The Lilitu (The Lilitu Trilogy Book 1)

  THE LILITU

  The Lilitu Trilogy Book One

  Toby Tate

  A PERMUTED PRESS BOOK

  Published at Smashwords

  ISBN (eBook): 978-1-61868-541

  THE LILITU

  The Lilitu Trilogy Book One

  © 2015 by Toby Tate

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover art by Christian Bentulan

  This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events, and situations are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.

  Permuted Press

  109 International Drive, Suite 300

  Franklin, TN 37067

  http://permutedpress.com

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks and love beyond measure to God, my wife, Laura, and daughter, Zoe, the lights of my life and my inspiration.

  For immeasurable assistance in the Land Down Under, special thanks to Jessica Lay, Joanna Dale, Kerry Cummings Weaver, Leigh Penick Kott; From the Absolute Write Water Cooler Forum: Cath, Helix, Albedo, LA*78, Jaymz Connelly, Cathy C., Racey, Rufus Coppertop.

  Thanks especially to my first readers: Tina Beck, Shelley Milligan, Eric Escalera, Andi Hunt and Kimberly Waddell.

  As always, I want to thank my amazing literary agent, MacKenzie Fraser-Bub at Trident Media Group, for her guidance and encouragement; Michael Wilson, President of Permuted Press, for giving this unknown author a chance at superstardom; and Hannah Yancey, managing editor at Permuted Press and a fabulous human being, for making the stars align.

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  About the Author

  Chapter one

  Thick, white liquid was leaking from every pore of Gabrielle Lincoln’s body, but she dared not scream, because the noise would bring them. She felt no pain, only revulsion as she tried to steady her breathing, slow it to a normal cadence. She tore off her shirt, then stripped off her pants, and stared down at the flesh of her abdomen as the milky substance continued to ooze from her skin. It suddenly rose up in her throat and sprayed from her mouth like a geyser as she heaved and gasped for breath, and finally caught one, desperately sucking air into her tortured lungs. She knew what was happening—the thing that had controlled her mind was leaving her body. That knowledge, however, didn’t make it any less terrifying. But she knew that once it was gone, it wouldn’t be back.

  She felt herself beginning to lose consciousness, multi-colored stars filling her vision as she fought the overwhelming urge to tumble face first out the door and into the dirt. But she knew she couldn’t afford to lose it now. She had to force herself to remain focused throughout the ordeal, and then make her way out into the desert. That presented another problem—the temperatures in the bush, or the outback as it was known to most, could reach over one hundred degrees. From what she could tell from the heat, it was around mid-January, which for Australia meant the middle of summer. The small outhouse in which she was now hiding was like an oven. Ironically, the liquid seeping from her body also acted as a temporary coolant.

  In seconds, and much to her relief, the flow stopped, the last few drops sliding down her leg to join the others, like metal attracted to a magnet. She was mesmerized by the white puddle and its dance-like movements, watching as it silently undulated and morphed into something like a headless snake. Then the liquid snake thing split itself into multi tentacles, like an upside-down jelly fish, each appendage grasping at the air, searching in vain for a new host. She stepped up on the plastic lid of the toilet and waited, wiping saliva from her mouth with the back of a hand. The liquid began to change into a gas, steam rising from it, the tentacles becoming smaller and smaller as the thing flipped wildly around the space in its final death throes, finally evaporating into nothing.

  Gabe released a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding, and stepped down off the toilet. She grabbed her clothes, now completely dry, and slipped them on—a pair of blue jeans, a pink t-shirt, a pair of Adidas sneakers and a ball cap with a Wallabies logo on the front. She held up the t-shirt—in big block letters it read, “I’m just a little f-ing ray of sunshine.” She didn’t remember buying the shirt, and in fact, probably hadn’t, since she hated wearing the color pink. It was likely a joke instigated by the men who had been holding her captive, and doing God only knew what else to her. Luckily, the memories of that were gone forever. Unfortunately, the things she had been doing since they had brought her here were gone with them. There was no telling how they had used her. As a CIA operative, she could have revealed national secrets that would do untold damage to the United States.

  But perhaps that had been the catalyst of her salvation—they had pushed her a little too far, asked a little too much, and then the light inside of her had snapped on, driving out the darkness, and the creature along with it.

  At least, that hypothesis made sense for now. Whatever the reason, it was gone, and soon she would be gone, as well.

  She tied her long, brown hair up in a bun and then pulled the ball cap over it. She prayed that it wasn’t that time of the month—she had no idea where her birth control pills were or if she had even been taking them. She would have to remedy that once she got to civilization.

