Novel Snippets
From Rebirth…
Some say time is fleeting. They’re wrong. Time is perpetual; loneliness insufferable. Sure, in moderation, solitude can be therapeutic. In excess, it’s maddening. We may not be able to stop the incessant propagation of time, but we can choose not to suffer it alone.
Rows of phosphorescent lights buzzed and crackled as they flickered on in sequence, echoing life into Containment Bay 19, their glow illuminating the expansive room in a soft white light that chased collapsing shadows into retreat.
Five rows of pods, each resembling an unearthed coffin from a futuristic graveyard, lined the bay. Constructed of dark gray metal with a matte finish and adorned with thick glass panes on the tops and sides, the pods gave the room a dark, ominous feel, like so many tombs in a long forgotten mortuary.
From The Drift…
It’s not easy to look tough in ear muffs and a ski jacket trudging over snow on cross-country skis, but Tommy, trailing behind, thought his brother pulled it off with ease. Other than physical appearance, he was nothing like his identical twin. For one thing, Jake loved to fight. If you looked at him the wrong way, he’d punch you in the face. If you looked at him the right way when he was in the wrong mood, he’d punch you in the face. Tommy, on the other hand, was a pacifist….
From The Wanderer…
(to be published late summer or early fall of 2022)
How these young men, military men no less, could take pleasure in these young, human-trafficked, ladies was beyond him…. A man had to draw a line somewhere, and that’s where he drew his. Funny how every man draws lines in the sand at some point, but a few always leave open an alternative path to get to the same beach.
From Rebirth…
She woke with a jerk, first staring at the straps around her arms, then realizing she was naked, finally looking up into the deep blue eyes of the man standing in front of her. He was handsome. She’d never seen him before, but she had the strangest feeling that she knew him.
“What the hell is going on?” Her throat hurt and the pain flared with each word. “Where am I? What is this place?”
In a rich voice that resounded through the infirmary, Artimus spoke through the lips of the man she’d once loved but would never remember.
“Doctor Brennaman, you have no idea how good it is to hear your voice!”
From The Drift…
Conflicted to the point of discomfort, Lieutenant Ra made his way down the containment corridor of The Infinity, checking on the new occupants as he went. In order to facilitate transport of up to three hundred reclaims, space management constraints severely limited the size of the holding cells. For this mission, less than half of the cells were needed….
Through the thick glass, Ra watched as the reclaims gathered in the center of the room. He couldn’t make out any of the frantic pockets of conversation through the soundproof walls, but he could imagine. What’s going on? How did we get here? What is this place? What are they going to do to us?
From The Wanderer…
Leaving his backpack on the bench, Bobby tucked the guns under his shirt beneath his winter coat, one down the front and one down the back.
Weapons concealed, he walked to the main entrance where young teens were congregating at the ringing of the bell.
The foyer was huge with a high ceiling and arched passageways leading in three different directions. Teens carrying books and wearing backpacks were rushing off in every direction not wanting to be late for their first class of the day.
Guns still secure under his clothes, Bobby took the middle passageway until he came to a long hall of lockers where at least a dozen students were stowing their books and coats.
What happened next, happened fast.
Like a cowboy in a standoff, Bobby flipped his coat open and pulled out the guns, one in each hand, and opened fire without warning.
From Genesis (aka Oasis)…
Slouching down in his father’s favorite chair, he reflected on the events of 2020. The Corona virus, or COVID-19 as they called it, wiped out millions around the world. It spread like wildfire from one country to the next. Businesses closed their doors for good. Economies took a nose dive. Schools shut down. The way people lived their lives changed almost overnight. And in the midst of all of it, there were idiots all around the world who completely ignored what was happening, refusing to wear protective masks and gathering repeatedly in large groups without care. The virus on its own was devastating. But the world, at the time, was also bombarded with natural disaster after natural disaster. The US was on the brink of a revolution with a narcissistic, misogynistic leader who’d accumulated an unbelievable number of devout followers. Terrorism was on the rise. Even within civilized nations, hate groups were forming. Basically, it was a shit storm….
At 12:00pm, Rex flipped back the protective plastic shield and pressed the button. Panic ensued.
In London, Paris, New York City, Sydney and Bangkok, bodies dropped like flies caught in an electric fly trap. Within seconds, the screens were filled with bodies face down on the streets or slumped over tables. A car crashed into a double-decker tour bus in London before all traffic came to a standstill. It all happened so fast, that even Rex was shocked by it.
There had been times along the way where Rex had questioned his father’s sanity, where he’d questioned his own sanity. But now, now all question was gone. It had all been real and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. The wave of emotions were overwhelming. Grief. Sorrow. Guilt. Hope. Validation. They rushed over him like ocean waves crashing against the cliffs and rocks of a distant shore.
From Genesis (aka Oasis)…
When his legs screamed that he’d gone far enough, he pulled out a water bottle from his fanny pack and sat down with Beauty on the lake shore.
Taking turns from the bottle, they shared a very one-sided conversation.
“Can you believe it, girl,” he asked, rubbing her head and flipping an ear. “We did it. We actually did it.”
The lake was calm and the solar panel array was glistening in the distance from the rising sun.
“No more crime. No more sorrow. No more suffering,” Rex told her as she gazed up at him with interest. “Hatred and prejudice are gone. A thing of the past. Jealousy. Ownership. Control. All gone. No wars. No famine. No social classes degrading the others. It’s a brave and beautiful new world.”
At that, Beauty barked.
“I know, right,” Rex said. “And now I’m going to be a father. Can you believe that? We did it,” he repeated. “We actually did it!”
Copyright © 2022 David Maxwell
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Disclaimer: These stories are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are a product of the writer’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarities to events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.