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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781456746490 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 04/01/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 384 |
| File size: | 998 KB |
Read an Excerpt
RED-X
By O.D. WELLS ARTHUR BELOKONOV KIRBY MCPHAUL
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2011 O.D. Wells, Arthur Belokonov, Kirby McPhaulAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4567-4651-3
Chapter One
THE ARRIVAL
OUR STORY OPENS IN AN art studio in a decent part of the city where James, a 35-year-old photographer is absorbed by his work. James is a serious artist and he has to complete the job he's doing within a certain amount of time, therefore he wastes no time in doing his job. Standing at less than six feet with Mediterranean looks and a ruddy complexion, James never knew his parents; they died in a terrorist bomb blast when he was a baby so he had to fend for himself from a young age. He's in the process of shooting Susan, a 25-year-old white girl with red hair and about as much class as a hillbilly in Tiffany's. To be honest Susan looks cheap, a typical bimbo with the plastic fingernails, false eyelashes, and the decorated cell phone case that doubles as a pack of cigarettes. Susan looks like a hooker, but James has no choice because of the deadline he has to keep and the model he expected to show up never came. James is in decent shape for having a cushy job, maybe because he has to do a lot of crouching and laying on his back during a photo shoot; Susan makes sure he can see under her skirt when she poses.
"Very good, excellent ... I need more of a wild look, give it to me!" James says in a motivational voice. "I got it, I got it, you're doing great."
Susan, doing what James wants looks really into it. She strikes several poses to the beat of some music playing in the background just as James stands up.
"Oh shit, I can't believe my memory card is already full!" James says as he quickly begins to change the card.
"Don't worry baby, I can do this all night if necessary," giggles Susan.
"Give me a second," James mutters as he struggles with the camera
Susan moves towards a coffee table, opens her purse, and spreads 2 lines of cocaine on the table while still purposely posing along the way. James does not see her as he continues with his work; he finally turns around saying: "Okay, I'm ready!"
"I'm ready too," says Susan coyly. "Join me ..."
"I'm good; let's get this done first."
Susan goes into a demure pout and childishly begs: "Oh, you're not going to leave me hanging, are you?"
James walks over to her and sighs, "ladies first!"
Excitedly, Susan inhales the powder ... "WHOO!" She passes the dollar straw over to James just as the lights in the studio begin to go haywire, blinking and throwing sparks, accompanied by a vibration wave like an invisible wind.
The ground shakes and dust comes off the ceiling; obviously it must be some sort of earthquake. James runs into the street just in time to see a fireball rising over the city and hears car alarms blaring; it was an explosion at the power plant.
"Shit," James swears, "the lights will probably go out in a minute!"
"What's that you said honey?" Susan coos as the ground rocks again. "Whee!"
The sound of emergency vehicles passing by drown out Susan's voice while James tries calling someone he knows; he can't get through.
James loses his footing and intones, "what the hell?" A few umbrella lights topple over, as the wave blows the powder from the table and the entire studio's power shuts down leaving them in the dark. "Damn, what else can happen?"
Susan skitters around the toppled furniture and practically dances in a small circle. "Wow James don't you see, is this a sign or what?"
James gives her a look that says he is not in the mood but she is so high she ignores the obvious and wraps her arms around his neck in a seductive manner.
"Susan," James sneers, "cut it out."
"Don't you think it's perfect?" Susan squeals as she hikes her skirt to show her new love panties, "Let's do something else."
James maneuvers her to the couch where reluctantly, she is deposited. "Be still baby," he soothes as he grabs a flashlight, "I don't want my place to burn down and you with it ... Don't worry, I'll be back!" Fearing the worst James clicks on the flashlight and quickly leaves the room.
Susan crosses her arms, pouts, and crosses her legs in disappointment. "Why is it that when a woman wants a little attention she has to jump through hoops, but when a man wants it we have to instantly lay down and pretend to get off when he's finished in five minutes?" She eventually reaches for her purse and gets out a cigarette, which she sparks alight. After taking a long puff Susan exhales a cloud of smoke. "My husband couldn't keep his pants on and James can't get his off; damn!"
Meanwhile James enters a smoke-filled basement door with his flashlight in hand; he stumbles over some of his stuff that has been tossed onto the floor by an unseen force and nearly falls down the stairs. He reaches the floor and notices that the breaker box on the wall is throwing sparks; a toasted rat is embedded in the box.
"What the hell?" James grumbles as he looks for a stick to open the box with; he eventually trips the switches and nothing happens. "This is just great ..." James hears the sound of a woman moaning behind him in a pile of fallen stuff. At first he shucks it off as his imagination until he hears it again, then he shines the light towards the sound and picks up a monopod to use as a weapon. He slowly approaches where he thinks the sound came from. "Hello ... who's there?"
The moaning continues as James clears a path between him and the sound until he removes a cardboard reflector to reveal a girl lying in a fetal position on the floor. He puts down the monopod and notices a pool of translucent red blood beneath the victim and plastered all over her body. Her body was covered in raised scars, not unlike tattoos, but with a slight glow emanating from them similar to the scales on a snake; blood was still leaking from her body's orifices. James gingerly approaches the woman and taps her with the toe of his sneaker.
