Hunting The Broken: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Caitlin Chronicles Book 3) Read online

  Hunting The Broken

  The Caitlin Chronicles Book Three

  Daniel Willcocks

  Michael Anderle

  Hunting The Broken (this book) is a work of fiction.

  All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2018 Daniel Willcocks, Michael Anderle, CM Raymond, and LE Barbant

  Cover by Mihaela Voicu http://www.mihaelavoicu.com/

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

  PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  First US edition, September 2018

  The Kurtherian Gambit (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2015-2018 by Michael T. Anderle and LMBPN Publishing.

  Contents

  Prologue

  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

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Author’s Notes - Dan Willcocks

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  Other Books by Daniel Willcocks

  Books by Michael Anderle

  Connect with the authors

  The Hunting The Broken Team

  Thanks to the JIT Readers

  Mary Morris

  Micky Cocker

  Larry Omans

  If we’ve missed anyone, please let us know!

  Editor

  Lynne Stiegler

  For Bob, Mary, Winnifred, and Violet. You taught me to dream, and this is the product of you.

  —Dan

  To Family, Friends and

  Those Who Love

  To Read.

  May We All Enjoy Grace

  To Live The Life We Are

  Called.

  —Michael

  Prologue

  The Broken City, Old Ontario

  Lewis savored the feel of the wind on his face and the freshness of the open air as the sun warmed his cheeks, his nose, and his brow.

  He paused for a moment halfway up the hill and took it all in. The desecrated city stretched for miles upon miles. Skyscrapers buckled at the knees amidst rubble and dust. Only a few hospitable spaces remained behind the crude chain link fence which bordered it all. Perhaps they had run a little farther than they were allowed, but what did that matter on a day like today?

  “Can’t catch me!” Serena called, sprinting past him in a fit of delighted giggles.

  Want to bet? A grin crept onto his face. When he opened his eyes, he could see the backs of her legs as they disappeared into a mound of overgrown bushes.

  Serena was fast, but Lewis was definitely faster. Three years her senior, he was taller, stronger, and—if he did say so himself—much better-looking. He didn’t have the scars and the malformations that came from the fights, or from brothers and sisters breeding for survival. Too many aberrations resulted from cousins and relatives panicking to find ways to increase their numbers in the closed-off city.

  He shuddered at the thought.

  Lewis caught up without much effort, although he let Serena have her fun. It amused him to pretend he couldn’t overtake her as they sped through tangles and thorns, climbing ever higher up the hill until they crested its peak.

  Up at the top, they sat and rested. Serena panted heavily, lying flat on her back to stare up at the sky. She pointed at the clouds as they floated by.

  “That one looks like an alpaca,” she said, giggling into the cup of her hand.

  Lewis furrowed his brow. “What the hell is an alpaca? Sounds like a foreigner bruising for a fight. ‘I’ll-a-packa-your-face-in!”

  He laughed, then cut it short. Serena had given him “the look,” the one he hated. It told him that she was superior to him because of her knowledge. She loved to read the remnants of books that had been salvaged and saved, whereas Lewis did what typical ten-year-old boys did in the latter days of the Madness—spat, shat, laughed, and learned to survive.

  “Oh, Lewy. My dear Lewy.” The all-too-familiar condescending tone rasped at his good mood. “It’s like a deer, but it’s…like, super fluffy and has…erm…like, a long neck, too.”

  “Fascinating.” Lewis did not bother to hide the sarcasm.

  “People used to make clothes from their wool and breed them in big, like, erm…pens. Loads of them. There used to be big farms of them.”

  Lewis licked his lips. “They sound delicious.”

  “Ew! Disgusting. Why do you always make it weird?” Serena asked, sitting up and slapping Lewis’ arm.

  “Because if they have a heartbeat and lots of fat, we should be able to hunt and eat them. That’s the way of it now, child.” Lewis looked satisfied as a wave of annoyance washed over Serena’s face and she folded her arms. “That’s right. Enough scavenging for tins in the city. These days, it’s all about the harvest. There’s only so much chicken I can eat before it makes me vomit.”

  Serena had grown pale. “You sound like you’re coming down with Madness. I’ve got a heartbeat and fat. Are you going to eat me next?”

  Lewis licked his lips hungrily, standing up to tower over her. He raised his arms like a bear and stomped forward. “Mmm, you look dee-lish-us. I’m gonna chomp you up.”

  Serena burst into laughter as she scrambled to her feet and ran away. They chased each other around the crown of the hill, pausing only when her foot caught on a rock and she fell. The hem of her dress rose to reveal a knee scratched and red. Small beads of blood gathered on the skin.

