Action Adventure Fiction

[New to Oasis? Catch up by starting with Chapter 1. And in other Oasis news, I've been working on the cover to the eventual printed book and I've started developing a website for Oasis. I'll need everybody's help and ideas on that as time goes on. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this week's Oasis chapter.]

No Calm Before The Storm

The door lead into a large supply closet. Tools of every kind, from shovels to power drills cluttered the floor and bench. In the corner there was a greasy old gas powered generator. The whole room reeked of chemicals and exhaust.

Samson closed the door behind him and pointed to the generator. “There it is, our little secret.”

I looked at it closer. “You mean it works?”

“Yes, indeed. This utility closet is underground and encased in cement. Apparently that was enough to (more…)

[Yay! Oasis turns 50 (Chapters) today! You all have made this a lot of fun for me, so thank you. We're getting closer to the end here, so if you haven't read Oasis before, please start at the beginning.]

Time To Go

Dale raised a hand. “Sam, aren’t you forgetting something?”

Samson looked back over his shoulder. “What?”

“What are we going to do about the crowd of infected that’s sure to be around the hospital?”

Samson looked and then pointed toward Kevin and me. “Those two are pretty resourceful. They’ll run ahead and figure it out. Now, let’s go.”

My eyes widened.

I’m pretty sure Kevin stopped breathing.

Samson, Dale, and Linda swept out of the room.

Kevin and I looked at each other.

Kevin shook his head. “The hospital is near the middle of the city, near the fountain. Throwing a garbage can will get a couple of them, but if there’s many more… I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more. A whole lot more.”

I shrugged. “I guess we’ll figure it out when we (more…)

[note: This week's been hectic. I've got a whole bunch of stuff to write about, including the purchase of my first gun, when I get a minute. Anyway, if this is your first experience with Oasis, you should start with Chapter 1.]

Best Laid Plans

The food and drink had done me a world of good.

Neither my arms nor my legs shook as I pushed myself onto my feet.

I followed Samson and Kevin into the trophy room.

The trophy room wasn’t as wide as the other conference rooms I had seen, but it was just as deep, and the far wall was made of windows looking toward the desert outside of Oasis.

It matched Samson’s rugged exterior better than any room I had seen in the rest of the hotel. It was like a museum. Several plaques and animal heads hung on the walls. Toward the middle of the room was a stuffed bear, a stuffed bison, and a stuffed lion. There were photos of Samson holding up large fish, climbing mountains, and leading a camel through some desert.

Apparently, he’d been just about everywhere.

Samson pointed at a bench against one wall. (more…)

[note: If you have never read Oasis before, it's better to start at the beginning. Also, It looks like everything is just swell here on my new host. Let me know if you come across any problems.]

Exhaustion

I was breathing heavily by the time I made it to the third floor.

My legs were shaking, and I felt wobbly all over.

I had made a mistake. I had overestimated my condition.

I had barely made it up the stairs that morning. And that was with help. What made me think I could just sprint up them now?

I was too tired, too tired, too tired.

People might die if I don’t make it.

I pushed onward and upward.

The stairway seemed to push me back.

Down below I heard the door open.

They’re delivering the next load of ammo.

A flicker of hope sparked somewhere inside me.

I opened my mouth to (more…)

[note: If you are new to Oasis, please start with Chapter 1. It's good to be back.]

Moving On Up

I stumbled back a step.

One of the two Samson had grabbed before lined up at his side.

A couple more deads pushed through the door. Their clothes were ripped to shreds and they had that horrible empty look in their eyes. They turned toward the stairs.

Samson raised a large black shotgun to his shoulder.

I jerked my hands up to cover my ears.

Samson fired.

The one on the right was hit in the chest and thrown backwards, colliding first with another dead and then falling to the ground.

The deads continued to press in.

I lost sight of the one Samson had shot, but I had the sinking feeling that it was still moving.

The man who had lined up next to Samson raised his own shotgun.

I don’t need to (more…)

[Note: If you've never read Oasis before, it'd make more sense to start with Chapter 1.]

A Failed Escape

Samson bolted for the door. “Where the hell did he… doesn’t matter.”

I jumped up and followed.

The crowd was dumbfounded, and all heads turned and watched Samson, hoping for some kind of instruction.

Samson reached the door and spun around. “Linda, do what you can to organize the evacuation. Get them to carry as much food as possible. We’ll move everybody down the south staircase to the parking garage if this goes bad. I’ll need five or six men who have experience with firearms to follow me.”

The room burst into commotion and I was glad to leave.

I hoped we could (more…)

[If you have never read Oasis before, you’ll probably be better off starting at the beginning.]

