Becoming Zodiak Read online

  “Once Libra realized what it was, he handed it over to Gemini.” Jimmy twirled the pen with his fingers. “Gemini reprogrammed it to a Zodiak frequency. They’ve been listening to everything that’s been said in this room tonight.”

  That was when the color drained from Walsh’s face.

  “Well they’re not here to help you now, boy!” he snarled, smashing his fist down on his desk.

  “I think you’ll find they are.”

  The room was bathed in blinding light as the hovership, floating right outside Walsh’s office window, roared to life. Walsh turned, his face twisted in horror. He was met by the stares of Crabbe and Libra, just yards away behind the glass of the hovership’s flight deck.

  “Get him!” Walsh yelled, and his four henchmen burst to life. Jimmy sidestepped an onrushing Martin Bull, who smashed into Walsh’s desk and yelled in pain. Peter held his gun out in front of him, his face pale. He was loath to fire and it showed. Before Duane and Dan Bradley could attack, Walsh’s office window began to vibrate as projectile after projective struck the glass from the outside. All at once, a hiss filled the air and the glass melted away. Jimmy could see Sagittarius crouched atop the hovership, her crossbow locked against her shoulder, and he knew she’d blown out the glass with her acid darts.

  “Zodiak! Go!”

  Scorpio, Gemini, Aquarius and Aries swung on ropes from the ship’s ramp into the room just as Pisces, Capricorn and Leo ran through the office door.

  Dan Bradley bolted for the exit, but Pisces flicked up her left foot and kicked him in the solar plexus. He staggered backwards and raised his right fist at her in anger. Leo charged in before he had a chance to swing a punch and head-butted him. Blood erupted and he fell to the floor, clasping his face. Capricorn quickly and easily disarmed Peter who dropped to his knees and placed his hands on top of his head in surrender.

  Scorpio squared up to Duane Bullock. “You never were good enough to be Zodiak,” he told the large boy.

  “We’ll see,” Bullock countered, bouncing on his feet and circling Scorpio.

  “Enough bravado,” Jimmy said, and he swept Bullock’s feet out from under him. As he fell, his chin crashed into the edge of the desk and he was knocked out cold.

  Jimmy glanced at Scorpio. “Strike when you can, right?”

  Before his partner could respond, Martin Bull pushed himself away from Walsh’s desk and ran at Jimmy again. He stepped out of the way once more and caught Martin with a glancing jab. Aries pushed him aside with her shoulder.

  “He’s mine,” she said, and punched Martin square on the jaw. The boy’s legs buckled and he fell to the carpet, drooling.

  Gemini had William Walsh cornered, his hand gun at the older man’s temple. “It’s over, Walsh!” he told him.

  Walsh released a wicked, trembling giggle.

  “It’s over for all of us,” he said. He laughed louder, longer. “Over for us all!”

  Jimmy marched across to where Walsh stood.

  “I hope they lock you away for a very long time,” he told him. “I thought you were meant to be my friend.”

  “You’re going to need all the friends you can find, little boy,” Walsh said. “You’ll see.”

  After William Walsh and his four cronies had been taken away by the police, Jimmy and the rest of Zodiak gathered on the flight deck of the hovership.

  “Jimmy, you did a fantastic job,” Lord Crabbe told him.

  “Thank you, Sir,” he said modestly. “I’m just glad I ran into Leo before I went to take on Walsh by myself.”

  “I think you’ve learnt what it is to be part of a team tonight,” Scorpio told him. “Your family will be very proud.”

  “Thanks,” Jimmy said, his expression shifting into something more serious. “I do want to be part of the team. But do you all still want me on the team?”

  Virgo stepped forward. While she continued to look older and tired, the glow had returned to her and they burnt the brightest blue Jimmy had ever seen. He saw her sign for the first time as it glowed briefly and brightly across her forehead: ♍

  “You made us twelve again tonight,” she said. “We are truly whole. You are Zodiak. Jimmy. You are Taurus.”

  And all Jimmy could think of was how proud Shane, Brian and Claire would be. He had never felt so happy in his life.

  48

  The guard locked the door. The bolt snapped into place with a heavy clunk.

  A bloodcurdling scream came from behind the cell door.

  “Shut up in there!” he hollered, and turned to his colleague. “This is the fourth time I’ve had to put his bed back down. I don’t know why he keeps putting it up against the wall like that.”

  “I can’t believe a grown man would be so scared of the dark,” the second man said. “Of all the reactions I’ve seen to people being brought in here, I’ve never seen one who can’t handle shadows under his bed.”

  “Hopefully being in restraints will calm him down. If not, we’ll get the doctor to give him a tranquilizer.”

  Another deathly scream rang out.

