Breaking the Tranquillity of Solitude (Part Three)

By Eddie Johnson

And Finally... His Scream of Midnight!

Continually staring into the abyss of his own confusion, Brody Martins once again attempts to lead his friends out of danger. His one single, catastrophic mistake transported him to this world of madness and contradiction. Having to return home to set things right, his turmoil is exacerbated by his ignorance of the original error. The obstacles he must now face continually thwart his efforts to escape and gradually drive his mind ever closer to breaking point.

Charlotte’s striking physical similarity to Charley creates a singular moral problem for Brody to ponder and it only adds to his anguish when the two meet. His emotions are pulled in all directions and something has to give. Realizing he’s being monitored and manipulated by Evet, Brody attempts to build mental barriers to block his nemesis. Baffled by a parallel resemblance between his current situation and his other life back home, Brody must find a way to solve the riddle of the Necronomicon. Its true nature and connection to Evet hold many of the answers he seeks.

If he finds a way back home, will anyone believe where he’s been? To stop Evet’s next devastating attempt to achieve immortality may require the ultimate sacrifice. Only the perception of how it all began opens Brody’s mind enough to determine how to close this Pandora’s box of distorted reality. Following his heart, Brody risks all to defeat Evet’s plans. But will he also finally discover the depth and true nature of his own suppressed feelings?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eddie Johnson
• Release date: Dec 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781916291072

Eddie Johnson

EDJ Publishing is set up to promote new authors and to bridge the gap between traditional and Self publishing. Our test case is Eddie Johnson's trilogy Breaking the Tranquillity of Solitude

Book preview

FOREWORD

I’ve known Eddie Johnson for well over ten years now and although I don’t see him that often we’ve remained friends and stayed in touch with each other intermittently over that period. Eddie’s a complex character as I’ve eluded to in the previous two forewords I’ve written for him. I’m sure he won’t mind me telling you that he’s… How shall I put it..? Unconventional in his approach to life. I would go as far as to say that, in my opinion, one of his biggest strengths can also be a hindrance to him. To clarify this, which, to be fair, I think I must, if Eddie says he is going to do something, you can pretty much rest assured that he’ll do it… But if he promises something… It will happen.

Knowing Eddie the way I do, I only agreed to write this trilogy of forewords if he allowed me total honesty and didn’t expect it to be full of sickly sweet compliments. On the other side of the coin because I know how dedicated to this project he is, I felt I owed it to his way of thinking to follow through. As such, I’ve read books one, two and three as they’ve gone through various changes and have always tried to offer constructive advice along the way.

Well, here we are again. Eddie’s pulled out all the stops, twisted the ridiculous into the sublime and finished what he originally set out to do. At first, it was planned as a single book, but over the next couple of years it morphed into a much longer trilogy format. When I read the original rough draft of the single volume back in 2017, it was about 120,000 words long. Possibly a bit too long for a first book – I told him this – but I also thought the story had great potential. It was off-the-wall and quirky, but then this is Eddie Johnson we’re discussing here, so that’s pretty much expected. The story is now closer to 250,000 words in total, but is cleverly delivered in three more easily digestible bites.

Above all else, I found the sci-fi context, for what is quintessentially a love story, refreshing and interesting. Eddie draws much of his inspiration from his own experiences and as his literary skills develop he creates a delicious soup of allusion, quotation and popular culture reference.

Without me giving too much away, the continued use of famous film quotes and song lyrics creates a nostalgic backdrop for his futuristic action adventure. All along, the main character of Brody has been battling his own personal demons in the background of the more violent encounters he faces and the final solution to the story in this third part surprised even me. Originally, in 2017, the ending was quite open and left a feeling of ‘what next..?’ The story had finished, but there was a definite tease of a cliffhanger. In this longer and completely rewritten version, the third instalment has a more logical denouement. All good things will come to those who wait!

