Joshua Kern's Blog

   

Raisedas a child soldier. Rescued as a teenager. Now an adult.

 

Ripley'Rip' Lawrence has done the best he could to put his past behind him. Not aneasy task when his body is riddled with the scars of the life he was onceforced to live.

 

Nowhe is a simple construction worker on vacation with his girlfriend, Ashley. Atleast he was until she got kidnapped.

 

Awakeninga side of himself that is perhaps better left asleep, he must work with thebusinesses of the Underworld to track her down.

 

Caughtup in a web of intrigue tracing back to her family's company and one of theirR&D projects, he must do what he does best. Eliminate the opposition, froma distance, if possible, the shadows if not, and up close if there is no otherchoice.

 

For,as he has been told by his guardian in the past, he is no covert operative.What Rip is instead, is a WetWork Operator.

 

Evenif his skills have gotten a little rusty since he was rescued ten yearsearlier.

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DG64HJFC

Justice is coming. A home is made. Demons are here.

 

Erik and Ainsleyhave reached Aurhlio, the first destination on their journey of revenge.Spending months together in such close proximity has encouraged their feelingsto grow and blossom.

 

The life of acultivator is a lonely one; unless you have managed to find a companion thatcan always stay by your side. That is what they have found in each other, andtheir desire to keep the other safe fuels their training efforts.

 

It's these trainingefforts that reveal the presence of demons nearby, just waiting for a chance tostrike.

 

The first of theirtargets, the Hidden Vang clan, is almost within reach. They aren't strongenough to handle them, yet. What will they do, wait? Or find another method todestroy their enemy?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CWDNXY4S

  

Train together. Grow in power together. Get justice.

 

Erik once lived a simple life as an herb grower in a forest. But it was never meant to last. Now, he and his betrothed, Ainsley have been training tirelessly to get revenge on the men who murdered his mother.

 

They have come far since those young, early days.

 

Cultivation of the body, and the spirit, of the power within, and how to fight as a team. That is what their teacher has drilled into them day in and day out for the last few years.

 

It's time for Erik and Ainsley to leave the safety of the forest and to begin their own journey, one that will take them across the realms on a path to justice.

 

Can they make it? Are they strong enough? Find out in the start of a new Cultivation LitRPG Series from Joshua Kern, bestselling author of The Game of Gods.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C2X87BFF

  

Train together. Grow in power together. Get justice.

 

Erik once lived asimple life as an herb grower in a forest. But it was never meant to last. Now,he and his betrothed, Ainsley have been training tirelessly to get revenge onthe men who murdered his mother.

 

They have come farsince those young, early days.

 

Cultivation of thebody, and the spirit, of the power within, and how to fight as a team. That iswhat their teacher has drilled into them day in and day out for the last fewyears.

 

It's time for Erikand Ainsley to leave the safety of the forest and to begin their own journey,one that will take them across the realms on a path to justice.

 

Can they make it?Are they strong enough? Find out in the start of a new Cultivation LitRPGSeries from Joshua Kern, bestselling author of The Game of Gods.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C2X87BFF

 (This is an picture of Kira from the book. Yes, it is my image.)

Charles sat across from his sister while she examined a scrap of cloth underneath her glasses.

The original pair of glasses had been created for her by her patron Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning and knowledge. After they returned from South Wales a couple of weeks earlier, they were one of the first things Charlotte had upgraded with her new powers.

The piece of material had come from the otherworlders he and Kira had picked up earlier that day. They had just gotten done creating the forty-seventh town connected to their network when they encountered them.

Most of those towns had been on the North American continent. Charles had a quest that said the gods would help them retrieve their parents if he created or helped create at least fifty towns on his current continent. So, that’s what he was doing, all while working towards figuring out a way to accomplish that goal himself with his sister.

With the help of the space station, locating groups of survivors was no longer as much of an issue. It just depended on how fast he could create them. Of course, that didn’t mean he ignored the other continents entirely, just somewhat.

His focus was on his home territory, but if he saw a large group of people in need from the space station, then he acted. Which is why, even at their current forty-seven, they still needed another eleven towns to complete his quest.

Of course, that was assuming that they believed the gods were able to follow through with the promised reward. Which both Charlotte and he had been doubting for weeks now.

The problem was, he hadn’t been making any headway in establishing a ‘Zero Door’ to his parents either. Wherever they had found themselves, it was some place not at all conducive to the current normal operations of the spell.

“Where are Kira and Alli?” Charlotte asked suddenly, sliding a finger along the rim of her rightmost lens. The action increasing the magnification, the more she slid her finger.

