The Freezer (Genesis Endeavor Book 1)

by David Kersten

  Chuck glanced at him for the first time since leaving New Hope, and Emmet’s brow shot up as his eyes seemed to catch fire with interest. “No shit!?” he exclaimed. Then more solemnly he said, “God I hope she ain’t a local. They don’t look at things the way we do.” Emmet obviously had a chip on his shoulder regarding the local women.

  “Nope, she’s a reborn.”

  Chuck and Emmet exchanged a look that might have been envy then Emmet looked at Jack and said, “Consider yourself lucky. Now I myself wouldn’t have wanted to settle down before having a few weeks of fun, but you are blessed if you already got yourself a main squeeze. Especially if she won’t run off with the next swinging dick that comes along!” Emmet turned back to Chuck, and one eyebrow went way up and his eyes were wide as he exclaimed, “You hear that Chuck? He got himself a reborn in the first couple days!” He turned back to Jack and his brows once again furrowed, this time in concentration. “I know it isn’t Elizabeth, Michelle, or Cynthia. They’re all shacked up with someone already.” He appeared to be going through a mental list of names trying to figure out who it was. Finally he shrugged and said “Damn, I can’t figure out who it would be. There are only a few reborn ladies that aren’t pregnant or involved at the moment, and I can’t see any of them wanting to be in a relationship right now. It’s not Heather is it?”

  Jack chuckled to himself, thinking that he probably shouldn’t have said anything, but now Emmet wasn’t going to stop until he at least found out who it was. “No. I’ve only met three women since waking up, and I don’t think one of them was a Heather. Just to put your mind at ease, Emmet, it’s Wendy Roberts.”

  Chuck turned to look at him again, this time he didn’t look back right away. Both he and Emmet couldn’t have looked more surprised if Jack had said it was a man he was sleeping with. Chuck examined Jack for at least ten seconds, then turned back to the aircraft controls and said, “Bullshit.”

  Emmet continued to look at Jack, his brows hunkered down in concentration, and after another ten seconds the brows shot up and with a look of surprise he said, “Jesus Christ, Chuck I think he’s telling the truth!” Jack considered this parlay, wondering why it was so unbelievable to them.

  “I don’t understand guys, what’s the big deal?” He wondered what they knew that he didn’t.

  Chuck spoke first. “Jack I’ve been on over a dozen patrols with her. She’s as cold as ice when it comes to men, and most of the guys around here think she is more interested in the women, if you know what I mean. About six weeks ago, a guy named Jeremy put his hand on her ass and she nearly broke his nose. I find it hard to believe that you’re doing anything with Wendy. It’s strictly business around that woman.”

  Jack just shrugged and sat back, trying to hide the smirk on his face. He figured there was no sense in arguing the fact, and quite frankly he didn’t care if they believed him or not. Thinking about her, however, reminded him of the diary so he grabbed his pack to pull it out. He figured there was a good hour and a half before he had anything to do, and he was anxious to see what he had written in it.

  Before he could open it, Emmet spoke up. “Jack, regardless of what Chuck here says, I believe you. Congratulations, Wendy may be a cold bitch but she seems like a good, solid person. She can tune up a flyer like nobody else too.” Obviously that was the end of the subject, and he turned around to fiddle with his PDP some more.

  Jack was not offended by the term ‘cold bitch’. He felt like maybe he should be, but if Wendy had acted that way towards other men, it actually made him feel better. He smiled, filing away the term for later and settled back to read.

  Emmet finished whatever he was doing with his PDP, and warm classical music softly filled the cabin. Jack had attended a few symphonies in his time and he now felt as if he were in the front row. He closed his eyes, and for a moment he was right there, just behind the conductor. “You don’t mind if we listen to some relaxing music do you, Jack?”

  It took him a moment to realize that Emmet had asked a question. “Uh, no not at all, but can you tell me where it’s coming from? It sounds fantastic!” He had not questioned Wendy last night when she turned on the music, thinking at the time that there was some sort of player in the other room, but this was not a large cabin, and he did not see anything that resembled a playback device or radio.

