Apocrypha Sequence: Inferno
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About this ebook
Monsters and humanity contend for dominion over the 21st century ... With the Kraken's rise off the shores of Western Australia, an age of monsters is ushered in. When wits and heroics fail, a secret cabal of guardians will take drastic, devastating measures to protect everything they know and love. In the aftermath, when the world has been razed in a fiery apocalypse, the light of hope will flicker in the darkness.
The Apocrypha Sequence is a series of dark fantasy collections with interwoven themes and interconnected stories from Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Australia's master of the macabre. Also in the Apocrypha Sequence: Deviance, Divinity, and Insanity.
Shane Jiraiya Cummings
Shane Jiraiya Cummings has been acknowledged as "one of Australia’s leading voices in dark fantasy". Shane is the author of the forthcoming Yokai Wars series (Circle of Tears, Clockwork Legion, and Blight of the Underworld) and the dark fiction books The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After, Shards, the Apocrypha Sequence (Deviance, Divinity, Insanity, and Inferno), and the Ravenous Gods cycle (Requiem for the Burning God and Dreams of Destruction). He has won the Australian Shadows Award and two Ditmar Awards, and he has been nominated for more than twenty other major awards, including Spain's Premios Ignotus.Shane is an Active Member of the Horror Writers Association and former Vice President of the Australian Horror Writers Association. When he is not writing, Shane is an editor and journalist by day. By night (and on weekends), he can be found indulging in hobbies such as playing the guitar, photography, sword fighting, and testing the limits of his new cruiser motorcycle.In his youth, Shane was trained in the deadly arts of the ninja, and the name Jiraiya (lit. "Young Thunder", after the legendary ninja Jiraiya) was bestowed upon him by his sensei.Shane was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. He lived for many years in Perth, Western Australia, and Wellington, New Zealand, but he recently returned to his old home town to revisit the ghosts of his past.More information on Shane (including his free fiction) can be found online at www.jiraiya.com.au.
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Apocrypha Sequence - Shane Jiraiya Cummings
Apocrypha Sequence:
INFERNO
Shane Jiraiya Cummings
Copyright © Shane Jiraiya Cummings 2011.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes:
This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Except in the case of short-term lending, if you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All characters in this book are fictitious.
No reference to any living person is intended.
* * *
CONTENTS
Introduction
Beneath Southern Waves
Phoenix and the Darkness of Wolves
Colossus of Roads
* * *
Introduction
Welcome to the Apocrypha Sequence, a collection of themed stories outside the continuity of my 'regular' collections, Shards (flash fiction) and the forthcoming The Abandonment of Grace and Everything After (short stories and novellas). The stories in the Apocrypha Sequence lie somewhere in between. There is some overlap between the Apocrypha stories and those in my collections, but this is because I have cherry-picked stories from my body of work to suit the themes present within the Sequence. For each book in the Apocrypha Sequence, I chose a story or two from my collections, a couple of previously uncollected stories, and the odd original or two. Each volume in the Sequence is a remix. You might find a story from this volume elsewhere (by itself or in one of my collections), but its inclusion in the Apocrypha Sequence gives it a more appropriate context—and in some cases, demonstrates its place in a shared world of directly-linked stories.
Apocrypha Sequence: Inferno explores the invasion of Australia by legendary monstrosities. When wits and heroics fail, a secret cabal of guardians take drastic, devastating measures to protect everything they know and love. These three shared world stories follow heroes who face unimaginable foes and odds that are as impossible as their monstrous adversaries are large. In the aftermath, when everything has turned to ash, hope will find a way.
Read on and enjoy this volume, and if you crave more, please seek out the other three volumes that comprise the Apocrypha Sequence. Details about the rest of the Sequence and my other e-books can be found at the end of this volume.
— Shane Jiraiya Cummings
* * *
Beneath Southern Waves
Strange stuff's been happening in these parts for a few days now,
the ranger drawled around a piece of chewing gum. She pondered the scene with exaggerated calculation before taking the gum from her mouth and stuffing it into the pocket of her khaki shorts.
What do you make of it, Rhonda?
Bill Markham directed his question to the side of her weather-beaten face.
I don't really know, Mr Markham. Dead whales aren't really my thing. I'm just holding the fort until the boffins from the aquarium get down here.
When will that be, then?
Markham tried to hold the impatience from his tone.
Rhonda shrugged.
Since Rhonda knew next to nothing, he dropped any pretence of interviewing her. Like Rhonda, he found it almost impossible not to look at the spectacle on the sliver of sand that lined Esperance's Bay of Isles. The grassy foreshore offered a clear view of the sperm whales.
The pod had beached itself the previous day. More than twenty carcasses formed a ghastly parade of sun-blistered blubber on the beach.
Crowds of beach-goers, mostly tourists, were held at bay by two police constables and a handful surf lifesaver volunteers. They were cordoning off the area with tape in the hope the gawkers wouldn't contaminate the site for the scientists.
They died so quick as if they were already exhausted when they beached themselves,
Ranger Rhonda mused, loud enough that Markham caught it on his digital recorder. It was like they were in some kinda hurry. Like they were running from something.
