The Orphanage (Urban Hunters #6)

By Gary Taaffe

THE ORPHANAGE (book 6)

Billy and Amber must save Larry from the dog catcher, with a shocking twist for Billy. A pursuit leads them into a creepy, rundown orphanage where they find themselves under attack by a savage pack. They fight to save the lives of many only to fall victim down the bowels of hell itself.

“Way beyond wonderful. A spine-tingling experience of anticipation. Fear and terror a plenty. I think it is the best so far.” Anne, Australia

“Plenty of laughs, as usual, love it. Great dialogue. The Bullie’s antics are hilarious.” Jack S, Australia

“Great ending.” Hermione, Australia

URBAN HUNTERS is laugh–out–loud, gut–churning, heart–wrenching storytelling at its best. Unlike anything you’ve ever read, in typical Taaffe fashion. Hilarious as usual. Always surprising. Wonderful!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gary Taaffe
• Release date: May 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9780987493743

Gary Taaffe

Gary Taaffe is the No.1 Bestselling Amazon Author of 9 fiction and 2 non-fiction books, including the Urban Hunters series for Young Adults and his Stampede series, a no-nonsense guide to book marketing for authors.New York Book Review, W.D La Rue said, “I would read ANYTHING this man wrote.”Gary lives in Forster-Tuncurry, Australia, where he’s surrounded by waterways for fishing and bushland for hunting. He writes fulltime with new books coming out in quick succession.If you want to be the first to hear of his latest release, sign up to his newsletter, and if you want to find Gary socially, click one of the links below:Subscribe to my Readers Group newsletter to be the first to hear of new releases in the Urban Hunters series: http://eepurl.com/_E311Subscribe to my Marketing Strategies that Work! newsletter: http://eepurl.com/baqxn5Instagram: Gary_Taaffe https://instagram.com/gary_taaffe/Pinterest: Gary Taaffe https://www.pinterest.com/garytaaffe/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Taaffe/212091488802148Twitter: @Urban_Hunters: http://twitter.com/urban_huntersPUBLISHERGary is a perfectionist who creates stunning books, both inside and out.He always has formatting jobs on the go for fiction authors but his latest claim to fame are his step-by-step publishing guides that are paving the way for clubs and committees around the world to gather large groups of people together to publish their stories, photos and works of art into highly sought after full colour books.Check out his Services page for more information.

Book preview

Titles available in the

URBAN HUNTERS

series

1. Four Small Stones

2. Tribal Scarring

3. Walkabout

4. Budgie Smugglers

5. Bullies

6. The Orphanage

Billy and Amber go up against the dreaded dog catcher with a hot pursuit leading them into a creepy, rundown old orphanage where they find themselves under attack by a savage pack. Lives will be lost in this heart pounding edge of your seat episode.

Way beyond wonderful. A spine–tingling experience of anticipation. Fear and terror a plenty. I think it is the best so far. Anne, Australia

Plenty of laughs, as usual, love it. Great dialogue. The Bullie’s antics are hilarious. Jack, Australia

Great ending. Hermione, Australia

URBAN HUNTERS is laugh–out–loud, gut–churning, heart–wrenching storytelling at its best. Unlike anything you’ve ever read, in typical Taaffe fashion. Hilarious as usual. Always surprising. Wonderful!

7. Bowels of Hell

8. Final Straw

Urban Hunters Box Set (Books 1–8)

9. WANTED! New Dad

10, 11, 12. Coming soon!

For more information on these titles, click here to get started:

http://BunyaPublishing.com

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Book 6

THE

ORPHANAGE

Gary Taaffe

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COPYRIGHT

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher

Copyright © Gary Taaffe 2013

Published by Bunya Publishing

Cover artwork by Toby Quarmby Copyright © Gary Taaffe 2013

Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to customs and cultures, actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

The moral right of the author has been asserted

ISBN: 978–0–9874937–4–3

Edition: v11.1.16smash

http://BunyaPublishing.com

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Cast of Characters

Whenever you come across a character for the first time in this book, they’ll be linked to the Cast of Characters at the end of this story. It's a great reminder of who’s who in the zoo. Plus, you’ll learn how to pronounce their name.

Table of Contents

Titles Available in the Urban Hunters series

Title Page

Copyright

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 — Stoned

Chapter 2 — RUN!

Chapter 3 — Lost

Chapter 4 — DON’T RUN!

