End Days Series Box Set [Books 1-4]

by Isherwood, E. E.

  “Oh, goodie!” she exclaimed.

  “Tonight, though, we’re going to make some time. I’m not stopping until we have to get the next tank of gas.” The needle was only a quarter of the way toward empty, and the digital readout said they had three hundred and seventy-five miles until empty. After the long delays of the day, he was adamant on impressing his dad by driving off a lot of miles now that he had the gas.

  “If you had asked, my pa would have given his approval, Garth. He would be proud of you for taking such good care of me when you didn’t have to.”

  It never occurred to him what her father would think of him, but her words touched him deeply. Somehow, the suggestion of doing right by both their fathers made him feel like an honorable young man.

  He gripped the steering wheel and peered ahead. They had made it through another day. Whatever was ahead, he could handle it.

  “Thanks. My dad is going to love you, too.”

  Unknown location

  Phil woke up on the ground in the shadows of tall trees in a forest. He’d fallen sometime in the morning, and now he was outside, and it was the evening. Perhaps five or six at night. He imagined he’d been out for the better part of a day. Had he been drugged and tossed out of CERN? Had the Swiss police dumped him in the forest to send a message?

  “Colonel Knight?” he called. “You there? I think those scientists fucked us over.”

  His hands pressed against pine needles as he struggled to his knees and looked around. He groped for and found his weapon still strapped to his back.

  “They left me with my rifle?” he whispered. If someone was going to dump him in the woods, why would they let him keep his firearm? He could walk out of the woods and go right back to CERN armed—and a lot angrier.

  Phil got up and made sure he was solid. The dizziness was gone, and the fresh air seemed to do him good.

  “Colonel? Anyone?” He dared not yell, but he wanted to be heard. The large trunks and tall, thin trees with pine boughs at the top gave him no clue where he was. There wasn’t a lot of groundcover, either, which offered him a good look at the hilly terrain. Not steep like the side of a mountain, but close.

  He chose to walk downhill. The Alps surrounded Geneva, and he had no interest in going higher in elevation toward the snow-capped peaks. Civilization would be in the valley.

  After about fifteen minutes, he found a small dirt path with two dusty tracks side-by-side. It was big enough for a four-wheeler, or two bicycles next to each other. It was the type of thing he expected in a Swiss resort during the summertime.

  The path went over a small rise, then around a bend.

  “Someone is going to fucking pay for this,” he muttered quietly. If nothing else, the scientists had stopped him and Task Force Blue 7 from doing their job. They’d shut down the power, but had never confirmed their success with headquarters. He was pissed, and Ethan would undoubtedly be chewing nails by now.

  Phil was thinking about whether he was going to walk back into CERN with his weapon out as a show of force when he came around a sharp curve next to a rocky hillside. He looked up to find three soldiers sitting on a fallen log.

  “Hey, guys! I found you!” he said, thinking they were his men.

  An instant too late, he realized they were American, but not his unit. He froze in place.

  He expected them to challenge his approach or whip out their weapons, but the Air Force airmen continued to sit there.

  One of them invited him over. “Did those crazy fuckers threaten you with a bomb, too?”

  Phil stood fifty feet away, unsure what to make of them.

  “No. I was in the offices of CERN talking to a scientist, then I zonked out and woke up here in the woods. How did you get here?”

  “We were guarding the CERN links. We were jumped by a guy with a backpack of C-4. Said we had a minute to clear out before he was going to blow himself up. We couldn’t fight him, so we ran. Now we’re trying to get back to SNAKE headquarters through these woods.”

  “SNAKE?” he said sarcastically. “I was at CERN. In Switzerland.”

  The three airmen laughed. “You must have hit your head. It happens, guy.”

  He stepped closer. “No. Really. I’m Lieutenant Colonel Phil Stanwick. Two days ago, I fought at Bagram Air Base until I was medevacked to Ramstein. Then I was recruited to go to the CERN scientific lab in Geneva, Switzerland. I blacked out…”

  He touched his temple, wondering for a second if he was under hypnosis. Here he was giving away operational intelligence.

