The Reset Series (Book 1): Flood

by Greene, Kellee L.

  Flood

  The Reset Series

  Kellee L. Greene

  Contents

  Books By Kellee L. Greene

  1. Joss

  2. Adam

  3. Stevie

  4. Joss

  5. Adam

  6. Stevie

  7. Joss

  8. Adam

  9. Stevie

  10. Joss

  11. Adam

  12. Stevie

  13. Joss

  14. Adam

  15. Stevie

  16. Joss

  17. Adam

  18. Stevie

  19. Joss

  20. Adam

  21. Stevie

  22. Joss

  23. Adam

  24. Stevie

  25. Stevie

  26. Adam

  27. Joss

  Books By Kellee L. Greene

  Mailing List

  About the Author

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 Kellee L. Greene

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission of the author.

  First Edition February 2020

  Books By Kellee L. Greene

  The Reset Series

  Flood - Book 1

  Book 2 - Coming soon!

  What Remains Series

  Sickness - Book 1

  Outpost - Book 2

  Infected - Book 3

  Evasion - Book 4

  Red Sky Series

  Red Sky - Book 1

  Blue Cloud - Book 2

  Black Rain - Book 3

  White Dust - Book 4

  Indigo Ice - Book 5

  Yellow Heat - Book 6

  Ravaged Land Series (1)

  Ravaged Land -Book 1

  Finding Home - Book 2

  Crashing Down - Book 3

  Running Away - Book 4

  Escaping Fear - Book 5

  Fighting Back - Book 6

  Ravaged Land: Divided Series (2)

  The Last Disaster - Book 1

  The Last Remnants - Book 2

  The Last Struggle - Book 3

  Ravaged Land: Eventuality Series (3)

  The Wall - Book 1

  The Outside - Book 2

  Falling Darkness Series

  Unholy - Book 1

  Uprising - Book 2

  Hunted - Book 3

  The Island Series

  The Island - Book 1

  The Fight - Book 2

  The Escape - Book 3

  The Erased - Book 4

  From Below Series

  Creatures - Book 1

  Desolation - Book 2

  The Alien Invasion Series

  The Landing - Book 1

  The Aftermath - Book 2

  Destined Realms Series

  Destined - Book 1

  1

  Joss

  No one expected it. And I wouldn’t ever forget the day it happened because how it had catastrophically flipped my life upside-down. Life as I knew it was gone and it wouldn’t ever return.

  Not a single person had been prepared. There was no way anyone could have predicted what would happen.

  It was dark outside my bedroom window even though it was only six in the evening. That’s just how it was for January in Minnesota. But what wasn’t typical was the warm temperature of sixty-five degrees.

  I stood there in my pink room, looking at myself in the floor-length mirror. Jeans and a t-shirt were pretty much all I ever wore and tonight wasn’t any different.

  My room hadn’t changed much since my parents had found out they were having a girl nearly nineteen years ago. Some of the wall hangings were different and I had a bigger bed but still, it was like stepping inside of pink cotton candy whenever I entered my room.

  Tomorrow was my birthday but my friends were taking me out tonight to celebrate. We’d probably just get some drive-thru food before sitting in Caleb’s basement drinking warm beer.

  Lexi, Caleb, Deacon and I had talked frequently about getting a place off-campus next year so we didn’t have to stay in the dorms. We’d find something big and split the rent. Then, when we were on a break from classes, instead of coming back to visit our families, we could just stay in our apartment.

  “Going somewhere fun, Joselyn Rose?” Ripley said in a mock parental tone as he stuck his head into my room.

  “You can’t come,” I said to my annoying brother.

  Ripley was only a year younger and knew all the same people I knew. It was yet another reason I wanted to get away from home. Lack of privacy was a huge issue. Ripley knew everything I did and vice versa.

  “I didn’t even ask,” Ripley said. “Not sure what makes you think I want to hang out with your geeky friends.”

  “Geeky friends are better than no friends at all,” I quipped.

  “Says who?”

  “Ugh, you’re such a child.”

  I turned to look into his eyes instead of at his reflection but he was gone. The stairs creaked as he made his way to the first floor.

  I could hear the murmurs of the talking heads from whatever news program my dad was watching in the living room. It was the same topic that had been debated for the last several years.

  “And they have a solution,” a woman said in an angry voice.

  “Not a good one,” a male voice countered.

  I could tell that this discussion was rather heated. It was the kind my dad preferred because he hoped that something would be done.

  “They have a device,” the woman said. I was almost certain I was missing bits and pieces of the discussion.

  “No one knows what kind of damage something like that could do to our atmosphere. Our planet!” the male shouted.

