Sanctuary Read online

  The End We Chose

  (Book 1)

  Sanctuary

  Cover art provided by Hunter Meyer, find more of his work and commission him for your own projects on his Instagram: toxin_hm

  Written By,

  Blake Brown

  Disclaimer: Any attempts at plagiarizing this material or copying its contents are illegal acts and will be punished to the full extent of the law. This book and the content within are the intellectual property of the author. This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any real-world relation to the characters, names, or events is purely coincidental. Although real locations are mentioned and used within the book, they are fictitious versions of those locations altered to fit the author’s imagination and story.

  Warning: This book contains graphic scenes of violence being committed upon both human beings and animals alike. This book also contains graphic scenes of sexual assault. This content is not for the faint of heart or those who are left feeling disturbed after reading such content. The author does not condone real-world violence or assault in any form. Reader discretion is advised.

  Thank you,

  To anyone reading this novel, I’d like to thank you in advance for all your support. Thank you so much for helping to make my dreams become a reality and I hope you enjoy what you’re about to read. Thank you so much to anyone that helped me through this process or helped work on the project in any way, shape, or form, even if that was just listening to me rant endlessly about my characters and stories.

  CHAPTER 1

  ​Bryce watched the white paint covering his parents' front door peel and crack as he pushed it open, the swathes of white crust floating up into the air and dematerializing before his very eyes. His mind felt foggy as he stepped inside the house, the images he was seeing feeling unreal and altered. His brown hiking boots cracked old, broken floorboards as he walked through the living room, floorboards that were pristine and well taken care of in his last memory of them. The house was in shambles. Curtains were ripped from their posts over the windows and spread out on the floor in misshapen heaps, lightly blowing in the breeze that passed over his back and shoulders. Furniture was strewn about and covered in dust. And dried blood, almost blackened by time, was sprinkled and wiped on the walls and wooden floor.

  As Bryce moved through the destroyed innards of his parent's home, he spotted his little sister. She sat in the opening connecting the house’s living room and kitchen and was the same age as the last time he had seen her, apparently not having aged in the two years that he had been away. Her legs were bent underneath her at the knee, and she was wearing a pink dress, stained with the same blackish red blood that was covering the living room. Her straight, brunette hair blew in the breeze that kept flowing in from the open front door. Next to her sat Grunt, the puppy Bryce had bought her for her sixth birthday, a male Belgian Malinois with a nice mix of black and gold fur. She had named him Grunt after seeing him nap for the first time, as he always grunted and snorted in his sleep.

  ​“Ellie?” Bryce called out to her as he stepped closer. The scene unfolding around him and the creaking of the floor striking a deep shiver throughout his body.

  ​“Yes, big brother.” Ellie stared intently at the puppy next to her. Something about her was off, the way she spoke seemed unnatural and distorted.

  ​“Are you okay? Where are mom and dad?”

  ​“Wanna see something funny?” Ellie wrapped her hands around Grunt’s throat and began to squeeze. Grunt whined and thrashed, trying to back away from his attacker, but the little girl’s grasp on his neck was too strong.

  ​“Let him go! You’re hurting him!” Bryce ran over and grabbed his sister’s hands in an attempt to free the dying puppy. Her grasp was too strong however, and she appeared to have a supernatural strength about her as she squeezed harder and harder. In a panic, Bryce punched the young girl’s right forearm, desperate to save the puppy that was beginning to go limp. Ellie turned her face towards him with an unnaturally large grin, her gaze seeming feral, deranged. She twisted Grunt’s neck violently to the side. A loud, snapping, crunch rang out, and she dropped the dead dog to the floor with a thud. “What are you?” Bryce wept as he backed away from the evil thing pretending to be his sister.

  ​“I’m one of them big brother, and soon, you will be too.” The creature stood up and leapt through the air at him. Bryce held his arms up in front of his face in a futile attempt to block the coming attack.

