Bulletfoot One
Bulletfoot™ Book 1
Marshall Rust
This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2020 LMBPN Publishing
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
A Michael Anderle Production
LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
LMBPN Publishing
PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy
Las Vegas, NV 89109
First US edition, March 2020
ebook ISBN: 978-1-64202-825-6
print ISBN: 978-1-64202-826-3
Contents
The Bulletfoot One Team
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Author Note
About the Author
Other LMBPN Publishing Books
The Bulletfoot One Team
Thanks to the Beta Team:
Nicole Emens, Timothy Cox, Mary Morris, Kelly O’Donnell, Rachel Beckford, John Ashmore, Larry Omans
Thanks to our JIT Team:
Billie Leigh Kellar
Dave Hicks
Deb Mader
Debi Sateren
Diane L. Smith
Dorothy Lloyd
Jackey Hankard-Brodie
Jeff Eaton
Jeff Goode
Larry Omans
Misty Roa
Paul Westman
Peter Manis
Veronica Stephan-Miller
Editor
Skyhunter Editing Team
Chapter One
Jessica13 dreamed of adventure outside the bunker. She never knew she'd get her wish—or that it would cost her almost everything about her old life. And she never knew the danger it would bring her.
She was out in the open in the mess hall, her focus on two books she had open on the metal table in front of her. People all around her talked and made considerable noise while they ate, and the room shook every once in a while. She continued to hum, however, and tapped her finger lightly on the table to the beat of the music playing in her headset.
Not many people made music that was fun to hum to these days. Most of the music those around her listened to was the kind with heavy thrashing on improvised electronic instruments and screaming rather than singing.
But occasionally, although not that often, someone got their hands on a ukulele or a guitar or something like that and simply strummed. They didn't even have to sing for the most part. Something with a catchy tune was all she really needed to get into a rhythm and let her mind flow while she worked out the gears on the new converters they were bringing in. She didn't know where they had found them, but she really wished they would stop selecting those that were almost exclusively broken.
People didn't have fun with music anymore. In the Cities-That-Were, they said all people had done all day was listen to and make music for other people to enjoy. They got canteen credits for it and everything. What a way to make a living.
Even as an orphan with no one to speak for her, she had quickly been moved out of the lower work areas and up to the higher levels in the Sanctuary thanks to her Athena genes. She now lived and worked in the lowest of the three upper security levels of the bunker. The third and highest level formed the first line of defense and was manned constantly by Guardians.
"Hey, bulletfoot," someone said behind her.
There were many bulletfoots seated in the mess with her so she could assume they weren't talking to her since she was on her downtime.
She could have spent it in her room, which she didn't have to share with anyone and so wouldn’t be interrupted. The folks who had moved her had pulled some strings to get her a room, but it wasn't a great one. It had been a water pressure regulator closet that had been rendered redundant when they repurposed all the pipes inside.
While she'd been grateful and made it her own, it was still short on space. When she was reading, it was better to come out to the mess. It was cheaper on her canteen account to leave the lights off, for one thing, and with her headset, she didn't need to worry about the noise. Which didn’t, of course, exclude possible distractions like this one.
"Bulletfoot, I'm talking to you," said the voice again and a hand come down on her shoulder. It wasn't rough but it sure as hellfire was an indicator that she was the bulletfoot they wanted.
Jessica13 pulled the headset away from her left ear and continued to listen to the music in the right.
The man who stood behind her was tall and lean with most of his hair shaved as was the norm with the chavs who spent considerable time in their combat mechs. It meant less chance that they would have issues with hair clogging their recyclers—although, as she was well aware, it still found a way.
This one, in particular, was the section's CO, who went by the name of Armstrong7. He was the man in charge of running the ops out of their level, which was mostly only bunker defense at this point.
"Where'd you get the headgear?" Armstrong7 asked and tapped the headset she wore.
"Oh, I was running some repairs on the Minato's gear," she explained and gave him a mostly truthful version of the events. "I’m making sure it's working before reinstalling."
"Right." The man narrowed his eyes. "Make sure you don't bust the speakers in there. You break it, it's out of your
