Beneath the Ashen Veil of Darkness

by Robert Bartlett

  This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

  Beneath the Ashen Veil of Darkness

  A Post-Apocalyptic Tale of the Midwest

  All Rights Reserved.

  Copyright © 2014 Robert Bartlett

  v1.0

  Cover by Tracy Ballard

  This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  Prelude

  Day One, Ground Zero

  His breath is short from the efforts of trying to restart the fire that the two young lovers, in their attention to each other had let die during the night. She watches him from a distance and admires his tenacity at not giving up on restarting the flames “the way it’s supposed to be done”, he had said. She was actually surprised when he had succeeded the night before and by the look on his face so was he. And if she were being honest, she was impressed too. “Damn it!” She hears the sticks he’s been using trying to restart the flames shuffle across the ground from where he’s thrown them out of frustration. “The damn things got wet in the night dew! I’ll have to try to think of something else.” “Ok baby. Let me know if I can help, it’s freezing.” She wonders if now is the right time to tell him about the Bic lighter she has stowed away in her backpack, but she decides against it as she glimpses him picking the sticks back up and restarting his efforts. “Yeah a little chill really came in last night. Guess that’s what we get for coming to Yellowstone in September instead of July!” His short but honest laugh fills the campsite. She loves his laugh. And of course they would have come in July, but they weren’t married in July. They were married in September. The same month they had met in six years earlier. After a whirlwind romance they had been married a year later. She had made him wait a year even though she had known she’d loved him from the first time she had heard his laugh, the same laugh that had just filled the campsite. “It could be wishful thinking but I think I just saw a thin line of smoke!” John calls over from the makeshift fire pit. “Good job lover. Breakfast will taste much better warm.” Carly settles back into her thoughts, content there. No fire was keeping her warm, but her thoughts were. He had always wanted to come to Yellowstone. So how could she say no when he surprised her by planning the whole trip for their fifth wedding anniversary. He was so excited. And, aside from the cold front that had decided to wrap them in its arms last night, she had to admit it was beautiful, even though she’s not exactly the outdoorsy type. “Anymore smoke there Davy Crockett? I hear spring is coming.” She good heartedly calls to the slumped over form feverishly trying to get the sticks to work. “Yeah yeah. Go ahead and joke at my expense. But I actually do think I’m making progress. You just get ready with that breakfast you were threatening me with.” He cheerily answers back. “Yeah uh-huh” she answers over her shoulder as she makes her way back towards their tent.

  Her smile still melts his heart even after five years of marriage. He still can’t believe he got her to come out here. She hates the outdoors. At least no lizards ran up her pants leg this time while sitting by the fire. You can place bets safely in Vegas that if something is going to happen between nature and humans while they were doing something outside, it would most assuredly happen to Carly. Lizards, snakes, spiders, she is the pied piper of natures mishaps. It is a testimony to how much she truly loves him that she came out here with him in the middle of September to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary. He hoped the new diamond ring he has to surprise her with on their hike later will make it worth any creepy crawly disaster that was inevitably going to happen. “Here stud, give this a try.” She hands him the lighter with a sly smile. “My appetites getting bigger, that fire isn’t.” She kisses the top of his head as he laughs. “That’s cheating! But in the interest of your highness needing food I guess I can make an exception.” He watches her walk over to the pile of wood they had collected the day before to

  bring some to the fire that was now only a thumb flick of the lighter away. He is and has always been, completely in love with her and knows that the “today, tomorrow, and forever” anniversary band he has gotten her is exactly the truth. He will love her for all of his life. Even if he doesn’t know at that moment it was only approximately an hour from ending.

  The trail is clear and easy to follow as they make their way towards Octopus and Mushroom Hot Springs in the lower geyser basin. The sides are littered with beautiful local flowers and birds. John smiles at how perfect and lucky he is that this is where he will be able to present the ring to Carly. As they approach the clearing that signals that they have almost reached their first destination, he checks his pocket one more time to insure himself that he hasn’t forgotten or lost the ring. The combination of exertion and the heat from the mud pots and hot springs has quickly burned off last night’s chill.

  Stripped out of the jacket she had put on that morning to fight back the chill, Carly walked just in front of John in a pair of short cargo shorts, a tank top, and a pair of hiking boots with comfortable cotton socks, which were now making her feet sweat. Her jacket tied around her at the waist, John’s gift secretly stowed away in the left pocket. She was trying to figure out how she was going to sneak it out without him noticing when she heard him stop behind her. “I’m roasting now.” John laughs trying not to seem to obvious. “I’ve got a couple bottles of water in the pack, would you like one?” He asks her. “I would love one actually”, Carly responds, thinking this might be her opportunity when John plays right into her hands and allows her to sneak out her surprise for him undetected. “Ok great. Why don’t you go on up ahead. I’ll be right behind you so we can enjoy one of nature’s wonders together.” He knows she’ll think he means the springs but diamonds are truly one of nature’s wonders as well. He’s smiling to himself at his own wit, as he squats down to open the pack. Carly stands at the trail head marveling at the beauty of their surroundings. She calmly bends down pretending to tie her shoe as she slips her hand slyly into the left pocket of her jacket.

