Eyes

By Tony Bodulovic

After Toris last adventure, she has been condemned to a lonely life in her home, staying alive only with the newspaper (and her bird) feeding her the news. One day, she meets the girls who live way down her street. Nikos and her become friends. If only her life could stay that simple.
Bombs fall on America, and the land gets changed. Tori and her friends rise from the ashes of America to find a new country where it used to be. Destro is a shining and futuristic country, filled with only the best of things, or so it says
Tori soon finds that her mother is trapped somewhere and the only way to release her is to become the president of Destro in the upcoming election, and land a seat in the capital, called Echo.
She must train at the Valiant Challenger School, and then see if she can defeat the others against her. Her race for presidency may be impossible with the contestants opposing her.
And, overall, darkness and conflict looms in Destro and it will be Tori in the end that must sort everything out.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781479768998

Tony Bodulovic

not provided

Book preview

Eyes

Tony Bodulovic

Copyright © 2012 by Tony Bodulovic.

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.

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Contents

Tori Alpine: Abbotsford Survivor

Chapter 2: Visions And Fire

Chapter 3: Moving Again

Chapter 4: Chicken Blood

Chapter 5: Collision Course

Chapter 6: Charms Of Good Luck

Chapter 7: Destro And The Plan

Chapter 8: Ashes, Ashes

Chapter 9: Subtrain

Chapter 10: Arrival

Chapter 11: Archery With The Quadruplets

Chapter 12: Clocks And Keys

Chapter 13: Maximus Augustine

Chapter 14: The Show Begins

Chapter 15: A Warning From The Arrogant Melon-Head

Chapter 16: From Ten To Two

Chapter 17: The Election Draws To A Close

Chapter 18: The Toxic Wolfe

FOR MY FIVE FRIENDS WHO HELPED ME SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE EGYPTIANS. FOR ARIEL, JOEY,

JAMIE, TRINA AND KATHY.

TORI ALPINE:

ABBOTSFORD SURVIVOR

A YOUNG GIRL WAS RECENTLY FOUND IN THE BACK BUSH THICKET OF THE MANSION, TORI, AS WE’VE BEEN ADVISING YOU, IS NOW MISSING. HER FINGERPRINTS ARE FRESH ON THE RUBBISH. THOUGH WE KNOW WITH FURTHER RESEARCH SHE DID NOT CAUSE THE TRAGEDY, THE DISGUISED REPORTERS WANT THE SCOOP. THE COUPLE, WHO WERE AWAY DURING THE WRECKING—

I stop reading. I raise my eyes off of the newspaper article. My eyes narrow to the hard wooden door where the sudden sound had come from. Was it Nikos? No. Nikos came during the day. Disguised Reporters were all over my house at night… My new friend across the street probably fell asleep long ago. I sat up from the rocking chair. I threw the article onto the couch. They don’t know half of the story of what happened there, I thought.

I started to creep up from my spot and tried to not make any loud creaking noises. I, Tori Alpine, was known for trying to get myself killed. Yes, I’m the girl in the article.

Last year was just a blur; monsters, ghosts and abandoned friends haunted my memory.

Why couldn’t I just be normal? I swore… if it were a DR (Disguised Reporter) trying to take my picture at the door, I would flip out. With Spiky (my bird) asleep, (A blanket wrapped around his cage for comfort) I was scared to death.

I tried not to make a lot of noise when getting an umbrella for protection. Even though my school was keeping me safe, not reporting me to the DR, some people called me crazy or loony. Those were the nicer ones. So I also hoped it wasn’t one of them, either. I frantically unlocked the door. My heart was racing. I swung the door open completely and swung the umbrella.

Loewe Block and four of her friends were walking down my street at midnight. As the trees slightly swayed back and forth, Monique, the smart one, shivered.

This isn’t safe! Monique hissed.

The group rolled their eyes and continued.

Loewe and her friends were supposed to be having a big slumber party. Of course, her mother had had one of her drunken parties with her boyfriend, and they were left unattended. They were shooed out of the house.

Zola Duncan was the shy and dark one. Her hands twitched ominously about in her pockets. She wore a bored expression. Her mother had talked her into this… Anything but therapy…

Loewe was the girly one. She invented fashion, or so she says. She carried around her own portable nail polish and was currently painting her nails.

Harley Lines, the fun-loving crazy one. She was a rather pasty-faced person. Her hair blew in all directions as she jumped cracks in the ominous, dark road.

Dawn Aaronson-very energetic and peaceful! Dawn was the liar. She could manipulate as easy as a cheetah could run. She tended to show off, but still hung with the same crowd.

