With Shattered Faith and Molten Gambit completed, I turned my attention to my patron’s final story, a thriller. Fortunately, I knew who I wanted to feature, my hunter. Despite most of his stories remain behind a paywall, I’d love to gather the snippets into one place eventually. Though they’re scattered for now, I’m resuming Solomon’s story after the events of Hidden Effects. While that story was more of a drama, this tale explores the aftereffects of his treatment.
Solomon was built to hunt monsters. But after being altered by science, he’s become the subject of scrutiny himself. Now his closest allies, Sandra and Jacob, prod and test him in ways he was never trained to withstand. He doesn’t mind attention, so long as it doesn’t come under the guise of lab reports and neural scans. But if these tests are the price of getting back into the field, he’ll grit his teeth and endure them.
The following excerpt drops you into the story before the storm. Read on for a glimpse into Solomon’s quiet resistance… just before everything falls apart.
Find a comfortable seat and join me as Solomon is subjected to another round of tests.
Despite the endless rounds of tests ordered by Sandra and Jacob, Solomon is forced to endure another one…
The corridor leading to the testing chamber stretched before Solomon like the throat of every monster he’d ever pursued. Sandra tapped his shoulder as she gripped her tablet against her chest. Jacob adjusted his glasses, staring at nothing. Both friends strove to avoid his gaze. The hunter rubbed his jaw as he glared at them. He marched forward, his every step punctuated by the echo of his footsteps. His coiled muscles were as wound as coils about to burst.
“Neural scan first,” Sandra said as Solomon reached a pair of doors.
He stopped and twisted toward her, resting his fingertips on the door. Both of his friends nodded, so the hunter dipped his head as he entered the circular chamber. Metal plates lined the walls, while a faint hum of electrical current filled the room. An extensive collection of pads hung from the middle of the ceiling over a comfortable chair. He marched forward and claimed the seat, knocking the cables aside.
“Let’s get this over with.”
Sandra hurried over and began connecting him to the machine.
As Solomon waited for her to finish, his jaw clenched as his gaze narrowed. “It always feels like I’m being shoved into a cage.”
“We’re just getting a picture of your mind,” Jacob said as he closed the door.
When Sandra finished, she ushered Jacob behind the console. After activating the scanning equipment, Solomon’s bones vibrated as his vision wobbled. The light fractured into threads of color that wove about his friends. The baser instincts of his mind screamed to escape, but he locked his body as rigid as a statue against the impulse.
.
.
.
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