by Daniel Gage
Like the receptionist said, it was easy to find her room. Cam knocked gently and pushed open the door, which was already slightly ajar. The room was inviting and sunny, and his mother sat in a new wheelchair looking out the window with a view of the garden.
“Hey, Ma,” Cam said softly as he approached.
Her head slowly turned, and a look of confusion quickly turned into joy when she saw her son.
“Cam!” she said, tears welling up in her eyes. “My boy, I missed you!”
“I missed you to, Ma,” he said as he knelt down and hugged her. “You remember Lizzy? The girl who watched you while you were at my place?”
His mom peered at Lizzy, her squinting eyes appearing larger than they should through her glasses.
“Yes, yes, you look familiar,” Cam’s mother said. “Though I thought your name was different? Bambi?”
Lizzy laughed and gave the woman a hug.
“Yes, that’s a nickname,” Lizzy said. “But please, call me Lizzy, or Liz.”
“Of course, dear,” his mom said.
“How are you doing here, Ma?” Cam asked. “Sorry I haven’t come to visit sooner. Been a busy time, with this new job and all.”
“A new job?” his mother asked, beaming. “Is it a good one?”
“Yeah, it is,” he said. “Good pay, and it’s what I’m good at.”
“That’s wonderful,” his mother said. “I’m so proud of you, Son. You seem so different, now. I wish your father was here to see it.”
And she wasn’t wrong. Cam felt different, very different. There wasn’t any residual anger lingering deep in his soul, no outrage toward the universe. It felt good to have a purpose, a calling. And to finally understand why he didn’t feel like he belonged to his world, to see the life he would have been born into.
Cam wouldn’t have traded the mansions, yachts, and fancy cars for anything. The smile his mother kept for him was simply priceless.
“I know, Ma,” Cam said. “I wish he was still here, too. I would have loved to have known him.”
“He was here a few days ago,” she said. “He said he would be back.”
“Oh, Ma,” Cam said with a sigh. “Dad’s dead, you know that.”
“He is?” his mother said. “I’m sorry, Cam, you know … my mind …”
Tears started to well up in her eyes, and he wrapped her in another embrace.
Before long she grew tired, and Cam and Lizzy walked back toward the entrance.
“That’s so sad,” Lizzy said. “The short time I watched her, the dementia never got bad. I’ll bet she’s still a sweet lady, even when she has episodes. That’s a thing, right?”
“Yeah, some days are worse than others,” Cam said. “But even when she has bad days, she’s still my ma.”
The pair walked past the front desk, where the receptionist waved them goodbye with a smile.
“Thanks for coming by,” the receptionist said. “It’s so nice to see your mother get so many visitors. Everyone here loves her.”
Cam stopped and turned his body toward the receptionist, his brow creased.
“Visitors?” Cam asked. “Other people have been by? Who?”
“Let me check the log,” the receptionist said. “We keep computer records, but we also make people sign in. His signature was annoying, but he was really charming and nice with your mother. So I let it slide.”
The receptionist put a large book on the desk and flipped through it.
“Ah, here it is,” she said, turning the book so Cam and Lizzy could read.
Lizzy seemed confused, but Cam wasn’t.
Instead, he was fueled with rage.
“What language is this?” the reception asked. “Chinese or something?”
Cam fought to steady his ire, but it wasn’t enough.
“Sanskrit,” he said through a clenched jaw. “I need to make a call. Excuse me.”
Behind him, he heard Lizzy calming the receptionist, who was freaking out at Cam’s reaction. Lizzy had to reassure her that nothing was her fault, and that Cam wasn’t calling her supervisor.
Once he was outside, Cam dialed a number on his phone.
“Emma, it’s me,” Cam said. “He’s alive. Dealer X is alive, and he’s been to see my ma.”
EPILOGUE
When Alexandre didn’t die, he knew that Cam had survived the encounter with Dealer X.
And when his condition didn’t improve, he knew that Cam hadn’t strayed from his path.
He could barely speak, let alone control any other function of his body. Alexandre was starting to wish he had never entered his deal, that he had finished his pathetic life and died insignificantly.
