Contents

  Title page

  Copyright

  Disclaimer

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Thank you

  SOLAR END

  Blood and Power Book 1

  by

  Phil Maxey

  Copyright © 2022 by Philip Maxey

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  First Printing, 2022.

  https://www.philmaxeyauthor.com/

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is purely coincidental.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Location: Chicago. South Loop.

  Day one.

  Evelyn Simmons looked at the old clock on the wall and frowned. The batteries had run flat, meaning it was permanently 2:14 p.m. It was an old clock, belonging to the previous owners and for some reason it felt as much of the apartment as the walls and ceiling, so she left it there and continually forgot to replace the batteries. But despite the clock’s lies, the morning sun creeping through the kitchen window, told a different story.

  “Karl! You have to get up. You’ll be late for your class!”

  As she flipped the eggs, only silence came from the second door, down the hallway. She looked at Zoe, her ten-year-old daughter, who seemed keen not to return her gaze. “What?”

  “I… don’t know if I should say…”

  “Spit it out, young lady.”

  Zoe turned around on her stool, checking that Karl’s door was still closed. “I heard explosions coming from his room when I got up to use the restroom…”

  Her mother frowned and placed the eggs on the plate, handing it to her daughter. So much for studying. “Karl!”

  She switched her view to the computer tablet on the wall, showing a news report. The pandemic which struck the planet a month ago was thankfully winding down. Most were now reporting mild cold-like symptoms and it was generally accepted by the experts that the virus was no longer a serious threat. She looked at the face mask on the countertop, being relieved at not having to wear it into the attorney’s office anymore.

  The bedroom door creaked open and a zombie, otherwise known as her seventeen-year-old son shuffled across the hallway to the restroom, that door swinging closed.

  Evelyn placed a hand on her daughter’s forehead. No temperature. That was good. The dark-brown haired girl had been bedridden for a month with the Nutri virus, but had been looking like her old self for over a week.

  Zoe’s head though fell a little, and she puffed out her cheeks. “I… still feel a little ill… I need to stay off school for another week I think.”

  Her mother chuckled. “You do know that my job is to spot when people are lying right?”

  “But Rose’s mother said she could stay—”

  The raised hand halted Zoe’s protests, which then turned into a frown. She looked back to her phone and the game she was playing.

  “A few more days, then you need to think about going back. Okay?”

  “Okay…”

  The bathroom door opened and Karl made an appearance, although he seemed reluctant to look his mother in her face. He traipsed to the fridge, opened it and retrieved yesterday’s lasagne leftovers, then without saying a word, turned and made his way back to his room.

  “Karl. Are you getting ready for—”

  “Not going in today. Something about shortage of teachers.” His bedroom door slammed closed.

  She didn’t know if it was the truth and she didn’t have time to find out, already being a few minutes behind schedule.

  “Don’t worry about me,” said Zoe, her eyes glued to the tiny screen. “I can look after myself.”

  Evelyn let out a frustrated sigh. Ever since the divorce a year ago, Karl had been a changed teenager. Not that he made any sign of wanting to live with his father, it’s just he never made any positive comment about living with her either.

  She made sure the hotplate was turned off and walked around the counter, down the hall and knocked on his door. There was some muffled conversation within. “I’m leaving for work. Keep an eye on your sister!”

  A non-descript reply barely made its way through the wood paneling. She turned back to her daughter, picking up her jacket, bag, making sure her phone was in it, then her keys. “I’ll give you a call during my lunch break. You be good, okay?”

  Zoe kept playing the game, nodding.

  Evelyn moved to the entrance but stopped due to a bitter odor which hung in the air. Sniffing a few times without being able to locate its source, she pulled the door open and left.

  *****

  Todd McKenzie tried to focus on the open can in his fingerless glove, but the remaining liquid he found in the discarded bottle in the trash, was already kicking in. His insides rumbled. He needed to eat, but he also needed what was left of the expensive looking whiskey to banish the shouts and screams, and that always worked better on an empty stomach.

  Nearby, an eight-year-old Jack Russell was almost completely lost inside a plastic black sack. “Cash, you ain’t finding anything edible in there, buddy.”

  The white and brown dog, backed out, sniffed the air then ran to another bag.

  Todd tried harder to see the bottom of the can. Something was moving down there so he tossed it back and looked along the side of the department store and restaurant to the busy street, and those who were either late for their office jobs or early for their shopping. It was a world he was never really part of, having originally lived outside the city in one of the burbs. Only the super rich or super poor lived amongst the gleaming towers of the affluent districts. But when you have nowhere to live, you want to be where the money is, where what’s discarded can be the difference between a few extra days of not starving or becoming ash in the country crematorium.

