Welcome back to the blog and welcome back to the Land of
Bartow as we continue to tease and preview my upcoming book that is now
available for purchase on Amazon. You are under ZERO obligation to buy this, I
truly just want to share it with the world in whatever capacity that I can, but
just in case the book has peaked your interest… here is another chapter for
your reading pleasure while we wait for the game tonight. Enjoy and let me know
what you think, brutal honesty is okay!
Chapter 2 Alarms
Dan arrived at work ten-to-fifteen minutes early to work
every single day and had ever since he had worked for the Valkyries. That is
just how Dan was, he was a stickler for being on time, working hard and doing
the right thing. Dan was a family man first, a Valkyrie second and it didn’t
leave much room for anything else. Dan had a wife, Crystal, but she died almost
two years prior leaving Dan with the two children, the house and the
responsibility that comes along with it all. Dan tried to date once since the
death of his wife, but it just didn’t work out, they were at two different
places in their lives and she simply didn’t make Dan happy. Dan had decided
that he would rather be alone than spend another day unhappy, and that is
exactly how he was ever since, alone.
Dan walked into work at the Valkyries compound and greeted
his fellow Valkyries as he walked through the door. “Hello Jax, did you see
that game last night?” Dan continued to stroll into his office before another
greeting occurred, “Yo, Eddie. How’s it going brother?” Dan kept a steady pace
into nodding, acknowledging and greeting many others on his way to his office
until he came to a door that was labeled “Territories.” Dan took out his
Valkyries ID card, swiped it and went into his office like he had every single
day for a year prior to today.
“What’s the situation, Ellie?” Dan said to an older woman he
shared the territories office with for the better part of the year he had been
employed by the Valkyries. “Business as usual, Dan. It has refreshingly been
pretty slow today, being the day after Christmas and all.” Dan shook his head
in agreement and sat down at his computer, checking the daily emails and the
local news stories of the day. There had been many attempts at an uprising
since the Valkyries took over, none that made it past its infancy to be honest,
but Dan and Ellie, among others, still checked in daily just to be thorough.
There was one such group that was starting to gain some steam and notoriety
though and Dan, being the thorough Valkyrie that he was, had his eye on this
group as was his due diligence with the regime.
Dan had been trying to infiltrate and spy on the biggest and
most well-known rebel group in the Land of Bartow, Defiance, for the longest
time, but with little luck. Dan was resilient though and he knew he would get
in eventually, he just had to be patient and keep trying. Little did Dan know
though was that today would be the day that his patience and diligence would
pay off, which became clear to him as his eyes lit up when his computer alerted
him with a notification. “Ellie, we got it!” said Dan excitedly. “What do you
mean? What did we get?” said Ellie perplexed. “I am in the Death Room!” Dan
screamed with excitement as he began typing rapidly on his laptop computer.
The Death Room was Defiance’s version of the Valkyries
Territories room. This was the command center for the war that was ongoing and
all the pertinent information about incoming strikes, targets etc. were all in
the Death Room. The Death Room was Defiance’s little black book and Dan had
done it, he broke into the Death Room after many attempts before. He knew he
had to alert the Valkyries leaders and the remainder of the Valkyries council,
so Dan grabbed his laptop and ran through the Valkyries main compound, to the
elevator, and into the top floor where a man by the name of Poke resided. Dan
didn’t knock, he just strolled into Poke’s office and was met with an intense
glare when he did. Dan immediately regretted not knocking on Poke’s door when
he received that look and lowered his head in shame, his excitement for
breaking into the Death Room subsiding. Poke was an intimidating figure and he
ruled with an iron fist. Poke, from Asian descent, stood tall with his dark
hair, dark eyes, darker tanned skin and big muscles. Dan had seen Poke angry
and made it a mental note to never see him angry again if he could help it. Did
Dan just mess up barging into his office? Would the news of the infiltration be
enough to quell the mighty Poke from reprimanding the relatively new Valkyrie?