  Lewis dropped the Mad act and knelt beside her. “Oh, no. Are you okay?”

  She nodded but bit her lip. Her eyes grew glossy with unshed tears.

  “Here,” Lewis said. He leaned forward and dabbed the wound with the cuff of his sleeve. The cotton was stained and mucky already, and the blood added a fresh patch of color to it. “Is that better?” he asked, sitting down beside her.

  Serena nodded but did not answer. Lewis placed an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. “You’re going to be all right,” he soothed. “It’s all going to be all right.”

  They sat for some time in silence overlooking the place that had come to be known over the years as The Broken City. The crumbling ruins of the metropolitan city, from afar, looked dead and arid.

  Over on the far side of the city, they could see the twinkling ripples of the lake, a massive expanse of wat
er that bordered the northern ridge. A place which—Lewis had been told—held a whole new sub-species of Mad, creatures who had turned and learned to swim and thrive in the water. Their skin black and slimy, they clutched lost boys from the shore and dragged them to the depths below.

  He had shuddered when the other boys told him this. The idea of the Mad was bad enough, but water-resistant Mad? Well… That was enough to keep all the boys from exploring the northern border.

  He was sure they were lying. Really, they were simply crude bed-time stories.

  But was it worth the risk?

  “Lewis?”

  He broke out of his thoughts. “Yes?”

  “Tell me a joke.”

  “What kind of joke?”

  “A funny one,” Serena said.

  Helpful. “Okay. What do you get if you cross a gee-raff with a window cleaner?”

  Serena pulled away from his arm, a grin already on her face. “I don’t know.”

  “A window cleaner that doesn’t need a ladder,” Lewis said, waiting for Serena’s fit of giggling to commence.

  Instead, she looked confused. “What’s a gee-raff?”

  His smile faded and he tapped his chin. “Hmm…I don’t actually know. Max told me that he saw one in a book. Maybe it’s a bit like an alapacala?”

  “Alpaca.”

  “Right.”

  Lewis looked down at Serena’s knee. The bleeding had stopped. There might be a small bruise later, but otherwise, it looked fine. She now seemed distracted enough to have forgotten all about it.

  “Come on, let’s get you home,” he said. “Maybe they’ve got pictures of gee-raffs and alpalacias—”

  “Alpacas!”

  “Right.” Lewis slowed down and committed it to memory. “Al-pack-a. Got it. Alpacas and gee-raffs in one of those dusty books in the old library.”

  Serena fell into thought. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Hmm, maybe. But which shelf?”

  Lewis shrugged. “I don’t know,” he admitted, having only ever read one or two books from the shelves which lined The Broken City’s community hub—the place where the folk of the city slept as one. “Maybe start by looking under ‘G?’”

  “It doesn’t work like that…” Serena’s voice trailed away.

  “Serena? What’s wrong?”

  She didn’t respond. His gaze was drawn to where she pointed, her eyes wide.

  It emerged from the bushes nearby, limping crudely on its one good leg. A Mad, its eyes glowing red as it locked onto Serena and Lewis and cocked its head in their direction.

  Lewis took a deep breath, remembering what his father had taught him.

  Panic is your enemy. Just because they’re mindless doesn’t mean you need to be.

  “Hey, Serena,” Lewis said, picking up a large dead branch. “What restaurant does this Mad go to?”

  The Mad began running straight for them.

  “I don’t know,” Serena said, shocked that Lewis could joke at a time like this.

  “IHOP!” Lewis said as he swung the branch and smacked it into the Mad’s leg.

  The attacker buckled to one side and fell to the ground. The leg it had hobbled on was now twisted and bent out of shape.

  “Nice shot.” Serena cheered.

  Lewis grabbed her hand. “Okay, run. Now. While it’s down.”

  They sped back down the hill, using the momentum gravity afforded them. As they ran, Lewis could hear Serena growing breathless beside him. Somewhere behind them, he could hear the Mad screech and stumble in the bracken—far enough away that he knew they were winning, but not far enough that they were safe.

  “Lewy?” Serena huffed, watching every step she took.

  “Yeah?”

  “What’s an IHOP?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Lewis grinned. “Keep running.”

  When they made it to the border of the Broken City—a chain link fence topped with barbed wire—they looked around for the gap they had crawled through.

  “Where is it?” Serena asked.

  “I don’t know”

  They could hear him now. The Mad hadn’t given up his pursuit.

  Serena hugged Lewis tight. “What do we do?”

  Lewis tried to think. What did they do now?

  The Mad appeared a moment later, hobbling and stumbling. When he saw them, his eyes grew wide. He tripped and rolled down the hill, landing a few feet away.

