♠ Happy Halloween ♠

“Right, let’s try again, shall we? Actually, forget about your name. Your buddies are on their way, so I have to leave. Now, you can tell me, first time, what put me under the spotlight, and I’ll leave you here for them to find. Or you can waste my time, and I’ll leave part of you here, part of you in the bedroom… You get the picture. One chance. Talk or die.”

Connor held an imaginary microphone in front of the man’s face. The policeman drew back slightly, took a deep breath, and made what could be the last decision he’d ever make.

“It was the girl. Routine fly-by saw her sneaking out over the wall last night.”

Connor blinked. Unlicensed weapons. Illegal explosives. Fake documentation. Banned literature. Restricted substances. A dirty mind and a sociopathic attitude towards life in general. He would have accepted, in fact expected, any of those bringing the full might of the law down on his shiny head sooner or later. But this?

Careful to speak into the imaginary microphone, “What fucking girl?”

A shrug. A careful shrug, using only the shoulders, not the lower part of the body.

“Wore a mask. One of those full-face virus jobs. Tight black clothes.” The cop almost smiled, showing a mouthful of broken teeth. “We would have been here sooner, but some of the boys wanted to watch the video more than once.”

Connor dropped the imaginary mike and straightened his bent knees.

“IN THE HOUSE. TOSS OUT YOUR WEAPONS AND EXIT THE FRONT DOOR WITH YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD.”

⛥⛥

Read Big Day Out in weekly installments on FaceBook or WordPress. Receive notifications via Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, GoodReads, or Amazon, where you’ll find the whole mad mercenary romp through the dystopian nightmare that Covid-19 might have become. Might still become, if we don’t keep our self-appointed leaders on a very short leash.

Download FREE sampler previews of all my books – and some complete short stories – from PCloud. Or read them on Kindle Unlimited.

No charge. No obligation. No sign-in. Read for free. Share with your friends.

⛥⛥

Halloween weekend sees my books either heavily discounted or FREE, from 30/10 to 3/11, on most online book platforms. Find your favourite retailer and help yourself at https://books2read.com/b/Valhalla

If you have a book you’d like to publish, contact me to claim your 15 minutes of bestselling fame at No.1 on Amazon. Find all my details at BurningBookLinks

⛥⛥

Cheers.

♠ Burn MF ♠

Screams drew him into the kitchen where another policeman was clutching the large fragment of plate embedded in his leg.

The man had numerous other injuries and was in bad shape.

“Shut up, prick.” Connor smacked him in the head with the butt of his gun. “We can talk later.”

“Where’s the third? You guys always hunt in threes.” Connor turned quickly to look around the decimated kitchen. Cooking was never his thing anyway.

A shadow on what was left of the kitchen window. He’s outside. A gunshot smacked into the oven. Connor crouched low and returned fire. He kept low and hid behind the fridge. The policeman poked his head in through the window. It was the last thing he ever did as the bullet smacked into the side of head.

“Fucking idiot.” Connor walked past him to the living room and looked outside. The buggery of drones had reduced dramatically.

“Where are your drone buddies?” Connor asked the one remaining, before giving it the finger and shooting it out of the sky.

He went back to the kitchen and knelt over the prone police officer. Blood trickled from the side of his mouth, he was panting heavily and his forehead was slick with sweat.

Connor pushed the shard of plate deeper into his leg. Just to see his reaction.

“Hello. You already know my name. What’s yours?”

“They’ll get you for this.”

“Now.” Connor tapped on the shard of crockery. “That’s.” And again. “Not.” The cop gritted his teeth. “Very.” Eyes bulged. “Nice.”

“Aargh!”

Good. Progress.

⛥⛥

Read Big Day Out in weekly installments on FaceBook or WordPress. Receive notifications via Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, GoodReads, or Amazon, where you’ll find the whole mad mercenary romp through the dystopian nightmare that Covid-19 might have become. Might still become, if we don’t keep our self-appointed leaders on a very short leash.

Download FREE sampler previews of all my books – and some complete short stories – from PCloud. Or read them on Kindle Unlimited.

No charge. No obligation. No sign-in. Read for free. Share with your friends.

⛥⛥

If you have a book you’d like to publish, contact me to claim your 15 minutes of bestselling fame at No.1 on Amazon. Find all my details at BurningBookLinks

⛥⛥

Cheers.

♠ Burn ♠

The cellar contained shelves, with tinned food, a bowl for washing, an oil lamp and a mirror. It was a project he’d started for the worst. Hide underground with food.

He dropped the bag on the dirt floor and looked in the mirror. “We didn’t finish it, did we? Didn’t want to die like a rabbit, did we? Explosions are much more fun. Go out with a bang.” He looked from side to side and started laughing.

“Quiet!” his reflection interrupted. “We don’t want to miss it.”

Connor agreed and wiped spittle from his short white beard.

Boom! From the car. Make them run into the house and then …

Two more explosions. Boom! First from the kitchen. That unused cupboard, spitting knives and broken crockery in a wide arc. Boom! Living room next.

Connor had to cover his ears for that one. He uncovered to hear the shouting, the confusion. The screams.

