The Sellouts Read online

  The Sellouts

  Written by:

  Jeffrey Alan Henning

  Copyright © 2009 by Jeffrey Alan Henning

  Cover and icon design by Jeffrey Alan Henning

  Book written by Jeffrey Alan Henning

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Jeffrey Alan Henning

  Other books by Jeffrey Alan Henning:

  Please visit: http://www.rikoun.com/library.html

  Dominating the Demon Within

  Release Date: November 30th, 2014

  Short Description: In the Three Lands, Angels and Demons can inhabit human hosts, should the host accept them. Angels are revered, while Demons are killed onsite. So when the Angel Aturah the Wise asks to travel with one of the last remaining magic users in the Three Lands, Grammard Poske can’t refuse. Soon into their journey, Grammard is abducted by a group of Demons. His only way to survive is to summon the Demon Paos into him. While Grammard and Paos battle over control of their shared body, Grammard discovers a plot for Demons to rule the world that has been in progress for over a century.

  The Avatar Series

  Book 1: Death Trade

  Release Date: July 8th, 2013

  Short Description: John Ashkore has been the Avatar of Death for a little over 7 years. As Death’s helping hand on the mortal plane, he is frequently given tasks by Death himself. Only this time, the task is something John never expected, keeping someone alive instead of dead! The problems are: he must do this while fending off a psychopath who wants him dead, maintaining secrecy from the world, ducking the law, keeping one of Death’s clients alive, and above all - staying alive himself…

  Book 2: Luck is Everywhere

  Release Date: September 6th, 2013

  Short Description: Helena Thompson has been the Avatar of Luck for a few years now, though all she's been doing is training. Finally, Lady Luck has given her a mission to accomplish in the real world, and it's only her Luck that's keeping her alive. Luck, and John Ashkore - the Avatar of Death.

  With someone close to her trying to kill her, and unable to trust anyone but The Avatar of Death and his “Butler”, Stephan, she must find out who’s trying to kill her while proving to Lady Luck that she’s a capable Avatar of Luck.

  The Crymson Guard

  (Short Stories)

  Storysode #01: Prisoner 500

  Release Date: January 1st, 2015

  Short Description: A team consisting of an Agent, a Wizard, a Knight, A Fairy, and a Healer is brought together to save Earth from enslavement and slaughter by Demons.

  Storysode #02: Infiltrated!

  Release Date: February 19th, 2015

  Short Description: The team’s new headquarters is infiltrated by Demons and they must figure out how to combat and protect themselves from this new threat.

  Storysode #03: Demon Lord Drahux

  Release Date: April 5th, 2015

  Short Description: The Wizard and the Knight must find out who is posing as the new Demon Lord Drahux and find out what he wants with the other half of the Wizard’s staff.

  Prologue

  January 25th, 1915 1:03 AM

  The opera, “Madame Sans-Gêne”, was barely past intermission when Tina Oslett ran from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City as fast as she could, throwing her knock-off fur coat over her shoulders. The snow was falling lightly over the fur as she pulled it close to her.

  “Mrs. Oslett! Please wait! Let me explain!” a man shouted after her.

  She stopped quickly and pointed her finger in the man’s face. “Mr. Dunsby! I can not believe you would propose such a thing! Shame on you and your family! What would your wife think?”

  “Please, we don’t have to tell her. We can just forget this ever happened and go back to finish the opera.” Mr. Dunsby said quietly, trying to grab her arm.

  She shook away from his arm and stalked off, raising her arm for one of the new-fangled taxis. She wouldn’t get very far with the little money she had, but she decided anywhere was better than here right now. The taxi was loud as it pulled up. The cabbie jumped out quickly and rushed to open the door for her, tipping his hat and saying “Good evening, Miss.” as he did so. He ran around the cab quickly and jumped back into the driver’s seat.

  “Where to Miss?” he asked her.

  She fished out a few pennies. “How far will three pennies get me towards Brooklyn?” she asked him quietly.

  “Almost the whole way for a pretty lass like you.” he said as he started driving.

  Tina gave a dark look towards Mr. Dunsby as the cab lurched forward.

  “Rough night, Miss?” the cabbie asked.

  “No offense to you Sir, but I’d rather not talk about it.” she said as she pulled her short fur coat over as much of her legs as she could.

  The cabbie tipped his hat with a quick glance back. “Sorry Miss, I didn’t mean anything by it, just usually talk on the drive is all.” he said quickly.

  The streets weren’t crowded at all at this time of night, so the trip was relatively short. The cabbie took her as far as her three pennies would take her and stopped twelve blocks short of her apartment. The cabbie ran around and opened the door for her, and held his hand out to help her out.

  “Mind the puddle, Miss.” he said as she stepped over it.

  “Thank you for the ride.” she said as she handed him the only money she had on her.

  “Be careful on these streets, Miss.” he said with another tip of his hat. He walked around and got into his cab, driving off through the light snow.

