The Reunion Read online

  Tomorrow’s Past:

  The Reunion

  By Everette Morgan

  Copyright 2013

  All rights reserved

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious and figments of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Proofread and edited by Janice Morgan

  Cover photo by E. Morgan

  Allosaurus courtesy of Jakub Halen

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Tears began to well up in Marcus’ eyes. He rubbed them and looked again.

  “Kim… Kim…? Is that you?” Marcus leaned closer to the screen.

  “Mar… Mar… Marcus?” Kim immediately began to cry. “I’ve been hoping and praying that you were still alive. I told David that if we were immune that you would be too.”

  “David is alive too?” Marcus was in total confusion.

  “He was alive the last time I saw him” Kim said with a worried glance.

  “But we were told that you both had died. I was there when Mom and Dad got the call” he said.

  “That’s what they wanted you to think. The government wanted to cover up what was going on. It’s a really long story so I’ll explain later. Right now, we really need your help. We are trapped and can’t go anywhere. Lauren has badly twisted her ankle badly. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is broken. We considered making a run for it but with Lauren hurt and all the children we have it would be way too dangerous. Besides, our vehicles are in no shape for travel. We were attacked by two allosaurs and they pretty much destroyed the vehicles. I guess we are lucky that they were able to get us this far. Seeing you is so shocking to me. David and I set up a code a couple of years ago to help us contact one another if we were ever separated. I never dreamed that when I actually made contact with someone and they answered it that it would be my little brother on the other end. I’m so happy it was you but still disappointed that I still haven’t made any contact with David. Is there any way you can help us?” she pleaded.

  “Of course and you know you don’t have to ask. Just let me know where you are at. Do you have the coordinates or an address?” he asked.

  “We are in the large annex at Clingman’s Dome in the Smoky Mountains National Park. As many times as we visited here, I know you still remember it. This place was renovated about a year before the virus hit and as luck would have it, everything is still functional. I’m back in the main communication room. We have enough food for at least a few more days but after that we will be forced to leave to hunt for food. We are too far away from either Gatlinburg or Cherokee to try and make it there. There is still plenty of wildlife to hunt here but you know what that means… There are plenty of predators too. There’s no way we can make it off the mountain with no transportation, several children, and Lauren’s hurt ankle,” she said.

  “You just sit tight. I will be there in a couple of days or sooner and I’ll bring y’all home with me,” said Marcus. “You just don’t know how thrilled I am about this….,” Marcus couldn’t finish for fighting back the tears. Finally he spoke again, “Have you got a little time to talk some more?”

  “Sure, I’ve got a little while. What would you like to talk about?” she asked.

  “How did you ever get to Clingman’s Dome? Start from the beginning,” said Marcus.

  Chapter Two

  “Okay. I guess I’ll start in Canada where David and I were at the time. Well, there were about fifty of us that came down from Montreal. We came down through Boston and then we went to New York. We were armed well enough that even though Canada was crawling with dinosaurs, we were able to travel without very many problems. Flame throwers are really handy when dealing with wildlife even when they are gigantic prehistoric monsters. We had the flame throwers mounted along with all of our guns. Beginning at the time we left, the first time we were hit really hard was at New York and it wasn’t the dinosaurs. It was a band of monsters that called themselves ‘Jackals.’ Sometimes I think humans are more dangerous than the dinosaurs…,” she said.

  Marcus spoke up when she mentioned the Jackals, “I’ve met a few of them before. The first one I talked to had a little attitude. Eventually, I was able to get it through his head though…”

  “Get what through his head?” she asked.

  He smiled, “Never mind. Continue with your story.”

  Kim continued, “Anyway, luckily we made it through New York with only minor injuries. The problem now, was that they knew where we were and they started following us. Mine and David’s plan all along was to travel to the lower Appalachians with this group and see if we could find some of our family. We planned to stay with this group as long as they were traveling our way. After the initial attack in New York, we really began to question whether or not we should stay with this group. Fifty people travelling together make a big target. Of course, travelling with fifty people also provided a certain measure of protection.

  “The Jackals that were following us started to make small attacks at different times which kept us on our toes. Occasionally they would break into camp, steal something, and sometimes sabotage our equipment. Although we lost a few people along the way, our numbers started to grow. As we travelled we started having a person here and there join us. Our number swelled to seventy-five. David began to notice that several of these people were questionable and I agreed with him. That’s when we started to seriously question the leadership of this group. With the added people, there was internal fighting and the leadership of the group started to fall apart.”

  Listening patiently, Marcus asked, “Why didn’t the group just find a good place, settle down, and maybe set up a small compound?”

