The Headless Chicken Conspiracy Episode 1: Aliens & Anoraks: The Headless Chicken Conspiracy, #1

By Michael D McAuley

In the small village of Morningside things are never what they seem. Bub, the landlord of the local pub 'The Headless Chicken' is up to no good and striking deals with aliens from a far off world called Altare. Bill Campbell is itching to get out of the mental institution with his axe Matilda to get revenge for his daughter. That leaves our heroes Arnold Amell and Jim Star. All they want to do is enjoy the boxing match on the television. Destiny or just plain bad luck wont let them do that. This is the first part of 'The Headless Chicken Conspiracy' Full of crazy people, weird goings on and aliens from another world this this is perhaps one of the stranger tales ever told.

• Language: English
• Publisher: MDM Publishing
• Release date: Oct 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781502286994

Book preview

Chapter 1

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It was mid-summer. A heavy storm had made its mark on daybreak, giving a welcome breath of freshness to the seemingly endless heat that had smothered the last few weeks. Now with the storm over, those who had fled from its rage crept out from their places of hiding, thankful to see the sun once more as it rose high above the village.

Morningside was a small community that had survived the ravages of the Tech-War many years ago. The cost of life however had been terrible, and now the graveyard had a higher population than the village that housed it.

To some this was nothing more than the past, something rarely spoken about. In time the war had become a dark fable to scare children to sleep. Go to bed or the robots will eat you tired parents were known to say. The fact robots didn’t actually eat children or humans, or anything was mute.

There were some that found the past haunted them more than it did others. Their families had been lost during the war's insane passing. One such individual was a young lad by the name of Arnold Amell. At the age of twenty three he considered himself to be a true survivor. His father had died in the war, while his mother died while giving birth to him. So from the beginning Arnold’s life had been shadowed by tragedy.

Still it wasn’t as if he was without friends to keep his spirits high. He'd spent the night before with Jim Star, drinking large quantities of Budweiser until they both fell asleep with only the stars to watch over them. Once upon a time Jim had been a very successful rock singer, for a time at least. But the fame had been short lived and after two years he lost most of his money to strippers and something that definitely was not sherbet.

Now with his career fortune gone he earned his living playing twice a week at the local drinking house known as the Headless Chicken. The landlord seemed to relish in Jim's failure, reminding him of it insistently.

Lying alone at the base of a huge oak tree, covered in a blanket of golden brown leaves, atop Wayward Hill, Arnold wondered where his friend had disappeared to. Jim had left earlier without waking him. He was cold and wet from the storm, the tree having provided little shelter. It’s confetti of leaves sprinkled upon him did nothing to warm him. He wanted nothing more than to go home, be rid of his damp clothes and shower before collapsing into the comfort of his bed.

The fact was that his head ached as though a dozen dwarves were trying to crack open his skull for hidden treasures prevented him from getting to his feet. That and the dizzying, nauseous feeling he got every time he tried to stand. Hearing footsteps approaching Arnold looked up to see a small shadowy figure making its way up the hill, towards him. As the figure came closer Arnold recognised it to be Morningside's resident drunk.

Alan Myers had been a military operative during the Tech-War, or so Arnold had heard him say countless times, though the young man suspected he had probably been just a cook. Now he was nothing more than a crazy old drunk who spent most