DeathWatch No. 0 – A Beginning

This is Issue #0 of DeathWatch, an ongoing Serial. Link to the next is at the bottom, for ease of reading.

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“Look out!”

The blur of metal and glass was too close; Kieron could barely draw breath, and all of that was noxious and choking. He doubled over to cough, reaching gloved hands to cover his mouth, his eyes stinging.

Someone else was shouting again, and then he felt everything in his body scream. He was weightless and on fire, and the whole world spun. He could hear the ocean, somehow, and then the world was red.

And then it was dark again.

* * *

When he woke, he could taste blood as he breathed. The world was out of focus. He felt his stomach lurch.

“Don’t try to move.” The voice sounded familiar.

No. Felt familiar.

Up and down resolved, and he realized he was lying on the ground–in the middle of the street, in the slush. In the distance, sirens could be heard. People were shouting, crowding around.

Above him, a woman leaned over, haloed by an aching sun that throbbed dimly through the grey dome of the winter sky.

“Hold still,” she said. “Hold still, Fallon. They’re coming. You’ll be okay.”

He tried to tell her his name wasn’t Fallon, but the only words he knew were full of blood. They ran over his lips, and then the world was red.

And then it was dark again.

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