“Oh, this better be good” said Poke with a bit of annoyance
in his voice. “It... is” said Dan as he stuttered with hesitation. “Well, on
with it. I have a lot of roadmaps to look over today and I don’t have time for
general chit chat” said Poke, no longer even looking Dan in the eye. Poke had a
bad habit of not looking anyone in the eye, some wondered if it was because
Poke felt like everyone was inferior to him. Others just thought he was a
general asshole. Both could have been true, but no one had ever gotten close
enough to Poke to ever truly find out. “I broke into the Death Room, sir. I’m
into Defiance’s main intelligence gathering room. The uprising will be over
before it begins at this rate. I should know everything we ever wanted to know
about Defiance by noon.” Dan said, extremely proud of himself. Poke laughed,
still not looking Dan in the eyes. “That’s it? That is what you barged into my
office for? This was worth ruining my morning coffee break? Some little peons
and their intelligence room?” Dan was crushed. “Yes, sir. I thought you would
be pleased and I wanted you to be the first to know.” Poke gave Dan a
dismissive wave of the hand and said, “If you get anything good out of that
room be sure to send it to my assistant, Jessica.” Poke continued, but this
time he looked Dan in the eye. Poke no longer had the dismissive attitude he
had throughout most of this conversation, this time you could see the anger in
his eyes and Dan could hear the hatred in his voice. “And if you ever just
barge into my office again like that it will be over the wall for you to fend
for yourself, and your children won’t be far behind you. Now go!”
Dan collected himself and immediately went out of Poke’s
office and into the lobby. Dan, standing right outside Poke’s office, shuddered
at the thought of going over the wall. While everything was calm, peaceful and
somewhat normal inside the Valkyries compound it was a warzone outside the
walls. Many resistance groups had formed to take down the oppressive Valkyries
regime and no one was safe, especially a Valkyrie. Dan knew this, and he knew
that while he was a relatively new and unknown Valkyrie that he wouldn’t want
to spend any time outside the walls if he didn’t have to. Dan didn’t want his
children to be exposed to being outside the walls either, so he made a mental
note to never barge into the office of Poke again, no matter how excited he
was.
Dan went into the elevator and back down to his office where
Ellie sat excitedly waiting his return. “So, what did he say?” Ellie asked at
the edge of her seat. “He brushed me off like it was nothing. He didn’t seem
concerned about Defiance or the Death Room at all. He shrugged me off with one
of these little gestures.” Dan mocked Poke’s dismissed hand wave while putting
his laptop down on his desk. “Poke did tell me if I found anything to bring it
to him, but man, that was a shot in the gut. I worked on getting into that room
for months and it just felt like it wasn’t a great accomplishment because he
didn’t break into the room himself. It almost feels like he is the only one
within the Valkyries that isn’t
worried about Defiance.” Ellie looked shocked. “Watch yourself, Dan. Talking
like that will get you thrown over the wall and killed, and maybe not in that
order.” That was the second time Dan has been threatened to be thrown over the
wall and he hadn’t been at work for an hour. “Boy was this going to be a day to
remember,” Dan thought to himself.
Dan sat down with the intent of beginning the long and
tedious process of combing through the Death Room reading every note, post and
shred of information that he could. Dan’s motivation was gone, though, after
the gut check that Poke handed him and the will to even open his laptop and
begin reading immediately felt like a chore. “What is the point? Poke won’t
appreciate me anyway” Dan thought to himself, scared to say this out loud at
the thought of being exiled or thrown over the wall. Dan knew he had to do
something to justify being in the Territories Room though, so he sat there
staring blankly into his computer screen pretending to work. Dan would click
his mouse ever so often and scroll up and down on the track ball, squinting
from now and then and pretending to take notes. Before long Dan went from “reading”
the Death Room to simply staring off into space, not even pretending to work
anymore. An hour passed of this before Dan felt his eyes get heavy and he felt
sleep coming to him while he was sitting at his desk. Dan fought sleep for as
long as he could, but eventually he succumbed to his body’s need for a slumber
and fell asleep at his desk for the first time in his Valkyrie tenure. The
first time Dan had ever fallen asleep at work couldn’t have come at a worse
time, though, which was never more evident to Dan than when he was awoken to a
set of blaring sirens and alarms. The alarms were sounding within the Valkyries
council, flashing and strobing lights were activated all throughout the
Valkyries compound and it only meant one thing. The Valkyries were under
attack.
If you want to check out a copy of the book for yourself
feel free to use the link below. Thanks in advance, even if you don’t buy one.
You are still very much appreciated.
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