The drop, p.48
The Drop, page 48
Man: Do you have any other questions? Are you satisfied?
Katherine: Satisfaction is El Dorado. Fun to think about, but time is better spent on other things.
Man: Do you have any more questions or not?
Katherine: Just one... do you regret any of this? Do you really regret anything that you've done?
Man: A man with no regrets is a man who has never lived.
Katherine: Spoken like a true narcissist. Thanks for the story.
The man looks at the camera and makes a cutting gesture across his throat with his hand. The feed ends.
Chapter 20: A Star is Born
Security Camera Footage from Sebastian Doswell's Office at The Daily Solicitor
Sebastian Doswell sits at his desk. His hair is unkempt. Dark circles ring his eyes. On his desk, cigarette butts overflow the ashtray, ash smeared across its surface. He has a phone clamped to his ear, a lit cigarette hanging from his mouth.
Sebastian: I don't care what it costs. You find them.
Doswell haphazardly flicks ash in the general vicinity of the ash tray.
Sebastian: What do you mean? Did you check the island?... No trace. What the fuck are you talking about no trace? There must be something. Bodies. Bullet casings...Yeah, I know you're not CSI. No, I don't expect you to crawl on your hands and knees looking for hair samples. I just don't understand how three people can so completely and utterly disappear.
There is a knock at the door. Doswell pulls the phone from his ear long enough to yell "enter." A beefy security guard, later identified as Sven Bullgourd enters carrying a box. Doswell points to his desk.
Sebastian: I'm going to put you on speaker phone.
He sets the phone down on his desk, presses a button on his phone, and the voice of an unidentified security contractor can be heard.
Voice: Listen, we've been over this island three times. The mansion is burned to the ground. If there was anyone inside it, their ashes are probably riding the wind by now.
Sebastian: And you have no idea where the people are that did this?
Sebastian rips open the box.
Voice: No. Although, I will say there is a lot of debris scattered around. I did spot a place where a helicopter may have set down, and there are plenty of tracks around the property. Whatever they were doing out here looks like it required some heavy machinery.
Sebastian dumps the box out, and a memory stick falls out onto his desk along with a battered electronic journal.
Sebastian: Hey, I'm gonna have to call you back.
Voice: What do you want us to–
Sebastian ends the call with the swipe of his finger. He holds the stuff up and looks at his security guard.
Sebastian: Where did you get this?
Sven: It came in the mail.
Sebastian picks up the box and examines it for a shipping label. He sees nothing and throws the box to the ground.
Sebastian: Alright. Get out of here.
Sebastian shoos the security guard away, and the guard dutifully ducks out of the office. Sebastian opens up the laptop on his desk and inserts the memory stick into his computer. He messes around with his laptop for a bit, and then a video begins to play. Voices begin to speak.
Man: Are you ready to finish your story?
Katherine: What do you want with me?
Man: I want to give you what you're looking for.
Sebastian leans back in his chair, his mouth hanging open.
Sebastian: Jesus Christ, Katherine. You fucking did it.
Sebastian's phone rings. He picks it up.
Sebastian: Katherine?
There is a pause as he listens to a voice on the other end of the phone.
Sebastian: Who is this?
Sebastian continues listening to the voice on the other end. He nods, oblivious to the fact that the person on the other end can't see him. He opens his desk and reaches into his desk. He pulls out a remote, aims it at the TV in the corner of the room. He presses the power button and it pops on.
The picture appears, and the sound kicks in. A haunting song begins to play over the TV. The remote drops from Sebastian's hand. Sebastian pushes himself up from his chair and walks over to the TV, the cigarette in his mouth completely forgotten. It bobs up and down as he speaks.
Sebastian: Katherine?
On the TV, Katherine sits in a studio, her hands chained to a desk. When she opens her mouth, an otherworldly voice emerges.
Doswell stands dumbfounded. His hand reaches out to the TV, caressing it, as if he could pull Katherine through the screen and into his office.
The song finishes. Regular news begins to play on the TV.
Sven the security guard returns pulling the door open frantically.
Sven: Hey boss. She's on the TV.
Sebastian: I know.
Sven looks at the video playing on Doswell's laptop.
Sven: Hey, what's that?
Sebastian: Oh, that's the video of Katherine... and... and... funny... I don't think I know who the other man is. I thought I knew who he was... oh, yes... Sterling Robison. How did I almost forget that? Call the FBI. I think they'll want to take a look at all of this stuff.
Epilogue
A man walks through the streets of Los Angeles. He knows the streets, knows them well. Occasionally, someone will turn and face him. For an instant, a look of recognition will cross their face, and then, just like that, their eyes will slide from him like condensation down the side of a cold glass on a summer's day.
