Deadfall: Survivors

by Richard Flunker

  2013 progressed normally, I suppose. I remember I was teaching History in Hendersonville to Juniors and Seniors. Summer vacation was great; most of it spent in the woods and mountains, my kind of vacation. I remember trying to get my current girlfriend to come with me, but I found out that, despite her claims of being an outdoors person and loving nature, all that really meant was that she enjoyed going outside to her car and eating expensive organic food. That one didn’t work out too well.

  That was also the first year I didn’t spend much time with my dad. He was gone a lot, on trips, and on his own hiking endeavors. I didn’t think much about it at the time, especially since I was busy as well, but I guess the events during the year were actually very important to my existence right now.

  I'm going to have to write about that sometime, too.

  Right now I’m wishing I had some kind of laptop with me. I'm going to take a break.

  So I have been sitting up here on this balcony, soaking up the sun. The wildlife has really come back strong since people have been absent. I'm certainly not one of those nature nuts who would wish all people died and that the earth was restored back to nature, but, since I DIDN’T wipe out humanity, I won’t feel TOO guilty about enjoying the resurgence of animal life back in my woods.

  So early 2014 was when the next relevant piece of news comes around. Scientists, governments and otherwise really smart people around the world, had of course been working on some kind of solution to the problem that was hurtling towards earth. At that point, we were now only two and a half years (or so) from impact and people were, after largely ignoring the problem for one year, starting to get nervous. Anyways, they, the smart people, had studied that matter in depth, and had come up with some conclusions. First, the comet wouldn’t destroy the earth. It wasn’t large enough to cause an extinction level event (I remember that term from a movie). Nevertheless, it was still going to really mess up a good chunk of the earth and make life very miserable for the rest of the planet for a few years. Oh...and people were going to die.

  I can almost remember the one scientist who said that. He simply looked straight into the cameras and without blinking said : “And people are going to die”.

  I am fairly certain I laughed out loud. Probably not the best reaction at the time.

  Now, the other piece of news was the good part. Together, with some other nations, the United States (of course, who else) had set up a battery of rockets that was quite literally going to blow the thing out of the sky. That is of course, the American way. I bet half of America stood up and started singing the national anthem. The idea was that since the comet was essentially all water, that a few (probably more than a few) good nuclear blasts could break the thing up. Of course, nothing was guaranteed. They, the rocket people, would only be able to launch the rockets three weeks before impact, and there was a chance that wouldn’t work. They, the smart people, not the rocket people, wouldn’t be able to determine for sure where the comet would hit the planet till about seven months before the impact. During that time, all nations of the planet (really those that could afford to) would work hard to evacuate the area of impact.

  The next two years go by mostly normally. There is a rise in the building of bomb shelter type buildings by those who can afford it, but essentially, the entire population continues to live under the belief that the hope has been created that this isn’t the end of the world, and the all too typical human emotion that “it won’t happen to me”. Most were certain the comet would fall on some other spot on the earth.

  I almost got married in 2015. Stacy. She was far hotter than anyone I had ever dated, and that should have been my first hint. I was completely in love with her hotness. She was completely in love with my money. Well, my dad’s money. It also wasn’t meant to be.

  And yes, my dad is rich. Quite filthy rich as I understand.

  Remember I had said that my dad had been gone a lot? It would turn out that he was using his well earned money to build himself a private getaway slash bomb shelter slash end of the world hideout. It was up in the mountains, in a spot in the Pisgah National Forest where there was not supposed to be any building. I guess money gets you things. I’ll get into that at some other time, as right now I got to keep my mind (and my cramping fingers) on the subject of the end of the world.

  So, January of 2016 was the big date. It was then that the smart guys let us know that the comet, if it would hit, would be smacking earth just off of Venezuela. Essentially, the islands in the Caribbean were going to be wiped out, and there was going to be one huge tsunami along the Atlantic Ocean. The slightly good news was that the population that would need to be relocated was actually going to be far less that which would have been needed if this comet were going to hit say, China, or India. The bad part was that this side of the world was going to be the most affected. (Yes America, that meant you)

  Ideally, humanity was going to survive. For the next seven months, people were supposedly stockpiling non-perishable foods. Food production had already been ramped up for a few years at the expense of other things, say, sports and movies. The poor saps on the islands, who were expecting a free, all expenses paid trip to the United States, were instead moved to Africa. Not really what they had expected at all. There were all sorts of racial lawsuits, something to the nature of their ancestors had been taken by force from Africa, and that they were now being returned, by force, back to Africa. People never failed to amaze me. They still wouldn’t, probably, except they’re all dead.

  Death or Africa? Is it really that bad?

  The government tried to insist that people go on with their lives as normally as possible, of course, as long as you were stockpiling that food you might have needed for a few years. I kept teaching, but there were fewer and fewer kids in class. Most of my students just decided to stay at home with their parents, waiting out the conclusion to this possible end of the world. I remember all the talk about how this impact (it seemed everyone was almost sure the government rockets would fail) would affect those of us living in this corner of North Carolina. The tsunami would most likely leave us alone, but we were supposed to feel a significant quake, and who really knew just how it would affect the climate.

