Salvation | Book 1 | Salvation Read online

  Salvation

  A Post-Apocalyptic Novel

  Nick McNeil

  Copyright © 2020 Nick McNeil

  Published by: Doomsday Press, a division of Beyond The Fray, LLC

  This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. All rights reserved.

  Printed in the United States of America

  ISBN 13: 978-1-953462-05-3

  Doomsday Press, a division of Beyond The Fray, LLC, San Diego, CA

  www.doomsdaybooks.com

  To everyone who helped me along the way.

  “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” - Mike Tyson

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  About the Author

  1

  DAY 1

  Seattle, Washington

  5:25 a.m.

  Two pilots slouched comfortably in their seats, sipping their morning coffee. The flight deck was small but cozy. The captain sat on the left, and his copilot on the right.

  “This fog is only getting worse. Try contacting ATC again,” the captain said. “We can’t circle this place forever,” he cracked.

  The copilot next to him grabbed the microphone. “Private Tower, DAL128.” He paused for a moment. “Private Tower, this is DAL128.”

  The captain snagged the microphone out of the copilot’s hand and sat up straight. “Private Tower, we are down circling Sea-Tac. We don’t have enough fuel to go anywhere else.” The captain lifted his hat and ran his hand through his hair. “I really don’t like our options right now.”

  “Me neither.” The copilot adjusted his posture and straightened out his uniform.

  The captain grabbed the microphone once more. “Private Tower, DAL128, cleared to land?” The captain looked toward his copilot and shrugged.

  The captain flipped the switch to turn the seatbelt sign on and descended the plane into the misty wave of fog covering Sea-Tac International Airport. “Hopefully things will become a little clearer if we can break through the surface of this fog.”

  “Uh, Captain.” The copilot’s voice shook. “Visibility is not increasing.”

  “What’s that?” the captain asked. Both pilots squinted their eyes and leaned forward. “Look, I think I can see the approach lights.”

  “Captain.” The copilot leaned forward. “Captain, climb! Those are flames and plane debris.” The copilot snatched the microphone. “Private Tower, DAL128, Mayday, Mayday.”

  The captain grasped the intercom microphone tightly. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a flight control problem. We are trying to land, but the airstrip is full. We do not have time to ascend.” The captain buckled himself in. “Prepare for impact.”

  West Pines, Washington

  6:00 a.m.

  Short brown hair, a handsome set of eyes hidden by glasses, and a defined jawline rested almost too naturally on the nerd who wore them. Levi Jones, a young man not known for his posture, stood in the entryway of his front door, peering outside. He sported navy poly cotton pants that came an inch shy of his worn-out tennis shoes. The young man took a deep breath. “You got this, Levi. Just one more year and then it’s all over,” he said to himself. His white short-sleeve shirt was hardly tucked in, and was accompanied by a skinny black tie. The sweater pulled over his school uniform read Western Washington High School. “Then we get to go to college, be normal, maybe meet a girl.” Levi lifted his chin. “Who knows, maybe no one will even know what a total loser we were in high school.”

  “Stop talking to yourself, loser.” Straight brown hair partially covered a friendly face. Its natural waves rested on the girl’s shoulders. “Do you want a ride to school?”

  “Oh, hey, Amelia.” A slight intimidation carried through Levi’s voice. “What are you doing up so early?”

  “You woke me up this morning when you were doing God knows what at five in the morning.” Amelia groaned as she squeezed past Levi, making her way out of the house. “What are you even doing all night, anyways?”

  Levi sighed. “You know I don’t sleep much. So I try to—”

  “I forgot, I don’t care.” Amelia put her hand in the air and signaled for Levi to stop. “I need to get to school and meet up with Alice. We are hosting cheer tryouts on the first day of the semester this year.” Amelia opened the driver’s door of her ’96 Jeep Cherokee. “I hope she’s still coming. I tried to text her, but I’m not getting any cell service. I hate living out in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Did you try messaging her with just the Wi-Fi from in the house?” Levi countered.

  “Obviously.” Amelia closed the car door and rolled down the manual window. She stuck her head partially out of the automobile and squinted. “I’m not an old person, Levi. You know the power is out in the house too right now.”

  Levi cocked his head to the side. “Really?”

  “Yeah, how could you not have noticed? I couldn’t shower, do my hair, cook breakfast.” Amelia pulled down the car visor so she could check herself out in the mirror. “At least I could brush my teeth and put on makeup.” She closed the mirror and flipped the visor back into place.

  “The milk was still cold when I poured myself a bowl of cereal,” Levi pondered, “and the toilet still flushed. I don’t know, everything seemed in working order for me.” Levi pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the battery percentage. “My phone is at 100% still. Which means it was charging all night, so the power must have gone out recently.”

  “Ugh, so you’re the one who used the last of the water,” Amelia snapped. “I’m sure the school will have some backup generators and running water. If the power even went out over there.” She started the car. “Do you want a ride?”

  Levi scratched the back of his head. “I’m not sure how cool it would be to get a ride to school from my little sister. I think I’m going to walk.”

  Amelia laughed hysterically as she backed out of the driveway. “Okay, cool guy.” Her laughter echoed as she sped down the road.