  “Oh, sorry, sir.” The men stood up and saluted. One of them continued. “Well, however you got here, welcome back to America, Colonel. You’ve made it to Red Mesa, Colorado. We’re somewhere at the edge of the ring of the SNAKE supercollider. We’re trying to get back to the main offices before dark. Stick with us, and when we get there, you’ll see where you are.”

  Phil strode up and sat on the log close to the three others.

  “I think those scientists broke my brain. I don’t see how we’re going to get back if we’re sitting on a log.”

  Sidney, Nebraska

  Buck and Connie caught up with the rest of the convoy, and they all stopped at the Love’s truck stop in Sidney, Nebraska, as planned. They shared a few minutes of conversation and wolfed down junk food from the convenience store, but Buck was anxious to get some rest, so he and Connie left the others.

  Ten minutes later, it was lights out in his cabin.

  “You’re thinking about Garth, aren’t you?” Connie said from her side of the sleeper bed. He fully intended to spend the night in his captain’s chair, but Connie insisted he should get comfortable and lay in the bed with her and Big Mac.

  “I don’t know why he isn’t answering his phone. I think communications are getting worse. Everything is breaking down.”

  She chuckled. “No shit, and the price of diesel has gone up, to boot. The pumps here showed $5.49 a gallon!”

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “The world is going to shit, and that means it’s harder to get fuel deliveries. It’s a good thing we gassed up in Wyoming, because fuel isn’t going to get any cheaper from here on out. We should have enough in the tank to link up with Garth if we can talk to him and find out where he’s going to be.”

  “You told him to drive west on I-64, right? That’s where he’ll be.”

  The thought gave him no sense of comfort. Even if they knew for sure he was on a particular interstate, it would be a miracle if they saw him passing in the other lanes. They had to talk in real time.

  “I’m sure things will look better in the morning,” she reasoned.

  Mac flopped around in the gap between Buck and Connie. The small bed was at capacity, and Mac seemed to have trouble getting comfortable between his two humans.

  “Whoa, boy,” Buck said in a quiet voice as he rubbed the Golden. His hand met Connie’s as she also tried to comfort the pup.

  “Listen to your daddy,” she whispered.

  Mac settled down, but Connie kept her hand over his.

  “Do you think that man was telling the truth?” she asked in the darkness. “Do we really have one chance? One safe place?”

  Buck didn’t say anything right away, but he was happy to already have a safe harbor in the chaos. The sleeper cab was an isolation chamber protecting the three of them from whatever was out there. His bubble of safety was what he had to hold onto if he wanted to have any hope of sleeping and recovering tonight, which is what he desperately needed—so he could do it again the next day.

  “It’s like you said,” he replied through a dreary fog. “It’ll look better tomorrow.”

  His hand relaxed Mac, and Connie’s, in turn, calmed him.

  Tomorrow’s the day I see Garth.

  Buck fell asleep under the warmth of her touch.

  To Be Continued in End Days, Book 4

  If you like this book, please leave a review. This is a new series, so the only way I can decide whether to commit more time
to it is by getting feedback from you, the readers. Your opinion matters to me. Continue or not? I have only so much time to craft new stories. Help me invest that time wisely. Plus, reviews buoy my spirits and stoke the fires of creativity.

  Don’t stop now! Keep turning the pages since there’s a little more insight and such from the authors.

  Begin Again

  One

  Sidney, NE

  “You’re awake, aren’t you?” Connie asked.

  Buck shifted in the Peterbilt’s sleeper. “Yeah. How could you tell?”

  At some point in the night, Mac had hopped off the bed, so he and Connie could have spread out a little. However, instead of using the extra space, the dog’s absence had made them move closer together. Now she was huddled against his chest, probably because she was always cold in the air-conditioned sleeper cab.

  “Your breathing changed when you woke up. Thinking about Garth?”