  “It’s all in the PDP. Teague is sort of a connoisseur of classical music and he put some of his collection on my pad. I have some heavy rock and some alternative too if you’re interested.” Emmet took note of Jack’s blank stare and tried to clarify. “The music is stored digitally on my PDP, and I am sending it to the sound system in the cabin here through the wireless interface.”

  Jack didn’t understand the technology, but didn’t want to appear stupid either. “So basically it’s like a little eight track tape in there?” He knew it wasn’t a tape player, but the technology was too foreign to have any idea how the music was stored on his PDP.

  Emmet chuckled, his eyebrows bouncing in sync to his laugh. “Something like that Jack. The music’s converted to ones and zeros with some complicated math, stored on this little computer, then transferred to the sound system in the flyer here and the ones and zeros are converted back to music using the same kind of math.” Emmet was still talking over his head, but he didn’t really mind. There was a lot he didn’t understand in this world. He nodded at Emmet, feigning understanding, and settled back into his seat to enjoy the music.

  Opening the diary revealed an old looking piece of paper. He carefully removed it from the book and read what was typed on the paper.

  My Dear Jack,

  If you are reading this letter, then by some miracle this hair-brained idea the military came up with has worked and you are once again alive. I found your diary and gave it, along with this letter, to Phil to lock away with your body.

  I wanted to leave you with something, after all you did for me in the past year. I am ever so happy that you called that morning to ask for my help, even if you didn’t think that was why you called. Reconnecting with you has made me feel like a whole person again. I have lost a lot over the years, and just figured it was the price one paid for remaining alive. You taught me to see things different, both through your pain as well as through your will to live.

  In case nobody can tell you, you died on a lovely June morning. The funeral was very nice, and all your friends were there to pay respects. We buried a casket next to Jennifer and Allissa’s grave, and never told anyone that your body was elsewhere. It was nice that your friends could honor you properly. Phil drove your race car in the procession, just as you had asked, and the Army gave a terrific performance with the military honors. Doctor Chambers drove out from Minnesota to attend, which I thought was very nice of him. He was such a kind man through the whole thing, and I was happy you two formed such a tight bond.

  I never thanked you for leaving me your estate, and I wanted you to know that I gave half of the money after the sale of your house to the Mayo cancer research facility. I followed your wishes and paid off my farm debt with the rest, and even had some left to get that new tractor you told me I should get. The thing I needed to thank you for the most was for coming back into my life. When everything else is gone, the only thing left is the people you have touched.

  One more thing. I followed your last wish, and set a date with John Parkerson. Thank you for opening my eyes to see that there was more to life than what we had already lost, and that sometimes what you needed most in life was right before your eyes the whole time.

  Thank You, Jack, and good luck in your new life

  Love and Sincerity,

  Mabel

  Jack had to wipe a tear from the corner of his eye. He wasn’t the type to show emotions, but he couldn’t help but feel touched by the letter. He read the letter three more times, then carefully put it back in the back flap of the diary. The letter brought up more questions than it answered, but he was very happy she had left it and also that she ha
d stuck around through the whole ordeal. He sincerely hoped that she had the chance to finish her life to the fullest.

  * * *

  The first few entries in the diary only confirmed what he already knew: he indeed had cancer and it was going to kill him. If it hadn’t been for Mabel’s urging he knew he would never have taken a treatment option, and instead would have decided to live out his last months trying to make the most of whatever time he had left. He wanted to read more, but they seemed to be slowing down and descending, so he put the book away in his pack and waited to break through the clouds so he could get a look at the area.

  As if sensing that someone was interested, Chuck announced, “We’re about ten minutes from the landing zone. I will circle the area once to make sure it’s all clear, then put her down.” Emmet was dozing up front and the sudden announcement woke him up.

