Flip (The Slip Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  FLIP

  Book Three of the Slip Trilogy

  David Estes

  Copyright 2015 David Estes

  Kindle Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Discover other exciting titles by David Estes available through the author’s official website:

  http://davidestesbooks.blogspot.com

  or through select online retailers.

  Young Adult Novels by David Estes

  The Dwellers Saga:

  Book One—The Moon Dwellers

  Book Two—The Star Dwellers

  Book Three—The Sun Dwellers

  Book Four—The Earth Dwellers

  The Country Saga (A Dwellers Saga sister series):

  Book One—Fire Country

  Book Two—Ice Country

  Book Three—Water & Storm Country

  Book Four—The Earth Dwellers

  Salem’s Revenge:

  Book One—Brew

  Book Two—Boil

  Book Three—Burn

  The Slip Trilogy:

  Book One—Slip

  Book Two—Grip

  Book Three—Flip

  I Am Touch

  The Evolution Trilogy:

  Book One—Angel Evolution

  Book Two—Demon Evolution

  Book Three—Archangel Evolution

  Children’s Books by David Estes

  The Adventures of Nikki Powergloves:

  Nikki Powergloves—A Hero Is Born

  Nikki Powergloves and the Power Council

  Nikki Powergloves and the Power Trappers

  Nikki Powergloves and the Great Adventure

  Nikki Powergloves vs. the Power Outlaws (Coming soon!)

  PART 1: CITY IN CHAOS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  PART 2: FALLING

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  PART 3: FLIP

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  A SAMPLE OF THE MOON DWELLERS BY DAVID ESTES

  For my dad, one of the most inherently good people I know.

  PART 1: CITY IN CHAOS

  Private Forum for Agriculturists, by invite only:

  Password required: **********

  Password accepted, access granted.

  SamAdams: Corrigan Mars is dead.

  JoseCuervo: You’re joking. That’s two Pop Con leaders in as many weeks.

  BloodyMary: How can you be sure he’s dead?

  SamAdams: His head arrived in a bag this morning.

  ShirleyTemple: God. Any leads on who killed him?

  SamAdams: There was a note. It was signed.

  JoseCuervo: By whom?

