Thrive - Remastered

Chapter 1

by 

Jonathan Yanez

Text copyright © 2014 Archimedes Books

All Rights Reserved

For my sister Elaine. It's the least I can do for all the years you have been there for me.

Prologue

How had it gotten to this point? How, in spite of all of his and others' work to provide a better future, had this happened? No answers came to mind—they never did—only more questions he pushed aside with the simple truth he'd come to learn over the years. The same truth that pushed his feet forward over the miles of desert wasteland that had become his world.

The truth was simple, almost too simple for most to accept at once. Everything happened for a reason. Some called it fate; others, destiny. He knew what it was, knew a plan had been set in place from the beginning of time, and things progressed as they were. No true chaos existed. Only an order to things that had to be taken on faith.

He'd seen enough victories and defeats to know that the Light would prevail. Sacrifices would have to be made and friends would fall, but ultimately the Light would win. He had to believe this; he needed to.

The sun was high overhead as he trudged forward. Battling against the heat, he moved slowly but steadily, one foot and then the next sinking into the soft sand.

A faster means of transportation was available, but those he was instructed to guide weren't ready for his arrival quite yet. Walking in this way gave him time to think and insured he'd be where he was needed at the right moment.

He scratched at his blond-and-grey beard, then adjusted the worn leather coat across his shoulders, ushering away the stiffness he felt in his bones.

"When did you get so tired, old man?" he asked himself. By most standards, he was still young in his mid-forties. Most even thought him younger by his appearance. But his body bore the weight of the battles he'd endured over the last two decades—scars crisscrossed his torso, speaking volumes of the warrior he'd become.

But more work needed to be done. Always, more work needed to be done. Battles still waged across the globe. His next battle was just beginning. There was a time he would have looked forward to the promised adrenaline rush brought on by conflict. But those times were for a much younger version of himself. Now, the idea of battle was not one so readily embraced, but not because he was afraid of a fight. Rather, the contrary.

Battle came naturally to him. Killing was something he would avoid at all costs. Not because the idea of fighting frightened him; no, for the exact opposite reason: he liked it too much. Very few things in this world scared him. What he was capable of doing if left unchecked was one of them. He was lucky to have her in his life; she'd known him from the beginning and would very likely know him at the end.

"This isn't the time to be thinking about her," he remarked to himself. "Focus on what needs to be done now. What are you going to tell them to make them believe you?"

This question lingered on the dry wind as Alan Price moved forward, preparing for the next chapter of his journey.

Chapter 1

"But I just barely missed my goals! What are you talking about? No, no, this can't be right. What have you done?"

Jordan set her jaw. She forced sympathy from her mind knowing that this was the way that things had to happen. Robert Greyson, her boss, had been given every opportunity, every warning. Despite this he had still fallen short of meeting his designated quota, three months in a row.