Spark

By Matthew J.S. Green

In the small town of Elgin, a horrendous storm strikes forever changing the lives of everyone who lives there.

A young man is struck by lightning and miraculously survives, left only with three circles on his chest that glow a brilliant blue. Then he discovers that it has done more than scarred him, it has given him powers beyond his wildest dreams!

However, a madman hellbent on vengeance for his family is also given the same powers, and the war for survival soon begins...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Sep 9, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465354310

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Copyright © 2011 by Matthew J.S Green.

ISBN: Softcover    978-1-4653-5432-7

ISBN: Ebook        978-1-4653-5431-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

0-800-644-6988

www.xlibrispublishing.co.uk

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CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1—The Beginning

Chapter 2—Birth of Evil

Chapter 3—Shocking Developments

Chapter 4—Final Flight

Chapter 5—Plan of Action

Chapter 6—Rampage!

Chapter 7—First Encounter

Chapter 8—The Bitter Taste of Defeat

Chapter 9—The Warning

Chapter 10—Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object

Chapter 11—The Driver

Chapter 12—Calling out the Boy

Chapter 13—To face a Demon

Chapter 14—Fight!

Chapter 15—Desperate Times

Chapter 16—Dark Victory!

Chapter 17—The Days of Darkness

Chapter 18—Loose Ends

Chapter 19—Upgrade

Chapter 20—Intruders!

Chapter 21—The Bluebolt

Chapter 22—Birth of the Generals

Chapter 23—Friendly Fight

Chapter 24—Hatred Unleashed!

Chapter 25—Bad News

Chapter 26—Warzone

Chapter 27—The Battle Begins . . .

Chapter 28—Beatdown!

Chapter 29—Payback time!

Chapter 30—Feel the Fear

Chapter 31—Costly Victory?

Chapter 32—Outnumbered

Chapter 33—Back in Battle

Chapter 34—Brute vs Beauty

Chapter 35—Endgame

Epilogue

PROLOGUE

11788.jpg storm was gathering one dark misty night over a small town in Scotland. Joe Small, an elderly black man, stared out the window of his small cottage and knew this wasn’t any old storm. In the 64 years he had lived in this world, he knew there was something different about it. The rain beat against his window so hard he was sure they would break.

Come on Sally, I think it’s time for us to put our heads down and let this pass over eh girl?

Sally, Joe’s ever faithful black Labrador, wagged her tail in enthusiasm. That was when the thunder and lightning began with a fierceness that almost shook the cottage.

Thank god Andrea’s safe with Him, Joe sighed.

Andrea was Joe’s wife who had died 3 years ago at the age of 62. Joe missed her badly; badly enough that he’d almost killed himself. Sally had saved him from drowning that day. She was a stray back then but after that incident she’d gave him a reason to go on living.

Let’s just hope a bolt of lightning doesn’t strike our asses.

Joe had just gotten into his bed, and Sally in hers, when they both heard a scream so loud and other worldly they both shot up right. Another scream pierced the loudness of the storm and that was all it took for Joe and Sally to go and find the source.

CHAPTER 1

The Beginning

11700.jpg att was running home through the storm that night and was soaked from the relentless rain. He had been at a friend’s next to the woods just outside of Elgin, the town he had lived in all of his life. Eighteen years he had lived there and he craved to be different than all the other people who were happy with their mundane and boring lives. He was running past some generators and pylons when he thought he heard a shout. He stopped for a second to see if he would hear another. He was about to start running again when he heard a quieter shout.

Damn me and my bloody curiosity!

He climbed over the wall surrounding ‘The Box’ as kids called it. The wall was at least seven feet tall, but Matt easily scaled it. Matt was just under six feet tall, and barely weighed ten stone. He looked around, and to his horror he found someone lying on the ground, bleeding, battered and bruised.

It was a young woman, Katie Griffith, who Matt cared about more than anything else. They had once been an item at one point, but things didn’t quite work out.

His eyes watered with tears when he saw her. He tried to move her and found that barbed wire had been wrapped round her wrists onto a pylon. This was when the thunder and lightning began. Furious with what had happened to the now unconscious Katie, he carefully removed the barbed wire from her wrists. Lightning struck nearby, close enough that he could smell the air frazzle. It was urgent to get her away now or they could both be killed.

Katie, please wake up . . . come on please . . . I can’t do this alone . . . PLEASE WAKE UP!!

She sort of came to and they slowly made their way to the wall that housed the generators and pylons.

Katie dropped down off the wall when she exclaimed,

My father’s ring, I have to get it!

Katie just go! I’ll get the ring, just get away from here!

