in his mouth, Seb shook his head and blinked several times before he could focus on the large creature. At a good couple of feet taller than Seb, the average Mandulu towered over him. As wide as they were tall, they had arms and legs like tree trunks and skin like leather. The one in front of Seb—pumped up and breathing heavily—had a larger frame than average for his species. Broken off stumps that used to be horns protruded from his bottom jaw up over his top lip, and scars criss-crossed all over his face; he looked like he’d been in a fight with a glass factory.

  With his hand against his cheek like it could offer some comfort, Seb opened and closed his throbbing jaw. “What was that for?”

  The big dumb creature rolled his shoulders as he rocked from side to side. When he spoke, his voice came out like thunder and vibrated through Seb’s chest. “They say you’re tough, human.” To watch the creature’s lips move completely out of sync with the sounds that Seb heard always threw him off. Seb dropped his attention to the floor and listened to how the language chip—a standard that every being that travelled had implanted beneath its skin—manipulated the creature’s voice so it came to Seb in words he understood.

  A quick glance around the dirty and dark bar, and Seb saw the collection of faces that stared back at him. He was at a spaceport, so he saw many species he didn’t recognise, but from the way they looked back, it seemed that most of them recognised him. A notorious reputation for having such a short fuse would do that. He shrugged, his voice loud in what had become the near silence of the bar. “They?”

  The Mandulu didn’t respond. Instead, he deepened his frown and grunted.

  “Come on, Seb,” Mia Lagos said as she pulled on his arm.

  Seb looked at her. The last time he’d seen Mia they were fifteen and at school together. In the near decade since that time, the girl had transformed into a swan, and she smelled better than anything Seb had encountered in a long time. No way could he let the dumb creature disrupt the chance encounter with this floral-scented beauty. A sharp nod and he turned his back on the Mandulu. “You’re right; this piece of crap doesn’t need my attention.” After he’d lifted his glass from the brushed metal bar, he nodded at the pretty girl. “To high school reunions.”

  Just as Seb went to take a sip of his drink, the Mandulu pulled on his left shoulder and spun him around. The metal tankard flew from Seb’s hand and landed in the sawdust on the floor. The beast stared at Seb, huffing and puffing in his fury and waiting for Seb to accept the fight with raised fists. Instead, Seb yawned and looked around him. Although this place was the best bar in the spaceport, it remained a bar in the spaceport nonetheless. No matter where you went, the mixture of alcohol and many different species had to end in violence. Bala, the bar owner, had constructed the entire place from metal and had bolted every piece of furniture to the floor. Although the only things able to get damaged in a bar brawl were the bodies of the ones brawling, Bala still hated the violence; he cited it as bad for business. Not that you could go anywhere in any spaceport without aggro.

  Instead of looking at the Mandulu, who clearly wanted nothing more than to be noticed by him, Seb watched his drink soak into the sawdust floor and shook his head. “Look, pal, just buy me a new drink and move on, yeah?”

  The Mandulu’s chest rattled with his respiration as if he had a loose flap in his large lungs. He fixed on Seb with his red eyes, his shoulders lifting and falling with each inhale and exhale.

  Mia pulled on Seb’s arm again, but he didn’t look at her this time. “Come on,” she said, “let’s move away.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Seb said, more to the Mandulu than Mia. “The punch I can forgive; Mandulus are stupid and act without thought. But my drink …”

  The Mandulu’s red eyes shifted from Seb to Mia and back to Seb again. “Maybe you should listen to the little tart and move on. A pretty thing like that gives you a good reason to walk away. Who wouldn’t go with her rather than have a fight?” He focused on Mia for a second. “I’ll tell you what, sweetheart, if you want to wait until this is all wrapped up, I’ll go with you.”

  “Look, Seb,” Mia said, blushing and with a warble in her voice, “this piece of garbage really doesn’t matter. Walk away.”

  The girl made sense, but at nearly twenty-five, Seb had never backed down from a fight … ever. Nevertheless, he thought maybe he should; he gained nothing from fighting other than more grief.

  “Your reputation spans the galaxy,” the Mandulu said. “The toughest warrior there is. It’s the sole reason I came here.” Contempt hung from the monster’s features as he looked Seb up and down. “I shouldn’t listen to rumour, should I? You’re clearly a good storyteller, but nothing more.”

  The temperature of Seb’s body rose by a few degrees and his heart rate increased. A glance around the bar and he now saw faces he recognised. Each one of them looked back at him with the same resigned expression. They’d seen it all before. He’d have to teach the Mandulu piece of crap a lesson before he got the message. When Seb looked at Mia, she wore the same imploring expression. Seb hooked a thumb toward the Mandulu. “But look at this thing. He seems like he needs his sense of self-importance beaten out of him. Although from the look of his tusks—”

  “Horns,” the Mandulu interrupted.

