“We’ll be the first people back on the web, man! I bet if there are any others out there, they are freaking out, now!” Walt said.
Nicole looked at Walt, knowingly. “You’re right, Walt. There may be others out there. We should let them know we are here, that we have a place,” Nicole said.
Paul looked at the browser on the huge screen, then down at the console with the two huge buttons. Mounted to the console was a webcam. A green power light indicated its ready status. Paul looked at the console again. Two smaller buttons were below the larger ones. One read “Transmit pages all sites/channels”. The other read “Transmit video all sites/channels”.
“I think this means we can basically broadcast a message across the whole web and on every T.V. channel. If anybody notices we just turned it all back on, maybe they are listening,” he said.
Nicole thought for a second. “We need something to get people’s attention, let them know we turned it back on,” she said.
Before anyone else decided, Billy stepped up to the keyboard and began to type. Seconds later, a website flashed across the screen.
“Hey, that’s my music video!” Jordan shouted.
They all stood there as Jordan’s video began to play on the huge screen. Billy reached down and hit “Transmit pages all sites/channels”. The same female computer voice began to announce. “Transmitting web address across all sites and channels.”
Jordan’s mouth fell open. “Is my video playing over the whole internet?” she asked.
“And on every T.V. channel, too, I think, honey,” Paul said.
Billy went over to one of the other terminals and brought up a browser. He typed “Amazon.com” in the address bar. Jordan’s video was playing where the Amazon home page should have been. He went to another terminal and typed “CNN.com.” On another he typed, “Foxnews.com.” On both, rather than the news pages, Jordan’s video played.
They all stood there marveling as Jordan danced and sung along with her video.
As it ended, Paul turned on the camera mounted on the console above the buttons. Nicole looked at him and the others. They all smiled at her.
Nicole stepped in front of the camera as Paul hit the button marked “Transmit video all pages/channels”
On the monitors and on the large screen across the room, Nicole’s face appeared. She cleared her throat and began.
“This is Nicole Bennett. We are survivors. To anybody that can hear us, and can get here, we offer you refuge…”
About The Author
http://philmwriter.com
I truly appreciate the time you took to read my book. If you have enjoyed this book, would you please take a few minutes to write a review for it on Amazon? So much for the writer hinges on reviews, and even a couple of sentences would be amazing.
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“A great book should leave you with many experiences and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading”
—William Styron
PROVIDED! Many experiences and several lives! First One Free! Get on the list, today!
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This particular offering is a prequel to the entire H.E.L.L. series. It is the story of how it all began, of Nicole’s father, Col. Steven Bennett. You will meet and learn more about Francis Delroney (you won’t like him any better). There is a scientist, Dr. Wilhelm Crenner, and I am pretty sure he is bat!@#$ crazy. I will let you decide that for yourselves. If you already have a healthy mistrust of those in power, then I am sorry, this story will not make you change your mind. It was fun to write and I hope you enjoy it. It is not terribly long, maybe thirty pages or so.
It is yours for free if you sign up for my newsletter. When you do, you will be asked to confirm that it is something you really want to do (I really hope it is). You will receive a final automated email response welcoming you to my newsletter. In that email will be a link that will allow you to get your free copy of H.E.L.L Test Subject.
The book is in kindle format, so you will need the free kindle reader app for the device of your choice, and/or a kindle. Loading a kindle book onto a kindle manually is a little different than having it autoload after purchasing from Amazon, so I have provided a simple set of instructions so that you can enjoy the book from your kindle.
If you are using the free kindle reader app on some other device of your choice, simply opening the book should bring it up in the app without any problems.
Readers say that one of the things they like best about the ebook revolution is being able to interact with Authors they enjoy. As a reader myself, I have befriended or become a fan of many of my favorite authors on Goodreads, Twitter, and Facebook
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More About The Author
It was while sitting in the desert of Iraq, on a dog-day afternoon that I decided that I should try writing a book. When I was a kid it was my goal to be a writer and live in New York, cause that’s where I thought all writers lived. I started outlining the book in the desert, and when I came home to America I wrote it. It’s sitting in a big white binder to my left right now, and it’s terrible. I didn’t know anything about story, or pacing, or structure.
I met Chris where I work, and he wrote screenplays. We decided to write some scripts together. There are three of them, and they too are sitting to my left right now. We couldn’t get any traction on them and I got tired of that, so I thought I would take things into my own hands and go back to writing books.
Seeing all the hoops one has to jump through to get a script made into a movie, and knowing that it was the same to get a book published, I was not keen on going the traditional route. I was through waiting on other people. Enter the ebook revolution. Sure the writer has to do everything, but now the writer has to wait on nothing. This is my second book manuscript, but first to see the light of day. I hope you have enjoyed it.