  “Keep it down, Walsh! Don’t make us come back in there.”

  William Walsh sat on the floor in the corner of his cell. He no longer looked the slick media mogul Jimmy had thought he knew so well. He was pale, drained, and his eyes were tired and bloodshot. The straightjacket the guards had strapped him into made his shoulders ache, but the pain was the last thing on his mind. He couldn’t take his eyes from the darkness under his bed.

  In the shadows, a pair of red eyes glowed into being and blinked twice. Walsh shoved himself further back into the corner with his feet until his heels bled, leaving moist red streaks on the concrete floor. He didn’t notice the lacerations or the bloodstains.

  “No, no, no,” he pleaded. Tears ran down his face and his head twitched nervously from left to right. “I did what you asked of me. I did everything you told me to do. It wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t my fault!”

  A voice, no more than a whisper, reached out to him.

  “You will not fail me again,” it told him.

  William Walsh screamed for the final time.

  Thank You

  Now that you have finished my book, won’t you please consider writing a review? Reviews are the best way readers discover great new books. I would truly appreciate it.

  About The Author

  Craig Jones is from Wales, the home of great rugby, great singing and many great writers and artists. Craig lives in Cardiff with his wife Claire, baby son Shane and a rather insane ginger cat called Wookie. He works for Public Health Wales and is the Wales lead on alcohol harm reduction. As much as he loves this job, his dream is to be a full time writer. Inspired by the late, great James Herbert, Stephen King and Bret Easton Ellis (Craig says Patrick Bateman is the best character ever created and it is even better that he was played by a Welshman in the movie) he has always been a huge horror fan. From Jason to Freddie, Ash to Rick Grimes, there is nothing scary that he won't watch, no one he won't try to scare with his stories.

  Craig writes for young adults because he believes the more they read, the more creative they will become."I grew up with a book in one hand and a tennis racket in the other. I think writers have a responsibility to pen stories to inspire youngsters to read by knowing what kids want." Find out more at www.craigjoneshorror.co.uk.

  Also by Craig Jones

  Outbreak: The Zombie Apocalypse. It begins with a flight into Heathrow Airport. It ends up at Matt Hawkins’ front gate, in a crowd of savage, lumbering bodies. An epidemic is sweeping Great Britain, transforming countless victims into mindless predators and forcing Matt and his little brother, Danny, out of the safety of their late parents’ privileged legacy and into a rapidly changing world.

  Every day is vital. Every action counts. As the brothers make alliances and learn to defend themselves and their home against an unthinkable enemy, choices are made, some with devastating consequences. In the midst of this nightmarish fight to survive, Matt
begins to learn what is truly important to him, and exactly what it means to be human.

  Breakout: The Zombie Apocalypse Book 2. In this sequel to Outbreak: The Zombie Apocalypse, Matt Hawkins strives for redemption following Britain's first zombie outbreak. His internal struggles and his psychological analysis of those around him lead him to question the ethics of humanity and himself as he fights to survive the apocalypse.

  Hawkins perception of the immoral decisions of the leadership in seeking a possible cure force him to reevaluate his past and question his own motives as he tries desperately to conceal a secret that could ruin him and prevent him from keeping the fragile promise which has become his only motivation to live. From the sanctuary of the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales to the promise of an escape through the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone, Kent, their only hope for survival and for the possibility of ending the zombie outbreak, the diverse group of people experience loss while they hope for success but all at a very high price.

  Son Of Blood. Amongst the horror, her love was his salvation.

  Martin is a four hundred year old vampire. Together with his son, Christian, he protects the idyllic nature of the coastal town of Skerries, for a significant cost, the blood of the strangers who outstay their welcome. Martin knows his soul is cursed and that, when the time comes, he will burn for eternity in the depths of hell but he strives to ensure that Christian will never have to take a human life and thus be reunited with his human mother in heaven. Revered, respected and feared, the town's people know little about the vampires that coexist with them except that when they are called upon, they come. This is something that the seemingly unassuming town Mayor manipulates for his own benefit. It is not until he learns of the forbidden love between Christian and his daughter and the mysterious death of one of the town's teenagers, that the Mayor and residents turn on their supernatural guardians.

  Acknowledgements

  This is the book that brought me to the attention of Pants on Fire Press so thanks to David, Becca and all the team.

  I sincerely hope you enjoyed this book. So far I have four sequels in my head. And the process of getting them down on paper has begun!

  Join me on Twitter (@cjoneshorror),on Facebook (www.facebook.com/craigjoneshorror) or at my website www.craigjoneshorror.co.uk.

