Armagenesis 1, p.1
Armagenesis 1, page 1
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents, and institutions are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to institutions, places, events, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2024 by Marcus Lynn Dean
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the author:
Marcus.Dean@LastDitchPress.com
Published by: The Last Ditch Press, Bella Vista, AR, USA
Cover Design: 100 covers
ISBN: 978-1-7376178-8-4 Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-7376178-7-7 Ebook
Contents
Prologue
Part One
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Part Two
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Part Three
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Acknowledgements
About the author
Prologue
Kevin Thompson was more concerned about tornadoes than a prison break. So far, the super storms that had destroyed so much of everything else had missed the federal penitentiary where he worked. From his vantage point in the tower, he had watched enough twisters doing their deadly dance across the plains that he knew it had to be just a matter of time before one hit the prison. When that happened, whichever guard had tower duty, as he did tonight, would be in the most vulnerable position possible. The prison and the tower itself might have withstood one of the minor tornadoes of the twentieth century, but those were nothing compared to the super storms of the twenty-first.
It was just after dusk. To the north and east, stars twinkled in the twilight. The flashes of lightning that lit up the early evening sky to the south told him the storms were brewing. Would this be the night that one finally hit the prison? With his attention focused on the southern horizon, Kevin Thompson didn’t see or hear anything on the other side of the tower. As he watched, the storm seemed to move to the east as it intensified. Looks like my luck is going to hold, was his final thought before the missile blew through the bullet-proof glass behind him.
Two more precision guided missiles hit the prison immediately after Kevin Thompson and the tower he was standing in ceased to exist. One hit the main control center of the prison, where most of the other guards were remotely monitoring the cell blocks. The other seemed to almost miss its mark. Compared to the first two missiles, it did only minor damage, barely taking one wall off the end of the northeast wing.
A lone man wearing an orange jumpsuit walked through the dust created by that blast just as an armored personnel carrier roared toward the prison at full speed. The vehicle tore right through the double row of razor-wire topped chain-link fence that surrounded the prison and slid to a stop beside the solitary prisoner. Other men in orange jumpsuits began walking out of the gaping hole in the prison wall as the first prisoner jumped into the open door of the waiting vehicle.
“Welcome back Preacher,” the man at the controls greeted the prisoner. “What about them?” he asked, gesturing to the other prisoners who were now filing out.
“Send those niggers to hell where they belong.”
The gun on top of the personnel carrier roared to life, mowing down the other prisoners as the vehicle turned and raced back out of the prison yard, dragging chain-link fence and razor-wire behind it.
“Well done, Brother Daniel,” the man known as The Preacher told the driver. “The Lord shall bless you.”
Wish we didn’t have to use the Devil’s tools, The Preacher thought as he looked around the interior of the military vehicle. But God’s will be done. Even if Satan himself has to do it.
Part One
Chapter 1
Where to now? He thought. We should have gone north.
Tony was thinking about Kylee’s decision to bring them to Arkansas four years ago. Back when he was seventeen years old. Kylee was Tony’s mother. She died in an outbreak of super tornadoes three years ago, along with most everyone else who worked at that chicken processing plant. It seemed so unfair that Kylee only got to live one year in Kings River after all she went through to get them there. They used to say death and taxes were the only two sure things in life. Tony decided there was another absolute. Life is always unfair.
He remembered how hot it had seemed in Arkansas after living in Colorado for his entire life. His mother probably hadn’t realized how much hotter Arkansas would be now than it was when she was a girl. Or maybe she did. She didn’t want to leave Colorado. She had no choice. Tony and Kylee were driven from their home by a lack of water. Tony sometimes wondered if it wouldn’t have been just as good to die from dehydration as to have a heat stroke. Kylee grew up in Hot Springs, which was undoubtedly even hotter than Kings River. Tony’s grandparents might still live in Hot Springs for all he knew.
Probably not. Probably dead by now. Even if they’re still alive, it isn’t likely that they still live in Hot Springs. Or anywhere else in Arkansas.
Most people had already left Arkansas searching for a cooler climate. Tony would never look for his grandparents, anyway. They probably didn’t even know they had a grandson. His mother never talked much about her parents. It was like she tried to erase them from memory after they disowned her for marrying Jacob. Jacob, a Black man, was Tony’s father. Tony didn’t have many memories of his father. He was on the road more than he was home even before he died. In memory, it was always Kylee who raised Tony. Jacob was more like a best friend from afar who visited from time to time.
Jacob was killed by a mob in Texas when Tony was just eight years old. Jacob had been an over-the-road trucker back then. Or, as he used to say, an over-the-road rider. Before the solar storms, trucks, cars, and buses didn’t need anyone to drive them. So most of the time, Jacob was just along for the ride. Trucks still needed someone on board to take over in case of an emergency. Jacob’s job title was still over the road driver, but he was mostly just a copilot for the truck’s computer.
