Eventually, the media drifted away. The U.S. Navy put up a few guards around the gas chamber. There was talk of asking me to excavate it. But I wasn't interested. I already had an excavation of my own to complete. And frankly, I saw no reason to tell anyone about it.
I looked Beverly in the eye. "Just trust me, okay?"
She nodded. I pulled her into the room. The bones remained exactly as we'd found them. It hadn't felt right to move them, at least not yet.
I pointed at a desk. A single book lay on top of it.
She sighed. "What's that?"
"Your grandfather's journal. Graham translated it for me."
She looked at me.
"You saw his papers, but not his private journal. I found it stuffed inside his cot." I jerked my thumb at the cages in the other room. "They forced him to stay in there you know."
Her finger traced the cover. "What's it say?"
"You should read it for yourself."
"There's no need." She paused to collect her thoughts. "I'm not my grandfather. I know that now."
"Are you going to read the damn diary or do I have to tell you what it says?"
"I told you I don't need to know."
"Your grandfather released Fenrir."
Her face froze. "He what?"
"It's all in the book." I nodded at it. "He was pressed into service by the Nazis. They forced him to create potential inoculations for the Großen Sterbens bacteria. He was forced to test his work on people and animals alike. He did his best to sabotage the Nazis, to escape. But nothing worked."
She listened in rapt attention.
"He finally made a breakthrough. But he knew he couldn't let the Nazis have the inoculation."
Her voice was so quiet I barely heard her. "So, he let the wolves go."
"It wasn't easy. He had a lot of self-doubt. He knew the wolves wouldn't just kill him and the Nazis. They'd kill the other prisoners too. But he saw no way to save them." I shrugged. "Your grandfather stopped the second Great Dying."
She took my hand and led me to the geothermal lake. Snow drifted in from the aperture, showering the area with small flakes.
She pushed me to the ground and climbed on top of me. Her violet eyes shone brightly as she stared down at me. "Thanks."
I pulled her toward me. The snow whirled around us until I could barely see her. I felt her lips on mine, her hands roving inside my parka. I ripped open her parka and kissed her back.
The snow fell gently on us as we made love by the lake. I'd be forgotten someday. Hell, all of us would. But for now, all was right with the world.
All was right with life.
DON'T LEAVE JUST YET!
Thank you for purchasing Ice Storm! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Just ahead, you'll find a free sample of my novel Chaos, as well as a little more about me. But first, please consider signing up for my New Books mailing list. That way, you'll be the first to know about my upcoming books and short stories. You'll also be eligible for occasional giveaways, free advance copies, and other freebies.
Emails will be rare and only sent when I've published a new work. Also, I won't ever share your email address and you can unsubscribe from my list at any time.
Thanks again!
CHAOS
by David Meyer
(Sample)
THE OMEGA
March 6, 1976
The long, twisting tunnel should’ve been empty.
Fred Jenson’s heart skipped a beat as he examined the gigantic black shadow that rose menacingly out of the darkness. What was a subway car still doing in the tunnel? Had it been damaged by the fire?
Sweat poured from his forehead, soaking his grimy face. With shaking hands, he lifted the bottle of Evan Williams, unscrewed the top, and tipped a few ounces down his throat.
It didn’t burn. It never burned. Not anymore.
He stared at the car through bleary eyes. Must be fire-damaged. That was the only explanation that made sense. Yet, at least from his vantage point, it looked perfectly normal.
Jenson inched forward. He didn’t want trouble. He merely wanted to see the destruction. The old guy, the one in the checked blue coat who slept in the maintenance shack, had told him all about it.
The old-timer said it was the worst disaster he’d ever seen. Maybe even the worst disaster in the history of New York’s subway system.
Earlier that evening, a mysterious fire had ravaged the Times Square station, destroying a five-car length strip of the terminal. The 42nd Street Shuttle ceased operations immediately. Shortly after, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority shut down the entire route. Maintenance workers converged on the station, eager to complete repairs before the morning rush.
Three R36 ML subway cars were crippled by the blaze and all had supposedly been evacuated from the area. Scores of people suffered burns, with at least four confirmed fatalities. While the cause remained unknown, the old guy swore he overheard police officers chatting about it.