  The aircraft cleared the clouds and Jack took in the scenery. Below them, the hills and gullies looked like giant wrinkled scars that rent the pale flesh of the earth. The winter snow cover was gone, leaving only the dry dusty ground dotted with brown clumps of brush. To the west, the overcast sky left the rocky landscape a dull, washed out gray canvas stained here and there with dark clumps of evergreens.

  Within minutes, they had descended to about a thousand feet above the ground, and Jack started picking out the details, like trees and grass. He had flown over this area when surveying the land around the future cryogenic complex, and had been amazed at the patchwork patterns that the farms had painted on the land surrounding the city. Now there wasn’t even the slightest hint of the farms that used to occupy this area. They crossed the Missouri river and Chuck turned a little to the north. Jack could make out the faint lines that marked where the railroad tracks and interstate used to be, but as they got closer he could see that the railroad bed and an occasional railroad tie were all that was left. He could see the path left by the interstate but there was no pavement left, just brown patches of overgrown brush.

  He started looking for familiar landmarks as they flew over the former city of Great Falls. His heart sank as he observed what was left of the ruins of the city. In the residential areas, there was not much besides a few foundations and some remnants of rusted out cars. Ahead were shells of old buildings, some standing, and some collapsed to a pile of concrete and rusted metal. Other than that there was little evidence this area had once been home to nearly fifty thousand people. Chuck banked to the east, and a few miles ahead Jack noticed what looked like a pattern of long ridges crisscrossing the ground in front of them. As they got closer to the former site of the Air Force base, he realized they were edges of craters from what must have been some very large bombs. The craters had long been filled in with dirt from the constant wind that blew out here, and only the gently curved ridge from the massive craters was visible now. He couldn’t even make out the outlines of the old foundations. “Any idea what happened here during the war?” He doubted that either of the men knew what fate the city had suffered, but it didn’t hurt to ask.

  “The information in our computers is pretty sparse for this area. They didn’t get nuked, we know that for sure. I read some of the history of the war, just to see how it progressed. There is not much to read from after the bombs dropped, probably because there wasn’t anyone with the free time to record news and events. Most of what we have came from military databases that were recovered over the years. The Chinese landed ground troops in Alaska and Canada. They made a huge sweep along the U.S. Border, and most of the cities up in that region became strategic points, with the front lines cutting jagged edges back and forth across the border from Seattle to Lake Superior. Best we can tell, the Air Force base here was a key point for air attacks, and at some point, the Chinese threw everything they had at it, which, as you can see, wiped it off the face of the earth.” Chuck stopped talking as he banked to the right, dropping to a few hundred feet above the ground. They circled around about a twenty square mile area, and seeing no signs of life, Chuck spiraled toward their landing zone: a coulee about twelve miles south of the former city.

  A huge cloud of dust was kicked up as the aircraft came to rest. Before it cleared, Chuck worked some controls and the electric whir of hydraulic pumps could be heard. Emmet opened his door, and cool air rushed into the cabin. He hopped out and turned to Jack. “Hand me my pack, wouldja?”

  Jack handed him the pack, then grabbed his own and climbed out. Emmet already had his rifle out and was making his way to the north bank of the coulee. Jack pulled his rifle out then shouldered his pack. He went around to the back side of the flyer where Chuck was pulling something out of the rear storage compartment. The ramp that extended from the large compartment to the ground was what Jack had heard opening when they landed. “Need a hand?”

  “No, I got it” he said as he pulled out what looked like a dune buggy that had gone through a car crusher. It rolled down the ramp and Chuck hit a lever on the side of it and some motors started whirring. Before Jack’s eyes, the vehicle started first extending the wheels out in each direction, then the sides of the vehicle unfolded to become the body. When it finally finished, it resembled a large wagon with a roll cage around the top half, four large knobby tires, and four seats. It was about nine feet long and four feet wide, and aside from a stick that looked like it belonged in an airplane, there were no controls visible. On the top of the roll cage was a box about three feet wide, two feet long, and six inches deep. Chuck climbed in, securing his rifle to a clip on the side of the roll cage.