That’s how Jacob ended up in El Paso at exactly the wrong time. Tony remembered his father was extremely proud of his Black ancestry. He could trace his ancestry all the way back to slaves in Louisiana. The dark skin he was so proud of ended up getting Jacob killed. Ironically, the mob that killed Tony’s father wasn’t after Black people at all. That mob was out to get rid of immigrants from Mexico and Central America. Sometimes, it’s impossible to determine a person’s origins just by looking at the shade of their skin.
Tony considered himself extremely lucky in that regard. He got Kylee’s straight brown hair and bright blue eyes. His skin color was as pale as everyone else. Good thing, he thought. If they knew I was half-Black, the Kings River community would never have allowed us in. The Kings River Militia ran the last Black people out of the area long before Kylee and Tony arrived. Wonder where they are now? The Black people who used to live here. The ones that got away. Tony knew many of the Blacks didn’t really get away. The white mobs killed many of them. They didn’t just run them out of town. When mobs turn violent, people always get killed.
Another irony came to mind as Tony thought about the Kings River Militia driving out those they considered non-white. One of the main reasons for getting rid of the minorities was to reclaim good jobs for the “white” members of society. He wondered how many of the “white” chicken catchers he’d been working with for the last four years were just as Black as him. Or Latino. Hell, some were probably even Jewish. Or maybe closeted Muslims. The thought made him laugh. Guess it doesn’t matter now. Now that the chickens are all gone. Nobody left to catch them either.
Tony’s rumbling stomach reminded him of how hungry he was. Looks like more goa beans for dinner. Guess I should have eaten that worm instead of trying to catch a fish with it. Probably have better luck just noodling for a catfish. He knew there were very few fish left in the Kings River, but he tried pole fishing, anyway. There may not have been as many fish in the river as there used to be, but there weren’t near as many people trying to catch them either.
The refugee camp was mostly empty now. When Tony and Kylee first came to Kings River, there must have been a hundred people living in the river encampment. Now they were mostly all gone. He looked back downstream to the highway bridge that had once helped shelter the small tent city that had been his home for the last four years. There were only two tents left now. Tony’s small green tent and the old canvas wall tent where Liz and her mother lived. The two tents were about fifty meters apart. Both backed up to the bridge abutment for maximum protection from storms. The necessities of tent life surrounded both of them. Each had a small wood burning cook-stove, a table and two chairs out front. The stoves were far enough away from the tents to not add to the unbearable heat.
What am I going to do with all that stuff? he thought, looking back toward his tent. Damn sure can
Tony didn’t hear Liz slip up behind him. “Hi, Tony,” she said, and he just about jumped out of his skin.
“Evenin’ Elizabeth.” Tony knew Liz didn’t like her full name. He tried to sound nonchalant, like he knew she was behind him all along.
Liz sat down cross-legged on the riverbank next to Tony. He looked at her and could see she’d been crying. Her striking green eyes were red and swollen. That was as much of a shock as having her sneak up behind him. Tony had never seen Liz cry.
“What’s wrong Liz?”
“She’s gone.” It was a simple statement. Liz didn’t need to tell Tony who was gone. Since there were only three people left in the camp, her mother was the only person it could have been.
“Where’d she go?” he asked, though he already knew the answer.
“She’s dead, Tony. I couldn’t find her.” Liz started sobbing. “Then, when I did, she was dead.”
Tony dropped the pole and took the young girl in his arms, trying to comfort her, knowing nothing he could say or do would help ease the pain. Only time would do that. He wondered how Liz’s mother died. Not that it made any difference. Dead is dead, no matter the cause.
“Must’ve been the heat,” Liz sobbed, seeming to read Tony’s mind. “She was just sitting against a tree by the trail. Like she sat down to rest and never got back up.”
Tony didn’t have to ask which trail. There was only one trail leading from the refugee camp to town. The single-track trail, meandering through deep woods, was a longer route than the road, but most of the refugees used it anyway. People used the path to get back and forth instead of the old highway, so they could stay in the cool shade of the forest. Liz’s mother wasn’t the first person to die along that two-mile stretch of well-worn path. She might be the last, though, he thought.
The refugee campsites under the bridge were already being reclaimed by the forest. Many of them already had. Tony looked around the now vacant camp, holding Liz as she sobbed. Maybe we should have gone with them. He thought about the largest group of refugees that left two years ago. Two dozen members of their little community followed some religious fanatic, claiming he would lead them to a promised land. Tony couldn’t remember much about the man, other than he claimed to be a missionary for a religion Tony had never heard of called The Last Kingdom of God. Thinking back on it, Tony wondered why Liz and her mother didn’t go. Liz’s mother had always seemed to Tony like a religious fanatic in her own right. Wonder if she found her salvation. He also wondered what effect finding her mother dead would have on Liz.
