Redemption Trilogy (Book 2): Penance

  AJ SIKES

  © Author: AJ Sikes 2018

  All Rights Reserved

  Originally published by Amazon Kindle Worlds in 2016-2017

  Cover Design by Elizabeth Mackey

  ElizabethMackeyGraphics.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events locales or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.

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  Contents

  Dedication

  Foreword by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

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  About the Authors

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to America’s service members. A portion of the author’s proceeds from sales will be donated to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and to the Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy Memorial Scholarship Foundation.

  Foreword

  by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for picking up a copy of Penance by AJ Sikes. This is the second of the Redemption Trilogy, and opens at the harrowing moment when Jed Welch is unable to save Meg Pratt from the Variants who have her trapped in the sewers.

  Originally published through Amazon’s Extinction Cycle Kindle World, Penance became a reader favourite in the Extinction Cycle series side stories, and transcended to far more than fan fiction. Unfortunately, Amazon ended the Kindle Worlds program in July of 2018 with little warning. Authors were given a chance to republish or retire their stories, and I jumped at the chance to republish Penance through my small press, Great Wave Ink. Today, we’re proud to offer Penance in paperback, audio, and to readers outside of the United States for the first time ever.

  For those of you that are new to the Extinction Cycle storyline, the series is the award winning, Amazon top-rated, and half a million copy best-selling seven book saga. There are over six thousand five-star reviews on Amazon alone. Critics have called it, “World War Z and The Walking Dead meets the Hot Zone.” Publishers weekly added, “Smith has realized that the way to rekindle interest in zombie apocalypse fiction is to make it louder, longer, and bloodier… Smith intensifies the disaster efficiently as the pages flip by, and readers who enjoy juicy blood-and-guts action will find a lot of it here.”

  In creating the Extinction Cycle, my goal was to use authentic military action and real science to take the zombie and post-apocalyptic genres in an exciting new direction. Forget everything you know about zombies. In the Extinction Cycle, they aren’t created by black magic or other supernatural means. The ones found in the Extinction Cycle are created by a military bio-weapon called VX-99, first used in Vietnam. The chemicals reactivate the proteins encoded by the genes that separate humans from wild animals—in other words, the experiment turned men into monsters. For the first time, zombies are explained using real science—science so real there is every possibility of something like the Extinction Cycle actually happening. But these creatures aren’t the unthinking, slow-minded, shuffling monsters we’ve all come to know in other shows, books, and movies. These “variants” are more monster than human. Through the series, the variants become the hunters as they evolve from the epigenetic changes. Scrambling to find a cure and defeat the monsters, humanity is brought to the brink of extinction.

  We hope you enjoy Penance and continue on with the rest of the Redemption trilogy, and also the main storyline in the Extinction Cycle. Thank you for reading!

  Best wishes,

  Nicholas Sansbury Smith, NYT Bestselling Author of the Extinction Cycle

  — 1 —

  5 May 2015

  Upper East Side, Manhattan, approx. 1140 hours

  Jed stared at the gun in Rex’s hand, wondering how he’d kept it hidden, and what he was thinking by pulling it out now.

  “What the fuck, man? What the absolute—”

  “Keep it down. They could be anywhere and they’ll hear you.” Rex motioned with the gun for Jed to start moving. “We have to go. We have to find some place safe.”

  Jed took a step back and froze in place. The ruins of New York surrounded them, with wrecked cars, shattered buildings, and mountains of debris filling the once proud streets. Jed felt his own pride covered in filth as well. Meg had gone down the open manhole between him and Rex. She’d fallen into the sewer, with the monsters.

  He’d tried to help. His protective suit snagged on a car hood, and he’d fallen over a body as he spun to the side to get free. He was almost at the manhole when Rex had shoved him away and pulled the gun.

  Rex had pushed the manhole cover back in place while Jed stared at him in shock.

  “We can’t leave her down there!”

  “Keep it down,” Rex said. His eyes twitched left and right behind the visor of his CBRN hood. Jed felt the closeness of his own mask and suit, constricting and tugging no matter how he stood or tried to hold himself. Every inch of his body screamed to be let out of the damn body-condom, but if he got a speck of tainted blood on him…

  Jed still had his axe from the fire station. He could probably knock the gun out of Rex’s hand—

  Meg’s scream from the sewer split the air. Rex shook his head like he had a bee under his hood. He stepped backwards, dropped the gun, and took off running. Jed watched him go and thought about picking up the gun. Then he saw it didn’t even have a magazine in it.

  Motherfucker played me.

  Meg was still screaming from the sewer, calling for help, but a loud hiss and shriek spun Jed around. He came face to face with two of the creatures sitting on top of a car. Their sickly pale white flesh glistened, even in the weak sunlight. Spit drooled from their open gaping mouths as they flicked ropy tongues around their bulging lips. Veins stood out from their flesh in dark lines that looked like rivulets of oil.

