New Warriors of Endos

By Bryan Laurence

Sergeant Deedee Contreras leads a SWAT team into a drug house occupied by militia terrorists who force her and her officers into a gunfight. Suddenly, Contreras and her team find themselves being tossed around by a tornado that hits on top of the house during the gun battle, wreaking havoc and leaving her unconscious. When she awakens, she finds herself alone in an apocalyptic wasteland of war and death, a warrior's world called Endos, where her only companion is Tito, a drug dog that chased her and her officers into the house before the tornado hit.

Desperate to find a way back to her team, Deedee befriends a powerful female knight named Saradietus, who imparts onto her the Boots of Power and sends her on a quest to meet with the Warlord of Soldier City, an ally who has the power to send her back home. During her quest, she saves the lives of three warriors who swear an oath to repay her by helping fulfill her quest to get back to her fellow officers, and in doing so, becomes her new team. All the while, a powerful enemy by the name of Kiladris seeks to destroy Contreras and claim the boots for herself.

New Warriors of Endos is a science-fiction, action-based, adventure story that serves as a dark satire, with adult themes, fantastic violence, and some social commentary.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 25, 2024
• ISBN: 9798887317571

Book preview

Warrior’s World

A speeding black van, followed by another, makes a sharp turn and barrels onto a main road. Inside, officers dressed in black double-check their goggles, helmets, and bulletproof vests as the acting squad leader feeds them information from the front seat.

We’re getting word from the detectives on the scene that all the hostages inside the main residence are now dead. This is what happens when you send detectives to do the job of the Kansas City SWAT. Sergeant Deedee Contreras, a strong-willed female officer of Latin-American descent, continues to brief her squad as they speed through an endless array of streetlights. Now these aren’t your typical street-level drug dealers. Our detectives consider them to be high-level, militia-trained domestic terrorists. Heavily armed and extremely dangerous. So expect anything. In response, there is the click-click sounds of assault rifles and 12-gauge shotguns being cocked. Second squad is hitting the outbuilding at the same time we hit the main residence, so look for my signal before you go in. Even though all the hostages are being reported as dead, make sure you don’t shoot any that happen to be alive. Stay focused and keep your eyes open.

Both vans pull up to the front of a house. Police cars are lined up on one side with blue lights flashing everywhere. Officers on the scene are positioned behind their cruisers with guns drawn.

Before exiting the van, Contreras adds, Be advised that there’s a tornado warning in effect for this entire area. So let’s get in, get these guys, and get out.

The team leaves the van and forms a tactical stack that moves toward the house, snaking around a tree in the front yard and onto the main porch of the residence. Behind an officer holding a blast shield, the sergeant halts the team on the porch and takes off her helmet to fix a loose radio earpiece.

Damn it, the sergeant says to herself. Contreras, with her straight black chin-length hair, looks up to see a reporter with a camera pointed at her, and says with her finger, Get out of here!

The reporter snaps a picture of her and her team on the porch. Contreras quickly puts her helmet back on and prepares to enter the house.

The officer holding the blast shield moves aside to allow another officer, carrying a battering ram, to approach the front entrance. Police! Open the door! shouts the officer.

Contreras confirms over the radio that second squad is in position. She yells, Go ahead! Hit that thing! One thrust splits the doorjamb, knocking the door wide open. Contreras tosses a flash-bang grenade into the house and watches it explode before moving the stack through the smoke and into the living room.

A drug dog, being used by the detectives to check cars out front, notices the SWAT teams’ entry into the house and chases after them, following them inside. Tito! Get back here! yells a detective.

The team stands inside the living room with flashlights and weapons trained on a man sitting silently in a rocking chair. Put your hands on your head and get down on the floor now! Contreras says. The man continues to sit. What are you doing? Show me your hands! she says as she steps toward the man. He is tied to the chair with duct tape covering his mouth. On the bulge of the tape, Contreras watches as a piano string pulls the pin of a grenade completely lodged inside the man’s mouth. Get down! she shouts diving away from the man as the grenade explodes, knocking all officers to the ground and splattering chunks of brain matter all over the walls.

Contreras looks up as three gunmen appear, one from behind a couch, another from inside a closet, and a third from an adjoining room, to ambush the team with automatic weapons. Machine guns blaze as officers return fire, engulfing the entire room in hot lead. One of the officers is hit, prompting Deedee to run toward the bullets and drop into a leg slide, firing her rifle, killing two of the assailants. A third assailant ducks into the adjoining room.

The leader of the second squad shouts over the radio, The damn thing’s right on top of us!

The house begins to rattle with intensity. Windows implode as pieces of debris swirl around the interior of the living room. Shit! It’s the tornado! Take cover! shouts Contreras. Her voice is drowned out by a thunderous sound that shakes the floor. Officers are flung around as pieces of the roof break away. A massive hole suddenly appears in the center of the ceiling.