Monique Byrd… She was the special one. She was extremely intelligent. In this situation, what was important was her other trait. She could sense danger.

Guys… Please! We should just stick around Loewe’s house. Like near the driveway or something. We’ll sneak inside. We need to leave. At least get away from the street. NOW. Please, guys, it’s getting stronger! Monique whined.

Shhh… Zola whispered, I hear something… Actually… I sense something. Someone’s not asleep… She said suspiciously.

Monique couldn’t stand it. Someone was following them, she knew it. They were absolutely danger, whoever they were. She stopped in front of my house.

Let’s stop here! She said.

She looked at my house, which seemed to whisper to her.

"You mean Victoria’s house?! That’s a big no-no. Have you read the newspaper article about her? Or articles? Hmm?" Harley whispered.

Well, we do need some kind of shelter until— Zola was cut off.

Until what? Loewe asked, infuriated.

Until your drunken mom comes back to earth, Dawn finished bitterly.

Loewe clenched her fists, ready for a fight. Her punch, fortunately, stopped in mid-air. Loewe didn’t stop it herself, though. It was Monique’s quick leap that had sprung to save Dawn.

Loewe sighed. I swear, guys, if that demented psycho tries to kill me…

SHE IS NOT MENTALLY INSANE OR CRAZY! SHE’S JUST A REGULAR PERSON, LOEWE! Monique screeched.

The group had grown silent by then, the wind giving dark signs of never stopping. Monique stiffened. There it was again… She could sense them.

Frantically, she ripped through her bookbag, looking for a blank notebook. Tears were forming as she realized she didn’t have one. She ripped out a pen and found a loose paper, luckily. She told the group to gather around her. On the paper she started to scribble quickly. Once finished, she showed them her message. It read:

Look down the street, guys!

The group slowly turned their heads down into the dark and unpromising street. Keep on watching… Monique whispered.

Slowly, a dark shadow emerged from one of the larger building. It weirdly edged closer and closer…

The group, holding their breath, was terrified. They slowly moved onto my front porch and cursed every time there was a moan from the stairs.

As the shadow was a mere ten feet away, they started to come closer to the door. Dawn accidently hit the door with her foot, making a loud noise.

Shhh… ! the group whispered urgently. They pulled Dawn down with them under the porch. Once all of them had crept under the porch and were safely watching the shadow, something stirred. Inside my house. You know it was me, but they didn’t.

They watched the confused shadow float over the suburbs of New York and go right into the next neighborhood.

Everyone set up an immense sigh of relief. They went up to my porch again. As they were about to knock, I swung open the door. This is the part where I swung.

Ouch! You could’ve killed me with that! Zola growled.

She took the umbrella from me and chucked it into the street, as if it was a mere pebble.

What-what are you doing here? You’re not here to tell me I’m crazy, are you? Are you?! I pursed my lips. My face darkened.

Monique shoved through the crowd. Er, um, hi… You’ve probably seen me in school sometimes. We just really need some shelter ’cause… she looked at Loewe. We saw this really creepy shadow coming down the road and we’re scared to death!

Loewe looked pleased now. No one takes her drunken mother as an excuse.

You’re from the DR… I don’t allow pictures! Or maybe you’re from the ER… Emergency Room… You’ll never take me alive! I tried to dramatically close the door, but Harley now had her foot there.

I scoffed. Fine, I believe you. Hurry, get in… I have some fresh pillows and blankets over in the closet, I said, annoyed.

The group quickly scurried in while I curled my lip in disgust. I watched as everyone got their own pillow and blanket.

How long are you all going to be here? I snapped.

Uh… At least maybe… a month, Harley said slowly, choosing her words carefully. The group shuffled awkwardly. On their spot on the dining room floor, the blankets and pillows were placed unusually in different forms. Up and down. Left and right. Colors and shapes and sizes.

A MONTH?! Everyone looked at me. I had only screamed a little… I mean… That’s fine, I mumbled.

Down the hall I could hear footsteps. Joshua. With his Blank-y he trudged down the hallway sleepily while Spiky squawked to show he was awake.

I uncovered his cage swiftly and ran up to Joshua. I picked him up and brought him to the sofa. I wiped his tears away. I wondered why he was crying and why I didn’t notice it before.

The others stood up from their space. As they found their way to us Joshua whimpered. It took them quite a while though.

Since our house was considered empty, New York State had used it for storage. I plainly hated it. There was barely room to move around, thank God, they left the living room alone.

Things were stacked up like there was no tomorrow. They had made the decision for storage when nobody had wanted to buy the house. It was probably because