  ***

  Bryce awoke, surrounded by darkness. He quickly jumped out of bed, frightened and still half asleep as he tried to figure out his surroundings. He could hear the ceiling fan whirling above his head, and he reached up to pull the string, turning on the lights. When he pulled the small, metal chain the room illuminated with light. His eye sockets throbbed from the newly lit room, but he was now able to realize that he was alone and safe.

  He sighed in relief as he sat back onto the side of his bed in the small, cabin looking interior of his temporary bedroom. “What a fucked-up dream…” He began and then trailed off. He grabbed his cell phone from the small, wooden night stand and checked the time, 5:30 a.m. About time to get up anyway.

  Bryce was a wildlife biologist for the state of California, and he’d been sent to Tahoe national forest to track and observe a pack of gray wolves that had recently migrated there from the Sierra Nevada’s. He had been living in a cabin that was sometimes used as a ranger station next to an old, abandoned fire watch tower about twenty miles away from the small town of Foresthill, deep in the dense forest. Unfortunately, in the month he had been there and after three weeks roughing it in the woods, he hadn’t seen more than a few tracks to help him find the pack. With no cell service, and a broken radio that he had no idea how to fix, he had no way to report in, and no one had come to check in on him. He decided that he would make one last trek, starting today and bringing as many supplies as he could to help him stay in the woods for as long as possible, and if he didn’t find the pack, he would have to make his way back to Foresthill to get in contact with his superiors.

  ​After Bryce’s morning routine was all said and done with, he grabbed his camouflage printed hiking pack and packed everything he needed for the trip. He did a quick survey of his temporary home to make sure that he didn’t forget anything, which was quite easy considering the home consisted of; a small kitchen, a bathroom, a living room, a bedroom, and not much else. When he was ready to leave, he headed outside.

  Next to the small cabin was the large, decommissioned fire watch tower, with safety cords leading from it to every corner of the yard. The steel tower and the operation center at the top were basically inaccessible now that the stairwell and ladders had been removed to stop anyone from squatting at the top. He wondered what the view would look like from that high up, probably spectacular, but he would most likely never get the chance to find out.

  The cabin itself had; a septic tank for sewage storage, a well in the yard with a powered pump connecting to the sinks and toilet in the cabin for water, solar panels on the roof with battery storage to keep the power on at all times without being connected to the power grid, and a backup generator in one of the two tool sheds in the yard with a decent storage of gasoline in a few drums and jerry cans, which made the place pretty self-sustaining. Besides that, the only thing of note was a 12-foot-tall chain link fence surrounding the entire yard topped with barbed wire that had a chained and padlocked rolling gate to allow vehicles to enter and exit the property.

  Before heading out, Bryce opened the back of his white ford explorer and retrieved his BAR MK 3 semi-automatic rifle from a black plastic case, two spare magazines, and a handful of spare round
s. The rifle had an ACOG scope and a brown, leather strap attached to it, for slinging it over his shoulder, and held three rounds of 300 Winchester magnum. The rifle would hopefully fend off any bears, or even the wolves if his presence was detected and considered a threat, so he thought it smart to bring along just in case and secured it to the side of his pack. He locked up the cabin, explorer, and the gate behind him as he began his journey, heading towards the location where he had last spotted fresh tracks.

  ***

  The day was uneventful. Bryce was able to cover around eight or nine miles, which was excellent considering the rough terrain and heavy pack he was carrying; however, he was still a few miles away from the last set of tracks he had spotted, and he hadn’t seen anything during his hike today.

  The sun was about an hour away from setting and he was already losing light, so he decided to set up camp for the night in a small clearing a short distance away from a creek. Not wanting to be too close, in case a thirsty predator wandered by. He decided a fire wasn’t necessary, considering most of his food didn’t require cooking and that it wasn’t too cold tonight. His main concern however, being that he didn’t want the wolves to catch onto his presence if they were in the area. Considering that he would only be here until dawn, he decided that it wasn’t much of a risk to eat and store his food in his tent; so, he ate a quick meal, laid down on his mat inside of his sleeping bag, and watched the sky go dark through the netting of his tent.