And they thought it was arson.
Abruptly, Jenson stumbled to his knees. His teeth clenched as a thousand knives pierced his skull. His vision crumpled from the corners and blackness enveloped him.
A roar of pain screeched out of his belly. Slamming his mouth shut, he cut it off, just like he’d done thousands of times before.
Breathe, damn it. Breathe.
No one’s going to hurt you down here. The war is over.
Jenson began to count to sixty, slowly and methodically.
One. Two. Three…
The excruciating pain continued.
Twenty-four. Twenty-five. Twenty-six…
Gradually, lines and shapes began to poke out of the darkness. He saw the concrete trough. The dull running rails. The rotten wood ties. His pulse slowed. His nerves relaxed. Finally, the knives exited his skull and he exhaled with relief.
It was over. Sixty seconds had passed since he’d first felt the pain. Just sixty seconds. And yet, it felt much closer to sixty days instead.
His fist still held the half-full bottle of Evan Williams. Rising unsteadily to his feet, he raised it back to his lips and poured more bourbon into his stomach. His heavy breathing eased.
He took another swig.
Then another.
And then another.
He stared at the bottle, wavering slightly in his hand. Cheapest medical treatment he’d ever known. And far safer than those damn Veterans Affairs hospitals. He had that thing that was all the rage these days…what did the papers call it? Post-traumatic stress disorder?
Jenson bent over, fished through the dirt, and retrieved the cap to the bottle. Slowly, he screwed it back into place, protecting the precious liquid.
Sixty seconds. That’s all it took. Sixty seconds to normalcy. Sixty seconds for his body to forget that other sixty seconds in Iwo Jima, the ones that had destroyed his life. That day, a bomb exploded in his soul, shattering it into a billion pieces.
Within sixty seconds of hitting that hellhole, enemy fire cut down his four closest friends. The five of them had jumped off the boat together and stormed the beach. But it was no ordinary beach. It was volcanic ash. As they ran forward, they quickly found themselves buried waist deep in it.
And then the shooting began.
Jenson didn’t know how he survived the battle. The last thing he remembered was seeing his friends bent over at the waist, their arms splayed to the side, their faces lying in ash, their bodies riddled with holes.
After the war ended, he returned to his family. He went back to work at Brooklyn Gas & Electric. And for weeks on end, he sat in his chair, hunched over his desk, checking transactions for eight hours a day. He tried to live a normal life. And it worked.
For a little while.
Admittedly, he hadn’t tried that hard. What was the point? He wasn’t the same person, not anymore. So, how could he be expected to return to the same life?
Sure, living with the other bums in the subway tunnels wasn’t
exactly paradise. But at least they didn’t expect anything from him. At least they didn’t give him funny looks.
Jenson took a deep breath and walked forward, determined to conquer his fears. Fuzzy lines gradually firmed up and he began to see the subway car and its surroundings clearly. His aged, cauliflower ears caught something. He cocked his head and listened for a second. An uncomfortable feeling crept over him and he felt his blood pressure rise.
The noises arose from the general direction of the subway car. Noises he recognized. Noises that told him one indisputable, yet disturbing fact.
He wasn’t alone.
Jenson felt a pinprick in his skull. He clamped down on his emotions, struggling to get them under control.
Eventually, his breathing slowed. He forced himself to look at the car and put it into context. It was one of the ruined R36 MLs. It had to be. And the noises probably came from subway workers. They were preparing to tow the car back to one of the yards for repairs. Yes, that explained everything.
And yet, it didn’t.
He could see shadowy figures now, moving back and forth from a gaping hole in the south wall to the subway car. Two figures climbed out of the hole, carrying a massive bell-shaped object between them. It looked like it weighed a thousand pounds. And yet, the two figures held it aloft with little apparent effort.
Jenson’s brain told him to turn and run. But the strange object piqued his curiosity. Against his better judgment, he crouched down and moved toward the center of the tracks, hoping for a better look.
The two men carried the object to the side of the subway car. They stood tall, unbending, as if the object in their hands weighed nothing at all. They disappeared into the car and then reappeared a few seconds later.