  John stands up from his backpack, two bottles of water in one hand, the diamond ring secretly hidden in the other. He could see Carly just up the trail bent over tying her shoe. She glances back over her shoulder at him as she stands and turns, “Hurry up slow poke. This place is AMAZING!” She runs on up ahead as smiles spring onto both of their faces. Her shouts filter back to him down the trail as Carly makes her way just up around the next bend, where the trail led to the hot springs now. John had stopped to pick her a bundle of the wildflowers that decorated the landscape along both sides of the trail when he felt the earth tremble the first time. At first John was unsure if he had felt a tremor at all but his confusion and wonder were quickly extinguished when the earth moved for the second time. The bouquet of Wyoming and Sulfur paintbrush, Monkey flowers, and Sand Verbana’s hit the ground as Carly’s screams break him out of his confusion and propel him towards her at a full sprint. He rounded the bend just as the earth began to shake again. He caught sight of her as he
stumbled, not sure of what he was seeing at first. Carly looked as if she was blanketed in a cloud of steam, her screams were beginning to turn into harsh whispers as her throat and lungs became seared. The tremors they were feeling from the magma beginning to roll and shift deep under the Wyoming Mountains had opened a fumerole, or steam vent, only yards behind his wife in a section of the trail that had been cleared away

  to make it easier to traverse for inexperienced hikers. Carly had her back to the spring from where she had been looking back down the trail for John after the first tremor, a full third of her body having been flash cooked in an instant as the steam hit her with all its devilish force. The earth begins to shake violently as he finally reaches her, the flowers and ring both long forgotten as she collapses into him. Her partially cooked body is no longer able to hold her up during the next series of earthquakes. John tries to hold it together as he tries to comfort and cradle his lovely wife. Her eyes begin glazing over as she stares blankly up into the sky, her hands and arms convulsing involuntarily as she slips deeper into shock. Trying to stop her from shaking John finally begins to register what exactly is happening. The ticking time bomb that is the Yellowstone super volcano was no longer ticking. It was now just a bomb. Like no other on all of earth. In the calamity and violence that begins to surround them, John notices something clenched in his dying wife’s left fist. Prying it from her hand he bends over and kisses her on her belly as the tears that had been welling up in his eyes suddenly burst forth and stream down his face. He is no longer able or willing to hold the tears back as he reads the positive pregnancy test that his wife had been holding to surprise him with.

  And the sun turned black as if covered in shadow, the moon turned red as if covered in blood.

  – Revelations 6:12

  Table of Contents

  Prelude

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty One

  Chapter Thirty Two

  Chapter Thirty Three

  Chapter Thirty Four

  Chapter Thirty Five

  Chapter Thirty Six

  Chapter Thirty Seven

  Chapter Thirty Eight

  Chapter Thirty Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty One

  Chapter Forty Two

  Chapter Forty Three

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Day One

  Jeff Stevens is sitting at his computer terminal at the NASA volcanic research facility located in the mono-basin region of the California-Nevada border. His attention is more on the game of angry birds he is currently playing on his I-pad that he has resting on his lap than on the beeps and flashes of the computer screen that he is sitting in front of. He is an unassuming man straight out of Cal-Tech, medium height, slender build, and thick glasses. His constant diet of soda, potato chips, and candy bars from the vending machine giving him far more acne than a man in his middle twenties should have. But Stevens had been a great addition to the research facility (despite his affinity for smart tech video games). “Still trying to rid the virtual world of little green pigs Stevens?” “Hey what’s up Watts!” He responds cheerily to the day floor manager Kelli Watson as she brushes past him on her way to check the monitoring instruments at the end of the isle. Technically Stevens job, but around here everyone leant a hand in completing the daily mundane “chores”. Not much excitement happened around here. And even when something did show up that was unusual all it meant was a phone call to the main office located in Florida. No one was running to the bat cave for the deployment of special equipment to save Gotham city or anything. But still, what they did here was important. It served as an early warning system to any and all pacific volcanic activity. As early as possible that is, no one could perfectly predict or do anything to sway Mother Nature. Her sigh is audible as she reaches the end of the isle and begins to examine the latest readings printed out by the monitoring equipment.

