Inferno (The Glitch Book 2), page 1
Contents
Title page
Copyright
Disclaimer
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Thank you
INFERNO
The Glitch Book 2
by
Phil Maxey
Copyright © 2019 by Philip Maxey
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
First Printing, 2019.
https://www.philmaxeyauthor.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales, is purely coincidental.
CHAPTER ONE
Day 6: Inferno.
A cone of light bobbed up and down in the darkness, amongst the rocks and cacti. It then suddenly dimmed before returning to full strength. “I don’t think we got long before we won’t be able to see where we’re going,” said Alexis.
Mike looked up at the sky and the strange purple hue which stretched across it. Stars were faintly visible beyond. He unlocked his phone screen, then held it in front of him. He wanted to view his son’s video one more time, but each glimpse of hope ate into the battery life and they needed the images of the map he took a screen grab of, to not get lost in the wilderness. “There’s a small camp site up ahead, and then a trail which takes us between the peaks to a ski lodge.”
A chill wind blew across them. Alexis rubbed her hands together, trying to get some feeling back into them. She didn’t want to spend the remainder of the night walking through what felt like almost zero degree temperatures, but she also knew they didn’t have a choice. Going back to Sulerosa wasn’t an option, even if it still existed, as far as they knew nuclear bombs were detonated across the globe, and maybe she and Mike were going to be blamed for that somehow. They needed to get to civilization, find out what happened, then decide from what their next move was.
There was also the problem of the AI sphere that had dissolved in the atmosphere. They had stood on the ridge for minutes after the explosion, watching the shapes and forms twist and flip, thousands of feet up, like artificial worms looking for new earth to burrow through.
She didn’t want to think about that.
They moved onto a gravel road. A sign proudly announced ‘Three rivers trail head camping site,’ but there was no sign of vehicles in the parking lot or tents on the side of the hills nearby.
Mike shook his head. “Was hoping they’d be someone here.”
“People don’t want to camp near an impending nuclear bomb drop, go figure…”
They both chuckled until their humor was overtaken by memories of what had happened a few hours earlier.
He held his phone up once again. “Reckon we got about another—” The screen went black. “Shit.” He tapped the screen but it remained lifeless. “Five miles and we should be near the ski lodge. There’s a river up ahead, we just follow that.”
As if to answer, Alexis’s flashlight dimmed and regained brightness once again. “Let’s push on,” she said. They walked back onto uneven ground, moving past another old sign which showed the trail they were about to travel along. It confirmed their direction and the eventual goal.
“I don’t think there’s any snow on these hills, but maybe they were open for pre-season or something.” He had never been near a ski slope in his life.
Soon the sound of rushing water drew them towards the river, and they skirted along its edge. Alexis’s light was so dim it was almost useless, and they were relying on their dilated pupils to guide them along the damp ground, between boulders and trunks of pine trees that were becoming a frequent sight.
As they walked, Mike’s mind kept wanting to place his son’s face in front of his eyes. Not the killing machine his body had been compelled to become but the young man that for a brief few seconds he got a glimpse off, before he was sucked back into the abyss.
He stopped. He was sure he could hear a distant ringing. He had been hearing it for most of the trek down from the first mountain, but put it down to the wind, except there were no gales or gusts where they were, only trickling water. He wondered if it was tinnitus, a condition his father had developed around the same age. “This is going to sound crazy but—”
“You can hear a ringing?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank god. I thought I was losing my mind. Could it be a result of the explosion?”
He looked back up at the sky. The purple smudges were now being replaced with gray monotonous clouds. “Maybe.”
“How much further? I’m freezing.”
He walked to her and rubbed her upper arms up and down. Even in the gloom he could see a bemused look on her face. “This isn’t doing anything is it?”
He went to smile, but she pulled him to her and their lips met. She then briefly hugged him, and continued along the trail.
“Another thirty minutes of walking and we should see something,” he said.
Ten minutes later her flashlight completely failed, but they realized they could mostly see where they were going because of a dull glow coming from the sky. Neither spoke of it though. Stumbling along, they tripped over small rocks but mostly kept to the path along the river until he spotted some artificial dark shapes against the horizon.
“There’s something up ahead,” he said, his muscles and joints reminding him of his age. He needed to find refuge soon. He figured they had covered at least ten miles in uneven terrain, and he just wasn’t built for that. Maybe twenty years earlier, but not anymore.
A large metallic post loomed above them, with thin lines just visible stretching through the sky in two directions.
“Ski lift,” said Alexis. “Look! Up there to the right!”