"Ma'am, ma'am, are you okay?"
He finally attempts to turn her over and receives an electrical shock.
"Damn," he swears, "what the f..." he intones as his light goes out.
After that the glowing scars begin to vanish until she has perfectly normal looking skin. She begins to move with pain.
"Who the hell are you, how did you get in here?"
James shines his light on the girl just in time to see that she has a strange facial bone structure and one fang-like claw growing from each wrist. Just as he sees her James' light dies. James bangs on his flashlight to get it to work again but when it comes on he can really see that she's an alien. The girl looks to be about 25 or so years old; she opens her eyes as she turns to face him and tries to speak.
"Hold on, don't try to move ... I'm going to call for help!"
James checks his pocket for his cell phone and realizes that he left it upstairs. He begins to yell: "Damn ... Susan! Get the hell down here and bring my cell phone you lazy whore, SUSAN!"
Susan, who is high as a kite and sitting on the couch with her arms and legs crossed, begins filing her nails when she hears James calling her. "Two can play the waiting game as well as one," she sneers.
The alien looking girl begins to shake like popcorn on a hot grille. James does not know what to do and he doesn't want to leave the basement; he finally kneels next to the woman and says: "Whatever the heck you are, just stay alive!"
His words are wasted as the alien woman painfully stares at him and her strange looking tongue comes out with her last breath.
"Oh hell no, this can't be happening," he gulps and then leans in the direction of the stairs. "Susan you lazy bitch, where the hell are you?"
In the distance James can hear Susan coming down the stairs. James puts his ear to the girl's bloody chest and listens for a heartbeat ... there is none.
"Shit!"
Susan stumbles her way down the stairs pretending to care. "James, James, did you call me, are you there?" She burns her finger on a lighter she is using to find her way. "Shit," she exclaims while James takes the opportunity to cover the girl with the reflector again. He makes his way towards Susan and shines the flashlight in her face.
"Damn it James, I just burned my finger and now you're trying to blind me too, what's going on down here?"
"Nothing," he replies in a hurry, "let's just go upstairs."
"Huh? You called me down here just to go back upstairs, what's on your mind bad boy?" Susan says as she grabs his hand and it feels that it's slippery.
"I already told you, nothing."
Susan pulls his hand into the light and grimaces. "Then what's this?" She then looks closer and nearly screams: "You're bleeding!"
James tries to pull away from her, "It's not mine ..."
"Then who's is it?"
"I think it was a rat or some animal that exploded on the breaker box."
Susan recoils in disgust, letting go of James' hand. "Ew ... I hate those things; they're disgusting, let's get out of here!"
Susan begins to walk with James up the stairs as James looks briefly back at the pile of junk that marked where the alien woman was hidden. There were many thoughts going through his head as he hid the fact that something wonderful if not strange had happened in the basement of his studio. He thought about calling the FBI, but with that annoying Susan hanging around there'd be more questions than he'd care about answering. He had to get rid of that stupid broad before she started to nose around where she didn't belong.
"Uh, Sue," James suddenly blurts. "I have a lot to do and this place is a mess at the moment ..."
"Say what?" Susan sneers as she puts her hand on her hip.
"You have to go," James finally sighs, touching her with the slimy hand so that he can get her to recoil.
"Yeah, maybe you're right ..."
James escorts Susan to her car as she tediously keeps wiping her hands with wet napkins. "Are you sure we don't have to go to the hospital for some shots. I don't want to get rabies."
"Don't worry, just go on home, take a sleeping pill and relax."
"C'mon James, why don't we go to my place?"
"I've got to get this cleaned up by morning or I'll be in a world of trouble."
"You're going to call me right James?"
"Sure, just drive safe ..."
James leans into the window of the car and briefly kisses Susan on the cheek.
She looks disappointed and snarls: "You bastard ..."
Susan rolls up the window and screeches away. As soon as she is out of sight, James looks serious and begins to poke the buttons on his cell phone.
At the same time across town at the power plant: The fire Marshal and an FBI agent by the name of Darren Xavier are on the scene as some workers make a grisly discovery.
"What have you got?" Fire Marshal Royce Rolex asks as he enters a huge gas pipe behind a worker; Darren follows close behind.
They come to a section of six-foot pipe with a huge rip in it, Royce peers at it with a trained eye; Darren comments: "Is this ground zero?"
"Yeah," replies Royce, "you can tell by the outward tearing of the hole in the pipe and the upheaval of earth."
"Do you think terrorists did this?"
Royce sniffs some ash and then tastes it. "Hmm, there's nothing strange here, and I can't taste syntax," claims Royce as Darren wanders further into the tube.
"HOLY CRAP!" Darren blurts as he stumbles backwards in shock.
"What is it?"
Darren points to a burned woman embedded in the wall of the pipe and with her are two melted metallic boxes. Upon closer observation the woman is deformed and has strange features on her face and body similar to a reptile. "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" Darren gulps.
Royce examines the wall and says: "This is truly amazing, her molecules have been merged with the carbon fiber of the pipe ..."