“Alli is with Myri, same as always. And Kira is showing the three kids around our humble little town.”

“Has Alli said anything more about what she wants lately?”

“Thankfully, no,” Charles muttered.

Charlotte wearily pulled off her glasses and pushed the scrap of cloth away. “I’ve never seen anything like it, and I have no idea how her spell works either. Everything about their magic and the makeup of the material inside their suits is foreign. If we didn’t already know they were otherworlders, I would say this right here, cements it for me at least.”

He grunted, annoyed at her for bringing the previous subject up.

“I have a theory about Alli, and of a young, confused girl. Would you like to hear it?” Charlotte stood up and tossed the scrap of material to him.

“That’s random, but sure. Please, wow me with your psychoanalysis of the inner workings of Alli’s mind.” Charles crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, while they ignored the rest of the people inside the lab.

She shook her head. “Don’t be like that, I’m being serious right now. No psychobabble here, just some simple observations. Now, do you want to hear what I have to say or not?”

He sighed and uncrossed his arms. “Fine, sorry, tell me what you’ve observed.”

“A girl, or husky in her case that was starved for affection, one that clung to the first thing that provided her with safety and stability. You replaced the absent Myri and then took on a different role for her as she began to change through your shared connection. As your animal companion Alli grew smarter, and her emotions developed, becoming more complex.

“Then the connection between your souls happened and everything became jumbled for her. However, the point is, everything positive in her life up to Myri coming back she attributed to you.”

Charles felt his skin ripple as gooseflesh formed on his arms. “You’re saying that she was never actually in love with me, but simply had a massive, what, daddy complex? And now that Myri is back, things are beginning to equalize?”

It made sense in a weird, twisted way that had him almost sighing with relief. He had not been looking forward to having that kind of relationship with Alli. Especially not after the last couple of weeks. Ever since she had found Myri, she had spent most of her time in her younger, mostly human form. Seeing her like that just made him see her as a daughter and nothing more.

Charlotte shrugged. “Maybe, I’m sure there’s an actual term for it, but I promised no psychobabble. Either way, she became inordinately attached to you while she was still forming who she was, her personality. Now that Myri has come back into her life, and you have proposed to Kira, everything she thought she knew has been thrown into chaos. She is essentially having to redefine herself right now.”

“So, what you’re saying is Alli is having to figure out if she was actually in love with me romantically or as family. While also seeing where she fits into everything going forward. In the meantime, she has latched onto little Myriam with a vengeance.” Charles finished for his sister.

She nodded. “That’s about how I see it, yeah.”

“This is why I used to hate dealing with people. They’re so confusing,” Charles grumbled.

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t trade any of them for your boring life from before, would you?” It was a rhetorical question, she knew he wouldn’t. He loved all three of those girls in different ways, they were a family.

“Go on, I need to think what you’ve said over. Besides, I think you’ve kept the class downstairs waiting long enough.”

Charlotte was teaching some people how to use the various CNC machines they had rescued and repaired. Some of them were used for making the basic runed items that were eventually turned into equipment. While others were more suitable for wood instead of metal. Each of them had their uses and nothing was wasted outside of these classes.

They didn’t have enough resources to waste. The world no longer had refineries or factories that would replenish everything they needed. He didn’t even know if Gaia would let them create some of those things again. It was probably better to work under the assumption that certain items wouldn’t be coming back.

“Yeah, why don’t you get on out of here and work on figuring out what’s wrong with your ‘Zero Door’ spell?” The frustration they both felt at their lack of progress leaked over into her words. “Sorry, you know I didn’t mean it like that.”

He waved her apology away with a frustrated exhale. “I do, but there’s only so much I can do for now. I know that notification I got when we closed off that last dungeon said my understanding of mana had reached perfection. But I still have to learn everything about the individual spells.

“It makes the process faster, but it’s nowhere near-instantaneous. I’ve already increased my limit from three times a day to four with an additional always available home door. I’m making progress. It’s just going to take time. Everything takes time.” He finished tiredly.

“It’s the same way with my magic. I don’t have the advantage your runes gave you so I’m not quite to perfect understanding just yet. It made learning and understanding everything faster, but I still have to learn it.” Charlotte took off her glasses and rubbed her tired eyes.

“I’m just worried. We know that they’re alive, thanks to your threads but nothing else. They could be getting tortured, running from monsters, or sitting at a table drinking cocktails in some far-off world. It’s the uncertainty that’s getting to me.” She cracked her neck and put the non-prescription glasses back on.

