Petriclysm (eBook)

Amanda Ross (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021 | 1. Auflage
290 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-0983-5689-7 (ISBN)

Infos

At precisely 7:30pm on September the 23rd, Hazel Lewis and Nick Webber witness the crash landing of a 747 in downtown Seattle. The city falls into an uneasy silence. When their parents fail to come home that night, Hazel and Nick break curfew, leaving Anvac, a small community where they have been forced to live since refusing a government-issued vaccination. Embarking on a cross-country adventure where people are left to survive any way they can, Hazel, Nick and a few friends they meet along the way try to unravel how a one-world government could turn billions of people to stone. Avoiding pernicious Sweepers and other lethal agents out to cause them harm along the way, Hazel, Nick and their friends ultimately must decide whether or not to eliminate those who rule the world.

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Chapter 2

All through the night there was silence followed by more silence. After a couple of hours Nick suggested they go outside to try and ascertain information that might help them find their parents. It was obvious that the stillness bothered Nick. Even though he didn’t much care for the city noises, the absence of them was much more troubling.

Hazel grabbed the raggedy green sweatshirt she’d worn to the bus stop and pulled it over her head, running hands through static-y hair to catch the fly aways and then, by habit, gathering the long tendrils into a loose ponytail. She quietly followed Nick down the steps and out into the cool night air, their movements furtive and hesitant. They moved from shadow to shadow trying to go unnoticed by the kids who may be watching from their apartments or who also may have broken curfew.

It felt weird to be out after curfew. Nick looked left and right to double check that there weren’t any guards. None were visible and the gates were still shut tight. Yet another aspect of all this weirdness. There were usually sentries posted at the gate each night to ensure that the citizens of Anvac stayed put; they would patrol the streets at random to keep people on guard. Nick and Hazel made their way to the tallest building within the fence. It was only five stories high, but from the roof more of the city was visible. There seemed to be fires all over the city, but still no noise. No sirens, no cars, no planes flying. No one, except them, even alert to the fact that something was wrong. Nothing but the streetlights in the city and some in the buildings were on. The power in Anvac had gone off at nine. At least some things were still working like they should.

“What do you think is going on?” Nick asked. Hazel jumped at the sound of his voice in the silence.

“I really don’t know,” she whispered back. “Where are our parents? They didn’t come home. Do you think they’re okay?”

“Who can tell,” he sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly. “Maybe we should find out. I know of a weak spot in the fence that’s easy to get under.”

“Are you serious? What about the authorities? What if we get caught?” Hazel’s dark eyes narrowed with worry, then widened in excitement at the possibility. She tried hard to remind herself of the consequences of breaking the rules but was giddy with the thought of leaving Anvac.

“I don’t think we have to worry about the authorities right now,” he said, looking toward the guard shacks for any sign of life. Although the shacks were kept dark at night, the usual glow of a cellphone could be seen. Tonight, nothing. He peered over the side of the building and could see shadows moving. “Look,” he said quietly, pointing. Hazel snuck up next to him. She could barely make out three small dark shapes walking to the fence that ran beside the back wall of the building. They watched as one of the shapes found an opening in the chain-link fence where someone had cut it sometime in the past. It was so cleverly hidden that only those who knew it was there could see it. The other two shapes ducked under, the third following then slipping out into the night. It was that easy.

“Well,” Nick started, “we aren’t the only ones with a similar idea. What do you say? Want to leave Anvac?”

Hazel smiled broadly, “Yes! Let’s go! So where should we start?” She looked back at the spot where the three shapes had slipped out.

“First, we should gather what we can take with us. Like food, clothes, matches.”

“Matches?”

“Well, yeah, you know, stuff like that. Things that might be very important to have, just in case.

“In case of what?” she cut him off.

“In case of whatever may be happening out there. We have absolutely no idea what’s going on and I want to be prepared. Like they taught in Boy Scouts. You know the motto ‘Be prepared.’ I mean, I was just shy of becoming an Eagle Scout before the Great Wave,” he grinned.

“And you read too many post-apocalyptic books,” Hazel gave playfully.

“Well, and that, too. But you don’t have any room to talk either—Miss I’m-Going-to-Live-on-a-Farm,” he needled her in the side. She jerked to the side and stifled a laugh being highly ticklish. “So…bring what we need, but not too much? We should be light on our feet. We’re just going to find out what’s going on. We might come straight back here. I really don’t know,” he stood. Hazel followed him back down to the street.

