by Mike Kraus
Before the blades can even begin spinning down the Secret Service agents and Marines deploy from the back of the craft. They sprint across the field and head for the nearby woods. A hundred yards inside the woods the broken and battered nose of the 747 leers at them. The cockpit windows are smashed and broken, the metal is dented and torn in multiple locations and one of the reinforced wings was sheared off long before the main body came to a rest.
The Secret Service agent in charge barks orders at the Marines, ordering them to fan out across the woods and begin searching for anyone who escaped the wreckage. He and the other agents descend upon the plane itself, accompanied by a pair of Marines and two medics. All of the doors and hatches on the plane are open and several bodies are lying on the ground around the aircraft. Fire has consumed much of the remaining wing and though fire suppression systems prevented the flames from entering the interior the plane is filled with thick acrid smoke.
The Secret Service agents move through the 747 swiftly, checking each compartment for the commander-in-chief. The small living, dining and lounge areas are all empty, but the President’s private office door is sealed shut. The agents force open the door and find a dozen people crowded together on the floor, many suffering from injuries ranging from superficial to serious. After determining that the President is not in the room the agents leave one medic to tend to the wounded and proceed farther down to the back of the plane.
In the rear of the aircraft sits a small chamber that is armored, padded and locked. A separate air supply is built into the room with enough oxygen to last for twenty-four hours. The room is still sealed shut and appears intact. The agents open an access panel on the outside of the room and the head agent enters in a long code. The panel glows green and several thick bolts inside the door disengage. The door mechanism slowly pulls the door open and the agents peer in to find the bloodied and bruised form of the President of the United States.
The medics rush forward and check him over before one of them turns back to the head Secret Service agent. “He’s alive. Pulse is weak, though and his breathing is bad. Smoke probably got in here when they crashed.”
“Can you move him?”
“It should be safe, yes.”
“We’re getting him out of here now.” The agent directs his men to help the medics before running down the length of the plane. He calls out commands into his radio, pulling the Marines back from their searches. A small group of them will return to the Osprey with the President while the remaining force stays on the ground and works with the other two Ospreys to pull any survivors and sensitive equipment and information from the crash.
One of the survivors, ordered along with several other staff and crew into the President’s private office before the crash, is Dr. Michael Evans. He clutches his left arm as he is led out of the plane by a Marine, looking around at the wreckage in awe. Once outside he receives basic medical treatment before being guided to the Osprey. On board he asks to speak to the person in charge, telling them he has vital information about the Event. He is assured that he will be able to speak to someone soon, but in the chaos of the rescue operation his request is quickly forgotten.
Author’s Notes
July 10, 2017
Holy cow, if you’re reading this that means you’ve probably read four books in the Surviving the Fall series! I can’t express how awesome that is and how much it means to me. Thank you SO very much! In the last couple of weeks Surviving the Fall and No Sanctuary have been selling far better than I ever imagined they would. That’s all thanks to YOU, the reader who decided to take a chance and try reading my books.
I’ve been taking turns writing books from Surviving the Fall and No Sanctuary by alternating back and forth but I decided that I needed to write Surviving the Fall Episode 4 before moving back to No Sanctuary. Part of that was because I got behind in my schedule for writing Episode 3 and part of it was because Dianne and Rick needed some extra love and attention sooner rather than later.
For Rick, he’s getting a break for this book. Sort of. Instead of dealing with people trying to kill him, being locked up in a military holding cell for over a week or trying to survive in the desert heat he now gets to worry about slightly less immediate threats. He has weapons and transportation (for now). He has a bit of food and water. He has a few scraps of clothing to keep him warm. His struggles have temporarily shifted from being active to passive ones. Unfortunately things don’t stay still for long, as he’s going to find out when he hits Colorado.
For Dianne we’re finally getting to the part of the story that I’m super excited about. There’s a lot I want to talk about with regards to Dianne here, so strap in and get ready.
First off, the title. “Death of Innocence.” I have three children (ages 6 [nearly 7], four and two) and they mean the world to me. There are certain movies and books (The Road springs to mind) that I can’t bear to watch or read because of the effect they have. So, of course, I’m trying to put some of that into this series. Yeesh. The title references Mark mostly, since this book is where he goes from someone who’s been trained and prepared by his parents for this sort of eventuality—but is still a fairly innocent young man—to someone who has his world turned upside down. He watched his mother kill a person. That’s going to screw with his head and continue screwing with it.
One of my hopes for my children is to preserve their child-like innocence for as long as possible but I know that it won’t last forever. Imagining a TEOTWAWKI situation where the innocence is ripped apart like wrapping paper on a present at Christmas is difficult but powerful at the same time. Dianne doesn’t just have to cope with survival against the elements and enemies. Now she has to cope with holding her family together, protecting her two younger children and helping her oldest as he grows up way faster than she ever wanted.