Dark flat blocks sat at the top of a small hill about a mile off. Salvation.
“I don’t see any lights,” he said.
They both set off following the cables from the lift and were soon on more solid ground. Mike wanted to jog, but his legs weren’t allowing for that possibility. Alexis though was running and he soon saw her ascend, and then disappear. A metal clang rang out and he just made it to a set of small stairs to hear her swear and then run up to the entrance of a wooden lodge which doubled as a store.
She banged on the secure door. “Hello? Anyone there?”
The sound of shattered glass filled the night and she looked around shocked. Mike looked back at her with a chair in his hand. “We have to get inside.” He knocked out the remaining glass and climbed through, promptly knocking over a stand, which landed with a sharp thump on the hardwood floor. He navigated around the obstruction to the door but felt the hole for a key. “You have to come through the same way I did, it’s locked from the inside!” He helped her through.
“There’s got to be flashlights in here some—”
Mike’s face lit up with a chunky plastic light in his hand. He went to toss another one to her, but she was too busy putting on a winter jacket, scarf, then woolen hat from a rack of clothing. He swung the cone of light around the interior. A whole range of winter and survival gear came into view, but he was most interested in the row of solar and wind up AM and FM radios. He moved across the floor, the floorboards creaking as he went and pulled the first radio from the high shelf, then turned a knob. White noise came from the small speaker. He rotated a second knob and watched a needle move along a dial. The further it moved the heavier his shoulders felt. Could the explosion have killed all radio communication?
“Go back, I think there was something there,” said Alexis.
He twisted the plastic button counter-clockwise and sure enough, voices with background noise could be heard. He increased the volume.
“Most communication networks are still down,” said a male voice with background noise. “But there are thousands of people on the streets, cheering.”
“Where are they?” said Alexis.
Mike shook his head.
The man on the radio continued. “The alien machines, or whatever they were, dissolved. They’ve gone! The nukes worked!” Shouts and excited screams echoed out.
Alexis looked at Mike. “Maybe it is over…”
Banging came from the front door making them both jump.
CHAPTER TWO
A young man in a winter jacket and blue woolen hat look ed through the broken window, squinting against the beam of light in his eyes. “Err… hi?” he said to the two dark forms looking back at him.
“Who are you?” said Mike.
“I’m Gary… who are you? And can you point that light to the side?”
“I’m special agent Mike Richter and this is special agent Alexis Adams.” Mike moved the beam slightly.
“Are you here because of the flash of light? Me and my girlfriend have been camping nearby and the night lit up and now it looks like there’s a storm brewing.”
“You don’t know what happened?” said Alexis.
“No… why? What happened?”
Alexis looked at Mike. “Where’s your girlfriend?” said Mike.
“With the tent. I thought I’d come down to the lodge and see if anyone knew anything.”
“You left your girlfriend out in the wild?” said Alexis.
“She can take of herself. So what was it?”
“An explosion. You need to go get your—”
“You got any ID?”
Mike felt his back pocket. His badge was gone. He felt another pocket, then his jacket but it was nowhere to be found. “Fuck…” He couldn’t remember the last time he was without his badge. It was like he had left a limb behind.
Alexis found hers and walked to the window, holding it up.
The man nodded. “I lied. Darlene is around the back of this building. When I saw those guns on your belts, I needed to know you were who you said you were.”
“That was good thinking,” said Mike. “We can’t get the door open. You’ll both have to climb through the window.”
He nodded and disappeared back into the darkness.
Alexis looked over the rest of the store. “I’m going to find food and water.”
Mike spotted some gas heaters along a wall. “I’ll see if I can get some of those working and we should check out the back rooms.”
She took another of the radios, then a flashlight and moved off across the aisles.
Crunching came from outside and Gary’s face appeared. He looked inside, now with his own light, then glanced over his shoulder. “It’s safe.”
“You sure?” said Darlene.
“They’re FBI, doesn’t get safer than that.” He stepped back. “You go first, I’ll help you up.”
A slim, short woman with tied back blonde hair and a winter hat clambered through the opening and landed lightly inside. She smiled sweetly at Mike.
“I’m—”
Her eyes grew big and she lunged forward at the rack of brightly colored winter tops. “They already got the new winter line in stock!”
“Mike…”
Gary climbed through. He was taller than Mike, but about two waist sizes slimmer. He pulled his hat from his head, allowing his medium length sandy colored hair to flop around. Mike felt like he was looking at a younger version of himself.
