by K. D. Jones
Table of Contents
All rights reserved:
Blurb
Prologue
Chapter 1Five Years Later
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Other Books By KD JonesKatieran Prime SeriesKatieran PrimePrime CommanderPrime Medic
Excerpt for Resistance
About the author:
Desolation
Book 1 Earth Evolution Series
By
KD Jones
© Copyright October 2014 KD Jones Publishing
All cover art and logo © Copyright October 2014 by Publishing
Artwork by KD Jones Publishing
All rights reserved:
This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission. All characters, places, and events in this book are fictitious or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to actual persons living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations are strictly coincidental.
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Blurb
Warning: For Mature Adult Audiences. Contains language and actions some may deem offensive. M/F
Maggie James was sixteen years old when the Earth self-destructed. She’s spent the years since fighting to protect herself and the band of subway-dwelling misfits who took her in. Every day is a struggle to survive, and she’s seen the best and the worst of humanity. Hope seems lost until a tall, gorgeous hunk of a man from another world appears out of nowhere.
Captain Liam Estros a soldier for the Drastan Nation who has been sent to investigate a mayday call over five years old. Believing the detour a waste of time, he doesn’t take the hunt for survivors seriously until he’s captured and taken hostage by a small human woman.
In a world torn asunder by ignorance and violence, some will always revel in the chaos, preying on those just trying to survive. Heroes will rise from the ashes, and hope will come from the stars. Two hearts and two species. They must both overcome terrible odds to find love in desolation.
Prologue
“Apocalypse is a frame of mind.” … “A belief. A surrender to inevitability. It is a despair for the future. It is the death of hope.” - Jim Butcher
“This is freaking stupid!” Maggie yelled out the window of her family’s car, stuck at a complete stop in traffic.
It was hard to hear anything with the roar of the crowd all around them. They had been in the same spot for quite a while. Her father had left her with her mother and younger sister to try to find assistance. Ever since their state received the warning of possible disaster, people everywhere had been scrambling to get out of the main cities marked as targets.
“Margaret May James you will watch what you say!” Her mother gave her a stern look.
“I didn’t cuss, I just said this was stupid.” She didn’t think any of this was real. There was always someone claiming the end of the world was coming and everything was going to go to hell. Her father would say they were only trying to get people in a panic. But looking around at the traffic, still at a complete standstill, and the sudden mobs of people breaking into stores, it was making her question whether it might be real this time.
Maggie’s father appeared, running back towards them, weaving in and out between the cars. Two soldiers in army uniforms followed close behind. Her father was Lt. Colonel David James, so this was a common sight.
“Look there’s daddy!” Maggie’s thirteen-year-old sister Rachel called out as she leaned over onto Maggie’s side of the back seat.
“Get back on your side!” Maggie shoved her back. Rachel was always trying to barge in or take whatever Maggie had. Since Maggie was sixteen and older she was supposed to overlook it, but it wasn’t fair how her parents always catered to whatever Rachel wanted.
She glared at her perfect little sister. She had blond hair, like their mother, but shared Maggie and her dad’s blue eyes. Other than the eyes, though, the two of them really didn’t look anything alike. Maggie was taller with dark brown hair. She wasn’t as thin as Rachel but had a more athletic build. She loved playing sports at school. She was always on the track team or the swim team, whereas Rachel was the cheerleader type. Their father did insist that they both take martial arts class to learn how to defend themselves and Maggie loved it, but Rachel complained the whole time.
“David, what’s going on?” her mother asked.
“Everyone get out of the car!” her father yelled as he reached for two bags in the trunk.
“David, we have more than that to take,” her mother insisted, trying to pull out the hastily packed suitcases. Rachel had two full ones, but Maggie had just crammed stuff in her bookbag. She figured it was all nonsense and she would be back home by tomorrow after all the chaos calmed down.
“Leave it, Melissa! We don’t have time for it!” Her father grabbed her mother’s arm with one hand and a bag in the other. One of the soldiers picked up the other bag and the other one started clearing a path for them. Maggie’s mom took hold of Rachel’s arm and began pulling her with them. Rachel, of course, didn’t bother to reach a hand out to Maggie, which was fine with her. Their father gave Maggie a brief, stern look. “Keep up with us, Margaret!”
Maggie rolled her eyes. She and her father didn’t really see eye to eye. Her mom said it was because they were so much alike, but Maggie didn’t see it. All she saw was a man who chose his military career over his family time and time again. Her mother accepted it without question, but Maggie didn’t. She was so lost in her thoughts, she didn’t notice she had fallen further behind her family.
