Splinter (Whisper Walker Series)
Read Splinter (Whisper Walker Series) Online
Authors: London Cole
Tags: #NA Post-Apocalyptic Paranormal
Things reviewers are saying about Splinter:
Things reviewers are saying about
Splinter
:
The world-building is fantastic. The action scenes are great, as are the interactions between Drake and Kelsie, the two protagonists. The dialogue is full of wit and humor.
–– Rebecca L. Fisk,
Amazon.com
.
I really enjoyed this novel and the evolution of its characters and their relationships.
–– Gatosqueak on
Amazon.com
.
Awesome book! Quick reading and full of action from the start. Left me wanting more and hopefully a continuation of the story is in works.
––
Orcanw on iBooks.
Full of action and adventure, the characters and plot kept me interested the entire time! I definitely would recommend this one.
––
KristinaM1902 on iBooks.
I would recommend this book to readers who are looking for an action packed novel. While I didn’t get fully lost, I enjoyed the ride.
––
Erika from
Moonlightbookreviews.com
Splinter
By
London Cole
Scotlyn Ink Publishing
This book was originally published in April 2012 under the title
Whisper Walker
and has been modified and lengthened for Scotlyn Ink Publishing.
Copyright 2013 London Cole
Other works by London Cole:
W
hisper Walker Series
Splinter – Whisper Walker Series #1
Splash –
(COMING EARLY FALL 2013)
Whisper Walker Series #2
The Mission Novellas (
accompaniment to the Whisper Walker Series)
Mission: Ash Run
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.
Dedication:
For my brother – the adventures we had as kids provided the foundation for this story. I wish you could be here to see this.
::DRAKE::
IT’S NOT LIKE I’VE never fallen into a pit before, but this time was different. This time I was running for my life through a pitch-black cave when the ground disappeared.
Something crunched when I landed. I couldn’t tell what I’d broken. Part of me or something else.
Giving myself a pat-down to check for broken bones, I decided I was intact and hopped to my feet to shake it off. I cursed and mourned the loss of my favorite flashlight. I’d been running full tilt through the dense woods at night before finding the cave that led to this hole.
With cautious steps, I began inspecting the pit. I was pretty sure I’d fallen around four meters. It was approximately five meters across and roughly round. I didn’t find any other holes to be worried about falling into. I also felt safer knowing that the men chasing me wouldn’t be able to get to me except through the same tunnel I’d come down, thus giving me a clear warning of their approach through the cramped passage.
I headed back to where I’d landed. Something round like a large rock turned under my foot and sent me sprawling backwards.
“Smooth, Drake. Real smooth,” I muttered under my breath. I still wasn’t sure someone hadn’t followed me into the cave in the hillside and didn’t want to make too much noise.
When I landed on the pit floor this time, I noticed something under my hands. Feeling around for one of the objects, I picked it up and ran my fingers down the length. I knew instantly from the texture and weight what it was. A bone. A human bone.
I tossed it and heard the clacking sound that only bones impacting other bones can make. It’s enough to get your skin crawling, even if there was light.
Climbing to my knees, I felt around for what had tripped me. It was on my hit-list.
Using my hands to blindly explore the floor around me, my right hand found the culprit.
Holding the semi-round object, I inspected it by touch and quickly found two rounded holes with a jagged triangular hole below them.
Great, a human skull and I’m surrounded by bones likely belonging to the pit’s last victims. That’s a comforting thought.
Holding my breath to allow for absolute silence, I listened for any noises that would signal pursuit. It was hard to hear much over the pounding of my heart, but I heard the dogs howling in the distance. I didn’t worry too much about them, but it seemed safest to remain here for now.
After being on the run for the last forty-eight hours straight, the exhaustion was catching up. It was only a half-hour hike through the woods to get back to my home on Sven Guild land where I could relax, but I wanted to give my pursuers and their dogs time to lose my trail.
Setting the skull down next to me, I started searching for my pack, whose contents had put me in this sticky situation. Finding it, I pulled the pack to my side, hearing countless bones and skulls clunking hollowly together as the bag dragged across them.
Only minutes before, I had been running from Briln Water Guild guards and their dogs. I’d started to get worried for the first time that I wasn’t going to make it back to safety before they caught up to me, when I saw the small cave entrance peeking out from behind a bush at the base of a hill. I’d ducked into it, losing light immediately and running blind. Crawling, to be more precise. Whatever was ahead had to be better than the pursuit behind me.
Oddly, the air didn’t smell. At least, not any more than a dank cave. I still wrinkled my nose; it was disturbing with all of the bones around. I resigned myself to being stuck in the dark for a few hours. Picking up a skull, I started turning it around in my hands.
“Well, looks like it’s just you and me tonight. I sure hope you didn’t die because you couldn’t find a way out of this hole, but I’ll worry about that in the morning,” I said aloud to the skull in a hoarse whisper.