  Jed backed away, holding his axe in front of him. The monsters paced side to side, and then sprang forward. He caught the first one with a chop through its face, dropping it to the pavement where it landed and thrashed at the wound with its clawed hands.

  The second one landed awkwardly beside Jed. It held one arm at its side, like the shoulder was out of joint. Jed reared back to swing the axe as the monster whipped its good arm at his legs, tearing a gash into his CBRN suit, but missing his flesh beneath. He tripped on his own feet and fell backwards, still holding the axe in front of his chest. The monster shrieked and spra
ng forward, crashing on top of Jed.

  He drove the axe head into its bad shoulder. The thing screamed and jerked away, sliding off of him. Jed rolled onto his hip, bringing the axe down again and again until the monster was dead.

  The other one had tried to slink away, holding its hand over the slice Jed put through its face. He went toward it as it tried to squeeze under a car. With a solid swing, Jed ended the beast. He staggered back, yanking the axe free. The weight of having survived for two weeks in the hell of what used to be New York pushed on Jed’s shoulders. The city seemed to breathe around him, like the streets and ruined buildings were all calling him to just lie down and die.

  Can’t. Not yet. I got something to do still.

  Jed went back to the manhole and stared at it. He couldn’t hear any screams. He went down hard on one knee, using the axe handle for support. The CBRN gloves made his hands feel like flippers as he gripped the axe and tried to lever the manhole up using the blade.

  The manhole lifted away from the pavement and clattered back down. Meg’s voice trailed up from below, in a weak cry for help. Jed ripped his gloves off, no longer caring about anything but getting Meg out of there. He worked the axe head into the crack around the manhole, cursing as the blade slipped. He jammed it back in and called to Meg as he struggled to raise the cover.

  “I’m coming, Meg. I’m sorry. Gonna get you out. I’m—”

  The cover bucked once under his hands, then again, pushed from below this time. Jed shifted on his feet so he was ready to stand. The cover flew upward and flipped onto the street with a clang!

  Bulging lips and spiked teeth filled Jed’s vision. He spun away from the manhole, feeling the axe torn from his hands. He looked back to see one of the monsters throwing his last and only weapon across the street. Jed lurched to his feet and fled, running with all his might away from the hungry shrieks and scraping claws on the asphalt. The fabric of his CBRN suit tugged and pulled, but he pumped his legs as fast as he could and heaved in a breath with every step. He could still hear them. They’d catch him. He knew this was the end. He’d tried to go back for Meg, but it just wasn’t meant to be, and maybe Jed wasn’t meant to be anymore either. But he just couldn’t take the easy way out and let the monsters dog pile him from behind. He had to keep running.

  He flashed a glance over his shoulder. Four of them followed, leaping from cars to the pavement, scrabbling along the streets and sidewalks.

  Flying as fast as his feet would carry him, Jed whipped past wrecked cars and leaped over bodies lying in pools of dark, dry blood. He spun to the side as a wiry monstrous figure emerged from another manhole directly ahead. Claw marks shredded its arms and a bite mark stained the pale white skin of its chest.

  Are they eating each other?

  The monster reached an arm out, like it wanted to stop him, but he easily dodged around it. He stumbled off to the sidewalk and stared at the thin creature standing in the middle of the street. A second later it disappeared from sight as two of the monsters chasing him landed on top of the thin one. The whole mass of sickly white flesh dropped back down the manhole to the sound of howls and screams. The remaining two monsters hovered nearby, flicking their tongues and twitching their heads back and forth, looking at Jed and looking down the hole.

  Without missing a beat, Jed sped around a corner and down the sidewalk.

  The dead lay in his path like a blanket of gore covering New York City’s streets. He jumped some of the bodies, then tripped and fell face first into a pile of the corpses. Most of them were monsters, but some had been human still when they’d died. Remembering how he, Meg, and Rex had survived in the fire station, Jed quickly pulled a body on top of himself and curled his legs up so he was in a fetal position, tucked into a tangle of death.

  If it weren’t for the hood he wore, he’d have spilled his guts from the stink all around him. It still got in a little bit, and he had to hold his chest and throat tight to keep from heaving. He angled his neck so he could see behind him, back to the last corner he’d rounded.

  If this is my time, I gotta at least see it coming.

  At the corner, one of the beasts squatted on top of another small pile of bodies. It’s greasy white skin made Jed think of a toy he’d played with as a kid. Some action figure with crazy muscles, all pale glossy plastic. But Jed knew the thing at the corner was no toy.

