Graham Heights
Beginnings
We only intended to hide from the chaos. We never dreamed that we would be chosen to colonize the stars and ensure the survival of the human race while the Earth rebuilt itself.
PIXNIO
Prologue:
I'm sitting on a mountain that no human has ever set foot on. Looking at the beginning of a settlement built by those not of this world. And yet I can not be a part of it. I can not join the thousands of humans that will build a new world. I am set apart by my burden. One that only a handful of people know about and have sworn to carry. We will carry this burden until we can either deliver to a save place or we will pass it on to others to carry.
My name is Harold Hansen Jr. I am the son of Captain Harold Hansen, the man who got us here. And the great, great grandson of Alan M. Scott, a leader of those that survived the downfall. Our story begins almost six hundred years ago on a planet called Earth. Only the Remnant know of this truth, as its been removed from the memories of the colinis. They only know that this planet is our home now.
As far as the official records goes, we don't exist. We live between the walls and under the deck plates and in places that no one ever goes. We record the history that slips from others memories and we know where we come from.
My mother, Julia Scott, was the keeper of the Journals of her great grand father. And was the one that saw the truth slip from others memories. It was her efforts that kept the Journals alive and intact. We keep these journals and a few other books to preserve the truth as to who we are. In the following pages you will read of the fall of man; "Beginnings" in the form of Alan Scott's journals. The rise of a new society that is faced with a choice to live on a dying world or to take to the stars. This is "Rainier". And how we became the Remnant and keepers of the truth; "MayFlower". This history is limited in scope, but it is all we have left, and we must keep it from being discovered by those that would pervert history to their favor...
As far as the official records goes, we don't exist. We live between the walls and under the deck plates and in places that no one ever goes. We record the history that slips from others memories and we know where we come from.
My mother, Julia Scott, was the keeper of the Journals of her great grand father. And was the one that saw the truth slip from others memories. It was her efforts that kept the Journals alive and intact. We keep these journals and a few other books to preserve the truth as to who we are. In the following pages you will read of the fall of man; "Beginnings" in the form of Alan Scott's journals. The rise of a new society that is faced with a choice to live on a dying world or to take to the stars. This is "Rainier". And how we became the Remnant and keepers of the truth; "MayFlower". This history is limited in scope, but it is all we have left, and we must keep it from being discovered by those that would pervert history to their favor...
Chapter 1
We Gota Go!
Journal Entry - Friday, March 18th 2018
Alan Scott
Alan Scott
The day we dreaded has finally arrived….
“Hurry, leave those, we won’t be needing them.” Alan Scott
was ushering his kids to the car while Junior threw some more sleeping bags in
the back.” Alison was already in the driver’s seat with the car running.
Alan focused on getting his daughter buckled in and kissed her dark
forehead. Her nappy hair tickled his nose. She was 5 going on 10,
wise beyond her years due to the abuse she had been subjected to by those that
were supposed to keep her safe. Her brother had been spared most of this
abuse, why who could tell, abuse has no rhyme or reason. He was 7 and he
knew how to buckle himself in.
Alan walked around to the
driver’s side and leaned into the window. “Take the back roads past Sunrise.”
He looked at her scared face, “It will be fine, everyone still believes what
they are saying on the news. Just get out of town and I will meet you
there.” Looking across at the young man in the passenger seat, “Take care
of her and try not to shoot anyone, it scares the kids.”
“Are you sure we have to do
this?” Alison did not want to leave the comforts of their home.
Alan looked at the clouds
of smoke that seemed just miles away. “Yes.” He looked at the house and
then at his wife of six years. “Yes, we have to leave.” He looked at the
ground, “If we don’t go now…well, It’s now or never.”
Alison looked at the
steering wheel, “How long will you be?”
Alan said, while looking at
the house, “It’s almost ready, I just need to load the old truck and then I can
start out, but I’ll be slower with all the weight”
Alison shook her head,
“Why. Just leave that old thing and let’s go now.”
Alan shook his head and
said, “With the way things are going, it will be one of the few things we can
keep running.”
Alison did not like it but,
knew that when her husband “knew” something, well it usually came true.
She had learned to become dependent on his intuition. Besides it
was what brought them together in the first place. A smile came across
her face as she remembered that night. “I trust you.” She put the
car in drive and looked out the open window, “Don’t be long.”
Alan watched his wife drive
away, a huge piece of his heart was driving out of that driveway and he quickly
turned and looked back at the house, he knew that they would never return.
Once that thought was extinguished, Alan busied himself in the back yard.
The large truck was already packed and attached to the double axle
trailer. The “old truck” was sitting at the base of the trailer and
running. It took a while for the old beast warm up and if it wasn’t warm,
well she didn’t cooperate. Alan went to the shed, which was all but empty
and closed the door, he put the lock on it and then proceeded to make the place
look like people were still there, He needed people to believe that they were
still living there. It would give the house time before someone torched
it. He looked over the fence towards the neighbor's house or what was
left of it. It was a cold reminder of how close death was. The
charred remains of a home, that no one came to save, was an example of how the
emergency services were already stretched beyond their limits.
Turning to the old truck he
opened the door and jumped in. It was so small as compared to his newer
truck. Pushing in the clutch he coaxed the gear shifter into first.
