Simon Says (Guardians of the Dark Book 1)

  Guardians of the Dark

  Simon Says

  by

  Bianca D’Arc

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  1st Edition

  Copyright © 2010 Bianca D’Arc

  Published by Kensington Publishing, Inc.

  2nd Edition

  Copyright © 2018 Bianca D’Arc

  Published by Hawk Publishing, LLC

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Special Forces soldier Simon Blackwell ended his affair with Mariana Daniels three years ago, but he hasn’t stopped protecting her. Mariana has no knowledge of the dark, deadly creatures that lurk in the forest surrounding her clinic, or of the mysterious powers that make Simon the only one who can defeat them. But soon he’ll have no choice but to reveal the truth, and urge her to trust in an explosive passion that never faded…

  The Guardians of the Dark series starts with the short novel, Simon Says. It continues in the much longer novels, Once Bitten and Night Shade. Then there’s a novella-length story called Smoke on the Water, followed by another long novel that ends the series, titled Shadow Play. The three longer novels are all close to 100,000 words of action-packed sexy military romance. Check the end of this book for a complete list of books by Bianca D’Arc, in series order.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE & DEDICATION

  Note: This is the second edition of this story, which first appeared as part of a two-book set titled Half Past Dead which also featured a story by the talented Zoe Archer. I enjoyed working with her on the set and remain friendly with her to this day. However, the set has run its course, as such things do, and I’m pleased to now be able to release this story on its own as the introduction to my Guardians of the Dark series.

  It was written in June of 2009, when my life was about as happy as it’s ever been. I was traveling for a family reunion and was so glad to have all of us in one place…for the last time. Not long after I turned this story in, we learned my mother had cancer and we would never have another chance for us all to be together like that, without sorrow.

  I was in such a state at the time that I didn’t even include a dedication in the first edition. I’d like to rectify that now and just dedicate this to the memory of my beloved mother, who was incredibly supportive of my radical career change to full-time writing. She never really got to see it all come to fruition, but I’m comforted to know that she at least knew about the contracts for this series and saw it as a stepping stone on my way to future success.

  As with most things in life, it didn’t work out quite like we thought it would in 2009, but it did work out—probably due to my sweet Guardian Angel who now watches over me from above as she can no longer guide me here on Earth. I miss you, Mom.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Excerpt from Once Bitten

  About the Author

  Other Books by Bianca D’Arc

  PROLOGUE

  “Bravo one. Echo delta niner.” Simon repeated the prearranged code for extraction. His small team was mostly gone, decimated by an enemy for which they’d had no adequate way to prepare. They’d been briefed, but nothing could match encountering the walking dead for real for the first time.

  “Sitrep,” someone barked over the radio. He knew that voice. It was Matt Sykes, an old friend, comrade in arms, and the officer in charge of this little fiasco.

  “Jenkins and Bradley are dead. Hsu has gone over to the dark side. Wally and me are the only ones left.” That was more than enough reason to get the hell out of Dodge.

  Simon wasn’t about to mention his own injury. The eggheads on base said one bite from the creatures they were hunting brought instant death. Simon had been lucky so far. He’d been scratched up by their claws, but not bitten. The claws were probably harmless as far as spreading the contagion went. Maybe they had to get a good hard bite out of you in order to spread their infection.

  That was something the doctors could puzzle out later. Right now, Simon needed to get himself and Wally out of the hot zone so they could regroup and come back stronger with reinforcements. Lots of reinforcements.

  “A helo is coming to get you. ETA ten minutes. Hang tight, Si.” Matt’s voice was reassuring but Simon caught sight of movement in the trees.

  They had to get to the rendezvous, but they were being pursued. They could move faster than their pursuers, but the creatures had the advantage of numbers. If they managed to box him and Wally in, they’d be toast. Or rather, a tasty snack for these ghouls who liked to eat human flesh.

  “We’re on the move,” Simon reported. “Being pursued. Tell the helo to come in hot and be ready to fly. We’ll most likely have company on our six. We won’t have time to stop and chat.”

  “Simon…” Matt sounded ready to read him the riot act, but Simon didn’t have time to listen. The enemy had found them. He could see the creatures maneuvering through the trees to flank them.

  “Gotta go, commander. We’ll be at the LZ in ten. Blackwell out.”

  Wally, otherwise known as Ensign Rob Wallace, the newest member of the team, came crashing through the underbrush. So much for stealth.

  “They’re flanking us. Bradley and Jenkins are with them.”

  “Shit.” Their former teammates had risen from the dead and were now playing for the other team. Could this day get any worse?