  He glanced at the digital clock next to the bed. The dim red LED numbers showed 4:44 in the morning. He’d gotten a few hours of sleep, which he desperately needed, but he had been up for a while already, stewing about what might have prevented Garth from calling him.

  “Garth. The world. Our convoy. You. Everything. I’ve been trying to pretend what’s going on outside is temporary, and that once we get to Garth things are going to return to the way they were, but I’m coming to terms with the truth. This is Day Four, and those scientists still aren’t saying shit about fixing things. Nothing is going back to the way it was.”

  Connie reached out in the darkness and draped her arm over his neck as if to hold him where she wanted him. “I’ve been thinking about my boy, too. He was in a dream of mine, in fact.”

  “A good one, I hope,” Buck remarked.

  “Not really. I haven’t had a good dream since I came to 2020. Well, there was that one time where I had a daydream about you and me…” She chuckled mischievously.

  “I’m listening,” Buck replied with great interest.

  “Oh, I shouldn’t have teased you at a time like this. It’s just I hate thinking bad thoughts, and that’s all my dreams seem to be about. Phillip is always fighting Saddam Hussein in a swirling sandstorm, so I never know if he makes it out of there alive.”

  He wanted to hear more about her pleasant dream, but family always came first.

  “I told you, we kicked Saddam and his army right in the nuts. It’s all good. You shouldn’t worry about that.”

  “Maybe you’re right. My maternal instincts are screaming that he has to be alive, but my tired brain has me convinced it is just the opposite.”

  “Go with the maternal side,” he suggested.

  “I try to, every moment I’m awake. There are times when I’m positive I sense him nearby, but it’s probably wishful thinking. Do you feel your son’s presence across the miles?”

  He laughed. “I’ve never stopped feeling a connection to him. From the day he was born, and no matter how many miles away from home I go, I always sense him. I even convinced myself I knew when he was getting into trouble, and I would sometimes call his friend Sam’s parents to check on him, but I stopped doing that when I figured out my Spidey senses weren’t as great as I thought. The reality was, he always got into trouble with that boy.”

  She laughed sympathetically, then continued speaking. “Well, I know we’re all in trouble with this time-travel shit, but my nightmares felt more vivid last night. I want to believe he is close.”

  “You want to try calling him, don’t you?” Buck pointed to his phone on the charger nearby. “I won’t lie, Connie. I’ve been thinking about ringing Garth no matter what the hour, too. Let’s get out of bed and hit the phone together.”

  She kept her arm over his neck a little longer.

  “Thank you, Buck. For everything. The ride. A place to stay. A friend in a land I barely understand. It’s been an effort to hold it together. I tear up at odd times, and for no apparent reason. I can’t imagine where I’d be if I had to do this alone. Finding my son will, I think, go a long way toward fighting off the waterworks forever.”

  “You’re welcome. You’ve complained about yourself before, but I’ve seen nothing but strength from you. You’re killing it in my timeline.”

  “I don’t like to be the weeping damsel in distress. I’m not that type.”

  He gripped her hand tightly. “No one would ever mistake you for a pushover, Connie. Besides, I have a good feeling about today. We’re going to reach Garth—I’m sure of that. Then we’re going to find your boy. He’s out there, too. If he’s your son, he has to be a survivor.”

  For the millionth time, Buck considered kissing her, but he didn’t want to ruin the tender moment. After waiting to see if she would say anything more, he hopped out of bed and put on his guns-and-grenades Hawaiian shirt.

  “You don’t have anything else to wear?” she taunted.

  “I washed this in the Great Salt Lake yesterday.” It smelled of salt water, but at least it wasn’t rank with sweat. “And I can’t get my maid to come in and do the laundry.”

  “Yeah, well, I know a Marine who buys me new clothes when my old ones get wet and dirty.”

  “Sounds like an awesome dude.” His words could have come out of Garth’s mouth. That boy and his friends all talked like surfers for some reason.

  “Maybe. I’m still not sure about him…” She left the words hanging. The day needed to start.