  As the time neared, scientists nailed down the actual date the comet would hit earth: August 16th, 2016. At least it would happen after summer vacation. That summer, I did finally move out to my father’s hideout in the mountains, there to wait out the end of the world.

  Of course, that would all be very anti climactic. The government did actually come through for us plebes, at least this time. The rockets went up three weeks before the impact. It was the highest rated TV show in the history. The rockets were shooting up into the sky from all parts of the world, at different times of the day, all coordinated to hit the comet at three separate times.

  It was a fireworks show going off here on earth, but even more so in the sky. The comet had already turned into a nice bright spot in the sky, slowly growing larger as time went by. On August 10th, just a few days before the comet was supposed to hit, the night sky, at least where my father and I were sitting under, lit up. In the span of about ten minutes, three extremely bright lights filled the eye were the comet had once been. The first explosion didn’t seem to change the comet much, but the second, and certainly the third salvo of nukes certainly did. After the third flash, the once visibly bright chunk of ice was gone. In its place stood a haze, the small chunks of the once mighty planet buster.

  I remember sharing a beer with my dad (I'm not much of a drinker). We planned on staying the rest of the week as well as the next, get some hiking done, and then begin getting on with the rest of our lives. I do remember the TV scenes though. It was a party on earth like no other before. For a brief moment, the nations of earth had stood united against a common foe. Yeah, it sounds corny, and that foe was just a chunk of ice, but it really did have that feeling to it. Of course, I knew within a few days, we would go back to being what we were; hating each othe
r just as much as we did before.

  Funny note from that wee: I remember a certain group of religious fanatics being so incredibly angry that the rockets had actually worked in destroying the comet. These people had tried to sabotage the rocket launches, and gotten themselves killed for it, while the rest of them had actually built a large temple on the island of Curacao, off of Venezuela. You can guess as to the purposes of the temple. There were going to go to their god in style. Within hours of the rockets doing their job, camera crews were set up on Curacao at their temple, and the fanatics were in tears. Police and military were called in because it was rumored they were all just going to kill themselves anyways. It was a mess, but a mess that drew ratings on TV.

  So the end is averted right? Not quite. You see, the comet had one more surprise for us.

  I remember the morning of the 17th of August; the beginning of the end of the world.

  You know, that whole term, the end of the world is quite overblown. I mean, I'm still here. Certainly the “world” is still here. I'm fairly certain that in other places, other people are still alive as well. Some might say it’s the end of civilization, but, I can attest to that not being completely true either. So what do I call it? Do I need some catchy phrase?

  Speaking of (writing actually) catchy phrases, I thought of something yesterday that made me chuckle. As I was walking up to the Inn, I had been watching a pair of squirrels chasing each other among the trees, and that’s when I first began thinking about the resurgence of wildlife I mentioned earlier. So, I thought to myself:

  “It’s good to see so much wildlife as opposed to wilddead.”

  Wilddead. Undead. Zombies. I really wish I could trademark that somehow.

  The not so funny thing about being alone all the time, is that you laugh at quite stupid things.

  I need to find something to eat.

  Back to the 17th of August, the day the comet hit earth. Well, the tiny little chunks of it that were left over. But whatever was in that comet turned the sky a hazy green that morning. That’s what I woke up to. I remember walking outside and not really glancing up at the sky, wondering if there was just a lot of extra eye gunk in my eye that morning, as the coloring outside was certainly off. I kept rubbing my eyes, not in a gesture of disbelief, as I hadn’t really seen anything yet, but because I kept trying to clean my eyes out. Convinced, finally, that my eyes were clear, I began looking around and instantly saw that the sky was green. A bluish green really, but still, not blue, or grey cloudy, but clear, and green.

  According to the news, the bits of the comet that had survived the blast had hit the atmosphere and broken up. Not a single piece actually reached the ground. But the ice had been carrying something in it, obviously green in color. As the day grew on, the green became brighter and brighter. Scientists on TV were theorizing that it might be some kind of plant like living thing that was getting light for the first time in a long time, and was feeding off of it. Of course, there would be no hard proof till Air Force airplanes scoured the high skies, getting samples of the green stuff. Meanwhile, it spread over the world from its entry point somewhere over the Atlantic.

  August 19th, or 20th, I don’t remember precisely which day it was, but the green cloud had covered the whole earth now and people were beginning to panic. But it was an odd sort of panic. Nothing was wrong, nobody was getting sick, and no one was dying from this green cloud. As far as anyone could tell, it was still stuck up high in the sky, up above the clouds. It wasn’t as if it was raining green acid rain on us.

  Anyways, it was on one of those days that the news people informed us that the green stuff was some kind of living creature, not quite plant or animal. It was obviously not from this planet, and so was at that time baffling scientists. It clearly fed off the sunlight, but nowhere nearly as efficiently as plants do. All their tests had shown though that this new creature from outer space wasn’t interacting with anything else here on earth, different DNA structure or some scientific jargon of sort. Also, it was dying off.

  This was the whole mess with the world at the time. It had been a complete rollercoaster of emotions lately. We were going to die, we were not going to die, we might die, we probably wouldn’t die. One day the news bands were saying life as usual, the next, that life would end soon.