  Tina didn’t say anything to him as she started walking towards her small one bedroom apartment that she shared with one of her girlfriends. She was thinking about Mr. Dunsby and how she had to go back to work for him in the morning, even though he had given her tomorrow off if she would come to the opera with him. She had agreed only because he said he was meeting clients and would need her to take notes for him. He lied. He wanted her. She shook her head as she cursed quietly.

  The lights from buildings on the street dimly lit her path, some were flickering, and all were casting strange shadows. She was mostly watching the ground as she walked, careful of slipping on the ice in her best heels when she had bumped into someone. He seemed to come out of nowhere.

  “Excuse me, Sir.” she apologized. When she got a good look at him, she noticed he was wearing dirty clothes, his face was unshaven, and the top of his head was bald. He looked back at her and looked her up and down.

  “You’ll do nicely!” he said.

  Suddenly a hand was covering her mouth and she was being dragged into the alleyway by another man she hadn’t noticed. She screamed through the hand.

  “Quiet down, or I’ll have to hurt you.” the first man said quietly, brandishing a pocket knife. “Hurry up, get her to the back wall.” he told the man dragging her.

  “I’m tryin’ to, but she’s wigglin’ too much.” the other man said as he finally just lifted her off the ground with his second hand around her waist.

  Tina continued to scream through the hand, and kick and punch at the man holding her. It had no effect. She doubted he even felt it through his thick coat.

  “Put her over the crate there.” the man with the knife said as they neared the back of the alleyway.

  Tina was slammed down hard on her back over the crate so that her head and her feet were dangling off the ends. She tried to punch and kick, but the first man had grabbed both of her tiny wrists in one hand, and still clamped his hand over her mouth, push
ing her head down at an angle that hurt.

  The man with the knife used it to cut her cheap fur coat down the front, ripping it open furiously. He smiled an ugly toothless grin as he cut the front of her dress from her bosom down to the end. The only sounds coming from the alleyway were her muffled cries and the ripping of fabric as he tore her nicest dress off and started revealing her naked body.

  “Nice…” he mumbled as he unzipped his pants.

  The man holding her moved his hand from her mouth and reached for her naked breast. As he did, she screamed as loud as she could.

  “What are you doin’? It’s my turn to fuck, your turn to hold! Shut her up!” the man with the knife said as he penetrated her hard. She cried out in pain and fear as the man put his hand back over her mouth.

  His hand was partially in her mouth this time, so she bit him as hard as she could. He yelled and pulled his hand up, only to slam it back down on her mouth, forcing her head down too hard. There was a cracking sound as her neck broke.

  Her body went limp.

  “What did you do?” the man with the knife said as he pulled out of her and zipped his pants up quickly.

  “She bit me.” the big man said quickly in his defense.

  “You killed her! She’s not breathin’ anymore!” the man said while backing away.”

  “So… mind if I have a go?” the big man asked him.

  “You’re gonna’ fuck a corpse?” he said, backing away.

  “She’s still warm.” he shrugged.

  The knife-man shook his head and hurried backward towards the entrance to the alleyway. “Just make it fast.” he told the other man, who just smiled at him. “I’ll keep a lookout.”

  January 25th, 1915 4:07 AM

  A stray dog sniffed around the dark alleyway where Tina Oslett had been murdered. The dog searched out food, going from trash bin to trash bin. At the end of the alleyway, it found a cold human toe and started to lick it.

  Bones crunched in Tina’s neck as it regenerated, and the dog barked at the sound, backing away from its recent find. Seconds later, Tina sucked in a deep breath and let out a scream.

  The dog barked at her.

  She sat up slowly, dusting a fresh coat of snow off of her and pulling her cut clothing around her for warmth. She shivered as she looked around. She grasped at her neck with her free hand, the other clasping the clothing around her body.

  “What just happened?” she said out loud as she looked at the dog. It regarded her with indifference, cautiously moving towards her toe, then backing off and barking when she moved a little.

  “I was dead! I felt it when I was killed!” she said as she slowly stood up. She looked around for the two men who had raped her and found nothing except the dog that was following her as she moved slowly down the alleyway.

  Seeing no one around, she moved as quickly as she could towards her apartment in a ripped dress, a broken heel, and a missing shoe.

  Chapter 1

  April 1st, 2015 12:15 PM

  He walked down the street as any regular guy would, not exactly running, but not lazily either.

  “Chancer, are you close?” someone in his earpiece said.

  He moved his hand slowly up to his head, as if brushing his hair, but stopped to touch his earpiece and whisper, “Two blocks away.”

  “He’s heading in your direction. You’ll need to slow him down until Douser can catch up.” his earpiece told him.

  He made the hair brushing move again and whispered, “Roger that.”

  He stepped up his pace, still not running, but moved to more of a power walk. He had no idea how he was going to deal with this monster, but all he had to do was slow it down until Douser could stop the monster’s powers.

  When he passed the second block, he saw it. A man who looked huge, like he worked out, and was easily six feet tall, wearing a wife-beater and spandex pants. He was also lifting a car over his head – complete with people inside screaming.