Yeah. Strange,
he answered with distraction. Do you think it had something to do with the icebergs being so far north? Some kind of polar shift throwing the whales off track?
Two iceberg caps glinted on the southern horizon, no more than a few kilometres from the West Australian coast.
I don't know much about icebergs, but I do know that scares the living daylights out of me.
She pointed to one of the whale carcasses. The corpse she singled out had washed up not long after the others beached. Only its head and left fin remained. The beach and the lapping waves were awash with its crimson-black blood. I don't wanna meet whatever could do that.
I've got to go Rhonda, but thanks for your time.
He paused long enough for her reply, his eyes darting all the while, searching for a better angle on this story
My pleasure, Mr Markham. You sure you'll put my story on the front page?
Just keep your eye out for the paper in a few days.
With a brief wave, he headed back to the air-conditioned sanctuary of his motel room. Having been in Esperance almost a week now, he had secured a room in the Isle's Bay Motel, right on the esplanade that looked out onto the bay. With all that was happening, he was lucky for the head start on the curiosity seekers who now poured into the seaside town daily.
He flipped his laptop open and it hummed into life. He reviewed his notes and the real reason he was here. The last week or two had been hellish. He was due to meet his brother, who was sailing into Perth on the HMAS Victoria. The last report the Defence Department gave him was that the Victoria had hit an iceberg and Luke was missing, presumed drowned.
The news stunned him for days. He'd only recently made peace with his younger brother after their parents had died, but Luke had been in active service in the navy and based in Sydney. Luke's new posting in Fremantle offered them a chance to reconnect—a chance dashed by an iceberg.
When icebergs appeared in the Great Australian Bight, he pestered his boss to let him check it out. When the icebergs drifted towards Esperance, near where they picked up the last transmission from Luke's ship, he took the chance to seek understanding for his brother's passing. And here he was.
After standing in the hot spring sun interviewing eyewitnesses for most of the day, weariness had settled in. He folded up his laptop and dropped onto the over-soft bed. His head was filled with fragments of dead whales, icebergs, and Luke. His last thought before sleep took hold was of the expected marine biologists. Maybe they could supply some answers to these mysteries. He'd catch them in the morning.
#
Bill awoke mid-snore, certain the earth had shuddered. The clock told him it was after midnight. He buttoned his shirt, ignoring the stickiness caused by the evaporative air-conditioner, grabbed his room key, and headed for the beach.
In the distance, the venerable Esperance jetty snaked more than a kilometre out to sea on timber legs. Three figures were on the jetty, caught in the amber glow of intermittent light poles. The fishermen carried their gear in slow procession toward shore.
He crested the foreshore rise to find a small group of people wandering between the whales. The rest of the town slept; the esplanade stood silent.
Hey, there,
he called to the nearest person as he descended to the beach.
Can I help you?
a woman answered. She pushed back the hood of her water-sealed parker to reveal thick short-cropped black hair.
"The name's Bill Markham. I'm a journalist from the West Australian."
"Hi, I'm Dana. You keep late hours, Mr Markham.
I'd say the same of you.
Yeah. We're down from Perth, from the Aquarium. Just arrived.
I've been waiting for your team. The locals know next to nothing about what's going on. I was hoping you'd uncover some answers.
Just more questions at the moment, Mr Markham, but it's early days yet. We've only been here a few hours.
Call me Bill.
He extended a hand.
Bill,
she smiled, and took his hand after rubbing the slime from her own. Dana.
Look, I don't have my gear with me right now, but is there any chance I could interview your team tomorrow?
Sure. I'll run it past Dr Matheson, but I don't see any problems.
Great.
He caught himself smiling like a teenager. He cleared his throat for composure and pointed to the whales. So, what do you think could have done something like this?
Whales beach themselves all the time. Their motives are often a mystery. It's rare such a large pod of sperm whales would do it, though ...
She hesitated.
Go on.
Well, one of the most contentious theories is that whales are affected by strong sonar signals. The US Navy has been condemned for the experimental sonar devices in their newer submarines. They've been linked to several mass strandings around the world.
There were Australian navy ships in the area recently,
Bill said. The HMAS Victoria.
I don't think that's the answer, but it could be part of a lot of little things that drove these poor whales into this bay.
She sighed. I normally love coming to Esperance. My family have holidayed here a few times now. I love taking the cruise around the islands. It's a shame I have to come back here under such tragic circumstances.
Yeah.
Together, they looked out across the bay, united in different forms of grief, marvelling at the islets that dotted the coastline, the glittering blanket of stars, and the dark expanse of ocean beneath.
#
Dana!
Bill waved to her as he pushed through the throng of curious tourists. The morning sun added dimensions to her face only hinted at by the starlight.
Hi again, Bill. I enjoyed our talk last night.
Me, too.
He ducked under the perimeter tape. His eyes were bloodshot from talking with her most of the night.
Hey, I didn't ask you last night, but do you have any idea what could cause damage like that?
He pointed to the bodiless whale.
"That's what concerns me. At first, Dr Matheson thought it might be Orcas, you know, Killer Whales. I thought perhaps a pack of sharks, maybe even Great Whites. We were both wrong. The whale's body seems to have been taken in one