Prisoner 374215: ESTO Universe, #1

By Angel Martinez

The cracks had opened wide one day, let the monsters out, and swallowed every bright thing.

 

While the cell is sparse and cold, at least this one has a bed. The figure resting there is too thin; too still, the prominent bones the result of long starvation, the stillness the product of too much anguish and abuse. He watches, though. An anxious, intelligent mind still occupies this frail and failing body, one that watches and wonders about the new guard occupying his cell each night.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mischief Corner Books
• Release date: Feb 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9781540117380

Angel Martinez

The unlikely black sheep of an ivory tower intellectual family, Angel Martinez has managed to make her way through life reasonably unscathed. Despite a wildly misspent youth, she snagged a degree in English Lit, married once and did it right the first time, (same husband for almost twenty-four years) gave birth to one amazing son, (now in college) and realized at some point that she could get paid for writing. Published since 2006, Angel's cynical heart cloaks a desperate romantic. You'll find drama and humor given equal weight in her writing and don't expect sad endings. Life is sad enough. She currently lives in Delaware in a drinking town with a college problem and writes Science Fiction and Fantasy centered around gay heroes.

Book preview

Prisoner 374215

Prisoner 374215

ESTO UNIVERSE

Angel Martinez

Mischief Corner Books, LLC

Table of Contents

Prisoner 374215

Prisoner 374215

Thank you, Readers!

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About Angel Martinez

Also by Angel Martinez

About Mischief Corner Books

Copyright

About The Book You Have Purchased:  

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This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from the authors. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Cover Artist: Freddy MacKay

First Edition

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PRISONER 374215 © 2013 Angel Martinez

All Rights Reserved.

Published in the United States of America.

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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: Prisoner 374215 is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are fictionalized. Any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The story contains explicit sexual content and is intended for adult readers.

Any person depicted in the Licensed Art Material is a model and is being used solely for illustrative purposes.

PUBLISHER

Mischief Corner Books, LLC

Dedication

For Steelwhisper, who wrote what was perhaps the most inspiring story prompt I have ever seen.

Prisoner 374215

An ESTO UNIVERSE Story

Image of a planet with rings, two moons and a sun.

Prisoner 374215

Slender cracks spider webbed through the rectangle of light on the wall. The patterns provided a reliable, consistent distraction in the evenings. Day cycle lighting made them vanish again, but the single, night cycle light that shone through the tiny window high on his wall brought them out in sharp relief again.

Cracks…the universe had them running through it. They had opened wide one day, let the monsters out, and swallowed every bright thing.

The electronic locks clanked. Scar came through the door and secured the locks before taking his seat by the far wall. It was time for sleep, then. Perhaps he could now that Scar had come. He didn't trust this guard any more than the rest, but he had become part of the soothing routine of evening. Day cycles meant chaos and fear often accompanied by yet another new agony. Night cycles, though, had become regular and predictable in his newest cell, a time to catalogue and analyze the spots of pain old and new.

The clanks and thuds of guards checking locks and their boots thumping in the bare hallway signaled the last round of disturbance. Afterward, all was quiet except for his own breathing and the occasional sob or moan from someone farther down the hall.

A shifting in the shadows meant Scar was settling his sidearm more comfortably and crossing one booted ankle over the opposite knee. He did these things every evening, this restless shifting before he became completely still and watchful.

374215 didn't know the man's name. Guards didn't give their names, so he

Reviews for Prisoner 374215

[Rosinanta · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Short story with great worldbuilding even on so little pages.