  “He’s got hostages.” Chancer said as he touched his earpiece.

  The monster – which was what the TSO Agents called anyone who used their super powers for bad purposes – threw the car at a woman who came running up behind him. Chancer’s right hand tingled, and he used it to pick up a glass from a nearby table and thr0w it at the woman, who ducked, narrowly missing getting hit by the airborne car. The car landed safely on its tires, and the people inside were still screaming as they were trying to get out and make a run for it.

  “I’ll distract him.” Chancer said into his earpiece.

  He ran towards the monster, shouting “Hey asswipe! Over here!”

  The monster turned towards him and growled. He shouted “You’ll never take me, Sellouts!” as he picked up the next car on the block and lifted it over his.

  Chancer ran across the street. He slid to a stop and nearly fell when the monster threw the car at him. This one didn’t have anyone inside, but the alarm sounded as at flew towards him. Luckily for him, he turned his near-fall into a roll and went under the car as it crashed behind him. He was on his feet in an instant and ran towards the monster’s left side, hopefully distracting him enough for Douser to make her move.

  The monster swung his huge arms at him in a pitiful attempt to catch him, but he easily dodged them and moved down the street a little ways, away from where Douser would be coming.

  “Come and get me fucker!” Chancer stopped to yell at him.

  The monster picked up the next car, which was some sort of SUV, and lifted it with a grunt over his head. Chancer raised his eyebrows in alarm and backed away quickly, but there was no need, Douser ran in quickly and rubbed her hand across the monster’s arm as she ran past him, taking his powers with her.

  With no more super-strength, the monster screamed as the SUV fell on top of him.

  April 1st, 2015 2:00 PM

  Trisha Sofia Oslett sat in the secret hearings for ‘Protection of citizens from humans with extraordinary abilities’, and was quite bored. So far, all Senator Jack Wiggons had done is call out her company, TSO for holding a monopoly on capturing and detaining ‘Humans with extraordinary powers.’

  “So in cooperation with the Secret Service, TSO is capable of handling any threat from humans with extraordinary powers. Is that correct, Miss Oslett?” the Senator asked.

  “That is correct, Senator.” she replied.

  “And they have contracts to you for services in capturing and detaining humans with extraordinary powers, correct?” he asked, again.

  “That is correct, Senator.” she replied again.

  “How is it that your company, TSO, is the only company that can perform these services?” he asked her.

  “We are the best at what we do, Senator. We are not preventing anyone else from challenging our contracts.” she told the Senator.

  The Senator scoffed and there were whispers amongst the seven panel members that say with the Senator.

  “How is it that you and your company knows so much about these humans with extraordinary powers?” asked Cathy Ginnis, Inpector General.

  “We’ve been over this for the last hour, Inspector General. While most of our information is classified, we trade intelligence with the Secret Service on potential threats to the citizens of the United States. And again for the record, we don’t call them ‘humans with extraordinary powers’ - if they are bad, we call them ‘Monsters’, and if they are good, we call them ‘Heroes’.” she told the panel.

  “You still haven’t answered the question, Miss Oslett.” the Senator asked.

  “My answer is that the working knowledge of our company is classified by the President of the United States, and if you’d like to know more, you will need authorization from him.” she said coldly.

  “What can you tell us about why we’re spending four billion dollars a year for services that our own law enforcement agencies can handle?” asked the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, John Clouse.

  “I can do more than tell you, Sir. I br
ought videos of why your law enforcement agencies aren’t equipped to handle these monsters.” she said as she held up a DVD. A man in uniform came and collected it, and put it into the player. He gave the remote to Trisha, who immediately hit play.

  “Come on coppers! You got nothin’ that’ll hurt me!” said the well-muscled man in the video. The camera shook, as though it was a cell phone recording from a bystander.

  “Get on the ground and put your hands behind your head!” said one of the policemen from behind a police car through his megaphone.

  “Fuck you, copper!” the well-muscled man shouted as he ran and jumped on the police car as the other officers started shooting at him.

  Bullets just ricocheted off his shirtless chest as he grabbed the megaphone wielding officer and beat him until he collapsed. An officer to the left fired his taser at him. The wires hit his chest – only to fall to the ground. The taser wielding officer was the next to be beaten bloody. Two officers then attempted to wrestle with him, only to be thrown to the ground and also beaten bloody.

  After three more officers were brutally beaten on film, the well-muscled man started going after the civilians, and the cell phone was dropped. Only screams could be heard.

  Trisha paused the video just as a splatter of blood covered the screen.

  “Do you remember Chase Manton? Seven officers died that day. Twenty four officers were seriously injured, and eight civilians were also seriously injured before we got the call to take him down.” she said.

  “And how did you take him down?” asked John Clouse.

  “That’s classified. All I can tell you is that he was disabled promptly, and is currently imprisoned in a cell specially designed for his powers of super strength and impenetrable skin.” she said. “Shall we continue?” she said as she pushed play again.