Excerpt: Noah Zarc - Book 2

Pain shot up his arm into his shoulder, like he was alternately immersing his arm in fire then near-freezing water. His nails dug into the palm of his hand, but try as he might he couldn’t unclench his fist. What’s wrong with me? He reached his other hand over to force his fist open, but didn’t feel anything. He opened his eyes and looked down.

For a heartbeat his mind didn’t register what he was seeing. His left hand was balling up a sheet that lay draped over his body. Grasping at where his right hand should be. But his hand was gone. His right arm ended in a bandaged stump just above where his elbow once was. But I can still feel my hand, my fingernails tearing at the flesh of my palm!

Sweat began to bead on his forehead and his heart raced. Then he remembered. The nano-virus. He broke the vial. The culmination of his plans. Then the pain. The nano-bots swarmed from the broken glass and instantly attacked his hand, consuming the flesh from his bones. Hannah Zarc programmed the nano-bots to attack me! Fury welled within him.

”Welcome to Deimos, Mr. Zarc”

He turned to see a doctor walk into the room, flanked by two armed guards. “Do not call me that,” he said through clenched teeth. “I gave up that name a long time ago.”

“There are many things you have given up, Haon,” sneered the doctor. “Including your freedom.”

Haon’s mind raced. “Deimos?”

The doctor laughed, “That’s right, the most secure prison in the solar system. Heck the whole galaxy I’d be willing to wager.”

Haon began to roll his tongue over one of his back molars. He knew quite well the stories of Deimos. Even the good doctor here was a prisoner of sorts. Sure he probably had a swanky house in one of the better parts of the moon. But make no mistake, he was a prisoner. No one ever left Deimos. If they did, they’d be vaporized in an instant by the energy shield that circled the whole rocky moon.

But Haon never left himself without a plan. There wasn’t a prison built he couldn’t escape from. He allowed himself to smile. “See, that’s where you and I are different, doc. You look around and see the culmination of human ingenuity to keep criminals locked safely away.”

The smug expression on the doctor’s face faded slightly.

“I on the other hand see another opportunity to show humanity just how full of themselves they are.” He looked once more down at the stump of his right arm, then back at the doctor. “Tell Hannah Zarc, I’m coming for her. Goodbye doctor.”

Haon ground his teeth sideways, breaking the enamel of his back molar. He tasted tangy, metal, as his tongue found the hole where his tooth had been. Electricity coursed through him and his body began to convulse.

Vaguely he heard the doctor yelling. “He’s going into shock.”

Haon’s back arched, straining against the restraints that bound him to his bed. Then he lay still. The last thing he heard was the doctor screaming down the hall. “He’s poisoned himself, we need to pump his stomach.” Then all was silent. He had escaped.