The Forever Man - Book 1: Pulse

He felt pain. And more than pain. It was as though the flesh had been scoured from his face and then doused in gasoline. But he welcomed it. Revelled in it. Because it meant that he was alive.

  Slowly, he rose to his knees and peered around. His vision was…odd. He could see, but not in the same way. He felt the right side of his face. Pain flared, burning across his head. Sticky. He felt further, ignoring the agony. Wet flesh. No eye.

  ‘Damn,’ he mumbled to himself. ‘bloody lost an eye.’

  The world swung around him as he stood up. His remaining vision exploded into a light show of star-bursts and sparklers.

  He scanned his surrounds. Fire. Smoke. The village was burning. Dead bodies lay scattered with careless hand. All male. No females. Some had died alone. Others in couples or groups. Sprawled all over each other. Comradeship in death. He looked for a weapon. Couldn’t see one so he wandered through the burning village, unarmed. Seeking out life.

  In the village square he found the women, and girls. All naked. All dead. Covered in blood. Raped. All ages. Hatred washed over him like a tsunami. So strong that it pushed aside his pain, leaving only a burning desire for revenge. For vengeance.

  But first he had to find water, and food. And then weapons. So, moving slowly so as to minimize the waves of pain, Axel walked through the village, seeking supplies, his hatred driving him like a small fissionable reactor.

  Chapter 28