“To a safe room. Robert feels it’s too risky for us to be out in the open.”
“You’re not going to address the tribe in person?”
“Linda has agreed to stand in as me, and Donnie will shift into your body. We will be able to view it all, and they will be wearing earpieces should we need to talk to them.
“I’m starting to feel like a VIP.”
“You are,” she replied with a soft rub to her belly.
This is the first draft of my manuscript Shift –Don’t judge a book by its cover. I am writing it online in sections as I go. So feel free to comment, good or bad. If you see mistakes, point them out.
“Yes, Sir. he’s with Darrel and Borya trying to round up the cows that got loose just as planned.”
“Christian, any last-minute memories of Borya and Cathy’s interactions before we go in?”
“Remember the girl from Borya’s hometown? I think she’s here with him. Her name is Echo.”
“Matt, did anyone come in or out of Cathy’s house last night.”
“No, sir.”
“Then we’ll have to assume she’s embedded herself at another location. Let’s move. I can’t stand the thought of Cathy being locked up in there for one more night.
“Christian, is the window unlocked?”
“Christian!”
“Sorry, Robert. I kinda blanked out there for a minute.”
Robert, Matt, Peter, and Donnie, were all part of Elysian security. Mick on the other hand was hand picked by Karen for is trust worthiness. He did not know it now, but she was looking for another team member and this would be his first test.
“Christian, give me a lift so I can get through the window.”
“Dang, Donnie, you need to lay off the buffets,” I said struggling to get him in the air.
“Come on you puss, put your hear into it.”
Grunting harder my eyes began to flash and Donnie went flying through the window.
“Damn, son,” he yelled from inside the house. “You just about broke my neck.”
Looking out with his hand on his head, he said. “You could of told me you were going to shift.”
“I would have if i had know,” I replied.
“Christian, that’s going to be a problem if you can’t get it under control. Flashing eyes are one thing, but a involuntary full body shift is unacceptable.”
“Sorry, Robert. I’m still feeling a little light headed.”
“Well get it together, Cathy’s life is in our hands right now.”
Just then, Donnie, opened the back door and Robert turned his attention toward him, “Stay her and stand guard.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Moving to the basement stairs we all funneled down one by one, And one by one we began to gag. The smell was becoming overwhelming at this point.
“Rub this under you noses,” ordered Robert, “Unless you want to clean up your own vomit before we leave.”
As we rubbed the Vicks in, Donnie picked the lock without a hitch. The relief on Cathy’s face when we opened the soundproof box was overwhelming. She had been in there for over a week. Only receiving food and water once a day, along with a diaper; the old ones thrown out in the exchange.
“Thank God you found me. Did you kill the son of a bitch?”
“No, we need time to flush out his accomplice, so let’s go. Peter is going to shift and take your place, so he doesn’t get suspicious.”
“You can’t do that to Peter. I’ll stay; just make sure you get him.”
“I can’t leave you here. You’re too weak, and Doc’s waiting on you. So go behind the curtain with Peter and exchange clothing.”
“I can’t do this to you, Peter, my cloths are a mess.”
“It’s okay, Cathy, I will be alright, he replied softly.”
Stepping out, Peter asked. “What do you think, Robert.”
“You don’t match. Cathy has lost weight. Make contact with her and update.”
A shifter’s database of bodies remained the same as when touched. Only growing older when the body is used. Mick had not made contact with Cathy in months. Taking her hand, he made the adjustment, and the switch was complete.
“That’s better. Now get in; we’ll be back after the meeting.”
Cathy cried at the sight of herself being locked in the box. A frail body mirroring her own.
“Christian, send an encrypted message to Karen telling her we are on our way.”
This is the first draft of my manuscript Shift –Don’t judge a book by its cover. I am writing it online in sections as I go. So feel free to comment, good or bad. If you see mistakes, point them out.
Later that night Karen, slid into bed, wrapping her arm around me from behind. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“For what?”
“Finding the enemy within and exposing the Ghost tribe for what they are; traitors. Spying on the alliance is forbidden.”
“What happened to Cathy?”
“She’s alive, locked in her basement.”
“He may kill her if he finds out we are on to him..”
“Don’t worry, I already have a plan in place.”
As she continued to lay out the details, my thoughts drifted toward a world reset, led by Ghost, a nightmare scenario where past horrors are repeated. Without power, most of the world’s population would be helpless and run into the hands of whoever feed them. A trap, much like that of the mouse in which food means certain death or at the least, enslavement for those who reach for it.
This is the first draft of my manuscript Shift –Don’t judge a book by its cover. I am writing it online in sections as I go. So feel free to comment, good or bad. If you see mistakes, point them out.
Doc’s methods were similar to the ones used on Kate, so I knew what to expect. And hearing him say when I snap my fingers almost made me laugh as it was so cliche.
“Doc, I know you mean well, but my mind will not go under so easy.”
Laughter filled the room as I opened my eyes to see Karen standing in front of me with the same grin she had in Georgio’s Pizza.
