Extinction Cycle: Dark Age: The Complete Four Book Series by Nicholas Sansbury Smith & Anthony J Melchiorri

Author:Nicholas Sansbury Smith & Anthony J Melchiorri [Smith, Nicholas Sansbury]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Publisher: Great Wave Ink Publishing
Published: 2021-03-10T22:00:00+00:00

— 2 —

Timothy Temper ran from a muscular Rottweiler infected with VX-99. The snarling mutated beast chased him through a forest. It barked viciously as it gained ground. His lungs burned with every step, and his muscles felt heavier, slowing his gait.

He had no weapon to defend himself and nowhere to hide. There was only one option: keep running.

Skeletal branches reached down. He ducked underneath them, jumped over fallen logs, and burst through bushes that tore at his flesh.

A steep slope dropped away into a shallow valley on the other side of a tree line. He slid down the muddy embankment until his shoes hit the rocky ground.

Water snaked through the center of the valley, trickling over rocks. He crossed the creek, the cold water filling his shoes as he carefully navigated over the slick rocks.

At the other side, he stole a glance over his shoulder. The Rottweiler crested the hill he had just slid down, letting out a ferocious bark.

In the moonlight, the bulging muscles of a second Rottweiler emerged between a pair of oak trees on the other slope.

He was trapped.

The only way to escape was through the creek. But as soon as he turned to run, his foot snagged on something and he went down hard. His head slammed into a rock, and icy water splashed over his frozen body.

The first dog was on him in seconds. It sunk its teeth into one of his arms, ravaging his flesh.

He let out a howl of pain, twisting to break free. The bloodshot eyes of the dog drew closer. It let go of his arm and lunged toward his face.

Timothy woke to darkness.

Smoke filled his lungs.

This time, he wasn’t dreaming. Lucidity burned through the haze of pain and exhaustion. Another odor drifted in the air, a smell he recognized.

Burned flesh.

He tried to stand, but he was too weak. He fell back to the cold concrete floor.

“Hello…” he tried.

The words came out in a croak.

He reached up to his throat, probing tender flesh from a burn.

It was then he remembered.

The collar. It was gone.

Memories of his captivity crashed over him like a tidal wave. He recalled the bombs that had fallen over Outpost Portland in a last-ditch effort to destroy the Variants and collaborators.

“Hello…” Timothy said again.

Moaning came from the shadows, but it was all muffled. Then he heard what sounded like someone crying across the room.

The darkness obscured almost everything, but a few weakening flames cast ghastly shadows over hunks of fallen concrete. Moonlight streamed into another corner where a wall had collapsed.

The images transported his mind back to the chamber where the Variants had slung him up on a wall inside the hidden collaborator base. Pete, Nick, and Alfred had decided then to spare Timothy and induct him into their twisted army of the New Gods.

Most of the other people in that chamber had become Variant food or died when the roof partially collapsed.

As his eyes adjusted, Timothy saw people crushed under blocks of rubble. Beams had fallen over him, protecting him from the same fate.

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