  They’d been sent into a horror movie with inadequate intel, inappropriate weaponry and not a chance in hell of winning. Bullets didn’t stop these things. They were already dead. Nothing short of a block of well-placed C4 that could blow the bastards to smithereens would stop them. Simon had lost three friends already to this menace, not to mention the Marines that had been sent in before they’d called Special Forces.

  “Stay with me, Wally.” Simon could see fear in the young man’s eyes. “Helo’s coming. We just need to keep it together until they get here. I don’t want to enter the LZ until the last minute. Otherwise, we’ll be forced to make a stand in the clearing or fall back. Neither one of those things is an option.” Simon talked fast as he moved with Wally to a better position. “We don’t stand a chance if we try to take them on head to head. The ammo we have doesn’t work against them. The only thing that seems to do any good are grenades, but they have to be close enough to blow them apart. Just hitting them with shrapnel won’t stop them, so use your remaining grenades sparingly. How many you got left?”

  Wally did a quick check of his utility belt. “Just one, sir.”

  “Better than me. I’m out.” They’d each been issued five grenades back at base before this mission. When they’d set ou
t on this journey, it had seemed like more than enough to take down a few tangos in the woods. Now Simon knew differently. A whole crate of grenades might not be sufficient to take out these nightmare creatures.

  Simon held up one hand for silence. He listened hard to the surrounding forest. All the wildlife had long since vanished. Critters knew better than to stick around when there was a predator in the area. The leaves rustled as the undead moved through the forest, brushing against the foliage.

  “They’re on the move. We need to go.” Simon stood. Wally followed behind. “We have five minutes to kill before the helo gets to the clearing.”

  Near as Simon could tell, the walking dead no longer comprehended language. They could still hear though, and small sounds would give away Simon and Wally’s location. Simon whispered, keeping his voice as low as possible.

  The creatures seemed to retain some of the training they’d had in life. They were good at stealth for one thing. The Marines were good at moving silently when they chose. The members of Simon’s team who had been lost to the enemy, only to rise from the dead, were even better.

  Maybe that’s why Simon fell into their trap. One minute he was making plans with Wally under cover of a big maple tree, the next, claws ripped into his shoulder and teeth sank into his flesh.

  The fucker had bitten him!

  Wally kicked the creature away from Simon, but not in time. Blood welled and Simon knew he’d fall fast if the deaths of his teammates were anything to go by.

  Still, the instinct for self-preservation pushed him onward. He ran alongside Wally to the circle of trees that marked the clearing. The helicopter would land in a few minutes but Simon would probably be dead by then.

  He’d seen Hsu drop about twenty seconds after he’d been bitten, and beefy Beau Bradley had taken only ten seconds more than that. The poison would course through his body, felling him like one of the mighty trees in this idyllic forest turned horror movie set. Any second now.

  Creatures surrounded them. They were coming across the clearing and up from behind. Not much chance of escape from this mess now, and Simon was already dead.

  “Get out of here, Wally. I’m done. Save yourself.”

  At that precise moment, they both heard the sound of helicopter blades in the distance, growing closer.

  “Get into the clearing,” Simon ordered the younger man. “Use the grenade if you have to. Your ride’s almost here.”

  “I’m not going without you, sir.” Wally pointed toward the line of undead Marines standing between them and the Landing Zone. “Ain’t no way I’m getting through that line alone.”

  Simon shook his head and started forward. “I’ll take ’em down if I can. You run for the chopper.”

  Wally nodded his agreement. Both of them knew Simon was living on borrowed time. The least he could do was get young Wally to safety before his time ran out.

  “Tell Matt Sykes I’ll see him in hell.” Simon grinned, thinking of his old comrade and the good friends he’d lost along the way.

  “It’s been an honor serving with you, sir.” Wally spared Simon one long look before they both turned to face the enemy.

  They could see the helicopter now. It was coming in for a landing. If they timed it just right, they could make a hole through the mass of creatures for Wally to run through and jump onto the chopper. It was his only shot.

  “You know, sir, it’s got to have been more than a minute and you’re still standing,” Wally observed as they waited for the opportune moment to launch their offensive.

  Simon stopped breathing for a split second, thinking about what Wally had said. “Yeah, you’re right.”

  “Could be the science guys were wrong. You might live.” Wally shrugged but Simon could feel the air vibrate around him as the helicopter came closer. It was almost time. “I think you should come with me, sir.” Wally had to shout to be heard above the roar of the helicopter’s blades.

  “I think you’re right, Wallace,” Simon shouted back, a grin splitting his face as the helo descended toward the grassy clearing. “We’ll both get out of this mess.” Almost there. They had to time this right as the monsters tightened the noose around them. “On three. One. Two…” Simon gave a war cry as he ran toward the enemy, hoping like hell that brute force would allow him and Wally to muscle their way past the armada facing them.