“What?” I asked.
She ignored me and walked into the other room with Doc.
“Robert, do you want to tell me what the hell is going on?”
“Nope.”
“Donnie?”
“You’ve been under for over an hour, mister Lore.”
Robert chuckled again as he left the room to join Karen and Doc.
“Let me help you up, mister Lore. You might feel a little dizzy after being under for so long.”
“Seriously, an hour?”
“Yes, sir. Would you like to see the recording?”
Taking his phone, I watched as one memory after another spilled out for all to hear. Borya was twenty-nine, single, from Russia, and a member of призрак, meaning ghost. An outlier tribe determined to bring down the technocracy. After which they, themselves, will rule over their land using fear and deception.
He was here to spy on Elysian and other American tribes to see how responsive we may be to a total world takeover. One in which shifters governed at the expense of all others who would be relegated to peasant status, serving tribes under a feudalistic system.
There was more, but it was all I could take for the moment. “I need to go lie down. Tell the others, will you.”
This is the first draft of my manuscript Shift –Don’t judge a book by its cover. I am writing it online in sections as I go. So feel free to comment, good or bad. If you see mistakes, point them out.
“Thanks for getting here so quickly, Robert. Doc is on his way. Christan is in the kitchen.”
“What happened, Karen?”
“Christian walked up behind Cathy McCall and tapped her on the shoulder, seeing a man named Borya Volkov. He told her he could not see who she was due to a concussion and asked for her name. They talked, then she went back to work, and Christian feels like she bought the whole story.”
“He could have scanned Christians memories and saw that he was a lying.”
“Maybe.”
“I’ll go arrest the damn spy as soon as Donnie gets here.”
“Not yet. there may be others, and I want to know before the word gets out.”
Another knock at the door completed the group of four standing around me. And though my eyes were closed, I felt their presence, knowing where each of them stood.
“Christian, this is Doc. Karen has placed you in a semi-hypnotic state from which I am going to take you deeper. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Her quick thinking may have prevented Borya’s memories from being lost. It’s difficult to recover memories from an out-of-body shifter, but it can be done. So I’ll need to guide you through a series of meditative steps to see if we can extract them. You will be able to do this yourself one day. But, for now, you need me. Understand?”
This is the first draft of my manuscript Shift –Don’t judge a book by its cover. I am writing it online in sections as I go. So feel free to comment, good or bad. If you see mistakes, point them out.
It was becoming clear to me that every member of Elysian worked for or owned a member business. A secret society filled with workers of various skillsets. Doctors, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, police officers, firefighters, carpenters, and farmers, of which one, just pulled up on his tractor.
Jumping onboard to claim my fender seat once again I asked, “Everything good at home?”
“It is, and Olivia wants you to tell Karen the catering issue is resolved.”
“I didn’t even know there was a catering issue.”
“That makes two of us.”
We both laughed and started making our way home along one of the many paths separated the fields. In the distance the sun was setting in a beautiful reddish-orange and I thought how lucky I am to be here in this place with these people. Approaching the house I could see Karen standing on the back porch waiting for me. And to my surprise she had a plate of freshly baked cookies. Enticed, I approached her slowly somewhat like a mouse who wanted cheese put feared a trap.
“And what did I do to deserves this pleasure,” I smiled.
“A little peace offering to end our morning’s dispute I suppose.”
“Peace offering excepted,” I replied.
Reaching for the plate she quirky spun away and said, “Follow me to the table Mr. Lore. We are not barn animals; plus I have a glass of milk waiting for you.”
“Mom use to bake cookies for me.”
“Sounds like she was the perfect mother.”
“She was. I miss her too.”
“A parent is a hard thing to lose. Especially at such a young age.”
Sitting down I slowly ate three, with each dip into the milk taking me back to my childhood. I wanted to stay there longer but a question was burning inside me, “How many Elysians have verifiables?”
“If you swallow before you speak I may be able to understand you,” she said with one of her raised eyebrow looks that I was becoming all to familiar with.
“Verifiables. How many Elysians have them?”
“Two, Nicky and I.”
“Are you sure?”
“Another raised eyebrow ended our warm cookie moment. “Why have you all the sudden took an interest in varifiables?”
“I surprised Cathy McCall today by tapping her on the shoulder. She turned quickly and looked at me as if I was about to attack.”
“And.”
“It wasn’t Cathy.”
“Christian, what are you trying to say?”
“I saw a man named Borya Volkov but I played it off and asked her name. She wanted to know why I didn’t already know it, so I told her I was having problems due to a concussion. She studied me for a moment, appeared to be satisfied with my answer, and told me her name was Cathy before quickly turning to go back to work.”
“Hold that thought,” Karen said as she picked up the phone. “Robert, code red, meet me here ASAP.”
Hanging up, she turned her attention back to me. “Christian, look at me. You haven’t been trained to do this, so follow my guidance.”
“To do wh—?’