  Last night’s dream began to haunt his thoughts now that he had time to slow down and think. His beautiful little sister becoming some evil thing. The imagery of everything was so unsettling. If I keep thinking about that crap, I’ll have an even more fucked up nightmare tonight, all alone, in the dark woods. He knew he needed to go home and see his family; two years was a long time to be away from them. He missed them, and he missed seeing his little sister grow up. “As soon as I’m done here, I’m going home.” He whispered to himself in the quiet dark of his tent. If he could just find the pack and study them for a while, he could finally take some time off. This was the closest he’d been to home in the past two years, Roseville wasn’t that far of a drive from Foresthill. “I’ll see you soon.” He said, drifting off to sleep just moments later.

  ***

  In the morning, Bryce did as much of his start of the day routine as he could out in the woods, then ate a quick meal and broke camp, eager to make some headway in his excursion.

  He hiked through the dense forest at a slow and steady pace, making sure to not twist an ankle or trip over fallen logs. Every now and then he would take a quick break to look at the giant trees around him, or up at the sun and blue sky being filtered through the fresh, green leaves of spring. He even stopped for a few minutes just to examine the dew glistening on a spider’s web. He picked wild blackberries and edible mushrooms that he spotted for a quick snack as he walked. He had always loved the outdoors, a passion his father had instilled within him from a very young age. Being out here now, he couldn’t help but smile and enjoy the wave of happiness he was receiving from all his senses.

  Bryce eventually approached a large clearing, and as he broke through the tree line and was bathed in sunlight, he spotted a young buck standing on the opposite side of the field, its head tilted down as it chewed at the grass. Bryce stopped, not wanting to startle the animal, and just watched it with a smile on his face. The buck lifted its head, still chewing its meal, and looked directly at Bryce. It’s white rack, beautiful brown eyes, and tan and white fur slightly reflecting the bright sunlight, making it look almost holy, as if it were blessed by some higher power. The animal watched him for a moment, as if it were sizing Bryce up to see if he was a threat or not, and if it should make a run for the trees. When Bryce didn’t move, the buck bent back down and continued to pick away at the field. Bryce smiled, almost feeling a sense of accomplishment, knowing that the animal didn’t fear him and trusted his presence. He swung his pack off and reached inside, digging through the contents as he looked for his camera.

  A flash of movement turned Bryce’s attention back in the direction of the animal. A fast-moving, gray blur on two legs was crossing the field, heading directly for the deer. The buck reared up, standing on only its hind legs for a moment, and then dropped back down, getting in position to turn and run. The moving blur was too fast for the buck to escape however, and it slammed into the animal’s side. As its movement slowed, Bryce could see it was a person, but not like any person he’d seen before.

  It wrapped its arms around the animal’s mid-section and slammed it to the ground, hard enough to see blades of grass and sprinkles of mud scatter around them. Bryce could see the buck’s eyes go wide and its snout spread open, trying to gasp for the air that was just knocked out of its lungs. The buck’s legs began to flail, and its body began to thrash, trying to get its footing and get away. The creature repositioned itself, grabbing one side of the animal’s rack and pinning its head to the ground. It then put its other hand on the side of the buck’s ribcage, pushing its weight and strength into it.

  The human like creature turned and looked back at Bryce, seeming to instinctually sense his presence, and he could finally get a good look at whatever it was. Although it appeared human in almost every way, he knew it wasn’t. Its skin was a pale gray, with blackened, purplish veins bulging just underneath the surface layer of flesh. It was wearing a torn-up pair of blue jeans with no shirt or shoes, and its skeletal frame seemed elongated and deformed. Its feet were oddly shaped like an animal’s hind legs and were bent inwards with long claws for toenails. Its hands and fingers were stretched beyond the length of any normal human and it had the same long, sharp, fingernail like claws at the end of each digit. Its facial features were slightly deformed and morphed which, combined with the flat chest, made him not able to exactly tell if it was male or female. Its ears were long and pointed, like the ears of an elf. Its black hair, long and matted, with what seemed to be dried blood crusted to it. Its teeth were all sharp razors like a shark’s, except extremely longer to the point where he imagined it couldn’t close its mouth.

