Quinn Ebert

Zephyr :: Book 1 – “Retalliation” :: Chapter 1 – “The Apocalypse” :: David Quinn “DragonFyre” Ebert

“There is limitless freedom in times of complete disorder.”
– David Quinn “Q-Man” Ebert (CEO, EbertSoft Technologies)
– from Aaron Sonders’ “(A) List Of Infamous Quotes” (2001, Unprinted)

“Shit,” gasped Zephyr, as he came to his senses, finding himself dusted in the rubble of the upper-story of his once majestic “Morrison Ranch” home. “Zephyr,” asked Regina, with obvious throat irritation, “are you okay?” “Yep, I’m fine,” replied Zephyr, “Christian, are you okay?” “Yep, I think so,” was the much hoped-for response, “just a little dusty, daddy,” she went on, with a chuckle.

Zephyr sat up, two or three sizable pieces of loose clay-brick falling off his chest, and down through his lap. He could see his wife of 18 years, and daughter of 16, following suit in his effort to get back on firm footing. Approaching her husband, Regina implored “Zephyr, any idea of what just happened? How long have we been unconcious?” Looking at his wristwatch, a Navy-issued deep-sea diving watch “acquired” from his service with the recently-disbanded SEAL’s, Zephyr answered “Looks like it’s only been 5 or 10 minutes. As for what happened, you should know the basics, as well as I…or are you no longer the top-notch war-goddess I married so long ago?” “Assume nothing, Zephyr, but, yes, I did hear TR-79’s on approach, but, you know, as well as I, that we get a lot of that around here,” responded Regina, with a loving yet derided sneer. “True, true, but, it just seems too convenient.”

Meanwhile, as Zephyr and Regina continued to discuss the situation at hand, they had failed to notice that Christian was on a bit of a tangent of her own. To her dismay, niether her mother nor her father had yet given thought to the current status of her much-loved bodyguard-cyborg, “Uriel,” so, she though it her duty to check up on him.

Christina carefully made her way down the 2nd-story hallway, and towards the landing, where she found the stairs to be in good working order, and cautiously headed downward. She made her way towards her room, where she had last left Uriel. The door, as was usual, was closed and locked under key – a luxury afforded to her by her parents, due to her culturally-unusual reliable and intelligent nature. On the recurrent advice and reminders of Zephyr, who knew too well the hazards of war and animosity, Christian refrained from knocking on the door (as would’ve been her normal habit) and, as slowly as possible, keyed, unlocked, and crept the door open. When she’d opened the door almost halfway, she let out a scream of terror that no parent ever wishes to hear.

“Reggie,” exclaimed Zephyr,” that’s Christian…follow me!” The two ex-marines let their training take over…Zephyr took point, and Regina tailed him, ensuring no unknown threats stood behind them. They stormed down the stairs, and into Christian’s room, where they found Christian, unharmed, but crying, and a cyborg-gargoyle who was no longer quite as lucky as his now-devastated owner, master, and best friend…

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