Category Archives: Book 08: Infection

Arc 8.7.0: A Day in The Life

A Day in The Life: Part 2

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The woman who showed me around was no exception. Thin with long, dark hair, she wore a gray unitard with the Heroes’ League “HL” logo.

A mask covered the upper half of her face, but her tan, unwrinkled skin told me she couldn’t have been older than twenty.

None of the League members I met that day looked much older than she did—not that she was a member. In a team of adults, her title might have been chief of staff, but on this team, she had another title. Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 2 →

Arc 8.7.0: A Day in The Life

A Day in The Life: Part 1

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Mindstryke of the Midwest Defenders (my best friend Daniel’s dad) had mixed feelings about the idea and he told me so over a video connection from the Midwest Defenders’ Chicago base.

“You never know what’s going on with a reporter. Do they have an axe to grind? Or just as bad, are they basically a stalker with a notepad?”

He shook his head. The Defenders had paid money to look good during video conferences. The window behind him looked out over Chicago’s skyline and Lake Michigan. It wasn’t really what was behind him, but you couldn’t tell the difference from here. Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 1 →

Arc 8.6.5: Harvest

Harvest: Part 17

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Distant sirens grew louder, and I decided that I ought to start paying attention to the world around me again. The sirens meant that the police were on their way to pick up Jillian, Hank, Latoya, and Andronicus.

Checking around the area, all four of them lay on the ground, none of them showing any sign of The Thing That Eats. To judge from what happened to Andronicus the first time, they might be out for quite a while.

He was a special case though as he’d been controlled for hundreds of years, but he could also regenerate. Maybe for people who’d been controlled for a short time, but couldn’t regenerate, it would even out? Continue reading Harvest: Part 17 →

Arc 8.6.5: Harvest

Harvest: Part 16

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“You’re a normal human—physically, at least. Mentally, no…” She shook her head again. “But that doesn’t matter. If I’m that far gone, I’m not going to be able to control what happens when I’m offered what I need to fix myself.

“When the Bloodlords created the Bloodmaiden to protect our land, they borrowed ideas from the Elders. They were a lot like vampires, but they were alive. Their hunger for blood lives on in the Bloodmaiden construct, but also in all the noble families of my world because we’re partially descended from them. Some people believe it’s why we can use magic.

“You can’t trust the Bloodmaiden construct if I’m dying. Find me an animal or let it happen.” She stared at me, waiting, I assumed, for my response. Continue reading Harvest: Part 16 →

Arc 8.6.5: Harvest

Harvest: Part 15

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Amy shoved the spear into its eye. It sunk into the corner, deeper than any of her other strikes.

Though I couldn’t see it, I felt the air thicken with its being. Flashes of memories of faces that other people had loved or hated passed through my mind, followed by moments of terror and a vision of The Thing’s teeth.

The Thing tried to pull away, but Amy stepped forward, pushing the spear in further. It reached out its hand, grabbing the spear, but it did that about the same time that I shoved my sword into its other eye, pushing it as deep as I could and willing the flames to burn hotter. Continue reading Harvest: Part 15 →

Arc 8.6.5: Harvest

Harvest: Part 14

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I took the sword in both hands, holding it ready in front of me.

As I’d come to my feet, sword in hand, The Thing That Eats jumped from the grass between the houses toward me. I jumped sideways, landing twenty feet to the side of where I’d been. The Thing That Eats landed a few feet past where I’d been standing. The street cracked under its feet and bits flew through the air.

It had been aiming for me, hoping to hit and then kill me while I was disoriented.

At least that was my guess. Given how hard it hit the street, it might have been hoping to kill me outright. Continue reading Harvest: Part 14 →

Arc 8.6.5: Harvest

Harvest: Part 13

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The Thing That Eats moved with all of Andronicus’ power to punch her again. In training with supers, you learn to recognize powerful punches, the ones that move with tons of force behind them.

The Thing’s punch had all of that. Its arm blurred in the dark, the whole of its body moving with it.

Amy knew it too—because somehow, even though physically she wasn’t in its league, she moved enough that the blow only grazed her lower chest.

The problem was, of course, that with tons of force behind your punch, it didn’t matter whether you hit a vital spot or not. Your punch was a hand grenade, turning anything it hit to jelly and anything next to it into slightly less jellylike broken stuff. Continue reading Harvest: Part 13 →

Arc 8.6.5: Harvest

Harvest: Part 12

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Far too conscious of the limited number of boombots I had left, I tried to think through my next steps. Amy and I stood roughly back to back with her facing Andronicus Thing. The rock stood to her right and my left.

Latoya lay on the ground in front of the rock. Jillian Thing and Hank Thing rushed toward us from my right and they probably weren’t going to respect my agreement with Amy that I handle them while she handled Andronicus Thing.

Worse, I realized that we’d screwed up tactically, possibly lethally. Continue reading Harvest: Part 12 →

Arc 8.6.5: Harvest

Harvest: Part 11

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Out of the corner of my eye, I watched The Thing That Eats in all of its bodies. None of them said anything as they stood by the rock, but they watched it.

I felt certain they had a reason, and said, “How do you want to handle it? Straight out attack or something softer?”

Lying with her armored back to the shingled roof, Amy glanced up toward the roof’s peak. “Do you have an idea?” Continue reading Harvest: Part 11 →