  SamAdams: The Destroyer.

  ~~~

  Chapter One

  Domino Destovan, better known as the Destroyer, uses the UnBee Shack to warm up his muscles for the main event still to come.

  The unauthorized beings are sleeping, of course. After all, they’re only babies. Babies that shouldn’t even exist. Like his sister had been, before he took care of that.

  There are two pitiful guards. One raises a gun—some kind of stunner that would likely fry his part-machine/part-human systems—but the Destroyer manages to slip between them, his machine parts interacting seamlessly with the rest of him. The perfect machine.

  The idiot swivels his aim, firing blindly. But the cyborg is already ducking, moving with inhuman speed, watching as the blue flash of energy rushes by overhead. There’s a grunt and the smell of burning flesh and a thud as the second moron guard is hit by “friendly” fire. Domino hopes he’s not dead—he’d like to finish him off himself.

  Before the first guard even realizes what he’s done, the Destroyer is on his feet and arcing a metal fist at the guy’s gun arm, which he’s desperately trying to bring in the direction of his enemy.

  CRACK!

  The sound the guard’s arm makes as it breaks is almost as beautiful as the man’s wail of agony. A symphony of suffering. Melodies of the maimed.

  The Destroyer grins at his own poetic thoughts, relishing his newfound freedom, which has seemingly brought him back to life. It’s true, he realizes as he stomps on the guard’s face. He’s so caught up in his own reverie that he doesn’t even wonder how many of the man’s fourteen facial bones broke with the first kick. Corrigan Mars was holding him back in so many ways. It’s like he was underwater, drowning, and now he’s managed to fight to the surface, sucking in a life-sustaining breath. I’m alive again! he wants to shout.

  Still smiling, he finishes off the first guard and moves onto the second one, who’s rolling around on the floor mumbling to himself. A retractable knife shoots from the cyborg’s palm, reflecting sparks under the neon glow of the stark security lighting. He wishes he had time for a little fun, drawing out the kill, but he knows the Hunters will be here soon. After all, if he was able to find the illegal birthing facility, surely Pop Con won’t be far behind.

  Wiping his blade on the dead man’s shirt, he moves inside, casting his gaze on the rows of bassinets. Power surges through what’s left of his human parts. He’s a wolf amongst lambs. A prince amongst beggars. A god amongst mortals.

  Somewhere deep in his brain he registers the fleeing doctors and nurses. They call themselves medical professionals, but they’re no more than common criminals, bringing unauthorized beings into the world to suck the resources dry for the rest of the population. All for a payout from the misguided parents who were stupid enough to get pregnant without a birth authorization.

  His body moves instinctively, gracefully, like a dancer. Death’s dancer.

  The criminals are dead before they get anywhere near the exits.

  A baby cries, yearning for milk it will never get.

  The Destroyer’s lip curls up and he gets to work.

  Chapter Two

  Benson Kelly won’t let his life be dictated by fear.

  Not anymore. After all, it’s fear that’s made the world the way it is. Fear of hunger, fear of not surviving, fear of the great unknown, fear of oblivion. Some of the fear was created by nature itself, the earth’s great response to humanity’s destruction of the only planet they’ve been given. The rest of the fear was created by leaders, used as a stick to beat their pe
ople into submission, to hate babies and children and teenagers who hadn’t been “authorized” to be born, like it was their fault.

  Benson’s lost far more than he can ever get back, and although he knows he has more to lose, he’s not scared anymore.

  Luce speaks to him sometimes, in between the deep breaths of night, her words as real in his head as they were when she was alive. He doesn’t sleep anymore, afraid that if he does, her voice will disappear forever.

  Thus, when his brother shakes his arm to wake him, he’s already awake. “Harrison,” he says. “What is it?”

  “Mom,” Harrison says, the most powerful word in the world.

  Benson throws back the blanket and rolls off the couch, steadied by his twin’s strong hand on his arm. He pretends not to notice that it would’ve been easier for Harrison to grab him with the other hand, which, heavily bandaged, hangs lifelessly at his side. It has one less finger than it should, the handiwork of a certain cyborg who’s supposed to be dead.

  “What’s wrong with Mom?” Benson asks, as his brother shuffles him between rows of sleepers. There are no beds in the secret facility, which has to continue to look like a research lab in case it becomes the target of a random government inspection. Because of this, the rebels that occupy the space are forced to sleep wherever they can find a spot—lab tables, lounge couches, or the floor are all fair game.

  “She’s asking for you,” Harrison says, stopping momentarily to face him. A shimmer of moonlight snakes its way through a high window, briefly illuminating his brother’s face. Benson holds back a shiver, still not used to seeing his own features reflected back at him in such a gruesome manner. Harrison’s face is a minefield of bruises, cuts, and swelling—more reminders of his time spent with the Destroyer.

  More reminders that he should be dead.

  “Is she lucid?” Benson manages to ask.

  Harrison laughs. “Close enough,” he says with a grin.

  They make their way to a large glass window overlooking Saint Louis’s main business district. The “Lab” is located high above the city, leasing the top five floors in one of the tallest buildings. The only structure taller is Pop Con headquarters, besting them by a half-dozen floors, staring over the empty space from a mere three blocks away. Benson can almost imagine his father still alive, his face pressed to the dark glass, their eyes meeting across a void that was always as much emotional as it was physical.

  But he’s not alive, and Benson’s only just beginning to fully understand the man who threw him into the Mississippi River and told him to never come back. The man who joined the very rebel consortium that he now finds himself aligned with. The man whose code name was JackDaniels. The man who would’ve died a thousand painful deaths to protect his family.

  “Mom,” Benson says, feeling breathless all of a sudden, despite the fact that their short jaunt through the facility was hardly exertive.

  Janice turns, her smile as bright as a newborn sunflower. “My sons,” she says, her eyes dancing between them with child-like eagerness.

  “It’s late, Mom,” Benson says. “You should be sleeping.” Says the insomniac himself, Benson thinks wryly.

  “Sleep is too slow,” she says, her eyes wide and serious.

  Reaching a pale hand forward, she takes Benson’s hand. For some reason he expects her fingers to be icy, but they’re surprisingly warm. Not sweaty; just warm. Comforting. The hands of a woman who used to hold him as she taught him to read. His nanny and teacher and protector. How he yearned for a mother back then! Looking back, he realizes how stupid he was. The whole time Janice was his mother, even if she and Michael refused to give her the title.

  He wants to melt into her, to take back the years, to start over again, but instead he says, “Harrison said you were asking for me.”

  She nods, releasing his hand and cupping his chin in her palm. He wants to close his eyes, to forget that she lost her mind when she thought he was dead. But he doesn’t. He watches her raise her other hand and similarly cup Harrison’s chin. Seeing his confident, tough brother’s face in his mother’s hand almost makes him laugh. “Symmetrical,” she says, and Harrison does laugh.

  “Cut it out, Mom,” Harrison says, gently pulling her hand away. “Say what you’ve got to say.”

  “You are good boys,” she says. “But I’m your mother. I know things you don’t. Your father trusted me. I hated him, and he trusted me. It’s time for me to save you the way you’ve saved me.”

  The string of sentences is impressive for a woman who’s as easily distracted as a mosquito drawn to a bright light. She’s more focused than Benson’s ever seen her, her blue eyes like lasers. Which is, of course, exactly why he flinches when she suddenly releases his chin and throws herself against the window, pointing at something far below. “A parade!” she says gleefully.

  Benson and Harrison exchange an eyebrow-raised look and follow her gaze to where a string of blue lights race along the streets. Hunters. A shred of his heart peels away. How many will die tonight at their hands? he wonders. Why is he alive—a seventeen-year-old Slip—when most unauthorized beings never make it to their first birthday?

  Luck, springs to mind, but he knows it’s not the answer to his question, not really. The answer is a list of names:

  Michael Kelly- dead

  Lucy Harris- dead

  Janice Kelly- alive

  Harrison Kelly- alive

  Check, Rod, Gonzo, Geoffrey- alive times four

  There are others, too: a man who was once Benson’s dud Death Match, Boris Decker (dead); a hacker nicknamed Wire (alive); the Lifer leader, Jarrod (grudgingly alive). Minda and Simon and Destiny and many others whose names Benson doesn’t even know. All having risked their lives for his.

  “We can’t stop her from doing this,” Harrison says, still staring out the window.

  “I know,” Benson says. He’s known it since he first found out his mother was the key to the consortium’s plans to bringing down the Department of Population Control. His father’s backup plan.

  “But we can protect her,” Harrison adds.

  “Yes,” Benson agrees.

  Harrison looks up and smirks, and Benson finds his own face forming a similar expression, an inside joke passing between them. He knows exactly what his brother is thinking.

  Maybe we’re not that different after all.