  So it went like this. A few days later, the green stuff began clearing up; great news that day. Next day, the TV informed us that the government smart people had discovered that the green stuff was no longer green, and was actually floating down from the sky. I really wish I had purchased stock in whatever company made those little white masks people put on their face when they think there is an outbreak of something. Those went in a hurry. Of course, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything with the money.

  So the stuff was among us now. The entire world was breathing in this new critter from outer space. People were locking themselves up in their homes, in caves, or in subway tunnels. Once again, there was this overwhelming sense of panic about to explode, but nothing clear was happening. No one was falling over dead from the stuff, despite the absolutely terrible news that the little white masks did nothing to stop the green things from getting inside us, and that unless you lived in a completely environmentally sealed glass ball, it was getting in there, too.

  The whole world was uncertain. People weren’t going to work, kids weren’t going to school, and everything was coming to a standstill, yet not falling completely apart.

  My dad and I stayed up at our mountain hideout. We had already planned to stay up there for some time, so our plans didn’t change much.

  Within days, the government, our president, and plenty of other smart (or at least smart looking) people began to tell us to get on with life. Apparently, this new thing was going to be a part of earth’s biology, and that everything we could see showed us that it did nothing to us and certainly wasn’t harming or killing us.

  And so, because there was no immediate danger, because your neighbor wasn’t puking blood, or your co-worker wasn’t dying sweating and screaming in his bed with a high fever, people went on with their lives.

  At the end of the two weeks, I went back into town to my apartment. There were still a few weeks till school began (everything had been pushed back due to the excitement), so I cleaned up, began to get my lesson plans in order and, as everyone else was, began going back to life as normal.

  Life as normal.

  My hands are completely cramped up and I refuse to write anymore today. I do believe I will stay here at the Inn one more day though. I’d rather have a nice table to write on with as much I need to tell tomorrow.

  Notes: For more information on the events leading up to Deadfall, please read Volume 1 of these series.

  Evans Notes: You know what the funny thing is? I honestly do not remember these events as well as Brian does. I was too busy in school and hitting on girls. I had never been the kind of guy to follow the news, and really only got into it when the rest of the world started to panic, just a few weeks before the rockets went up.

  I also find it a bit amusing that Brian only hints at the vault and what it actually entails. He wasn’t writing to anyone in specific, yet he hides so many details.

  Entry 4[4]

  I woke up really early this morning, just a bit before dawn. Something was rustling outside the balcony. Maybe it was the bear. I hope it was the bear. I never would have said something like that just a few years ago. In any case, I saw that the sky was clear, and I opted against staying for one more day here. I packed up quickly, and was on the trail in just a few minutes, chomping on some breakfast bars I had along with me. Honey Nut Cheerios bars. I wonder just how many of those I have back home. I wonder if I would be exaggerating if I said over ten thousand of those bars.

  I had originally set this day aside to explain the second part of the end of the world; the part that actually set humanity back. Well, nearly all the way. Instead, it seems, I decided to witness a little more of the zombie horde on my o
wn.

  My hike went really well. A nice cool morning greeted me as I took to the Blue Ridge Parkway, headed towards Asheville. There was not a single breeze in the air and everything was very silent this morning; a little different than the past few days.

  About seven miles down the road, there’s a trail that veers off south, down off the mountains, headed in a somewhat southeasterly direction, in as much as a trail can go. It drops off really fast, until you get to a creek that my maps said was called Fletcher Creek. From there the creek joins into Mills River, which hits up the French Broad. You can then use the French Broad to navigate yourself to either Hendersonville, or head north and reach Asheville. You can even follow it into Tennessee, if you somehow needed to get there, and you had no maps. I tend to follow the rivers, mainly because it provides me with water, and it keeps me a bit off the beaten path.

  Zombies like to stay on nice, easy to traverse paths. Interstate 26 is like a river of rotting and walking flesh.

  My overall plan was to head into Hendersonville, rummage around, see if anyone was alive, and hopefully, not get myself mauled to death by dead people.

  My hike went really well. And by well, I mean that it was devoid of zombies. That was, until I started getting into the farmland that the Mills River was spilling through. At this point, it was really hard to avoid the houses that dotted the countryside.

  Towards five in the afternoon, I began to think about perhaps finding one of these homes and making it my shelter for the night. I had no problems sleeping out in the open up in the mountains, but down here, I much preferred being in a lockable room. One with a basement was preferable, but not all of the houses here had them.

  I spotted a two story house almost right up against the river. This would provide me with easy water access. The only problem was, as I neared the house, there were two dead, yet not quite dead, people on the top balcony on the front of the house. One was stuck on something; ropes or chains. He was a man; maybe an older man when alive. The ropes or chains were snagged around his legs, and pulled up and tied on something on the wall. This left him half dangling as he clawed at the porch railing. The other was a smaller person, so maybe a woman, or just, a small person. I couldn’t tell anymore. She, or he, well, really it, was on its feet, but as it walked back and forth on the balcony, it kept getting tripped up by the others arms. The whole scene was somewhat comical.