On a purely personal note, I genuinely hope Eddie strikes it lucky with getting this series of books publicly noticed because I think the story itself is worthy of being heard. As Eddie hones his craft as a writer, he may be able to improve the ‘way it reads’, but the story itself is quite extraordinarily unique in its own right. If the right people get to see it and take into consideration that it’s the work of a new writer, I wouldn’t be in the slightest bit surprised to see it being serialised for small or even big screen syndication at some point. I sincerely hope it does and, as such, I’ve got first dibs on a starring role. Joking apart, I implore you to give this a read and if you haven’t already done so, maybe try out the whole trilogy.

Keep plugging away, Eddie; you never know what’s around the next corner. Good luck.

Nick Hancock

06/06/2021

PREFACE

Following on from my shorter preface in part two, I’m deliberately keeping this one just as short. Once again, nothing has really changed from that first draft from book one. The reasons for me writing part three are unchanged and even more obvious than they were in part two.

My repetitive dreams and nightmares that spread over more than a decade continue to influence the storyline, so now all the weird and wonderful references to film and music once again come together to bring the story to a fitting conclusion.

In the first instance, when I set out to write this book, its length was always going to be an issue. Even now, in this three-part longer version, I’ve still had people ask me for more detail and expansion on characters and scenarios. I’ve just had to curtail some parts because I felt that if I indulged myself by going to the nth degree with backgrounds of every piece of minutiae, it risked losing its fast paced edge of the seat desired effect and also, it might not appeal to people taking a chance on me as a first-time author. I hope I’ve given enough to keep people interested in this flight of fancy and peaked curiosity in where it might go next. The format and style hasn’t altered much but the story itself may once again surprise in its direction changes.

Importantly, just as before, I sincerely hope that you enjoy it as, realistically, that is the main point of any book.

The conclusion of the story is the last piece of what I like to call a ‘fact inspired fiction’, which, as I mentioned before, is slightly different from the popular trend of fictionalising historic facts in so called ‘faction’.

Why part three? Just even more of ‘I must’. As with books one and two I have changed some of the names to protect the innocent and I have also left some true to their inspirational sources.

If you enjoy the results and get through to the end, I hope the final outcome thrills you to read as much as it did me to write. Your positive feedback will once again make it all worthwhile and could potentially inspire me to attempt finishing ‘Memories of Sharks’, an earlier unfinished project.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My desire to thank absolutely everyone who has ever helped or influenced the process of creating this trilogy has not diminished but I’ve realised that I could easily fill a separate book with hat tips alone. Historically, not many folks read this section, so I’m keeping this ultra-brief. Alphabetical progression to name a few other influencers is, once again, my only option; here is my brief additional list.

Andy Pressdee, Andy Wollaston, Andrew Swarbrick, Gareth Leeds, Ian Shaw, Jade Collier, Lisa Perry, Jo-Anne Ames, Paul Doyle, Paul (Insky) Green, Pearl Adams and, last but not least, Phil Tudor. Thanks to Phil’s sharp, mistake-seeking eyes, I was helped massively in part one, so I’ve immortalised him in this, the final part. I wonder if he’ll spot it.

Over three years on from writing part one some things haven’t changed; my affection for the other, much closer to home inspirers, only continues to grow. So once again I must mention…

Archie, Charlotte, Daniel, Ethan, Harry, Matt, Tyler and last again, but definitely not least, the centre of my alternate phase of reality is…

Jane (without a y).

I love you all. X

INTRODUCTION

My continuing adventure as the story-teller and reporter of the details once again needs less background information, but as with part two, anyone finding this volume without having seen the others might want to backtrack to get a better feel of some of the finer points and details of our characters as they’ve developed.

In brief, back in book one, Brody fell in love but was torn away from Charley and his lifelong friend, Cash. He has spent the interim period of books one and two battling Evet, flitting backward and forward through time, phase and reality to try to get back to them.