“So… the store owners are gone?” He looked around. “They were here a week ago.”
“A lot can change in a week,” said Mike. “You really know nothing of what’s been happening?”
“No. Why?”
Mike went to speak when a distant rumble echoed around the peaks outside.
“I hate thunder,” said Darlene, flicking through the line of clothes.
Mike wondered if he should warn the young man before telling him what had happened, but he was too tired for niceties. “A nuclear device was detonated roughly twenty miles from here to the west. Similar devices were exploded around the world, I think at the same time.”
A smile broke out across Gary’s face.
Darlene spun around, facing her boyfriend and holding an orange top up against her chest. “What do you think of this one?”
Gary ignored her, his smile dissipating on not seeing a similar expression on the agent’s face. “You’re not joking are you…”
Mike shook his head.
“Are we are war?”
Another boom in the sky rattled the rafters above them and a gust came through the hole in the window.
“Not exactly…” Mike ran through a number of scenarios, from telling the young man the complete truth to going with the media’s bullshit alien story. “It’s complicated.”
“How complicated can it be? Everyone’s dropping nukes, are we at war or not?”
They both felt a presence and looked at Alexis who had an arm full of candy and health bars. “They got a whole camping food section back there.” She looked at the younger man. “We’re not at war with other countries no, but there was something attacking us, and maybe the bombs took care of it…” She dropped the food on the wooden counter.
“Ooo I’m starving!” said Darlene grabbing a few raisin and nut encrusted bars, and tearing the wrappers off.
“Darlene! Did you hear what they just said? They dropped the bomb!”
“I heard, but what can I do about it?” She took a bite and he frowned.
Mike walked to the gaping hole that a fresh chill wind was blowing through. The clouds above were moving fast. He realized the ringing had gone, being replaced with a patter of raindrops on the roof. Distant memories bubbled up of a course he did during the early days at the academy. One which covered ‘end of the world scenarios.’ They were definitely close enough for radiation to be an issue. He swung his flashlight beam around the store. “We need to cover this window.”
“Oh shit, yeah. Fallout right?” said Gary. “Like the rain can kill you and stuff.”
“Not straight away but eventually. It’s better we don’t get wet. Can you look in the other rooms and make sure there are no windows open, or gaps where the rain might get in?”
“Sure.” Gary walked quickly behind the counter, Darlene following, then both moved through a staff door.
Alexis reappeared with a few bottles of water, one of which was already open. She passed it to Mike and he had a quick few gulps, then looked again around the store. “Ah.” He spotted a large wooden advertising sign, that stood near the entrance. “Now we just need nails and a hammer.”
*****
The store had two more rooms, one almost the size of the shop itself which was full of stock and another which was an office. Only the latter had a window, which was closed. Mike and Alexis lay on the ground, both in sleeping bags, surrounded by lit oil lamps, a few radios and an assortment of packets of food and bottled water. A lone heater sat near the door, doing its best to warm the room, while a small desk and a series of metal filing cabinets rested along two walls.
Mike studied a map of the area, his eyelids starting to resist his efforts to plot a route to the nearest city. He looked at the woman sleeping next to him, almost concealed by her bag, and lightly placed his hand on her shoulder. She murmured something in her sleep, making him quickly pull back. He had forgotten what it felt like to care about someone else. That spot was reserved for Clara. He looked back at his map trying to suppress the feelings of guilt, then feeling stupid for doing so. For six years he hadn’t looked at another woman, did not even want to. His job consumed his daily thoughts and his retirement plans the nighttime ones. But it was drink that allowed him to sleep. He had managed to keep it under control, only being late to a crime scene a few times. He suspected Daryl knew, but like a true friend he never brought it up.
As the rain pounded the window Mike wondered where he and the others were. They couldn’t still in Sulerosa. That city was probably evacuated, but were they all under arrest or heralded as heroes?
Images of Travis rolled through his mind. Not the digitized version, but the real teenager that was his flesh and blood. In the end it was both of them working together that stopped the AI’s plans for global domination. Mike smiled at that thought, then sighed with a bitter taste in his mouth on remembering Travis’s last few seconds. Sucked into a sea of mechanical chaos.
Static mingled with other noises from the nearest radio, jolting his mind into his current surroundings. They had a few of them set to different frequencies. He leaned forward, trying to hear but the volume was so low that he couldn’t get a take on what the sounds could be. He unzipped the bag, and quietly got to his feet, taking a flashlight and the radio outside into the corridor. The door to the stockroom was closed. That’s where they young couple chose to spend the night.
