by S A Ison
EMP
PRIMEVAL
S.A. ISON
EMP Primeval
Copyright © 2018 by S.A. Ison All rights reserved.
Book Edited by Ronald Ison, Esq. Editing Services.
All rights reserved. Except as under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without prior written permission of S.A. Ison.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the production of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons – living or dead – is entirely coincidental.
OTHER BOOKS BY S.A. ISON
BLACK SOUL RISING
INOCULATION ZERO WELCOME TO THE STONE AGE - BOOK ONE
INOCULATION ZERO WELCOME TO THE AGE OF
WAR - BOOK TWO
EMP ANTEDILUVIAN PURGE - BOOK ONE
EMP ANTEDILUVIAN FEAR - BOOK TWO
EMP ANTEDILUVIAN COURAGE – BOOK THREE
POSEIDON RUSSIAN DOOMSDAY - BOOK ONE
POSEIDON RUBBLE AND ASH - BOOK TWO
BREAKING NEWS
THE RECALCITRANT ASSASSIN
PUSHED BACK A TIME TRAVELER’S JOURNAL BOOK ONE
EMP DESOLATION
THE LONG WALK HOME
FUTURE RELEASES
THE HIVE
SMOKEHOUSE SMILES
Other books by S.A. Ison under the name: Stefany White
Dragon’s Fortune
Alaskan Heat
The Seeding
Future Releases
The Butler Did it
Little White Lies
CHAPTER ONE
Sarah Wright stood in line nervously as she waited for her turn on the box that hung from the cable, which spanned nearly seven hundred feet across a deep gorge, over a three-hundred-foot drop into an incredible lush green. The sound of the water rushing along the deep gorge was intense and there was a fine mist that crept its way up the three-hundred-foot gulf. She’d waited nearly a year and a half for this rare opportunity.
She and seventeen other people had arrived in Motuo China, one of the remotest places on the planet, for a chance at five million dollars, or rather half of that much, two million, five hundred. She would have to share that jackpot, and she was glad to do so with her teammate, who’d been chosen at the Beijing airport.
She and the others had arrived a week ago in China, she’d already been jet lagged from the cross-continental flight from Maine to San Francisco then on to Tokyo and then to Beijing. Once everyone had arrived they’d all been shepherded into a lounge. Their host, Christian Quinn had called everyone to attention, without cameras rolling. Quinn went over the rules and passed out wavers, which they’d already signed, but he told them all laughingly that the studio executives wanted things in triplicate.
Once that was done, the three cameramen turned on their cameras. While they’d been waiting for all eighteen to show up, she’d met some of the contestants. They’d all hung out at the bar in the airport. It was a small bar, but they managed and celebrated.
Connor Hill had come up and introduced himself, he was tall blond and blue eyed, a handsome man about her age, thirty. He had chatted her up and then had drifted on to a couple of younger women, Vana Klein and Carol Hipps. She’d snorted to herself, figures. Then she met Grayson Jiang, he was from Boston.
She thought he was in his forties or so. He seemed very nice. Once all the contestants arrived, the bar was loud and boisterous. They’d been herded together and sent to the lounge. Christian stood before them with a pith helmet, which she thought a little hokey. Everyone stood silently as the cameras rolled and watched as he pulled one name and then another. He called them out and dubbed them partners. Each of them would be partnered up with a stranger.
“This way, there is no true advantage or disadvantage, just the luck of the draw.” He said with a flourish, his over white teeth glinting. Her partner had been chosen, Aiden Sanchez, a very nice-looking man. Appearing fit and capable. She was pleased and hoped he’d be a good partner; she was really wanting half of the five million. Once everyone was teamed up, the group was then hustled out and loaded on a janky bus, the thing had no smog control and belched out black smoke as it took off, its body shuddering loudly.
Food in the form of bento boxes were passed out, filled with rice and pickled vegetables. She and Aiden sat together and ate and talked. She got to know him, he was originally from North Carolina, near Raleigh. He currently lived in Norfolk Virginia. He was an ex-navy SEAL, and she had to have him explain what that was.
“It’s kind of like a frogman..ish. We go into dangerous places and attempt rescues and that kind of thing. Some of it’s classified. Some not.” He’d grinned and shrugged. She’d smiled and laughed. Aiden was an easy-going man. The bus jolted them and their bones. It had been almost a thirteen-hour ride. The bus had stopped a couple times, allowing the contestants to eat and use the bathrooms, which freaked Sarah out. They were essentially holes in the floor. The bathroom she’d used at the first place they’d stopped had smelled terrible, and swarms of bloated black flies hovered over the holes. The second place was nicer and cleaner, but she wasn’t used to squatting over a hole.
She turned as she heard the strident voice of Carol, and rolled her eyes. Carol was a typical self-absorbed beautiful woman. She used her beauty to get what she wanted. She was finding that difficult now, and everyone heard about it. Sarah sighed heavily and tried to tune her out, her eyes roved around the absolute beauty of the place.
It was magical and surreal. The hills and mountains that surrounded the gorge were an unreal green, and wild, that was what struck her the most, it was such a wild place. The actual camp, where they would be shooting the show was across the wide gorge. It could only be accessed by this cable, and the metal cage that was attached.