  His stomach reminded him of how empty it was and he returned to studying the damp boxes and crates. When did he last have a full meal? Was it New Year’s night 2018 over at the shelter on Fulton? Or at the church more recently on the corner of Chester and Widow? Living in the forgotten areas of the city tended to make time meaningless, so instead he measured it in terms of events. There was St. Patrick’s. A great time for finding discarded alcohol. Independence Day, Thanksgiving, great leftovers, Halloween, obviously good for candy, Christmas and finally New Year. Six moments in Todd’s yearly calendar when he would eat and drink close to what he used to, before his marriage failed, before his illness kicked in and before he returned from the Gulf.

  He picked up his backpack and looked in the opposite direction to where the alley emerged into the staff parking lot and started walking. Head down, so his eyes wouldn’t catch anyone else’s, with Cash trotting alongside. He learned during the early days that you don’t look at people directly, not even if your stomach is cramping so bad from not having eaten for a week and you need some pocket change to seal up the holes. That way you were never noticed. Just another city phantom.

  As he crossed the lot, he passed a nice looking car but didn’t dwell. Another sure-fire way to get a beat down or worse, reported as a vagrant. It was electric by the lack of exhaust and fancy interior. He wondered what it must be like to drive one, but he was sure he would still need to feel that vibration through the wheel and pedal. Need the grind of the gears.

  He moved onto the sidewalk. It was a narrow street with not too many people. That’s why he liked it. During the pandemic he and Cash had most of the city to themselves, which was even better, especially since he never got ill. Not a sore throat, runny nose or aching joints. Nothing that he saw mentioned in the newspapers he found on the park benches. Occasionally he would get stopped by Chicago’s finest, although they kept their distance seeing he was maskless. They would mumble something about rules. He would pretend to not understand, pretend to be in a haze of confusion and they sent him on his way, to his next point on the daily route.

  His path through the city never changed. Storms, snow or hundred degree heat it was the same. It usually began at first light or when Cash barked. You’d only get a few seconds at most to wake from sleep and stop your shit from being stolen, but it had always been enough for him. This morning that hadn’t happened and when the traffic started to thunder across the highway above, he knew it was time to move to his first location on his mental map.

  The loading bay of McClusky’s bakery. McClusky had long since retired, but his son, Johnny was a good kid, and more often than not threw him a bagel and Cash got a sausage or two. Then location two, where he had just been. The large trash
cans in the alley alongside Hobbs department store, where if you were lucky you could find what they disposed of the night before. Some damaged, returned items. He once found a fully charged cell phone. He couldn’t use it because it was locked, but it turned on and that was enough for him to get breakfast and a night in a real bed.

  The third place on the map, and his next destination was the shelter on Fulton. He was a bit late this morning, so there was going to be a queue. But that was okay. The sun’s rays were already casting strong shadows and warming the concrete.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Karl shook his head at his five messages on the screen, without a reply.

  “Where the hell are you!” he half-whispered.

  He was logged in to a fishing forum. A good community of Illinois anglers, which gave great advice for the best rivers to catch bass and catfish. Karl knew none of that though as his only interest in using the website was to arrange his pill pickup. And he did that by sending a direct message to ‘FrogMaster008.’ Except this time he was not getting any date or time and that was a problem. He had lied to his mother about his class. He had lied about a lot of things, but she either didn’t care or didn’t realize. Probably due to the big case she was working on, involving the city council. But that was good, it meant he could keep getting what he needed. A tiny yellow pill that gave him the clarity he needed to compete. Not at college, where he was getting straight A’s, but in the computer game he played, religiously day and night. It was what they call a first-person shooter. And he was a pretty good player, even if he did say so himself, but he still wasn’t good enough to net the big money. The kind of loot you got for winning the major tournaments. The kind that would mean he could drop out of college and go pro. Maybe even start a YouTube channel and rake in that super chat money. The pill increased his reactions, allowed him to spot the enemy before they saw him. At least that’s what Chad told him it did when he got his first taste. And then he was told about the website and where to get more supply. And he did, again and again, burning a few thousand bucks during the lock downs when it seemed the whole world was online. But now the last bag was empty and he needed a refill urgently because the next tournament was tonight. Starting a 8 p.m. Sharp, although you needed to register and be ready by seven.

  “Karl?”

  His little sister’s voice came through the door and headset ear buds alike. He frowned. What was the point of paying three hundred bucks for these headphones if they couldn’t keep the sound of annoying kids out?

  There was knocking. “Karl?”

  She wasn’t going to stop. He pulled his headset off in a huff. “What? What do you want? Mom’s gone. So go play a game or eat what you want. I don’t care. I need to study!”