  She wondered how many people were here at the compound. She couldn’t remember anything from the day she had been infected up until just a few minutes ago, except maybe for bits and pieces. But she couldn’t be sure what was true memory and what was dream memory. It was all mixed up together inside her brain like subway commuters at rush hour.

  Gabe gently pushed the wooden door open and peeked out through the crack—nobody around, at least that she could see. She pushed it open further and stepped outside, and then quietly closed it behind her.

  She turned and flinched when she saw a man she didn’t recognize staring down at her.

  “Well, that took long enough,” he said.

  Chapter two

  The guy was at least six-two, with arms as big as her thighs and a nose that looked like it had been broken a few times. She had no clue what his name was. The first thing that came to mind was Sasquatch. There was no way she could tell if he was human, or one of them, but if he caught even a whiff of fear, or thought that something was wrong, she knew she was fucked.

  “Sorry. When nature calls, you gotta answer, mate.” Turning away, she started walking toward the ramshackle house with Sasquatch in tow. They were about fifty meters out, which afforded her a quick glance around the grounds. There was no Land Rover or any other kind of vehicle, which meant that someone had probably gone for supplies. There were some small trees and a lot of scrub, but mostly dirt and sand. Several zebra finches flitted bet
ween the house and a tree, startled by the movement as she walked by. Behind the house stood a large solar panel with a battery beneath it and another beside it. Spaced about three meters away was a smaller solar panel and another battery, probably used to power a refrigeration unit, she figured. They were completely off the grid here. Not a comforting thought.

  They could kill me and bury my body out here—nobody would ever know.

  Farther back from the house was a large water tank, with a gravity tank above it, providing pressure inside the house. She had seen her father build one of these in his own attempt to lower his utility costs, which could be extremely high in Australia. Eventually, her mother had complained that the pressure was just too low for her liking, and the water didn’t heat quickly enough, so they had gone back to using the city water supply.

  As they got close to the house, she could see that the wood frame was old, mid-nineteenth century. It had probably belonged to someone in the group, and was refurbished for their purposes, which she could only guess at. Was it just here for her? Had they known she would search them out? It wouldn’t surprise her. They were frighteningly intelligent.

  But they still had their weaknesses, and she would exploit them for her own survival.

  As they passed through the open doorway, Gabe realized that nothing inside the house looked familiar. She felt a sudden surge of panic shoot like ice water through her veins. She had no clue what she had been doing, or any idea of how to fake it. She had been living a completely different life until just minutes ago, and now she was out of time and out of ideas.

  There were papers and files everywhere on makeshift desks. There was a doorway and another room beyond, where she spotted a propane stove and a small generator, probably for some kind of freezer unit, she figured. The walls were bare wood, the windows small and dirty with windblown sand.

  Then, from the corner of her eye, she spotted something lying on an old wooden crate—her knife, a toxic-green-handled Ka-Bar “Zombie War Sword” with a ten-inch steel blade. For some reason they had let her keep it or, more than likely, were planning to use it themselves. Either way, she had to find a way to get her hands on it, and quickly.

  She moved toward the knife as if looking for something.

  “Hey, where are you going?” the giant said, his low voice booming inside the small room. “The papers you were working on are over here.”

  Gabe froze. “I know. I just need to grab something else,” she said. The icy fingers of panic once again tried to grip her, but she forced it back down with all of her will and focused on her next move. She purposely walked directly between the big man and the crate where the knife lay, effectively blocking his view of what she was about to do. With one smooth movement, she leaned over and grabbed a stack of papers off the floor, while grabbing the knife with the other hand. She slipped the hand with the knife under the stack of papers, the blade against her arm and facing toward her elbow. She stood, turned, began walking toward the man as he watched, eyeing her up and down. A smile suddenly creased his face.

  “How about some you and me, eh love? All work and no play, and all that. I’ll give you a little somethin’ you won’t forget.”

  Gabe rolled her eyes as she continued walking. “Yeah. Accent on the little.”

  “You sorry bitch…” he growled, and raised a hand to grab her.

  Before he could touch her, Gabe let the papers fall as she spun like a figure skater in a three-sixty, the knife extending straight out from the bottom of her hand. She glimpsed the utter surprise in the man’s eyes a millisecond before the long blade severed his windpipe, sending a spray of blood across the far wall like spatters of red paint. His hands instantly flew up to his throat, as if he could somehow hold the gaping wound closed long enough to suck in a breath. Gabe, crouching and still clutching the knife, watched with cold detachment as the big man sank to the floor on his knees, blood leaking over meaty fingers, eyes wide with bewilderment and fear. Then, drowned in his own blood, he toppled forward with a smack, sending loose papers floating up into the air like oversized leaves.

  Sorry, mate. It was either you or me.

