The Enduring: Stories of Surviving the Apocalypse Read Online Free Page A

test. Suddenly all the televisions around the walls started to sound the emergency broadcast alarm. Then the Governor of Nebraska came on the screen.”
    “What did he say?”
    “He said that Martial Law was immediately in effect and that the National Guard had been deployed to Omaha to deal with a situation involving a virus that had been spreading across from the east and west coasts.”
    I nodded. “Did you know anything about the ‘Affliction’ before the announcement, Zane?”
    His face remained impassive. “Yes,” he said. “I was a photojournalist for the University’s newspaper. I kept my eyes open because news and reporting fascinated me. I knew what the virus was. It had been all over the national news for a week before it hit here. I think everyone knew right away what the Governor was talking about. That’s why everything broke down into panic and chaos. We thought it was just a matter of time.”
    I stood a dusty chair upright and set it at a table then sat down wearily. I reached for my notebook.
    “What did you do?”
    “I ran out of the building, back to my dorm and started packing.”
    I looked up out of curiosity more than interest. “What did you pack?”
    “Memories,” Zane said abstractly. “I had most of the practical gear I needed back at the storage shed, so I packed the kind of things that meant something to me. The things that had value.”
    “Like?”
    “A small folded American flag that was given to me by a friend who went into the service, a photo of my parents, my grandma’s Bible…”
    I wrote a note about that because I felt it was an insight into the young man Zane had been before the spread of the ‘Affliction’.
    “Anything else?”
    He inclined his head. “A water purifier, a silver coin stash in case I needed money, and a couple of survival books by James Wesley Rawles.”
    “What about everyone else?” I continued along the same line of questioning. “What were the other students doing at the time?”
    He shrugged his shoulders. “Some did what I did,” he said. “There were people everywhere talking on their cell phones, screaming, panicking. Others didn’t take the warning seriously – or were too tough to admit they were scared. They stayed, I guess… until the helicopters started to arrive. Then the real panic set in.”
    I looked up from my notebook. “Helicopters?”
    Zane nodded. “Three helicopters circled the university and then dropped to the ground. They landed on the football field, and a convoy of military vehicles pulled into the campus parking lot with a police escort.”
    “To fight the ‘Afflicted’?” I was confused.
    Zane shook his head. “Apparently the National Guard was going to set up a safe zone on the Campus…”
    I looked around me at all the wreckage, the dried blood. “I guess that didn’t work out too well. It was lucky you didn’t stay.”
    Zane said nothing. I tried another question.
    “Did you have a plan at that stage? I mean you had survival gear packed and ready in the storage shed. I assume you had thought about this kind of thing happening one day… so I’m guessing you also had a plan of action, right?”
    “Yes,” Zane said. “I called my parents and explained the situation to them. I told them I was heading home. My parents told me Colorado was also under Martial Law, and that Denver had been overrun.”
    “Where was ‘home’ for you?”
    “Alamosa, Colorado,” he answered. “It’s a twelve hour drive from here… but my regular route takes me through four major population centers – Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Castle Rock and Denver…”
    “Was Alamosa safe? What was the situation where your parents were?”
    “It was ‘Affliction’ free,” Zane explained. “The entire San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado was shut down from the outside world. I knew that if I could get there, I would be safe.”
    “The San Luis Valley?” I wrote that down in my notebook.
    “Yes. There are only five