Unnatural Disasters by Daniel Pyle
“Collins has locked us out of the computer,” Bernie said.
“We had to fight his security force just to get up here,” Steve said.
Bernie looked at the pistol in his good hand and then at a smear of blood on his shirt. He said nothing.
Lori clenched her jaw. “Where is he?”
“Collins?” Steve said. “He locked himself in his office.”
“Show me,” she told Bernie. “Steve, watch the kids. Greg needs to be changed.”
Bernie glanced at Steve, who shrugged.
Bernie led her up a flight of stairs to the top floor of the tower.
He stopped in an area with a reception desk and a heavy wooden door and said, “It’s a security door, steel behind the wood. No way to break in. We tried to reason with Collins. He can see us and hear us.” He pointed to a security camera over the door. “He won’t listen.”
Lori said. “Stay out of sight.” Bernie looked confused, but went into the hall. She knocked on the door. “Mr. Collins?”
“Who are you?” Collins’ voice came over a speaker.
“Lori Barnes, Mr. Collins. We met at the dinner a couple of years ago.”
“I told them all I won’t shut it down. It’s too important.”
“I understand. You just want to save her.”
There was a pause. “They weren’t supposed to tell anyone,” the speaker said.
“Does secrecy matter now? What you need is a way to get your wife back.”
“Yes, I—”
“You really love her.”
“Yes.” Collins sounded teary, which was exactly what she wanted.
“I think I can help.”
“You? How?”
“You’ve been trying to do this with science, but I have another way.”
Silence over the speaker.
“Sometimes I can talk to them,” Lori said, pulling this out of years of TV watching. “The ones that have passed on.”
“Nonsense,” Collins said.
“How much has it all cost you?” she asked. “Can it hurt to try something that’s free?”
“Just you,” the speaker said. Lori nodded at the camera.
After a long pause, the door clicked open.
I can’t believe that worked.
Lori grabbed the door’s edge and shouted, “Bernie!”
Bernie ran into the office, followed by some of the scientists.
“No!” Collins screamed. She hurried into the office, an old-fashioned, wood-paneled room with a large desk.
“You conniving bitch!” Collins said as she walked toward him.
He had aged since she last saw him. His hair was thinner and more white than silver.
“You egotistical, selfish, stupid asshole,” Lori said. She turned to Bernie. “May I borrow that?” She took the pistol and turned to Collins.
“You’re going to give Bernie here the computer password,” she said and thumbed off the safety.
Collins cowered in his chair. “This was the only way. My only chance.”
“No. This was lunacy. And it almost cost me everything.” She pointed the gun at his forehead.
“I had to try.”
She pulled back the hammer. “Computer code. Now.”
“We could work something out. I can pay you anything.”
Lori moved the gun a little to the side and fired into the floor. It was very loud.
“Rhondasboobs,” Collins said.
“What?”
“That’s my password.”
Bernie snorted. “We tried everything with his wife’s name. We never thought of that.” He sat down at Collins’s desk and punched the code into the computer keyboard.
After a moment, he said, “I’m in.”
Lori pressed the pistol against Collins’ forehead.
“Lori, honey,” Steve put his hand on her shoulder. She didn’t know when he’d come in. “Don’t do this.”
Lori kept her eye on Collins. “Do we need him any more?”
“No. We’re ready,” Bernie said.
“But,” Steve said, “you can’t just shoot him.”
Lori thought of the thousands of spouses and children in the town of Collins, drowned in a prehistoric sea. The last two hours of panic and danger, the body of Amanda Hotchkiss, and Bonnie lying bleeding downstairs. She thought of how many times her children almost died.
There was one family member who hadn’t made it. He was small and barked in the middle of the night and sometimes piddled on the floor, but he was family. Grief and rage filled her.
“Hit it, Bernie,” Lori said. Then she looked Collins right in the eye.
“This is for Fuffy,” she said and pulled the trigger.
EDITOR’S NOTE
Thank you for reading Unnatural Disasters. I hope you enjoyed it.
In this new era of digital book buying, word of mouth and online reviews are becoming an increasingly important way for writers to find new readers (and vice versa). So if you have a few minutes to write a quick review, I’d love to hear what you thought.
Of course, if you’re not the review-leaving type, I’d still like to hear from you. You can always drop me a line at [email protected].
Until next time, take care. And happy reading!
DP
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many people helped me put this anthology together, and for that I’m very grateful—you wouldn’t be reading this now if it weren’t for them—but I’d like to give special thanks to the following three gentlemen: Robert Duperre, Enoch Pyle, and Jonathan Herron. You guys are, by all accounts, gods among men. I’d also like to thank my wife and daughters. They supported me—as always—and bore with me when they had to sacrifice family time so I could slave away at the computer. I don’t think a busy husband and daddy can ask much more than that.
DP
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
ROBERT J. DUPERRE is a lover of literature in all its forms. Be it horror, fantasy, science fiction, literary fiction, or even romance, he delves into it all and relishes every minute of it. It is his desire to show this love of all genres by creating wide-reaching stories that defy classification, that can reach the widest possible audience.