  Levi stepped outside and ran his fingers across the white bracts of the dogwood tree that rested in his front yard. Across the street was an enormous misty and blooming forest. A melody of animal sounds could be heard by anyone who passed by the woods. Its canopy was consumed by pine, cedar, and hemlock, with the occasional larch tree sprinkled in, whose needles were just showing the first signs of turning gold, as they did at the start of every fall. Levi, with his backpack straps over both shoulders, placed his hands in his pockets and walked across the street and into the woodlands. The gentle breeze made the plants silently wave at him as he walked by. The typically overcast sun occasionally broke through the top of the forest, allowing collections of shrubs and flowers to thrive in the moist soil. Every other step Levi took made small cracking noises from the twigs under his feet snapping. The young man nestled through the bushes and trees until arriving at a Sitka spruce covered in moss. The trunk of the tree spread more than double Levi’s wingspan and rose to the top of the canopy.

  Levi kneeled at the base of the tree trunk and proceeded to shuffle twigs and small plants around until he uncovered a handwheel. He brushed off the dirt and mud surrounding the handwheel, exposing a circular door. It appeared to lead straight into the ground.

  The young man knocked, but there was no response. “Hmm.” Levi made a fist and pounded the top of the bunker—every thump was accompanied by a deep echo.

  “Go away!” a muffled voice said.

  “
It’s me!” Levi hollered.

  Noises came from within the bunker; however, Levi couldn’t make out the words.

  “What was that? I couldn’t hear you.” Levi followed up, “It’s me, Levi, Levi Jones.”

  “I said I know who it is,” the grumpy voice exclaimed. “Go away.”

  “Come on, Mr. C.” Levi sighed and spread his arms out in a plea. “I promise you won’t even notice I’m there.”

  A thin slit in the bunker door opened. A set of brown eyes, with crow’s feet, could be seen through the slit. “I always notice when you’re here. You come with a million questions every time. I can’t today. I’m working on something very important.” The metal slat covering the peephole slid across and closed off the bunker.

  “No, no, no.” Levi put his hands out in an attempt to stop Mr. C from closing the peephole. “I promise I’ll be a fly on the wall this time.”

  The peephole opened. “You said that the last dozen times. Now go to school,” Mr. C scolded as he slammed the peephole, closing off the bunker once again.

  Levi rolled his eyes, tilted his head back, and groaned. The young man continued to trek through the damp and quiet forest. Curved branches intertwined themselves between the densely packed forestry. Vines twirled around the tree limbs, adding a beautiful design to a normally unchanging environment.

  On a normal day, it wasn’t until Levi emerged from the woods that he would hear the chatter and playful squeals of his fellow students, but today, he could hear people shouting long before he reached the end of his walk to school.

  Built several generations ago, the single-story school was compiled mostly out of red brick. The old institute was surrounded by a chain-link fence that had ivy intertwined all throughout the links, making the fence closer to a wall than a see-through barrier. The school had one main entrance that rested upon a dozen steps. Standing in the entryway, stopping anyone from coming through, were several teachers as well as school faculty. The entire student body had not yet arrived; however, a mass of students consumed the staircase leading into the school as well as the lawn just in front of it.

  “Levi!” a voice from across the street shouted. “Levi!” A hand waved over the heads of the student body surrounding the campus.

  Levi couldn’t see who was calling him, or who the hand was attached to, but he would recognize the voice anywhere—it was his best friend.

  A slim young man with umber skin and black hair slipped his way through the crowd. “Levi, what took you so long?” His deep voice didn’t match his demeanor or the peach fuzz resting on his lip.

  “Dinesh, school doesn’t start for another fifty minutes. I’m surprised this many students are here.” Levi chuckled. “What’s going on, anyway?”

  “I’m honestly not sure. The teachers told everyone school is canceled and to go home. It’s starting to sound like there is a citywide blackout.” Dinesh looked back toward the mass of students. “I talked to loads of students, and everyone woke up this morning without power. Except for looney-ass Billy Marbles.” Dinesh’s eyebrows formed a V shape and he clenched his jaw.

  “Billy isn’t that bad,” Levi joked. “What did he say?”

  “He. Stole. My. Sixth. Grade. Science. Fair. Project. That’s not something I can just move past, Levi,” Dinesh exclaimed with his hands open and facing upwards. “He said some wacky shit. Something about someone on the TV giving some speech about stuff, and then the broadcast ended, and the power went out.”

  Levi went wide-eyed. “Does anyone believe him?”

  “Psh. No.” Dinesh gave a dismissive wave. “Here’s what is kind of tripping me out though.” He leaned toward Levi. “No one has any cell service. The power going out in theory shouldn’t have any correlation with satellites going down.”

  “That’s what I can’t stop thinking about.” Levi stroked his chin. “We need to get ahold of a CB radio and see if this is happening anywhere outside town.”

  “I know where we can access a CB radio.” Dinesh clapped his hands together and smiled.

  “Where?” Levi cocked his head and glanced at his best friend. He opened his eyes wide. “No.”

  “Yes,” Dinesh quickly interjected.