“Keep up!” her father ordered, looking back at her. But he didn’t stop to wait for her.
The two soldiers were ahead of them, trying to clear a path. She tried to catch up, but people kept getting in between her and her family.
Oof! Maggie found herself knocked down on the ground. “Ouch!” People stepped on her hands, forcing tears into her eyes. She pushed her way back to her feet. When she could finally see the place she had last seen her dad, her whole family was gone. She couldn’t see them anywhere.
For the first time, panic filled her heart as she ran and shoved her way through the crowed. “Dad! Mom!” She couldn’t breathe. There were so many people, too many. Someone grabbed her and yanked her around to face them.
“Take shelter girl!” an elderly man yelled.
“What?” Maggie asked, wiping the tears from her eyes. She hadn’t realized she was crying.
“The nukes are about to hit. We have to take shelter!” the man told her.
“Where? Where should we go? Will my family be there?”
“The subway station is the only option left! Follow
me!” The old man began to move in the opposite direction.
“Wait! The subway entrance is this way!” She tried to pull him the other way, but he was stronger than he looked.
“That way is too crowded to get through. We’ll never make it to the subway entrance in time!” He stopped at a manhole cover. He had a crowbar in his hands, which she hadn’t noticed before. He glared at her. “Help me lift this!”
“What? I’m not going in the sewers!” Maggie shook her head.
“You can stay and die then!”
His harsh words rang in her head. Die then! She didn’t want to die. She was too young to die. She hadn’t even had a real boyfriend yet. She bent and helped the old man use the crowbar to lift the cover and shift it to the side. It was so heavy, they were both straining, even working together. Once they had shifted it far enough over, they let it drop down to the ground. The old man wasted no time lowering himself down onto the small ladder. She followed him down, feeling like Alice in Wonderland following the rabbit down the hole. What kinds of crazy would she find down below?
“How far down is this thing?” she asked him as they descended.
“The initial climb down is about fifty feet. There are more ladders. It could go as far three hundred feet down in some places. We shouldn’t have to descend that deep, though. But we need to travel as far as we can; fifteen miles from here would be best.”
“Where to?” she asked.
They had been moving at steady pace, but the old man suddenly stopped. “When we get to the end of this system, it should connect somewhere with the subway station,” he told her, already out of breath. He paused for a moment before he continued.
“Fifteen miles? That’s a long way and it takes a long time. I run track at school. It could take four hours to reach it.” She looked at his limping form and heavy breathing. “Maybe a little longer.”
“I don’t know where the bomb will hit. If we can get fifteen miles from the site, we should be okay. Our city isn’t a prime target, so there’s a chance that it will hit outside the city. We’ve got to go as far as we can before the bomb hits.”
“I don’t believe there is a …” She was interrupted by a loud screeching sound. Everything around her, the ceiling and walls, shook and cracked. A blast of harsh, strong wind blew through the tunnel and knocked them both to the ground.
“Oh God, it’s happened,” the old man said.
“What’s happened?” Maggie covered her head with her hands to protect it from the debris falling everywhere.
“Desolation.”
Chapter 1
Five Years Later
“That’s right, bitch, you want some of this, you’re gonna have to give me a little something in return.”
Maggie stood stock still around the corner, listening to the exchange. Her friend Lily was trying get food rations from Harry the Tribe distributor, or as they called him, the shopkeeper. Harry was supposed to be in charge of making sure all the rations were distributed equally to all members of the tribe. Unfortunately, Harry was a complete ass, and definitely not interested in fairness. She had no idea why their previous Tribe Leader, Ben, had put this man in charge, or why her current Tribe Leader, Jerry, let him remain.
“I’m not going to sleep with you,” Lily told him, shaking her head.
Maggie moved closer so she could see them better. Lily had her little six-year-old son Thomas standing behind her. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Harry. Harry was a balding older man with missing teeth and was badly in need of a bath.
Harry looked at the little boy and smiled with an evil glint in his eyes. “Who said it had to be you that sleeps with me?”
“You sick bastard!” Lily pulled Thomas up in her arms. Harry stepped towards them, but suddenly stopped in his tracks.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Maggie warned him. She was standing directly behind him and now moved just a little to the side. She directed Harry’s attention downward to the huge knife she had wedged up between his thighs.
“I didn’t do anything,” Harry said, sweat beading on his forehead.
“Give Lily her rations.”
“Fine! Just move the damn knife.”
Maggie nudged said knife up a bit further, pressing it firmly into his ballsack. “If you ever talk to, look at, touch, or hurt any child in the Tribe, I will cut this all off and make you scream for hours. Then I’ll slit your throat. Do you understand me?”