  It moved like it had spotted him, whipping its head around from where it had been looking at a nearby building. The sucker mouth popped open, and it let out a hiss as it scrabbled forward, coming over the corpses and shattered glass littering the sidewalk. Thick webs of saliva spread across its bulging lips and it flicked its tongue at the air, like a snake tasting a scent. Jed cowered in his hiding place, praying the thing hadn’t really seen him. It wasn’t looking at him, just at the pile of bodies he was hiding in. His legs hummed with a need to flex and kick, but he forced himself to stay still as the monster crawled forward. Its joints clicked, and it roved its gaze back and forth along the sidewalk as it came.

  Jed squeezed his eyes shut. In a heartbeat, he realized the thing might see him pinching his face up, so he quickly relaxed his cheeks and just kept his eyes closed. If it was his time, it was his time, and now he knew he’d rather not see it coming.

  There was nothing he could do about it anyway.

  A clawed hand came down on his right thigh. Jed swallowed a whimper of terror and held his stomach tight. He couldn’t risk pissing himself now. The thing would smell it and then it’d be all over.

  Another clawed hand grabbed Jed’s shoulder.

  This is it. It has to be it. This is the end, Momma. I’m sorry I didn’t do better by you.

  The weight on his leg and shoulder stayed where it was, pushing Jed down into the mound of death he’d chosen as his last resting place. Then he felt the monster’s weight lift. A second later, the thing had moved over the pile of bodies. He felt it crawl down the other side of the pile, driving the corpses tighter against his hiding spot. Then it was gone. The clicking of its joints faded from Jed’s hearing.

  He stayed there for a while, waiting, praying it was safe. Finally he opened his eyes and saw the sidewalk stretching out in front of him. Bodies, dried blood, and broken glass still covered everything Jed could see, but the monster was nowhere in sight.

  Jed risked flexing his legs. They’d gone numb from being tucked and bent for so long. His feet were stiff, and his arms ached from holding himself still against the concrete.

  Meg would probably give anything to feel this good. But now she’s under the street. She’s down there. Dying.

  Because you left her. Because you ran away.

  The woman who had rescued him on the street in front of her fire station was now just another corpse in a city that might as well be a morgue. She’d helped him survive the past two weeks. After the Air Force dropped those chemical bombs, she agreed with Jed’s idea that they should go looking for more survivors. Fucking Rex was scared shitless, said they should stay put. Maybe they’d all still be alive if they’d done like he said. Most of the monsters were dead now.

  But not all of them. Some of them made it by hiding in the sewers, or by being strong enough. And you let them get Meg.

  Jed held in a sob. Meg had been the closest thing to a true partner he’d ever had, someone to look out for you and watch your back while you watch theirs. Rex was about as ate up as a guy could be. Nothing but muscles under his shirt, but he was a cowardly lion if Jed had ever met one. Fucking candy-ass—

  Rex. He may have been a wash out, but so were you once. His name was Rex.

  And her name was Meg.

  With a scream, Jed shoved the body off him and lurched to his feet. If the monsters were nearby, they’d see him and they could take him down. He knew he didn’t deserve much better. Reeling where he stood, he took in the empty, dead street around him. The ruins and corpses were like something out of a movie Jed couldn’t stop watching. Screaming again, he threw a punch at the ai
r and dared death to come for him.

  — 2 —

  Staff Sergeant Alexandra Gallegos put down the twenty-pound barbells and rolled her shoulders, feeling the ache all the way to her toes. The workout helped because she knew it from before the world ended. She’d done the same reps three times a week back before everything went to hell. She’d run at least three miles every other day, and even though she couldn’t do that now, the weightlifting and calisthenics made up for it. And it wasn’t like she lacked opportunities for cardio. Every time she patrolled the perimeter downstairs, she got in a half dozen sprints at least.

  Working her body and mind together had kept her strong and ready to answer the call of duty when she was needed.

  Now, exercise kept Alexandra Gallegos sane.

  And the sucker faces couldn’t take it away.

  Unless they find us. But if that day comes, then it’s just my time I guess.

  She had survived for the past two days. She would survive for a few more. Maybe even a week or a month.

  The Marines under her command, PFC Kenneth Reeve and Private Anik Mahton, were holding up their end of the bargain just fine. Reeve was top guard, on the roof of their hide in the ruins of a bus depot on Lexington Avenue. Mahton had watch over the street in an office on the third floor. He was probably hoping he’d see one of the monsters so he could sketch it and add another picture to his art gallery down there. She’d relieve him soon. He’d hang the drawing next to the others. Then he’d be racking out, waking up, working out, and taking his turn on guard.

  Same old, same old. As long as they don’t find us. But damn if this isn’t gonna last. You can’t put a Marine in a cage and expect him not to bite his way through the bars.

  ***

  Jed screamed until he was hoarse and waited for the hit that never came. Finally, he took a step away from the pile of bodies and staggered down the sidewalk. Every step put him deeper into the destruction, forcing him to bear witness to the ruin of humanity brought about by humanity itself.