Flashpoint (Book 3): Fallout Read online

  FALLOUT

  The Flashpoint Series

  Book 3

  By

  Tara Ellis

  Mike Kraus

  © 2019 Muonic Press Inc

  www.muonic.com

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  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, without the permission in writing from the author.

  Table of Contents

  Preface

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

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  Special Thanks

  Special thanks to my awesome beta team, without whom this book wouldn’t be nearly as great.

  Thank you!

  FLASHPOINT Book 4

  Available Here

  Preface

  The world is reeling in the wake of a cataclysmic event that is still unfolding. The gamma-ray burst traveled thousands of light-years through space to instantly decimate a third of the planet. Gamma radiation then fatally poisoned half of those left alive, sickening the rest to varying degrees. An electromagnetic pulse was also unleashed when the ray impacted the Earth’s atmosphere, one more powerful than anything imagined. With all of the electricity and most technology erased worldwide, those left behind are forced to forge their way blindly through a terrifying landscape.

  A handful of survivors are navigating their way towards home, the small town of Mercy. When their paths crossed in both fortunate and ill-fated ways, they understood that there is strength in numbers and a mutual desire.

  Danny is on a mission to reach her father, but in doing so, is forced to face her own demons. In her profession as an emergency responder, she’s experienced death so many times that it makes it easier for her to compartmentalize what’s happening around her. While this allows Danny to cope with the ever-changing threats in a way that impresses her companion, Sam, it terrifies her.

  Tom, separated from his son, was willing to do anything to get him back. Even if it meant compromising his own morals. Meanwhile, his son Ethan struggled to escape the clutches of two evil convicts and the trail of death they left in their wake. Both father and son have been challenged and changed, and, although reunited, their journey together is far from over.

  Sheltered in a steep valley of the Lewis and Clark National Forest in Montana, Mercy acts as a refuge. Mayor Patty vowed to protect the residents of Mercy, and thought she had a clear vision of how to do it, until faced with turning people away. Survival has a different meaning to everyone and Patty is slowly coming to understand that she isn’t sure what it means to her. There’s a fine line between protection and sacrifice and what drives both.

  The first of our travelers to reach the safety of Mercy, Chloe, has learned the devastating truth behind the flashpoint event. Cut off from her parents and left to rely on strangers, the troubled teen must come to terms with her new reality and find her place in it.

  General Montgomery knows what has to be done. He’s been making the hard decisions for most of his life, and the continued existence of the citizens of the United States has fallen on his broad shoulders. With martial law declared, the general has the power to decide for the people, and is willing to lose some in order to save many more. In a world where most can’t see clearly, he knows what the endgame is and will do anything to bring as many survivors as possible to it with him.

  Russell doesn’t care about the people, or the game, or where it’s all headed, because he already knows, too. The Earth is purging herself. Russell’s there to help, and believes he can do it best in a place called Mercy.

  Chapter 1

  JAMES

  Master Sergeant, US Marines, 1st Force Reconnaissance

  Mount Weather, Virginia

  Whop, whop, whop

  The blades of the Huey beat a rhythm against gravity as it descended towards the cement landing pad of Mount Weather. Dirt swirled in the air and billowed out, announcing their arrival to the silent, lifeless facility.

  Spread out over more than five hundred acres, numerous buildings sat on a wooded hill, surrounded by a ten-foot chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. Some of those buildings had burned to the ground, taking patches of the forest with it. Motionless vehicles were scattered in between the structures, and although it was hard to be certain, smaller indistinguishable forms on the ground were likely employees of the special facility. They weren’t moving.

  Master Sergeant James Campbell wore a grim expression, noticeable even behind his aviation sunglasses and headset. He looked older than his twenty-nine years under the weight of responsibility. The Marine was a large man and created an impressive profile in the open door of the Huey as he looked out at the mysterious compound. He’d heard about Mount Weather, of course, but being there was something James thought he’d never experience. The past ten days had been full of so many surprises, and he was more than ready for a little bit of normalcy, but the sergeant was a realist and knew they were in for a long wait for normalcy.

  As the helicopter touched down, James hung his head for a moment. He’d envisioned himself and the six men who made up his special force’s unit celebrating the accomplishment. It had taken over two days and four stops for refueling to reach their target. No small feat, considering the logistics involved in not only plotting the course, but successfully getting the fuel loaded each time without any electricity. Only, now that they were there, it was obvious there was nothing to celebrate.