Thinking about the tragedy of Liz finding her mother dead, Tony caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. The cane pole that he’d dropped was sliding toward the river. He let go of Liz and grabbed the pole before it got away. The cane pole bowed with the weight of what Tony figured must have been a large bass, or maybe a catfish, but what came out of the water wasn’t a fish at all. It was a small alligator. Not exactly what Tony had in mind, but at least it was something different for him and Liz to eat.
Guess it’s up to me to take care of her now. Now that her mother’s dead. It wasn’t a very comforting thought. At almost twenty-one years old, Tony wasn’t sure he could take care of himself, let alone a thirteen-year-old girl.
“What’s that say?” Liz asked, staring up at the old billboard.
“It used to say welcome to Missouri, but they painted over the welcome part. See, they spray painted over it.” Tony pointed to where someone had painted the words Keep Out over the word Welcome. “That part says keep out.” Tony felt a twinge of guilt as he read the sign. As if it was his fault that Liz couldn’t read a stupid old road sign.
Liz looked from the sign to the crumbling old road leading out of Arkansas. “Momma said she was born in Missouri.”
“Do you have family there?” Tony asked, hoping Liz had relatives in Missouri that might take her off his hands.
“No. Now that Momma’s gone, don’t guess I got no family nowhere. I never did have no daddy.”
Hearing Liz talk provided Tony with a bit of amusement in a world that was sorely lacking. He knew it wasn’t her fault. The poor girl had no education at all other than a lifetime of oral religious instruction. She wasn’t nearly as fortunate as Tony, whose mother had been a schoolteacher. His mother always told him there was nothing more important than an education. He could remember actually going to school when he was very young. That was before Kylee lost her job as a teacher because she refused to teach the bible. She stopped teaching at school and started teaching him at home when he was in the third grade. A couple of years later, the solar storms hit and shut down the public schools along with everything else. That didn’t stop Kylee, though. Tony’s mother continued homeschooling him until they left her books behind in Colorado. Wish I had those books now, he thought. Maybe I could teach Liz.
“Did you ever have any schooling, Liz?”
“Nah. Momma said reading and writing was for rich folk.” She laughed at the thought. “God knows we was never one of them rich folk.”
Tony thought back to his youth. Was I was one of them rich folk? When he was young, Tony had lived in a small house with both a father and a mother. He’d never considered his family to be wealthy, but he understood they were better off than most. Jacob had a pickup truck and Kylee had her own car. They had all the modern technology of the day; cell phones, television, computers, you name it. They even had plenty of food to eat.
Back then, most of the kids were a lot like him. They came from families where both parents worked full-time to make ends meet. Most of them could never quite work enough to actually get ahead, but they all got by.
The only real rich kids Tony could remember might as well have lived in a different world. There never were very many of them. Their parents were part of the government, or they owned vast swaths of the Colorado countryside. Mostly both, now that he thought about it. The people in government had owned almost everything, not just the land. Tony wondered if those people got to be in government because they owned so much, or if they got what they owned from being in government.
That was before the solar storms. Before everything just stopped working all at once. The first of the coronal mass ejections happened a day or two before all the electronics died. Tony couldn’t remember the exact time frame. He was only ten years old when the solar storms hit. He remembered how upset Kylee was when she first saw the news, though. The scientists warned everyone that earth was about to be hit by a major geomagnetic storm. They told people to turn off and unplug all electronic devices. Then they assured everyone that if all electronics were disconnected when the storms hit, everything would be okay. The President held a special press conference where he said the government would notify people when the storms had passed, and all the electronics could be safely powered up again. Though terrifying then, Tony’s memories of the press conference were amusing now. He remembered wondering how the government would notify people if everything was turned off and unplugged.
Kylee had done exactly what the scientists said to do. She turned off everything. Tony remembered she had even switched off the main breaker to disconnect the house from the power grid. He could also remember knowing that Kylee didn’t really believe powering down would do any good. She went through all the steps, knowing it was a waste of time. Some electronic devices would survive by being shielded, but not many. Kylee told Tony they had to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Turned out Kylee was right and the scientists were wrong. Or, more likely, the scientists were just trying to prevent the mass hysteria that happened anyway. People always hope for the best and are seldom prepared for the worst.
After the solar storms, most of the world’s electronics never worked again. Tony and Kylee were lucky, though. Kylee not only unplugged her car, she parked it out on the street away from the house. When the car burst into flames like so many others, their house survived.