“I’m more worried about Bob and whatever he’s planning with all of this. Why is he so fixated on mom? I mean, she’s alright as far as moms go, she’s ours after all. But she’s mom, you know?”

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “She’s a High Goddess. I doubt there is anything normal about her. Who can say if we even really ever knew her at all?” She finished in a soft, bitter tone.

Charles gave his sister a warm hug. “Don’t go doubting silly things. Those can all wait till we get them back and can hash it all out together as a family. Bob helped the gods to do this to Earth. He may even have given them the idea. Everything that has happened is because he wanted to find mom.”

“Which just brings us back around to doing what we’ve been doing.” She gently pushed him away. “I’ve got to get to my class. Go do your thing. I’ll talk to you later, and thanks for letting me look at that even if I didn’t learn anything.”

Charles wandered out of the lab and into the cold December air. A feeling of hopelessness lingered as he walked the short distance to his home. The nearby apartment building called to him as he drew near, promising a safe haven. He needed to get his head on straight before he saw anyone else.

Across the river, the tower loomed over the town. Its slightly out-of-phase existence made looking at it for long periods of time a pain. Everyone knew it was there, and many people made use of it daily.

Still, there were times when clouds drifted through it that he had to look up and remind himself it was actually there.

******

Tromping through the snow, he waved to a few of the kids having fun and walked into the apartment building and his apartment on the first floor. He dropped down onto the couch and closed his eyes for a few minutes to just think. The appearance of the kids on Earth and the three moving teddy bears was not something he had been expecting to deal with.

Now he needed to figure out a way to get them home, along with helping everyone else on this planet.

That thought brought him up short.

When did he become the person who was responsible for saving everyone? That didn’t sound like him at all.

He had always been more of the person who looked out for family and himself first. The rest of humanity just never fully registered. To Charles, they were non-entities. As selfish as it sounded, he knew his priorities, and people he didn’t know weren’t a part of that.

He had simply always lacked a certain amount of empathy for people he wasn’t close to. It was a personal failing, and nothing more. Not something related to the more recent revelations concerning his race. Even animals could show empathy for other species after all. He was just odd, nothing more, nothing less.

Yet here he was, doing exactly that. Taking on an impossible burden to save people he had never met, like he was some kind of superhero.

Why?

It made no sense to him, this wasn’t who he was before. So, what had changed?

Was it Alli, Kira, or Kate and their parents, possibly even Myriam? Had all of them been influencing his personality without him noticing, and if they had, did he even really care? People were alway affected and changed by the others around them, it was a fact of life.

Besides, so what if he was helping these people? At least it kept him busy, and for the most part, he still didn’t care about everyone.

His sphere of family and friends had expanded quite a bit recently, however. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing, either.

Just realizing that let an invisible weight fall away from his shoulders. He was only Charles, a man who was supposedly an ‘Unawakened High God’, whatever that meant, and nothing more. It was silly and beyond arrogant to think that saving the world was entirely up to him.

Sure, he had some advantages when it came to creating towns, but the gods creating their temples had mitigated that some. At the end of the day he was still just one person, and people were responsible for their own lives. That never changed.

What he was doing was a quest-given job, not some calling he had inflicted upon himself. He didn’t possess the naïve belief that everyone was worth saving simply because they were human.

He had never been able to identify with those kinds of characters in comic books and movies. They were always too unrealistic and unwilling to see the truth for his taste. He knew why the writers made them that way, but it made the characters almost alien to him.

People that altruistic didn’t exist, the world wouldn’t let them.

Charles sat on the couch for a while longer, letting his mind go in pointless circles. It was good to understand himself, but he hadn’t made any progress on the matter he was meant to be concentrating on.

The three kids and how to get them home.

He needed to talk to Gaia, or better yet, her champion, the professor James Wagner. Getting in touch with the necromancer had been tricky since they returned from Wales. As near as he could figure, the World Spirit was taking a very focused interest in the ‘Fledgling Yggdrasil’ that had appeared there.

He needed to talk to Scott. Maybe he had a way to get in touch with the man. It was a small hope, but it was all he had at the moment.

Kira found him as he was getting ready to leave a minute later. “Well, those three are certainly confused about our world, and the bears are an amusing treat. Apparently, Alli can talk to them, by the way, so that’s fun.”

He nodded. “At least they’re not whiny brats, and they even knew how and why they ended up here. If not, how to get back. Their world does sound like an alternative version of Earth though. Like their path diverged from ours at some point because of the portals. I know it’s not that simple as there were already differences even before that, but the similarities are astounding.”

She shrugged and ran a calloused hand through her short, purple-streaked hair. “What are we going to do with them?”