It had taken the network two years to get permission to come and film their show. It was Enduring Primeval, which pitted eighteen people, nine teams, against each other to win the grand prize of five million dollars to be split. No one knew about splitting the prize until Beijing, naturally. The waiting list was long and the contestant applications longer.
Thousands applied, but only a small select few were chosen. Sarah suspected that some were chosen because they were arrogant assholes. She thought that made for great TV drama. There certainly were a few drama queens present, complaining and bitching the whole way here. She could hear them even now, Carol and Vana who were the two youngest women, models by the look of them, and complaining the whole time. They fed off each other, and their whining was becoming tedious. She really did want to smack the hell out of them both and looking around her, the rest of the group did as well.
¤¤
Aiden Sanchez observed the two young women bitch to each other. He sighed heavily. When he’d first met the two, he’d wondered what the producers of the show were thinking. Now he knew. People you love to hate. Drama. Christ, their incessant complaining was grinding on his nerves. The group was tired and they still had a two-hour trek ahead of them. He looked around at the other competitors. He’d sized them up at the bar. Many drank like fish. He’d stuck to water, knowing that they had a long trip ahead of them.
Aiden wasn’t a drinker, never had been. A grim smile curved on his lips. Many of the contestants had been car sick on the long shaking ride on the uneven roads in China. The bus had noxious fumes spewing from it and it had entered the bus at stops. He’d been thankful that he’d not consumed alcohol. The walking had been long and many had been dehydrated from the vomiting. They were now at a disadvantage. That suited him well.
He looked down at th
e bright head of Sarah. He knew she was nervous. She’d not partaken of the festivities in the bar, sticking to a soft drink. His eyes moved over to Connor, the man looked fit enough, but there was something that he’d not liked about the man. A shiftiness. He mentally shrugged. Then his eyes moved to Grayson, the man was dower. No blame on his part, he’d been saddle with a useless partner. The contestants were antsy to get across the gorge and to the main camp site.
The producer, Marla Eastan, had gone ahead to the site, where supplies had been sent, along with food stores for the cameramen and the host, Christian. Their tents and belongings as well. He sighed once more, trying to tamp down his restlessness. At least he’d been given a good teammate.
¤¤
Sarah could see Christian up near the edge of the ravine, waiting for the cable to bring the cage back. The cameramen, Bruce Black, Hudson Stevenson and Tom Bale, were clustered around Christian to talk about shots, she supposed. Behind her was Aiden Sanchez, her partner, she took note that most of the teams stood together talking while they waited. Connor and Matt Johnston were laughing and pointing at the two young women.
Aiden was quiet, he seemed to be watching everyone like she was. She was glad he was her teammate, they had talked and they had a lot in common. She’d told him about her foray into survival and self-sustaining living. He’d talked about his time in the Seals and the training he’d gone through.
The long bus ride had ended in eastern Tibet, where they caught an even older bus to the village of Pai and from there a long four-day trek, hence the reason for Carol and Vana’s bitching. Everyone had started out happy and excited and when everyone was paired off, then the bitching started. Some cried foul, as Carol was paired with Grayson Jiang, she found out he was a fifty-one-year-old marathon runner.
Carol had cried that he was too old and would slow her down, which of course, pissed Grayson off. Sarah thought that Grayson was getting the shitty end of that stick. There wasn’t much to Carol, she was twenty-two, a personal trainer and she should know better, because Grayson would have stamina and Sarah thought in this instance, stamina was the key.
Vana, who was a twenty-three-year-old law student on sabbatical for the game, had been paired with Leo McCabe, who was thirty-nine, and she bitched he was too old. Sarah shook her head, Leo was a survivalist, and she thought Vana was lucky to have him as a partner. And so, the two had cried and complained and Sarah smiled secretly, those two wouldn’t last long.
“What are you smiling at?” Aiden asked, smiling at her. She looked up into his face, he really was a nice-looking guy, he’d told her he had been out of the navy for two years. He’d had some kind of injury, though fully healed he assured her, and had gotten out.
“I’m just listening to the Bobbsey twins, crying and complaining. I suspect that their partners are wanting to kill them about now. And they will be out of this competition before it even gets started.” She sniggered softly. She needn’t have worried about being overheard, below them was the roar of the Yarlung Tsangpo river, and mist and clouds surrounded them. She was glad she had a water repellant windbreaker, the air was quite wet, causing her brown hair to begin to curl around her face.
Aiden grinned widely, his teeth brilliant with his dark tan, “Yeah, I’d be seriously thinking about kicking them off this ridge. I really hope they don’t keep it up, it is draining just to hear them. It is like they are sucking the energy out of everyone. I don’t know why they bothered to enter the competition.”
“They probably thought they’d be going to some beach or something, not in the middle of China, in the mountains of Tibet. I can’t believe how beautiful it is here, like some kind of primitive paradise.” She said, looking around her once more. It was, simply put, breathtaking. There were so many greens, she had no idea that the color green had so many shades to it. There was a mist that hovered above the gorge.