He likes it this way. The anonymity. The thrill of knowing that you exist, but no one else knows.
He struts down the street. Many of the buildings are still empty. The recovery has begun. The healing has happened, and the world is a better place. Simpler. Easier.
There's a chance now. There's a chance for the world, for the animals that live in it, human and other.
The man stops at the box office. He slides over sixty dollars. The elderly gentleman in the booth slides back a nondescript ticket. It's like a scene from one of those old movies he used to watch on the tour bus. No technology, no wireless service to count tickets sold, no fraudulent ticket broker to tack on a twenty-dollar service charge. Just a man, three twenty-dollar bills, and a cheap cardboard ticket.
A crowd has gathered in front of the building. He stands in line, watching their eyes open and then close upon seeing his face. He stands among them, a ghost.
When the time comes, he steps inside the concert hall. He watches her, the star, the one who helped the world heal with her music, with the song that he wrote for her. When the first notes of the song begin to play, he puts his earplugs in, lest he forget himself. Even without sound, her pain washes over him.
He is a man with no name. Never was. Never will be. When the show is over, she signs a shirt for him. Her eyes widen like the others upon seeing his face.
"Who do I make it out to?" she asks, so beautiful. So... found.
"Sterling. Make it out to Sterling."
She signs the shirt with black magic marker. He reaches out to take the shirt, and she grabs his hand. The big Korean security guard behind her focuses on the two of them, trying to ascertain if trouble is brewing.
"I know you," Katherine says.
"No," he says to her. She once knew him, but he was dead now. He had kept his promise. Every time she sang, she killed him.
She lets go of his hand, and he disappeared into the crowd. Day 1,000 of a new life. A fameless, painless life. He continues down the street, forgotten by everyone he passes. He whistles the tune of a song he once wrote, a song that changed the world.
A Word From Jacy
Thank you for reading The Drop. If you've made it this far, I'm guessing you enjoyed the ride. Please leave a review! As an indie author, the only marketing I receive is from fellow readers like you!
If you enjoyed The Drop, you might enjoy my other apocalyptic series, This Rotten World, a sprawling zombie apocalypse tale that will drag you kicking and screaming to the end of the world. It’s my most popular series of novels. They are available to buy and also free as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription.
I am currently working on the final chapter of This Rotten World, and it should be available on amazon by the beginning of 2021.
What are you waiting for? The zombie apocalypse is just starting – and no one knows who will survive and who will join the ranks of the living dead.
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THIS ROTTEN WORLD
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Also By Jacy Morris
In the This Rotten World Series
This Rotten World
A sickness runs rampant through the world. In Portland, Oregon it is no different. As the night takes hold, eight men and women bear witness to the horror of a zombie outbreak. This Rotten World is the zombie novel that horror fans have been waiting for. Where other zombie works skip over the best part of a zombie outbreak, This Rotten World revels in it the downfall of humanity, dragging you through the beginnings of society's death, kicking and screaming.
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This Rotten World: Let It Burn
It didn't take long for Portland, Oregon to fall. Amid a decaying and crumbling city, a group of survivors hides amid the smoke and the fire. They need to get out of the city... which is easier said than done with thousands of zombies blocking the path. Witness the terrifying flight of these survivors as they leave the city behind and Let It Burn.
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This Rotten World: No More Heroes
With the smoking ruins of Portland behind them, our survivors find that they have a new enemy to contend with... other survivors. With the dead hounding them at every step and humanity struggling to hold onto its civility, the survivors face their greatest challenge yet. At the end of this battle, there will be No More Heroes.
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This Rotten World: Winter of Blood
Winter falls hard on Oregon, burying the world under snow and ice. One group of survivors, stuck in a tomb of their own creation, fights to survive, while another group treks across the snowbound countryside, leaving a trail of bloody footprints in their wake… and an army of the undead. The Pacific Ocean calls. Safety calls. But as Mother Nature rakes her frozen claws across the land, the coast could hardly seem further away. Will our survivors make it through this Winter of Blood, or will they be buried by an avalanche of the dead? Find out in the thrilling 4th installment of This Rotten World… This Rotten World: Winter of Blood.