  Ripley and my dad began discussing the changes in climate. I could hear bits and pieces. My dad was telling Ripley how things were in his day. That we’re destroying the planet and something needs to be done. Ripley told him that everyone should just forget about it and it would work itself out.

  The front door slammed shut and then all I could hear was a commercial for whitening toothpaste. I gave myself a final look before heading out of my room.

  At the top of the stairs, I peeked down to make sure my dad wasn’t in his favorite chair. I wasn’t up for a discussion, mainly because I knew he just wanted me to agree with him because Ripley hadn’t.

  He wasn’t there. He must have gone to the kitchen to try to get my mom to side with him.

  My feet pounded the stairs as I quickly descended. I looked down the hallway but couldn’t see either of them.

  “Heading out,” I shouted. “Be back before midnight. Love you.”

  I closed the front door without waiting for either of them to shout me a good bye. It was so warm outside that I hadn’t even needed to take a jacket with me.

  I sent a text message to Lexi to let her know I’d started walking. She instantly replied, asking if my parents were being assholes.

  It wasn’t long before a car pulled up behind me.

  “Hey Joss,” Caleb said hanging halfway out of the window. “Need a lift?”

  I didn’t answer, I just walked toward the car, opened the back door and slipped inside. Lexi looked me up and down.

  “They’re being idiots, aren’t they?” she asked.

  “No, they’re
fine,” I said with an exhale.

  “It’s Ripley then,” she said confidently.

  I shook my head.

  “Just saw him walking toward town,” Deacon said. He hunched his shoulders and squeezed his eyebrows together, glancing at me over his shoulder only for a second before putting his hands back on the wheel. “He was stomping all grumpy-like.”

  “He was arguing with my dad,” I said.

  “I knew it,” Lexi said. “They’re all being jerks.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Everything is fine. I just wanted to get out of there.”

  “Yeah, because they’re being jerks,” she said leaning back in her seat. She quickly popped back up and leaned forward slightly even though her eyes were on me. “Okay, Joss, what do you want for your birthday meal?”

  “Just fries,” I said.

  “You are so utterly boring sometimes,” she groaned.

  “Okay, fine. Lobster,” I said. “I want lobster.”

  Deacon glanced at me again. “Dine and dash?”

  I couldn’t hold in my frustrated sigh. “No. Fries would be perfect.”

  “Large fries then,” Lexi said. “And I’ll have a cheeseburger and a milkshake.”

  She passed a ten to Deacon. He chuckled and gave it back to her.

  “I’ll cover this one, big spender,” Deacon said as he turned the corner that would take us out of the residential zone and toward town.

  We didn’t live in a big city. There was one main road that had two fast-food restaurants and a bunch of shops. The rest of the area was mostly residential. At the far north of town was a factory where pretty much everyone in town was employed. Those who weren’t, drove thirty minutes to the city for their jobs.

  Everyone knew everyone. When Caleb’s parents were going to get a divorce, my mom knew the news before he did. Everyone was always in everyone else’s business, which was one of the reasons I needed to get away.

  I didn’t feel like I could be myself. I had to be perfect because if I wasn’t, my parents would hear about it.

  It wasn’t like I wanted to be bad or make poor choices. I just wanted to be able to be myself without feeling like I’d be judged. This town was always judging.

  We road up and down the main street while we ate our food. Another car with a couple of Deacon’s friends stopped and talked to us for a few minutes before driving off to a party in the woods.

  “We could go,” Deacon said blinking his bright blue eyes. I could tell he wanted to go but since we were together to celebrate my birthday, the decision would ultimately be mine.

  “It’s in the woods?” I asked.

  “Yeah, they have this little cabin there,” Deacon said. “Lots of trees around it. We won’t get caught if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Caleb turned around, meeting my eyes. “We could just stop in for a few minutes but whatever you want to do.”

  Lexi kept her mouth closed. She didn’t want any part in deciding what we did for the night. If it were the wrong choice, she’d be afraid I’d blame her.

  I’d known for about six months that Deacon had a crush on me for the last four years. He never said anything to me about it but Lexi had seen a text on his phone one time when he’d left it on. She’d picked up the phone to make an embarrassing unrelated post on his social media but when she saw the confession, she set the phone down and told me what she’d learned instead.

  I hadn’t wanted to know. We’d been friends since eighth grade. I didn’t want anything to ruin that.

  Deacon was tall. At least to my five-six, his six feet had seemed tall. His face was angular but it wasn’t sharp or harsh and his blue eyes made him appear gentle, sweet, and caring… which he was.

  But now, I couldn’t unknow it and that affected me more than I would have liked.

  I forced a smile. “Yeah, we can stop by for a bit but I don’t want to spend the whole night there.”