  James had been briefed that after initial contact on day one of the flashpoint, there was radio silence from Mount Weather for the past nine days, and all were presumed dead from gamma radiation. Apparently, no amount of rock was enough shielding. Being there and seeing it was altogether different and a sudden unease settled deep within his stomach as James thought of the darkened chambers deep in the bowels of the mountain.

  The last two military bases they’d stopped at for fuel proved to be nothing short of a nightmare. Like scenes ripped from some cheesy horror film, the few buildings they’d taken the time to enter revealed that death by radiation was a slow process. A slow, bloody, and messy way to die.

  “Sarge?”

  Sergeant Campbell looked over slowly at his second-in-command. Jay was also his best friend so he knew the man wasn’t fishing for an explanation. It was simply a prompt to get him moving. James yanked his headset off and snatched up the
leather briefcase at his feet. “Let’s get this done.”

  The landing pad was near the main entrance, so they had a fair distance to cover on foot. James didn’t mind. Some fresh air out in the open sunlight was just what he needed. His 6’4” muscular frame and calm demeanor had earned him the nickname of Bear in high school, but as a Marine in bootcamp, Terminator became his new handle. James knew there was some witty joke to be made about the Terminator being in a secret underground bunker, but he’d lost his ability to make light of the situation.

  Initially ignoring another body lying next to a personal vehicle, James was bothered by something. He stopped and pulled off his sunglasses, revealing startling blue eyes. Running a hand over his light brown hair, already outgrowing his normal high-and-tight buzz cut, he turned to look back at the woman. Her face was bloated and discolored after lying in the sun for more than a week. She still had a purse in her hand, the car keys on the ground near her feet.

  “What is it, Sarge?” one of his men asked uneasily. He looked around like a rabbit who heard multiple sources of possible threats, although the silence was tangible.

  James pointed at the woman with his M4 Carbine, his thick brows drawing together. “You think she was trying to get into her car when she collapsed? I was told they lost all communication shortly after the flashpoint, but was the radiation so bad that they didn’t even make it out of the facility alive?”

  “I thought the idea behind this place was to bring the government here when the SHTF,” Jay countered. “Why would anyone try to leave?”

  “For the same reason no one from DC made it here,” James replied as he began walking again. “This was never the intended scenario.” He waved his free hand at the sky. “Nuclear attack, yes. Killer solar beam from outer space that hit without any warning? Nope. Just like that woman back there, aside from the fact that anyone near the East Coast was sick and dying before they could find any working form of transportation, their last thoughts would have been to be with their families. Even if the pre-selected government officials stuck to protocol and tried to bug-out here, based on what we’re seeing here, I don’t think they would have made it.”

  “Not that it would have done them any good,” Jay muttered.

  James grunted. His friend had a point. Clearly, there wasn’t any way to counter the radiation. “We can add this place to our list of black zones.”

  In addition to running recon for supplies and retrieving the survivor list at Mount Weather, they had also been tasked with trying to clearly define the dead zones. Armed with a map of the States, they were labeling areas where everyone was deceased as black zones, those with survivors but acutely ill and dying as red zones, and other areas with people sick enough to need medical intervention as yellow zones. So far, the first two bases they stopped at were both red. Everything else was black, and James suspected that would be the case for over half the country.

  The five other Marines trailing behind Campbell looked back at the woman, lying dead next to her car, her purse still in her hand. A smartphone with a cracked screen was next to it. They all quickened their pace. The sooner they got out of there, the better.

  As they approached the first group of buildings, the smell of death became a relentless stench, instead of something carried to them on the wind. Although James had been smelling it for days now, it wasn’t something you ever got used to. It saturated your clothes and hair, and he’d be smelling it for weeks, no matter how many showers he took. They had masks for when they entered the underground facility, but it wasn’t time to break that gear out yet.

  Instead, James held a hand up to stop their march and removed a hand-drawn map from his pack. He’d already studied it for hours, but now that they were there, he needed to make sure he was oriented correctly to their location. “This way,” he barked, motioning to the right and down a road that lead to a large warehouse. The above ground complex was referred to as Area A. It housed FEMA’s communication headquarters, including FNARS—FEMA National Radio System—and was also said to be a training facility. The reality was that only a select few really knew what happened there, especially underground, in Area B. James suspected that whoever drew the map and given him some very specific directions was quite high up on the food chain.

  The Marines Recon Unit breached the warehouse and quickly confirmed it was unoccupied. “Flores, O’Grady, you’re on inventory,” James ordered. “Make it accurate, especially the gross weight of the pallets.”

  Flores and O’Grady looked at each other. While the assignment was daunting, it meant not having to go underground, so they were both clearly relieved.