  “Want a water?” he asked, deliberately looking away from her. There were a few bottles in the mini-fridge. As he pulled one out, he remembered he’d stuffed the rabbit into the freezer section.

  I’ve got to cook it soon.

  “Nah, I’ll get something stronger when we go into the truck stop for breakfast.”

  “Suit yerself,” he drawled.

  He got situated in the driver’s seat as she slid into the passenger position. After a quick glance at his dash lights to make sure there were no problems, he turned to her. She, however, stared out the window.

  “It’s amazing,” she said with awe.

  The eastern horizon was aglow with the first hints of dawn, but the nighttime sky above was filled with translucent ribbons of green, purple, and yellow. The wavy shimmers of energy nearly filled the entire sky. Even the lights of the truck stop couldn’t wash out the beautiful swipes of color hanging up there.

  “That’s a new one,” he deadpanned.

  Connie craned her neck to look out the windshield. “Is that the aurora borealis?”

  “Maybe. I’ve seen hints of the aurora in some of the northern states, but I’ve never seen anything even close to this. The colors are incredible.”

  “The atmosphere must be really messed up,” Connie suggested.

  He absently turned on the radio, thinking the news might have something about it, but Mac nudged his leg before he could tune in.

  “I’ve got to take him outside. I guess we’re all waking up.” He had hoped the pup would sleep in for a few more minutes.

  “I’ll call the other trucks,” she replied. “Get everyone up and ready to roll out. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

  He smiled at her. “That is exactly what I want. The faster we run off some miles, the sooner we’ll reach Garth.”

  She reached over and put her hand on his thigh. “Buck, we will find your son. If he’s anything like you, he’s resourceful and strong. The energy waves may have made you black out a little, but they didn’t stop you, and I’m positive they didn’t stop him either. Bank on it.”

  He didn’t feel great, but he did feel better.

  It was time to get back on the road.

  Charleston, WV

  Garth’s body shifted like he’d been tossed out a window.

  “What the…” he blurted, grasping for the steering wheel. His heart pounded in his chest like a time bomb set to explode.

  He found himself in the front seat of the taxi, although it took a full second to realize it wasn’t moving. As he caught his
breath, it became obvious he’d startled himself awake from a heavy slumber.

  “Are you okay?” Lydia asked with concern from the back seat.

  “Oh, yeah,” he replied, ordering his heart to defuse itself. “I dreamed I was falling. That’s all.”

  Lydia laughed quietly. “Sometimes wagon drivers would tumble to the ground when they fell asleep during the day. It made children burst out laughing. Pa never did that, but I did see him doze off now and then.”

  “That was why I pulled into this campground last night,” he replied. “I almost conked out a few times while I was driving, because I was exhausted. When my body fought off the sleep, it was like what I just experienced. It felt like falling.”

  “How do you feel now? You didn’t get much sleep, but the sun is up now so we can continue.”

  He sighed with a heavy heart. The sun poked through the trees of the campground, but it was only a few minutes past six. If he’d been at home, he could have easily gone back to bed and not woke up until noon. By contrast, the hardworking pioneer girl had been awake before him both mornings.

  “We made good time last night. I set the odometer on this car. We did almost five hundred miles. I was also able to stop at another gas station and filled up the whole tank. I don’t think we’ll have to use the two-gallon container again.”

  “You didn’t wake me up at the station?” she asked with surprise.

  “I wanted to let you sleep. Besides, there were no other cars there, so we didn’t have any threats to worry about.”

  Since he’d lost his pistol, the only defensive gun he had left was one of the AR-15s he kept in the gun case. He didn’t want to carry it around, however. He’d never seen his dad carry a rifle around town, and he figured he should follow the same rules. He was already inside a stolen taxi, although he’d painted the outside black to hide all the markings. Doing things at night, when there were few people, suited him just fine.

  “You missed a beautiful light show in the sky, though. I almost woke you up to see it, but I figured you probably saw the northern lights all the time since you lived under the stars.”