For more than that you’ll need to seek out the detail within the pages of books one and two. If you’ve already done that you might, by now, have got a better idea of what I eluded to in the longer first introduction when I used the phrase ‘The devil is in the detail’. Never a truer word was spoken and this theme rolls on as the adventure draws to an exciting conclusion.

Once again, I suggest that you read into things what you will, take out of it what you can, but remember, the human brain is a very complex machine, capable of much more than we mere mortals will usually allow.

I hope you get as much from this as the first two and look forward to seeing your feedback. Thanks for supporting me on this journey through Brody’s adventure and keep a look out for ‘Memories of Sharks’ which, if time allows, I am going to try to return to…

PROLOGUE

We left Brody just as he, Zell and Cu-bér had escaped the burning underground cavern. They all swam to potential safety only to be immediately recaptured by Evet and Charlotte at the top platform of the lagoon exit shaft. Since I’m gradually mastering the art of keeping it brief, let’s for one last time, transport ourselves straight back to this location in that unnamed, unknown alternate phase of reality. We can rejoin them now at the exact moment we left and see what actions Brody will take next. Once again, his task to escape Evet’s evil clutches, avoid Charlotte’s bloodlust and stop Evet from destroying the cosmos in his quest for immortality, will test Brody’s metal to the very limits of his endurance in mind and body. Can he finally put right all the devastation that they’ve caused?

As ever, getting himself back to his true love and heart’s desire, Charley, drives him singularly on to what might end up being a very life transforming solution…

CHAPTER 1

And Then There Was One.

It was only seconds, but it could’ve been days; Brody wouldn’t have felt any different either way. Knowing that he, once again, had to face his nemesis, he allowed his hands to slide from his head. His look of devastation gave way to a harrowed stare of disbelief as his eyes once more found the cause of his stomach churning angst…

What in hell’s name are you trying to achieve converting her back to this unnatural state again? The reply to this question was nearly as predictable in content as it was in lack of explanation.

All in good time, my friend; all in good time.

Damn you to hell! Brody growled, as Evet rubbed the salt in, as usual.

So, what now? Where do we go from here? he asked dejectedly.

Don’t sing, Brody… please, Cu-bér, pleaded, remembering Brody’s recent underground recital, and knowing what was probably coming next. Just like Cash, he’d come to expect humour from Brody where none was required. His comment was expressed more from despair than concern for his ears. He didn’t want Brody to risk antagonising Evet unnecessarily. His infamous song lyric humour was unlikely to help, especially with eight weapons trained upon them, and knowing that his presence might not be one hundred percent required.

SILENCE! Evet screamed and raised his right hand like a one hundred metre sprint starter, readying for a race. Brody and Cu-bér froze. Zell did not and raised both his hands – sparks flared between them above his head. Four pairs of heavily armed henchmen, having left their concealed window vantage points, had by now made their way silently to the four respective balconies on the curved walkway that led down to the lower platform. The gun barrels they had trained upon the trio below waivered slightly as they beheld the mini lightning display jumping between Zell’s palms.

"Your attempts to kill the others made me stronger. I am the seven now and you have no comprehension of the power we command – your reign of terror is over. Hand over the Necronomicon, meet your judgement and leave the rest to return to their lives as best they can… Refuse and I will destroy you."

Brave words for seven children of others housed within one frail human body. Evet spoke casually with an air of confidence and with an uncaring swagger in his tone. His hand wavered slightly as if to hold back some unknown action that its next movement might indicate.

‘What do you mean?’ Zell mentally questioned Evet’s words having heard the threat, but more so, sensed his inner confidence.