They got back to Nick’s apartment where he filled a small black backpack with useful items including all the food rations he still had on hand and a box of waterproof matches. Even with all of the food, Nick’s backpack was still relatively empty and light. He only had one thick sweatshirt and a raincoat that he threw in just in case, changing into his least worn pair of sneakers, and a dark blue trucker’s hat for good measure. Hazel liked the hat; it was an added touch of incognito. At her apartment, she grabbed essentially the same things, a light blanket, her journal, a hippie book with a pencil drawing of a girl on the front called Living on the Earth and three ballpoint pens just in case. Nick raised his eyebrows at the book and Hazel shrugged; he has his fiction; she had her how to live eco-friendly reading material. Then they slept. Nick on the couch.

Nick couldn’t fall asleep, being excited at the prospect of leaving Anvac and simply being worried about his dad, so after some time he went and roused Hazel. She was already awake, just waiting for him to get up. Before setting out they sat down for the largest meal they’d consumed in months. Even though this final meal in Anvac, as Nick termed it, used up a lot of their rations it was better starting out on full stomachs with energy and it felt really good to have eaten enough for once.

Light was barely entering the sky as Nick led the way to the far side of Anvac where the fence was easy to pull up. Hazel ducked under as Nick held the fence, pushed his bag through and followed. They were now both outside of Anvac for the first time in 18 months. Hazel took a deep breath, even the air felt freer. Hazel wanted to dance and run and skip and shout at the sheer exhilaration of being outside Anvac. But she refrained, they still had no idea what was going on. So, they proceeded with caution staying close to the buildings and walking as noiselessly as possible. The city was silent, unmoving with the exception of random buildings still on fire scattered throughout the city. Smoke was starting to accumulate at the street level, cutting down on visibility.

Several large pieces of debris from the crashed 747 littered the sleeping streets. It was a fresh reminder that something was very wrong. The charred pieces, most likely from the wing, had a sobering effect on Hazel. Between the accumulating smoke and plane debris, her mind wandered to the people who’d lost their lives, wondering how many more may have been affected by whatever was going on. She still relished the thought of being away from Anvac, but what was the price of her burgeoning freedom? An awareness that something much more serious and maybe much more dangerous going on grew to full wakefulness inside. Her thoughts turned to her parents. Where were they? And with that, all excitement at newfound freedom vanished.

Nick understood Hazel’s first reaction to being on the other side of the fence, but he’d quickly reined it in. He was deeply concerned with getting to the bottom of everything before celebrating. No matter what, something—something BIG—had happened. What could cause a city to simply stop? Not the grid, the people. The first thing he’d noticed was the lack of people walking down the streets. Usually, the hustle and bustle of the early morning would permeate the atmosphere. Buses going from stop to stop, individuals looking down at their phones while intuitively avoiding other pedestrians. But today? Nothing.

Hazel kept quiet, her eyes darting now to different points along the street looking for anything that could account for the stillness. A few times she thought she saw individuals peeking out of curtained windows in apartment buildings, but she couldn’t be sure. A cat raced out from behind a bush and she jumped, nearly letting out a scream. Her heart pounding long after the fright. Where was everybody?

About three blocks from Anvac, they came to a large intersection where several cars were smoldering in the middle, obviously having collided. The bodies of the drivers were still sitting behind the wheels. It looked as if no one had even made a move to get out or to help. Nick started looking around a little more and pointed to the other cars sitting at the lights. Each car was pushing on the one in front of it in succession, indicating which two lanes had a green light at the time whatever it was happened. The cars were kept in place by the wrecked vehicles in the intersection. Drivers who had been at red lights were still waiting, feet steadfastly locked on brakes, immobile. Every driver regardless of direction was still behind their respective wheels. Not a single driver had attempted to get out. Some vehicles were still idling while others appeared to have run out of gas. Nick looked toward the next intersection and could make out through the haze the same scene repeating itself. It was most likely the same across the city. All the streets were packed. It had happened during rush hour. He walked up to the nearest car and tapped on the window. The driver made no movement. After a couple of...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 19.2.2021
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Science Fiction
• ISBN-10: 1-0983-5689-6 / 1098356896
• ISBN-13: 978-1-0983-5689-7 / 9781098356897