“I was thinking that I needed to talk to the professor and get Gaia’s input on the matter first. As for the kids themselves…” He bit his lower lip. “Send them into the tower with your sister, Beth, and Inara? They’re all around the same age, it seems, it would be good for the girls to make some friends. All they do is go into the tower every day and shut themselves off from everyone else.”

“Can we trust them? I don’t like the idea of sending some potentially dangerous people to guard my little sister’s back!”

“It was just a suggestion, and I have no idea. They seem like decent, if somewhat guarded, kids, but at this point, you’ve spent more time with them than I have. I’m not saying they need to go inside the tower or anything either. I simply thought it would be a good chance for them all to bond and become friends.”

Kira was a tad over-protective of her little sister at times. She didn’t want Kate to go through anything even remotely similar to what she had. The towns all had their tenets in place that protected everyone while they were inside their walls. Unfortunately, as they had recently come to learn, that did not include the tower.

A member of a party had gotten greedy and attacked the others, hoping to get some of their items. It hadn’t worked, but the tenets also hadn’t punished the offender since they weren’t technically inside the walls of the town. It was only due to pure chance that another party had been passing by and seen the entire thing happen.

It had been an eye-opening encounter for everyone going into the tower. Now they knew they needed to be leery of everyone inside their party and that they met along the way. The atmosphere inside the town had changed almost overnight.

Charles cursed as he realized something. “I don’t even know if they can join the town and enter the tower. With everything else, we can just open the doors for them, but that won’t work for the tower.”

Kira chuckled. “Yeah, it might break whatever weird system they’re using, or fix it.”

He snorted. “Yeah, or it could infect ours and change everything. That’s why Alli was never allowed to go down to Alaria’s world. I wouldn’t be surprised if something has already started to happen either way.”

“You’re right, I forgot about that… You think that’s why the professor has been gone ever since we got back?”

“I originally thought Gaia was just really interested in the Yggdrasil tree that appeared, but you might be right. That does coincide with around when these kids arrived as well.” He groaned and scratched at his head. “You know what? I need to find Scott. Why don’t you talk to your sister and Beth, maybe introduce them to Zack, Zara, and Tessa if they agree to it? If we’re lucky, Inara will be able to talk to the bears as well.”

He had a feeling that more than one thing had happened that the gods hadn’t accounted for. Gaia had already been forced to iron out more than a few issues when she first took over everything from them. The dungeon fragments and the divine energy that had crept over from Alaria were a perfect example of that.

Everything was changing. It was just a matter of whether the World Spirit was able to keep up.

Kira kissed him gently on the cheek and took a step back. Her eyes were half-lidded in a peaceful expression. “Go on, I’ll talk to the girls. Oh, before I forget, Myri invited them over for dinner tonight. I think she thought the moving teddy bears were adorable.”

“Yeah, as long as you ignore the one that tries to stab everything,” Charles replied with a chuckle. He kissed her on the hand above the engagement ring and winked at her.

She was continuing to make progress battling her inner demons, and he, for one, was content to let her set the pace of their relationship. Nothing good would come from pushing her. He understood that even if she might be feeling ready to kiss him on the lips today, that didn’t mean the same would hold true the next day.

The reins of their relationship were firmly in her hands, and she understood that and trusted him. Just like he trusted her to not abuse it in turn. It was how things needed to be while she healed. In time, their relationship would change, maybe become more normal, or not. They would learn together as they went what the other needed.

He eventually found Scott not in the lab as he had expected, or even in the new apartment they had moved into above the one he shared with Kira. Instead, he was working in their old apartment above the lab and had converted it into a private chemistry laboratory of his own.

“When did you do all of this?” Charles asked when he saw the other man take a step back from writing his notes.

Scott jumped back in fright at the sudden voice intruding on his singular focus. “Don’t do that Charles!” He gasped, clutching his chest. “Ugh, you just shaved ten years off my lifespan with that move.”

Charles walked farther into the converted apartment. “You might want to lock the door next time, then. I waited until you were finished doing everything, but imagine if someone opened the door while you were playing around with something dangerous.”

Scott shook his head. “I do all those particular experiments downstairs still. I use this space for private projects Charlotte and James have me working on. They’ve come up with a few interesting ideas lately-“

He liked his brother-in-law. Although the man was somewhat forgettable, he made his sister happy, and that was all that mattered. However, he was a genius when it came to chemistry, which had transformed into an ‘Alchemy’ class and a trait uniquely suited for him.

“Speaking of the professor,” Charles interrupted him before he could really get going on his favorite topic. “I need to talk to him and Gaia. Do you know where he is or how to get in touch with him?”