And there’s plenty more to come. The Waters family is going to be stretched to their breaking point before this series ends. We can only hope that Rick and Dianne put enough into their children for them to withstand the pressure.
Talk about a downer! Let’s talk about some other stuff now. This book is also about moving Dianne from a more passive situation to an active one. Rick gets to move from active to passive but Dianne’s in the opposite situation. The house is ready, the food is gathered and things are going okay. But now that she has to deal with an external element she’s seeing the cracks in her defenses (like forgetting to board up the first floor windows). And there’s still the mystery of the neighbor’s house that burned down. And now we find out that there is some group of people out there who sent the guy she killed off to gather supplies. Not good!
The one upside about this episode is that I finally got to explore the tunnel. Ah the tunnel. Something I was SO excited about having in the story. It’s a bit implausible, I know, but I don’t think it stretches the suspension of disbelief too much. And trust me, it’s going to be a LOT of fun near the end of the series.
I originally got idea from Brian Jacques’ Redwall series that I read as a child. That was probably my favorite series to read and I vividly remember going to book sales and libraries and seeing new books in the series and reading them nearly all the way through on the drive back home.
In one of the books (I think it was in the first one, simply titled Redwall) there are scenes where the moles (this is a series where all the characters are anthropomorphic animals by the way) dig underground passages around the grounds of a walled-in abbey to get around while they’re under assault from enemies. The idea of having a tunnel beneath the Waters’ home was too good to pass up and I intend to make full use of it—both for good and bad—in the coming books.
If you enjoyed this episode of Surviving the Fall or if you didn’t like something—I’d love to hear about it. You can drop me an email or send me a message or leave a comment on Facebook. You can also sign up for my newsletter where I announce new book releases and other cool stuff a few times a month.
Answering emails and
messages from my readers is the highlight of my day and every single time I get an email from someone saying how much they enjoyed reading a story it makes that day so much brighter and better.
Thank you so very much for reading my books. Seriously, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I put an enormous amount of effort into the writing and all of the related processes and there’s nothing better than knowing that so many people are enjoying my stories.
All the best,
Mike
P.S. I put a new feature on my website for submitting typos and corrections. If you happen to find any, just visit this link and fill out the information. You can always just email me, too, of course. :)
Other Post-Apocalyptic Books from Mike Kraus
Final Dawn: The Complete Original Series Box Set
Clocking in at nearly 300,000 words with over 250,000 copies sold, this is the complete collection of the original bestselling post-apocalyptic Final Dawn series. If you enjoy gripping, thrilling post-apocalyptic action with compelling and well-written characters you’ll love Final Dawn.
Final Dawn: Arkhangelsk: The Complete Trilogy Box Set
The Arkhangelsk Trilogy is the first follow-up series set in the bestselling Final Dawn universe and delivers more thrills, fun and just a few scares. The crew of the Russian Typhoon submarine Arkhangelsk travel to a foreign shore in search of survivors, but what the find threatens their fragile rebuilding efforts in the post-apocalyptic world.
No Sanctuary
A nationwide terrorist attack has left the country in shambles and the country's transportation capabilities are crippled beyond repair. Frank Richards barely escapes with his life when he watches his truck explode in front of his eyes. As chaos descends across the country, Frank's home-grown survival and preparedness training and the help of a mysterious stranger he meets are the only things he can rely on to see him safely across the thousand miles separating him and his loved ones.
Surviving the Fall
Surviving the Fall is an episodic post-apocalyptic series that follows Rick and Dianne Waters as they struggle to survive after a devastating and mysterious worldwide attack. Trapped on the opposite side of the country from his family, Rick must fight to get home while his wife and children struggle to survive as danger lurks around every corner.
Prip’Yat: The Beast of Chernobyl
Two teens and two Spetsnaz officers travel to the town of Prip’Yat set just outside the remains of the Chernobyl power plant. The teens are there for a night of exploration. The special forces are there to pursue a creature that shouldn’t exist. This short thriller set around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster will keep your heart racing right through to the very end.
Other Fantasy Books from Mike Kraus
The Makeshift Wizard: Death Magic
The Makeshift Wizard series is a new action-packed urban fantasy series from bestselling post-apocalyptic author Mike Kraus writing as MJ Kraus.
My job was supposed to be easy. Investigate a bleed farm, find the a-hole vamps who've been kidnapping Normals and bring down some street justice. Now I've got a relic in my hands that was created with the blood and death magic of an elder Vampire and a whole lot more questions than answers.
Death of
Innocence
Surviving the Fall Series
Book 4
By
Mike Kraus
© 2017 Mike Kraus
www.MikeKrausBooks.com
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No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, without the permission in writing from the author.