“Thank you.” She kissed his cheek. Her lips lingered for a moment. “Now let’s get out of here.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Air raid sirens sounded over the city. The noise wailed down the debris strewn streets and over the smoldering buildings. Here and there, people stirred in the rubble. Finally, the siren faded and a woman began to speak.
“This is Doctor Mavis Spanner, Surgeon General and acting commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. On March Fifth, our country was attacked by a foreign government. Instead of bombs, the enemy used biological or germ warfare, specifically Anthrax.”
The ghostly figures straightened and stared at the speakers on the church bell tower.
“The spores were delivered in the plush toys promoting the new film Hatshepsut. Fire will not destroy them. As such, I have ordered the evacuation of all cities. Directions for your egress routes will follow.”
The ashen people stumbled among the debris, slowly gathering their meager belongings, before again facing the tower telling them what to do, how to survive.
“Anthrax is not contagious. While the sick cannot pass it to one another by coughing or sneezing, I ask that you continue to wear your face masks. The spores are in the air and the masks will protect you.”
More ashen creatures stumbled forward, swelling the crowd to a dozen. One hand rested on the scraps of fabric over their faces, the other on their bundles of belongings.
“The trek ahead will be long and dangerous. While we have laid on food, water, shelter and medicine along the routes, you will need to depend on one another to survive. You will need to stand for what is right, although there may be no one to witness your transgressions. Discord cannot be allowed to gain even a toehold or we may all still perish.”
The people on the ground stared at each other. A few shifted closer. One held himself apart.
“Please follow the routes. Please join us. Now, more than ever, every person counts. You count. And we need you. We can and we will overcome this tragedy. With your help and your hope, the human race shall remain.”
The people stood a little straighter as the woman’s voice faded away. Soon a man relayed instructions for their route. One by one they formed a train, helping each other over the rubble, murmuring words of encouragement.
They weren’t the strongest of the species.
Nor were they the smartest.
But so far they had survived an extinction level event.
They could adapt.
And the voice told them how to do it, promising them a chance to survive.
They would take it.
Other books by Linda Andrews
Thank you for purchasing a copy of Redaction. Look for the sequel, Redaction: The Meltdown coming late Summer 2012.
If you’re interested I have two scifi horror short stories available:
Intelligent Design: LifeNeeds Corporation’s Board of Directors are looking for the next big thing to meet the demands of an ever-changing market and fill their pockets. While the heads of LifeNeeds Research and Development departments scramble to survive in their cutthroat business, C’Bre Rah designs a marketing plan to die for. Will he save his project from budget cuts and make humanity the latest commodity hawked on the universal market? Intelligent design: Sometimes it’s better to make up your own purpose for being than to discover your creator’s true intent.
2012: Winter Harvest: Out of the galactic equator comes a race intent on harvesting every last human on Earth. Now on the longest night one man and one woman will find the key to prevent the human race’s extinction.
I’m also on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/LindaAndrews
And facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorLindaAndrews
And have a blog: http://lindaandrews.wordpress.com/
About the Author:
Linda Andrews lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband, three children and a menagerie of domesticated animals. While she started writing a decade ago, she always used her stories to escape the redundancy of her day job as a scientist and never thought to actually combine her love of fiction and science. DOH! After that Homer Simpson moment, she allowed the two halves of her brain to talk to each other. The journeys she’s embarked on since then are dark, twisted and occasionally violent, but never predictable. If you’ve loved one of her most demented creations so far, she’d love to hear from you at lindaandrews at lindaandrews dot net
Copyright
Kindle Edition
Copyright © 2011, 2012 by Linda Andrews
Published by LandNa Publishing at Smashwords
Cover Design by Linda Andrews
Photos by Kovaleff, Aswisher
Edited by TL Hockett
Second Edit by Cathleen Ross
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
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