  Craig Jones

  Catalog Links

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  After witnessing Livia’s accident, Adam sees something intriguing in her quick recovery, something that gives him hope that he’s not alone. Adam is the only one whose emotions Livia can’t read. Afraid of not knowing what goes on behind his dark eyes, Livia decides to keep him at a distance. Yet the more she tries to ignore him, the more alluring he becomes, and while their personal quests for identity will inevitably bring them closer together, it is the confirmation of what they really are that threatens to tear them apart. Resilient, told in alternating point of views, is a gripping story of survival and romance, in which two teenagers face the consequences of being anything but normal.

  Hidden Power Aurora Turnleaf has lived her whole life hearing fairy tales of mysterious lands, magical beings, and crystal towers. She thought nothing of them until the day she stumbled upon a magnificent city, deep within the woods, built entirely of see-through crystal. It appeared out of nowhere, in a part of the forest she’s never ventured into before, and suddenly all those stories she heard growing up become much less imaginary. Her guide is Iragos, a light mage, who introduces her to Kayne, a mage in training for a dark wizard named Kronos. Unbeknownst to Aurora, Kayne had just stolen the Ythra Orb form the Hallowed Hall on behalf of his master and hidden it in her pack. Suddenly Aurora is thrust into a life or death journey to help Kayne find the mystical land of Morgis, home to the Oracles who first created the Orb, in hopes that they can secure its safety against Kronos. The path to Morgis will be treacherous enough, but it is what follows the two teens that is more life threatening. For the dark mage’s fierce legion of vicious minions is on their path, with Kronos himself not far behind, and all of them are intent on intercepting Kayne and Aurora at every turn. Meanwhile Aurora and Kayne must battle both the elements and Kronos’ dark magic to complete their quest. And along the way, the two teens from very different worlds must learn to work together to overcome obstacles, one of them being their mutual attraction.

  How I Became A Teenage Survivalist Bracken is a typical teenage boy, more interested in the angles of the girl’s exposed back teasing him from the seat ahead of him than in anything the geometry teacher could present. His life is filled with school, video games, and thoughts of girls, not necessarily in that order. Life just flows along uneventfully and unacknowledged, like the electricity that courses through the power lines — until PF (Power Failure) Day. On PF Day, the sun strikes Bracken’s world with an unseen surge of electromagnetic fury, which cripples power stations and burns transformers to crispy nuggets of regret.

  No one in Bracken’s world had ever thought about how much they depended on electrical power, but now, without it, they are plunged into survival mode. Without electricity there is no communication, no modern conveniences, and soon, no modern means of transportation, as the reserves of refined gasoline run dry. Worse still is the failure of the water and sewer systems, the impossibility of getting food and supplies to people living in cities, and the deaths of millions of people from starvation, disease, and lack of medical care.

  Bracken soon realizes how lucky he is to live on a farm in the Midwest. What seemed like a dull and backwards life before is now the greatest chance for survival in what seems like a powerless world. Food, water, and heat are readily available, although hard work is required to make use of them. Bracken and his family must learn to survive like their ancestors, who settled their land. Told in the first person, Bracken tells the story of how they not only survive, but how PF Day actually makes their lives better and more satisfying.

  I Am Currency Would you turn in your books to a corrupt government, or would you join the movement? When a meteor slams into the earth causing a shift in the planet's magnetic core, the age of technology ends and economies across the globe crash. Years later, knowledge is not only power…it is currency. Bookkeepers are invaluable in this post-apocalyptic world. Nevel can never tell anyone he is a bookkeeper. His photographic memory is his secret. With a dystopian government that keeps all known books under lock and key looming as a constant threat and with parents involved as agents in the U.B.M. (Underground Book Movement) to protect the books that still secretly exist, Nevel is in a dangerous position. Never does this cause an issue until the day a fellow classmate, Quinn, appears at his door and proves to know more than she should. Awards: 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist (Children's/Juvenile Fiction).

  My Water Path Mississippi, the late 1950s. After the death of his father, eleven-year-old Jory Sheppard runs away from an unwanted life in foster care. Trying to make it on his own, he is caught in a violent storm on the Mississippi River, but when he is rescued from the raging waters by an old black man named Moses, it becomes the event that will change his life.

  Taken into Moses’ family as one of their own, Jory is introduced to a world so familiar and yet so very different from the one he once knew. As he learns and grows under the benevolent care of his new family, he struggles to make sense of the society
in which he lives—a society that would spit on a man such as Moses simply because his skin is black, and make every effort to rip Jory from the family he loves.

  Quickly entrenched in a struggle that is much bigger than himself, Jory must learn the difference between what feels necessary and what is right, what pity is, and what hate is. If he wants to fight the injustice and uncertainty that surrounds him, he must learn what it really means to stand up for what he believes in.

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