UNDERGROUND BOOK 1 Where Love Lies Lost

Introduction/Prelude

UNDERGROUND

BOOK 1

'WHERE LOVE LIES LOST'

AN EPIC GAY ROMANCE

BY

CHRIS M RICHARDS

WARNING: for mature readers, 18+. ADULT THEMES. Similarities to persons living or dead are purely coincidental. Copyright RICHARDS 2024. All Rights Reserved. All Digital images created by CM Richards 2024.

INTRODUCTION

-Welcome To Sale-

High above the Southern Table Lands of New South Wales, Australia, nestled in the Brindabella Mountain Range, is the quaint logging town, of Sale. A township of male loggers and some misfits that wish not to be found., This quaint village operates like one large extended family, with one mother, cafe owner Kinky Divine. Kinky, a pre-op transexual woman, and her café A Divine Place, are the center of life in Sale and nobody does anything without her knowing. With the arrival of a gothic caravan of sexual debauchery, led by Dr Leaster Drake, life is Sale explodes into chaos as residents begin to go missing, and betrayal becomes a way of life. Fueled by sexual tension, attraction, and greed, no one can be trusted anymore, apart from those that lay, underground.

PRELUDE

-Underground-

The large duffel bag landed with a heavy thud. The victim within, Matty Taylor, woke confused, disorientated, and with extreme pain radiating through his skull, from the big bump on the back of his head. He could taste copper on his tongue from the blood that had pooled in his mouth. His lip was split deeply from the assault that resulted in his kidnapping. His frustration met his fear as he had no control, no way of saving himself. Matty tried to wiggle his way out of the ropes that bound his arms and legs but his attempt to free himself was futile. His aslant had tied the ropes so tightly he thought they might eventually cut the circulation off from his feet and hands. His panic multiplied.

As the young man's face began to swell from the vicious beating he had taken, He tried not to let his anxiety get the better of him, but anxiety can also be a cruel beast, tricking the mind, swallowing one's thoughts, voiding the mind of clarity. He tried to think, tried to remember how he had ended up stuffed inside such a small space. He tried to move again, but the pain pulsing through his body was another binding from which he could not escape.

The cold air of the mountains raised goosebumps on his skin, then he realized he was naked, he tried to remember but still couldn't think straight. Matty was badly concussed. As panic drew the air from his lungs he began to cry. All he wanted to do was go home, to be with his lover, Nate Hult. He reluctantly accepted the reality of his situation and was filled with terror that he was probably not ever going home again. It all became too much, and he passed out again.

If he had not, he would have heard his attacker's heavy panting and the sharp sound of a shovel slicing through the clay-like dirt of the forest floor; over the bird songs and wind blowing through the canopy of the bushland.

The duffel bag, which was now still, was dropped just after noon, and it took the person digging Matty's soon-to-be grave, many hours. It was not six feet deep until twilight filled the forest, casting a strange green hue in the fading light. Matty's attacker was bold and arrogant enough to take a seat on the large black bag until they caught their breath again. Even though the autumn air was cold, sweat dripped off their face.

Just before Matty was to be pushed into the waiting hole in the soil, his attacker decided to add insult to injury and unzipped the bag before kicking Matty in the ribs, breaking two. This brought him into a lucid state. He wanted to scream from the pain he felt both physically and emotionally, but his throat was too dry. He tried to focus through his swollen eye sockets, at first everything was a blur.

Finally, he saw his attacker's face, it was then that he truly felt the horror of his current situation. Tears began to run down his face as he tried to comprehend what was going on. He knew he was about to die and if he could have spoken through his broken teeth he would not have begged for his life, he just would have asked why. He felt like he had a right to know. He loved this person and knew once that they had loved him back. Now, Matty Taylor was going to die with a broken heart. He went completely numb inside and out and tried to stop breathing. He wanted to rob them of the pleasure of his death, he was a determined guy, but eventually, he involuntarily took a breath. Perplexed, he contemplated all the ways that he could be killed.

The large frame standing over him unzipped the bag fully, causing their victim more pain as they pulled him from it. With one last kick, his broken body fell into the hole that had been freshly dug. He still had hope that his killer-to-be might take mercy on him. He closed his eyes and waited for the end, as he was covered with cold dirt.

With their big black boots, Matty's killer stomped the soil flat which now covered his body. Then they extended their arms into the air and in a lost tongue and heavy voice, began to chant a spell. At that exact point in time, the sky grumbled and exploded with lightning. The was a bright blue flash as a bolt struck the tree next to Matty's grave. Even beneath the ground, it could be heard. The killer was not moved by this and continued to spitefully shout at the starless sky.

Unseen by the eye but heard by the ear a black bolt of lightning cracked down to the ground, through the dirt, into the wet soil below. This evil power rapidly traveled through the moisture, electrocuting the young man buried underground. Matty's Heart stopped and he slipped away to the other side of the veil that separates the living and the dead.

Unaffected, the magical murderer casually bent down retrieving the duff bag before silently walking away, disappearing into the night.