Netherstream - Episode 1: Jane Doe (7 page)

“What model is that?”

“Unknown. It appears to be a variant of the AH-64 Apache helicopter.”

“Can you access its systems?”

“Only the navigational systems. The weapons systems are encrypted.”

“How long until you crack the code?”

“Seven days, unless we get lucky.”

I tapped my fingers on the keyboard, staring at the guard circling the sleek, black helicopter. “Why so long?”

“Someone compromised it first.”

“What?”

“Relax. Its weapons system aren’t useful unless the helicopter is an appreciable distance from the target.”

“What about the weapons themselves? Can any of the bombs be detonated while the helicopter is stationary?”

The computer did not immediately respond.

“Dvarium?” I raised my voice.

“One moment, please…yes, the system has a self-destruct function that detonates the entire payload.”

Unbelievable. A ticking time bomb parked right overhead. “Lose the guard,” I commanded.

“Affirmative.”

A burst of light streaked across the screen, puncturing the guard’s chest and snapping him in two.

“Couldn’t you have used a smaller gun?” I asked.

“It was more humane this way,” the computer replied.

“You could have hit the helicopter.”

“Worry about your own aim, Valis.”

I’d forgotten how much of a prick Dvarium could be. With an IQ more than a hundred times my own, I was more like a heckler at a comedy club, and the guy with the microphone always wins. “Initialize systems and take off. Get away from the hotel. Once you’re out of range, shut the bird down. Can you do this?”

“Affirmative,” said Dvarium.

Suddenly the blades of the helicopter began to turn. The chopper lifted off, and veered away.

“Dispatching drones,” Dvarium said a few moments later.

“What are you doing?” I watched three silver orbs trail after it and scatter.

“Left rail, center missile. Engaged. Firing.”

“Jam its guidance system!” I screamed.

“I can’t. Incoming.”

The hellfire missile streaked towards the screen. At the last moment it collided with one of the drones, fell into the street and exploded, flaying legions of unsuspecting zombies. The helicopter continued firing at will, tearing up the city with its twin Gatling guns and blowing up a grocery store in the process.

“The subject is now out of range. Shutting down all systems,” said the computer.

“Good work, Dvarium. Hide her well.”

“I have a special place for her downtown.”

“Aaaaaah!!!” A man screamed. I cycled through the cameras, but couldn’t locate him.

“Dvarium, indentify the source.” A smile crept on my face.

“It’s your boyfriend, General Vax. Hotel lobby,” the computer replied.

“Is he intact?”

“Same asshole, one less testicle.”

“Infected?”

“Isn’t everyone?”

The general stumbled around, firing into the front desk. “Come out, you bitch!”

“Band 3812.6 active. Acquiring radio transmission. Decrypting,” said Dvarium.

“Everything all right? I heard gunfire, sir,” the soldier’s nervous voice came over the speaker system.

“Get everyone down here, now!” Leon ripped out his earpiece and tossed it across the lobby. He staggered into the lounge and continued firing.

“Dvarium, do something before he tears the place apart.”

“Just talk to him.”

“What?”

“Talk to him,” the computer repeated.

I leaned forward, marveling at the fury of the wild beast before me. “Manners, general. You’ll be fucked soon enough. How hard depends on you.” My voice echoed through every room in the hotel.

Leon stopped and looked around.

“Perhaps you should grab your pack of Djarum Blacks and get the fuck out of here. It would not be wise to stick around.” Who was I kidding? He didn’t have a brain in his fucking head to begin with.

The general forced a smile on his face. “On the contrary, I’m getting quite comfortable here.” He cocked his gun.

“Really? Should I take your other testicle as well?”

The general screamed and shot up the cameras and speakers.

“You’ll never shut me up, no matter how hard you try, general.”

“Fucking bitch!” He continued shooting up the lounge.

“Nice…now can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?”

Suddenly the remaining soldiers joined him by the fountain.

“Last chance, Leon,” I warned him.

“Go fuck yourself.” The general opened fire on the stone sculpture of the horse. His men joined in, shooting off the tail and feet. Leon could have destroyed anything in the hotel and I’d only be moderately pissed. But not the horse. Never the horse.

