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    Cartlin
    Cartlin
    Cartlin
    Ebook96 pages1 hour

    Cartlin

    By Karla Jones

    ()

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    About this ebook

    After a supernatural entity enslaves a city, all hell begins to break loose, leading to the physical deterioration of the city and its citizens. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKarla Jones
    Release dateMay 10, 2018
    ISBN9780834254855
    Cartlin

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      Book preview

      Cartlin - Karla Jones

      Cartlin

      By Karla Jones

      Contents:

      ––––––––

      Chapter 1 - Kathy

      Chapter 2 - Michael

      Chapter 3 - The Takeover

      Chapter 4 - Exodus

      Chapter 5 - Cut ties

      We're imperfect people trapped in an imperfect world until we get to that place beyond.

      -Kathie Lee Gifford

      ––––––––

      The city is coated with nostalgia; it is cozy, full of life, and faces the beautiful green hills. The city comforts us in our sorrow and swallows up the iniquity of men and women.

      ––––––––

      The city cannot be moved; we cannot be moved, for we are with God and we are nothing without Him. The city is strong and no evil can touch it with his words, we praise the Lord and give Him thanks.

      Chapter 1

      Kathy

      ––––––––

      It was a hellish week, to say the least. Not only had Kathy fallen behind in her weekly duties, she had gotten in verbal altercations each day until that day, which came as a shock to her—she had not only expected some shit from someone, she expected what came with altercations; rage, judgment, and the urge to inflict pain.

      Her day today was unusually lovely: the sun was bright, nobody had died in Cartlin so far, perhaps things are looking up on the town, she thought. Kathy sat on her lovely red velvet chair in the warm living room, while daydreaming about what could have been. In her daydreaming she saw Max, with his straw-colored hair and his sun-tanned skin which reminded her of the days when he and her would take a vacation to New Jersey and camp on the beach; camping was the one of the many things they mutually loved. The two sat next to each other on the sand, facing the towering waves, one arm around one another while enjoying the shared love they had in those days.

      Does it scare you, sweetie? Max asked, which was the one problem he had with Kathy's personality; she was always scared off of her chair about something. He had thought it was from her depression, which he desperately tried to help her with. No . . . It's just, I haven't prepared for this, yet. Kathy looked down her toes in the warm sand, and watched as they curled up and down. I haven't either, I'm just as worried as you are, so don't think you're alone in this, Kat. She looked at him, with a worried expression on her face.

      Still looking at Max, Kathy asked, "What are you worried about? You don't need me, you have a lot of girls after you. What if you just . . . y'know . . . find a girl with more to offer than me? This question stirred up anger in him, he had reassured her time and time again that she was his, and he was hers. He held the anger in, looked at her with his award-winning reassuring grin and said: Kathy, I need you, it's not you who needs me. When we're together I forget about everything else. Now if you're not ready we can alwa- She cut him off—No, no, I'm ready. I've been ready since I first told you I loved you. Max turned to the waves with a grin, whenever she told him she loved him, whatever negative feeling he had, even the smallest of small, went away. I love you. she said when noticing his grin. He fell back on the sand, his face facing the clouds and uttered I love you too."

      Suddenly with a jump, Kathy came to from the voice of a guard. 19075, why have you not offered your portion, yet? he was towering over her, Kathy hated when the guards would enter your homes without permission, it felt like they owned even what you owned. She looked up at him saying, I'm so sorry. I thought I had done it, I swore I did it when I was looking at my checkl- Suddenly the guard interrupted with rage: I'm getting sick of these excuses, you skinny ass red-headded cocksucker. If you don't give your portion by tomorrow at 12, you can expect something no woman would ever want, now get to bed. Tears flooded behind her eyes, not from the rage of the guard, but from the insults about her looks.

      Kathy had always tolerated how she looked, each time a man (or the occasional woman) gave her a compliment it would boost her self-esteem for a time, but once the compliments stopped when The Takeover was all said and done her self image was shattered. The guard grinned at her evily, turned, and began his walk towards the exit. In her mind she cursed him and wished death upon him, her outside frozen body might give one who studied human behavior an insight of someone with fire inside of their heart, but to everyone in Cartlin this was the morning smile with the Good morning! of crushing hopelessness.

      In 2019 when The Takeover began, Kathy was only a teen. The Event still came to her in fragments, It's best to forget what happened, it makes tomorrow easier. Most world events were predicted by specialists and scientists on the five o'clock news, but this came without a sign or foretelling. Those who had family in Cartlin all stopped hearing from their loved ones, and all at once—it wasn't progressive, it was instant.

      The front door shut loudly from the guard, and Kathy began to let out her wails of crushing defeat. Her wails were always the same; it would start off as a mouse-heard weep that grew to full blown bawling and wailing, nobody in VA-2 was spared from the daily wails of Kathy.

      Not even the pups, who rose their heads from their sleep with teary eyes and the painful sensation of empty-stomachs. This wail had to be the loudest of them all, she knew what would happen tomorrow.

      Kathy's grey t-shirt had dark spots from her tears, she looked down at it and fully realized how loud and powerful she cried. She rose her hand to her red-circled eye and wiped roughly. Shit always itches after I cry or shower, she thought. As she continued to sit, she thought about her next move—the move which would decide the destiny of her maidenhood. Please God save my innocence... her mind was split in half, pondering how she would do what was expected of her in such a short time and if not, how she would deal with the pain and emotional torment of her maidenhood being stolen from her.

      What was expected of Kathy on the week of 4/12/22 was as follows; She was to give a burnt offering to Malxuh (Goddamn Kathy hated doing that), deliver 3/5 of her weekly food to Malxuh, till the soil for a whole day, deliver this weeks'forced babies, memorize Chapter 6 of Zi'ar, write up the report of Saturday's VA-2 profits, and finally on Sunday—help with the construction of the stone idol. The work was too much for her, she was near-anorexic from the lack of food she had eaten since The Takeover began, and wasn't of the physical requirement for most of her jobs.

      The duty Kathy had missed on the week of 4/12/22 was that she forgot to give a burnt offering to Malxuh (Not really, she just didn't want to)—that was her excuse, it was the classic excuse from students of the outside world Oh, I'm sorry I forgot, can I turn in my homework tomorrow? for her it was Damn I forgot to kill an innocent animal, I guess the cuntbag won't get his corpse this week. The truth was that she couldn't

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