  ​It seemed to almost smile at Bryce, as if to say, you’re next. It unlatched its jaws, spreading its mouth to an unnaturally open state before letting out a terrifying, guttural shriek. It swung its head back around with a quick snap, sinking its teeth into the shoulder of the buck, and began violently thrashing about. Bryce could see blood splattering out of the wound and creature’s mouth onto the hide of the buck as it began to make horrible whales of agony. He knew he had to stop this.

  He reached down, unstrapping his rifle from his pack, and flicked off the safety. Knowing a round was already chambered, he brought the rifle up to his shoulder and looked through the ACOG scope with his right eye, training it on the creature. It whipped back its head, ripping a chunk of flesh and muscle from the buck’s shoulder, as it began greedily chewing and gulping it down. Bryce took the chance to aim at the back of the creature’s head and pulled the trigger. Right as he did so, it went back down for another bite, causing the shot to miss its mark. The round punched a sizable, clean hole right through its elongated spine that was now arched right where its head was a split second before, and blood exploded out of the exit wound, drenching the side of the buck. The creature’s legs and lower body dropped out from underneath it, but its arms continued to hold the animal firmly in place. It turned its head back in Bryce's direction once again, blood covering its face. The creature dropped a small piece of furry flesh from its mouth and unhinged its jaws again, its teeth pointing outward towards Bryce like daggers flying in his direction. It let out another horrible, banshee like shriek of pain and anger. It released the buck, now turning all its attention to Bryce, its newly found attacker. The buck quickly scrambled to its feet, unsuccessfully trying to gallop away as it painfully limped from its fresh leg injury. The creature dug its claws into the ground, pulling itself forward surprisingly fast, obviously already accepting its very recent paralysis. The buck
made it to the tree line and disappeared into the woods as the creature used as much strength as it could muster to basically throw itself a few feet in Bryce’s direction, almost starting to leap using its arms, still screaming and screeching the whole time as it closed in. Bryce raised the rifle, aiming where he thought the creature would be this time, and not where it was. After one more strong pull by the creature, when its movement stopped for a split second, he fired again, sending the 300 magnum round directly through the center of its forehead. Its head whipped back with incredible force, and if it weren’t for the deafening report of the rifle, Bryce was sure he would have heard the thing’s neck snap. The back of the creature’s head exploded outwards, leaving a gaping hole and painting its back and the ground around it with crimson blood, chunks of brain matter, and skull fragments.

  ​Bryce slowly crept forward, keeping the rifle trained on the seemingly lifeless corpse in case he needed to use the last round in his magazine. When he got within a few feet, he began to prod the body with the still hot barrel of the BAR. When there was no movement, he crept closer and used his right hiking boot to flip the creature over onto its back, finally assuring himself that it was dead. “What the fuck is going on.” His voice cracked slightly. I just killed someone, but this wasn’t just some crazed meth head, there’s no way I could go to prison for this. Even if this thing was human before, it hasn’t been so in a while. I need to get to town right away and report this, someone must know something; the government, the CDC, the World Health Organization. What about the buck? Should I have put it down? Now it’s just going to suffer and die alone in the woods, but maybe not, maybe it’ll be alright. His thoughts were sporadic and unfocused, and he knew this. He needed to get focused and get to town, take the time to think this out and rationalize it later. He collected himself and his gear and made his way back to the cabin. He rushed, not caring to stop for the night, he wouldn’t stop until he got back. Even with his headlamp, the journey back was dark and treacherous, he fell and bruised himself several times, but he didn’t care, he had to get back.