  

A family united. A God who’s gone crazy. A world about to be saved.
Charles is reaching the end of his rope. The things he has seen have nearly become too much. He never signed up to be a hero. It was never a burden he wanted. Only his burgeoning family has kept him going for this long, but now even Gaia needs his help.
The system the gods created for their game is on the brink of collapse. There have been too many people and events that they never accounted for since it began. Each one causing cascading errors. The biggest two being Charles and his sister Charlotte.
The game of gods is about to end, whether they like it or not. Charles has what he needs to rescue his parents at last. But that’s only the first step.
At the end of it all lies a rogue God. One who has been using them for all for his own purposes. Still, the question remains. What is his true motivation for using them?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5V5514Q

 

Magic is real. The stories parents once told their children were true. Monsters exist in this world.
Jack wasn't supposed to be there that night. It was a silly dare that changed everything, one that revealed the truth about his life and the world he lived in.
It was the night that the old school burned down, that he met her, Kaitlyn.
It was the night he learned the truth.
There is magic in this world, and there are monsters. His eyes have been opened, and now they can no longer be closed.
What part will Jack play in the unexpected world he has found himself thrust into?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BRP4GV6R

 The imposing form of the old and supposedly haunted building loomed in front of Jack and his friend, Steve. Steve had convinced him that tonight was the night they went on an adventure, never mind that it was a Saturday night or that nothing exciting ever happened in their sleepy little Colorado town. Steve was determined to start something, and he had chosen the old haunted building as the place to start.

It was an old school building that had been abandoned since the late fifties when a fire had broken out on the third floor. Supposedly, three students and a teacher had died in the fire. That was the legend anyway. It was also untrue; Jack had asked around and actually looked through old newspapers on the fire.
Only a small part of the story was true. There had indeed been a fire, but no-one had died in it. The fire had been long suspected to be the work of an arsonist, but it had never been proven. The fire had started late at night after everyone had gone home for the night.

None of that meant the building wasn’t scary looking and more than a little intimidating. It was. It was also dark and there seemed to be a palpable aura of unease that practically dripped from the building.

There was a crash in the building and the windows on the third floor flared with an unearthly light. Jack stumbled back in fright at the noise and the sight of the briefly glowing windows. There was a noise behind him as rocks ground together, followed by the sound of feet hitting the ground in rapid succession. Steve had run away and left him alone.

What a great friend he was! Jack thought sardonically before focusing his attention back on the building in front of him. His eyes were drawn to the third-floor windows as he thought about the flash of light and the crash of noise. He wondered what could have caused it?

Another crash tore through the night air a split-second before light flared white-hot through the panes of aged glass.

Before he could convince himself it was a bad idea, Jack found his feet already carrying him towards the large imposing doors of the building. They were monstrous things, large and heavy to the extreme. One of them hung slightly open on a busted, twisted hinge. Jack squeezed himself through the small gap between the doors and entered the dark building.

Jack thumbed the back of his flashlight, illuminating the darkened interior with its bright light. Old, faded wallpaper and posters lined the walls, mixed with vast splotches of water damage. Weathered tiles full of holes hung from the ceiling, drooping chaotically. Carpet clung to the edges of the room, everywhere else it had long since been worn down or eaten by rodents leaving unpolished wood in its wake.

Darkened hallways lined either side of the entryway leading into the unknown. A stairwell at the back of the entry-hall dominated his attention as he stepped carefully over the creaking floorboards and onto the first rotted step. He tested each step with care before settling his full weight onto it.

Another crash sounded from above, causing Jack to crouch in fright, with his feet on different stairs. His flashlight swung wildly as his wide eyes looked at the ceiling. Clouds of dust fell in droves around him, coating his face and dark-colored clothes.

Quickly, he stood and rushed up the rest of the stairs, no longer bothering to test each of them before using them. A large, open space greeted him as he crested the top of the stairs.

This particular set of stairs went no higher. To get to the third floor, he would have to find a different set of stairs. Jack swung his flashlight around, trying to decide which way to go. A large classroom stood in front of him, its missing door revealing a black hole into the room. On either side, he could see more classrooms extending down long, dark hallways. The water damage up here was worse, causing the walls to bloat outward in places. Some sort of thin off-white tile had been used to cover the floor instead of the carpeting that had been eaten away on the ground floor.

The thin tiles curved up at their edges, threatening to catch the feet of anyone not paying proper attention to where they walked. The glue that had been holding them down was yellowed, and no longer affixed to the tile in many places. The water had loosened and destroyed its bond over time, warping the tiles and damaging the wood underneath.