  “When you look at his tusks,” Seb said, “you can see he’s already had the snot beaten out of him several times at least.” A pause as he drank in the silence around him and Seb snorted a laugh. “Although, I’d say a lot more. Did you know these brutes see it as a sign of strength to have their little tusks broken? I’d be more fearful of the ones with their tusks still intact. Surely that means they don’t get hit as much. A pretty fighter is much deadlier than an ugly one.” When Seb looked at his reflection in the shined piece of metal behind the bar, half of his face already swollen from the whack he’d received, he brushed his hair over to one side and cocked an eyebrow.

  “Walk away,” Mia said again.

  Seb only knew of the Mandulu’s next punch when it rocked his world again. The bar tilted to one side and his legs weakened. Maintaining a reputation shouldn’t matter, but the thing had hit him twice now. He couldn’t let him get away with it.

  The Mandulu lifted his large arms above his head and spun on the spot. “The great Seb Zodo. Feared throughout the galaxy, and when I come to fight him, the truth of it is revealed. He’s nothing but a pathetic little human. A mama’s boy.”

  Every muscle in Seb’s body tensed, and he balled his hands into fists. With the sound of his own pulse as a wet throb in his ears, he drew heavy breaths through his nose. After he’d stared at the ugly Mandulu for a few more seconds, he glanced over at Bala, just about able to focus through his rage.

  The bar’s owner had his hand over a blaster on the bar as he stared back at Seb. He then nodded in the direction of the door and growled, “Take it outside.”

  After a long exhale, which did little to prevent the shake that ran through him, Seb pointed at the bar’s exit. “Nobody talks about
my mum. You want this? We go outside.”

  This is the first chapter of The Shadow Order - Book One. If you’d like to read more, check out the links below (The Shadow Order Book One is Free to download):

  THE SHADOW ORDER

  If you enjoy book one of The Shadow Order - I’ve included Book Two - The First Mission at the end of this book.

  Would you like to get the first two books in The Shadow Order and several other books in my catalogue for FREE? If so, join my spam-free mailing list HERE

  About the Author

  Like most children born in the seventies, Michael grew up with Star Wars in his life. An obsessive watcher of the films, and an avid reader from an early age, he found himself taken over with stories whenever he let his mind wander.

  Those stories had to come out.

  He hopes you enjoy reading his books as much as he does writing them.

  Michael loves to travel when he can. He has a young family, who are his world, and when he’s not reading, he enjoys walking so he can dream up more stories.

  Contact

  www.michaelrobertson.co.uk

  subscribers@michaelrobertson.co.uk

  Also by Michael Robertson

  Masked - A Psychological Horror

  The Shadow Order

  The First Mission - Book Two of The Shadow Order

  The Crimson War - Book Three of The Shadow Order

  Eradication - Book Four of The Shadow Order

  Fugitive - Book Five of The Shadow Order

  Enigma - Book Six of The Shadow Order

  120-Seconds: A Shadow Order Story

  The Alpha Plague: A Post-Apocalyptic Action Thriller

  The Alpha Plague 2

  The Alpha Plague 3

  The Alpha Plague 4

  The Alpha Plague 5

  The Alpha Plague 6

  The Alpha Plague 7

  The Alpha Plague 8

  Crash - A Dark Post-Apocalyptic Tale

  Crash II: Highrise Hell

  Crash III: There’s No Place Like Home

  Crash IV: Run Free

  Crash V: The Final Showdown

  New Reality: Truth

  New Reality 2: Justice

  New Reality 3: Fear

  The First Mission - Book Two of The Shadow Order

  Email: subscribers@michaelrobertson.co.uk

  Edited by:

  Terri King - http://terri-king.wix.com/editing

  And

  Pauline Nolet - http://www.paulinenolet.com

  Cover Design by Dusty Crosley

  Michael Robertson

  © 2016 Michael Robertson

  The First Mission is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, situations, and all dialogue are entirely a product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously and are not in any way representative of real people, places or things.

  Any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Chapter 1

  Seb battled for breath as he followed Sparks across the rocky and barren landscape. Life had been hectic since they’d signed on with the Shadow Order. In his line of work, he had to use his fists and now fought when he needed to—promise to his dad or not. It had been unrealistic to think it could have been any other way.

  “There it is!” Sparks shouted.

  Another glance behind and Seb saw a wall of laser fire coming straight for him. Everything slowed down as it always did when he sensed danger. It gave him time to telegraph the beams, twisting and turning in a complex and uncoordinated dance to avoid them.

  One came so close it nearly took Seb’s nose off and he went cross-eyed as he watched the blue beam shoot past him. He froze. A red blast ran near enough to snap him out of it and he ducked to avoid another shot that would have cut straight through his skull.