“Dvarium, release an agent into the lounge. What are my options?” I asked.

“Halothane, Bromoacetone, and Malthion Discorvix.”

“Halothane,” I said, but couldn’t remember exactly what it did. It wasn’t like I could jump online and look this shit up, and I didn’t trust Dvarium to tell me what I needed to know. I only knew not to select Malthion Discovix. The name alone sounded evil. “Extend Halothane to the lobby as well.”

“Extended.”

One by one the soldiers fell over as gas permeated their lungs.

“Use your masks!” The general fell to one knee.

But in the end, it didn’t matter. Unless their masks were specifically designed for the agent, the wicked cocktail would still get through. It made me wonder what they were protecting themselves from if they couldn’t thwart a well-known anesthetic.

Leon didn’t bother with the mask, his end a foregone conclusion. Although he was already on his way down the netherstream, he was still susceptible to the gas. In one last act of defiance, he propped himself up with his rifle, mouthed a profanity, and collapsed on the floor.

“Checkmate.” I cracked my neck.

“Subjects neutralized. Taking samples now,” said Dvarium.

A slat in the wall opened just below the skylight, and a silver drone flew out. It hovered over the lounge, scanning the bodies with its laser eye. A second drone joined it, a thin needle extending from its robotic arm.

“Forget those fuckers. The children in the café…can anything be done for them?”

“Would you like me to reanimate them for you, Valis?” Dvarium offered.

“Yes,” I exhaled, tracing a hand over my heart.

Although their corpses had to be retrofitted with steel rods and metal plates to allow complete motion, the trio never looked more terrifying.

“Let’s go right for the main course, shall we? There’s a buffet in the lounge. Have fun, little ones.” I released them from their cage.

“Kice kream!” The kids clanked away on robotic feet.

I sat back in my chair and smiled. “Is the hotel all ours now?”

Dvarium did not immediately respond. “Yes,” he lied.

The following are a series of journal entries that I jotted down while finishing up Netherstream - Episode 1: Jane Doe. Now that Episode 1 has been out for quite some time, I’ve removed the entries from my blog and included them here. Enjoy!

Like many of my published works, Episode 1: Jane Doe was born on the page. At first, I had no idea where the story was taking me. Hundreds of words quickly became thousands. All I knew was that I was mesmerized by this snarky, new voice who had somehow survived the apocalypse and seemed to have it all figured out. Or so she thought. Sure, she had quite a mouth on her—don’t they all? But by and large I found her dry wit intoxicating. More and more words soon piled up. I needed to know more about this punk rock girl and why she was immune from the zombie hordes.

After writing for the better part of one Saturday, I found myself with a little over 8,000 words. Not a bad start, and I sensed that I was getting close to a revelation of some sort. Was I near the end? Could I tie up everything neatly once I reached 10,000 words? This wasn’t a simple short story anymore, but something far greater.

I slept on it and cranked out another thousand words the following morning before grinding to a halt. The ending—I just passed it! How was that possible? Not only that, how had I jumped into the next adventure without knowing it? This wasn’t an ordinary work of fiction, and the ending that I’d chosen—as macabre as it seemed—had all the signs of a serial.

With so many enticing questions left unanswered, the story felt enormous. 100,000 words wouldn’t do it justice. 200,000 probably wouldn’t, either. No, this was an epic series, with countless characters and storylines that frequently crossed paths.

Episode 1 was the first footsteps in the Netherstream universe, and there will be many more to come.

But could I polish the first installment and get it out the door in a reasonable timeframe? Good question. In my experience, the longer a work languishes, the less likely it will see the light of day. And after my first rewrite, 9,000 words quickly became 12,000, then 13,000. Was there an end it sight? This wasn’t a passing idea or experimental project anymore, and the editing job felt massive.

Would I persevere and finally get something out the door? Or would Episode 1 falter, just like many of my half-baked ideas?

Added the first half of chapter two to the blog this evening. The second half should be up by late Friday, and then it’s on to chapter three. At this point, the entire story has been written (draft one) and rewritten (draft two), though I’m missing part of the ending. I just need to edit and polish what I already have and put each chapter up on my blog.