  “The leaders of the group were convinced that the best place to settle was either southern California or Florida. California was ruled out immediately because of the problem with earthquakes and the distance, so we headed to Florida. Travelling was slow because of the damage created in the chaos that ensued after the virus hit. I’m sure you have seen all the traffic tie-ups and abandoned cars that litter the roads and highways. The stupid dinosaurs haven’t really helped much either. We were lucky to get a hundred miles a day. Anyway, about three weeks ago, we made it to Washington D.C. Apparently the group following us had sent word and got reinforcements. We drove straight into an ambush in Washington.” Kim lowered her head slightly and sniffled. Marcus could tell she was fighting to hold her emotions.

  “As we were driving through Washington, we ran into a major roadblock. This wasn’t just abandoned cars. Someone had set this up and it was a trap. We tried to turn around but they had circled around behind us and opened fire. There was confusion everywhere. I saw David take out three of their men and then there was a huge explosion. That was the last time I saw him. He could have survived or he could have been killed in the explosion. I don’t know. I took off and made it into a back alley and then into a large apartment building and hid there. I hid out and watched until the group moved out of the area. From my viewpoint I could tell they had taken several prisoners but I couldn’t tell if David was one o
f them,” she said hanging her head down even further.

  Continuing on she began again, “Over the next two or three days I looked for David but didn’t find him. I did find some of the other people that were with our group. There were eight of us. We had one man, four women, and three children. Travelling has been slow. We have tried to move during the day and travel on back roads to limit our chances of being spotted and recaptured. Travelling like this was working until we reached Gatlinburg. We were traveling in two old SUVs.

  “As we passed out of Gatlinburg and headed into the National Park, we were spotted by a small herd of allosaurs. They came at us and we tore out of there as fast as we could. Of course, it wasn’t smooth sailing. They did a lot of damage to the SUVs before we were able to finally get away. We made it to the top of the mountain where you turn back to go to Clingman’s Dome when the first SUV lost power and died. We all tried to squeeze into the other one and Tom had to ride on the luggage rack on top of the SUV.

  “We almost made it to the complex when we ran into two more allosaurs. The Smokies are infested with allosaurs. They ripped the remaining SUV apart. Luckily, in the confusion of the attack, we made it into the small annex building that is about a half mile before you reach the dome. I know you may not have seen the complex since its reconstruction but the ramp up to the main complex has been changed. It can be locked down without a problem so we knew that if we could make it there we would be safe from the dinosaurs.

  “So we holed up in the small annex building for a couple of days and then decided to make a run for the main complex. We were starving and thought that going there was our best chance. We headed out right before dawn and went as quickly and quietly as we could. We covered about half of the way before we heard them coming. It was the allosaurs again! They came out on the path behind us. As soon as they saw us they started running. They are so fast. I knew we weren’t going to make it. There was a pair of them.

  “Tom and Virginia were bringing up the rear. Tom turned and saw that they were going to catch us so he stopped, yelled at us to go on, turned around, and started running at them. They both attacked him at once and tore him apart. It was horrifying. Horrifying, but it was his sacrifice that allowed us to make it. Virginia has been devastated but she realizes that it was necessary or they may have killed several of us. Tom was a true hero.”

  She stopped and sniffled a little and then said, “Since that time we have been trapped here in the Smokies. We are slowly running out of food and I’ve been broadcasting for help for several days now.”

  Marcus sat listening taking it all in. He was thrilled that his sister was alive and that there was a possibility that his brother was also. As she finished he said, “I’m sorry about Tom. I’ll leave first thing in the morning. Unless I run into trouble, I figure I should be there in at least two days… maybe quicker or maybe longer. It depends on whether or not I run into trouble. How many people are with you now?”

  “There are seven of us,” she said. “Danielle and her two-year old boy, Lauren and her nine year old twins and Virginia.”

  “It may be a tight fit and I may have to ride on the roof, but know this… I will bring all of you home, so don’t worry about it. Tell everyone to get ready because I will be there. I love you sis and I can’t wait to see you. Tell everyone to pack their bags. Y’all are coming home with me,” he said smiling from ear to ear.

  “I love you, too. I going to go tell the others the good news and I’ll see you in a couple of days. “Goodbye,” she said. As she said that she reached forward and immediately the screen turned to static. Jocelyn shut the screen off.

  Chapter Three

  Marcus looked at Wynd and said, “I can’t believe she’s alive. It was so horrible the day I found out that they were gone. They weren’t just my brother and my sister. They were my friends. It hurt so much.”

  Wynd got up from where she was sitting and moved over and sat down next to Marcus. She took his hand in hers and said, “I am happy for you. In this world of pain and suffering, it’s so nice to have a break every now and again.”

  They leaned back on the couch. She laid her head on his shoulder and they sat there for several minutes without saying anything, just enjoying the moment. Finally, Marcus decided that he needed to get busy preparing to leave.

