The Price You Pay and Other Short Stories

By Jaysen True Blood

Ride on the wings of fantasia with The Doors Of The Dark and The Meaning Of Life, The dusty trails of the west searching for a murderer in The Price You Pay, become a vampire in 24 Hours Ago, And experience love in African Queen, Part One. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jaysen True Blood
• Release date: Sep 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393010890

Jaysen True Blood

Jaysen True Blood was born and raised in the Midwest where he currently resides. His first taste of writing came early in grade school with a class assignment. a few years later, his love for writing would return as he found himself with another class assignment, this time a poetry unit. through junior high, he would write a series of novels, many poems, and begin his long interest in writing song lyrics as well. In high school, he would learn the value of tall tales, myths and other kinds of stories as he continued to build his store of stories. upon graduation, he went for a semester at a university, where he would write two stories, one of which would become a serial online for about six months. Returning home, he worked at just about anything he could find, but never strayed far from his love of the story. After his first marriage, he signed on with Keep It Coming, an e-zine, where he wrote two serials, "Tales From The Renge" and "Breed's Command" (the same characters appear with Fancy Marsh in several subsequent westerns. The serial was taken from a manuscript written for a class assignment while in high school). H also wrote writing and music related articles for the print version of KIC that came out for just three issues. When KIC went under, Jay was once again forced to work at different jobs just to make ends meet. between 2007 and 2010, Jay would release "Seven By Jay: Seven Short Stories", "The Price Of Lust: Book One Of Faces In The Crowd" and "So Here's To Twilight And Other Poems".

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Contents

Rivers of Blood: The Beginning

24 Hours Ago

Beyond the Doors of the Dark

African Queen, Part One

A Ride In the Wrong Cab

Prelude to Madness

The Meaning of Life

The Price You Pay

Moment of Truth

Death Takes a Ride

Streets: Hand-Picked to Raise Some Hell

New Year’s Resolutions II

Rivers of Blood: The Beginning

Prologue

2012. MACK DRUMMOND KNEW personal loss all too well. He’d just ended his second marriage on not-so-good terms. He had also watched as his first and second attempts at literary success. Now, he had just lost his father.

In politics, he was an outsider; too liberal for one side, too conservative for the other, and too realistic in his view for either. He supported the current president, but not the Congress. He had tried to get straight answers out of both parties, but had only received the same nonsense they spread as truth even though none of it really made sense or addressed the issues he had brought before them.

Thus, he had lost faith in party politics. He had also noticed cracks spreading through the thin illusion that they had thrown up as a façade. Their words spoke care for their constituents, but their actions made them into liars. Both sides. In every way.

And so, he became their loudest critic. When they continued to rip apart universal healthcare, he sided with the president. And he had reason. As part of the system during both of his marriages, he experienced how hard it was to get good healthcare. He also knew the difficulties of finding work of any kind.

2014. AMID RUMORS OF FALSE scandals, created for spectacle, and the circus that had been made of a once noble institution, Mack could only shake his head. How far things had slipped from what the forefathers had intended. How close they were to a new feudal system.

There were too many ignorant rich men prancing around besmirching the memories of a once grand historic event in the earliest years of the county’s Revolution, a protest against too many taxes that impoverished the majority of the forefathers. It had not been a dispute over taxing the rich, for many of the rich colonials had remained loyal to the Crown and supported the tea tax as well as the goods taxes that had pinned the colonists down. This, alone, led the poor majority to arise and take up arms to overthrow the tyranny of the Crown.

But now, a handful of ultra-rich had twisted it into a battle to end all that was fair in the country. They didn’t want to pay their fair share of taxes. They didn’t want the lower classes to have a fair wage. They didn’t want to allow the lower cases any healthcare. They didn’t want anyone to have anything. They wanted to control it all.

Politics had become about what they, the ultra-rich, could screw the little guy out of. It no longer cared for the masses and the Tea Party was their main vehicle. Through super PACs and media manipulation, they fought a war against the average citizen. News was only news if it was a pack of lies or events created to cause outrage. The country was now crippled by too many special interest groups tied to corporate interests.

Oil, coal, gun makers, arms developers, big corporations-so glutted on corruption-who did not want to pay for good labor, and those who just simply wanted to get out of doing their civic duty all had their hands in the pockets of the politicians elected by the masses in hopes of getting relief from their impoverished states. Not one politician was still in tune with their constituents. Their pockets were all filled with corporate bribes.

And these misled thousand, hundreds of thousands, even millions of citizens who just weren’t observant enough to see what they were agreeing with. They attacked the poor, the needy, the

handicapped, the ill, the widowed, the orphaned, the homeless, and the elderly. Every program that made this country great was in peril, all due to a small group who wanted to end all life support for the masses. Minimum wage. Healthcare. What they termed welfare. Yet, those who attacked what was there for the masses were receiving billions more in corporate subsidies.

