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    A Voice in the Wilderness
    A Voice in the Wilderness
    A Voice in the Wilderness
    Ebook47 pages37 minutes

    A Voice in the Wilderness

    By John Walters

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    About this ebook

    A dying detective's final assignment, to solve the mystery of a series of kidnappings of infants from maternity wards of hospitals, becomes complicated when he discovers that aliens are abducting the babies to use as vehicles for their non-corporeal colonists.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAstaria Books
    Release dateAug 4, 2018
    ISBN9781386013877
    A Voice in the Wilderness
    Author

    John Walters

    John Walters recently returned to the United States after thirty-five years abroad. He lives in Seattle, Washington. He attended the 1973 Clarion West science fiction writing workshop and is a member of Science Fiction Writers of America. He writes mainstream fiction, science fiction and fantasy, and memoirs of his wanderings around the world.

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      Book preview

      A Voice in the Wilderness - John Walters

      A Voice in the Wilderness: A Story of the Future

      By

      John Walters

      Published by Astaria Books

      Copyright 2018 by John Walters

      All rights reserved.  No portion may be copied, other than brief passages for review purposes, without permission of the author.

      This is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to actual persons places or events - except those in the public domain - is purely coincidental.

      *     *     *

      A Voice in the Wilderness

      You know how it is: you're walking home late at night, staying in the yellow of the streetlights and the silver of the moonlight as much as possible, avoiding the dark shadows, trying to convince yourself you live in a safe neighborhood, listening for subtle noises that don't belong.

      Abruptly a cat appears on a fencepost or the low-hanging branch of a tree. It could be any color in daylight, but in the vague hues of night it's black. Its eyes shine as it stares at you, motionless except for the slight turning of its head as it follows your movements.

      Why is it so intently watching you? What gives it such focused concentration?

      *     *     *

      It all comes back to me now: the squeezing, the twisting, the terrifying moment when I think I might suffocate before I can draw a breath, the robust wail when the function of my lungs kicks in.

      I feel exposed, vulnerable, and want to nestle in the comfort of the person who is purportedly my mother. Instead, I am bustled off to a cleaning station nearby, where I am wiped off and wrapped up.

      In the distance I vaguely hear a conversation between the woman who bore me and a member of the hospital staff. I cannot catch the words, but I presume the woman is asking to hold me and the other is explaining why that's not possible at the moment.

      Then another woman grabs me. I try to spot some identifying characteristics but all I can see is the underside of her chin. She's a slightly overweight white woman. Not much to go on.

      It all becomes an overwhelming blur: ceilings, walls, furniture, instruments, people. I expected to be able to handle it but this is extreme sensory overload. Additionally, I am tired and hungry and miss my mother, even though she isn't really my mother. To stabilize myself and remain on top of the situation, I attempt to retrace the steps that brought me here.

      *     *     *

      It was a summons to an interview just a few weeks before my forced retirement for medical reasons. I remember positing that if I did well on this assignment, they might put off the dismissal for a few more months. The prospect of having nothing to do to distract me as the disease within continued to ravage my body and I slid closer and closer to oblivion terrified me. When I found myself alone, I'd drink tequila and dwell on the things I used to do to remain effective on the job and with the women I used to know.

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