Thanks again,
Phil
How to Load Your Free Gift Onto A Kindle
After your free gift downloads, scroll over “Your Account” on Amazon.com.
Go to “Manage Your Content and Devices”
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A Sample Chapter From H.E.L.L. Substation: The Last Stand Of Gary Sykes
Available Now on Amazon!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FV1AN1O
Chapter Eight
“What the hell do we do now, Gary?!” Beverly screamed.
Gary stared slack-jawed at the door. Beside him, Beverly gyrated.
“I mean it’s fine to want to help survivors, Gary, but that means We have to survive long enough to do it!” Beverly cried.
“Let me think!” Gary shouted.
Beverly jumped at his retort and Gary felt bad and tried to placate.
“I’m sorry, Bev. I’ll figure this out,” he said.
He put his fingers to his temples, looking like he was trying to tune in a frequency in his head. Beverly stared at him and expended all her mental energy trying to give Gary the time he needed and not just scream at him to hurry. Finally, Gary’s face lit up and he snapped his fingers.
“Zombies can’t use the stairs!” Gary shouted.
Beverly gasped in relief and
grabbed Gary’s hands. Her relief was short lived as she failed to grasp the import that so clearly had impressed Gary. He saw the look on her face.
“On flat level surfaces, Zombies do fine. They can chase you forever, but up and down steep inclines, inclines like stairs for instance, they are no good. Whatever virus reanimates them doesn’t equip them with an advanced set of motor skills,” Gary said.
Beverly squinted her eyes at Gary and shook her head.
“Gary, how do you even know that?” she asked
Gary blanched. “Well, you know, it’s one theory, that has been advanced… in a lot of movies…”
Beverly was a nanosecond away from ape-shit. “What movies, Gary?”
Gary shrugged off the question. “I don’t remember! But I think the theory is sound, and unless you can think of something better—”
“Okay! Fine! What do we need to do?” Beverly said.
Gary turned away, his tone much softer. “Well, we need to open the door and let them chase me down the stairs,” he said.
Beverly reacted like cold water had just been thrown in her face. Her eyes blinked rapidly as she grabbed Gary’s shoulder and spun him around.
“What?!” she screamed.
“I will be able to run back up the stairs, but they won’t. Then I get back in the truck and it’s off we go,” Gary said, offering a smile that he hoped would seal the deal but which failed miserably.
“And what will I be doing while you’re playing mad dash with the neighbors, Gary?” Beverly said.
Gary kept his smile as his last line of defense and looked at Beverly.
“You stand to the side of the door, and open it. I’ll stand in front, distracting them. When it’s all clear, you run to the truck and wait for me. Easy P-”
Beverly pointed a finger at Gary’s face. “No, Gary! Not Easy Peasy!”
She stormed over to the door shouting the whole way.
“Not Easy Peasy, Gary!”
When she got to the door, she put her back to the wall and with her left hand grabbed the handle. Gary took up position in front of the door. He felt the blood turn to water in his veins. The reaction was immediate as the Zombies began to clamor and push at the door when they saw him. Gary rubbed the sweat from his palms onto his pants and nodded to Beverly.
“Okay… Now!” he said.
Beverly reached over with her right hand and flipped the deadbolt then pulled the door open. She held the door tight against her, sheltered in the triangle of space between the door and wall. Through the broken glass she watched as Gary disappeared down the stairs. Beverly counted ten Zombies not four plow through the door and after Gary. When the last one disappeared below, she shoved the door away and sprang for the exit. She didn’t take the time to look around, but flew to the driver side door and jumped inside the truck.
Gary raced down the stairs. With only four zombies to contend with, he figured he would not have to run too far before running back up the stairs. He got to the bottom and ran half way to the terminals before he turned his head to ensure that the Undead had all made it down. The water in his veins threatened to flood his pants as he saw that the four had turned into a lot more. He yelped and then quickened his pace, banking to the right and around the far end of the line of terminals.
He looked to his side and felt some relief that the Zombies, rather than negotiating the stairs, had come tumbling down them and were slow to get to their feet. Then he kicked himself for feeling relieved that Zombies had chased him down the stairs in the first place. They shambled to their feet and renewed the chase around the line of terminals. Gary ran down the back side and aimed left toward the stairs. The last of the Runners followed Gary around the line of Terminals as Gary emerged from the other end and headed for the stairs. Like an Olympic hurdler, Gary bounded up the steps. When he got to the top he stopped and looked back down. He burst into nervous laughter as he watched the Zombies fail to negotiate the stairs. They fell prostrate as they attempted to mount the incline. His enjoyment of the moment was short lived as he watched them first fall, but then begin to clamor over each other. Like ants building a bridge with their bodies, the Zombies did not stop, but simply pushed forward over each other, advancing up the steps in a ghastly struggle.