Chapter 5 — Crocodiles

Chapter 6 — Dog Food

Chapter 7 — Green Bottle

Chapter 8 — A Comfortable State

Chapter 9 — Boisterous Bullfrogs

Chapter 10 — The Puzzle

Chapter 11 — The Farmer and the Cook

Chapter 12 — Speedos

Chapter 13 — Doctors and Nurses

Chapter 14 — Our Guiding Spirits

Chapter 15 — Totem

Chapter 16 — Trophy

Chapter 17 — Strangled

Cast of Characters

Thank You!

About the Author

Urban Hunters Books

Bonus Feature

End of Book

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— CHAPTER ONE —

Stoned

"I got all of Diesel’s blood out of it, Billy ," Amber said while draping her frilly white hanky over her knee to dry in the sun.

Got it off your top too, he grinned.

He’s gonna freak when he sees what you did to his ear you know. Amber was serious, thinking about how Billy had cautorised Diesel’s earring holes after she’d ripped out his earrings. Instead of closing the holes back to normal, he’d cut them so they looked like the ripped out page of a spiral notepad. Everyone would notice.

Billy was grinning mischievously which made her smile. They burst out laughing.

Teach him to mess with us.

"I can’t believe you did that!"

I can’t believe you ripped his earrings out.

I had to do something.

Billy rubbed his neck, it was still sore after Diesel had rapped his monstrous hand around it and lifted him off the ground, thinking Billy had eaten his dogs and speared his father for no reason.

Glad you did. I thought I was gonna die.

Me too, Amber said, tears unexpectedly welling in her eyes. She turned away so he wouldn’t see.

Suddenly the three Bullies bolted down the hill behind Crag Hat. The city was coming to life for the lunchtime rush and they were heading straight for the busy street. They caused chaos amongst the pedestrians on the sidewalk and thankfully, they stopped at the kerb. Curly and Moe didn’t wait long though, they scurried through the first gap in the traffic they could find.

Larry on the other hand found a spot between the pedestrian’s feet at the traffic lights and waited, growling at no car in particular because there were too many, but causing a muttering of concerned conversation and a shuffling of fifty feet. He hated cars. It was only yesterday one had run him down. On purpose. The sump hit him hard in the rump and left him with a nasty looking scab. The driver had been Diesel’s mongrel old man. He hated the Bullies in general but after they ate his prized rooster, he had sealed them in a drum and dumped them at the tip to die in the sun. They would have too if Billy hadn’t found them. One did die, Honey, and Billy blamed himself even though it wasn’t his fault. He’d done everything he could to save her but she was barely clinging to life when he found her.

A taxi came to a stop right in front of Larry so he charged out to bite the tyre. The traffic cleared and the taxi moved on leaving him somewhat satisfied. He barked as it left and looked up at the lady beside him for praise. Fearing for her exposed ankles she leapt to safety and bumped the lady beside her. A wave of stumbling bodies cleared a safety zone around Larry that eased his mind. Tiny toes around high heels only added to his frayed nerves.

The traffic lights changed and the cars stopped whizzing by. Larry thought they’d stopped because of his dire warnings so he trotted across the road amongst the pedestrians with a jaunty step.

Curly and Moe were jumping up and down at the pet shop window. The puppies inside had finally woken up and were playing. Billy had thought it was a hamburger joint and was disappointed to learn otherwise. Larry gave the other two Bullies a solid bite on the rump for leaving him stranded at the lights. They bit back which caused a noisy commotion but they were no match for Larry. He put them in their place and frightened the life out of the puppies in the window who cowered out of sight.

Curly and Moe recovered quickly enticing Larry down the road into the back alley that had proven to be an excellent spot for a snack of nice fat rat. Not that they were particularly hungry after eating well all day. It started with a feral cat that nearly killed Norm the council worker. He had to go home sick after blood loss had made him feel woozy. Then the pups scored a nicely fermented brandied pigeon each. Amber turned out to be a great hunter. She’d used bird seeds soaked in a hobo’s brandy. The pigeons got so drunk that they passed out right in front of a totally baffled Billy. All he had to do was pick them up, crack their necks and marvel at the skill of his new wife. Or potential wife. He wasn’t really sure as Amber was the first girl he had ever come across. He didn’t know if there were any more like her but he was happy with her and wanted to take her back to the bush. After he found at least one more, a fat one for his dad. His brother Mallee wanted six but Billy was really only interested in finding one for his dad, one to keep him warm in winter. He was desperate to see him smile again. He’d been smiling for days after Billy’s initiations but it wasn’t normal. Normally his days were weighed down in melancholy. A lifetime of campfire stories about the days of old had