  He pushed past the first row of stinking flesh easily. The second line was a little harder. He looked over at Wally, but the kid was holding his own. This was like an evil game of football where the stakes were life or death. Simon fought through the secondary line, dodging grasping hands and shouldering through the ranks of dead Marines.

  He made it to the open door of the helicopter and looked back to see Wally, in the grip of Lieutenant Hsu. Simon turned to go back and help Wally but hands from inside the chopper grabbed him, tugging him forcefully aboard. He fought against them, but there were too many people gripping him in too many places, pulling him into the hovering helicopter.

  The last Simon saw of Wally, he was surrounded by zombies, their teeth ripping into his living flesh. Then Wally pulled the pin on his last remaining grenade.

  CHAPTER ONE

  He watched from the bushes, gauging the woman’s reactions as she peered up at the full moon from her back porch. She wasn’t wary, and that was a dangerous thing. For her.

  Dark things prowled the night. Things out of nightmares. Things a woman like her should never encounter.

  If he had his way, she never would. It was his job to see that she remained ignorant of the creatures that stalked the forest behind her home. He was her silent protector, though she would never know it.

  If things went as planned…

  Hours later, Simon cursed his bad luck. His plan had gone right out the proverbial window, but he was a hell of an improviser. His fast actions and lightning reflexes had saved his life more than once in the past. This time, however, he might’ve cut things just a little too close. Only the dawn pinkening the eastern sky had saved him tonight, sending the creatures he hunted to ground.

  In the night, the hunter had become the hunted and now he was injured. Blood drew the undead creatures like moths to a flame. Simon had left a blood trail through the forest that would have the zombies in a frenzy when they rose again.

  Thankfully, the day was sunny and he knew from experience that the reanimated corpses shunned the sun’s cleansing rays. They’d be in hiding until sunset. Or until storm clouds showed up. Cloudy days were the worst, because then he had no respite from hunting the creatures that should never have been let loose in the first place.

  Simon headed for the deep woods that would take him eventually to Quantico, the Marine base from which he was currently operating. He had been recruited to eradicate the threat in the woods surrounding the base before it could spread any further.

  Ostensibly, he was a civilian contractor doing some unspecified work on base. Only a select few high up in the command structure knew his true identity and his real mission. One man against a potential army of the undead wasn’t great odds. Simon’s training, unique skill set, covert operations experience, and immunity to the contagion that had created these monsters tipped the scales in his favor.

  Until today. Today he would be lucky to make it back to base without passing out. He would head straight for the small clinic that served as an infirmary for men in the field. He would go there even though he’d been avoiding that one particular place for weeks now. Not the place really. In truth, it was the woman who worked there he had been trying so hard to avoid. He’d guarded her. He’d watched over her from afar, but he’d been avoiding a face-to-face confrontation with the woman out of his past. The one he’d let get away.

  Now, if his rotten luck held, he would be unable to avoid her.

  Dr. Mariana Daniels arrived at the base infirmary early, as was her habit. She had only a few more weeks left as a naval officer before she finally returned to civilian life. It had been a long time since s
he had first put on the uniform. At one time, she had thought to make the military her life’s work. Now, over a decade later, she was ready to start a new adventure in the civilian world.

  She opened the door to her office and set her coffee cup down on the cluttered desk. A commotion from the front of the clinic made her turn. Usually, she had a good half hour alone before the rest of the staff started reporting for duty in the small infirmary that was just a field branch of the larger medical facility on base. She retraced her steps, curious to see who was early.

  She rounded a corner and stopped short in the hall, face to face with a man she’d thought never to see again.

  “Simon?” Shock colored her voice.

  “Damn.”

  Three years and the first word out of his mouth was a curse. She shouldn’t have expected anything different. Her time with Simon Blackwell had been a low point in her life from which she was still recovering. To be fair, he had also been a high point. Their short-lived relationship had made her happier than she had ever been. Then he’d left with little fanfare. One day he was there, the next he was gone, leaving her to pick up the pieces.

  She shouldn’t have been surprised. That’s what Special Forces guys were like. When they got called up for a mission, they had to leave and couldn’t say where they were going or when they would be back. At first she had waited. Only when she’d run into one of his teammates a few months later had she finally realized he wasn’t coming back. At least not back to her. He was alive according to his friend, but the prolonged silence where she was concerned told her all she needed to know.

  He still looked as handsome as ever, those twinkling blue eyes all too serious and clouded with…pain? She looked him over and realized he was holding his arm abnormally close to his chest and leaving a faint blood trail down the crisp white corridor.