"You mean she's not just stuck through the wall?"
Royce goes outside and looks behind the pipe; he sees the naked back half of the woman on the outside of the tube in perfect condition, but she obviously is not a human. There are scales on her back that look like tattoos and she has twelve toes. "I don't know about you, but this thing is probably what caused the explosion," states Royce with a bit of fear in his voice as he shows Darren an alien pistol. "Look at this thing, I think it's some kind of weapon."
"This area is now officially sealed," snarls Darren. "I don't want so much as a cockroach to have access here; got it?"
"Yeah, I got it," sighs Royce.
Across town in the VIP room of the local strip club, Max, a fat little man with thick glasses, curly long hair, and a 80s style disco suit reaches for his blackberry. A pair of dancers that moonlight as call girls are with Max with nothing better on their minds except milking Max of all his hard earned money. Max is a childhood friend of James; they were in the same foster home for five years before they went their own ways. Max became a systems analyst while James took up journalism in trade school on a scholarship. James always seemed to be able to score the women because of his good looks but Max wasn't so lucky. James turned down more potential girlfriends then Max could ever hope to date yet James never had casual sex with any of them. Max paid for female company on a regular basis and tonight was no exception; there he was with Alice, your typical white-trash Las Vegas hooker in her middle twenties and Capri, a mixed race tramp a couple of years younger than Alice. Despite their jobs, both women were considered good looking but Alice was model material.
Several drinks are on the table and the girls are doing their jobs quite well. Max's Phone rings, he ignores it, but it rings again and this time he sighs saying: I'm sorry babe but I have to take this."
"Honey bear, can't it wait?" Alice whines in a disappointed tone.
"Give me a sec ..." he continues as he turns his attention to the phone. "Hey dude what's up? I thought you were busy ..."
"Hey Max," the voice of James pipes from the phone, "I'm in big trouble."
"Dude, is it that redhead again?"
"No Max she's cool, it's something else."
"If it isn't pussy then how important can it be?"
"Very important."
"Dude, don't get me wrong but, I'm in the middle of something. You know me, I don't get no pussy unless I spend a wad on party favors."
"The coke and booze can wait, I really need you," James pleads.
"What is it James ..."
"Max, I can't tell you, you have to see it."
"Okay dude ..."
Before Max can utter another word the phone emits a ring tone, indicating that James has hung up.
"Oh man ..."
"You don't want to leave us now do you?" Capri whines in a fake voice.
"Don't worry girls, my friends here will keep you company until I get back."
Max whips out a few hundred-dollar bills and waves them in the faces of the strippers and shoves some in each of the girl's bras.
"But they're not going to replace you baby ..." Alice sighs.
Max squeezes their boobs and pinches their butts before pulling his car keys from his pocket. "I won't be too long, besides I need some help."
Max hops in his car and drives across town to the two-story brownstone that has been converted into a townhouse/studio. As Max pulls into a parking lot toward the rear, James is pacing the floor under the light of the back door. Max gets out the car, and approaches James.
"Dude, what's got you so wired? And why are you wearing out the street?"
"Because," James explains loudly, "I didn't want to be inside."
The bulb over the back door suddenly explodes and James covers his head to protect it from flying glass.
"Whoa, dude ..." Max blurts in surprise.
James looks spooked as he rolls his eyes towards the back door.
"Dude, and what's inside?"
"Come here, you won't believe this!" James spits as he grabs Max by the arm and yanks him into the door. When they get inside James grabs a flashlight, pushes Max to another door, and then leads Max down the stairs into the basement.
"Dude," Max suddenly blurts, "what happened to the lights?"
"I think she had something to do with it."
Max looks at James with a strange look.
"She ... Dude, who is she?"
"Just promise me not to freak out, okay Max?"
"It's the redhead, isn't it?"
"No, I told you she was cool," James snarls.
"Then who is here?"
"I don't know, but be prepared to throw out everything you believe." James removes the reflector to reveal a mannequin lying on the floor. He picks it up to expose water on the ground and one of the arms missing. "Tah-duh!"
(Continues...)
Excerpted from RED-X by O.D. WELLS ARTHUR BELOKONOV KIRBY MCPHAUL Copyright © 2011 by O.D. Wells, Arthur Belokonov, Kirby McPhaul. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Chapter One: The Arrival....................1Chapter Two: The Arrival....................21
Chapter Three: The Reveal....................35
Chapter Four: The Escape....................47
Chapter Five: Doppleganger....................71
Chapter Six: Allies....................91
Chapter Seven: Rebels....................113
Chapter Eight: The Capture....................131
Chapter Nine: Red-X....................149
Chapter Ten: The Mating....................165
Chapter Eleven: A New Generation....................187
Chapter Twelve: Strange Bedfellows....................205
Chapter Thirteen: Essence-to-Essence....................225
Chapter Fourteen: The Journey....................245
Chapter Fifteen: Our Eyes Have Opened....................267
Chapter Sixteen: Mantara....................287
Chapter Seventeen: History....................301
Chapter Eighteen: Chaos....................315
Chapter Nineteen: Immigrants....................327
Chapter Twenty: A New Beginning....................345