Lightburst: The Pastoralist

By Mike Sheriff

Protection . . . Inception . . . Conception

Rosalind's neocarbon broadsword and chemo gun are all that stand between her defenseless sheep and roaming packs of snarling wolves. Together with her border collie, Sox, she guards the flocks in the ashen pastures of the valley, the only home she's ever known.

But the valley has changed over the past year. Her fellow pastoralists—once numbering in the hundreds of thousands—have disappeared. She's changed, too: becoming self-aware; becoming larger than herself; becoming ravenous. She's started slaughtering sheep to fuel her insatiable appetite—and the Makers aren't happy.

When a stranger arrives on her doorstep, Rosalind discovers how far the Makers will go to end the slaughter . . . and her life. But she has a surprise in store for them—one that will change the valley forever.

Lightburst: The Pastoralist is tailor-made for on-the-go readers who need a quick sci-fi fix! The short story also includes bonus chapters from Survival Aptitude Test: Sound and Survival Aptitude Test: Hope's Graveyard, two books in the post-apocalyptic sci-fi series, The Extinction Odyssey.

Scroll up and grab this scintillating sci-fi short today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Appended Press
• Release date: Nov 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781775061939

Book preview

LIGHTBURST

LIGHTBURST

THE PASTORALIST

MIKE SHERIFF

A SCINTILLATING SCI-FI SHORT

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. Protection

2. Inception

3. Conception

Afterword

Bonus Chapter

About the Author

Also by Mike Sheriff

Copyright

Lightburst: The Pastoralist

---

Protection . . . Inception . . . Conception

Rosalind’s neocarbon broadsword and chemo gun are all that stand between her defenseless sheep and roaming packs of snarling wolves. Together with her border collie, Sox, she guards the flocks in the ashen pastures of the valley, the only home she’s ever known.

But the valley has changed over the past year. Her fellow pastoralists—once numbering in the hundreds of thousands—have disappeared. She’s changed, too: becoming self-aware; becoming larger than herself; becoming ravenous. She’s started slaughtering sheep to fuel her insatiable appetite—and the Makers aren’t happy.

When a stranger arrives on her doorstep, Rosalind discovers how far the Makers will go to end the slaughter . . . and her life. But she has a surprise in store for them—one that will change the valley forever.

1

PROTECTION

ROSALIND HOISTED THE broadsword to a high guard, exposing the sweat-slick skin of her midriff. By sight or by scent, the gray wolf took the bait. It lunged, snarling and snapping. She side-stepped its frothing muzzle and swung her weapon with both hands.

The neocarbon blade made contact behind the alpha’s ears and cleaved its head with a single stroke. Its body toppled onto the spongy talus, forelegs twitching as they always did after a decapitation. After a few seconds, the twitching stopped.

Rosalind stepped back and adopted a low guard, alert for the next threat. A menacing growl drew her focus to the right.

Across the bluff, Sox crouched in a four-point stance, poised between attack and retreat. To his front, five smaller grays cringed, trapped against the cliff face. Thanks to its concave contour, the yowling betas had no way to flank the border collie. Thanks to her broadsword, they had no leader to front a breakout. One of them—a female with ruddy eyes—summoned a half-hearted charge.

Sox’s hackles raised, bulking his collar’s white ruff. His black tail curled beneath