—Were there any in Wewa? he asks.
She nods.
—But climbing ain’t the only thing they don’t do. They don’t swim. Seem to avoid the water like they do the day.
He thinks about it and they both sip on their coffee.
He’s never been a coffee drinker. Iced tea was his caffeinater before the end. But this warm, strong, sweet substance is as good as anything he’s had in two months.
—What’s the story with the Rebelz? he asks.
—Fistful of assholes, she says. Good ol’ boy meth heads. One of ’em’s my cousin. Another I helped out of a jam when he was inside. They don’t mess with us.
He thinks about it. She studies him as he does.
—What’re you gettin’ at? she says, her eyes lighting up, amusement on her face.
—Could my daughter and the girl who saved us stay with you while I make a run into Wewa?
—Chaplain, not only can they stay, and we’ll protect them as if they were our own, but you can borrow my boat and scuba gear.
14
Meleah shakes her head.
—I don’t like the idea of you going alone.
They are standing out behind Vera’s trailer. Michael is checking his gear and getting ready to unload the ATV.
—It’s just a little boat ride, he says. I’ll be back before dark. You’ll be far safer here.
—What about you? she says.
He doesn’t want to leave her, doesn’t want her out of his sight, but wants her as safe and secure as she can possibly be in this new reality.
—Plus, he says, with more room in the boat I’ll be able to bring more people back. I’ll check Taylor and his parents’ place. If he’s there, I’ll have him here by dinner.
—Check the church, she says. They would’ve turned it into a shelter.
He nods.
—You really trust Erica this much? she asks.
He nods again.
—Given the state of the world, I can’t think of a safer, better place for you. Anywhere.
—With you, she says.
Is he making a mistake? Should he take her? He’s just not certain. He wants to take her—part of him insists on it, but he really does believe she’ll be safer here.
—It’s safer with her until I get back, he says.
—Okay. If you really think it’s the thing to do.
The back door opens and Nancy walks out, pulling her coat up around her.
He tells her the plan.
—No way, she says.
—But—
—I’ve saved your ass twice already, she says. Who’s gonna do it if I’m not there?
—That’s why I want you here, he says, looking after everyone. Help keep them safe. If we all go, there’s no room for anyone else on the boat.
—Not all, just me, she says. I’m little. Don’t take up much room.
—I’d worry about Meleah the entire time we were gone. But with you here to help keep an eye on—
—You’ll worry about her anyway.
—I’ll worry about you too, he says. But less if y’all are back here with Erica. Please.
—Okay, she says, but I ain’t bein’ anybody’s lesbian lover.
15
Alone. Again.
Lonely. Again.
He’s in a fourteen-foot fiberglass bateau with a 30-horsepower Johnson motor on it gliding across brackish water where Highway 71 should be—and he guesses still is some thirty feet below.
Erica had driven him to the Dead Lakes’ new water’s edge near the intersection of Highway 73 and 71where her boat had been hidden, helped him load the craft with gas and gear, and returned to help protect Meleah and Nancy.
Now it is just him, alone in this new watery world.
The tall tops of pine trees on either side of him peek out only a few feet above the water, having the odd appearance of a type of pine shrub that doesn’t exist—or didn’t in the previous iteration of the world.
It is much warmer here. And less gray. In a few spots there are even holes in the low charcoal clouds that hint at blue sky beyond.
Leaving Meleah, after losing her and finding her and nearly losing her again, was one of the most difficult things he’s ever had to do, and he’s still unsure it was the right thing to do.
Was it a mistake?
Part of him wants to turn the boat around right now, to go back and get her, to bring her along with him, but if he did and something happened to her . . .
But what if something happens because you left her?
Will he see her again?
Will he ever see anyone again?
Is Dawn waiting for him up ahead in the small flooded town that would forever be home? Is Micah? Is anyone?
Will he make it back? Will Meleah be there waiting for him if he does?
Doesn’t seem like it, not in this moment when he feels like the last and only person on the planet.
Up ahead he sees the massive floating fuselage of a commercial airplane. The bright blue lets him know it belonged to Southwest.
Now it belongs to no one. Like everything else in the world it simply is—abandoned, forsaken, or in some cases being used by someone other than the original owner.
The enormous downed plane fills him with dread and he wants to turn back, wants to figure out a better way to do this, find some help, hedge his bets against a world where there are no longer any planes in the sky and some are floating in the flooded outskirts of his small town, which in the entirety of its history has never even had an airport.
As he nears and navigates around what’s left of the immense aircraft, he can see through the small windows and open doors the rotting corpses of passengers still buckled to their seats, the yellow oxygen cups still strapped to their skulls, the plastic bags and tubing floating up around them.
He swallows hard and gives the plane an even wider berth.
Turn around or continue forward?
Something bumps his boat.
He slows and looks down.
It’s a dead body floating in the water.
When he hits another, he looks around to see that he’s surrounded by them. An entire field of facedown floating bodies.
He cuts the engine and drifts among the dead.
He’d seen something similar in a small town in Georgia on his way back home, but they had been on dry land, littering the streets and sidewalks and parking lots of what once had been places where people congregated.
This is far more disturbing, far more eerie in its unexpectedness and unnaturalness.
There’s nothing to indicate the bodies have any connection to the plane, and he doesn’t think they do—something that makes it even more frightening and disquieting.
If you’re looking for signs . . . a downed plane and a field of dead bodies are pretty big ones.
Not looking for signs. Looking for Dawn and Micah, for my family and friends.
Passing what he believes is the last of the dead bodies, he pulls the crank to start the motor.
It sputters to life.
He continues.
find out what happens next . . .
about cataclysmos
Thank you for giving the post-apocalyptic world that is Cataclysmos a try. I really appreciate you taking this journey with me. Cataclysmos is a serial thriller with new parts being published on a regular basis.
