Here's another sample chapter from Abolition Book Three. Again it's only a rough draft, but please
comment. Enjoy!
Madness had stricken
the Harbinger’s group. A night of celebration followed after their victory over
the Watch and the seizing of the Valley, but quickly the celebration ended. George
feared for his life, not only with being around these men, but what he was now
witnessing. Many of the Harbinger’s men had become deathly ill. George tried to
warn him that it was the virus, but the Harbinger wanted to hear none of it.
The Harbinger had sent some of his best men in search for Cynthia, Lucky, and
Mongoose, for they never found their bodies. Marcus knew they were still alive
and gotten away. They know these lands better than any and they’ll probably
never get captured.
Many of the men had campfires built along the sandy banks
of the river. Each group was enjoying the findings from their recent plunders.
Many were getting drunk on different types of alcohol and others were taking
turns on women they had captured. The Harbinger’s men didn’t find too many
women that survived the onslaught, but the ones they did find probably wished
they had died during the battle.
Then the floating orbs came. At first George noticed them
before anybody else. Then Marcus took notice and quickly he began screaming for
men to take cover. Hours before, Marcus had come to speak with George about his
ordeal. He talked about the lights he had witnessed in the forest and how one
of those orbs entered his body and took control. George had no answer to his
questions. All George could do was think back to when Lucky was possessed and
stabbed Mongoose. There was some kind of supernatural power at work in the
world and George couldn’t believe even what his eyes were seeing right now.
The orbs were inching closer and closer towards the
Harbinger’s men and it was as if their campfires were drawing them near. Marcus
rose to his feet and screamed, “Everyone take cover and protect yourselves from
the lights. Run!”
Even the Harbinger stood and blinked for a moment and
then realized that what he was seeing was indeed real, but still he couldn’t
make sense of what it was. Quickly he ordered his men to fall back away from
the riverbank. Marcus quickly confronted his captain. “Are you mad? Don’t fall
back into the wilderness, that’s where they have come from. Tell the men to
take cover in the river,” Marcus said.
By then it was too late, most of the men had already
headed into the woods and George knew those individuals were doomed. He agreed
with Marcus about falling into the river. So quickly he gathered himself and
forced his feet to run as quickly as they could carry him. Soon enough he was
neck deep in the freezing cold water and others had quickly joined him. George
could see that Marcus and the Harbinger were some of the few that made it into
the water, and to their surprise the lights didn’t follow them, but instead
followed the men that took cover in the woods.
George,
Marcus, and the Harbinger watched in horror while the orbs began attacking the
men. The sounds of gunfire could be heard and the lights from their muzzles lit
up the woods. George knew what was happening, as did Marcus. The orbs were
entering their bodies and possessing those men, and now those men were killing
their brothers who weren’t possessed. Screams and cries filled the air; it was
sound of the Harbinger’s men being massacred.
“What do I do?” asked the Harbinger while looking at
Marcus. “There’s nothing we can do for them now, captain. We will die just the
same,” said Marcus.
“I agree with that,” said George. I’ve seen these orbs
before and firsthand I’ve seen what they can do.”
“What the fuck are they?” asked the Harbinger. “Marcus,
are these the orbs you were talking about? Are these like the ones that
attacked you and entered your body?”
Marcus was so laced with fear that he couldn’t even
speak. All he could was watch in horror as the violence continued off in the
nearby woods. Finally he answered his captain’s question. “Yes, these are the
same exact lights that attacked me, captain,” he said.
“How did you survive the ordeal with them?” the Harbinger
asked.
“I told you. I was possessed by one and led my men into
battle. You know the rest of story, captain. There was that woman who grabbed a
hold of me and an unseen force knocked me and our surrounding men down to the
ground. I blacked out for a brief moment and when I came to, I was back to my
normal self again,” Marcus explained.
George spoke out, “Yes, that woman is Cynthia. She is the
one you are looking for. There is a dark, ancient magic in that one I tell you.
It’s best that you stay far away from her,” he said. George tried to convince
Marcus and the Harbinger to give up looking for her, but he couldn’t persuade
them.
“You kidding, if we had her right now, then she would be
able to stop and destroy this madness with a snap of her fingers,” the
Harbinger yelled. “No, we must find her, and soon.”
George feared for Lucky and Cynthia, but he knew that
Tank was guarding them and keeping them safe. Hell, he knew that Tank would die
for them both most likely, just because Mongoose ordered him to protect them,
so George tried to worry about himself at the moment. He knew he needed to
somehow survive this moment in order to remain living. George definitely wished
that Cynthia was around right about now, so that she could possibly help them
from these lights. George feared Cynthia and the power she possessed, but he
was in dire need and could use a miracle.
The gunfire began to lessen and before too much longer it
had ceased altogether. Marcus noticed that only a few of their men remained
alive, but they walked around as if no intelligent life controlled their
movements. There were only about a dozen or so walking in circles and
zigzagging amongst the fires along the river shoreline.
“Are they possessed?” the Harbinger asked Marcus.
He shook his head, “Yes, it looks like they are. They
look like walking corpses,” said Marcus, but even as he said that, he knew that
they were deadly. Each one wielded a gun or a weapon of sometime kind of their
hands. They each wanted to inflict pain or death upon any human life they
encountered.
Marcus, George, the Harbinger, and a few their men still
remained in the river. The cold water was beginning to take its toll on Marcus.
If time would have gone on like that, then he would have surely died from
hypothermia, but luckily enough the possessed men wandered off into different
directions. The river shoreline was now safe, and so each man exited the water.
They stood on the sandy riverbank and debated whether or
not to go near the woods. The Harbinger was hopeful for survivors, but Marcus
and George were not. They decided to follow him and a few of his other men to
the edge of the woods. A few took torches to light their way. Once they reached
the woods, all any of them could do was stare at the site they saw. Hundreds of
dead bodies were lying about. Many were shot or disemboweled, but all were
lifeless. Blood soaked the ground and even some could be heard dripping off of nearby
leaves. It was an absolute massacre and they each felt defeated.
“How is this possible?” the Harbinger asked in disbelief.
“This was supposed to be an evening of celebration not defeat. My forces are
completely obliterated, Marcus. What do we do now?”
Even has his captain asked him that question, Marcus
remained quiet. All he could do was look at the gore before him. His eyes were
seeing it, but his mind was struggling to understand it. What’s happening to the world? He thought to himself. He then
looked over at his captain and anger began to rise within him. This is his fault. He led us into this
battle and wanted the Valley for himself. We have finally met our match. Our
days of taking over and plundering are over. Marcus thought. As much as Marcus
wanted to kill his captain right about now, he knew he couldn’t. Marcus and
George would need him more now than ever. Each man was crucial for their
survival for their existence in the cruel and hostile world that they lived in.
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