But that’s easier said than done.

There’s been a big break in between the previous draft and the one I’m working on. I’ve got to get it all back in my head, and perhaps the best way to do this is to retype everything. Most people would cringe at the thought. After all, who wants to type up 16,000 words all over again? Madness! But by putting each word through your stream of consciousness, you wind up making thousands of decisions that you wouldn’t otherwise. You also build momentum where it may be lacking and give yourself a systematic goal to iterate from beginning to end and consider all the possibilities. Sure, it’s not the fastest process, but it is effective.

I’m on a roll now, and that’s all that matters, and my current draft is so much better than when I first started. I just need to keep moving forward.

By my estimate, Episode 1 should be completed in a week, or perhaps less if all goes well. I just need to stay focused and disciplined, which is literary gold for an author. Wish me luck!

I’ve made some tremendous sacrifices, but chapter two is now up in its entirety. This is the longest chapter that I’ve written to date, clocking in at 3,800 words. Yes, I’d prefer smaller chapters of 2,000 words or less, but once I got going I couldn’t stop. There was so much to see and explore and I felt like I was right there! Although it was an absolute monster (pun intended), I’m extremely satisfied. Next up is chapter three, which I’ll try to put up tomorrow.

I love this. Nothing feels better than having forward momentum.

I’ll keep writing if you keep reading…

9:00 a.m.

A tiny morsel of chapter three has just been posted. More later this evening...

3:20 p.m.

Just added another 1,300+ words to chapter three. Although it still hasn’t been published in its entirety, more than half is up. Enjoy!

5:30 p.m.

I hadn’t planned on doing another update, but the part I’m working on is just too good to pass up. Although it’s only another 900-ish words (pretty lame, I know), it’s absolutely hilarious. And…can you believe it? There’s still a little bit that needs to be edited so that I can finish chapter three.

Crap, I thought I was done with this.

:(

10:30 p.m.

It took all day (ugh!), but chapter three is now up in its entirety. What a great effort! I edited approximately 3,350+ words today, a personal best.

Whew! Now I’ll stumble off to bed and…

zZzZz…

10:00 a.m.

The first half of chapter four is up and it’s sure to crack you up! The rest will be posted later in the evening. As of right now, I’ve published 10,500+ words, and I’m expecting that the entire episode will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 16,000 words.

More than halfway there!

6:00 p.m.

Ugh! My keyboard is all screwed up, so I had to improvise. Once I solved the problem (i.e., I bought a new keyboard), I found myself grossly behind.

I’ve updated chapter four and now it’s 1,200 words long. Pathetic! There’s at least that much more to go, so we’ll see how much I’m able to do tonight. Even though it’s been challenging, I’ve still put in some good work; however, football is proving to be a major distraction. Grr…

10:20 p.m.

Today isn’t the day that I thought it would be. Despite some early adversity, I did reasonably well. I published 1,500+ words (about half of chapter four), for a grand total of 11,000. Not bad, but I’m still not where I want to be.

I’ll focus on wrapping up chapter four tomorrow and knock out a chunk of chapter five. Too bad I can’t crank this out like Ryoki Inoue, who is known to write entire novels in an evening.

Oh well.

Disappointed, but moving on…

1:00 p.m.

Wow, what a turnaround! It feels great to say that chapter four is up in its entirety. Now I have over 12,000 words with only two chapters remaining. The story takes a dramatic turn in the final chapters and the writing gets more difficult.

Stay tuned…

8:30 p.m.

Huge update! I just added most of chapter five, some 1,600 words in all. If you add in the 900 words that I rewrote from chapter four, I’ve already had a decent day.

The end is near…

10:30 p.m.

Chapter five is now up in its entirety. Just one chapter left to go! 14,500+ words published so far! I can’t believe it!

11:59 p.m.

I just finished chapter six, created the e-book, and submitted it to Amazon. I’m having second thoughts about submitting it to KDP Select, which would make it exclusive to Amazon for 90 days and enable me to earn borrows (which I’m compensated for) and free publicity (literally free, since I’d be giving my work away). This goes against my original plan of publishing Netherstream on as many platforms as possible.