  Deacon beamed and hit Caleb on the shoulder with the back of his hand. They were both thrilled.

  We drove for fifteen minutes before turning off the highway onto an old country road. Deacon clicked on the brights and he and Caleb both leaned forward, peering out of the front window.

  “What are we looking for?” Lexi asked leaning forward between the seats.

  “A road,” Deacon said. “I’ll know it when I see it.”

  Lexi flopped back into her seat and linked her arm with mine. She rested her head on my shoulder, nuzzling against my arm like a cat looking for attention.

  I turned to look out my window at the shadows of trees as they slowly moved by the car. Deacon couldn’t have been traveling more than twenty-miles-per hour as he looked for our turn.

  A light, high in the sky, flickered. At first, I thought it was a shooting star and I opened my mouth to tell the others to see it but just like that, it disappeared. After a full second, though, the light returned and brightened as it grew bigger and bigger.

  “What the hell,” Caleb said.

  Deacon was driving forward but his eyes were up toward the sky. Lexi leaned over my lap to look at the light that was nearly the size of a full moon.

  “What is that?” Lexi asked.

  It all happened so fast. Within the next second, the light exploded across the sky and illuminated the earth to a whiteness that was unbelievable. A sound that was unlike anything I’d ever heard cracked through the air.

  The light had been blinding.

  The sound… deafening.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and put my head down. The car started bouncing around before it came to a gentle stop.

  My heart was racing and my breaths were coming at me too fast. I was afraid to open my eyes.

  2

  Adam

  I zipped around the corner on my motorcycle, practicing taking turns as if I were in a race. When I straightened the bike, Eva pounded her fist on my back twice. And hard.

  “Don’t do that!” she screamed.

  She was always screaming at me. At least that’s how it had seemed lately.

  I couldn’t wait to end things with her. It had been a rough year for us but honestly, I should have realized things wouldn’t work out the first time someone teased us about our names.

  If only that had been the least of our problems. Eva was controlling and bossy. She was driving me absolutely crazy and I just wanted to get my life back.

  I pretended I hadn’t heard her complain through my helmet but after a mile or so, I slowed the bike as if it had been my idea. Honestly, I just didn’t want to hear her shrill, nerve-twitching voice and if I accomplished that by obeying, then so be it.

  Things had been good with us for a long while. We did everything together. She was sweet to me, and God, she was beautiful. So ungodly beautiful. But the minute her mom got into her ear about marriage, everything started to fall apart.

  I wasn’t ready for marriage. I was twenty-one, for Pete’s sake. Still in college. I didn’t even know what I was going to do when I got out but Eva’s mom knew my parents were wealthy. If I didn’t want to do anything after college, well, that was an option.

  While I’d always been faithful to Eva, even though there had been plenty of opportunities not to be, I knew with every ounce of my being, she wasn’t the one. Only now I had to tell her as much.

  I decided I’d tell her at the top of the hill where there was a nice place to park and look out at the city. I probably should have planned a better location but I wanted to be as isolated as possible so that no one would hear her dramatic screaming and crying and begging me to reconsider.

  She’d say I wasted more than a year of her life. How could I be so cruel? It would one-hundred percent be my fault, no matter what.

  Somehow things had gotten to the point where having her arms around me annoyed me. She’d started talking about children about two weeks ago and asking me if I liked this name or that one.

  “Slow down, Adam. God!” she said. “Did you forget you have someone on the back of the bike
with you?”

  How could I?

  “Not that you should be driving like a maniac when you’re alone either,” Eva added loudly.

  I should have stayed at college instead of coming home to visit for the holiday’s but I’d be desperate to end things. Maybe a text message would have sufficed. I couldn’t handle another day of this. Even though I only saw her once a month give or take, it felt like she was smothering me.

  I slowed the bike again. Apparently, the thoughts racing through my head were making me go faster. Guess I couldn’t wait to get to the top of the hill.

  It was warm in California for this time of year. Every year was warmer than the last. Maybe I should have taken her to the beach. It would have been closer and when she started crying, I could have jumped in and just swam away. Hawaii would be amazing.

  I turned again. In less than a mile, we’d be there.

  What would I say?

  How would I start?

  I thought I had it all figured out but now that we were almost there, my mind had gone blank. If only I could somehow make it seem like it was her idea.

  Ugh. It didn’t matter. Either way, she was going to be crushed. She’d planned our wedding in a binder. She probably had onesies being shipped from her favorite store.

  Eva would act like the world was ending. She was always so over-dramatic about everything. One time a fast-food chain was out of a chicken sandwich she wanted to try and when she didn’t get one, she howled like an injured wild animal.