American Paladin – Larry Correia

The pump clicked, and Spears grimaced at the cost. Gas was nearly four dollars a gallon here, and the Dodge was a thirsty bitch. “Did you say it was live and here? Like active and viewable right now?” He looked toward the convenience store that Kate was currently in.

“Unfortunately, yes.” “I need to see it as soon as possible.” “One problem with that. Remember my story you all thought was so crazy?” “I believed you. Mostly.” To be fair to James Bell, he had been the only person in any sort of position of authority who hadn’t immediately dismissed Spears as a dumb kid hallucinating from a head injury, but even someone as open-minded as Bell hadn’t been able to wrap his brain around the whole truth.

“It’s like before. They’re chasing the mark.” “Who is?” “Not who. What. Your seeing this glyph could put you in danger.” “I don’t give a shit! What’re they going to do? Haunt me? You know how long I’ve been looking for something like this?” Spears knew down to the exact date, because it had been during the search for his missing family that Bell had first seen a glimmer of the supernatural and started on his mad quest.

Bell had been involved with the other side about one week less than Spears had, only in a far more scholarly, legal, and less violent manner. “Seriously, Mike, I’ve got to see this. I’m not scared.” “You should be.” “Where is it carved? I’ll leave now.

Where are you? I’ll go straight to the airport.” He started walking toward the store. “You misunderstand me. The glyph is on a person. They’re marked.” After that fully sank in, Bell asked, “You mean like an escaped slave?” “Something like that.” “Good Lord … A sacrifice?” “Most likely, and all that entails.”

Copyright © 2026 Correiatech Inc. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher and copyright holder. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. For information, contact [email protected]. Hardcover ISBN: 979-8-991641-55-4 Invictus ISBN: 978-1-945649-56-1 eBook ISBN: 978-1-945649-58-5 Audiobook ISBN: 978-1-945649-57-8 Cover design by J.D.M. Cover art by Alex Wisner. ARK Press Los Angeles, CA www.ark.press Printed in the United States of America 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 1kitap1.com/en PROLOGUE AS THE SUN ROSE OVER THE FRIGID DESERT, Tazoc ripped the head off a thrashing chicken and used its blood to paint symbols around the door.

This path wasn’t always here. This was a sometimes place. The location and schedule of such erratic things were known to only a select few, and that wisdom was handed down through the ages from priest to priest. It took powerful magic to connect the paths, even for only a minute at a time. The faithful had set this door up for him to do his work. They had picked it up from Home Depot, already in a wooden frame. Tazoc despised humans, but they made some things so very convenient.

Magic comes from blood, fear, or life. A chicken had just enough of each to complete this work. If it hadn’t, he would’ve had to hurry and find some other animal to sacrifice. Or he could have bled one of the nearby faithful servants. They’d have been honored to die for a greater purpose, but he needed them alive.

They lived here and knew how to do things like drive and blend in with Americans. The ritual was complete. The door stood alone, surrounded by desert, but when he swung it open, there was an entirely different world on the other side. A better world. A purer world. Tazoc yearned for his homeland, but his duty was here, to protect that better world from the filth and corruption of this lesser one. The hunting party had arrived.

They walked across naked and unarmed. They brought nothing with them that could be connected to their homeland, not so much as a piece of fabric. Recruited from the Empire’s finest warriors, each of these hunters had been extensively trained and prepared to operate on this side. The lesser watchers who lived here would supply whatever resources these hunters required to complete their assignment.

Twelve of them filed through the door before the spell ended.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: fdf2da082674c926
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 2,324,550 bytes (2.217 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781945649561, 9781945649585, 9781945649578
• Pages: 318
• Language: English (en)

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• Estimated Reading Time: 550.64 minutes
• Total Words: 110,128
• Total Characters: 605,766
• Average Words per Page: 346.31
• Average Characters per Page: 1904.92

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