Blood Stream (Book #1)

By Thomas Woolnough

I am a scout in a war against a group of heavily armed rebels, who we name the 'Callers' and the war has lasted two years. In this time the enemy forces have dwindled and because the Central Command thinks we do not need the help, they give no reinforcements. One day, I get my wish of leaving the useless war but at the cost of leaving my one and only friend, although I had no choice I still regret leaving. Once I arrive at the new area, I am cast in a role I have no idea about and it's not only for a special mission. All I know is a dangerous beast has been let loose and we are doomed unless we beat back his rage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Woolnough
• Release date: Jul 9, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301978663

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Blood Stream

By Thomas Woolnough

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Published by Thomas Woolnough at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 Thomas Woolnough

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Smashwords Edition License Notes

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Chapter 1 - Dead

It was like the crack of the whip that made my ears ring and I caught sight of the bullet as it whizzed past my face. Startled, I stumbled backwards and glanced at my friend; she had an almost blank look on her face, but the hint of mischief that glinted in her eyes was unmistakable. I should have been able to keep my cool, but this was the fourth instance in two days.

What the hell did you do that for! I yelled past the ringing that echoed through my ears. My heart beat faster each second as my rage slowly built.

She just looked at me, a frown on her face as she tried to figure something out. Suddenly she choked and said, What? You're talking to me; I can't have done anything to upset you then. I was just testing to see if gun worked, it's not like it hit you. She smiled and let out a small laugh till she saw the look on my face. She widened her eyes and tried to win me with her charms, but I wasn’t letting her get away with it.

No? It was very bloody close! I'd say you were aiming for me. My helmet was in one hand, so I used the other hand to unsheathe my pistol and aim it at her. I'm sick of you doing all of these stupid things. Why do you do it?

She pouted and looked at me, because it's so boring here!

No excuse. I said plainly and pulled the trigger. She danced out of the way and hopped over to me. She twirled around me before placing a kiss on my cheek, then thought again and gave me another on the lips.

Laughing she ran away to our base - almost as if she was scared of the consequences and heat rushed to my face - but a smile tugged at my mouth.

I looked after her and my mood soured as I saw the base, our home for the last year. It was a desolate place, almost considered a shit hole amongst the poor streets when we had been in town last. Many a time I wonder why the hell we are here fighting this small war when we can do something useful. I don't even know if you can say this is a war, our side only has eight people and we are only just outmatched. Our commanding officers don't even give us any clear orders any more yet we have a huge amount of rules that dictate what we do.

We don't even have suitable living conditions - we saw the photos of the place - but they were the complete opposite of what the actual place was like. Only a few of the room weren't unstable or reduced to rubble so many of us have to share living areas.

I looked at her retreating form and was tempted to follow her when a rumble echoed through my feet, quickly followed by an explosion that lit the sky. Swearing, I clicked my helmet into place and sprinted up to the top of the hill. The smell of smoke infiltrated my senses and I filtered that out with the helmet's air conditioning.

The sergeant reached the top of the hill before me, except he casually walked away from the explosion. I signalled a question mark on my helmet before I reached him and I was lucky that I had a helmet on, because I couldn't keep the sneer off of my face.

The sun glinted off of his armour and my visor darkened to keep it out. But when I saw over the hill myself all of my questions were answered as I gaped at the scene of destruction. The last of our vehicles lay in ruins, pieces scattered everywhere. Amongst it though was the limbs and blood of two of our soldiers. Private Hickson and Corporal Jefferson were the two victims; to see them here like this was disheartening to say in the least.

Turning to the sergeant, I banged my fists against my helmeted head and yelled, What the hell happened this time?

He pinched his nose and went into one of his likeable moods, I can't say for certain, but the Caller's did it, planted a bomb in the car and blew up two of our soldiers. How they did it I don't know, but it's bloody getting on my nerves. They got a new recruit to, a weapons specialist I believe.

A new recruit? How come we don't get any? Pondering on how the Caller's - the insult of a name we gave the other side - would have gotten their hands on a new recruit. From our previous experiences, they were complete dumbasses and were easy to manipulate.

You know I can't answer that question. Here comes Catherine with the sniper rifle. I believe they ran off in that direction. He said pointing in a vague direction.

Turning to Catherine, I saw all hints of our previous encounter were wiped off of her face but when she looked at me; her face turned a subtle shade of red. But the small change didn’t escape the sergeant's notice and he gave a small nod of approval.

I took the offered weapon from Kat's hand and zoomed in on the retreating enemy soldiers. They stood out amongst the trees so it wasn't hard to spot them. Taking in a breath, I aimed and fired, hitting one just before they went out of view.

The person fell, their scream heard faintly from our position and I saw Catherine wince. I took in a breath and looked at the sergeant for orders. He seemed unperturbed by the screams as they died down.

Go get her. He said with a nod in the victims screaming.

Aye, I whispered and ran off towards the fallen Caller, Catherine hot on my heels.

It took a while for us to reach the last known location of the person I shot and we spoke no words on the way. As we neared, the sounds of an occasional whimper could be heard. There was a line of trees breaking our line of sight and we knelt next to them.

Leaning against a tree was a girl, barely sixteen years of age and she held