Billions. And even worse, they were being pardoned for crimes against the masses. Poisonings. Removal of employment through moving their factories and jobs to other countries where they could find cheaper labor. But they wanted to do more. They wanted to rip the country away from the people.

They wanted to return all to the Dark Ages. A place where all were enslaved under a new feudal system. Where people were forced to work just to keep the lands they had. No one would have any rights, except those who were of wealth and privilege. Indeed, the only ones allowed the privilege of having money would be those who already had it. They would be the new aristocracy. The rulers. The educated lords who would rule with an iron fist and destroy all the country had been based on.

Yes, to them, freedom was overrated. Especially when it came to the millions of potential slaves they saw on the streets every day. How could such a commodity be wasted on such loathsome creatures?

And they saw people like Mack as a big threat. He could spoil it all for them. And they could not have that. They so desperately wanted to break him.

But Mack knew there was revolution was coming. He could feel it. He could hear the whispers. He could see the dissatisfaction. It was on the wind.Like a scent, it floated upon every breeze. Like a disease, it had begun to spread. Yet it wasn’t because of any scandal in the White House. It was because of the scandal that was taking hold throughout Congressional Hall.

And though he would not raise up arms to make his point, Mack would raise his voice. And he did. He tried to make himself heard. Emails. Letters. Whatever means he could find.

But he would pay a price. He would lose friends when his time had come to prove what he said was right. Yet, he would be counted later among the true patriots who stood to actually preserve the country and who held off the first attempts to end democracy.

Not that he had wanted that kind of honor. He didn’t. He would just receive such honor for doing what was right. He would become the standard by which all others would measure themselves.

2015. MACK HAD BEGUN TO gain a little notice from others. He had finally been given a chance to start his own company, and suddenly, the wage/salary model everyone said would not work was so successful that other businesses found it impossible to deny that he had been right. His management/employee model also worked. Where most corporations had management that were disconnected and out of touch with the realities of life on the work floor, his company had a fully integrated labor and management staff that worked in true tandem with each other. The lack of competitive salaries did not cut the creativity as had been suggested, but had actually made all in the company more productive and more creative.

It also helped that there were incentives elsewhere to be so. But, for the most part, all that had been claimed to be set to fail succeeded beyond even Mack’s expectations. He had proven his critics wrong, and now they all had to admit that he knew exactly what he was doing.

Even more alarming to some within the top elite on the outside was the example he set by not accepting his salary. Instead, Mack worked in different areas to make his money. He followed his passion. Writing. Acting. Music. Producing. Whatever it took to make a little money, he did.

In his first year, he made his first year projections, surpassing it tenfold. He shared the profits with all through big bonuses, making sure that the majority went back into the business. He had proven himself a formidable opponent and a veritable business genius. No one could deny that he had outwitted them all.

2016. THE FINAL YEAR OF the president’s turbulent eight-year service had arrived. His every attempt to create jobs had been blocked. He was being blamed for Congress’ every failure, yet he still held his head up high. The lobbyists had defeated his noble dream, but they had not destroyed him.

Now, he sought out the advice and help of Mack Drummond. He had witnessed the man’s meteoric rise from obscurity into business fame. He had seen and heard of all the man now being called the mouth of the poor had said or written. He saw how this man had proven traditional businessmen wrong in one year, and he wanted to see what he could do to turn politics around.

The Senate and House minorities hated Mack, and for good reason. He had criticized them for their lack of care where their constituents were concerned. He criticized them for their unholy greed. And this was the type of man the president wanted to learn from. He wanted Mack to address Congress in person.

But upon his first meeting, he found much more than he had expected. At 43, Mack was an odd combination of visionary and frustrated artist, not the type of person who could lead an army. Still, big surprises came in small, nondescript packages. And Mack, always respectful, listened as the president went through what he wanted Mack to do.

There is only one way I will help you, he stated, drawing up painfully to his full five-foot-eight, after the president had finished.

What is that? The president inquired.

"Call together a small panel. We will have to form an independent committee to audit all legislation and all that Congress does. They block needed legislation, they get fined. No more living on the take. No more high yearly salaries for seasonal work. They want yearly salaries, they will have to work all year.

"No more top-of-the-line healthcare. No more special privileges. No more tax-payer paid traveling expenses. No more living outside the mainstream. They break the law, they will pay for it. No special treatment. They break any law, they lose their right to represent.

"No more special interest lobbyists, unless it is a civic organization that deals with something that benefits all. This means no more super PACs every candidate will have to budget their own campaigns and will have to do so out of their own monies. No more trying to dictate legislation from lofty towers. All will be made equal in the eyes of their fellow Americans and all will be held accountable for their misdeeds, rich or poor. No more double standards.

"Those who caused the last collapse will be prosecuted and convicted to the fullest. No more bailing