Jack looked at the tiles warily. With only the light of the flashlight to see by, he would have to choose his steps very carefully. The tiles didn’t look sharp or anything, but he didn’t think falling on them would be a pleasant experience either. It would be best to choose a different route for now if he was able. The hallways to the left seemed to have suffered the brunt of the water damage. With nearly all of the tiles, he could see being warped and curled in places. The right while also suffering from the same kind of problem didn’t appear to be as bad. There were tiles that way that didn’t look warped at all.

To the right then, Jack thought with a weak grin. He hadn’t been thinking clearly when he had rushed inside. Now that he had a chance to calm down, he was beginning to regret his hasty actions. There was no telling what he might be walking into. Ghosts or monsters of some kind, or maybe a drug dealer cooking up some kind of drug. The possibilities were endless and the chance of him getting hurt or worse grew with each new one, he thought up.

His feet wavered in indecision as he tried to convince himself that it was nothing dangerous and that he should continue on for just a little longer. Truth be told, while this was not the way he had wanted to explore this building, he had always wanted to do so. He just would have preferred to do it during the day, and not at night, while something kept exploding above him.

He squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth as he fought against himself. The supernatural world did not exist. There was no such thing as ghosts and monsters. Whatever was causing the noise had a logical and probably reasonable explanation, and that wouldn’t be drug dealers. The flashes of light were much too conspicuous to be someone like that. They tried to avoid attention, not draw it to them like these flashes of light and noise were doing right now.

Jack felt the knot that had developed in his stomach loosen at these thoughts and felt himself step forward at last. Opening his eyes, he kept his flashlight trained on the floor as he began to carefully weave his way down the long empty hallway.
Classrooms that were missing their doors, or just had them hanging open, crept up from the corners of his vision as he tried to ignore them. He might have convinced his feet and stomach that monsters weren’t real, but that didn’t mean he was going to willingly look into the abyss and tempt it to prove him wrong.

A creak sounded above his head, causing him to stop and point his flashlight at the ceiling. The ceiling was bare and devoid of any covering, instead revealing a mass of wires and old ductwork alongside old, ratty insulation. His eyes caught on some motes of dust slowly falling to the ground from where they had been disturbed. Something or somebody was definitely up there.

More noise began to filter down as he concentrated on his hearing, choosing to close his eyes once more. It sounded like someone was talking, well cursing was more likely from the harsh tone he could hear. It was impossible to understand any of the words; however, it was obvious that whoever was up there was not in a good mood.

Feeling slightly more at ease knowing for certain that it was a person and not a monster, he opened his eyes and continued on down the hall. The sound of someone talking harshly above him continued to filter softly down until he was able to discern that the person talking was female. He still couldn’t understand what she was saying, but he was now certain that whoever was up there was female.

The far edge of where his flashlight beam illuminated caught his eye as he saw the end of the hallway. Hopefully, he would find some stairs leading up when he got there. He found himself intensely curious about what kind of girl would be in a place like this so late at night, and he really wanted to know just what she was doing and why she was so mad.

His feet caught on the edge of a linoleum tile in his sudden rush to find the stairs, causing him to stumble forward and onto his knees. His dark jeans protected his knees as he slid onto them and then slightly forward. A particularly loud explosion sounded as he finished his short slide. Light filled the end of the hallway as it filtered down from a stairwell that he couldn’t see just yet.

His hands clapped over his ears at the loud noise, dropping the flashlight in his haste to protect his ears. The flashlight spun when it hit the floor, causing the beam of light to illuminate the entire hallway in rapid fashion. All around him, he could see clumps of dust and other heavier things falling to the floor and coating him in yet another layer of dust.

With a disgusted sigh, he pulled a hand from over his ear and raked it through his shaggy hair. The movement dislodged some of the dust and anything else that might have gotten stuck in it. His light brown hair hung over his eyes as he ran his fingers through his hair a second time before pulling it back into position once more. He liked his hair slightly longer than was fashionable. It was only when something got into his hair that he regretted having it longer than necessary.

His other hand finally dropped from his ear as he picked up the flashlight from where it had fallen. He had just finished standing when he heard a noise of a different sort than he had been hearing. It was a deep, long cracking noise that he could feel at the very core of his being. It rumbled through him like a large, deep bass drum.

Spinning in place, he shined the flashlight back down the hallway from where he had come, not seeing anything but falling motes of dust. The deep cracking noise continued pulling his eyes toward the ceiling as he felt a rumble through his feet. There was a crash as a large piece of ductwork fell from the ceiling and rolled across the damaged flooring.