Only his doctors visited him. He never saw his dad, or his former lover. Now, he wished for anything to happen.
Yet, long ago, he learned to be careful what he wished for.
“Hello, Alexandre,” a familiar voice said. “You’re looking awful.”
His head slowly turned to see Dealer X, who had silently entered his room. Or loudly; Alexandre’s hearing wasn’t reliable anymore.
“You look like shit,” Alexandre managed to say.
The dealer let out a small laugh. “Cam pushed my ability to the limit. I haven’t had the chance to recharge it. I’ll need to soon. You should see Zeke; he’s going to need a new leg.”
Dealer X coughed, blood droplets spraying on his open hand. Alexandre noticed how pale he was, and realized that the dealer looked similar to himself, when Cam started to shift karma away from him.
“Are … you going to kill him?” Alexandre asked.
“No,” Dealer X said. “I wanted to, but the Shifters … they go into a rage when they hear his name. But they say you have to live. Apparently, you’re important.”
Alexandre’s exhausted brain absorbed the dealer’s words, and what they meant. “So … you have to turn him.”
“Right,” Dealer X said. “And there’s a plan in motion. Figured you’d like to hear that. And I was curious, too.”
“About what?” Alexandre asked.
“How far someone can decay without dying,” Dealer X said. “Don’t worry. We have more resources than Cameron Briggs. You’ll be back on your feet soon, Alexandre.”
Without waiting for a reply, the dealer turned abruptly and left, but even his words didn’t carry any hope.
Alexandre had looked into Cam’s eyes, saw his desire, his hatred. And the two were linked, somehow; Alexandre could feel his Unborn’s power. There was something different about him, something different than other Unborns and Benefactors had.
Cam wouldn’t be that easy to convert back to his old ways. And while Alexandre laid here and rotted away, he believed that his Unborn might finally be the force to truly oppose the dealers and the Benefactors.
The idea made him laugh, though it sounded like a raspy cough.
TO THE READER:
After working with Jay and Nav from Vanquish Books on the initial concept for Unborn, it made me think about how some think technology one day could be used to cheat death, or essentially make humans immortal. Some believe it will be through Artificial Intelligence and “backing up” our minds, while others think we’ll conquer death with medicine.
I took a different route entirely.
Has anyone ever heard or muttered a version of this phrase?
“If I could only go back and redo everything, knowing what I know now…”
And since the concepts of karma and rebirth are tied so closely, using technology to force someone to be reborn didn’t seem so far off…
But what’s that other saying? Oh, yeah.
Karma’s a bitch.
Can’t force someone’s soul out of their body and into someone else’s without consequences, and hence Unborn was created.
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ALSO BY DANIEL GAGE
The
Unholy Trinity:
Book 1
Origins
Book 2
Revelations
Silo Saga: Kindle Worlds
Silo 7
Failsafe
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As long as I can remember I've had my nose buried in books. I grew up in a small mountain town, so when the weather turned bad (which it often did), books were my retreat. We didn't even have basic television until I was a teenager, so my family always did a weekly trip to the library.
But it was the year that I got The Chronicles of Narnia from my uncle and The Lord of the Rings from my dad for Christmas that changed everything.
Suddenly I was in new worlds, filled with magic and monsters. I was hooked, and there was no going back. Dune. Ender's Game. The Wheel of Time. A Song of Fire and Ice. Anything by Jim Butcher. I couldn't get enough of it. And when I was about ten, I decided I wanted to become a writer of fantasy and science fiction.
But as I got older, I learned about traditional publishing, how difficult it was to get a book accepted by an agent, and even get published. Then you had to hope to make enough from royalties to make a real living, so my dream was abandoned.
Things change, and I was recently turned in the direction of e-publishing and indie writing... I could do things how I wanted, I could release stories as often as I wanted. I wasn't bound by traditional publishing to try to make writing my career. All there could be was me and the readers of my books.
Even partnering with Jay and Nav at Vanquish Books, I still retain my indie status. They’re two guys, just like me. They care about the reader, the end product. Not a bottom line. If anything, it makes the work stronger; we’re a team.
