Gunship: Vampire Hunters: Gunship, #18
()
About this ebook
With the Vampires on the brink of extinction, Dalton James and his crew now join humanity in hunting down the few that remain. With a brown coat across his back and his trusted revolver by his side, Dalton is about to discover that the Vampires aren't even close to being extinct. Instead, they've been prepping for a war, and all hell is about to break loose.
Read more from John M. Davis
Surviving When SHTF Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMan Against Machine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship (The Complete Series) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAtantis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWicked Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDark Island Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsImmortal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAtlantis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Gunship
Titles in the series (21)
The Glimmerian War: Gunship, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: The Fleet: Gunship, #12 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: Gunship, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReflections: Gunship, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: The Blood War: Gunship, #13 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhost Planet: Gunship, #8 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLegendary: Gunship, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGears and Spears: Gunship, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpace Rebels: Gunship, #6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSkyfall: Gunship, #9 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bone Harvest: Gunship, #7 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: Vampire Hunters: Gunship, #18 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLagoon: Gunship, #10 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: Chaotic Worlds: Gunship, #14 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: The Afterworlds: Gunship, #15 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: The Run: Gunship, #16 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: The Colony: Gunship, #20 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: The Great War: Gunship, #17 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: Graveyard: Gunship, #21 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCloak of War (Gunship XI): Gunship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: Return of the Fear: Gunship, #19 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related ebooks
Vampire Hunters (The Fleet, Book 7) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: Trilogy Two Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGears and Spears: Gunship, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: Gunship, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: Gears and Spears Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: The Blood War: Gunship, #13 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Afterworlds (The Fleet, Book 4) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: Glimmeria Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattleTech: Mercenary's Honor: BattleTech Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glimmerian War: Gunship, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Blood War (Gunship XIII) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDefiant Revival Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: The Fleet: Gunship, #12 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLegendary: Gunship, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Jamaica Government Service: Adam Emerson Novel, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: The Afterworlds: Gunship, #15 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Black Morass: Pirates of the Coast, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Mistress for Major Bartlett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pirate's Tempting Stowaway: Dukes of War, #6 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All Wrapped Up Vol. 2 (Box Set) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChadwick Yates and the Coulsby Gentlemen's Club: The Adventures of Chadwick Yates, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGunship: The Run: Gunship, #16 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGalactic Bounty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legendary (Gunship V) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTerror Firma Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Blood and Illusion: Coven Enforcers, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTitanic Victims and Villains: Victims & Villains Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dominion War: Book 1: Behind Enemy Lines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yet Far Away: Shatterrealm, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalk to the End of the World: Book One of 'The Holdfast Chronicles' Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Science Fiction For You
The Silo Series Collection: Wool, Shift, Dust, and Silo Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Annihilation: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shift: Book Two of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How High We Go in the Dark: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is How You Lose the Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Psalm for the Wild-Built Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wool: Book One of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dust: Book Three of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Who Have Never Known Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sarah J. Maas: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Contact Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Deep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rendezvous with Rama Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Troop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cryptonomicon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Brandon Sanderson: Best Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Camp Zero: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trail of Lightning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Am Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England: Secret Projects, #2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Gunship
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Gunship - John M. Davis
Chapter 1
How It Is
––––––––
A lot has changed since I watched my best friend get committed to the hard clay of the ground. Dalton wrote as he paused for a moment. Thinking of everything that had led him up to this very moment.
It's been nearly five years and I won't lie about it. I still miss Adam a lot. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish I could take his place. Adam Michaels was always the better man. While he was off trying to do the right thing, I was sitting back and sucking down whiskey like my life depended on it. Sure, he was a bit of a romantic panty-snatcher, but everyone has their faults. Beneath all of that, Adam was a good man. And fuck if I don't miss him each and every time I light up a cigar or lay waste to a shot of decent whiskey. Hell, even when I slap this brown coat to my back, it feels like he's looking down on me with a smile.
I wish he could see it. The Skyla System beginning to balance out. The last of the infected died off nearly a year ago. Turns out, we didn't need a cure after all. We just starved the son of a bitches out and let them fall to their own fates. I guess even the snapping dead need muscles and tendons to move, and without eating on something – they just withered away. Fuck 'em, I never had an abundance of love for the undead.
I wish Adam could see Colonials and Legion getting along. It's one hell of a sight. Both sides spent over a decade trying to kill each other off and then realized there were far worse things out there. Hunters. Vampires. You know, the clan of sick bastards that killed off pretty much everything and everyone that's ever mattered to me.
That's why I took it upon myself to become a bounty hunter. Yea, I know, the thoughts of me wearing a slick badge of silver is the last thing anyone ever saw coming. But the newly formed Freedom Republic is paying top dollar for anyone who brings Hunters in – dead or alive. I finally get to kill Vampires legal-like, and get paid to do it. If they offered free booze this would be the dream job, but I'm not complaining.
We've got the Hunters down to just a few hundred and as mighty as the bastards once were, we got 'em on the run. They still have friends on the underground scene, but we'll get 'em. Every last one of the pale white sons of bitches will reap what they've sown.
Of course, my woman isn't crazy about the idea of tracking Hunters down. Cambria says they're dangerous. Well no shit. They've killed tens of thousands of people over the span of their miserable existence. Apparently she's forgotten how dangerous I am with a weighted revolver in my shooting hand.