  The entrance to Area B was rather unremarkable and at first appeared to be like any other tunnel that had been cut into a mountainside. However, around fifty feet in, huge blast doors were the first indication that it led to somewhere other than the opposite side of the mountain. Fortunately, the doors were wide open.

  There was an armored vehicle sitting just inside the doors, and James was hopeful for all of about two minutes that their walk might be shortened. While some armored vehicles at the bases in the west had survived the EMP, this one had not. Whether it was because the EMP was more intense, or perhaps because it was in operation and had an antenna up when the pulse hit, it really didn’t matter. James slammed the door with some frustration after finding the vehicle dead, and gestured to the three other Marines to keep walking.

  Unlike Area A, there weren’t any bodies on the ground near the entrance to the underground facility other than two armed guards who had likely remained at their posts as sentries. James was thankful for that, because the blackness beyond looked impenetrable and he didn’t like to think about sharing the space with unseen corpses.

  “You think there are people down there?” Jay asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

  “I read once that a couple thousand people worked down there,” Corporal Lance said hoarsely, making the motion of a cross over his chest.

  “Wouldn’t they have working generators?” Staff Sergeant Lee asked. He stared wide-eyed into the darkness and his face was dripping with sweat.

  “Pull it together!” James snapped. “We’ve gone over this. Yes, their generators were online last anyone got a message out via Q Code on the radio. I told you, Lee, that without anyone maintaining them for over a week, they likely wouldn’t be running. That’s why you and Lance are going to the utility plant.” James shoved a map into the man’s hand. “It’s called the power chamber and it’s about two klicks from here. I need the power on.”

  Lee squinted down at the map. “This comic is going to get us lost in this pit for good! You’re just now showing this to me?”

  “This is so—”

  “Enough!” Sergeant Campbell snapped, cutting Lance off. “I was under orders not to share these maps with anyone until on site. None of us want to be here, so let’s get it done and get the hell out of here.”

  “Amen to that.” Jay clapped his hands together, the sound echoing off the vast chamber around them.

  “Jay, you’re with me.” His friend’s brief bout of positive energy evaporated.

  “How come I don’t think I’m going to like where we’re going?” Jay crossed his arms over his chest and jabbed his chin toward the dark tunnel. “I don’t suppose we’re raiding the cafeteria?”

  James held another map out to him. “Our primary mission.”

  Jay glanced at Lance and Lee first, before taking the map. After scrutinizing it, he sighed heavily. “We better get started. It’s a long walk.”

  “We need that power,” James said as they turned on their flashlights and began venturing deeper into the mountain.

  “Yes, sir!” Lance barked, taking the map from Lee’s hand. “Give this to me, or we will get lost.”

  An hour later, and James would have given anything to be back at the entrance. The complex was made up of a series of vast caverns, connected by tunnels. Although the ceilings were high, it did nothing to allay t
he sense of weight over their heads, and the fear that it would come crashing down at any moment. If the lights had been on, James figured it wouldn’t have been nearly as bad. As it was, the thick, inky blackness was cloying and played games with his head. He was certain he’d either seen or sensed movement, but each time he trained his light on the spot, there wasn’t anything there.

  “Are we lost?” Jay asked, his voice muffled through his respirator.

  “No,” James answered without a lot of confidence.

  The question as to whether or not anyone was left underground was answered when they had entered the first chamber. It was unbearable without the masks and likely unsafe, given that no air was circulating. Most of the bodies were in the hospital, piled up on every available surface, including the floor. James had little time to marvel at the ingenuity of the place due to the hundreds of corpses masking it.

  According to the rough map, they had almost reached their destination. At the heart of Area B was a command center. There was no tell-tale label on the space, or other details giving it away, but James figured it was the infamous secondary site from which the government would be run in the case of a nuclear attack or other event causing the president and his cabinet to be whisked away. Next to the command center was a room. Again, James assumed it was an office meant for a high-level official, because it was there that he was to use a code to enter it, and where he was to retrieve a file called The Survivors List.

  James paused at the threshold of the large antechamber. Countless monitors reflected the light back from their flashlights, creating a dizzying display like some macabre disco. Only no one was dancing and the party-goers were all frozen in grotesque throes of death.

  Jay took a step back, reaching automatically for his face, which was blocked by the respirator. His breath came in ragged gasps as he tried to control his anxiety. “Lee better get that—” he was interrupted by the whir and beeping of machinery. Something deep in the mountain groaned as air units kicked in and then finally, the overhead lights flickered and then flashed on.