Excerpt: The Van Slonzig Tendency

Molessa was always first in line to flatter…

 “C’mon, it won’t take long.”
 “But the commencement begins in less than an hour.”
 “C’mon.”

 Stoddard sat at the foot of the bed with teeth clenched, precious seconds ticking away in the back of his mind.
 Hoodwinked again, and it’s my own damned fault.
 The confluence of the Situational Alpha, the Nice Guy Beta, and the Over-It-All Sigma — faced with a hurdle of flesh as every second passed delayed the mission.
 People are waiting on me.
 It had happened once before in Stratum XII — The Hembry Penetration before the Indian Hill objective. He barely completed that mission, and vowed never to be in the same situation again.

 “Just lay here,” Molessa cooed.
 “People are waiting on me,” Stoddard sighed, leaning back and staring at the ceiling.
 “It’ll be easy,” she said as she clambered atop him.
 “What do you mean?”
 “Just pretend you’re dead.”
 Stoddard’s eyes bulged out of his head...

Gutts, J. (1977). The Van Slonzig tendency. Heritageville: Orville (out of print). Alternate title in European market: “Ontsnappen uit de Necrofiel”