Matt sprinted to where he had found her and looked around. After a few minutes he found it lying, covered in dirt and blood, and that was when he noticed the barbed wire had cut his palms. He pocketed the ring and turned to go when he felt a sensation near this own ankle. The wire had caught onto him! He started to struggle to get it off when an almighty boom sounded in the sky. Slowly, he looked up to see the bright fury of Mother Nature fork down towards him. The top of the two pylons next to him were struck simultaneously with the third bolt going straight into his chest. He screamed a scream loud enough to almost rip his vocal cords apart. Lightning off the two pylons shot towards him with two other bolts striking his chest. Then everything began to fade.

Joe and Sally raced as fast as possible along the muddy slope to the screams. When he arrived at the box, Joe was shocked at the state of girl that greeted him, but realised the screams weren’t coming from her. They were coming from inside! Joe quickly scaled the wall with ease, considering his age and his hip which had broken a year before Andrea had passed away. What Joe saw amazed him. Three beams of lightning, two from the pylons and one from the heavens were forking into the young man’s chest. Joe jumped off the wall and raced towards the young man but didn’t know what to do. He grabbed the scruff of the young man’s t-shirt and was alarmed when he saw that it was Matthew Crestwood, who was being blasted by the lightning. Adrenaline surging, Joe pulled with all his strength and managed to pull Matt away from there. When they got over the wall, Katie was traumatised from what she saw. Matt’s torso was bare with three red raw circles forming a triangle on his chest with an odd spark of blue lightning occasionally darting between them. Katie slowly put out her hand towards Matt’s face when his hand shot up and grabbed hers; his eyes barely open as he said Help me . . . Katie . . . then passed out. She could hardly blame him, he had just saved her then this happened when he went to get her ring. Joe took them up the slope back to his with Sally even helping to get Matt up the slope, then Joe drove them to the hospital in town. He didn’t realise what was in store for them there.

Elsewhere in town, Matt wasn’t the only one who had been struck by lightning . . .

CHAPTER 2

Birth of Evil

11702.jpg while before Matt had saved Katie, a mysterious drifter known only as Burly had arrived in Elgin and he was doing something a lot less noble. Burly was a big guy. He was strong enough that he could easily lift a man with one hand, and if he wanted to, he could crush their throat as well. He was over 6 feet tall with long, greasy dark hair, worn and tattered clothes, and eyes that would terrify the devil.

Burly had once been a great guy, with a loving wife called Melissa, and a beautiful two-year-old daughter called Tabitha. Life had been perfect for him. However, events took a horrible turn for Burly when he foolishly insulted a man named Richie Vain. Richie Vain had been a well respected but vicious drug lord. And he NEVER took insults lightly. Burly had been out drinking with some friends and they had ended up in a nightclub. Everything had been fine until one of Richie’s thugs had attacked one of Burly’s friends on the dance floor. Burly had knocked out each person who tried to put down him and his friends. Richie was furious with this and swore to Burly he’d make him pay. Burly had laughed him off; until he came home from work one day to find his wife had been tied to a chair with a bag over her head. He had tried valiantly to save her but only succeeded in getting the crap beaten out of him. Then he was forced to watch as his wife was beaten. After hours of being beaten and being forced to watch his family get tortured, Burly had to witness true horror. Richie pulled out a gun and first shot Melissa in the head, killing her instantly. Then he turned the gun on Tabitha and done the same. By the time he turned the gun on Burly, Burly barely even felt the bullets in his chest before the world faded to darkness. Emergency services had thought he was dead when they arrived.

Burly had discharged himself from hospital then made it his goal in life to end Richie’s life, getting justice for Melissa and Tabitha. Ever since his family had been destroyed, Burly had set himself on a violent path of retribution. He made it his duty to destroy anything that got in his way or held him back. All that he thought of was bringing the world to its knees. He didn’t care for money, possessions or people.

Burly looked at his prey with malice. Fate had finally brought him face to face with the man responsible for murdering his family. He had finally found Richie, who was no longer the respected drug lord he used to be and was now a victim of his own poison, and he had made the mistake of trying to rob Burly. Burly simply responded with a punch so hard that three of Richie’s teeth flew out his mouth! Richie was now lying at Burly’s mercy. Burly decided that he didn’t want any of the towns attention so he simply leaned down towards him and said,

You live for now but rest assured, I’m gonna hunt you down . . . then I’m going to kill you. Now fuck off!!!

Richie didn’t need to be told twice and ran away fast as anything.

About half an hour after his run-in with Richie, Burly sauntered through the stormy streets. He was thinking of Melissa and Tabitha when he thought he heard footsteps approach him, but before he turned around he felt excruciating pain in the back of his head. Richie had wanted revenge and had hit Burly