“Bedroom, then garage.” He counted them on his fingers.

Boom! And then boom!

“Wait for it.” There they were. Second and third explosions from the garage. Always handy to have a spare can of petrol. Or two.

“Let’s go see what the score is.” Back up the stairs, pulling the gun from his pocket. He pushed open the door and crouched along the passage. Dust hung thick in the air. He crunched broken glass as he went. The bitter tang of blood filled his nostrils.

“You were in the right place at the right time,” he told what was left of the first body as he entered the living room. “I guess I’ll be seeing the rest of you later.”

⛥⛥

Read Big Day Out in weekly installments on FaceBook or WordPress. Receive notifications via Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, GoodReads, or Amazon, where you’ll find the whole mad mercenary romp through the dystopian nightmare that Covid-19 might have become. Might still become, if we don’t keep our self-appointed leaders on a very short leash.

Download FREE sampler previews of all my books – and some complete short stories – from PCloud. Or read them on Kindle Unlimited.

No charge. No obligation. No sign-in. Read for free. Share with your friends.

⛥⛥

If you have a book you’d like to publish, contact me to claim your 15 minutes of bestselling fame at No.1 on Amazon. Find all my details at BurningBookLinks

⛥⛥

Cheers.

♠ It’s the end of the world ♠

Jacket on, pockets full, he raced down the short hall to the cupboard under the stairs, where his keys hung on a hook gathering dust. One hand snatched them from the hook while his other hand opened the cupboard door. The motion-activated light revealed nothing but a duffle bag and a switch on the wall.

Grab the bag. Slide the false switch to the side. Push the red button hidden behind it.

Bang.

The timing was perfect. Connor ducked through the tiny wooden doorway that opened in front of him. Another motion-detector blazed as he closed the door with a click and a smile.

“Bugger the buggery.”

Time for one last look around, patting his pockets and hefting the bag.

Bang. Thud. Crunch.

He’d never liked that gate. It was Francina who’d insisted on securing the property against the roving bands of starving refugees that had spilled onto the streets during the first lockdown.

Bitch.

But he still smiled when he pushed the red button on the inside of the door. His smile grew wider when the tell-tale ticking started.

By the time he was halfway down the stairs leading to the cellar he’d dug out of sheer boredom, he was even whistling. REM, if memory served. Da da da da da da da da da. “And I feel fine.”

⛥⛥

Read Big Day Out in weekly installments on FaceBook or WordPress. Receive notifications via Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, GoodReads, or Amazon, where you’ll find the whole mad mercenary romp through the dystopian nightmare that Covid-19 might have become. Might still become, if we don’t keep our self-appointed leaders on a very short leash.

Download FREE sampler previews of all my books – and some complete short stories – from PCloud. Or read them on Kindle Unlimited.

No charge. No obligation. No sign-in. Read for free. Share with your friends.

⛥⛥

If you have a book you’d like to publish, contact me to claim your 15 minutes of bestselling fame at No.1 on Amazon. Find all my details at BurningBookLinks

⛥⛥

Cheers.

♠ B()gger off ♠

And everybody knew not to do anything outside, and not to make too much noise if they did anything inside. Especially after those first few months, when several of Connor’s neighbours had suddenly “moved away” in the middle of the night. As far as he knew, the houses on either side of him were still empty, except for the homeless crowd who dropped in occasionally in their desperate dance to stay one step ahead of the authorities.

Now he could hear voices coming from the gate. Bit pointless, really. Couldn’t they see he’d closed all the doors and windows? Now he drew the curtains too, smiling and waving at the small gathering of drones. What was the collective noun for government drones, buzzing together like insects? A buggery?

Now the clock was ticking. The hazmat brigade wasn’t used to being ignored. Especially when their buggery (yes, he liked that word) could see that he was definitely home.

Back to the study. Grab the book. Get the nail. Spare bedroom. Kick the bed. Open the tile. Grab EVERYTHING. Toss it on the bed. Open the cupboard. Find his favourite leather jacket, the one with the extra pockets.

Bang.

He didn’t have to look. That was the steel gate, still holding but no longer defiantly impregnable. Another few bangs and they’d be inside.

He wouldn’t be.

⛥⛥

Read Big Day Out in weekly installments on FaceBook or WordPress. Receive notifications via Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, GoodReads, or Amazon, where you’ll find the whole mad mercenary romp through the dystopian nightmare that Covid-19 might have become. Might still become, if we don’t keep our self-appointed leaders on a very short leash.

Download FREE sampler previews of all my books – and some complete short stories – from PCloud. Or read them on Kindle Unlimited.

No charge. No obligation. No sign-in. Read for free. Share with your friends.

⛥⛥

If you have a book you’d like to publish, contact me to claim your 15 minutes of bestselling fame at No.1 on Amazon. Find all my details at BurningBookLinks

⛥⛥

Remember to check out the Beyond The Vale Bookshop, open from 1 October in the Edenglen Shopping Centre, Edenvale. You can find my books there, along with a huge selection of other local authors. Beer can be found nearby. Obviously.

⛥⛥

Cheers.