Walter Book One

By Ernie Howard

Walter never cared about his classmates. Until he was told he would never see them again.

 

Walter has never fit in, and he has never really cared. When a mysterious man starts talking to him through his T.V. telling him that the world is going to end and he must prepare, he thinks that the kids who make fun of him might be right. He is a freak.

 

Walter leads his mother and best friend Ariel to a bunker the man tells him to go to. A bunker that is supposed to save all of their lives. A task that seems simple enough but as they get closer, and the threat of the planet becomes imminent the task put forth to him seems impossible. Walter starts to realize some of them might not make it.

 

Walter Book One is the first book in this young adult science fiction series. If you like fast-paced thrilling Science Fiction with mysterious spacemen, and action-packed survival scenes, all rolled into a coming-of-age story, then you are going to love Ernie Howard's page-turning series.

 

Buy Walter Book One, today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ernie Howard
• Release date: May 9, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224880959

Book preview

Chapter one

The weird fatigue that you felt after hypersleep made Walter feel like what he probably thought a drunk person might feel like. He had no idea. Walter had never had a sip of alcohol in all of his fifteen years. He looked in the mirror and wondered if The Man was ever going to let them grow up. He didn’t look a day over twelve. It was no surprise to him considering a quarter of his life he’d spent in hypersleep. John Dee had opened the capsules a week ago and they were all still feeling the effects of being asleep for two years, nine months, and twenty-eight days.

Walter had sat up and looked at Ariel in the pod next to him. She stretched her arms out before her and looked at Walter with a knowing yawn. Walter smiled and tried to ignore the urge to lean over his pod and kiss her. It seemed puberty did not get suspended when you were in suspended animation. He was going to ask her how she felt when there was a scream from across the room.

Walter looked across the room at the being the scream had come from. He was confused for a moment not knowing exactly what or who the being was and then like a puzzle piece falling in place to complete a puzzle he knew.

Gracoo, Walter said.

A flood of memories filled his head so fast it made him dizzy and nauseous. Everything from the sand on the desert planet to Gracoo’s pet, Ratadoo. His head felt like it was attached by a string.

Ah. Walter rubbed the sides of his head and tried not to bark in his sleep pod.

Good morning, good afternoon, and goodnight, you two.

Walter looked up and saw John Dee’s smiling face and had a sudden urge to smack the Android’s head off. A memory of John Dee’s head rolling around the bottom of the ship flashed in Walter’s mind, and he almost lost what little bile was in his stomach. He heard Ariel groan next to him and he knew that she was having the same thought.

Shouldn’t you be attending to him? Walter said.

He saw… The name of the female being hung in his mind just out of reach for a second and then very naturally it popped back into his memory.

Atlaa. He said.

She was patting Gracoo’s arm from the other pod, trying vainly to calm him down. Walter watched as nurse bots swooped in and plunged a long needle into the Scracooian’s arm. That’s what they were, Walter thought. They were from the planet Scracoo. Gracoo’s eyes fluttered as soon as the bot pushed down the plunger of the syringe. Gracoo laid back down without making another noise.

He looks to be well taken care of. John Dee said.

Yeah, he looks great." Ariel said. She slowly got out of her pod and walked on wobbly legs the short distance to the other side of the room. Atlaa was looking down with a worried look on her face. Gracoo was out like a light and looked to be sleeping soundly but Walter understood the worry for her friend. Gracoo’s screams sounded like the world was ending. Too late my friend, they already have, Walter thought.

The first time is always the worst. But you get used to it after a couple of times. Ariel said to Atlaa. The Scracooian looked at Ariel with sad pitiful eyes.

Walter looked back at John Dee. Are we ever going to get to stay awake for one of these rides? He said. Walter glared at the android. He looked down back inside the pod and pinched his nose as a wave of nausea moved through him.

The likelihood of that is low. As I have told you before, we have to conserve supplies and your youth. John Dee smiled and walked over to where Atlaa was clinging to Ariel like she was a life preserver in a vast ocean.

A nurse bot flew over to Walter and in a robotic female voice said, for your headache. On a tray were two aspirin. Until the annoying robot had brought his attention to it, he hadn’t noticed that his head felt like a balloon. Walter took the pills and was about to dry swallow them, but the nurse bot shoved a small cup of water in his face. It was gone before Walter drained the glass.

It had been a week now and the headache was just now diminishing. Walter rubbed the sides of his head and almost didn’t notice John Dee in the lab. If he hadn’t looked up while passing the glass door, he wouldn’t have seen the android. John Dee was studying a scalpel. He looked at it like it was some ancient relic. He watched as John Dee turned his back to him. Walter could tell he had lowered the scalpel to something that lay on the table in front of him. The angle was weird, so Walter had to get close to the lab doors window to see.

Walter got so close to the glass that his nose was almost touching the smooth surface. His breath fogged the window, and he quickly wiped it away. He could only make out