I wish you were here, Adam. It's a brand new ride. This world of ours is changing. Not many people seem to remember the wars of yesterday. Men like us are aging like fine wine, I suppose. But things are getting more advanced by the day. Lots of space stations have started popping up and, as you might expect, the poor are still being thrown off to the side worlds and forgotten about. Hell, come to think of it, there's a lot that hasn't changed. I'd be fun to have you here at my side raising hell with me.
But I know that somewhere you're looking down and rooting me on. Don't worry, my friend. Old man James is going to get enough for the both of us. One blood-sucking outlaw at a time. Until then, save a spot for me.
As Dalton rested his writing hand for a moment, it quickly became his drinking hand once more. Helping him to knock back a crisp shot of apple brew. Anyone that knew Dalton James well, knew he was indeed a drinking man. Not an alcoholic, and he'd be the first to tell you. Just a man with a liking for the sauce. Well, the not so tropical sauce.
Fucking fruity-ass shit.
he grumbled. Though he took as second shot from his only supply of booze.
It had been bought straight from the source in the mountainous terrain of Tavarious. A small planet that was vastly considered one of the largest wineries in the Skyla System. Dalton had never been much for wine, or, in this case, a stout fruit-based alcohol; but Tavarious had been the closest thing to their location. So he made do.
A lot of his life had been spent making due. Yea, he'd grown tired of it a time or two. But living the hard life had made him just as tough.
He'd never considered himself to be a raging party animal, like so many around him accused him of. More of a social drinker – Dalton was definitely social. A lot. But there were certainly times when alcohol was mandatory.
Each time a friend passed away, alcohol became his good friend. If a flick of the wrist led to a card game in one of the system's countless saloons – mandatory. And when it came to being on a ship that was about to land, Dalton was sure to drink a few. He'd always hated the feel of a ship coming in from orbit. The drop of his stomach as the craft in question began beating onto the wind sheer and awkward climates of each individual planet.
He hated landings. Down to the very last detail – Dalton hated them.
There's something special about a ship when it lands. No matter the size, a ship's landing sound is very authentic. Hoses pushing air at different velocities and brushing it out from beneath the ship's frame as its landing gear rocks a bit. Finally digging into the soil of whatever planet is next on the agenda.
We're down.
Alyssa said with a bit of relief.
Her voice crackled throughout the less than stellar speakers which lined the walls of the tiny ship. Her beautiful voice being cheapened with static.
Alyssa had been with the crew for nearly as long as Adam had been gone. In fact, he'd specifically asked Dalton to look after the young woman – which he had. She'd become a decent pilot and a steady enough gun hand to make a difference. Earning her keep with both talents, though flying the ship was her primary duty.
Her hair shimmered of white – typical of young women from the Drifts. Their area of the Skyla System was a large one, though very stringently inhabited. It was a primitive string of planets which rested on the edge of charted space. The men of the Drifts preferred the wooden handle of a shotgun and the magnificence of a horse beneath them, while the women were known for brightly-colored hair and their outlandish clothing.
Dalton himself was proudly born and raised on the small planet of Racha. Known for their rowdiness, Rachans generally looked the part. Unkempt beard hairs hanging from their faces with a whiskey bottle in one hand and a gun resting comfortably in the other. They were known for living fast and hard – Dalton was no exception. He, like other Rachans, prided himself with being born as far away from the Drifts as possible. But he, like other men, could appreciate a damn good looking woman. And the Drifts sure could produce 'em.
His fellow crew member and long-time lover, Cambria, who had grown up in the Drifts too, was equally as beautiful. Cambria had curves in every place they should have been – while perfectly toned throughout the rest of her body. She'd gotten Dalton into quite a few heated staring contests and even a scrum or two. She was the kind of woman who walked into a room and commanded attention with her looks. Something Dalton loved about her, and hated at the same time.
Alyssa was just as beautiful and had been a slave girl of the Hunters, making her issues with the Vampires personal. Slaving had long been the Hunters' way, and they were brutal enough in combat to threaten away just about anyone who'd be willing to call them out on the fact that slave-trading was immoral. The average man was scared shit-less by the site of Hunters and would gladly walk the other way if it meant saving his own skin.
Adam Michaels was the exception to that way of thinking. A long stint in the military had taught him that much. After he'd met Alyssa, Adam had went out of his way to save her from such a life. In part, because he was a sucker for beautiful women at first glance, though most of it had to do with his hatred for the Hunters in general.
Either way, Alyssa had quickly built up a mountain of respect for the man who'd once led the Gunship's crew. Now her loyalty and respect had shifted to Dalton James. He was a bit scruffier and harder to please, but beneath the surface of alcohol stench and curse words was a man of only the truest of values. Dalton did for those who couldn't do for themselves. And he had no problem hitting someone in the mouth in order to better a situation. Alyssa found herself drawn to his alpha-male attitude.
After a couple of minutes, the crew entrance unbolted to allow their exit. Nothing more than a hatch, really, which rested directly below the large windshield of the pilot's area and worked similarly to the hatch of a submarine.
You bringing the mutt?
Titus asked.
He was a rather large man – both height and weight. But he certainly was in