A NEW DAWN: A Novel of Post-Apocalyptic Survival Read online

  Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You, too? I thought I was the only one.

  CS Lewis

  The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship...

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Copyright © 2014 by DB Daglish

  All rights reserved

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below.

  D.B Daglish

  Manukau, Auckland

  New Zealand

  Email: [email protected]

  Web: www.dbdaglish.com

  Publisher: Naquadah Publishing

  Cover design: Liquid Design

  All spelling is United States English.

  Language used may be in a colloquial vernacular relevant to the United States or New Zealand within the relevance of the story.

  The words used and therefore the grammar are as any natural discussions between people would be in the modern world.

  We are all longing to go home to some place we have never been — a place half-remembered and half-envisioned we can only catch glimpses of from time to time. Community. Somewhere, there are people to whom we can speak with passion without having the words catch in our throats. Somewhere a circle of hands will open to receive us, eyes will light up as we enter, voices will celebrate with us whenever we come into our own power. Community means strength that joins our strength to do the work that needs to be done. Arms to hold us when we falter. A circle of healing. A circle of friends. Some place where we can be free.

  Starhawk

  Chapter 1

  The whole course of human history may depend upon a change of heart in one solitary and even humble individual – for it is in the solitary mind and soul of the individual that the battle between good and evil is waged and ultimately won or lost.

  M Scott Peck

  The wall in front of Nigel’s desk suddenly lit up, the brilliant flash temporarily blinding him. A low rumble from the window behind him slowly increased in intensity and as his sight slowly returned he glanced around to see a mushroom-like cloud climb up from the earth in the distance.

  “Oh my God, they actually did it!” he screamed in panic as he immediately prostrated himself on the carpeted floor of his office. Crawling under the large antique desk that was below the window, he instinctively his head with his arms. The glass window above him splintered into a million pieces as the shock wave slammed into the front of the building in which he worked.

  Now the office block groaned and shuddered under the force of the shockwave as it spread out across the city. Screams came from above and below where he lay. The heat intensified and he placed his arms tighter over his head for protection. His own office was positioned alongside a larger open plan work area spanning the width of the building. From here, he felt a terrific suction that ripped at his melted jacket and torn flesh, as the blast ripped through the building. He was forcibly dragged out into the main office, his ears popping with the pressure before he inexplicably stopped sliding. A searing pain now tore through his back and arms.

  Fear and adrenalin caused his heart to pound within his chest as if in a desperate attempt to hammer its way out, amid the sounds of quiet moans in one place, faint but frantic screams in other, and the constant tinkle of falling glass. Dust filled the air throughout the office and as the vacuum left by the blast cleared the dust away, he could begin to see his environment. More to the point - what was left of it!

  The far wall of his office had collapsed and he could now see into the inner courtyard below through what was left of the main office. Although in much pain, he slowly stood to his feet, looking out the gap where his window used to be. He was truly frightened by the sight.

  Washington looked very different from just twenty seconds previous, when he had gazed out over the city vista during his coffee break. Dust and smoke poured from burning buildings as far as the eye could see. Well, from those which were still standing anyway! The park below him resembled the scene from Florida where a few weeks before, hurricane Michelle had devastated the coastline.

  His hands ached and looking at them, he could see his flesh had bubbled slightly. He touched his face and felt a tingling pain there as well. He knew from reading books that he had received a fatal dose of radiation and the immediate tingling was only stage one of what would be a horrifying death. Screams continued to come from various places within the building and recognizing one voice, he rushed into what was left of the main office.

  The ends of the entire office were constructed of floor to ceiling glass panels. But now there was just an empty space, as the force of the shockwave and the resultant suction had ripped everything out into the center courtyard a few floors below. There was nothing left! No desks, no equipment, and no people. Most of the staff had been blown or sucked outside. He looked out the gap in the wall to a scene of destruction below where twisted and broken desks, chairs and mangled and bloody bodies lay. Screams came from unseen areas and the sound tore at him like a cold breeze on his neck. Masses of paper still swirled in the air. There was some movement and he could now see figures amongst the swirling dust.

  “Jacob!” he yelled as he recognized one of his colleagues crouching on the grass below, shredded clothing hanging to his bloodied frame. He was clutching his arm and Nigel could see him look around to find where the voice calling him came from. As Nigel called a second time, Jacob finally looked up.

  “What the hell happened Nigel? An explosion?” Jacob called weakly and his jaw dropped as he realized the extent of the devastation when he saw the holes blown through parts of the building where the glass walls had been.

