Extinction Averted

By David Horn

A fast-paced pulp sci-fi novelette. An occasionally bloody roller-coaster ride through a very fictional version of the United States. Are there extraterrestrial beings infiltrating society? Or is the protagonist just plain nuts?
The truth is out there, and John Jackson, Private Detective, has his work cut out for him. He just hopes his work won't cut him apart and eat him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Horn
• Release date: Oct 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301040834

David Horn

Actual Bio: D. Horn, Artist, Poet and Savant, uses the medium of self-publishing to heuristically test the boundaries of the semiotically acceptable and marketable. Originally from Austria, Europe. The work "Smash the Words 2013" consists of three distinctive short stories and a novelette (medium variable & entirely up to the recipient). It is a work in progress, and the final tally & interpretation can realistically only be made after there is no semblance of human culture left in the universe, so that's up to others then. In the meantime, send some credits or BTC or just kudos or love my way, every bit counts. FNORD, e.a. Current comment on results: FNORD. Out now: "Contract Expired", a not so short story. A dystopian journey into a bleak universe, not so far away from our own as we might hope.

Book preview

Extinction Averted

A Pulp Science-Fiction Novelette

by David Horn

Copyright 2013 David Horn All Rights Reserved

Cover Photo by topfer at sxc.hu

Cover Design by HD using GIMP

Smashwords Edition October 2013

This e-book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, trademarked products, events, and locations are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual events or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental. Furthermore, some of the characters espouse racist and bigoted world-views that in no way reflect the position of the author. Unfortunately, racism, bigotry and fanaticism are not entirely restricted to the world of fiction.

Smashwords Edition License Notes This e-book 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 Smashwords.com and get your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Copyright & Disclaimer

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Epilogue

About the Author

Extinction Averted

by David Horn

Prologue

Jim Wilson was what he himself liked to call a finger-smith, a word he had picked up from some old storybook, back when he still used to read. What everybody else would call him was probably a pick-pocket. Or a desperate junkie. That's what his last girlfriend had called him, right before dumping him.

Well, he would show her not to mess with him. He'd show them all.

Jim slowly slid the knife from its sheath. It was a good knife, one of the last things of his old life he had kept. He called it Toledo, that's what it said right on the blade. That meant it was exclusive and expensive, he was sure of it. But he hadn't sold it yet - a good knife had its uses. Like teaching that whore a lesson. Satisfied with the glint of it's edge in the reflected light from the street lamp on the corner, he sheathed it again. Soon, it would be time.

He knew her route home, because he had used to pick her up from time to time. Then they would go to her place, smoke weed, and shag like rabbits. Ah, those were the good times. But then that bitch had decided to stop smoking with him, and had later tried to get him to stop too. Ha! He was Jim fucking Wilson. He would do whatever he liked. Admittedly, he had been on Coke at the time, and therefore he didn't try to talk it out or anything when she dumped him right after that.

It had been all downhill from there.

He felt a twitching deep inside, an itching void, and he knew that he could only fill it with that delicious white powder up his nose. But it had been ages ago that he had last been able to afford some of that precious snuff - crack did the job, to a certain extent, and was simultaneously better and worse.

He vainly tried to stifle his yearnings, and forced himself to be patient. Soon enough, that bitch would come around the corner, and that meant sayonara for that lofty, condescending whore. Of course, another part of him hoped very much that she would be carrying as much cash and valuables as possible.

He heard the clutter of high heels on asphalt. A woman. He was sure it would be her. And sure enough, there she was, walking right past him. He had cleverly hidden himself in an unlit doorway, and she was walking right past him! Now was the time to act.

As he had planned his revenge, he had mused on how to confront her, show her the knife, and then kill her slowly. That had been on a particularly bad batch of ketamine, and