The truck resisted the idea of moving, but the Alan knew how to work the
throttle and the choke to keep the engine alive when it was on the cold side.
He drove the truck up on the trailer and felt the bump of the front tire
that indicated that it was in position.
It has been nine years of
work on this old beast, it ran great, once it was warm, but it still looked
like a pile of rusted parts. This would serve him them well now. No
one would give this old beast a second look and that was what they needed, to
hide in plain sight.
The rest of the packing
went well, and Alan was ready to go. He looked at his home. No, the place
that he and his wife had made a home. His home was fifteen miles south by
now, and that is where he needed to be.
Getting into the “big”
truck Alan looked at all he had done over the last nine years. He knew it
would be the last time he would see it this way. Putting the truck in
drive he pulled out of the gate, that lead from the back yard and onto the
street. The wind had changed directions, it was now moving South.
The stench of the smoke told him that more than wood and plastic was
burning. He wondered if he should torch his home as well or leave it to
someone else. As the house was on a corner lot, he continued to look at
it as he entered the main road and one last look at the old brick house, “You…
take care.” A tear rolled down his face. Turning his head, he set
his mind to getting South. The big truck pulled at the load and moved
out.
At first the trip was
easier than he had anticipated, he steered the truck with his right hand and
held a gun in his left. He was hoping that he would not have to use it
but was ready and willing. Times had been bad, but lately they were
really bad. He knew that people would probably ignore a car that was only
hauling minor things, but a truck that was fully loaded with stuff was a
tempting target. That is why he sent Alison on ahead. Due to the
size of the truck and trailer, Alan decided to use Meridian as it afforded
him more maneuvering room than the back way, beside this normally overburden
road would be all but empty now.
Slowly Alan made his way down the street. The Traffic lights
were missing and debris was scattered all over the road, most of the businesses
on either side of the street were burnt, burning or smoldering. Just
weeks ago, it was a different story, but that reality was gone and it would
remain like this until the current reality changed.
Suddenly, a man came running out from one of the abandoned
vehicles, he was waving a bat. Without hesitation Alan brought up the gun
and shot him in the chest. The man continued to run at him, Alan shot again,
and the man fell over. Without stopping Alan looked for a second or
third, none came.
They would stay hidden, knowing they could not overpower a man
with a gun. Alan hit the accelerator and sped through the next
intersection. Searching the road for any traps, as the dead man might be
part of a larger party. Alan avoided two more abandoned cars and some
small buildings, then another intersection. This was going well until he
spotted some spikes in the roads. Alan was not going to stop, he scanned
the sidewalk, it appears to be clear and pointed the truck toward it. The
burnt building to the right could be harboring more men, but he would have to
chance it. The truck jolted as it climbed the curb and Alan aimed it so
that two tires were on the sidewalk and two in the grass. This
worked well until the next intersection and he had to go back onto the street
to avoid the one light pole that was still standing. He scanned the road
for more spikes but could not see any. He continued another six miles
cautiously and painfully slow for his taste.
At the old shopping center on 160th he spotted a woman with a
child that was clinging to her side. She looked pitiful. She looked
directly at Alan but did not say anything. Alan shook his head no and
started to accelerate. A shot rang out and a bullet hit the windshield
then another, Alan accelerated more and swerved a few times to make it as hard
as possible for the shooter. The shoots stopped as he continued to speed
away. He had another six miles to go, but they would get easier as the
distance between him and his home town grew larger. Besides he was just
three miles to the first checkpoint.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, and he approached the
checkpoint and slowed the vehicle. A man in camo gear approached the
vehicle.
“Alan, glad to see you
could make it.” Said a jovial man in his fifties. He looked at the
bullet holes in the windshield and then back at Alan “Alison came through
almost an hour ago.”
That’s what Alan like about
Mike, no small talk. Alan looked at him and said, “Thanks Mike, how’s
everything else?”
Mike shook his head, “We're
only going to be able to hold this position for a week, then we are going to
have to pull back to the main gate.”
Alan shook my head and
said, “I’ll talk to the council, I don’t think we should wait for it to become
a fight, we should pull back now.” looked back the way he'd just come, “they’re
getting desperate.”
Mike shook his head, “not
ready yet. Another two days and we should be good.”
Alan looked at Mike and
said, “Be careful out there.”
Mike clapped Alan on the
arm and smiled, then turned and signaled for the gate to be opened. He
aimed his truck through the small gap in the barricade. As he drove
through a dark cloud block the sun and it became so dark the lights on the
truck came on. A tear rolled down his cheek as he remembered the woman’s
face just few miles back. He knew it was a trap for him, but she was also
trapped. Trapped on the wrong side of the wall.
The
wall, I guess I should explain how that came to be.
Two years earlier…
As you know this blog contains two books of the Remnant Series. Graham Heights is book 3 of the series. Below is more.
Book 4: Obsidian Arrows
Book 1 is now available in paperback or kindle The Grey Abyss
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Thank-you
R. A. Legg
R. A. Legg
R.A. Legg © 2016. All Rights Reserved.
Graham Heights---good name for this post-apocalyptic town.
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