For more information about Cataclysmos and for notifications of new installment releases, sign up for the Cataclysmos Communiqué by clicking here.
Don’t miss a single thrilling episode of Cataclysmos!
Click here to sign up today!
Post a review and join the Cataclysmos Communiqué and I'll send you the next installment of CATACLYSMOS FOR FREE! Click here.
books by michael lister
(Cataclysmos)
Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 1: This is the Way the World Ends
Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 2: Night Fires of the New World
Cataclysmos Book 1
Part 3: The Deacon
Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 4: Perish Twice
Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 5: The Long Dark Night
Cataclysmos Collection Book 1 Parts 1-3
Cataclysmos Book 1 Complete in 5 Parts
(John Jordan Novels)
Power in the Blood
Blood of the Lamb
Flesh and Blood
(Special Introduction by Margaret Coel)
The Body and the Blood
Blood Sacrifice
Rivers to Blood
Innocent Blood
(Special Introduction by Michael Connelly)
Blood Money
Blood Moon
Blood Cries
Blood Oath
(Jimmy “Soldier” Riley Novels)
The Big Goodbye
The Big Beyond
The Big Hello
The Big Bout
In a Spider’s Web (short story)
The Big Book of Noir
(Merrick McKnight / Reggie Summers Novels)
Thunder Beach
A Certain Retribution
(Remington James Novels)
Double Exposure
(includes intro by Michael Connelly)
Separation Anxiety
(Sam Michaels / Daniel Davis Novels)
Burnt Offerings
Separation Anxiety
(Love Stories)
Carrie’s Gift
(Short Story Collections)
North Florida Noir
Florida Heat Wave
Delta Blues
Another Quiet Night in Desparation
(The Meaning Series)
The Meaning of Jesus
Meaning Every Moment
The Meaning of Life in Movies
Sign up for Michael’s newsletter by clicking here or go to www.MichaelLister.com and receive a free book.
about cataclysmos
Thank you for giving the post-apocalyptic world that is Cataclysmos a try. I really appreciate you taking this journey with me. Cataclysmos is a serial thriller with new parts being published on a regular basis.
For more information about Cataclysmos and for notifications of new installment releases, sign up for the Cataclysmos Communiqué by clicking here.
Don’t miss a single thrilling episode of Cataclysmos!
Click here to sign up today!
FOR A LIMITED TIME GET PART 2: NIGHT FIRES OF THE NEW WORLD FOR ONLY .99 CENTS. CLICK HERE.
Post a review and join the Cataclysmos Communiqué and I'll send you the next installment of CATACLYSMOS FOR FREE! Click here.
books by michael lister
(Cataclysmos)
Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 1: This is the Way the World Ends
Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 2: Night Fires of the New World
Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 3: The Deacon
Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 4: Perish Twice
Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 5: The Long Dark Night
Cataclysmos Collection Book 1 Parts 1-3
Cataclysmos Book 1 Complete in 5 Parts
(John Jordan Novels)
Power in the Blood
Blood of the Lamb
Flesh and Blood
(Special Introduction by Margaret Coel)
The Body and the Blood
Blood Sacrifice
Rivers to Blood
Innocent Blood
(Special Introduction by Michael Connelly)
Blood Money
Blood Moon
Blood Cries
Blood Oath
(Jimmy “Soldier” Riley Novels)
The Big Goodbye
The Big Beyond
The Big Hello
The Big Bout
In a Spider’s Web (short story)
The Big Book of Noir
(Merrick McKnight / Reggie Summers Novels)
Thunder Beach
A Certain Retribution
(Remington James Novels)
Double Exposure
(includes intro by Michael Connelly)
Separation Anxiety
(Sam Michaels / Daniel Davis Novels)
Burnt Offerings
Separation Anxiety
(Love Stories)
Carrie’s Gift
(Short Story Collections)
North Florida Noir
Florida Heat Wave
Delta Blues
Another Quiet Night in Desparation
(The Meaning Series)
The Meaning of Jesus
Meaning Every Moment
The Meaning of Life in Movies
Sign up for Michael’s newsletter by clicking here or go to www.MichaelLister.com and receive a free book.
books by michael lister
(Cataclysmos)
Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 1: This is the Way the World Ends
Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 2: Night Fires of the New World
Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 3: The Deacon
Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 4: Perish Twice
Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 5: The Long Dark Night
Cataclysmos Collection Book 1 Parts 1-3
Cataclysmos Book 1 Complete in 5 Parts
(John Jordan Novels)
Power in the Blood
Blood of the Lamb
Flesh and Blood
(Special Introduction by Margaret Coel)
The Body and the Blood
Blood Sacrifice
Rivers to Blood
Innocent Blood
(Special Introduction by Michael Connelly)
Blood Money
Blood Moon
Blood Cries
Blood Oath
(Jimmy “Soldier” Riley Novels)
The Big Goodbye
The Big Beyond
The Big Hello
The Big Bout
In a Spider’s Web (short story)
The Big Book of Noir
(Merrick McKnight / Reggie Summers Novels)
Thunder Beach
A Certain Retribution
(Remington James Novels)
Double Exposure
(includes intro by Michael Connelly)
Separation Anxiety
(Sam Michaels / Daniel Davis Novels)
Burnt Offerings
Separation Anxiety
(Love Stories)
Carrie’s Gift
(Short Story Collections)
North Florida Noir
Florida Heat Wave
Delta Blues
Another Quiet Night in Desparation
(The Meaning Series)
The Meaning of Jesus
Meaning Every Moment
The Meaning of Life in Movies
Sign up for Michael’s newsletter by clicking here or go to www.MichaelLister.com and receive a free book.
CATACLYSMOS Book 1 Part 5: The Long Dark Night: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller Page 5