Becoming Zodiak Page 18

  “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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  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
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  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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