Contreras holds on to an exposed pipe as her legs lift into the air. In the dark haze of flowing debris, a shadowy figure emerges and grabs on to her. Contreras realizes the person clinging to her is the third assailing gunman. As she struggles to break free, she releases her grip, causing the two to fly around the room together. In flight, Contreras continues to struggle, holding back the gunman’s weapon as it fires, until finally, the two land on the couch together.

As Contreras knocks away the machine gun, the assailant maneuvers on top of her with a knife and pushes it to her throat. Contreras holds back the knife as she looks into the hateful eyes of a woman trying to slice open her neck while debris continues to smack them in the face.

In the midst of the struggle, the drug dog jumps up from behind the couch and bites the assailant’s arm. The attacking shepherd forces the assailant to pull back. She drops the knife, giving Contreras a chance to strike the woman below the ear. As the woman falls back, the tornado’s wind pressure lifts her into the air just above Contreras and quickly sucks her through the hole in the ceiling.

The image of the woman’s arm reaching back while she’s being pulled into the funnel burns itself into Contreras’ mind just before an end table hits her in the head, knocking her helmet off. Dazed, Contreras feels the entire house fall as if it were dropped off a cliff. It all stops with a shockwave that knocks her off the couch and onto the floor. After a rough landing, the tornado winds suddenly disappear, leaving the house in silent disarray.

Contreras sits up, only to be startled by the shepherd unexpectedly licking her face. Looking around, she asks, Is anyone hurt? to no answer. Second squad, are you there? Is anyone there, over? the sergeant asks over the radio to no reply. A bright red hue lights up the sky enough for her to see. She looks at the dog’s name collar and says, Tito, huh. Thanks for your assistance, Tito. Now, let’s find everybody else.

The team leader stands up, pulls out her nine-millimeter pistol, and makes her way toward the front doorway, stepping over several pieces of debris.

Contreras steps through the doorway and onto a smashed front porch. She smells the putrid, pungent odor of death. As she looks around, she sees a landscape unfamiliar to her. Under a bright red hue that seems to be part of the very atmosphere itself, is an apocalyptic wasteland of flames and destruction that stretches for miles. The house, which now sits overlooking a town completely devastated by fire and demolition, is fully collapsed except for the living room.

What the hell just happened? Contreras asks as she gazes at the surrounding landscape.

Chapter 1

The Road of Blood

Mortar fire and machine gun rounds in the distance are drowned out by the sound of metal objects crashing against each other several yards away. Contreras looks to see where the noise is coming from. A beastly creature that seems to be part man, part ape, and part demon is swinging an iron sword at a knight in glowing armor. The knight deflects the sword with a blade that instantly extends into a spear. The knight stabs the beast through his eye socket and out the back of his head.

I don’t know where we are, but this sure doesn’t look like Kansas City, Contreras remarks.

The knight finishes off the beast and looks up to see Contreras standing on the smashed-up front porch with the shepherd by her side.

Oh crap. Come on, Tito, the sergeant says, grabbing the dog by the collar and yanking him off the porch. Contreras dives into a nearby ditch along with the dog and takes up a prone fighting position, aiming her pistol in the direction of the knight.

As Contreras tries to peek over the edge of the ditch, a boot comes down on her hands, pinning the pistol to the ground. A long blade is held to her neck by the knight who is now standing over her.

Are you friend, or are you foe? says the knight with a commanding voice.

Contreras responds, Look, I don’t know where I am…and I don’t know who you are…

The knight repeats, Are you friend? Or are you foe?

The shepherd growls in a defensive posture as the knight’s blade pushes against Contreras’ skin.

I’m not your enemy, replies the sergeant.

And what about this creature? the knight says, as the shepherd’s growl turns into an aggressive bark.

He’s with me. Tito! Shush! the sergeant says. Tito stops barking.

Release your weapon and come to your feet, says the knight, continuing to hold the blade to Contreras’ neck as she slowly stands up. The knight lowers the blade and presses a button that retracts the knight’s helmet, folding it into the neck of the armor. As the helmet retracts, a beautiful woman’s face appears under flowing red hair that shines with intensity.

Who are you, and what is your purpose here? asks the knight.

The sergeant responds, My name is Sergeant Deedee Contreras of the Kansas City Police Department. I don’t know where I am or what the hell’s going on, but somebody better have a pretty good explanation or else.

You said your name’s Deedee? asks the knight, cutting Contreras off.

That’s right, the sergeant replies.

The knight steps closer and gazes into her eyes. You are a mystical one, aren’t you, Deedee? The knight smiles.

I don’t have a clue what you—ahhh, I mean, yeah, sure. I’m mystical. That’s what people tell me every day. Now can you tell me exactly where I am? And who the hell you’re supposed to be? asks Contreras.

