Mr. Berlin (I Am Mercury series - Book 2)

By Grant Piercy

In the aftermath of the riot at Yorkville State Penitentiary, one lone operative targets a mysterious woman who may hold the answers he seeks. As he works to complete his mission, his obsession with her threatens to spin out of control. This is the second novella of the I AM MERCURY series.

I AM MERCURY is a nine-part serial suspense thriller about visions of other worlds, the stories we tell ourselves, and the things we do for love. Each short novella in the series features a different narrator, a different lens through which to view the events of the series. We begin with the riot at Yorkville State Pen and follow the journalists investigating what happened, the agent responsible for the incident, and the lone inmate who escaped. What do these interlocking stories mean for each other, and how will they coalesce?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Grant Piercy
• Release date: Dec 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370831999

Grant Piercy

Grant Piercy is the author of THE ERASED SAGA and I AM MERCURY. He lives with his family in Columbus, Ohio.

Book preview

MR. BERLIN

a novella

I AM MERCURY, BOOK II

By Grant Piercy

Published by Grant Piercy at Smashwords

Copyright © 2016 Grant Piercy

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this work, in whole or in part, in any form.

Cover art by Grant Piercy

Edited by Emily Zapp

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, organizations and products depicted herein are either a product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously.

Table of Contents

dramatis personae

epigraph

(segue)

1. saccharine

2. doggy hammock

3. the man left at home

4. great taste in men

5. to the mall

(segue)

about the author

Dramatis Personae

- Mr. Berlin, an agent [narrator]

- Eva Mayhew, a wife and mother

- Frank Mayhew, a husband and father

- Frances Mayhew, a child

- Tyrrell Garrett, a journalist

- Tom Stockton, a journalist

- Alex Graves, a fugitive

epigraph:

Chaos umpire sits and by decision more embroils the fray...

- John Milton, Paradise Lost (book ii. 1667)

(segue)

It can be the simple act of collecting groceries.

She remembers wandering the aisles with her mother when her world was shattered, when it seemed like nothing could calm the storm seething under her skin. Every person in the store was dead-eyed and shambling, moreso even than her mom. Her father had passed weeks before, and still she could feel it trying to get out—maybe it would take the form of a scream, or maybe it would bleed out onto a page, or maybe it would just quake inside until the storm passed.

Her mother’s eyes always appeared as glass—calm and reflective, giving nothing away. Her mother hadn’t spoken to her much since it happened. So when it was time to go get groceries, the two of them would ride to the store in silence, they’d take items off the shelves in silence, and they’d leave in silence.

Eva ached to scream. She held it tightly in her chest, imagining the feeling to be how a circus sword swallower must feel the blade, down the throat and past the trachea.

She watched each zombie shuffle feet to the next product, and the next, and the next. She honestly wondered what it might be like if she just went ahead and let it out with the force of an elephant trumpeting to the sky. How might they react? Certainly the invisible managers would see it as disruptive behavior and throw her out. She couldn’t do that to her mother, who would certainly be ejected from the building with her.

So instead, her feet shambled alongside the other zombies. She helped her mother collect the items on her list in silence, and she began to understand. This is the way of the world. You swallow the scream and force it down until it’s little more than a yelp somewhere in your belly. And it goes away. Each item you collect is like dirt on the casket. Every little chocolate donut, every cracker topped with a slice of cheese, every spoonful of tapioca suppresses