Amidst the falling dust (The Green and Pleasant Land) by Oliver Kennedy Read Free Book Online Page A

Then I see the huge paw, and the long black claws.
    I take another step back and he takes two more forward. By the pale light of the moon I examine our household pet. He opens his mouth to reveal multiple rows of gnashing teeth which stand out in a sea of saliva. His nails click on the ground as he walks forward. The thing that used to be Vincent stands nearly six feet. The four rear legs are attached to a bulky, bulbous, and hairy body which works up into a hardened muscular torso. From either side of the torso protrude long arms that seem to bend both ways and end in cruel looking sting like claws.
    “Vincent, no” I utter as I turn and run. Moving to the side gate I glance up as I stumble. I see a figure, a ghost I think standing in the window of the attic stairwell. He holds a candle but I cannot examine him further for Vincent dogs my steps. I run down the side of the house and climb over the gate.
    The devil dogs roar is terrifying and will wake the dead neighbourhood. He clears the fence with one jump and barrels into me. I am on my feet in seconds but a swung claw tears across my back releasing a shower of blood and sending me sprawling down the hill. My momentum is slowed to a stop as I thud hard into the side of the Jeep.
    My former hound bounds down the hill towards me. It looks as if my reluctant wish will be granted. It is time to die I think. He is close, close enough for me to feel the heat of his breath when the gun sings out over the growl. I open my eyes. The dead Vincent lay there, still enormous, still a grotesque malformation of my old pet.
    “Hello Redmayne” I look up to see Taskers angry, sneering face just as the butt of his weapon comes down and sends me into the darkness.

Chapter 5, Under Heaven

    I'm being dragged. Voices are arguing. Trowler and Tasker going back and forth. A heated exchange, about me, and what I gather Tasker sees as a betrayal. This is Edenpark. I can tell by the intricate pattern on the glass floor depicting leaves with swords for stems. I can tell by the picture on the wall of Stefan Kessler shaking hands with the queen at the opening of the complex in 99.
    “He's awake” says Mark Kirby as he and Sutton hoist me to my feet. No sooner have I dusted myself down and felt gingerly at the large lump on my head and the itching cut on my back, then Tasker has my chin in a vice like grip and is boring into me with a thousand yard stare from very close range.
    “Nice trip down memory lane Redmayne?” he growls.
    “I was going to come back before dawn.” My voice is embarrassingly shrill. The cool calm collected lies I told aboard the aircraft carrier have been replaced by this.
    “Bullshit”
    “We don't know that Manny” says Trowler.
    “We do know that John because the bastard would have been torn to shreds by the devil dog and shat all over his own lawn. It's pretty hard to go anywhere when your resting in the pit of a morphids stomach”.
    “I intended to come back” says I, “Truly”. “How...” The question is swiftly cut off.
    “Please don't insult us further by trying to imply that we would have had any difficulty in figuring out where you'd gone.” Sneered the lieutenant. I was still baffled until Patricia spoke. “The carrier had personnel files for all those on board, both military and civilian contractor.” Perhaps my master plan hadn't been so subtle, someone had evidently taken the time to look up where I lived in the event I went 'off the reservation'.
    “What now?” says I, feeling groggy and drained. The discoveries at the house had pushed me beyond the barrier of my mental endurance, I was in a psychological abyss and would roll out of it either stronger or dead, at the moment I didn't care which and Taskers knock-out blow and the aching from the wound on my back had simply been the icing on the cake.
    “Now you're going to live up to your word and pray that there was something to it”. The sun is peeling over the horizon as we start to