The Hands of Fate Plus Beasts of the Outlands

By Donald H Sullivan

Two stories; "The Hands of Fate" A man cruelly runs over a fox adding to his long list of cruelties to animals. The fox has its revenge in spades. "Beasts of the Outlands" A young Komandi shaman is sent into the outlands to investigate the appearance of strange and dangerous beasts. He encounters perilous situations with the creatures...and meets an alien from another world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Donald H Sullivan
• Release date: Apr 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311420756

Donald H Sullivan

I'm a native Floridian, retired from the US Army, I started writing in the army, mostly training and tech manuals. Boring stuff, but it whetted my interest in writing. I've written sci-fi, thrillers, mysteries, humor, fantasies, horror, and more. I'm now living in NC. While in the army, I served in air defense artillery, military intelligence, and psychological operations. I also worked in Federal Civil Service as a quality assurance specialist, ammunition surveillance. I love writing, reading, most kinds of music, and animals--especially dogs.

Book preview

The Hands of Fate

Plus

Beasts of the Outlands

Copyright: 2016 Donald H Sullivan

Table of Conbtents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Part I: The Hands of Fate

Part II: Beasts of the Outlands

About the Author

Part I The Hands of Fate

The fox was hurrying back to her den. It was almost dawn now, and she knew that her hungry kits were waiting to suckle her breasts.

~ ~ *~ ~

The minivan, bearing its three passengers on a weekend fishing trip, sped along county road 358. Gary Miller sat in the passenger seat next to Tom Kinney, the driver. Roy Barnes rode in the back seat.

Gary glanced back at Roy, who was curled up on the back seat, sound asleep. He wondered how Roy managed to sleep with the country music blaring from the radio.

In the gray light of dawn, Gary saw an animal ahead--a fox--crossing the road from left to right. It had almost made it to the shoulder of the road and was out of danger. Gary, expecting Tom to keep going straight, was shocked when Tom swerved onto the shoulder, aiming to hit the animal.

Road kill for the convicts, said Tom.

Gary felt a thump as the minivan ran over the fox. At the same moment, he saw the railing of a concrete bridge looming straight ahead. Tom, unable to steer the vehicle back onto the pavement, cursed as he swerved farther to the right to avoid the railing. Gary braced himself, then blacked out as the van crashed through trees and brush, plunging down to the muddy waters of the creek down below.

~ ~ *~ ~

When Gary regained consciousness, he was astonished to see that the minivan was not in the creek. It was sitting in a clearing surrounded by dense, gloomy woods. The creek and bridge had vanished; the surrounding area bore no resemblance to the spot where they had crashed.

There