Pursuit; Maim Pursuit; Maude Pursuit; Caught

The boy was paid for when he was 10. The buyer was 16-year-old Maude. She paid the purchase price by spending a full month in the tent of the boy's father for unrestricted use.

(At any time, tap a book cover image to read more about that volume.)

The boy's father would keep the boy for 3 years as help around the camp. And to instill a psychological block to prevent the boy from killing another human. It was to protect the father and the buyer but had a far wider effect. The father was an itinerant preacher in the late 1800s Appalachian Mountains.

The sale would be finalized when the boy reached 13 years old and the father delivered the boy to Maude.

The boy ran away from camp the day before he was 13. He immobilized his father by destroying his joints with pistol shots while his father was drunk. So his father could not come after him.

That is where the first two volumes of the trilogy begin. One being the boy's story and one being the buyer's story.

In the first volume, Pursuit; Maim, the boy has to learn to maim adversaries because he was unable to kill them. That is how he got his name, Maim.

Maim spent many years eluding Maude. He became an excellent shot with both rifle and pistol. He had to. In the late 1800s, on the frontier, someone who could not kill in defense had to develop other means or die.

At one point, Maim inadvertently got rid of a nemesis that a town was suffering from. A boy, Fred, some years younger than Maim, glommed onto Maim as a hero. Maim instructed Fred how to shoot a pistol. He arranged lessons that Fred could continue carrying out after Maim went on down the trail. Maim and Fred had developed an almost spiritual connection. Neither would ever forget the other.

Pursuit; Maude is the second volume. Maude was pissed. She took off after the boy, intending to catch him, her property, and make him suffer.

Maude was a sadist. It was a total “I feel erotic satisfaction when I watch you suffer for me” sadism. During her chase after Maim, she discovers that shooting out joints saturates victims with overbearing pain that would nevertheless have to be borne.

During her years-long search for Maim, Maude enjoyed her torturing fests. She realized she might be delaying her capture of her property for that reason. Maude decided to develop an assassination business. She would become known as the anonymous assassin who never misses. The business allowed her to travel about. In that way, she uncovered a viable clue to Maim's whereabout.

Maim and Maude meet in the third volume of the trilogy, Pursuit; Caught. When Maude brags about torturing Fred for days before he died, Maim's anger pops the psychological block that prevents him from killing. But he doesn't kill Maude right away.

Maude set a trap for Maim. Maim uses the Maude-provided trap to disable Maude.

Maim makes Maude suffer. When the no-kill block popped, nothing prevented Maim from discovering his own sadistic streak.

Thus, Maude suffers. Maim tortures the short and skinny woman to screaming and roaring agony. Maude is impaled. She has parts of her body skinned. Her joints are shot to smithereens. Boiling water is dribbled on her body.

Eventually, Maude dies.

Maim must now determine what to do with his life.

(The Maim series is an spinoff from this trilogy.)

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