  Stevens watches her longingly as Kelli strides down the isle. Kelli is still attractive by all accounts even in her middle forties. Although the divorce from her unfaithful husband of twenty years and the worry of her own now uncertain future had done its best to leave its mark on her. But her resolve had seen her through and had made her even more of an inspiration to everyone at the observatory. Blonde, hazel eyed, divorcee, mother of two, she was by every definition the cog in the wheel that made this clock tick. Kelli bends over to read the latest TOPSAR (topographic synthetic aperture radar) readouts. This is the equipment that gives the facility the latest analysis of volcanic deformations and hazard warnings of the volcanoes that litter what is known as the pacific ring of fire. An area encircling the whole of the Pacific Ocean and its bordering countries where the world’s most active volcanoes still lived and breathed. Kelli’s eyes narrow and her brow furrows as she begins to read what is on the latest printouts. Just at the same exact moment that Stevens computer begins to flash an alarm startling him awake from his game and his thoughts of the lovely Miss Watson causing him to drop his I-pad on the floor. “Shit!” Jeff exclaims. “What’s the screen flashing Stevens?” Kelli calls From the TOPSAR. “Um……I’m not sure.” “Well get sure damn it! I’ve got some really strange readings down here that we all need to start praying AREN’T what I think they are.” Her hands are shaking as she continues trying to decipher the printouts she is holding. She tells herself to calm down, that she can’t be reading them right. That the calibrations are off or that it’s just an unusually large blast from the rock quarry in the next county over. “Uh, Watts you need to come down here and look at this.” The shock and disbelief evident in Stevens voice, Kelli

  drops the printout and runs down the aisle to where Jeff is sitting in front of his computer monitor. Her eyes widen subconsciously as she the reads the monitor over Jeff’s left shoulder. “Print this out, copy it in an e-mail and send it to Florida pronto.” She finishes her instructions to him as she turns away from the monitor. “Where are you going?” Stevens ask when he notices she has walked away from his work station. “I’ll be in my office. I’ve got phone calls to make.” Kelli hoped her voice didn’t give away the truth of the despair she was truly feeling inside or the fear that was quickly welling up there. “Who to?” Stevens asks. She stops and answers without turning around to face him, “To anyone that will listen.” She steps into her office and reaches down to pick up the phone from off of its cradle on her desk. As she begins dialing the number to the main branch in Florida she can’t help but notice that her hands were still shaking.

  Chapter Two

  Kelli hangs up the phone and sits down at her desk, staring blankly out of the window that lines the west side of the room. Unbelieving in the fact that she is about to witness what the most destructive force ever known in nature can and will do to the planet. The most destructive force ever to befall mankind in its recorded history. Not since the Lake Toba super eruption in Indonesia 74,000 years ago has man or the planet had to face such a chance of utter annihilation. And she knows that right now, at this very moment, in OUR country, it was happening. The
caldera that is Yellowstone had awakened, after 640,000 years of semi-peaceful slumber. A force like no other on earth, she is a giant even among her peers. This will be every bit of what is known as a VEI8 (volcanic explosivity index) super eruption. An eruption that will spew the equivalent of 1500-1800 miles of debris into the air. “What’s going on Kelli?” Jeff’s question arouses her from her thoughts. Kelli turns from where she has been sitting and staring out of the window to face him, “Gather everyone together in the break room please. I’ll explain everything then.” “OK. Are you alright?” Jeff asks her. She begins to speak but has to stop and clear her throat to actually make her voice work, “Yes, I’m fine.” She inhales and exhales sharply trying to give him a reassuring smile that is faltering at best. “I just need to run to the ladies room to get myself together and I’ll be right in.” She turns away from him feeling his eyes stay on her until the door to the women’s restroom swings shut.

  The muttering of the curious and the confused alike ceases as soon as Kelli breaches the entryway. This was the only time in the history of SESWG (Solid Earth Science Working Group) that anyone could recall that the entire on duty staff had been called together for a meeting. So the overlying atmosphere was one of both curiosity and worry. All eyes were watching her, all ears were listening to her, waiting for what was so important that would cause the reason for them all to be called here together like this. With the tension thick about her Kelli clears her throat and begins to speak “Today, approximately 30 minutes ago, the super volcano that is the Yellowstone caldera, awoke.” She continues through all the audible sighs and gasps, “The eruption was a total and complete inclusion of the entire caldera basin. It is by every thought and definition of Webster’s dictionary a VEI8 super eruption. It will spew enough cubit miles of ash and debris into the air to almost completely cover half of the connected United States and Canada. It simultaneously killed 1.5-3 million people in an instant. Literally blowing some to pieces and incinerating others. Everyone within a 75 mile radius is already dead. Everyone in the 75-100 mile range is now dying from the largest and most devastating pyroclastic flow ever imagined.” Her voice trails off as everyone begins to have the gravity of her words weigh on them, Kelli waivers just long enough for a tearful Mary to stand up and ask, “Miss Watson, I don’t understand what all of this means?” Mary was the young, part time receptionist that had taken this job to supplement her income as she worked her way through college. Mainly because the pay was decent and it was easy to study at the front desk that rarely received even the occasional visitor or phone call. “I’m sorry Mary”, Kelli’s smile is somber but genuine as she begins to explain exactly what it is she’s been describing, “For those who may not know, a pyroclastic density current, or more commonly, a pyroclastic flow, is a fast moving cloud of hot gases, debris, and ash that races out from the volcano center at speeds of up to 450 mph. With recorded temperatures of up to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, pyroclastic flows consist of two parts.