  But as he clawed for them, something whistled through the air, followed by a thunk.

  Lewis looked curiously at the arrow embedded in the Mad’s skull. The reds of its eyes faded.

  “Nice shot—”

  Lewis jumped as another arrow whistled out from somewhere behind them, landing not even an inch from the first one.

  They turned to see a man on the other side of the fence. Or, rather, the upper half of his body. The rest of it was hidden by the manhole cover he was poking out of.

  “Nice shot,” Lewis said.

  “Thanks,” their rescuer replied. He looked at them with great interest. “Should you two be on this side of the fence? Looks dangerous out there.”

  Lewis blushed. “We wanted to watch the sun rise from the top of the hill.”

  The man smiled. “I don’t blame you. You could take a thousand pictures of that view and nothing would do it the justice the real thing deserves. You guys stuck out there now?”

  Lewis nodded. “There’s a gap out that way. I’m not sure how far.”

  “Too far,” Serena complained.

  The man chuckled. “Not a problem. Why don’t we make our own gap?” He fished into his pocket and withdrew a pair of pliers. When he climbed out and came over to snip at the fence, Lewis couldn’t help but notice that he was shirtless. He was strong, that was for sure. A thick carpet of shaggy hair covered his chest.

  Despite his appearance, his voice was soft and calm.

  “There you go,” he said as he twisted the fence back and allowed them passage. “Where you guys headed now?”

  “Home,” Serena said. “Before Mama realizes we’re gone.”

  The man looked at the city behind. “You live with the colony in the old library?”

  Lewis and Serena nodded.

  “Well, hey! I know a shortcut. Saves you a lot of leg, and you can go on a straight path through the city. Don’t need to weave and duck around the buildings and ruins. What do you say?”

  “Sounds great,” Lewis said eagerly, not sure if he felt more soothed by his reassuring tone or his strength.

  “Mama said not to walk with strangers. She says the Weres might grab us,” Serena said, stamping on Lewis’ toes.

  Lewis jumped in the air. “Ouch!”

  “Your mama is a smart lady,” the man said. “You should always be careful of strangers. Let’s get acquainted. My name’s Bryce Gilligan, and you are?”

  “Lewis.”

  “Serena.”

  “Great. Now that we know each other, we’re not strangers.” Bryce turned, dropped his bum on the edge of the manhole, and extended an arm. “What do you say?”

  Lewis turned to Serena, shrugged, and followed.

  She cast one more look at the Mad that Bryce had taken out with ease. Surely it was better to follow the nice man and take the quick route than to make their way through the city. Even after all these years, you never knew what Madness lurked in the abandoned buildings.

  “Okay,” Serena said, following Lewis and Bryce into the darkness of the sewers.

  Chapter One

  The High Road, Silver Creek Forest, Old Ontario

  “It sure is beautiful,” Caitlin said, standing proudly with her hands on her hips.

  “I’ll say.” Kain tilted his head and studied Caitlin’s ass.

  Mary-Anne slapped Kain’s arm. “Hey, wolf-boy, she’s talking about the road.”

  “Hey!” he whined.

  But Caitlin didn’t seem bothered. Her mind wasn’t with Kain and his filthy thoughts in that moment. She beamed as h
er gaze followed the tree-lined road to its furthest point in the distance, then turned and looked back in the opposite direction. She could see for miles, and for a woman who had grown up in a walled-off town surrounded by what seemed to be infinite forest, that was something special.

  “Finally, the world is starting to connect,” she said, more to herself than the others.

  “You want to see connection? You should’ve been around during the days of the spaghetti junctions.” Kain whistled. “More twists and turns than you’ve ever seen connecting the roads and paths of the cities.”

  Mary-Anne rolled her eyes. “Shut up, Pooch. Give Kitty-Cat her moment.”

  They had spent the best part of four months working on the road. It had taken the effort of nearly everyone to pull together and make it happen. Men and women from Ashdale Pond had jumped at the chance to lend a hand, ready to repay Caitlin for setting their town free from the clutches of a Mad-infected governor and his delusional pastor partner. Unlike her hometown of Silver Creek, the residents of Ashdale were accustomed to living without fancy fences or borders, having developed a unique system of defense in which posts and bells were set up across town and rung when danger was near. The herd mentality of Ashdale’s folks was more than sufficient to defeat any threat of Mad.

  The residents of Silver Creek, on the other hand, had been far more reluctant to get involved in building the road. After spending almost a century hiding behind the wooden walls, it took some convincing to get the townsfolk to even consider going through the gates.