The Reunion

by Everette Morgan

  Chapter Thirteen

  Marcus’ ears were ringing and he hurt all over. He raised himself up and shook his head to try and clear it. He glanced around and saw the girl lying next to him. She wasn’t moving. He glanced quickly at her chest and was relieved to see it rise and fall. She had blood running down her arm and scratches on her face. His helmet was offline and busted. The face shield was completely missing. He had scratches all over his arm and his shoulder was bleeding.

  It was then that he finally looked up and saw that they were completely surrounded by about twenty-five Jackal cutthroats, all with their guns trained on him. They were standing in the headlights of their vehicles. It was then he noticed that he had about ten red laser dots on his chest. He slowly rose to his feet.

  From his front left, an individual stepped forward. He was not carrying a weapon. It was immediately obvious just from his charisma and swagger that this was the leader. He was of medium height, well-muscled, and arrogant. As he stepped forward, the big man to his immediate right also stepped forward. This man was armed and he had his laser sighted .357 magnum pointed directly at Marcus.

  “Easy now partner,” the leader said with a scowl. “You don’t want to start something that you can’t finish do you? You realize that you and that girl have slowed us down. We were supposed to be in Raleigh by tomorrow. Chasing her has gotten us off schedule but I’m going to give you a bargain. You back away from the girl and we will end your life relatively quick. Just a little torture…,” he snickered. “A guy has got to have some fun. Anyway, my brother is coming off the mountain and should be here shortly. He is highly ticked that she got away. As soon as he gets here the festivities can begin.”

  In this post apocalyptic world Marcus had learned that a split second decision one way or another could mean life or death. The odds were definitely stacked against him and he probably was going to die here, but he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. If he let them get to him there was no way he was going to make it. His only chance was surprise. The pair began to walk toward him.

  He stuck both hands in the air and said, “Hold on guys. I give up. Let me just get my gun out of the holster.” Marcus eased his right hand down to the holster and was slowly easing it out. As the gun cleared the leather holster, he quickly flipped it up and shot the leader in the chest knocking him down. As soon as Marcus fired the big man fired twice hitting Marcus in the chest and stomach. Marcus was thrown backwards and landed in a heap on the ground next to Savannah and was motionless.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jocelyn had been quietly moving the MAV into place behind the group that had encircled Marcus. Kim watched as her brother stood facing them. Jocelyn was trying to find a place that wouldn’t put Marcus in the line of fire. She saw the leader and the big man step forward. It looked like Marcus was saying something to them and slowly surrendering. He was taking his gun out when all of the sudden, he flipped the gun up and fired. The leader went down. Immediately the big man fired twice hitting Marcus. He was knocked completely off his feet onto the ground.

  “NO!” Kim screamed and brought her hands to her face.

  With Marcus down and lying motionless on the ground, Jocelyn quickly put the MAV into action. She floored it and the MAV tore through the group surrounding Marcus and the girl and slid right up next to the girl. The big Korak was thundering as it sprayed the whole area with gunfire. In a matter of seconds no one was standing.

  Kim started to get out but wasn’t sure if it was safe. Jocelyn spoke up and said, “Kim, the threats have been eliminated. Please hurry and help Marcus and the girl.”

  Kim quickly got out of the MAV and ran over to Savannah and checked her out. She was out cold but she was breathing. Leaving her she ran over to Marcus frightened over what she might find. Before she got to his side, she realized that Marcus was conscious, coughing, and moaning. He was alive. She knelt quickly by his side to see where he might be bleeding but a quick look made her sigh with relief. He was wearing a flak jacket. She hadn’t noticed it before when she saw him at the Clingman’s Dome complex.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  Still sputtering, coughing, and trying to catch his breath, he let out a big yell, “Aaaarrrrggggghhhh! That was like getting hit by a truck. Owwwwwwwwww.!” Marcus was unbuttoning the jacket so he could breathe.

  “So, you’re okay?” asked Kim.

  “I’ll live,” he moaned and started to feel his chest and stomach.

  Then Kim reached back and swung her fist and hit him on the arm. “Well then, get up you big baby. We’ve got to get out of here. That group following you is on the way and almost here. I’ll grab the girl. You get into the MAV.”

  Marcus got up slowly as Kim was picking Savannah up off the ground. She put Savannah into the back seat of the MAV and turned as Marcus was limping over.

  “Are you going to get in the driver’s seat or do you want me to get in there, you big sissy?” she asked curtly.

  “I will and why are you treating me so bad?” he moaned.

  “I’m about five or six years behind on picking on my baby brother. I figured I would go ahead and get started. Besides, you scared me a few minutes ago and I don’t like being scared so do not do that again. Understand?” she said smiling as she got in the passenger side.

  “Marcus, we need to hurry. E.T.A. on the group behind us is about five minutes. It looks like no matter what we are still in for some trouble. There are two options. Turn and attack the group that’s coming or try to drive through the migration going through the Nantahala River Gorge. The chances for success are impossible to calculate on this scenario. Which one should we do?” asked Jocelyn.

