Arisen, Book Nine - Cataclysm (39 page)

Handon pretty obviously didn’t like it.

But, once again, he didn’t have to like it.

He just had to do it.

And they all had to somehow make it happen.

But it was Handon, and not anybody else, who had to grab the reins of this sideways-sliding mission, and his faltering leadership, and the fracturing team, and finally get it done. Because things couldn’t keep going as they had been. Handon couldn’t let them. Or else they were all dead.

Everyone, everywhere, would be dead.

Without another word, he slung himself back in the front, motioned to Brady to fire up the engine, and the huge rumbling vehicle got moving again. This time toward the highway that led south into the interior, into Somaliland – and directly toward Hargeisa, ground zero of the fall of man.

Straight into the heart of darkness.

ARISEN, BOOK TEN – THE FLOOD
launches on
21 October 2015

Yes, you read that right. Two new ARISEN books in a month – and for the same reason as last time: because you, the ARISEN readers, are awesome, and you deserve it.

Love this book? Share the love, support independent authors, and make me your best friend forever by posting a quick review on
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.   Thanks!

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Thanks and Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank indispensable über-readers Mark George Pitely and Amanda Jo Moore, who go way above and beyond the call, and whose contributions to this author’s success are way too poorly rewarded.

Ditto the amazing Editrice – you make
Arisen
bulletproof. Thanks, and occasional tea and cakes at gallery cafes, are not enough.

Extra special thanks to outstanding new advance reader – plus military, weapons, and avionics subject matter expert, reader’s advocate, and occasional ghostwriter – Electronics Technician Chief Petty Officer Mark D. Wiggins, USCG (ret).

My deep and sincere thanks to 1SG Don Harper, US Army (ret), for the support, friendship, and the best gift an author ever got. RLTW.

Thanks also and as always to Anna K. Brooksbank, Sara Natalie Fuchs, Richard S. Fuchs, Virginia Ann Sayers-King, Valerie Sayers, Alexander M. Heublein, Matthew David Grabowy, and Michael and Jayne Barnard, for their indispensable support. Also, Bruce, Wanda, Alec, and Brendan Fyfe for their service and sacrifice. Eternal thanks to Glynn James for coming up with
Arisen
.

Once again, I have borrowed several incomparably awesome lines for Fick from the now sadly defunct “Funniest thing your Drill Sergeant/Instructor said that you almost laughed at but didn't because you didn’t want him to kill you” thread on the (also defunct)
The Most Infantry Man in the World
page on Facebook. (If anyone can dig this material up, it definitely deserves to be rescued and hosted somewhere.) Once again many thanks are due to all those super-smart-ass DSes and DIs, as well as the recruits who resisted laughing at them.

The idea that you can always feel eyes on you is from
Among Heroes: A U.S. Navy SEAL’s True Story of Friendship, Heroism, and the Ultimate Sacrifice
by Brandon Webb.

The notion of the three-foot world, as well as the story of learning that lesson lead-climbing on a mountain warfare training op, are from Mark Owen’s
No Hero: The Evolution of a Navy SEAL
. Also, the brief bit about dolphins being trained to interdict enemy divers. And the excellent and memorable catchphrase, “Don’t run to your death.”

The idea that local knowledge is king is taken from Delta Squadron commander Pete Blaber in
The Mission, the Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander
(the second best book on Delta ever written).

The line “You did join the Army [Navy] to learn, didn’t you son?” was borrowed from S01E02 of
The Unit
(“Stress”), written by David Mamet, series created by David Mamet and CSM (ret.) Eric L. Haney.

All of the details about what it’s like to land a fighter on aircraft carrier were taken from
this remarkable Quora answer
by Tim Hibbetts (former United States Navy A-6E and F/A-18C pilot).

Fick’s recital of the line “You kids shouldn’t play so rough. Somebody’s gonna start crying” was, I hope needless to point out, from Quentin Tarantino’s
Reservoir Dogs
.

Jameson’s line about the idiots at MoD being in charge of people is slightly borrowed from Corporal Person in
Generation Kill
(talking about Captain America as he stormed an empty airfield): “Can you believe that fucking retard is in charge of people?”

Fick’s observation that “the one thing you know about a dude Graybeard’s age who’s still operational is that he’s a survivor” was adapted from a nearly identical line delivered by James Caan in Christopher McQuarrie’s (rather underrated)
The Way of the Gun
.

Abrams’s line “You wanna get in the war?” was first George Clooney’s in the excellent
Monuments Men
. (Clooney also co-wrote the screenplay, so maybe it was really his line.)

Private Elliott Walker’s realization that in the face of certain death, the only thing that gives life meaning is sacrificing for the people you love is, basically, the theme of Hemingway’s
For Whom the Bell Tolls
. Thanks, Papa.

The line, “If a man and an operator like Dugan could be infected and go down, then anyone could" was taken from General Stanley McChrystal’s comments about the death of Unit operator Bob Horrigan, in his outstanding
My Share of the Task
.

Thanks again to the amazing Tom Weber at
MILPICTURES
for the as always awesome cover photography.

More relevant thanks and acknowledgements in the back of Book Ten!

A portion of the proceeds from this book will go to support the USX Veteran Everest Expedition. Amazing undertaking, terrific cause. Watch their awesome short video and learn more
here
.

ARISEN
Hope Never Dies.