Putting off rest any longer was futile. This was as safe a place as any to catch some sleep. I set the skull down beside me and shivered as my finger grazed the teeth. Besides, it was too dark for me to find my way out now. Maybe in the morning there would be a little light, allowing my escape. I rested my head back against the wall of the pit, closed my eyes, and fell asleep to the aroma of musty, stale air.
::KELSIE::
WHERE IS HE? HE was sometimes gone for days, but always contacted me at some point. Drake had told me he’d be back in a day at most. It was supposed to be a quick snatch-and-grab, going to a location he had been to numerous times. It didn’t make it any less dangerous though, and he always turned his communicator off while on “missions,” as he liked to call them.
I tossed aside the project I’d been working on. My head just wasn’t in it. I couldn’t focus. I was exhausted from not having slept well the last few nights. This was a new feeling for me, worrying. I’d never been a worrier before, and I didn’t like it.
I got up and went outside the Development facility where I worked for a break. My third break that hour. After a few minutes I came back in and made a pot of tea to try and relax me. I looked at the dark liquid swirling in the cup, longing for a dash of milk. I tried to remember what it tasted like, milk. Cows were nearly extinct in this post-apocalyptic world and getting a hold of milk was more impossible than getting clean meat.
Here at the Development facility, where we took what the Acquisitions Specialists – Ackspecs – brought in and found uses for it, we had developed a substance from vegetable proteins that almost had a texture like ground meat. When seasoned properly it could almost taste like meat, too. Almost.
I shook my head to clear the longing out. Immediately my stomach sank, and I was filled with worry again. I went back to the worktable where I’d set down the half-drawn schematics for my new project and picked them up, setting my tea next to me on the chair. Rebecca, the lead Developer that I apprenticed under, had a strict “no beverages or food on the work surfaces, unless it is work related” policy.
“Kelsie, dear. What’s wrong? You haven’t had any production all day. I can’t see that you’ve even made any progress,” Rebecca said, having come up behind me to look over my shoulder.
“Actually, that diode goes over there, as you well know. Goodness, you designed this project after all.”
I realized suddenly that my arms were sore and stiff. I was still holding the unfinished project up in front of me. The way my arms felt, I must have been holding it up for a while, lost in thought.
“Wow, that’s a very stupid mistake. I’m sorry.”
Rebecca put a motherly hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I know. It’s very unlike you.”
“I’m having a problem focusing. Drake’s been gone for days; he’s never gone this long without giving me a detailed plan first. I wouldn’t even know where to start looking for him.” Unwanted tears started welling in the corners of my eyes. I hurried to blink them away.
Rebecca gave my shoulder another squeeze. “I’m sure he’s all right. Drake is very much like his father – he can survive anything.”
“I know; I hope so. He’s all I have. The closest thing I have to a family.”
“I know, sweetie. How ’bout you take the rest of the day off.”
I turned to look at her to see if she was serious. “Really? Thank you. I’m so sorry for being useless.” I really was. Normally I could hold it together better. I was ashamed of falling apart like this in public. I was the daughter of a Magistrate, after all. A psychopathic Magistrate who had gone crazy and tried to kill his own daughter, but still, a Magistrate. With that memory, the floodgates opened and piping hot tears poured out of my eyes in a torrent as I made it to the door.
My cheeks burning with the unwanted tears, I hurried down the narrow street to the house I shared with Drake. I took a different route than normal to avoid everyone.
It took me directly along the path at the base of the tall wall that surrounded our small town. Most people of the town, known as a Guild, stayed well clear of the wall for fear of seeing what was on the other side. I walked quickly to the house to check if Drake was home yet.
When I got home and found the house empty, I decided to do the only thing that really clears my head. Creature hunting. The excitement and rush helps purge my mind: knowing that I could be killed at any second if I let my guard down, knowing that Drake might catch me.
I stepped into some tight but stretchy pants and a leather shirt. I’d never liked leather, but it acts as a light armor and does a good job protecting me against mutant claws and teeth. I pulled my short hair back in a ponytail and tied it up. Next, I slipped on a pair of gum-soled shoes. I put a few thin throwing knives into my belt and fixed the sheath to my thigh.
Now the main weapon: a short, double-edged sword. This I hung in its scabbard on my back. The handle stuck up perfectly behind my right shoulder. I had designed the scabbard and sword so that I could draw it in the blink of an eye, yet it stayed out of the way as well. Sometimes a gun would be nicer, but ammunition was hard to come by. It was just easier to acquire a sword, and I never had to reload it. Lastly, I threw on a lightweight long-coat that covered my weapons and strange attire, and would allow me to get through town without drawing attention. I would stash it once I was outside the Gate.