Beverly sat hunched in her seat and stared out the windshield at the open door of the Western Interconnection building. She kept a death grip on the steering wheel and revved the engine as the seconds ticked away with no sign yet of Gary. Her emotions, stretched to the breaking point, finally snapped. Beverly reached down and put the truck in reverse. She was about to pull away when Gary came running out of the building. The passenger door flew open and Gary threw himself in, spilling into Beverly’s lap.
“Did it work?!” Beverly screamed.
Gary braced himself against the dash with one hand and wiped his stringy hair from his face with the other.
“Well, sorta. They definitely have trouble with stairs, but they know about the buddy system just fine,” Gary said, not taking his eyes off the front of the building.
Beverly knit her brow in confusion, but did not stop to clarify. She stomped on the gas. The big truck rumbled away from the building, flattening a group of three shufflers behind them. Beverly cranked the wheel and headed for the Eastern Interconnection.
The Eastern Interconnection building loomed in the distance. Gary turned and grabbed the door handle, preparing to jump out. Rather than slowing the truck and bringing it in close to the front entrance, Beverly stepped down harder on the gas. The big engine roared as it dawned on Gary that they were not slowing.
“What are you doing?!” he screamed.
Beverly kept her eyes straight ahead. “You know women. We love to make an entrance!” she said, gripping the steering wheel even tighter.
Beside her, Gary held onto the handle above his head and put his left foot on the dash, pressing himself back into his seat as he braced for impact.
“I DON’T know about women, I’m a Nerd, remember!” he shouted.
Beverly shook her head. “Aww, come on, Gary. I thought Nerds read stuff!” she said.
Gary took a sharp intake of breath as the view of the building filled their windshield.
“My studies have shown that the stuff in books about Women is highly unreliable!”
Gary’s voice rose several octaves as the nose of the truck plowed through the front of the building, coming to a rocking, tumultuous stop at the top of the stairs. Beverly looked around at what she had done. A pleased look came over her face as she calmly undid her seatbelt.
“Okay, we’re here. Let’s do this,” she said, grabbing the bolt-cutters and jumping out of the truck.
On the passenger side, Gary still clung to the strap over his head with his right hand. His left hand and foot were still stuck to the dashboard. He stared out of the windshield as the adrenaline pumped through his system.
“Insert snarky one liner about women drivers here,” he said as the dust settled and debris fell from above, bouncing off the hood of the truck.
“Are you coming?” Beverly called from the front of the truck.
Gary stared at her through the windshield for several seconds, then tentatively opened the passenger door and crawled out. He stood by the side of the truck and looked back at the hole they punched through the front of the building before turning and following Beverly down the stair.
“That really worked out better than I thought it would. Those things can’t get around the truck to get inside, and we don’t have to go back out to get in the truck. Talk about your drive-thru, huh?” she said as she bounced down the stairs.
Gary stared in shock at the back of Beverly’s head as he followed her down. Outside, the Dead pushed and clamored at the rear of the truck to no avail.
Ninety seconds later, Gary and Beverly came racing back up the stairs. Beverly jumped behind the wheel as Gary climbed in next to her.
“Alright! One more like this and we are home free,” Beverly said as
she dropped the truck into reverse. The truck lumbered out and away from the eviscerated building, cutting a wake through the Clamoring Dead as they fell on either side and were crushed into the dirt.
Beverly and Gary bounced across the yard towards the Texas Interconnection. The wave of positive energy that filled them just seconds before drained out of Gary as they approached the building.
“Oh, crap!” Gary said.
“What?” Beverly said as she began to accelerate the truck in anticipation of her grand entrance.
“Well, remember how I said that Texans thought they were better than everybody else which is why they had to have their own grid?”
“Yeah,” Beverly said.
“Well, Texans like to build monuments,” Gary said.
The racing engine of the big truck dropped to an idle, an audible cue matching Beverly’s sinking feeling as they slowed to a stop in front of the Texas Interconnection building. Out in front and blocking any chance of the truck plowing through the front sat a huge stone monument to the history of energy in Texas.
“We can’t even pull close to the doors because of that thing!” Beverly said.
Gary leaned over and looked out the driver side window at the building.
“Well, I guess we walk from here,” Beverly said, unbuckling her seat belt.
She was about to reach for the door, when Gary grabbed her shoulder. Beverly turned and saw Gary looking at the driver side mirror. She spun her head around and saw what Gary was looking at in the mirror. Behind them a horde of Undead came rolling towards them.
Nicole's Odyssey (Human Extinction Level Loss Book 1) Page 27