  Jack was wondering where the motor was when Chuck motioned for him to get in the back seat. He climbed in and before he was all the way settled the vehicle shot forward, all four tires kicking up dirt and dust. The vehicle made almost no sound, and the noise of the tires on the rough ground was all he heard. “Electric motors again?”

  Chuck nodded. “The battery is below the chassis, about the size of a brief case, and will last about a year under light use before it needs to be charged. Technically the range is about four thousand miles, but I wouldn’t want to have to travel more than twenty or thirty in this thing.” Right then they hit a rock with the front tire and the roll cage shot up to clock Jack on the side of the head. He rubbed his head where he had been struck, feeling a knot already starting to form.

  “I see what you mean” he said as he pulled the seat restraint over his shoulder and waist and fastened it. The vehicle bounced its way toward where Emmet had already started making his way up the side of the hill. Chuck expertly guided the vehicle up an imaginary path that zig-zagged up the side of the coulee By the time they reached the top, Emmet was already scouting the area using his helmet’s built in binoculars.

  “Well,” he said, still scanning the area all around them, “if that cloud of dust you kicked up was noticed by anyone, they either aren’t bothering to check it out, or they are hiding somewhere waiting for us.” He pushed a button on the side of his helmet and turned to the vehicle. Jack could see a grin on his face as he climbed in the seat next to Chuck. Rather than stow his weapon, he kept it on his lap.

  “Have you ever run into anyone up here?” Jack had been under the impression that there was nobody living anywhere near this area. He would have been at ease except for Emmet’s reluctance to put his gun away. Chuck had put his helmet on, and Jack decided it was a good idea, especially after experiencing the joy of bouncing around in this vehicle.

  “Nope, but you never can tell. Damn Mutes show up at the most inconvenient times.” His eyebrows shot up and he turned to Chuck. “Hey, remember that time up in Colorado when we were trying to load that supply crate?”

  Chuck nodded passively as if he had heard the story retold a hundred times and just wanted to focus on driving. Emmet turned to Jack, eyes filled with excitement. “So we had been scavenging some small factory in Colorado, and had three big crates full of supplies and machinery. The first two fit just fine on the transport, but the third was just a little too large, and we were trying to figure ou
t how to squeeze it through the door and still be able to get it back out when we got home. The area was pretty badly overgrown with trees and brush so the only place to land was in a clearing down a hill from the factory. It wasn’t the best tactical location, so we sent this guy, Jonas-” he interrupted himself and turned to Chuck, “You remember Jonas, that guy was as ugly as he was dumb!” he laughed, then picked up where he left off, “So we sent him up to the top of a hill to the south of us to keep an eye out. Just as we were trying to shoehorn the crate onto the loading ramp, we hear a shout.” Emmet’s eyebrows were hard a work as he narrated his story.

  “Here comes Jonas, stumbling down the hill, barely keeping his feet under him, shouting ‘Go! Go! We gotta go! Mutes! Mutes are right behind me! GO!’” Emmet was laughing as he told the story, trying to put a frightened look on his face to imitate what Jonas would have looked like. He was telling the story with such enthusiasm that Jack couldn’t help but laugh along. Even Chuck seemed to be smiling and paying attention to the story, although it was hard to tell with his helmet on. “So me and Chuck look at each other like ‘Oh shit!’, we had this huge crate halfway loaded and the transport ain’t goin nowhere!”

  “So we just grab our rifles and get ready for a fight, when over the ridge rolls this huge cloud of dust and dried leaves. Jonas reaches the bottom of the hill and is running so hard he finally loses control, tumbles to the ground, rolls a couple times, and bounces back up like he planned it! Then he rushes to the transport and without missing a beat, dives over the crate to the inside of the transport and starts trying to push it off the ramp, all the while yelling and screaming “Go, Go, GO!”