The Punch Heard ‘Round The Hotel

People tend to make bad decisions when they’re angry.

Or stressed.

Or tired.

Davis must have been all three, because his decision was terrible. I’m not sure exactly what he was hoping to accomplish by rushing Samson like that. All I know is that he did not get the outcome he wanted.

Davis hadn’t even placed his second foot on the platform when it happened. (more…)

I’ve been sick this week, and when I get sick, I like to curl up with a Doc Savage book. For those of you who are unaware of Doc Savage, I have prepared a graphic to introduce you.

Anyway, the book I read this time was “The Mental Wizard.” The back of the book has the following description: “The massive creature-a mile from head to toe!-sleeps in the steaming jungle. Is the behemoth real, or has the golden enchantress ‘Z’ conquered the magnificent MAN OF BRONZE with the hypnotic power of her superhuman mind? Doc Savage meets his mental match when he uncovers the strange lost kingdom of the deadly Amazon.”

I would just like to start by saying two things.

1. That description is totally misleading. It makes it sound like Doc will be facing off against a giant jungle beast. The fact that the description is misleading doesn’t mean the book is not enjoyable, though. The book is great.
2. If you ever find a stockpile of Doc Savage’s stuff, and you see several cans marked “coffee,” don’t be fooled- they’re really filled with explosives.

If you’ve read the last review of a Doc Savage book I did, you already know that if you cut Doc Savage, he bleeds awesome.

But here are some things you may not know about Doc.

• He does not own any shirts that are not ripped to shreds. Just look at any Doc Savage book or magazine cover.
• He is good at faking his own death/unconsciousness. He does it twice in this book.
• Like Frodo, he has a mithril vest. Or at least a tightly woven yet light chain mail vest. It’s tight and strong enough to stop a poison dart needle.
• Doc is calm in any situation. Seriously. Bombs are exploding left and right, strange men wearing strange leather smocks show up (and immediately die), a Amazonian princess descended from the pharaoh Klantic and has hair that appears to be gold plated (and telepathic control powers) shows up and causes trouble, it doesn’t matter. He keeps it together.
• During part of his spare time, he designs military airplanes for large-scale production. The Columbian army even has (at least) one, which they loan to him. The afore-mentioned woman crashes it.
• Doc is prepared for anything. He has a pocket metal detector (remember, this was written in the 1930’s) thats alert him to the grenade in the fruit basket the bad guys try to deliver.
• Doc is possibly the best chemist ever. He uses a small chemistry set to make tear gas and a chemical that dissolves stone. He uses the stone dissolving one to become the new pharaoh Klantic. There’s no way for me to explain that one without having you just read the book.
• Doc may very well have invented RFID tags. He’s left a tracer on each of the automatic pistols that he gives to his five aides. As a matter of fact, he hooks a RFID-style detector to the detonator that makes the before-mentioned coffee cans explode. He leaves the guns for the bad guys to find, and they rush him (after he’s warned them, of course) and that sets of the coffee-bombs…

Despite the fact that everything I’ve said here sounds like it comes from different books, it all really makes sense as you read it. And it’s a lot of fun.

[If you have never read Oasis before, you'll probably be better off starting at the beginning.]

A Tangled Web

“I don’t really know what I can say that will convince you otherwise, but here’s what happened. Last night, Lily came into my room and attempted to seduce me. I got out of there. In the hall, Richard and friends were just coming out of the stairwell. I did try to hurry them along, but it was no use.”

I took a deep breath before continuing. “Lily stole my other shirt, came out into the hall, and put on a show for the lawyer herd. She left and I went back to my room. Those five weasels came in to my room and beat me up. I tried to defend myself, but with one on five in a small room, I suppose the result was inevitable. And there you have it.”

Many in the crowd shook their heads, presumably in disgust.

But what else was there to do? Richard had created a lie and provided evidence.

Richard scowled at me. “Is there nothing else you’d like to tell us? Like maybe the truth?”

I couldn’t (more…)

[Sorry about the extreme lateness. Weekends always get busy around my place. If you've never read Oasis before, you should start with chapter one. I'm pretty sure we'll be back on track for another new chapter this Friday. Thanks for your patience.]

Trial

“Right now?”

“If it were up to them, they’d have already tossed you out.”

“Fine, let me clean up a little.”

“No. Don’t. That’ll make it harder.”

“Harder to what? Get pity?”

“Just trust me. Come on. Let’s go.”

I stood and my legs wobbled under me. My ribs hurt and my arms ached. The left side of my face was throbbing.

I still have to (more…)