Three (4 page)

“I may need hearing aids,” smiled the old
man. “But still - your incessant screaming is a distraction.”

He lifted the scalpel into the air and
glared malevolently at Geoffrey.

“You shouldn’t feel a thing, Mr. Winters.
But if you do, just say so.”

More from Brad Murray – an
excerpt from his new novel, “Panacea”:

The sight of the severed arm made him
woozy.

Sheared off at the shoulder, half of the arm
rested on the black pavement while the other half crossed onto the
parched yellow rye grass that lined the edge of the interstate. A
young man in khaki-colored cargo shorts and a white t-shirt stood
unsteadily above it, eyes glossed over in a daze, stomach churning.
Blood dripped from the tip of the humerus bone and pooled on the
concrete beneath it. A thin line of crimson meandered around rocks
in the asphalt, cutting a channel in his direction, as if grasping
for his shoes. He stepped out of the path and stood in a stupor,
thinking back on the chain of events that led him here.

It all happened in a blink.

In that blink, a life was lost - maybe
several more. He surveyed the chain of crumpled, smoking vehicles
that had been victimized in the wake of the destruction. And though
he knew he had been fortunate to survive, Jimmy Porter couldn’t
shake the sensation that his life had changed forever.

Brad Murray lives outside
of Wichita, Kansas with his wife, two children, dog, and a cat
without a name. He has worked as a furniture salesman, a UPS truck
loader, a global business leader, and a lawyer without a law
degree. When he’s not cheering on the Wichita State Shockers, he
spends his spare time writing fiction. Panacea is his debut
novel.

For more information:

Amazon Author Page