  Although he’d seen Sparks point through a gap in the wall of red rock, Seb couldn’t see what lay beyond it from his current position.

  As Sparks vanished through the space, Seb gritted his teeth and found an extra burst of energy. Sweat ran into his eyes and his throat dried because of the hot environment.

  Before Seb got to the path through the rock, another wave of fire came at him.

  Seb ran backwards to see the blasts and his stomach lurched as he anticipated a fall on the uneven terrain.

  At least forty indigenous creatures charged in their attempt to reclaim their queen’s crown, which had already vanished with Sparks. Maybe male, female, or both, the quadrupeds were the size of lions and dressed like ninjas. Black cloth covered their entire form save for a cut-out slit exposing their yellow eyes and a hole so they could use their huge jaws. They were each armed with a blaster on a leather thong around their necks. It slowed them down to turn bipedal, but when they did, it allowed them to send another volley of fire at Seb.

  The bars of red and blue laser blasts spewed forth in their third assault. Seb dodged all of them again, his ragged breaths slow as his world moved at a fraction of the real speed. Although he could see the creatures’ weak spots, he ignored them. He’d lose if he stopped to fight.

  Before the creatures could loose another round of fire, Seb came to the pathway through the rock and ducked into it. The planet’s thin atmosphere made every breath less effective than the last.

  The red terrain on the other side of the wall seemed redder than the side Seb left behind. The rocky landscape burned a deep crimson like fresh blood.

  A space of about fifty metres separated Seb from the huge mountain Sparks headed for. Halfway there already, she ran for a large metal shutter embedded in the side of it. Their intel had told them they would find a hangar nearby and, so far, the information they’d received from the Shadow Order’s databank had been spot on.

  Before Seb followed Sparks across the open space, he stopped. Out of breath from the run and with the dry taste of dust in his throat, he forced his words out and called to the small Thrystian, “How long will you need, Sparks?”

  Sparks spun around so she ran backwards and cupped her mouth to call to him, “Come through when you hear a ship’s engines start up.”

  A deep breath to try to level himself out and Seb gave Sparks a thumbs-up before he turned back to the gap he’d just run through.

  The first of the quadruped ninjas burst out and Seb ambushed it with a punch to the forehead. The thing didn’t see it coming and its momentum carried it forward despite its head being snapped back by the blow. Out cold from the attack, the beast slid along the hard ground face first.

  The next one came through and Seb kicked it in the same spot. It wouldn’t be a challenge to knock them out one at a time, but he’d be overwhelmed if he tried to do it to all of them.

  Hot from the run and the red planet’s elevated temperature, Seb knocked three more out with quick jabs, each one connecting with the hard skulls of the beasts. The next deep breath he took smelled of wet dog. In fact, it reeked of it, and he ruffled his nose as he looked at the dirty unconscious aliens.

  Seb opened and closed his stinging hand to try to ease the deep pain already in it. Too focused on his fist, he missed the next attacker, which jumped over both the bodies of its unconscious friends as well as Seb. Before he could deal with it, three more came through the gap.

  Seb ran at the creature that had jumped him and knocked it out. The beasts behind quickly caught up and surrounded him, their deep growls rumbling like race pod engines. Yellow eyes glared at him from their black masks and they snapped their wide mouths. Their lips pulled back to reveal their black needle teeth. Each bite could take his head clean off. Matted brown fur hung from their maws, clogged with what looked like congealed blood from their last k
ill.

  One lurched forward and Seb kicked it under its jaw, careful to avoid puncturing his shoe on its sharp bite. It yelped and pulled back, but it stayed conscious. This couldn’t last long; there were too many for him to fight.

  A glance at the gap in the rocks and Seb saw more stalk through the space. They all watched him, their heads dipped low and their shoulders lifting on one side and then the other as they strode forward. Confident in their dominance over him, their rattling growl joined with the others around them.

  Just one of the creatures stood between Seb and the hangar. He lunged at that one and drove a punch to its hard forehead. He could have sworn he heard his hand crack. Numbness spread through his fist, but he took off toward the mountain. Blaster fire hit the ground around him and sprayed him with chips of red rock.

  Just a few metres clear of the group, Seb turned to see he hadn’t made a dent in their numbers. They came through the crevice like a flood. What he’d thought to be forty of the brutes now looked like seventy or more. A plague of beasts rather than a pack. Although, they seemed less interested in using their blasters now.

  Pinned between them and the mountain, Seb had no hope of distracting them until he heard an engine start up. Hopefully, Sparks had a plan B.

  Every tired step against the hard and rocky ground snapped through Seb. Clumsy with exhaustion, he didn’t have the strength in his body to compensate for the unforgiving surface. With sore hips from the run, a throbbing hand from the fight, and burning lungs because of the planet’s thin atmosphere, he used the beasts’ slathering and phlegmy rattle to spur him on.