Jack stumbled backward in fright at the noise, catching the heel of his foot on a piece of warped tile and falling hard onto his back. Pain shot through his back as it crushed the sharp edges of tile that had been pointing upward as he fell. The air in his lungs exploded outwards with a gasp as he lay there in shock.

Over his head, he could see an actual crack forming in the ceiling that continued to grow, snaking its way down the hall. His eyes widened in terror as he realized what was about to happen just before it did. Forcing his sore and breathless body into a roll, he hugged the side of the hall as the ceiling began to fall down around him. Curling into a ball, he tried to protect himself during the long moments that seemed to stretch into eternity as the upper floor fell around him. The sound of wood falling around him and the loud crashing of metal filled the air and deafened him momentarily.

Jack kept himself curled up tightly until the wood had finished settling around him. Carefully, he began the long and laborious process of extracting himself from the mess that now surrounded him. Somehow, during everything that had just happened, he had managed to keep his grip on his flashlight. The air was heavy with dust and other particulates that clogged his mouth within seconds. He was forced to cover his mouth with his shirt in an effort to get any air that he could actually breathe.

Right away, he could see just how lucky he had gotten. Where he was had been hit lightest of the rest of the hallway, with most of the floor still holding strong above his head. The rest of the hall, though, was blocked from where the third floor had actually collapsed.

Hopefully, the stairs he was near would allow him to go down as well as up, otherwise, he was going to have a problem. Then he remembered the voice he had heard above him earlier. Whoever had been up there might be buried in the mess in front of him, requiring his help.

Choosing his steps carefully, he made his way to the pile of debris that now blocked the rest of the hall.

“Hello?” He called out before coughing from the thick layer of dust and grime that had clung to his tongue and esophagus. “Hello? Are you alright?” He tried again, calling out after covering his mouth with his shirt.

He remained quiet as he strained his ears to hear through the still-shifting rubble. A low moan reached his ears as he stood there. With a sudden burst of energy, Jack surged towards the top of the pile, his feet slipping and sliding as he struggled to the top. From the top, he could see that only a small portion of the floor above had collapsed into the hallway.

The bottom of the third floor was still a few feet above him, even at the top of the pile. He had been expecting to see much more damage than there was. The sound of everything falling around him as he hugged the wall still filled his head with noise minutes later. Another moan trickled through the air and reached his ears. The noise was slightly muffled and the thick dust that filled the air made everything more than a few feet away, hazy and indistinct.

Choosing his steps carefully, he began his descent from the top of the debris pile and back to the ruined floor. The pile stood just over six feet in height, slightly above the top of his head. Each step needed to be carefully placed, otherwise he would find himself stuck or slipping onto one of the many sharp or pointy pieces of metal and wood.

A shallow cough and groan buried beneath rubble echoed up from beneath his feet. Marking the spot in his mind, he looked forward and leaped from the pile, landing on a warped piece of old aluminum ductwork. It crumpled beneath his feet as he landed cushioning his fall and helped to prevent him from sliding into anything dangerous.

Stopping to catch his breath, he looked back at where he had just jumped from. It was probably a good thing that he had jumped from where he had, everything below that point was covered in a thick layer of chalky dust and pieces of insulation. The chances for him to slip and injure himself would have been too high.

Carefully, he extracted his feet from the crumpled and malformed aluminum, taking care of where he placed his feet. With his flashlight firmly in hand, he studied the edge of the pile, trying to decide where he would most likely find her.

She hadn’t been at the top of the pile, so that meant that she had fallen down and then been covered. From where he had heard her coughing, it seemed likely that she was near the edge and had been further covered when everything had settled.

A rasping cough came from the floor near his feet.

“Hello?” He called out, crouching near where he thought it had come from.

“Is someone there?” A raspy voice asked weakly.

“Are you alright? I’m going to try and get you out. Just hang on!” Jack found himself calling out as he began to panic at the thought of the person being hurt. He had no medical training, he had no idea what needed to be done for anything serious.

“I… I think I’m fine, but everything is pressing on my stomach, so I can’t breathe properly.” The raspy voice forced out in a weak rush.

“Hold on, I’m going to get you out of there!” Jack said as he began pulling pieces of wood from the pile and throwing them behind him. If the speaker was having trouble breathing, then he needed to work as quickly as possible.

With that thought in mind, he began talking aloud, letting his voice fill the air as he continued moving the pile of debris.

