The Specimen: A Novel of Horror (The Riders Saga Book 1) by Kahle Pete

Author:Kahle, Pete [Kahle, Pete]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodshot Books
Published: 2014-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23 – Dirt Mall

“There is a time when even justice brings harm.” – Sophocles

Modern Day – Hartford, CT

Every town has one . An eyesore on a secondary highway (state, not federal). A vast lot overgrown with weeds, cracked pavement and the faded lines denoting former parking spaces. Occasionally one or two stores may linger on in the location, dragging out their agonizingly slow deaths surrounded by the shells of Spencer’s Gifts, Hot Topix, and Claire’s Boutiques.

Whether locals called it the “dead mall”, the “dirt mall” or “that place where there used to be a K-Mart”, the most activity that they would expect to find in the abandoned buildings would be some vandalism or occasional drug use.

Not a secret international coalition dedicated to wiping out an alien threat that has been here for millennia , thought Murtaugh as he pulled into the former home of the Green Valley D-Luxe Mall. The place had been shut down in the mid-1990’s when the economy was booming and all anyone wanted was bigger, shinier, and more modern places where they could ride the hamster wheel of capitalism until they died. Places like Green Valley were doomed once the internet boom happened.

As he pulled the van around to the entrance of the underground garage, Murtaugh thought, not for the first time, that he probably would have liked this place at its peak. He was a child of the late sixties and early seventies and the mall brought back happy memories. The décor of the mall’s exterior was pure kitsch… old gold and avocado with the occasional dash of maroon. He could practically see the throngs of shoppers wearing plaid bell bottoms and all things suede. To Murtaugh, that decade was emblematic of innocence and all things good before the worst event in his life happened and he got sucked into this hidden world of monsters, assassins and mad scientists over three decades ago.

* * *

1984 – Newark, New Jersey

Despite many opportunities in his life, twenty-two year old Archie Murtaugh had never held a gun before. Now, as he hefted the pistol in his hand, it seemed as if the opposite were true… that he had been using them his entire life. Somehow, it felt right, as if it had been molded specifically for his grip. His fingers fit the weapon as they once had fit the hand of his dead girlfriend. For the first time in nearly two weeks, since Monica’s body had been discovered in a dumpster, raped, decapitated, and disemboweled, Archie allowed himself to crack a ghost of a smile.

“You like? Good for you?” asked Vasily, a short, greasy-looking ferret of a man standing next to the open trunk of his rusty Chevy Impala. “I have more if you want. Bigger or smaller. You like chrome?” he continued in broken English, pointing at the dozens of pistols, rifles and shotguns spread out for display on a ragged wool blanket, including a metallic .45 that would have made Dirty Harry weep in envy.

Archie shook his head.

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