  “Let’s go with the dinosaurs. The migration could mask our travel and help with anyone following,” said Marcus. Throwing up dirt, the MAV took off in the night leaving the still lighted vehicles sitting with their headlights shining on the bodies that were scattered across the ground. Kim climbed into the back seat and then over into the back and got out the medical kit. It took her a couple of moments but she found some smelling salts and quickly revived Savannah. She was scratched up, bruised, and had a nice size knot on her head but it looked like she would be okay.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Dawn was just breaking as they neared the Nantahala River Gorge. Marcus had seen some small scale migrations before but nothing of this magnitude. There were dinosaurs everywhere. After checking with Jocelyn, he was able to determine that apparently the migrations of the dinosaurs were escalating just like he had thought. The dinosaurs were favoring the warmer climates during the winter months.

  For the most part, as far as Marcus could see, most of them were herbivores so they shouldn’t be a problem. The only problem that arises is that where there are herbivores… there will be carnivores looking for an easy meal. The Nantahala River Gorge is very narrow in places so traveling with the herds could pose some risk but Jocelyn confirmed that as long as the shield was in place there shouldn’t be any problem unless there was a complete all-out assault.

  Directly in front of them was a herd of brachiosaurs. Marcus counted maybe twenty to twenty-five of them. Over to the MAV’s left was a similar herd of triceratops. Their massive horns looked imposing but they were generally docile unless they were cornered or attacked. Over to the right was a herd of Plateosaurs. They were similar in nature to the long necked brachiosaurs but not as large. Marcus could see stegosaurs, parasaurolophus, hadrosaurs, and others as far as he could see. The gorge was a beautiful valley and it looked like it was holding up well to the migration. Of course, some trees were being destroyed but overall it was holding its own. Marcus confirmed again what he had thought about dinosaurs and white water. They didn’t like to walk in it at all even though the Nantahala River wasn’t that deep.

  Marcus sent the drone out again to check on the group that was pursuing them. The herds that came after the MAV entered the valley and continued on for about ten miles behind them. It took about an hour f
or the drone to find the group. Instead of entering the Gorge, they had assumed Marcus had gone the other direction and were headed to Maryville which was west of them. Marcus’ decision had worked. Now, all they had to worry about was working their way through this migration and back home.

  It truly was a site as they worked their way through the herds. They rode in silence for the next thirty minutes just staring at all the dinosaurs in amazement. Finally, Kim spoke up, “Well, it was only a minute but I met your girl friend. She is pretty. I love her red hair. How long have you two been an item?”

  “Well, uh, we’re not, aaaa… we’re a… uhhh… We’re not an item,” he said blushing slightly.

  “Not an item….” Kim said laughingly. “I saw her face when we talked about you and just now I saw yours. Don’t even try to tell me that. Now, tell me the truth. You like her don’t you?”

  “Well, I, uhhh…. Okay. Yes I like her. Now leave me alone about it,” Marcus said turning away.

  “Okay. I’ll leave you alone… for now…,” she snickered.

  Marcus turned to her and said, “We’ve got several hours before we make it home. Tell me what happened when the virus hit. It tore me all to pieces when I lost my entire family in a couple of weeks.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Well,” she began, “It was difficult for David and me too. Everyone was dying around us. David was part of a military investigative team that was looking into a village in the Sudan that had been completely wiped out. Everyone was dead. No one knew what had caused it. From there, they identified the virus and realized that it wasn’t a natural occurrence. This virus was manmade and was so fast acting that it couldn’t be stopped.

  ‘This virus didn’t have to spread from person to person. It was dormant in the atmosphere and it wasn’t just localized to that area. It was everywhere. It just had to be activated. Do you remember that about a week before the virus became public knowledge, there was above average sunspot activity? That was the trigger. That’s the way the virus was designed. Everyone thought that the population was dying from a naturally occurring virus. This was planned and ninety-eight percent of the planet’s population was murdered… and the government knew who it was.

  “It was a group that called themselves HERO. HERO stands for Human Eradication and Removal Organization. Their goal was the extinction of the human race. They blamed all humans, including themselves, for the destruction of the environment. Even though fossil fuel use had been totally eliminated, they still felt the human population was a scourge on the planet because of all the waste they created. By the time the government had figured it out, it was too late. The virus was already in place and had already begun infecting humans.

  “I was stationed in Germany at the time. We were put on immediate lockdown. When David arrived back at his home base, he was immediately placed under arrest and quarantine. They didn’t want the world to know. He wasn’t allowed to call anyone. Two days later they arrested me because I had been in contact with him while he was investigating the village.

  “I would like to say that we made a daring escape and were able to get out but it wasn’t that way. In two weeks everyone was dead. I was locked up and there was no way out. David was in a similar situation, but luckily one of the guards was kind enough to release him before he died. We still don’t know why we are immune but apparently about two percent of the population is.