“You’re fucking crazy!”
“I might be, but you’re a sick degenerate that needs to be put out with the dogs.” Maggie removed the knife and tucked it into the side of her boot. Harry scrambled to get the rations, and practically threw the bag at Lily.
They walked away, Harry grumbling and cursing after them. Maggie checked the bag to make sure that the right number of cans were in there. She was relieved to see there was a new bottle of vitamins. The tribe had lucked out a couple of years ago when they found a storage area full of medical supplies and bottles of vitamins and other supplements. People had been starting to feel the effects of lack of vitamin D.
Lily looked at Maggie. “Thank you.”
Maggie nodded. “You would have done the same for me. We have to look out for each other.”
“True.” Lily agreed.
“We’re family!” little Thomas said happily.
“That’s right, little rug rat.” Maggie ruffled his curly hair. “So why didn’t you wait for me to get back before you went for rations?”
“Ben and his tribe came through, trading. I waited until they left. I thought this would be the perfect time to come down.” Lily shot her a look.
Tribes were what the subway-dwelling people called themselves, having organized themselves into many small groups of survivors living together. As far as Maggie knew, there were thousands and thousands of Tribes throughout the world, living underground.
They were the rejects of Earth. When several countries had “accidentally” fired their nuclear weapons five years before, they had set off automatic launches worldwide. Some of the missiles were successfully diverted, but others hit their marks perfectly, devastating whole cities and towns. Others went off in the atmosphere.
The world’s governments had been preparing for an event like this for years. Each country had invested in building underground bunkers, colloquially referred to as “domes.” Most of the major cities had one. Though the domes were supposed to be able to hold the majority of each city’s citizens, when the bombs finally did hit, not everyone was able to make it to a dome in time or, in some cases, even allowed inside when they did make it.
That was where her father had been taking them that day five years ago. When the government issued the thirty-minute evacuation alarm, he packed them up and had them headed to the city’s dome, just outside city limits. When Maggie got separated from them, she would have died if it hadn’t been for the old man, Walter Marks.
Maggie could still recall that terrifying journey through the sewers with Walter after he picked her up off the streets that day. She had followed him down into the sewers. Even though they had been deep below the surface when the bombs hit, they had still felt the impact. Walter had not only brought her down from the surface before the bomb hit, but he taught her how to survive in the subway stations. She remembered how it had been the day after the bomb hit.
***
“How long can we survive down here?” She looked at Walter in concern.
“Honey, with the right supplies and tools, we can survive indefinitely. I worked for the subway transit system for near on thirty years before I retired. I learned a lot of stuff during my time with the transit. Did you know that most of the major cities with subway systems keeps miles and miles of subway tunnels closed and unused on purpose? They’ve been doing this for years.”
“Why would they do that?” she asked him.
“Storage,” Walter said simply.
“I don’t understand.”
“From what I understand, each major city has domes built in case of a nuclear fallout one day. They stocked up their domes, but the world’s population has been growing so fast, they weren’t sure it would be enough. They shut off parts of the subway system to use for storing more supplies. All we have to do is get to a subway tunnel that was recently active, then follow the tunnel until we find a section closed off.”
“How long will that take?”
“A couple of days.”
“We’ll die before that!” Maggie said in concern.
“No, we won’t. We will get thirsty, though. The sooner we can get to an active tunnel the better. An active tunnel system should have power. It’s all run on solar energy, after all. The city’s been trying to go green. There’ll also be water fountains that are supplied from well water half a mile below us.” He put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. “We’ll survive this. I promise.”
***
It took them three days to find those closed sections. Walter had told the truth about the sections being used for storage. They weren’t the only ones to find the storage tunnels. People fought one another over the supplies. Many people died. Some gangs formed that stole, terrorized, and killed people.
Walter told her that there was safety in numbers. He insisted that they find a group to join. As different groups came together and broke off, they became known as the Tribes.
Walter was valuable to their tribe because he knew the subways system better than anyone. He knew that there were even more storage sections to be found. He even told them there was one section that should lead directly beneath the dome, but he didn’t have a clue how to find those.
The Tribes used the subway cars as housing. Maggie shared her car with Walter and Lily and Lily’s six-year-old son Thomas. She and Walter had met Lily and Thomas the first day they reached the main subway tunnel. She was holding her then one-year-old son in her arms as he slept. Lily was twenty-five years old and married to an air force pilot. The day the nukes were launched, her husband had called her and told her to try to get to the dome. But she didn’t make it that far before she had to take the entrance to the subway station.