Adrian Smith - The Rule of Three - An Extinction Cycle Novella

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Nicholas Sansbury Smith for encouraging me to write in the Extinction Cycle world. I wish you all the success in the future. Thank you.

Check out the best selling Extinction Cycle series and more like this one.

http://nicholassansburysmith.com/.

Cover design by Libby Cameron.

Edited and Proofread by Laurel Kriegler.

First I would like to again take this opportunity to thank Nicholas Sansbury Smith for encouraging me to write in his amazing Extinction Cycle world. You continue to amaze and inspire me every day. Thank you so much.

To Frances Liontakis, thank you for your words of encouragement and reading every single draft of this novella. Much appreciation for your friendship.

To Nathan Yokoyama, for reading an early draft and making some vital suggestions, thank you.

To Rodger Mintel for your humour and keeping me sane. Barbara Giannavola and Phyl Lamattina, thank you for reading the first draft, and for your encouragement.

To the Street Team, you guys are awesome. Thank you so much for your friendship.

To all my Beta readers, thank you. To Col(Ret) Russ Olson and Steve Konkoly for your invaluable military RT input, and Susan Harmon-Sanders for your medical advice. If you find any mistakes, they are entirely my fault.

To my editor, Laurel Kriegler, you deserve a huge thank you for taking a rough pile of notes and turning them into something readable. I’ve learnt more about writing in the last few months than I have in all my years leading up to this one.

And last but definitely not least, to Libby, my long-suffering partner. Thank you for taking a chance on me and always having an encouraging word. You let me sound out ideas and made me see things from a different view when I needed it most. Thank you.

Three weeks without food…

Jack’s fevered mind chanted it like a buddhist mantra, over and over. The proverbial rule of three. Problem was, Jack had no idea how long he’d been here.

When they scampered around, their bones and joints made strange crackling, popping sounds. And when they came to harvest their human captives, their weird mouths made a sucking, smacking sound. Jack hated that sound. And the stench they exuded was disgusting, a rotten fruit smell. It reminded Jack of the Durian fruit he had tried once in a Thai market, in a happier time before hell had descended on the earth.

Three days without water…

The agony of the deep gash in Jack’s thigh kept him semi-conscious with moments of lucidity. Occasional screams cut through the warm damp air, jolting Jack fully conscious each time, but the surrounding darkness and environment remained the same. Stuck fast to a wall with some sort of gluey membrane, Jack struggled against it in sheer terror and panic. He only managed to move his arms and legs a few measly inches.

Three hours without shelter…

A humming sound in the background reminded Jack of high-powered electric lines, while the cold, damp hardness of concrete pushed into the back of his legs and head, chilling him to the bone. The constant scurrying, and the smacking sounds the creatures made, haunted his fragile psyche, making him flinch whenever he heard them. Never a religious man, Jack found himself praying to any higher power he could think of. There are no atheists in a foxhole. Well, what about down here in the dark?

Three minutes without air…

Twisting his left arm back and forth, and scraping skin off in the process, Jack could almost reach the valve of his water bladder. Miraculously, his hiking pack was still on his shoulders. With a final effort, Jack grasped the valve in his hand. Bending his arm and pushing his head as far forward as he could, Jack was agonisingly close to that life saving liquid. He bellowed in frustration.

A cracking and popping sound alerted Jack to the monsters’ approach. Jack cursed at his stupidity. Holding his breath and keeping his body rigid, Jack squeezed his eyes shut.

Not me not me not me not me…

The rotten fruit smell lingered on in his nose and mind. A tearing sound, followed by the sickening thud of a body hitting the ground, made him scream silently in terror.

Not me not me not me… it’s not me… it’s not me this time.

Jack gazed up at the stars, captivated by the serenity and majesty of the little pinpricks of light. As many times as he looked at the Milky Way, he never grew bored of it. He inhaled deeply, the fresh forest scents lacing the chill air. He loved it up here in the mountains, away from the rat race. As much as he loved technology, the wild was where he felt at peace, at home. A conflict, as usual. The silence was enchanting, just the echoes of the stars.

For three days he had enjoyed the wilderness, off the grid. Reaching the hut earlier in the evening, Jack had enjoyed a couple of hours restful silence. Taking one last look at the Milky Way stretching from horizon to horizon, he dug into his pack and reluctantly pulled out his phone.

Immediately after booting up the phone, it alerted him to a message. Looking at the screen, Jack saw that there were several messages from Dee, the first sent three days ago, each one seeming to be getting more and more panicked. Jack frowned. He opened the last one.

JACK, PLEASE PLEASE CALL ME HURRY PLEASE… ELE… ELE… JACK NOW NOW!!!

He gasped. ELE! Extinction level event! Holy crap! Really? Is this a joke?

Pushing the phone icon, he held his breath as the phone rang. It sounded distant and tinny. After what seemed like hours, Dee answered.

“Jack? Thank God!” Without letting him answer, Dee continued, “Listen, it’s all over the news. They’ve closed all the airports, all the ports, everything is closing or closed down. You need to get home now, please, Jack. It’s horrible, it’s crazy, it’s…”

“Dee, slow down. What are you talking about?”

“It’s some virus thingy in the States. It started in Chicago. It’s already been reported in London, Paris, Sydney… everywhere!”

“Virus? Like an outbreak?”

“It’s worse Jack. It turns people into monsters! They are calling it the Hemorrhage Virus!” Dee was now shouting.

From the panic in Dee’s voice, Jack knew this was for real, no joke. They had finally done it.

They had killed the world.

Whoever “they” were.

Was it true? Had the end of the world come? A virus outbreak? Monsters?

So many thoughts swam through his head. He loved movies, comics and sci fi. Jack had daydreamed about this sort of thing happening plenty of times. He had even convinced Dee to get an isolated cabin in the woods for this kind of eventuality. But that was just a fantasy, right? This sort of thing doesn't really happen, does it?

“Jack? Are you there? JACK?… JACK!” Dee’s screams cut through his thoughts. “You have to come home. I need you!”

He looked at his phone. Then put the phone back to his ear.

“No. The city won’t be safe. You have to come to me. If the virus reaches New Zealand, it’ll turn bad real quick, desperate people and all that.”