  “As you know, David is a pilot and he was able to fly one of the Solar Force helicopters from his base in Kenya to where I was stationed in Germany. It took him about three days to make it. I had some water in my cell but no food. I had almost given up when he showed up and freed me. After that, we roamed around all of Africa and Europe for over two years. Things are about as bad over there as they are over here.”

  Marcus spoke up and said, “I figured it would be better over there because they don’t have the dinosaurs roaming around like North and South America has.”

  Savvy had perked up in the backseat and was listening intently to their whole conversation. She was very quiet and Marcus figured that everything that had happened had her somewhat rattled.

  “Well…” she started again. “That’s what we thought but we were wrong. The huge preserve that Canada had was nothing compared to the ones they had set up in Africa and Russia.

  ‘We flew around a lot over there but we had to finally quit that because we started to run across people with all sorts of armaments. We came close to getting shot down twice.

  “We discussed it several times then we decided that we needed to come home to the States to see if we could find you. We figured you had survived also. David wanted to fly one of the solar jets over here but I kept telling him that we would be flying blind and there was no telling how bad it was over here. After discussing several options, David pointed out that if we couldn’t find a place to land we could always bail out and parachute to safety. So we took a chance and flew over here.”

  “Were you able to land?” asked Marcus.

  “Yes. We landed and hid the plane. We knew there were probably more weapons over here so we decided not to chance it and we stayed on the ground. We landed at LAX and that was a mistake. Los Angeles is just a big parking lot. It took us four days just to get out of L.A.,” she said.

  She continued telling about their travels in Canada and the U. S. for a while. By this time, they were out of the Nantahala River Gorge and were travelling toward the Tennessee and the Ocoee River. The dinosaur migration had spread out so Marcus didn’t think it would be too much of a worry going through the tight areas around the river.

  After she finished, she wanted to know what Marcus had been doing since the virus outbreak. He started from the beginning and told her a lot of what had happened since their parents had died. He mostly only touched on the major events.

  It brought back some emotions thinking about being thirteen and totally alone. Marcus had grown up a lot in the last five years. In the middle of his story he had to stop and mention how beautiful the Ocoee River was. He thought it was some of the most picturesque scenery he had ever seen.

  By the time he had finished his story, they were already in Cleveland which was right above Chattanooga. Jocelyn informed him that their estimated time of arrival was in ninety minutes. It finally hit him that he hadn’t slept in a while and he told Kim he was going to rest for a little while. He leaned back in the seat and was asleep almost instantly.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Kim looked over at Marcus sleeping soundly. He was a good looking young man. It was almost shocking all the things that he had went through and that when it all started he was just thirteen. Of course you could give kudos to her parents. Mom and Dad had prepared him for it. There’s no way he could have survived without all the tutelage from them.

  Mom had talked to her several times about how Marcus picked up everything so easily. Mom thought he could be a savant. Kim knew he was smart but a savant… She laughed a little thinking to herself that Mom always thought her baby was perfect. As the MAV travelled through the Chattanooga area, Kim noticed the huge pointed building that shadowed the river. She could barely make out the name “Tennessee Aquarium” on the side of it. Kim had saw pictures of it from the archive when it opened in 1992. Decades had gone by and it had been renovated several times in its history but it still maintained its overall general appearance. She had been there several times as a child.

  She was about to get hungry again. They had eaten on the way to Marcus’ compound but she was ready to eat again. She started to get one of the meals from the back of the MAV but then she decided to wait. It wouldn’t be too much longer and then maybe they all could sit down and eat together. She turned and looked at Savannah who was taking in all the sights as they travelled around the Tennessee River.

  “You okay, honey?” Kim asked.

  “Yes ma’am. I’m doing fine now. My head hurts a little but it’s getting better. Are we almost there?” she asked.

  “Accordi
ng to the computer, we are about forty-five minutes away,” she said smiling at the girl.

  “Is it a nice place where we can be safe?” Savannah asked.

  “I was only there briefly so I didn’t get to see much but I can assure you that according to Jocelyn, we will be very safe. The entire place is protected by a shield that the bad guys and dinosaurs can’t get through. You can go outside, walk, ride a bike, fish, or even go swimming in the lake that’s there.”

  Kim could see her slight grin when she told her. The girl had been through quite a lot for someone her age. Kim figured that she had never really got a chance to be a kid.

  Jocelyn spoke up at that time, “Kim, Wynd would like to speak to you if possible. I’ve assured her that everyone is fine but she insists on talking to someone. She wanted to talk to Marcus but I told her that he was resting and that he needed it.”

  “Sure, I’ll talk to her. Put her on,” said Kim.

  Wynd, sitting on a couch, was immediately shown on the passenger’s side of the windshield. She had her hands clasped together and was sitting on the edge of the couch. Kim hadn’t really paid real close attention to how Wynd looked when she had visited before. She thought she was pretty then. Now that it was a more relaxed time, she was able to get a good look at her. She really was beautiful. Her hair was stunning. It was a deep natural red, not the kind that comes out of a bottle. Kim smiled a little and thought, “Good job, bro.”

  “Hello, Wynd. How is everything going?” asked Kim