"Your sheer arrogance to assume that your transportation and amalgamation was an accident and not of MY doing is monumental; do you not ‘feel’ different?" Without waiting for an answer, Evet’s hand clenched to a fist and fell to his side. A brief look of sadness and belated realisation softened Zell’s determinedly furrowed brow. Eight individual, but simultaneous bursts of rapid shooting followed. Bullets whizzed from the muzzles of the raised firearms above the watery platform. The ammunition all met at Zell’s head, just below his chin. The impact of the entire rain of bullets hitting the same area at the same time from four different directions and from various levels of higher ground, was totally devastating. The bullets tore through his throat, neck and spine like a chainsaw; the mini explosive-like hollow-tipped projectiles erupted upon entry and pieces of shrapnel tore their way through to exit from his chest, shoulders and back. His head was, to all intents and purposes, severed nearly as efficiently as Cu-bér had despatched his own brothers by axe. Things seemed to slip into slow motion for Brody and Cu-bér as they ducked away from the execution target and cowered from the ricocheting fragments that splattered around the still standing Zell.

Small pieces of shell casing along with blood, flesh and bone rattled to the floor creating a red stain around Zell’s feet. His body wobbled. The last remnants of thought and nervous signals steadied him. His previously held aloft arms fell limply to his sides; the damage to both of his hands was multitudinous as the myriad of bullets had passed straight through them on the way to their prearranged target. Zell’s knees buckled, but instinct seemed to help him keep his balance. He was already dead but the physicality of his body was being controlled by the fleeing consciousness trying to escape the metaphorical empty vessel that was his slowly falling head. His final facial expression was that of total surprise as his jaw drooped forwards and his chin rested for a millisecond on his now disassociated, blood-streaked chest. As Zell’s body began its excruciating fall backwards into the cavern’s pool entrance, his head rolled down his chest and dropped to the wet floor of the platform, coming to rest unceremoniously face down in a pool of dark blood between his own feet. On completing their instinctive backward dives to evade the bullet rain, Cu-bér and Brody had slammed into the rocky base area surrounding the platform that they had moments before been standing upon. Aided by its nervous twitching and the now seemingly, kicking legs, the movement of the lapping water drew the headless body slowly back into the vertical chamber that the three had previously exited from. It slid silently over the ladder rungs and descended quickly, neck first, as if swimming to escape view, into the ever-darkening depths of the underground lake below.

NOOOOOooooooo! Brody screamed and jumped to his feet. Glancing around, he quickly ascertained the route to reach the higher balcony area where Evet stood smiling conceitedly. The narrow spiralling path was the only thing other than the weapons themselves that currently protected the eight gunmen and their controlling master from his rapidly growing rage. Glancing across to Cu-bér, he saw his only other ally and possible backup was bleeding heavily from what looked like a ricocheted bullet wound to the thigh. It was now or never, so he steeled himself for attack. The retribution-filled aggressive charge he now embarked upon was possibly ill-considered, but he was an angry bull and only saw red. He flew at it without consideration of his own safety, moving quickly towards the walkway that led to his goal of bloodthirsty revenge. With no plan better than murderous rage, he sprinted past Cu-bér’s outstretched arm and desperate protestation and headed up towards Evet and Charlotte.

Evet’s arm was once again raised. Brody didn’t notice it or the fact that Charlotte had already fled. He ran full-pelt, straight into the raised gun barrels of the first two henchmen that he found barring his way. By aggressively shoulder barging, he bounced off one falling body and rebounded into the less than flexible second. The first barged man impacted the balustrade headfirst and was knocked out. Finding himself roughly gripped around the shoulders by the other man, Brody kicked out in sheer anger and impacted the groin of his temporary captor. He joined his downed colleague spread-eagled and Brody, without any second thoughts of mercy, stamped frenziedly upon both of their necks in turn. He was aware of the resultant cracking and crunching noises as his victims’ necks were broken, but swiftly stepped over the two bodies without a backward glance. Deep in the recesses of his preprogrammed ‘always find an apt quote’ mind, he was sure another Bruce would have pulled a saddened grimace. However, he was not saddened and a smile of relish slipped onto his lips.

