A Shrouded World 4 Read online

  “When did he become boss?” Otter asked. “I’m not sure we should be taking directions from him.”

  “Don’t be a demon-ist,” I said without really thinking about it. Not much of a shocker there. Although there was some validity to his question.

  “The coming of this storm has brought others as well. Melerforns are now in this realm,” Kalandar said.

  “He can’t be sure of that,” Otter protested. “Seems he would say anything to further his narrative.”

  “Can you be sure they have not arrived?” he asked back.

  “The burden of proof lays with you.”

  I was having a hard time putting all my fragile Easter eggs in Kalandar’s basket, but he had valid points. And he was still on the side that got me out of this clusterfuck. Could be he was just manipulating me like a pipe cleaner. Wouldn’t be all that hard to do. Could I justify releasing more of his kind into this world? If the whistlers were indeed here, what would it matter? This place was already heading down a slippery slope at avalanche speed. How much worse could it get? Sort of like letting Columbian drug lords into North Korea, though some might consider that an improvement. Still, I was being pretty offhand with a world I had no real vested interest in, at least directly. We as people have an incredible ability, and not on the side of good, to narrow our world down to that which is near to us, blindly ignoring the bigger picture. Sometimes out of ignorance, other times willfully thinking that if it is not directly affecting me, then I’m fine with it. That shortsightedness has led to an abundance of problems. Just think the Allies in the 1930s—how we decided to let Germany do “its thing” because, well, hey, that’s way over in Czechoslovakia, how in the heck is that going to bother us?

  “Mike?” Jack asked.

  “I don’t know man. I can’t make that kind of decision for this place. Kalandar seems decent enough, but who knows if he has ulterior motives.”

  “You do realize I can hear you, correct?”

  “Just being truthful; you should know what I’m thinking.”

  “As I have said, this is not just a problem for the here and now. There are ramifications across unparalleled realms. Melerforns or angels, neither is a thing to leave unchecked.”

  “Where did they come from? If they’ve been around forever, shouldn’t this already all be over?” Otter asked.

  “Who do you think would create something so destructive?” Kalandar asked.

  Jack and I both answered “man” at the same time—would have been somewhat funny if it weren’t so agonizingly true.

  “True to an extent, think on a grander scale, though.”

  “God?” I asked tentatively.

  “I suppose due to your limited capacity to understand, it would be what you call God, or a god, at least. I could think of a half dozen that would do this just from boredom.”

  “This is all just for thrills? Some giant reality show? Jerky Shores or some shit?” I was standing. “Why are there so many things that think it’s all right to fuck with everyone else?”

  “Otter?” Jack asked, delivering the question to his reality twin’s feet.

  “What chance do we have against a god?” he asked.

  “None if we do nothing,” Kalandar replied.

  “I have some friends at a base nearby; I’ll tell them you’re my less attractive twin brother and I want to show you around. They’ll let us on; after that, we’ll have to steal one.”

  “So, I’m really going to go up the side of a mountain and beckon forth a demon army; what the actual fuck, man,” I said. “Wait, I’m not the sacrifice, am I?”

  “We cannot sacrifice one of our own. Perhaps we should take him,” Kalandar pointed to Otter.

  “He’s trying to be funny, right?” Otter asked.

  “It’s the sacrifice of the few for the good of the many,” I said.

  “Wow, karma is a bitch; didn’t think she’d come around so quickly,” Jack replied shaking his head.

  “We do not need you, rabbit.”

  “Otter,” Otter clarified.

  “Oh, I don’t know, I was looking at your legs; you looked like you were ready to run,” I said.

  We had our marching orders. I shook Otter and Jack’s hands and wished them the best of luck.

  “I hate when we get separated, Mike.”

  “We’re going to beat this, man, whatever the fuck it is.”

  “Good luck,” he said.

  “Same. Lead on, Kalandar. What?” I asked when he looked at me.

  “Nothing, it is just good to hear my name.”

  I looked back a couple of times until Jack and Otter were completely out of sight. If Kalandar wanted to do anything underhanded, now would be the perfect time to do it.

  We had been walking for a few hours. The rain had finally given way to gray, foreboding skies. As we got closer to the cave and the altar, my steps began to falter as Kalandar picked up the pace, no doubt betraying how we both felt about what was going to happen. We’d no sooner come up over the lip when I saw it.

  “No way.” The cavalry had arrived.

  About The Authors

  MARK TUFO

  Mark Tufo was born in Boston Massachusetts. He attended UMASS Amherst where he obtained a BA (and an advanced degree in partyology) and later joined the US Marine Corps. He was stationed in Parris Island SC, Twenty Nine Palms CA and Kaneohe Bay Hawaii. After his tour he went into the Human Resources field with a worldwide financial institution, after beginning his climb up the corporate ladder he found himself laid off. His wife, Tracy, who was desperate to keep him out of her hair, dared him to write a book, and the Zombie Fallout series was born.

  He wrote the first installment of the Indian Hill trilogy in college, it sat in his garage until July 2009 when he published independently. Mark is currently working on the continuation of the ZF series and a new book due out in August of 2014. He lives in Maine with his wife, three kids and two English bulldogs, Henry and Riley.

  JOHN O’BRIEN

  John O'Brien is a former Air Force fighter instructor pilot who transitioned to Special Operations for the latter part of his career gathering his campaign ribbon for Desert Storm. Immediately following his military service, John became a firefighter/EMT with a local department. Along with becoming a firefighter, he fell into the Information Technology industry in corporate management. Currently, John is writing full-time on the series, A New World.

  As a former marathon runner, John lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest and can now be found kayaking out in the waters of Puget Sound, mountain biking in the Capital Forest, hiking in the Olympic Peninsula, or pedaling his road bike along the many scenic roads.