  “A nuclear blast Jacob! I saw it. The center of town must be wrecked…”

  His words were broken by a scream from the offices opposite his and he ran across the empty floor to a colleagues work area. Even the slab floor was cracked and broken. The building groaned loudly and Nigel feared it might collapse at any moment. June lay on the floor, a burned jumble of flesh and bones. The whites of her eyes contrasted against her dark skin and her fear was obvious, none more so than through her voice.

  “Am I going to die?” she asked weakly.

  He stared at her broken and burned form.

  “Help me Nigel…” “Brian…!” “Am I going to die?” “Brian!”

  “Brian, I need your help!” Suzie called from across the laboratory.

  Brian rubbed his eyes as he folded the corner of the page, closed the book of the novel and placed it down on the coffee table. He had been working on this experiment for the last 10 hours with only a few breaks, each one no longer than the time it takes to have a coffee or two. Each time he was able to read a few pages of the book his wife had given him for his birthday. How many coffees had he had, nine - ten? No matter, it hadn’t made a difference.

  This project was one that enthralled him. A clandestine division of the Government had provided a special grant, enabling him to continue research on viral manipulation. They were hoping he could provide solutions to reduce the spread and infection times for the various diseases beginning to become epidemic in proportion over the last few year
s. Most were basic, but one or two were extremely virulent.

  In spite of being short in stature and constantly harassed in his early years by the boys at his school, he had always wanted to help humanity. Even as a child his goal was to become a doctor, however he sidelined into research when he found he couldn’t stand the sight of blood. Not the ideal situation for a medical man he concluded. He married the most gorgeous girl in the school and none of the jocks stood a chance when she saw how stupid they really were. He was a happy man, though not very well off from a financial standpoint.

  Things changed however when an agent from an agency he had never heard of provided an unusual opportunity. Microbes were discovered on an asteroid fragment that hit a remote part of Idaho in June 2013. Rumors were rife that a living organism from space existed on that piece of rock, however the story never hit the headlines and no one had confirmed the existence of anything - even the asteroid fragment. Only a select few knew that these microbes were in a secure lab in Madison and that the CIA had taken over and pursued it further. Meanwhile new space expeditions had began to try and find more. Few really knew anything about the current location or even the structure of these unusual microbes. They offered Brian $680,000, paid in installments over three years, to begin work on a series of tests upon them.

  It was an intriguing organism, continuing to stay alive regardless of the amount of heat, ice, oxygen or vacuum applied. It was like nothing he had ever seen. Some days it had even grown substantially but within several hours the new colony of microbes died yet the original colony always stayed constant. Whether frozen or torched, the microbes eventually came back to their original size, color and temperature. He had continued working on this experiment for several months now and with no real headway achieved, his enthusiasm waned. Now he had been thinking seriously of getting back to his original task of viral manipulation. Even the agent who first approached him hadn’t called for seven weeks and he was beginning to wonder if they had forgotten him. It was time to call it quits for the day and he prepared to leave the laboratory.

  “Suze, could you put these away in the chamber until tomorrow for me, I’m so tired and my hands are a little shaky. I need to finish up and go home.”

  “Sure Dr. Costello. I’ll see you in the morning?” she asked brightly. Susan Pritchard had been assisting Brian enthusiastically for the last three months.

  “Look, we’ve been working hard for the last week,” said Brian as he stretched out his arms to relive the muscle tension. “How about we come in later, say…10:30am?”

  Susan was a fanatical worker and was never late.

  “I’ll start as normal,” she replied, “That way I can have it all ready for you to start E56!”

  “Ok then, but you’ll need a day off sometime just to recuperate,” he said as he looked at the chart on the wall, scrunching his eyebrows in confusion.

  “Say, aren’t we still on experiment 54?”

  “No – that is the one we finished yesterday before you went home. You forgot to sign it off but I’ve done that for you. You must be getting sloppy,” she teased.

  “You’re a sweetheart. Where were you when I was twenty?” he joked pulling a broad smile.

  “Probably just a twinkle in my father’s eye.” She laughed that crazy high pitched giggle of hers that he enjoyed listening to. There wasn’t usually much laughter in the facility in which he worked. Everyone was far too serious. He wasn’t a humorous person himself, but that was what attracted him to his wife Stephanie in the first place. She kept him young and his kids certainly took after her.

  The drive home was typically two hours. Tonight however, the road was largely deserted; being 11pm at night.

  ‘No traffic jams at this hour’, he thought. ‘Why don’t I start late every day and avoid the stupid traffic jams. Yeah, work late, avoid the traffic jams and have a quicker drive home. I could save an hour and a quarter a day, get the same amount of work done, have more time for the family in the morning and take the kids to school. At least they’d see me more than just on the weekends.’

  As he pulled into his driveway he could see the light on in his bedroom. Entering the room he was surprised to see his wife asleep with the light on. ‘Must have fallen asleep waiting for me’, he thought, crawling into bed just as she woke from a light slumber; her curly blond hair fell over her shoulders. Even waking from sleep she looked fantastic.