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In the Enemies of Our Ancestors Series
The Enemies of Our Ancestors
In the mountains of the Southwest, in the time before the continents were known, the future of the entire world rested upon the shoulders of a boy prophet whose abduction would threaten to break the world. As a youth, Kochen witnessed the death of his father at the hands of a gruesome spirit that stalked his village's farmlands. From that moment forth, he became a ward of the priests of the village in the cliffs. As he grew, he would begin to experience horrific visions, gifts from the spirits, that all of the other priests dismissed. When the ancient enemies of the Cliff People raid the village and steal Kochen away, they set in motion world-changing events, which threaten to break the shackles that bind the spirits to the earth. A group of hunters are sent to bring Kochen back to his rightful place. As Kochen's power grows, so too does the power of the spirits, and with the help of an ancient seer and his hunter allies, he seeks to restore balance to the world as it falls into brutal madness.
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The Enemies of Our Ancestors: The Cult of the Skull
With the world balanced after the tragedies of the year before, two tribes attempt to come together and form a whole. But as an ancient foe from the past reappears and a new threat from the south snakes its way to them, the Stick People and the Cliff People must do more than put their differences aside... they must come together to survive. As fantastic as it is violent, The Cult of the Skull picks up right where The Enemies of Our Ancestors left off.
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The Pied Piper of Hamelin
A sickness has come to the village of Hamelin. Born on the backs of rats, a plague begins to spread. As the town rips itself apart, a stranger appears to offer them salvation. But when the citizens of the town fail to hold up their end of the bargain, the stranger returns and exacts a toll that is still spoken of to this day. That toll? The town's entire population of children. This is the legend of the Pied Piper. It is no fairy tale. It is a nightmare. Are you prepared to hear his song?
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Killing the Cult
At any one time, there are 4,000 cults operating within the United States. In Logansport, Indiana, one cult is growing. When The Benevolent recruit Matt Rust's estranged daughter, he journeys to their compound to free her, one way or another. Unfortunately, for Matt Rust, his checkered past threatens to derail his rescue mission. When word gets out that Rust has reemerged after spending the last decade in the witness protection program, drug tzar Emilio Cartagena sends his best men after Rust. Will he be able to save his daughter before Cartagena's men arrive? Find out as Matt Rust tries Killing the Cult.
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The Lady That Stayed
Land has a price. It's always been that way. When J.S. Stensrud and his wife Dotty buy a piece of land on the Oregon coast known as the Spit, they come to know that price. As Stensrud tries to build a legacy on his island amid the background of the Great Depression, he is visited by a Native American woman who helps him learn the bloody price of land in the most painful way possible.
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An Unorthodox Cure
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About the Author
Jacy Morris is a Native American author who has brought to life zombies, cults, demons, and spirits. You can learn more about him at the following:
http://jacymorris.com
jacy@jacymorris.com
Be sure to check out
The Abbey
By Jacy Morris
Here is a sneak preview:
THE ABBEY
PROLOGUE
He would make him scream. So far they had all screamed, their unused voices quaking and cracking with pain that was made even worse by the fact that they were breaking their vows to their Lord, their sole reason for existence. Shattering their vows was their last act on earth, and then they were gone. Now there was only one left. A lone monk had taken flight into the abbey's lower regions, a labyrinthine winding of corridors and catacombs lined with the boxed up remains of the dead and their trinkets.
Brenley Denman's boots clanked off of the rough-hewn, blue stone as he trounced through the abbey's crypts, following the whiff of smoke from the monk's torch and the echo of his harried footsteps. His men were spread out through the underworks, funneling the monk ahead of them, driving him the way hounds drove a fox. The monk would lead them to his den, and then the prize would be theirs. And then the world.
He held his torch up high, watching the flames glimmer off of golden urns and silver swords, ancient relics of a nobility that had long since gone extinct, their glory only known by faded etchings in marble sarcophagi, the remaining glint of their once-prized possessions, and the spiders who built their webs in the darkness. Once they were done with the monk, they would take anything that glittered, but first they needed the talisman, the fabled bauble that resided at the bottom of the mountain the abbey was built on.
Throughout the land, legends of the talisman had been told for decades around hearthfires and inns throughout the isles. Then the tellers had begun to vanish, until the talisman of Inchorgrath and its stories had all but been forgotten. But Denman knew. He remembered the stories his father had told him while they sat around the fire of their stone house, built less than ten yards from the cemetery. His father's knuckles were cracked and dried from hours in the elements digging graves and rifling pockets when no one was looking. He knew secrets when he saw them. His father had first heard the story from the old Celts, the remains of the land's indigenous population, reduced to poverty and begging in the streets. His father said the old Celts' stories were two-thirds bullshit and one-third truth. They told of a relic, a key to the Celts' uprising and reclamation of the land, buried in the deepest part of the tallest mountain on the Isles. Of course, they spoke of regeneration and the return of Gods among men as well, but the relic... that was the important part. That was the part that was worth money. And now, he was here, with his men, ready to make his fortune.
