The Survivors: Book One
Read The Survivors: Book One Online
Authors: Angela White,Kim Fillmore,Lanae Morris
"This is Safe Haven Refugee Camp. Can
anyone
hear me?"
"Hello? Is
anyone
out there?"
Dear Reader,
If you are new to my work, you should know that I try very hard to swing away from what everyone else is doing, and I have a slight… obsession with the end of the world as we know it. I prefer original ideas and surprise scenes, not seen before. (Pun intended.) Some of those will be violent, graphic, or mature in nature, I promise. I do not suggest readers younger than 18 be allowed access.
Now that we’ve gotten to know each other a bit, please allow me to take you on a trip through a world none of us has ever known. Try to imagine…
…fated to lead New America, seven extraordinarily gifted people survive a nuclear apocalypse, only to find themselves on a cross country quest that will shake the very core of who they thought they were. These long-denied descendants are destined to rebuild their country, their world...if they can stay alive long enough to find each other.
*
Flipping to the back for a 2 page outline of the main characters is recommended, but not necessary.
Life After War
Book One
The Survivors
By
Angela White
New Edition © 2012
Edited by Kim Fillmore
Beta-read by Sharon, Dana & Diane
All rights reserved
Angela White © 1991
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Standard Copyright laws apply. Made in the United States.
Table of Contents
This is the Way…
Paradise
Self Defense
*Please don’t be afraid to follow the (14) footnotes. The links will bring you right back to that page.
Nuclear
Ashes to ashes
Dust to dust
We conquered this land
Now keep it, we must
By
any
means, wrong or just
How? A weapon
Full of arrogance
We helped it evolve
Working equations
Man wasn’t meant to solve
Envisioned for defense
Created to cause massive death
We call it security, safety
But of that, there’s little left
Now, the whole world suffers
No one in control
For money and power
We’ve lost our souls
Ashes to ashes
Dust to dust
We’ve destroyed our land
Now watch it rust
-A.W.
Like most days now, the sound of the ocean haunts me.
My name is Angela. I'm a mother, doctor, soldier, and now, in the year 2017, I've become a leader of men. Thanks to the end of our world to nuclear war, I'm the Guardian of an American refugee camp named Safe Haven.
Surrounded by carefully watching guards, I sit beside the immense Pacific Ocean as my people work and play nearby, confident my Army will look after them while I tell you about the War of 2012…and how we were forced to leave our beloved Country. It was a nightmare from which we couldn't wake. Some of us still haven't, and soon, we'll be at the water's mercy again. In less than two months, we're going home.
America waits for us to reclaim and to rebuild, but mostly, simply, for us to return. Before we undertake that perilous journey, I have to get the 357 souls here ready for the trip, and I only know one way it can be done - Adrian has to come back, and lead us home, as he promised.
Adrian… That incredibly patriotic man has been exiled, even though he’s the only reason that we survived. His secret was the only excuse the camp needed to turn on him, but I won't. I can't. I swore myself to him the same as the rest of his Council, and like them, I still believe.
I’ve gotten way ahead of myself, far beyond the beginning, when our future didn’t look as good is it does now. Most people here in New America won’t talk about the War or the long, ugly journey we made together. They say the memories have faded, but I know a lie when I hear one. Some horrors you never forget. Like our final battle with Cesar and his large band of ruthless Mexican guerillas.
It's been five years, but I still see the deep red streams of blood running down rain-soaked trees. I still smell men burning alive in their metal coffins. I dream of it sometimes: of the cold, wet night when I was the bait, and I'm sure Adrian does, too. It was the moment we knew our people would live - because of one man’s dream and his lies.
From the very beginning, Adrian kept us alive, gave us everything he had - and he always did what was best for the camp, no matter what it cost him personally. He taught us to be stronger than we thought we could be, to look out for each other, and ourselves, and through it all… he lied by omission, knowing these scared, hurting survivors would never have trusted him, would never have given him a chance, if they had known who he really was.
We came a long way together in the year after the War, over thousands of miles of heartbreaking devastation, and it hurts those of us who remain loyal to see him accept their unfair judgment without a fight. It makes everything we went through seem less important than it was, weakens the magic somehow, and I can’t allow that.
I’ve been seeing open doors again, and that sly ocean cautions me, says the return trip will be just as hard as the one we undertook to get here. If there’s a storm headed toward the flock, it’s our Shepherd we’ll need to see us through it.
So, for Adrian and for those of us standing by him, still ready to die for him, and for the dreams he made me believe in from almost the first minute I set foot in his Refugee camp, I will tell our story and leave nothing out. Maybe then these people will realize what he did for our country, accept how much we owe, and allow him to reclaim what’s rightfully his. Us.
Before I tell you about our harsh, ugly journey, let me show you what happened on that day, what they did to us and what we did to each other. This is how America’s story of survival began…
Chapter One
December 21
st
, 2012
"I did it for my country, because my country would not do it for herself."
-A former President of these United States, just minutes before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
1
“This is a joke, right? One of Clancy’s gags?”
When no one spoke, the President dropped his eyes back to the paper he’d been given to read, wishing he’d surrounded himself with more experienced people. He had no idea what came next. It wasn’t something he’d planned to conquer during his time in office.
“Where do I give the speech?”
Carter had discovered a love of talking to his people but Ben Seiling, Deputy Chief of Staff, gestured to the radio he used for the weekly addresses. “In here. It’s not safe in public. The rioting started an hour ago in most places and it’s spreading faster than we can keep up with.”
“No cameras? Press?”
Ben’s scowl was huge as he shook his head. “No. We already have two security tapes missing. No reporters, no questions. Too many will already suspect the truth.”
Carter gave a jerky nod. The usually confident man was almost speechless, unable to imagine how his country would react, and he slid behind the impressive desk, for once without reminding himself that it was his. Dark hand hesitating, he looked up.
“We’re sure?”
Ben’s curt nod confirmed it, but the sheer number of Secret Service Agents roving the halls of the West Wing, filling his Oval Office, was what drove it in. As he had the thought, three more uniformed men came in from the doors that led out to the Rose Garden, eyes full of excitement and a touch of fear that wasn’t comforting.
“Yes. They’ll take you and your family out, as soon as you’re done. The Vice President and Joint Chiefs will be in the air shortly, headed for the Essex Compound.”
The President flinched as two shots rang out in quick succession somewhere close by, and his eyes went to the damning newspaper lying on the spotless desk.
Betrayal and Lies are the Foundation of American Politics!
The Gospel of Mary was discovered in Southern France last month and has now been proven genuine by experts secretly asked to test the parchments. In them, is a tale of murder, extortion, kidnapping, and forced reproduction that scientists claim have kept secret the descendants of Jesus Christ. The list of powerful families around the globe accused is staggering...
Carter gestured to the newspaper. Tomorrow’s edition; he was positive he didn’t want to know how it had been obtained. “How did they find out?”
“We’re not sure. An old manuscript was discovered last year and set for testing. One of the experts took a large payment. A local station is set to run the story tomorrow morning.”
“Not anymore.”
“Exactly.”
The first term President stared at the Seal, the desk, the walls. These things had been his and he had done justice to them where he could, but this? It was beyond his control.
He hadn’t quite believed it when he’d first been informed of the file known only as "
DOC", but it hadn’t taken him long to understand how much the world would change if the public suspected the massive secret the Freemasons had been keeping all these years. The days of government rule would be long...