Robert lives in northern Connecticut with his wife, the artist Jessica Torrant, his three wonderful children, and Leonardo the one-eyed wonder yellow Lab. Visit www.theriftonline.com for more information.
With more than 200,000 books sold, SCOTT NICHOLSON has written supernatural, thriller, and fantasy novels, comic books, screenplays, children’s books, and poetry. His Fear series is published by Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer imprint. Follow “hauntedcomputer” on Twitter and Facebook, or visit Nicholson’s website at www.hauntedcomputer.com.
RUTH FRANCISCO worked in the film industry for fifteen years before selling her first novel Confessions of a Deathmaiden to Warner Books in 2003, followed by Good Morning, Darkness, which was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the best mysteries of the year, and her controversial third novel, The Secret Memoirs of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. She now has four new mystery/thrillers, including the popular Amsterdam 2012, up on Kindle. She is a frequent contributor to The Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and currently lives in Florida.
WILLIAM MEIKLE is a Scottish writer with ten novels published in the genre press and over 200 short story credits in thirteen countries. He is the author of the ongoing Midnight Eye series among others, and his work appears in a number of professional anthologies. His ebook The Invasion has been as high as #2 in the Kindle SF charts. He lives in a remote corner of Newfoundland with icebergs, whales and bald eagles for company. In the winters he gets warm vicariously through the lives of others in cyberspace, so please check him out at www.williammeikle.com.
DANIEL PYLE is the author of Dismember, Down the Drain, Freeze, the upcoming Man vs. Himself, and many short stories. He is also the editor of Unnatural Disasters and an Active member of the Horror Writers Association. After studying creative writing at Amherst College,
KEITH GOUVEIA lives in Florida with his wife, Lisa. He is a mechanical engineer by trade and writes fiction in his spare time. He has had work accepted for publication in numerous forthcoming anthologies, and if you’re looking for something frightening, he recommends his zombie novellas, Death Puppet: Revolt of the Dead and The Black Cat and The Ghoul co-written with Edgar Allan Poe, or his collection of werewolf tales, Animal Behavior And Other Tales Of Lycanthropy. But if fantasy is what you crave, then check out his YA novel, Children Of The Dragon, all four titles published by Coscom Entertainment, or either one of his novellas, A Storm To Remember or Behind The Stained Glass, available now. And be on the lookout for his next release, The Goblin Princess, to be released by The Little Library of Fantasy.
Born and raised in Corona California, DANIELLE BOURDON has been dreaming up stories since she was 11. Her first two novels, Dréoteth and Bound by Blood, were published in 2010. She has already written a third novel, Sin and Sacrifice, published in June 2011. The sequel is due out late fall of the same year. Her love of the thriller and horror genre prompted her to write a collection of short horror stories titled Cemetery Psalms and a Zombie Kids short story series, both available in January, 2011.
Danielle lives in Texas with her husband, two sons and black cat Sheba. Visit her website for updates and contests: www.daniellebourdon.com.
J.A. TITUS currently resides in Taunton, MA, with her husband, three young children, and German shepherd pup named Deuce. She is the author of The Kindness of Strangers (2010), and is currently working on three WIPs: The Last Curl, From Heaven, and a short horror story collection to be released under her pseudonym, Spencer Collins. She is also a contributor to With Love…indie writers united (2011) and Unnatural Disasters (2011).
ROBIN MORRIS is the author of a number of short stories, collected in Halloween Sky and Other Nightmares, and one novel, Mama. She grew up in a nice, normal home and this made her bitter and twisted. She has lurked in several states, on both coasts of the U.S. and in the middle of the country. Currently dwelling in the Los Angeles area, Robin can be seen plotting stories of murder and mayhem in her head while working at various low-level, low-paying jobs. She dreams of the day she can spend more time writing than driving a bus.
ALSO BY DANIEL PYLE
DISMEMBER
DOWN THE DRAIN
FREEZE
UNNATURAL DISASTERS
MOUNTAIN MADNESS
Unnatural Disasters is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons—living or dead—events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Volume Copyright © 2011 by Daniel Pyle
“39 Days” Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Duperre
“The Meek” Copyright © 2001 by Scott Nicholson. First published in Extremes II in 2001. Reprinted with the author’s permission.
“Sourdough” Copyright © 2010 by Ruth Francisco
“Rickman’s Plasma” Copyright © 2009 by William Meikle. First published in Creature Feature in June 2009. Reprinted with the author’s permission.
“Twist” Copyright © 2011 by Daniel Pyle
“Wild Release” Copyright © 2010 by Keith Gouveia
“Whiteout” Copyright © 2010 by Danielle Bourdon
“Resurrecting Eve” Copyright © 2010 by J.A. Titus
“Narobrian Afternoon” Copyright © 2010 by Robin Morris
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechinical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
Blood Brothers Publishing
www.bloodbrotherspublishing.com
ISBN: 978-0-9828691-3-0
Cover Artwork Copyright © 2011 by Enoch Pyle
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Daniel Pyle, Unnatural Disasters