My name is Saradietus, gladiator of the North, the knight says, extending her hand to Contreras. Welcome to Warrior’s World. What used to be a place of great honor is now a place of misery and death.

Does this mean we’re friends now? I mean, seeing as you just held a sword to my throat, Sara- whatever-your-name-is, asks Contreras.

I just needed to make sure you weren’t sent by the enemy, Deedee. That’s all, replies Saradietus. And after gazing into your eyes and reading your spirit, I’m pretty certain you’re not with the evil one. On the contrary, given all you’ve done, I should probably consider you among my greatest allies, the knight says, turning away.

What I’ve done? Contreras replies. I don’t understand.

You should. It’s because of you and your great power that we won today’s battle. Before you came, the noble warriors of Valor were being crushed and overtaken by the evil forces of Mordris, gladiator of the East. When I arrived, all that were left fighting were the children, the knight says. She yells, You may show yourselves! The enemy has been destroyed. This great warrior has saved you all from certain destruction.

From behind a burning vehicle, two children stand up holding rifles. Another child slowly crawls out of a foxhole while three more appear from behind the wall of a partially demolished building.

Dozens of children, no older than twelve, reveal themselves in tattered clothing covered in dark soot.

These are the children of Valor. Refugees of a once great city. Mordris had them cornered until you struck from the stars above and destroyed her. Her minion army was pulled into the vortex created by your powerful wind weapon, leaving only her body behind, torn to pieces, the knight says, pointing to the scattered remains of a head, legs, and torso in a nearby pool of blood. The fallen enemy’s armored boots lay at the center of the pool, still glowing with energy and humming with extraordinary power.

Come, everyone. Gather around to see for yourselves. The body of Mordris lies still and dead, killed by Deedee, who came and destroyed her. Remember this day, as it will forever go down in history as the day the great warrior from Kansas City appeared to defeat the forces of Mordris, once and for all, the noble gladiator declares as a growing crowd of children, who have gathered to witness the remains of their fallen enemy, glance up to honor their perceived savior.

The great warrior Deedee has destroyed the enemy! Victory is ours! declares one boy to the collective cheer of the crowd. Hooray! Some of the children present arms and render a salute to Contreras, while others fire their rifles ceremoniously into the sky.

Wait, stop! I didn’t have anything to do with this. Before I found myself here, I was leading my team on a mission to capture a bunch of dangerous criminals who were held up in the house behind me. When we entered it, we were ambushed and forced into a firefight, Contreras says to the crowd, who return nothing but a blank stare.

The boy who previously spoke turns to the crowd and declares, The great warrior Deedee led her army to fight the enemy with fire! to the collective cheer of the crowd. Yay!

No. What I’m saying is, during the fight, we were hit by a tornado, and the wind overtook the house and somehow brought me to this place, Contreras says.

The boy declares, The great warrior Deedee conquered the enemy with wind after fighting them off with fire! to the collective cheer, Yay! The crowd starts chanting, Deedee! Deedee! Deedee!

Suddenly, the ground quakes. Flames shoot up from below and surround Contreras, the knight, and the entire crowd inside a fiery dome. The searing heat from the burning walls causes Contreras to hold her arm up in front of her face and forces the children to take cover on the ground. As Contreras drops her arm to look up, the fiery dome starts to recede. A dark figure walks through an opening in the flames and slowly makes its way toward Contreras.

As the figure approaches, an armored warrior dressed in black retracts her helmet and reveals the face of a ghastly woman. Her black hair and green skin give the impression of bloated decay. Her eyes, completely black and possessed, cast an aggressive stare of cruelty and hatred. From the shine in the blackness of her eyes, Contreras sees pure evil.

Who the hell is that? asks Contreras.

The noble Saradietus responds, Her name is Kiladris, gladiator of the West. She’s Mordris’ twin, and is every bit as powerful. Her evil and wickedness knows no limitation. Prepare to defend yourself.

Kiladris points to the body of her dismembered kin and asks without breaking her stare toward Contreras, Who is responsible for this? Contreras reaches for her pistol and holds it low and ready. I said, who is responsible for this? Answer me! Kiladris clenches her fist, causing the fiery dome that surrounds them to rise up again. Was it you, swine? the vile gladiator asks, pointing at Contreras.

Mordris got what she deserved. And it’ll only be a matter of time before you get what’s coming to you as well, says the noble knight.

Hold your tongue, Saradietus! Or I will cut it from your pretty little face! Your victory here is only temporary. I still have my own army, and I will use it to crush you and this pathetic resistance in due time, replies Kiladris. But first I will take my revenge on this swine by tearing her apart piece by piece.

Contreras raises her pistol and pulls the trigger repeatedly, quickly emptying the entire magazine at the vile gladiator who blocks each of the bullets with her hand. Kiladris lets out a sinister laugh. The fingers on