  “You ain’t studying. You’re playing that game. That’s all you do.”

  She wasn’t wrong about that, he thought.

  “What do you want?”

  “I can’t get the microwave to work. I want to have some chicken noodles.”

  “Just pour tap water on them and wait. They’ll be just—”

  Was that the faint sound of a bell coming from his headset? He whipped back to his laptop’s screen. Yes! There was a reply!

  ‘Usual spot. Forty minutes. Double the price.’

  Double the price? What the hell?

  He started typing a reply.

  ‘Why double the—’

  FrogMaster008 logged off.

  Karl swore. Forty minutes was going to cut things close. He needed to leave straight away. He closed his laptop’s screen, stood, grabbed his jacket, placed his sneakers on, then picked up his phone, hesitated then put it back down and pulled his door open.

  Shit.

  Zoe was standing there still. He had forgotten her request.

  “I’m not eating cold… where you going?”

  He pushed past her, closing his door behind, then ignoring her question moved into the kitchen where he pulled the lid off the noodles, ran them under the faucet, then placed the combination of water and pasta in the microwave which he set to three minutes, without having read the instructions. He turned to her. “Right. Done. I’m out of here. I’ll be an hour or so.”

  “Where you going?”

  “Need to…”

  His hesitation was all she needed. “Two hundred dollars.”

  He moved past her, checking his door keys were in his jacket’s pocket still. “I’ll be back in two hours maybe.”

  “Two hundred dollars or I tell, mom, that you left me alone and that you’re doing something bad.”

  He stopped short of the front door, trying to keep a lid on his anger. An emotion he had been feeling a lot over the past twelve months. “You know I don’t have that kind of money.” A blatant lie, but there was no way he was giving her anything. At her age, when his parents were still together, his allowance was five dollars per week if he was lucky. He happened to know Zoe got at least double that. He turned around to face the little terror just as the microwave pinged. “Your noodles are done.”

  “Or…” she said.

  “Or what?”

  “Or I go with you!” she said enthusiastically. “It’s soooo boring being in this apartment all the time!”

  Could he take her with him to a drug pickup? He had never had any problems. It was literally go to the abandoned building near the river, find the loose brick in the wall, near the giant wheels, take the bag and leave the cash in its place. He had never even seen who this FrogMaster008 was in real life. Never seen anyone there. And she had been stuck in for months, getting over the illness. Not something he had to contend with, having never got it. Something he nor his mother understood, seeing he had been around people that had.

  “Okay, fine.”

  She squealed in excitement, putting on her red shoes, orange coat and picking up her butterfly print covered bag.

  They left the three bed apartment and were soon descending in the elevator, past the other homes, lounge and media center, terrace garden, gym and kept going.

  “Why are we going to the underground garage?” said Zoe.

  “Because I don’t want to get into a conversation with Travis.”

  She shrugged her shoulders and the elevator jolted then came to a halt, the doors sliding open. They quickly made their way past the stylish sedans, SUVs and sports coupes to the bottom of the slope which was the exit to the street. At this time of day some vehicles had left, taking their occupants to work and the metal barrier which protected the expensive cars left behind, was still open. He jogged up the incline, Zoe doing her best to keep up and moved out onto the sidewalk, leaving the luxury residential high-rise behind. One of many exclusive places to live within the South Loop.

  “Stay with me,” he said to his sister, as they crossed an intersection, moving south.

  “Where we going?”

  “Just somewhere to get something. It’s not far… think of it as an adventure.”

  “Great! I love adventures!”

  They left the sidewalk and walked into a large parking lot which skirted the river, and keeping up the pace, Karl weaved between trucks and sedans, making his way to the far back corner of the lot, where the chain link fence was buckled. He stepped back, nodding towards the gap which had been opened up. “Crawl through there.”

  She stood her ground. “I’m not sure we’re allowed to go in there.”

  He looked back across the lot. A man walked to his silver sedan, opened the door and got in. “I thought you wanted to go on an adventure?”

  She nodded.

  He gestured to what lay beyond the fence. “Look at all that! Don’t you want to explore?”

  She looked through the chain links, to a few block’s worth of riverside wilderness. Bushes, small trees, grass and other plants, mostly weeds were spread out over patches of concrete. An area which had been earmarked for development but for some reason had never been. She had seen it from the street when her mom had taken her out of the city, and always wondered what was within the only wild area close to her home.

  “Okay,” she said, then crawled through the gap. Karl rolled his eyes then did the same, and soon they were moving across the grass. The roar of a speedboat’s engine made itself known to their right. Zoe wanted to see more of the river, but Karl had other plans, and started to walk even quicker after he checked his watch.