Spotting two more problems on his approach from further round the access ramp, he turned back to the fallen guards and grabbed one of their now redundant weapons. A quick glance informed him all he needed to know.

The gun was an AK-47. Brody quickly flipped the side lever switch – up, back, forward and fully back down again to ensure it was set on semi-automatic. Without hesitation, he fired twice in quick succession. Both bullets, having been fired from an assault rifle at such close range, virtually exploded the very faces of their victims on impact. The resultant devastation was a lesser horror than Zell’s demise, but they were both no less deceased. Brody grimaced a triumphant smile at his gory handiwork. Glancing up at Evet across the higher balcony, he started to move closer to the next two men who had begun to advance down towards him, both with their respective weapons raised. For a nanosecond, Brody wondered how and why an AK-47 and not good old Tommy? But in his haste the thought passed without further consideration. Neither was he confused by his own ability to so naturally use such a weapon, having only ever previously seen one in films. Changing tactics to test Evet’s resolve further, he instinctively flipped his weapon to full auto and sprayed bullets towards the next two guards at lower leg height and charged forwards again. The two advancing goons were taken down like a strimmer cutting wild grass without either of them even managing to get a shot off. Brody calmly stepped over their writhing bodies, kicking their weapons from reach as he went.

Next! he proclaimed nonchalantly as he reached the third turn of the passageway. He was again confronted. Two larger men this time, but both had discarded their firearms and stood quivering with fear in his path. He raised the weapon to face height and the blockers cringed, but didn’t cower or run. Something inside stopped him from simply executing them as he had with the first four.

He glanced down at Cu-bér who was by now beginning to stand up. With his left leg distinctly red and a stream of blood seeping away from his foot, he was dejectedly hobbling on the lower platform. Unnoticed by Brody, his getting up had been aided by another nondescript guard who was currently holding him from collapse. Brody now saw the man supporting Cu-bér. He looked distinctly more scared than Cu-bér did, but was holding a knife at his hostage’s throat. Another slightly more confident looking individual arrived and held a gun at Cu-bér’s head. These two, more modern-looking guards had seemingly come out of nowhere and completely changed the tactical situation. Brody steadied himself and furtively glanced around for his best options.

Your move, Brody! Evet called out. Please, continue your course of mindless action, I have many loyal men… You only seem to have one friend left though. Brody’s jaw clenched and he made his decision. Flipping the gun back to semi-auto, he raised it slowly over the balustrade edge and took careful aim.

"Cu-bér… time for someone to die, mate, maybe more than one, but I’m not gonna let them take you. I’ll put you out of your misery before that happens, so trust me and don’t forget to… DUCK!" As the bellowed instruction left his lungs he squeezed the first round off, taking out the gun-holding villain on the left with a direct hit to the temple, the second bullet following immediately. So shocked was the first target’s compatriot that he didn’t even try to stop the scrambling Cu-bér wriggling free from his apprehensive grasp. As he started to raise his arms in surrender, his blood-splattered face was a picture of fear. The second bullet devastated his septum and he hit the floor before Cu-bér.

"Next… Evet! I think you might run out of men before I run out of friends, at this rate. Only two more brave souls between you… and me… Just think about that before you make any rash decisions. I’m going to kill you… you do know that… Do you have any doubts?" Brody began to move forward towards the final corner before reaching the top balcony level where Evet and Charlotte had first appeared. Quickly putting his rifle back to fully automatic mode again, he readied himself for whatever came next.

Hmmm, you speak as if you think I care. Evet spoke with unusual confidence. He motioned the two final guards away. "Take another look at your… late… friend." He accentuated his words carefully and exaggeratedly shot his eyes towards the lower platform. Brody held his ground and once again looked down, expecting two more targets. He was shocked and demoralised at what he then spotted.