“I came here tonight on a mutual dare from my friend. We thought it would be interesting, maybe even a small adventure. The rumors about this building have everything from ghosts to monsters living here. I even heard one once about a fire-ax wielding psychopath. I don’t think anyone takes them seriously anymore, but no-one is allowed in the building normally and we hadn’t heard of anyone exploring it either, so we decided that we were going to.” Jack stopped talking for a moment as he grunted under the weight of the wood he was moving.

“Anyway, we get here and practically right away we see lights flashing on the top floor and this loud crashing sound. He ends up running away in fright, while I stupidly decide to come inside by myself. For all I know, you really are an ax-wielding psychopath who is going to eat my face as soon as you’re free!” Jack paused at that thought. “You’re not, are you? I mean, you’re not some crazy person that is going to kill me as soon as you’re free, right?”

The bubble of laughter that sounded forth from the pile was clearer than before. He must be nearly there.

“No, I’m not going to eat your face or kill you!” The now clearly female voice laughingly said.

“Humph never can be too careful.” Jack sniffed as he resumed moving the pile. “Can you breathe easier yet? I’m not entirely sure where you are.”

“Yes, there isn’t as much weight on me now as there was before. I can feel everything shifting above me.” The words came out as he moved another large piece of flooring from the pile.

With how much had ended up on top of her, he was amazed that she was still alive. He shuddered to think what would have happened to him if he had been the one to have this much weight fall on him. She must have gotten supremely lucky to have survived, or maybe she was just tougher than him. It wouldn’t be that hard. He may have been six feet tall, but he was fairly scrawny.

He was built more for speed than for strength, and he was, fast, that is. He had been on the track team since middle school, running in all the events. Speed is all he had, however. He had tried cross-country once, and it had nearly killed him, he was not built for that kind of endurance either. No matter how hard he tried to push himself, that had never changed.

With one last heave, he managed to shift another large piece of smashed ductwork to the side, revealing a lightly tanned hand with bright purple, almost lavender painted fingernails. Before he could stop himself, Jack found himself reaching for the newly revealed hand, praying that it belonged to whoever he had been speaking to and not to someone else.

The skin was warm, and the fingers wrapped around his own, and then everything went white as he felt his body being thrown backward with an impossible force. He felt his back impact a wall and then something hit his stomach, stealing the remainder of his breath from his battered body.

Flashes of white suffused his vision as he struggled for breath. He had lost his grip on his flashlight and saw it laying on the ground, its beam of light pointing away from him. His eyes caught on the figure standing before the pile of rubble.

She was glorious looking in her pair of smudged tan cargo pants and tight black top, revealing tight muscled arms. Long dark blonde hair clung to her face and fell in waves down her back, a layer of dust and grime caked her face except where sweat had run through it. She was beautiful, and she was sparking with electricity.

Jack felt his breath hitch in his throat as there was a sharp pain from deep in his stomach. Glancing down, he saw a long piece of metal sticking from his stomach, blood dripping down its length.

“I thought you said you weren’t going to kill me!” He managed to gasp out as he felt gravity begin to pull heavily at his eyes. The pain was there distantly in his mind, but the sudden cold he felt throughout his entire body was managing to keep it at bay. His eyes flickered open one last time, and he saw the girl from before running towards him in slow motion.

Silly, he thought, if she was just going to move that slowly towards him, then why even bother. He should have stayed home, he could have been in his bed asleep and warm right now. Instead, he had a hole in his stomach and was colder than he had ever been in his life. A shiver swept through his body, causing his stomach to spasm around the metal sticking through it, tearing the wound open more.

Jack felt his eyes close as everything began to grow dim, and then he knew nothing more.

 Hey Everyone!

First off, Merry Late Christmas / Happy Holidays. I meant to send this out yesterday, but I had family here. It was a great and blessed distraction to have, and it didn't happen.

It's the end of the year, and I just want to thank all of you, my readers, listeners, supporters, and patrons. Or those who support me in other ways through reviews, ratings and word of mouth.

It's because of you all that I am able to write these stories and keep going.

So, first off, thank you, so much thank you all.

Without you, none of this would have been possible. It wouldn't matter how much I love to do this if no one reads them.

I hope your holidays are going well and that you are able to spend it with those who matter most to you.

I have a lot of releases scheduled for next year and I look forward to your continued support.

And if you're looking for good ideas on how to support me? I can suggest several!

A non-paying way is to go through all my books and leave me reviews on the books you read and enjoyed. Hopefully positive ones? Glowing 5 star ones? The ones that every author loves? :D

Another no cost way to support me is even simpler. Word of mouth. Talking to people about my books, sharing it with Facebook groups and the like.

Again, Happy Holidays, and have a safe New Year,

Joshua Kern