Duanta Beads

By Jackson Cordd

Quantinum Residue: Book One

Thousands of years after a cataclysmic explosion forever changes the atmosphere of the Earth, shelter dweller Evan journeys to the world’s surface in search of a way to help his people survive. What he finds is Rourke, a descendent of the humans who stayed above. They’re different: Evan and the other shelter dwellers are hairless, while Rourke and the other “Commons” have evolved fur to protect them from a harsher sun. As Evan searches for answers, the two men feel a growing attraction for one another, but Evan has been raised to think of Commons as subhuman. Can they look past appearances to explore their passion?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
• Release date: Aug 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781613726631

Book preview

Chapter 1

EVAN slowly crawled from his hiding place in the rock outcropping, keeping his eyes on the clearing ahead. He had been watching a Common, one of the race that used to be human, but the Common ancestors had stayed on the surface after The Bang had ravaged the planet. With all his fur, the Common looked like a gorilla. But the clothing he wore gave him away to be something more than an ape. And gorillas weren’t native to the jungles of Texas.

The Common disappeared into the tree line of the forest.

Evan had emerged from his bomb shelter earlier in the night with the goal of sedating one of the Commons and collecting some tissue samples, but watching the figure as he worked with something on the ground had piqued Evan’s curiosity. He was more interested now in what the Common had been doing.

With no further sign of the beastly figure, Evan stayed crouched and crawled his way toward the canopy of trees. Keeping his eyes ahead, Evan crept into the clearing. He felt something give under his foot, heard a snapping noise, then something grabbed his leg and yanked him into the air.

Oh, great, Evan groaned aloud, feeling like an idiot as he dangled upside-down by the ropes of a snare trap. His hat fell off and into the grass below. He heard rustling in the bushes, but his back was facing the trees and he couldn’t see what had made the noise. Suddenly, the Common moved in front of his face, staring at him.

The Common looked him over, appraising him. Evan struggled and took in a lungful of air that was filled with a strong odor—a hairy male odor.

The beast looked worried. Then he spoke in a husky male voice. Bad Vaultee?

Evan was completely surprised to hear the beast utter English words. But feeling dizzy from the blood draining down into his head, Evan ignored the question and asked, Can you cut me down?

The Common considered the request for what seemed a long time, then asked, You run?

Evan usually ran on his treadmill several miles a day—it was important to exercise when living inside the shelters—but he thought the Common was asking if he would try to flee. No, I won’t run, Evan said, trying to reassure the beast. I’d just like to talk.

The Common worked on understanding his words, then stood to his full height. He was over six feet tall, nearly a foot taller than Evan, and his whole body was covered with thick, sepia-brown fur. He walked forward and wrapped one very strong and hairy arm around Evan’s waist to support him as he sliced through the rope with what looked like a bone knife. His masculine musk enveloped Evan. The combination of his strong arm and scent caused a strange warmth in Evan’s groin. The Common slowly lowered Evan to the ground.

His head finally clearing, Evan reached down and untangled the ropes from his leg while the Common slid the knife into some kind of leather holster on his hip. The Common watched him with open curiosity. Evan reclaimed his hat, then looked up into large, silvery blue eyes. The Common thumped himself on the chest and said, Rourke.

Rourke? Evan repeated, thinking through all the languages he had learned in the shelter’s database archives before he suddenly realized it must be the beast’s name. I am Evan.

E-van, Rourke repeated, like he was tasting the word in his mouth.

The two studied each other. Rourke watched the strange, mostly bald Vaultee squirm around in his jumpsuit. He did have some sandy brown hair flowing from the top of his head, but the rest of him looked nearly hairless. He looked only big enough to be a juvenile. Rourke had never actually seen a Vaultee up close before. He’d only heard the stories told by other tribes of the raiding parties emerging from other Vaults to harass and steal from the tribes.

Evan was drawn to Rourke’s eyes. The silvery sheen was also in the whites of his eyes. It must be an adaptation to the sun’s increased gamma radiation, he thought to himself. Along with all that fur. The dead cells of the hair would protect the sensitive skin underneath. The Common was also wearing some kind of vest and a woven wrap around his waist that reminded Evan of the kilts he had seen pictures of in the archives.

Rourke carefully assessed the Vaultee, trying to understand him. He wore blue overalls, fancy black shoes, and something blue on top of his head, but didn’t appear to have any kind of weapon or means of defense. And then he was dumb enough to step right into the snare trap Rourke had worked so hard to set up here in the deer run area.

Rourke inched closer. You not come to steal and kill….

Evan wasn’t really sure if that was a statement or a question. In his own shelter, they were mostly scientists, and as far as Evan knew, he was the first one to venture outside in many years. The other residents were afraid of the Commons, having long speculated they had reverted to some sort of subspecies. The residents