  He had no energy for anything other than sleep that night, and regardless of her caresses and carefully placed touches, she could not get any positive reaction.

  “Boy, you’re a party pooper,” she said raising herself on her elbow to look at him. But he was already fast asleep. Stephanie kissed him gently on the cheek and rolled over, still thinking she was a lucky woman but wishing he could organize his work routine better. They had not seen much of him over recent months as his workload had increased. He spoke so little of it and she felt as if that part of his life had nothing to do with her. The increased income they had been receiving made a huge difference, and that had been a distraction for her - until now.

  The next morning at breakfast, their two teenagers Byron and Carly stood at the door with startled amazement.

  “Mum!” Carly exclaimed, “Don’t you think Dad will be a bit annoyed knowing you have another man over for breakfast!”

  “Oh, don’t worry Sis,” her brother retorted, “This one’s better looking anyway, even in boxers and a singlet.”

  A smile flashed across their father’s face. He had a couple of good kids in those two. They looked after each other pretty well and they were doing well at school. He spent as much time with them as he could during the weekends.

  “Hardy har har,” he chirped. “Now sit down and eat, I’ve got something good to tell you all.”

  He explained that he was changing his work habits to start late and finish late so he had more time to talk over breakfast.

  “I’m sick of not having breakfast and dinner with you guys, so from now on you get to see me every day at breakfast; whether you like it or not.”

  “I thought you said you had some good news?” said Byron, trying to keep a straight face. His son was sixteen, tall, and athletic; being a keen runner, finishing second in the state championships that summer.

  “I’ll tell you what,” said Brian, “how about I let you drive the Cherokee to school every day and what’s more Carly can sit in the front.”

  “Fantastic!” quipped Carly who wasn’t old enough to get her license yet.

  “Where will you sit?”

  “In the back of course, so I can be the back seat driver like Bryon used was. I’ll annoy the hell out of him instead!”

  Byron just smiled, “If I can drive the car, I’ll put up with anything.”

  “Good,” Brian added. “I’ve had to for the last five years,” he said, always ready to get the in the last word.

  The morning flew by. It was one of the best times he’d had with his family in recent months and he told them so. He also reminded them he had been invited to attend at the International Virology Conference in Stockholm in two and a half weeks time. A delegate had pulled out due to an accident and Brian was asked by the owner of Cornwall’s to attend in their place. What an extraordinary opportunity. Things were really starting to come together for in his life.

  For the first time, he arrived at the Cornwall Biotechnologies gates after the usual rush hour. At the gate was an older guard who asked Brian if he’d been sick.

  “Only sick of early mornings Eric,” he fired back as he powered the vehicle through the gates and into the parking area. Today he walked with a spring in his step. Today everything was different, the people seemed more pleasant, and the offices and hallways brighter and even Suze was chirpier than ever.

  “You seem happier today,” she said smiling.

  “Do I?” he asked.

  “Yes, you’re smiling from ear to ear.”

  “Well I feel good today,” he said, still wondering why Suz
e was bouncing up and down.

  “I have some good news and some bad news,” she said excitedly.

  “Usually people who have bad news are not so excited,” he observed, “but give me the bad news first.”

  She hesitated.

  “I…I put the microbes and the viruses together in the chamber last night by mistake,” she said, “but…” There was a pause but she didn’t wait for him to ask what the good news was. “You need to see what has happened.”

  His face went white.

  “Good God Susan. What were you thinking?” he exclaimed angrily. “We don’t know what might happen?”

  “I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m sorry,” she replied.

  “Sorry?” He yelled; his voice revealing obvious annoyance, changing his demeanor immediately.

  Her eyes welled up with tears.

  “Just look,” she pleaded, and she took his hand and almost dragged him over to the viewing window in the chamber. There, at one end, was a small red pulsating blob. He quickly assumed it to be a huge colony of microbes. Yet still in the dish were the small colony of originals. There was a trail of ooze of some sort that left a mark from the dish to the spot where the blob wobbled away.

  “My God!” he exclaimed again. “Did you move it?”

  “No. It did that all by itself!” she explained in an excited tone; the tears forgotten for now.

  Brian was startled and was about to hit the evacuate button when Susan forcibly grabbed his hands.

  “No! Don’t do that!” she yelled.

  “What? It’s dangerous, we have to isolate!” he yelled back.

  “How do we know?” Suze yelled back again. “They might destroy it before we even know what it is - and what we can do with it!”

  She lowered her voice as she saw someone looking into the room through the glass panel in the door. She waved and she saw Dr. Jaffray wave back and walk on.