Vitalis Omnibus (62 page)
Authors: Jason Halstead
by John M Davis
A captain, his crew and the life of a smuggler.
“Another hand, or should we just count you out Michaels?” the dealer asked, a thick beard of black covering most of his experienced face as he continued shuffling the deck of cards, only slightly moving his thumbs as the cards crisply fell into place.
“Let's get something straight right here and now. You don't ever count Captain Adam Michaels out.” he said as he raised his glass for a long drink of the roughest ale he'd ever fallen victim to.
“The pay in for this round is seventy credits.” The dealer said as he surveyed the table, giving his best effort in an attempt to block out the dozens of scoundrels in the background drinking ale and most likely telling lies.
“I'm out.” Captain Michaels said quietly as he stood up and walked away from the table, doing his best to ignore the taunts and insults directed his way as if to keep some of his dignity.
A seemingly perfect life, until love arrives unexpected.
Nobody like Sarah however, not even close. She was stunningly beautiful, very well spoken and above all, political. Political? His idea of politics involved small arms fire or even a good old fashioned bare-knuckle brawl. They had nothing in common aside from being here at the same moment, the same spot together; something he knew deep down would be long forgotten by Sarah the moment she arrived safely back home. Still, the heart wants what the heart wants, and his was becoming increasingly dependent on seeing her as much as humanly possible.
With best friends like this, the word sanity becomes fuzzy.
“Any person that eats another person has some damn issues,” Dalton said with heartfelt emotion. “Unless she's hot and it ain't for keeps.”
Introduce Vampires, Mech and Orc, and life gets tricky.
“Hey, bitches,” Roman yelled across the room, successfully gaining their undivided attention. “Get some.” he added, daring the walking beasts to a fight.
Anwick quickly made his way into the direction of the marked man, Lexion following suit and releasing the grip he had on the front of Michaels' shirt allowing him to fall back to the ground. Roman pulled his combat pistol long enough to throw it across the room, sliding roughly on the aged floor as he confidently drew his tactical blade and squeezed his hands for a moment; several of his knuckles busting back to life.
Introduce a second unexpected love, and life becomes unbearable.
Sure, his heart belonged to Sarah, it had since the very first moment he had laid eyes on her. Still, he thought a lot about Sasha as he lay there during the night. Not just because she had a pure beauty about her, but because he envied the life that she had chosen to live. Missing it very much. Living for the moment was the only real definition of happiness in his opinion, and Sasha lay there doing just that, sleeping like an angel and taking life one day at a time.
Civil War, airships, large-scale battles by sword and Zombies. Life just got serious.
But as the door opened to allow the man and his child a safe place to hide, Dalton's arm dropped down to his side; still holding the revolver in hand.
“Oh my God.” he managed to push from his lungs as Whiskey stood at his feet, both of them witness to hundreds of Drifters killing citizens in the streets. Mutilating their bodies, climbing the exterior walls of buildings in order to reach windows and many of them pulled to the light that now shined outside through the open Trading Post door.
The Gunship series is a place where anything can happen. Elements of science fiction, fantasy, steampunk and western all draped across the lives of characters that matter. The best part? The entire Gunship series is
now available
with a single download!