Collateral Damage Book Novels & Stories

Leaving Blackthorn At the shattered main gates where the nightmare had begun, the three survivors paused. Kael looked back at the ruined campus — smoke rising, bodies everywhere, the place that had once been his entire world. “Everything I knew is gone,” he said quietly. Serena took his hand. Damien took the other. “Then we make a new world,” she whispered. They stepped through the broken gates into the outside world. The City of the Damned The highway leading into the city was a graveyard of abandoned cars, overturned trucks, and corpses. Fires burned unchecked in the distance. The once-bustling metropolis of Eldridge City was now a silent tomb under a blood-red sky.

Bookshelves lined the walls, expensive furniture sat exactly where it should be, and the large desk near the window remained untouched. But then Lance noticed the faint smear of blood across the polished floor. Ylva saw it too. Her breath caught. “Oh no…” Lance moved carefully inside, his gun raised as he scanned the room. The smear led toward the bookshelf on the far wall. Toward the hidden entrance to the safe room. Jason stepped in behind him. “Please tell me that’s old blood.” “It’s not,” Lance replied quietly. Ylva rushed forward before he could stop her. The bookshelf had already been moved aside.

Ink bled from the words I’d written, seeping into the ground, the shelves, the very air. I forced my hand up again. “LIMITED DAMAGE,” I scrawled, sloppier this time, across a torn piece of floorstone, my handwriting almost illegible with the shaking. The letters glowed and then shot off into the maze of shelves like runners carrying a message. Every hit my people took from that moment on—the drone that clipped Selene’s side, the ghost that slammed into Corvin’s head, the wolf that sank its teeth into Jax’s forearm—still hurt

Elena’s pulse exploded. “What is it?!” The man met her gaze. “A timed release.” Her blood ran cold. “No.” “Yes.” The screen shifted again— Multiple servers. Multiple locations. Uploading. Distributing. Her chest tightened painfully. “You’re going to leak all of it?” she asked. “Not all,” he said. “Just enough.” “Enough to what?” “Burn everything down.” Her heart slammed violently. “That will destroy innocent people too!” “Collateral,” he said simply.

The headline spread like wildfire: **VALE BOARD KNEW OF LANE’S FATHER—AND DID NOTHING** Attached were excerpts. Cold. Clinical. Devastating. > *‘Collateral damage is regrettable but unavoidable.’* > *‘The consultant’s family exposure is acceptable.’* > *‘Ensure silence.’* Aria’s father wasn’t an accident. He was a calculation. Damian’s chest tightened painfully. “That meeting,” he said hoarsely. “I wasn’t there.” Elena nodded. “I know.”

“I’m afraid I’m going to lose you to this. To the darkness inside you.” His eyes softened, but only for a moment. “You won’t lose me,” he promised, his voice breaking slightly. But the words felt empty to her now. They were just whispers of comfort, hollow in the face of the chaos he was inviting into their lives. She took a step back, shaking her head. “I don’t know if I can do this anymore, Damien. I don’t know if I can be with someone who doesn’t know how to stop. I don’t want to be your collateral damage.”

The radiation damage could worsen, leading to further cellular death or even cancer. There was no predicting what would happen next for them. … One quiet evening, after returning from the research institute, I scrolled through my social media as usual. Amidst the flood of comments, one caught my eye. "I saw Neil Jackson and Lorraine Larsen at the hospital I'm interning at! They're barely ninety pounds soaking wet now. I wouldn't have recognized them if I hadn't checked their medical records!" I just glanced at it briefly and moved on. Just as I posted another educational article by routine, a soft bundle latched onto my leg.

Nicole continued to shout in frustration. "So you thought it was acceptable to take my children from me? To use them in some sick plan so that you could get what you wanted?" "Collateral damage," Nicole smirked and she really was pushing all the wrong buttons now. She was pushing all the buttons she shouldn't have been pressing but she knew she was hitting.

The Dock – Southern France The explosive blast tore via the dock, sending hearthplace and shrapnel dropping rain like a hurricane of steel. The roar of gunfire combined with the howl of crashing waves, drowning out the screams of war. Damien staggered from the impact, his dark eyes burning with deadly intensity, ignoring the sharp pain from the deep wound in his side. Blood streaked his combat gear, but he didn’t fall. He never did. Natalia Cross emerged from the smoke, scarred but unbroken, her blade gleaming with cold intent. Her cold, twisted smile deepened as she raised her sidearm, locking on.

The class reunion had just ended when the villa hosting it suddenly collapsed. Priscilla Hobbs and I were both trapped beneath a massive concrete slab. Her legs were pinned down by steel bars, while mine had been crushed, the pain unbearable. Joel Xander arrived with the rescue team at this critical moment. One of his subordinates hesitated and asked, "Mr. Xander, Mrs. Xander's condition doesn't look good. Should we get her out first?" But without a second thought, Joel picked up his tools and began prying the slab off Priscilla.