They walked away but Jenson barely noticed them. Instead, his eyes remained fixed on the car, trying to catch another glimpse of the strange, bell-like object.
But before he could do so, the men returned. This time, they carried a long, cylindrical burlap bag between them. Jenson stared at it.
His heart skipped another beat.
The bag was moving.
He’d seen enough to understand the danger he faced. If the shadows saw him, they’d kill him. Spinning around, Jenson ran.
Twin lights surged from behind him, casting a bright glow across the tunnel. Cursing, he slipped to the side of the track, opposite the third rail, and put on a burst of speed.
The single, non-pedestrian track under his feet connected the 42nd Street Shuttle Line to the Lexington Avenue Line. Ordinarily, it allowed shuttles to be taken in and out of service. But now, it served another purpose. It was his way out. His freedom.
His salvation.
Twenty yards to go.
He felt the ground tremble slightly. Digging deep, he picked up the pace.
Ten yards.
He stumbled. His hand reached out and touched the wall. Lurching forward, he tried to maintain his footing.
Five yards.
The light grew brighter and brighter. With one last long step, Jenson flew into another tunnel. Ducking to the side, he plastered himself against the wall. His heart slammed against his chest.
The subway car breached the pedestrian tunnel. It moved slowly and quietly, almost as if it were sneaking away from something.
As it passed by, Jenson couldn’t help but stare at it. In addition to its strange contents, the railcar itself was highly unusual. Unlike the dull, faded grey that covered most subway cars, it exhibited a rich coat of silver paint. Instead of graffiti scrawls, a single word, written in black foot-size lettering, adorned the low alloy high tensile steel siding.
Omega.
The Omega paused and Jenson pressed his body as hard as he could against the concrete. Someone had seen him. He was sure of it.
But then, with a sullen, mechanical groan, the car completed its turn and pressed forward, heading south.
Jenson slid down, his back scraping against the wall. His haunches came to a rest just above his worn shoes.
Relief swept over him.
A loud high-pitched shriek reverberated across the tunnel, ping-ponging from wall to wall. Jenson glanced to his right. The Omega stood quietly in the semi-darkness.
Now what?
Metal rasped against metal. Then, three shadows hopped out of the subway car’s side and ventured to the front.
“Running rails,” one of the figures announced. “How the hell…?”
Jenson squinted. Long metal slabs lay perpendicular across the tracks. He didn’t remember seeing them earlier.
Gunfire erupted from the south. One of the shadows jerked backward and fell. The other two retreated to the safety of the Omega.
Knives sliced back into Jenson’s skull, sending waves of debilitating pain down his spine. He crumpled to the ground.
New shadows, too many to count, swarmed the subway car. The ear-piercing barrage continued for another forty seconds. As the tunnel fell quiet, Jenson felt more screams barreling their way toward his throat. Desperately, he tried to stop them. Any noise would give away his position.
And he wasn’t ready to die. Not yet.
Blackness reappeared at the corners of his vision, eating its way toward the center. He blinked. The Omega’s doors remained open, providing some visibility to its interior. During the battle, the objects inside had shifted.
He sensed the new shadows surrounding the Omega. But he ignored them, keeping his attention focused solely on the bell-shaped object.
He now understood its secret.
And it scared the shit out of him.
Darkness swept across his eyes, consuming his sight. He felt himself falling, falling, into a deep abyss. And then, nothing.
Nothing but blackness.
*****
To read the rest of Cy Reed's first adventure, purchase a copy of Chaos today!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Meyer is an adventurer and author of the Cy Reed series. His books take readers across the globe, from New York's lost subway tunnels to forgotten laboratories buried deep beneath Antarctica's frozen tundra. To find out more about David, his adventures, and his books, visit www.GuerrillaExplorer.com.
WORKS BY DAVID MEYER
Chaos
Ice Storm
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue Fenrir
Part I The Desolation
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Part II Kirby Station
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Part III Werwolfsschanze
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Part IV The Amber Room
&nb
sp; Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Part V Amerika-Rakete
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Epilogue Family Secrets
Chaos by David Meyer (Sample)
About the Author
Other books