  Marcus and Wynd started discussing what would be needed. The MAV was a good sized vehicle but eight people in it would be too much. Not being able to come to a conclusion, Marcus thought for a moment and then asked Jocelyn, “What would you suggest would be best to transport all of us back to the mountain?”

  “There are several possible scenarios. Number one, I can control the MAV and drive to their location and pick them up and bring them back. Number two, you can go along and acquire an abandoned vehicle in their vicinity. Number three, you can drive the first MAV and I can drive the other MAV or one of the other vehicles. Are these acceptable solutions?” Jocelyn asked.

  Marcus rolled these options over and over in his mind and then asked, “What are the chances for success for the options?”

  Statistically, Jocelyn quipped, “First scenario: twenty-five percent. Second scenario: fifty percent and third scenario: sixty percent.”

  Curious Marcus asked, “Why is the third scenario option so low? I would expect that the chances of success would be greater with two MAVs.”

  Jocelyn answered, “I just ran an internal diagnostic on the second MAV and several errors were detected. After an analysis of the problem, it appears that the solar collector is malfunctioning. This may correct on its own because it hasn’t been in use or it could completely cease functioning. My recommendation would be a replacement for the solar collector. You will have to return to the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville for a possible replacement.”

  Looking over at Wynd, Marcus asked, “Do you have any ideas?”

  Shaking her head, Wynd said, “Not that I can think of… well what about taking one of the pickups. I can drive it…”

  Marcus stopped her in mid-sentence, “No. I won’t put you in harm’s way. If nothing else, I’ll drive the pickup and Jocelyn can drive the MAV. The pickups don’t have shields, but if I stay close enough to the MAV maybe I can extend the shield to cover the pickup too… What about that, Jocelyn?”

  “Statistically, this only has a fifty percent chance of success,” she stated.

  “What? Why so low?” Marcus asked.

  “Extending the shield to cover the pickup would substantially drain power from the MAV. If the day wasn’t bright enough, the MAV may not have enough power to make the trip,” she said.

  An idea finally came to Marcus that he thought would work.

  “What about the MAV and one of my Solar Force dirt bikes. They are made to attach to the back of the MAV. I could ride the motorcycle back and it’s small enough that I could get close to the MAV anytime there was any danger. It shouldn’t take that much power to extend the shield over the bike too,” said Marcus excitedly.

  “Based on that scenario, without any other problems, there is a ninety percent chance of success,” she stated.

  Marcus turned and looked at Wynd and said, “That’ll work. Let’s get started.” It took about an hour for Marcus to get dressed and load up everything. He included about twenty meals in the back because he knew they would be hungry.

  As they got everything prepared for Marcus to leave, he decided to ask Jocelyn about something he had been thinking about.

  “Jocelyn, would there be any use for the extra drone I brought back on my last trip to Chattanooga?” he asked. “It could come in handy with more range.”

  “Yes” she replied. “The drone is actually a military grade drone. The army had too many of them made and decided to add a chip to them to limit their capability and sell them to the public. For all intents and purposes, it is a military drone.”

  “Can you use it as it is?” asked Marcus.

  “We just have to make a slight modification. Bring the drone to the d
ining table and I’ll walk you through the process,” she said.

  Marcus brought the drone down and following Jocelyn’s directions, he was able to remove the chip that limited the capabilities of the drone.

  “Now that I have removed the chip, what are the capabilities of the drone?” he asked.

  “As you see, the drone is powered by a Solar Force engine. Functioning properly, the drone should be able to stay in the air without a break for approximately four weeks and even then the only reason to bring it down is for general maintenance. It can reach speeds of up to one hundred miles per hour and has an active range of five hundred miles. If I boost my signal, you can increase its range to one thousand miles. It is mounted with an ultra HD telephoto camera. It has a small grappling hook with a hundred feet of three hundred pound test line. There is an optional machine gun that can be retrofitted to it if you had it. The closest one that is still listed on the Army’s inventory is also at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. It has a ceiling height of five thousand feet,” she said.

  “Well, we won’t have time to get the machine gun, but I’m going to put that on my priority list as soon as I get back,” he said. Marcus picked up the drone and took it to the MAV. He still marveled at its capabilities and yet, it was extremely light. He wasn’t sure what material it was made out of but it was very light and very strong. As he finished loading, he noted that the rear of the MAV was almost full. It was about time to hit the road.

  Chapter Four

  It was around noon as Kim watched the allosaurs move around in front of the complex. They were the same two monsters that had killed Tom. She would love to take them out if she could. They were huge beasts. Not quite as large as a tyrannosaurus but still big with a nasty temper and appetite. She knew it was only a matter of time before they would try to breach the complex’s entrance and come after them.