Table of Contents
The Complete Colony Saga (The Colony Saga, #0)
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FINAL CHAPTER: THE COLONY
THE COMPLETE COLONY SAGA
The Colony: GENESIS
The Colony: RENEGADES
The Colony: DESCENT
The Colony: VELOCITY
The Colony: BURIED
The Colony: SHIFT
The Colony: RENEGADES
By
Michaelbrent Collings
Written Insomnia Press
"Books That Keep You Up All Night"
Copyright © 2018 by Michaelbrent Collings
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author. For information send request to info@michaelbrentcollings.com.
NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the author is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.
Cover and interior art elements
© 2013 Stokkete, Vibrant Image Studio, PlusONE
used under license from Shutterstock.com
cover design by Michaelbrent Collings
NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the author is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.
website: http://writteninsomnia.com
email: info@writteninsomnia.com
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PRAISE FOR THE WORK OF
MICHAELBRENT COLLINGS
"... PREPARE TO BE CREEPED out." – San Francisco Book Review
"Collings is a great storyteller!" – Larry Correia, NY Times bestselling author of Monster Hunter International and Son of the Black Sword.
"Move over Stephen King... Clive Barker.... Michaelbrent Collings is taking over as the new king of the horror book genre." – Media Mikes
"[Crime Seen] will keep you guessing until the end.... 5/5. " – Horror Novel Reviews
"It's rare to find an ending to a novel that is clever, thought-provoking and surprising, yet here Collings nails all three...." – Ravenous Reads
"Crime Seen by Michaelbrent Collings is one of those rare books that deserves more than five stars." – Top of the Heap Reviews
"I barely had time to buckle my mental seatbelt before the pedal hit the metal...." – The Horror Fiction Review
"Collings is so proficient at what he does, he crooks his finger to get you inside his world and before you know it, you are along for the ride. You don't even see it coming; he is that good." – Only Five Star Book Reviews
"A proficient and pedagogical author, Collings' works should be studied to see what makes his writing resonate with such vividness of detail...." – Hellnotes
"[H]auntingly reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan or Alfred Hitchcock." – horrornews.net
"The Haunted is a terrific read with some great scares and a shock of an ending!" – Rick Hautala, international bestselling author; Bram Stoker Award® for
Lifetime Achievement winner
"[G]ritty, compelling and will leave you on the edge of your seat.... " – horrornews.net
"[W]ill scare even the most jaded horror hounds. " – Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award®-winning author of Flesh Eaters and The Savage Dead
"Apparition is a hard core supernatural horror novel that is going to scare the hell out of you.... This book has everything that you would want in a horror novel.... it is a roller coaster ride right up to a shocking ending." – horroraddicts.net
"What a ride.... This is one you will not be able to put down and one you will remember for a long time to come. Very highly recommended." – Midwest Book Review
Dedication
To...
Mom and Pop Barbey,
who provided me with a rare gift,
and to Laura, FTAAE.
THE COLONY: GENESIS
1
“MR. STRICKLAND?”
“Shhh.”
A pause. Then:
“Mr. Strickland?”
“Shhhh!”
A shorter pause.
“Mr. –“
Ken Strickland tried very hard not to roll his eyes. He almost succeeded.
“What is it, Becca?”
Becca Lee was famous for this. Bright enough to be in the college prep courses, but she somehow always found herself on the upper end of the grading curve in the lower level classes. Like she didn’t want to run the risk of finding herself in the middle of the pack. Better to win at an easier game than actually push herself to excel. Still, that didn’t stop her from raising her hand and asking some question every time she finished a test. An obvious-to-everyone-but-her attempt for recognition, if not outright validation. She might as well have just said, “I’m done, I’m smart, and I just wanted you all to know.”
Ken liked Becca. He liked all his students, even the ones who seemed determined to squeak through their high school career on the way to promising futures as fry cooks, senators, and other high school teachers. But some of them really tried his patience.
“Becca,” he said. His voice was a stage whisper, one he knew from experience would carry through the room. She was in the first row – a seat she had picked for herself, of course – so he could have been quieter. But sometimes a little public embarrassment was the best medicine. “Please be quiet unless you need to go pee-pee so bad you’re going to explode.”
Titters from the class. Most of them seemed to understand what he was doing, too, glancing surreptitiously at Becca and rolling their eyes before returning their gazes to the tests he had handed out only.... Ken’s eyes flicked to the digital wall-clock.
Crap, it’s only been ten minutes? No way she finished already.
As if mirroring his thoughts, Becca shook her head at that moment. Her face scrunched up and there were wrinkles on her forehead that he’d never seen on her before. She looked worried. Freaked out.
Scared.
“It’s not that. It’s just....” She looked like she was searching for the right words, then just shrugged and pointed.
Ken followed the line of her gesture. He wondered absently if this was some new way to get attention. Wondered if there was any chance he would be able to steal away during his lunch break and meet up with Maggie and the kids.
Wondered if he was going to live and die in that lowest of all stations: a high school teacher.
Then all that fell out of his head, fell from his mind like water through a sieve as he saw what Becca was pointing at. What she had been the first to see.
Others in the class saw it, too. The titters of a moment before disappeared, replaced by several gasps and one small screech that probably came from Janeane Carpenter in the last row.
Or maybe it came from Ken himself. He couldn’t be sure. But a moment later he realized he’d stopped breathing.