The Death Trilogy (Book 1): The Death: Quarantine Read Online Free Page B
Author: John W. Vance
Tags: Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian
the college she would attend. None of it would happen, as she died within a week of going to school. She had come back complaining of flu-like symptoms, and before anyone could diagnose her, she had fallen into a coma.
This wasn’t the first time that a poor decision had cost her; the first had occurred two years before when David had caught her in an affair with a Denver councilman. That series of bad decisions ended, and after months of counseling and pleading, she managed to keep her marriage and family together. After that she pledged to be a better wife, mother and woman.
David showed real strength through the affair and the death of Madeleine. After Madeleine’s death, she accused herself, but he comforted her and kept reminding her that she was not to blame. He would consistently point out that Madeleine wasn’t immune and would have eventually died anyway.
Lori never wanted to believe that; she thought it easier to blame herself for letting the kids go to school and be out in public, vulnerable to the virus, instead of believing that she would have been powerless to save her daughter.
Things unraveled quickly across the United States as The Death spread, killing all who weren’t immune, including animals. Those who had prepped and secured bug-out locations thought they were ready for anything and protected, but The Death found them too. No one could have truly protected themselves from something that was airborne and transmitted easily from human to human, human to animal, and vice versa. Nothing like this had ever been seen and might not ever again. The Death was unique in its capacity to spread and kill. The only way to survive its deadly grasp was to be immune.
After Madeleine’s death, David, Lori and Eric bunkered down in their house and watched the days turn to weeks. After two months they decided to venture out for more supplies. It was on one of those resupply trips when David encountered a unit of National Guardsmen. Not hours after meeting the soldiers, all three were on their way to Camp 13. Mandatory evacuation is what they had been told. At first they found the camp held promise, but that quickly changed.
Lori tried to rest more, but her mind raced with many thoughts and images. One by one they flashed, each worse than the previous. She imagined they’d never leave Camp 13. That they’d stay there forever with no hope of ever seeing the outside world.
Every morning the camp commander held an assembly; there he’d make announcements, and occasionally he’d call out names. Those he called upon were those select few who, for whatever reason, had been selected to go to Camp Sierra. What was different about Camp Sierra was still rumor, as no one had ever seen it. They only knew what had been told to them by the FEMA personnel.
Camp Sierra was an entirely new settlement, free of The Death and safe from the chaos that plagued the rest of the country.
Every morning they’d go to the assembly and anxiously wait for the Call only to be disappointed when their names weren’t mentioned.
The steady thoughts and images soon placed her in a trance. Lost in this state, she drifted back to sleep.
“Lori, get up!” David hollered from the open flap in the tent.
Lori’s eyes opened wide as she shot up. “What, huh?”
“The assembly, come on, they’re doing roll call right now, hurry!” David pleaded.
Lori jumped up, grabbed a pair of shorts and put them on, and tucked in the stained white T-shirt she had been wearing.
“Where are my shoes?” she asked as she frantically looked underneath her cot.
“I don’t know, but hurry, their getting close to our names.”
“There you are,” she said, spotting them. She reached, grabbed them, and began to pull, but one was stuck. She yanked and knocked over a small tote bag, emptying some of its contents. She yanked again and pulled the shoe out but took notice of the items, one being a photo of Madeleine. She hadn’t seen that picture in a
This wasn’t the first time that a poor decision had cost her; the first had occurred two years before when David had caught her in an affair with a Denver councilman. That series of bad decisions ended, and after months of counseling and pleading, she managed to keep her marriage and family together. After that she pledged to be a better wife, mother and woman.
David showed real strength through the affair and the death of Madeleine. After Madeleine’s death, she accused herself, but he comforted her and kept reminding her that she was not to blame. He would consistently point out that Madeleine wasn’t immune and would have eventually died anyway.
Lori never wanted to believe that; she thought it easier to blame herself for letting the kids go to school and be out in public, vulnerable to the virus, instead of believing that she would have been powerless to save her daughter.
Things unraveled quickly across the United States as The Death spread, killing all who weren’t immune, including animals. Those who had prepped and secured bug-out locations thought they were ready for anything and protected, but The Death found them too. No one could have truly protected themselves from something that was airborne and transmitted easily from human to human, human to animal, and vice versa. Nothing like this had ever been seen and might not ever again. The Death was unique in its capacity to spread and kill. The only way to survive its deadly grasp was to be immune.
After Madeleine’s death, David, Lori and Eric bunkered down in their house and watched the days turn to weeks. After two months they decided to venture out for more supplies. It was on one of those resupply trips when David encountered a unit of National Guardsmen. Not hours after meeting the soldiers, all three were on their way to Camp 13. Mandatory evacuation is what they had been told. At first they found the camp held promise, but that quickly changed.
Lori tried to rest more, but her mind raced with many thoughts and images. One by one they flashed, each worse than the previous. She imagined they’d never leave Camp 13. That they’d stay there forever with no hope of ever seeing the outside world.
Every morning the camp commander held an assembly; there he’d make announcements, and occasionally he’d call out names. Those he called upon were those select few who, for whatever reason, had been selected to go to Camp Sierra. What was different about Camp Sierra was still rumor, as no one had ever seen it. They only knew what had been told to them by the FEMA personnel.
Camp Sierra was an entirely new settlement, free of The Death and safe from the chaos that plagued the rest of the country.
Every morning they’d go to the assembly and anxiously wait for the Call only to be disappointed when their names weren’t mentioned.
The steady thoughts and images soon placed her in a trance. Lost in this state, she drifted back to sleep.
“Lori, get up!” David hollered from the open flap in the tent.
Lori’s eyes opened wide as she shot up. “What, huh?”
“The assembly, come on, they’re doing roll call right now, hurry!” David pleaded.
Lori jumped up, grabbed a pair of shorts and put them on, and tucked in the stained white T-shirt she had been wearing.
“Where are my shoes?” she asked as she frantically looked underneath her cot.
“I don’t know, but hurry, their getting close to our names.”
“There you are,” she said, spotting them. She reached, grabbed them, and began to pull, but one was stuck. She yanked and knocked over a small tote bag, emptying some of its contents. She yanked again and pulled the shoe out but took notice of the items, one being a photo of Madeleine. She hadn’t seen that picture in a
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