Charlotte… No… please… don’t… His plea was futile and, too late, she had already bitten Cu-bér’s throat and he instantly dropped to the wet platform. Charlotte, in an apparently more controlled feeding mode than that which Brody had witnessed before, crouched over him. She allowed the crimson fountain that was squirting profusely from the two horrendous puncture wounds in his neck, to bathe her face as she lapped the blood that trickled off her nose and lips. She was soon soaked in Cu-bér’s blood as if taking a casual morning shower. Brody’s feelings frothed up into his mouth as well as boiling in his mind and only gut wrenching guilt stopped him from firing upon her. As well as the less relevant risk to Cu-bér if he missed, he simply couldn’t shoot her. He turned back to Evet with nothing else left to lose but his own existence. As he did so, the urge to puke took over from the urge to shoot. He fell to his knees and sprayed the balcony with a copious and putrid mess. No vomit or bullets hit Evet; he had turned and simply disappeared as if melting into the rock face behind. Brody recovered and wiped his mouth, he was alone; the last two guards having fled. He scrambled to the balcony edge only to find that Charlotte had also made good an escape, leaving Cu-bér bleeding out… The wetness of the lower platform was extenuating the look of his continued demise; he appeared to be lying in a lake of blood accompanied only by Zell’s disembodied head. Brody got up and ran at full-speed back down the curved walkway, hurdling over the bodies he had earlier despatched as he went. As he reached his friend he instinctively knew it was too late.

He knelt beside Cu-bér’s prone body and lifted him gently to a sitting position. His limbs dangled and head lolled as the blood flow from the two gaping incisions in his throat slowly oozed their last few drops of his life. His complexion was pallor grey. Even his normally rich, dark, braided hair was blood-soaked; it looked lank, bedraggled and the ends were seared white. His blood mingled with Zell’s and was beginning to seep away towards the ladder track. The residual diluted mess washed around Brody and his lifeless friend. Brody stared into Cu-bér’s motionless eyes. He was at a loss, his heart pounded, and the massive adrenalin rush supressed his own internal pains as they rose within him once again.

He knew that by Evet’s command Charlotte had not merely fed upon his friend, but had simply just executed him. It had been swift, heartless, cold, callous and done with similar brutal efficiency as the firearms had moments before destroyed Zell. There was no respectful way to address Zell’s death either or the remaining reality of his expressionless face. Brody cringed as he stared at the discorporate head rocking back and forth in the lapping bloodbath. The red wash oozed gradually from the platform, back towards the blackened appearance of the watery chamber entrance that the three had, only minutes ago, been relieved and happy to discover. Brody’s happiness was destroyed. He was no longer relieved to have survived.

‘Sorry my friend, I will avenge all seven of you.’

His glazed eyes closed and a galvanising process within him started. His mind became like a small kindling fire, gradually self-igniting. It rapidly transformed into a raging inferno. His eyes opened and the anger inside him rose from his heaving chest, up and out. It poured from him like lava from a volcano, gently to start with and then gathering momentum towards a final explosive eruption.

Like Zell who was David, I will be Khan… I will avenge you and Zell, I give you my word as a brother, and as a friend. I’ll chase him ‘round the moons of Nibia and ‘round the Antares Maelstrom and ‘round perdition’s flames before I give him up. He pulled Cu-bér towards him in a closer embrace, hugged the lifeless body tight, then relaxed his hold and gently laid him back down.

Drawing an almighty breath he stood, both arms aloft as if reaching to the sky, releasing his pent up anger and passion, screeching out to whoever might be listening…

"EVET! … EVEEEEEEEEEEEEET!" Evet was still close by and heard the cry, but, as was his way, chose not to confront his enemy at this point. He had bigger ideas that required further planning, so when Brody collapsed back onto the blood sodden floor, curled up into a ball and began sobbing; he took his opportunity to extricate himself from his hiding spot. Within the rock face there was an alcove that he’d sidled into. Silently, he now squeezed out and made his escape through a hidden doorway only metres away.

‘Well done, my dear, but remember, HE must survive; don’t get carried away this time. You