novel

Title: Scumbag Billionaire

Author: Harper Kingsley

Story Landing Page: https://kimichee.com/novel-scumbag-billionaire

Ames gathered dry sticks and a mass of brown twigs (?) that he assumed was some kind of moss. At the same time, he also plucked some broad long leaves that he wove together into a pseudo-hat. It wasn’t very pretty, but it was good enough to block the sun.

With his hat on his head, he used the dry moss to make a nest with some small sticks waiting on the side. Then he used some sticks to make a teepee shape over the tinder nest. He was trying to remember everything he had ever seen or read about starting a fire without a lighter.

If he had some string, he would make a bow. Since he didn’t have any, he would have to spin the drill by hand. He wasn’t sure he could spin it fast enough to get a flame, but he had to try.

Water, food, fire, shelter–the basics for survival.

Ames used a rock to scrape the pice of wood he’d chosen to be a fireboard. The wood was about 13 inches long and three inches wide. He struggled to make a small hole in it with the rock and cursed when he hurt his fingers.

By the time he was done, it wasn’t pretty but it was a start. Next he used his rock to strip and sharpen the tips of the sticks he’d chosen to be drill.s. He figured he’d make more than one as he wasn’t completely sure of the strength of the wood.

He rested for a few minutes, knowing he was going to need a burst of strength for the next step. Then he drew in a deep breath, used his foot to hold the fireboard in place, and began … Read the rest “NOVEL: Scumbag Billionaire 007”

Title: Scumbag Billionaire

Author: Harper Kingsley

Story Landing Page: https://kimichee.com/novel-scumbag-billionaire

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He was sunburnt and thirsty. He was worried he was going to die from sun sickness and was waiting for the fever to set in.

In the meanwhile he had to figure out how he was going to boil water. The last thing he needed on top of everything else was a parasitic infection. Even if he wanted nothing more than to shove his face in the mud and slurp up any bit of moisture he could reach.

Using his stick, he levered himself to his feet and ignored the momentary blackness that crossed his vision. He just took a deep breath and held still for a moment, then went to gather wood.

Once he had something to boil water in, he was going to need fire to heat it. Which meant figuring out how to get a fire started.

He had a vague idea of how rubbing sticks together could strike a spark but he had no practical knowledge. When he’d gone camping with friends in the past, they’d had lighters and prepared wood that only needed contact with a single flame to burn for half an hour.

It had been so easy and he’d never thought he’d need to know how to make a fire without a fire starter, but here he was: Naked on a deserted island.

Regrets about shoulda-coulda-wouldas had pretty much become the background music of his life, and he was hearing that old familiar tune playing once again. But how could he know he would end up in a place like this? He’d never even been on a cruise before!

The closest thing he’d come to an “ocean voyage” was occasionally riding on a ferryboat. He’d never been out of sight of the … Read the rest “NOVEL: Scumbag Billionaire 006”

Title: Scumbag Billionaire

Author: Harper Kingsley

Story Landing Page: https://kimichee.com/novel-scumbag-billionaire

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CHAPTER TWO

He was still alive a day later. He didn’t know how he had managed such a miracle, but his sheer determination and refusal to die had seen him through the night.

Parched and miserable. Sunburnt and feverish. He’d crawled for what felt like years to reach the shade. Then he’d begun to dig with his aching hands and feet, writhing against the sand until he created a groove for his body to rest.

In his mind, he had imagined that if he didn’t survive he would have dug his own grave. If anyone ever came and found him, they’d have a neatly arranged skeleton to deal with.

He wondered if museums existed in this world he’d found himself in. Imagined his remains pinned to a frame and displayed in a glass case. Idly wondered what the information plaque would say.

Ames fell into a delusion-rich state. Not quite unconsciousness, but nothing that could be described as consciousness either. He drifted in his own mind and he let it happen, relieved to escape from the screaming pain of his own skin.

The sun went down, bringing cool relief. He’d shivered through the dawn to lick the underside of nearby leaves. Ignored the pain of his tongue as he desperately consumed as much dew as he could find, dragging his body from broad-leaved plant to broad-leaved plant.

He survived the night.

Then he fought to survive his second day. Naked and without supplies. Possessing only minimal survival skills. But refusing to give up, not when he’d been given a miraculous second chance at life.

His skin was hot and tight. his lips were dry and crusty, feeling as though they would split and bleed at any moment.

Every bit … Read the rest “NOVEL: Scumbag Billionaire 005”

Title: Scumbag Billionaire
Author: Harper Kingsley
Story Landing Page: https://kimichee.com/novel-scumbag-billionaire


The agony was proof positive that he was alive. It was a good thing. That’s what he tried to get himself to believe in his lucid moments. In the brief seconds and minutes when he formed actual thoughts and didn’t simply do.

There were stretches of time when he didn’t know why he even bothered. Heartbeat upon heartbeat of time when he had no idea where or when he was, the very concepts of beach and sand and sun made meaningless and unknown by a brain that was frying inside a skull covered by hair and sunburnt scalp.

This was death and dying. A complete transcendence of being.

He was on an impossible endless journey of unmaking, and if he reached the other side he would be reforged into something new.

Or he would unravel completely. And all the bits that made him him would catch fire and melt away, leaving only carbon residue. Unrecognizable and unrecognized, lamented by no one.

He would be like a smear on a water glass: wiped away.

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Time had no meaning. There was only the distance between him and the shade.

He didn’t even know what he would do when he got there. How he would deal with his raw, burnt flesh. How he would alleviate the terrible and deadly thirst.

All he knew to do was crawl. It was endless forward momentum.

His eyes had gone dim and his ears were filled with a rushing sound that drowned out the sighs of the ocean. His heartbeat was a pendulum. A drumbeat. A vibration through his blood.

He was dying, but he was still alive. For now.

TBC…

Read the rest “NOVEL: Scumbag Billionaire 004”

Through a window darkly gazing
At a sight afraid to see
Breathing deep the salted water
Dreaming dreams, of you and me.