  ~~~

  Article from the Saint Louis Times:

  Breaking News: Assault on Retirement Home Leaves One Dead

  A late-afternoon attack on a retirement home known as Golden Age Village resulted in the death of one resident, one-hundred-and-one-year-old Boris Decker. Decker, who was known to be an amicable man with an energy for life that’s rare amongst those that reach lifespans into triple digits, was shot twice before succumbing to blood loss. The tragedy is being called ‘the loss of a patriot’ by those who have studied Decker’s decorated history as a war hero.

  At approximately 4:15pm, multiple gunshots were heard by a dozen witnesses, followed by shouting and more gunshots. At least one of the shots was from Decker’s own licensed weapon, which records indicate he’s owned for years.

  Although law enforcement officials are remaining tight-lipped as to potential suspects, an employee of Golden Age Village told us that Decker had four unexpected visitors moments before he was killed. One of them was described as ‘a giant’, and was later seen fleeing the building, trailing blood and three others, two females and a young-looking male. This same employee is working with sketch artists to determine their identity.

  Crow chief, Charles Boggs, had no comment when asked about the motives behind the attack. Corrigan Mars was unable to be reached, although early-commenting rumor mills have insinuated that the murder may have been related to a birth authorization, given the victim’s advanced age. Thus far, we’ve been unable to determine who held the Death Match for Boris Decker.

  The mystery has already gained a cult following due to an unconfirmed report that a sq
uare of fabric was missing from Decker’s shirt, cut out before emergency responders arrived on scene.

  Have a comment on this article? Speak them into your holo-screen now. NOTE: All comments are subject to government screening. Those comments deemed to be inappropriate or treasonous in nature will be removed immediately and appropriate punishment issued.

  Comments:

  ConspiracyTheorist7: This smells like a cover up to me.

  TheJohnBoyd: This Death Match murder fad has gotten way out of control. Should I be scared because I’ve been labeled as a Death Match for some random couple hoping to have a child? Should I expect them to show up on my doorstep, guns blazing? Someone has to stop the madness and bring these criminals to justice.

  Lily1: Wow! John Boyd! I’m a huge fan, I watch your holo-show every day. I couldn’t agree more with everything you said.

  Chapter Three

  She only knows she's alive because of the beating of her heart. Even Destiny’s breaths are soundless, the rise and fall of her chest imperceptible, her eyes hidden behind veils of skin. Life and death seem separated by the mere width of a hair, as if the slightest misstep could send her into the great unknown.

  Despite having survived so much, life continues to feel like a burden, like an enormous weight on her back. Like something she’s not worthy of.

  She hates herself for thinking it, which only sends her further down the spiral, an endless tunnel filled with nothingness, despair, and the nameless faces of the hundreds of people whose deaths she is responsible for. And one face that has a name burned in her memory forever:

  Luce.

  The redemption Harrison promised wasn’t real, and now she doesn’t know what there is to live for. For him? Not when she could get him killed too. Not when she’s become a stick of dynamite, unstable and explosive and just waiting to destroy everyone around her. She doesn’t deserve the swell of happiness she feels when she’s with him, when she’s in his arms.