Placing her index finger over my lips, she said, “Close your eyes.” causing a strange feeling to come over me. It was if I had been preprogrammed to respond and I heard nothing after that until there was knock at the door.
This is the first draft of my manuscript Shift –Don’t judge a book by its cover. I am writing it online in sections as I go. So feel free to comment, good or bad. If you see mistakes, point them out.
Not far from the breaker box was a golf cart charged and ready to go. As we traveled, Jeff schooled me on the various outside corridors running off the main tunnel, each leading to an entrance underneath a member’s home. Inside corridors led to storage, meeting, and living accommodations.
The entire complex was self-sufficient. And could be transformed into a deadly maze if breached by using movable walls to guide intruders to what Jeff nonchalantly called the killing room.
The underground portion of the tour finally ended when we rode up a service elevator leaving us in a building owned by Darrel Lackey, who was busy milking cows. From there, we transferred to Lackey’s truck to retrieve the tractor still sitting in front of the abandoned farmhouse.
“I’ll meet you back at Darrel’s, but I’m going to stop by the house for a minute to check in on Olivia.”
“That’ll be fine, see you in a little while.”
Darrel was nowhere to be found when I returned, so I wandered alone. The place was impressive with all its milking equipment in action. Wanting to learn more about the operation, I tapped an employee on the shoulder while she worked, startling her in the process.
“Didn’t mean to scare you. I haven’t been thinking clearly. The concussion I received during our last meeting has made a fool me to tell you the truth. Can’t see a thing clearly these days. What’s your name again?”
“I saw you when we touched. Why didn’t you see me?”
“Like I said, I can’t see a thing. Doc says it will go away, But I’m beginning to wonder.”
“Well, my name is Cathy and I hope you feel better,” she replied, returning to her work without another word.
This is the first draft of my manuscript Shift –Don’t judge a book by its cover. I am writing it online in sections as I go. So feel free to comment, good or bad. If you see mistakes, point them out.
“This is not going to end like The Cast of Amontillado, is it, friend.”
“Amontilawhat?”
“Nothing,” I replied as I followed the old man down a dark shaft lit only by his headlamp.
“This is one of many escape hatches you’ll find throughout the property,” he said from below.
“Why so deep?”
“Eric Hall, the man who designed all this, needed the entire complex at a certain depth for his security blanket to work.”
“And what exactly does this blanket do?” I asked, stepping off the last rung.
“It prevents government satellites from detecting our underground compound. I think a lot of people would be surprised by the power they have over our heads.”
“How does it work?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. I’m a farmer,” he replied as he disappeared through an oval doorway.
This is the first draft of my manuscript Shift –Don’t judge a book by its cover. I am writing it online in sections as I go. So feel free to comment, good or bad. If you see mistakes, point them out.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, placing my hand on her shoulder.
“Our baby won’t look like me.”
“Of course, it will.”
No, it won’t. I got pregnant in Isabella’s body. That’s why Keith called the other day. He told me what I already knew, but I was hoping—.”
“Hoping what?”
“That he would tell me I was wrong, that if I shifted early in the pregnancy, everything would be okay.
“I should have never gotten pregnant. I knew the risk, but wanted to be with you. So I convinced myself to use my own birth control pills in her body. A mistake I can’t take back.”
“What are you saying? Do you want an abortion?”
She looked up sharply. “Never, The baby will be of me. But the physical traits will be Isabella’s. I’ll just have to live with that.”
“I’m so used to seeing you in this body it never crossed my mind that the baby would not look like you. I’ll see you in our baby’s face regardless. Remember what you told me the first time we made love?”
She paused, then said, “I do,” in a standing embrace. “And thank you for reminding me; you could not have chosen better words. You’re going to be a great father, you know that?”
“Husband too. And we should probably move up the wedding. Don’t you think?”
“How about October 31st? I can’t wait any longer.”
“My favorite month and a halloween wedding. I’m in.”
“I need to call Linda. We have a wedding to plan,” she said excitedly.
“I imagine shifters have sex all the time in different bodies. What happens if they get pregnant and shift?”
“The baby ceases to exist. And to answer your actual question. You would have never known, but I could not bear the thought of losing our little girl.”
“It’s a girl?”
She smiled and kissed me on the cheek. “Yes, It’s a girl.”
Cremation was the only choice for Kate as no trace of Carol’s doppelganger could be left behind. George Bradshaw, the local crematorium owner, made sure it was done discreetly.
Karen remained somber on the way home. Inside she sat beside the window, looking out across the fields. The final harvest would be in soon, adding to our stores, which will last for several years, according to Mr. Wilcox.
The whole farm was in a state of preparation. Last week, the Elysian Woman’s Club completed the baby’s room, and Karen painted, then repainted our bedroom until she finally found the right color. Her nesting urges were on full display, and for the first time in my life, I knew what it felt like to live in a house full of love.`
This is the first draft of my manuscript Shift –Don’t judge a book by its cover. I am writing it online in sections as I go. So feel free to comment, good or bad. If you see mistakes, point them out.
Timothy French 