  This guy was definitely not controlled—the parasite would have left the body immediately. She didn’t think he was one of them, either. They wouldn’t be this easy to kill. He was likely a mercenary, here to look after her and make sure she was doing whatever it was they wanted her to do. As far as she was concerned, he was as guilty as they were.

  She glanced around the room.

  Now I just need to figure out what the hell I was doing here.

  Chapter three

  Gabe took the big man’s watch off his wrist and strapped it on, then checked the date—as she had suspected, it was mid-January. She knew she didn’t have much time. She needed to go through the papers and try to find something, anything, that would give her a clue what she had been doing the past few months.

  She rolled Sasquatch off the loose papers and picked some of them up, wiped the blood off on a towel she had found in the kitchen, and looked them over.

  Most of them seemed to be receipts for water and propane delivery, all with her name on them. Great, she thought, she would have a hell of a time explaining this to her bosses. She supposed she should consider herself lucky, however—these people had a habit of killing those they didn’t find useful. But they wouldn’t have used her just as some kind of records keeper. They would have made use of the skills she had learned in the CIA. She was also a graduate of Harvard Business School, and then she had been an intelligence officer for the US Air Force.

  How would they have taken advantage of that?

  She found a laptop and a small filing cabinet in a cluttered room in the back of the house and began going through the various files. From the dates on the pages, everything had started within days after they had captured her. Then she found something very interesting—it seemed they were investing in the shares market—heavily. Probably doing insider trading, as well, she figured. Even as smart as they were, they would need some help navigating the waters of shares trading, which could be rather rough for beginners. They were investing thousands in various high-risk shares, obviously to make the most money in the least time. But why? She was sure it was for more than just supporting a lavish lifestyle. They were planning something that needed money, and lots of it.

  Gabe wanted to check out the files on the laptop, but knew it was probably encrypted, and she was out of time. Whoever had taken their transportation would soon be back. She yanked the flash drive out and shoved it in her pocket. She glanced over the most important papers, tried to find anything that might look important that she could study later, when she was away from here. She put them all in a stack and began searching the house for things that she could take on her journey. The two things she needed most were water and food.

  She searched the house and found an empty backpack in a makeshift closet, along with a canteen, which she filled from the sink. There wasn’t much food that she could take that wasn’t perishable. She grabbed a jar of Vegemite and then stuffed a half loaf of bread in the backpack. She wished there was more, but she would make do. She would just have to ration it. She found a twenty-foot length of rope that might come in handy and tied it onto the backpack. She also found the leather sheath for her knife, a tube of sunscreen, a pair of sunglasses, a blanket, some matches, a flashlight, her toothbrush and a few clothes. Unfortunately, no firearms.

  Gabe stuffed everything into her backpack, along with the papers she had found, took one last look around, and then headed out the door and into the Big Red.

  * * *

  She moved away from the compound as far as she could, in case whoever had left decided to return before she was completely out of sight. It was the middle of the day, and as she suspected, hot as hell. At least there was no humidity to deal with. But it tended to get cold at night, so the blanket would come in handy whenever she decided to sleep.

  Getting through this alive would take every
bit of training and endurance Gabe had amassed up to this point. The outback, a huge area that encompassed everything from populated communities and small mining towns to arid deserts and thick forests full of crocodiles and venomous snakes, was a force not to be taken lightly. She had grown up in it and was taught to respect it. She hoped she was close to the grasslands, and not in the desert that comprised most of the center.

  The question was, which direction was the right direction? Her instincts said she was probably near the east coast, and if that was the case, she needed to head east. But if she was wrong, she could be headed into over six million square kilometers of nothingness—and she would be long-dead before she even covered a fraction of it.

  As if that wasn’t enough to worry about, there were also the dingoes.

  She prayed that her intuition was sound, because as soon as they discovered she was gone, they would begin their pursuit, and right now she needed to put distance between herself and the compound.

  She pulled off her ball cap and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of an arm, then pulled the cap back on. She slipped on the sunglasses she had found and began walking toward the sun.

  Chapter four

  Five months earlier—August

  New York City—Midtown Manhattan

  Gabe stood with arms crossed, watching as the huge mobile crane hauled the beast’s two-ton carcass up from the depths below the Thirty-fourth Street subway station. She was surprised at how peaceful the monster appeared in her sedated state, hanging limply from the harness, fur as white as an oversized polar bear, large claws and dagger-like teeth still terrifying even in sleep. The beast had been unfazed by bullets and grenade launchers, healing in a matter of hours or even minutes from wounds that would have killed much bigger creatures. But even her blood could not resist the power of a strong animal tranquilizer. That had been their salvation and the beast’s downfall.