Release date: February 27, 2015
Subgenre: Genetic engineering, superheroes
About Awakened:
Israel Trent and Erin Simms awake in a modern day dungeon and are thrust
into a world of shadowy government agencies, secret societies, and
fringe sciences. To survive in this secret world, they must come to
grips with not only doomsday cultists and the monsters they create but
the unearthly power locked deep within their own DNA.
Excerpt:
He
grasped the curtain in a tight fist, gave Erin a quick nod, and pulled it fully
open. His eyes took in the scene almost instantly and he took a weak step back
as the breath caught in his throat. Behind him he heard Erin stifle something
between a scream and a sob.
They
stood at the top of a ramp that led down into a large, circular chamber of
rough-hewn stone and sand. At the bottom of the ramp in the bowl of the room
there were ten stretchers with ten bodies, each of them naked and with their
torsos opened from navel to neck. They were arranged in a broken circle around
a center table of stone that seemed to be carved directly from the bedrock.
Black but slightly luminous mist trailed from the bodies to the figure that was
strapped spread-eagled on the center table.
The
strange mist swirled around the table and rolled up from the stone to settle
into the gaping wound that split the man down the center. From this wound
protruded black, oily tentacles that stretched and slapped at the air, trailing
mist like something frozen brought into a humid room. There were dozens of them
- thin and thick, long and short - and they writhed at the air before suddenly
growing still and straight like soldiers snapping to attention.
Opalescent
light flooded from the base of the tentacles at the victim’s
chest line and popped through the room like a camera flash going off. Israel
felt the light hit him, his mind only dimly noting that you weren’t supposed to
feel light, and he staggered back, dazed. A second later, he gathered his wits
and looked again.
The
light was gone and the black tentacles were once again slapping about the room.
For the first time, he noticed the figures at the back of the room, hunched
down and greedily clawing at something bulky on the floor in front of them.
Their heads moved and he realized they were looking his way. They rose slowly,
moving into the dim light and Israel finally saw them clearly.
They
looked much like the black gelled bodies they had seen in the hall- normally
dressed people of average height and weight with black armbands. That, however,
is where the resemblance to anything human ended. Tentacles, three-foot twins
to the ones at the center of the room, protruded and writhed from their heads.
The black substance that comprised them covered their heads and faces in thick
lines that ran into their mouths, nostrils, and eyes. The eyes themselves were
fully black with only the slightest hint of a violet glow. Slick, wet gore
covered their lips, chins, and cheeks. Israel realized that the shapes they had
been crouched over were corpses.
The
three monsters started moving toward them slowly. Israel wanted to move- tried
to move- but felt crippled and weak. The impossibility of what he saw had
frozen his mind and rooted him in place. Still, the monsters kept moving toward
him at a slow, deliberate pace.
A rough
hand grabbed his shoulder and yanked him backwards. A man stepped past him and
Israel heard rapid explosions as the newcomer fired two shots that were
answered by a scream very much like the one Israel had heard upon waking.
The man
whirled on Israel and Erin.
Amazon
About C. Steven Manley:
C. Steven Manley has spent his life collecting experiences and
other things that spark his imagination. He's had a few different
careers but through it all was always writing. He lives somewhere in the
Southeastern United States with his wife, children, dogs, cat, and well
stocked liquor cabinet.
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