  “We agreed we weren’t going to have anything to do with the Radio Club this year.” Levi’s shoulders dropped as he rolled his eyes.

  “Come on, buddy, who are we trying to fool? Leaving the Radio Club isn’t going to raise our social status. All we will do is stop talking to the only other people we socialize with besides each other.” Dinesh put his arm around Levi. “Look, we will just use everything for a quick second, check in, and see what’s up. And then we never step foot in there again.”

  Levi nodded in reluctant agreement. “How do you plan on us getting in?”

  Dinesh reached into his backpack and pulled out a ring of keys. “I swooped them off the janitor earlier this morning when everyone was outside and distracted. I told you all those tutorial videos would pay off.” He smiled. “We’ll be in and out.”

  West Pines, Washington

  7:10 a.m.

  Levi and Dinesh sat on the floor with a CB radio between them. The room was mostly stuffed with filing cabinets and supplies. The supply room contained a desk with a computer monitor and a broadcast mixer placed on it. A handful of microphones and headphones were plugged into the mixer. USB cables, along with a few other assorted wires, were tied up in an unorganized knot behind the display screens.

  “I swear, this is the last time we spend all day talking to weird truckers.” Dinesh assured him, microphone in hand. He turned the radio to channel 19. “10-8, 10-8, this is Muddy Duck, back on the air.” The young men waited a moment with no response. “Everyone must be out walking their dogs,” Dinesh joked with Levi.

  “Wait, Dinesh.” Levi reached around the back and flipped a switch. “You didn’t even turn it on.”

  Dinesh smiled and held the mic up to his mouth. “10-8, 10-8, this is Muddy Duck, back on the air.”

  “MD, that you?” A raspy voice that must have smoked two packs of cigarettes a day immediately came through. “Summer vacation over already?”

  “Maverick, is that you?” Dinesh sat up straight.

  “Does Idaho make potatoes?” the radio voice with the Southern accent shouted back.

  Dinesh laughed hysterically and held the mic back up to his mouth before saying anything. “Wait, I don’t know. Does it?” Levi jabbed Dinesh in the side. “Oh, right, Mav, quick question. Y’all got power wherever you’re at?”

  “Negative,” the staticky voice replied. “I’m in Boise right now, and there ain’t a light in sight.”

  Levi snatched the microphone away from Dinesh, who frowned with offense. “Hey, Maverick, have you heard from anyone else?”

  “Little Tweet!” Maverick shouted. “I thought you were quitting the Radio Club this year?” Levi glared at Dinesh, who shrugged with confusion, full well knowing he was the one who told Maverick. “I’ve been quite the jabber-jaw this mornin’. I’ve heard from a couple of dozen different billy goats. This is lookin’ like a possible nationwide outage.”

  “And you’re sure of this?” Levi’s breathing increased.

  “Do it rain in Indianapolis in the summertime?” the Southern trucker cracked.

  Levi grabbed the CB radio, the surrounding cords, and sprang to his feet. “I have a really bad feeling about this. We need to go and see Mr. C.”

  “You have to at least sign off!” Dinesh shrieked.

  Levi continued to rush out of the room.

  “I thought your parents told you not to hang out with that quack anymore?” Dinesh scurried to his feet. “Levi, you don’t even need all those cords!” he yelled as he chased after his friend.

  West Pines, Washington

  8:05 a.m.

  Knock, knock.

  “Mr. C, can I please talk to you?” Levi pounded on the bunker door. “It’s really important. I swear.” The bolts attaching the bunker door were rusting, and the handwh
eel felt like it could break off if Levi twisted hard enough.

  “That’s what you said about the animal sighting three weeks ago,” a muffled voice replied.

  “That was different. I didn’t know bears could get alopecia,” Levi begged. “This blackout goes beyond West Pines. This is nationwide.” Raindrops that settled on the needle ends of the pine trees fell on Levi’s and Dinesh’s heads. “The probability of that actually happening everywhere, at the same time—it’s impossible.”

  The view hole in the bunker door slid open, and Mr. C glared through the opening. “You don’t think I already know that?” The man’s eyes peered side to side. “Were you followed?”

  The boys shook their heads.

  Audible clicks from locks releasing came from inside the bunker, and the handwheel turned counterclockwise. The wheel stopped twisting and the dugout door flung open. There was a ladder leading deep underground. The daylight barely poked through the bunker opening, and Levi was unable to see where the ladder ended.

  Mr. C poked his head above ground. He had long, greasy brown hair as well as a patchy beard. His shirt was too small for him, causing the bottom of his hairy belly to stick out. “Don’t touch anything, and don’t ask too many questions. Especially you, Levi.” The middle-aged man had grease stains all over his shirt and wore socks with his sandals. “Actually, Levi, you can’t ask anything.” He turned his head. “What’s up, Dinesh?”

  Dinesh waved with a half smile. “Hi, Mr. Cheltenham.”

  Cheltenham signaled for the boys to come in. “Hurry up before all of West Pines sees you.”

  Levi looked around at the empty forest. Instead of making a comment, he chose to bite his tongue and climb down the ladder into Mr. Cheltenham’s bunker. Dinesh followed close behind.