“It is beautiful. It seems so untouched, like we are the first people to set foot here. I wonder if the explorers of old, felt this way, when they came across some place so beautiful.” He said, his eyes gliding around them.
“They had to, even back then, you can’t deny that this is one of the most beautiful places on earth.” She sighed dreamily and grinned.
Both fell silent, she just didn’t look forward to going across that damned cable. She wasn’t afraid of heights, just that thin cable. She saw the cage coming in toward them and it swung heavily. The winch was powered by a solar power grid, connected to it. There was also a generator, not a very stable looking one, that could also be used to move the cage along. She wondered idlily if both were to stop working, and if someone was in the middle of the crossing, what the hell would they do? She shivered and put that thought out of her mind.
“I really don’t think they will last the week out here, let alone sixty days. We only get this first day’s meals provided for use, tomorrow, we are on our own.” Aiden said, his voice almost speculative.
“They are so thin now, it won’t take much for them to lose calories. I packed on fifteen pounds when I found out I got chosen.” She said and smacked her rump, grinning. Aiden looked and laughed, waggling his eyebrows.
“I think you should have put on more, at least you have a head start. I added twenty pounds, ate banana splits and pizza for three weeks, along with all kinds of fast food.”
Sarah laughed and nudged him in a friendly manor, she’d been trying to become a survivalist, and had been learning about native plants, edible plants and medicinal plants in her home in Prentiss, Maine, but she didn’t know much about the plants here. She worked on her computers, graphic design, from home.
It afforded her the ability to scour the internet for information about survival and the old methods of keeping food. She’d gotten into canning the last year and a half, she’d grown her garden and had processed the vegetables she’d harvested. If she’d known where they were eventually going, she could have looked up the plants of China or Tibet.
They’d not been told the location of the shooting until they’d arrived at the airport in San Francisco, ready to take off for China. If she’d known, she would have studied up on the plants. She was hoping that the region had similar plants, that would help her and Aiden survive better. Aiden’s background in the SEALs helped with finding things to eat, making fires and such. She could do those things, but again, she’d just started within the last year and a half. She wasn’t proficient at it.
She could fish, but she couldn’t hunt. They’d each been able to bring one item with them, she’d chosen to bring a metal pot. Aiden had brought a lethal looking machete, and she was sure he could cut down wood and whatnot to burn for fires or clear an area, and she could cook and make drinkable water with her pot. She guessed the producers wanted them to struggle and drama was always good for TV.
Because they were going to be there sixty days, they were also allowed to bring two changes of clothing. Since she’d not known their eventual location, she’d opted to bring one pair of lightweight shorts, short sleeve cotton shirt and what she was wearing, which were jeans and a cotton shirt, long sleeve, and the waterproof windbreaker.
She’d rolled up the sleeves, since the weather was mild and not hot at all. They had all been briefed once they got to the airport in California, their cellphones, laptops and tablets had all been confiscated, so no one was allowed to call out and disclose any information about the show’s location. They had also been told to leave a very small footprint while they were there.
Because this area was off limits to most foreigners, it was a big deal to the network that everyone complied with all the rules. No one was allowed to leave any garbage what so ever. Any refuse was to be taken out once a week, when the food deliveries were made for the crew.
Christian, the host, normally would not have stayed the whole time at a location, but because this shoot location was such an arduous trek to reach the area, everyone in the filming crew had been forced to stay the entire time. Sarah had smiled, it would seem t
he camera men weren’t happy about Christian’s continual presence. It was interesting to see the dynamics of the filming crew.
While at the staging area at the gorge, Sarah had smelled alcohol on Christian and had wondered about it. Perhaps he wasn’t happy about the extended stay. Food for the camera crew, host and producer would arrive every week and be transported to the main camp. It had taken ten porters to carry the equipment and food in. Only the producer, Marla Eastan, had a satellite phone, and only she was authorized to make calls out. It was tight security for the show. This would make the network millions in advertising and merchandising.
People were intrigued to see others live prehistorically, while they sat on their comfortable couches, munching pizza and watching others struggle and fight to live. For Sarah, it was a chance to live out a dream, and even if she didn’t win, it was worth being here. It was so incredible. It was called the Lotus Holy Land, and to her, it felt like a holy place.
The cage had arrived and nine of the porters had come back. She’d been amazed that these small men could carry so much on their backs, they’d been weighed down by so much equipment, food and water. Christian was waving like crazy, the air current from the gorge blowing his heavily dyed blond hair about and the cameramen were starting to point their cameras and then they were taping.
She watched as Christian walked up and began to talk, his brilliant capped teeth glistening, he reminded her of an overzealous car salesman.
“Okay folks, I’m sending ten of you over to the other side. I’m told that you need to stand still and not rock the cage, as it could get dangerous if it starts swinging too much. When I call your names, please get into the cage.”
Great, I hope Vana and Carol catch the next ride over, Sarah thought grimly, that’s all we need, for them to start flailing around. As it turned out, she and Aiden, Connor Hill and Joey Burk, Abby Esposito and Matt Johnston and four others she couldn’t remember their names, got into the cage. The gears began to scream and the cage shook, then fell away which took her breath away.