Shenandoah Read online

  Chapter 20

  Marcus picked up her clothes, turned off the lights, left the bedroom, and closed the door. He was taking the clothes to wash them when the flash drive fell out of her pocket. Curious about it, he took it over to the computer station and loaded it. It basically installed an operating system and rebooted.

  Jocelyn’s voice came across the sound system.

  “Hello, Marcus. I’ve missed you,” said Jocelyn.

  “I’ve missed you too. I just didn’t know it until this morning,” laughed Marcus.

  Marcus spent an hour and told her everything that had happened to him since the crash. Then Marcus changed the discussion and asked about why everything was being jammed. Jocelyn ran a diagnostic and reported that the computer that she was installed on was on a network that connected to the source of the jamming but she didn’t have any access on the network.

  “This computer portal has access to the network, but I don’t have the code to gain access,” said Jocelyn.

  “Do you think you could work on being able to hack into the network?” asked Marcus.

  “I don’t have near the computing power that I have at Haven and I am severely limited by being cut off from my satellite uplink,” said Jocelyn. “However, I will start immediately working on that. Based on the wave length that I am analyzing on the jamming frequency, there is a possibility that I may be able to circumvent the jamming and be able to link to the satellites.”

  “Good. Let me know if you make any progress,” said Marcus.

  Marcus knew that continuing to talk to Jocelyn would just interfere with her working on the hack so he got up and left her alone. Wynd had been asleep for a couple of hours and he knew that she would probably sleep at least three or four hours more so he got dressed, took his rifle, and went outside.

  It had quit snowing but the sky was still overcast. Marcus did a perimeter sweep and walked about a half mile out around the house. He didn’t run into any dinosaurs but he saw several tracks and most were of a larger species of dinosaurs. With the extra movement of the dinosaurs Marcus thought that maybe the weather was going to break.

  On the southern most part of his trek Marcus came across the tracks of a large tyrannosaur but it was headed away from Marcus. As he continued his circuit, he came across some tracks that made his hair stand on end. There was no mistaking it. It was the tracks of a saber tooth cat. Its paws must be almost as big as the big cat he shot a few months ago. Marcus quickly scanned the forest around his location. From experience, he knew that the cats could be as quiet as anything in the forest. Instead of continuing on, he decided he needed to get to some kind of shelter in a hurry. He headed straight for the house. As he walked he gradually picked up speed. He began to sense that he was being tracked. He had his rifle ready and kept scanning the trees around him. He wasn’t far from the house when he saw the big cat. It was creeping along the ground to his right. Marcus could tell by its actions that it was on the verge of attacking. Marcus was trying to decide what to do. He knew that if he ran the cat would attack immediately and if he didn’t it would probably go after him anyway.

  Finally, after a few seconds of indecision, Marcus pulled his pistol, started firing, and running towards the tree house. Almost simultaneously the big cat sprang up from the ground and started running at a dead run straight at Marcus. Having emptied his clip, Marcus turned and ran as fast as he could go.

  Marcus still had twenty yards to go when he glanced over his shoulder to see the cat was almost on him. He wasn’t going to make it.

  Chapter 21

  As Marcus raced for the house, he braced for the impact of the cat when he heard a boom. The concussion of the blast knocked him from his feet and he rolled several feet as he plowed into the snow. He felt like he had been hit by a truck. He laid there in the snow moaning when he remembered the saber tooth again. Struggling to get to his feet, Marcus was hit and driven to the ground. He started flailing about when he heard someone speak.

  “Get up you big baby. Are you going to let a girl kick your tail?” she asked.

  Marcus quit struggling and looked up at what was on top of him. It was his sister Kim. She couldn’t hold her composure any longer and wrapped him up with her arms. She began crying and held him as he struggled to his feet. As they were hugging, his brother David walked up.

  “I told her to take it easy on you but you know Kim,” he said as he gave Marcus a big hug.

  Marcus just then spotted the saber tooth lying motionless just a few feet from where they were standing. It had a huge gaping hole in its side and it was bleeding profusely.

  “What did you hit it with?” asked Marcus.

  “It’s a MX510 sniper rifle. It shoots a fifty caliber round with an exploding tip. It packs a punch. I don’t guess you are complaining are you?” asked David smiling.

  “Well… not much but it would have helped if you hadn’t let it get so close,” laughed Marcus. “How did you ever find me?”

  “Jocelyn was able to partially hack into the network and circumvent the jamming. Apparently, you had just left the house when she figured it out. We weren’t very far away and she took over and drove us within a couple of miles of here. We had just walked up when we saw you running with that big cat on your tail. You are lucky Kim is a good shot,” said David.

  They continued to talk as they made their way to the house. Kim and David marveled at how well the house was constructed and camouflaged.

  As they made their way into the house, Kim said, “Wow. This would be a great place to take a vacation. That is… if anyone was around that actually takes vacations. Oh well, it’s still beautiful.”

  “After living in a cave for about two weeks, it was like Buckingham Palace for me,” said Marcus.

  “I’ll bet. As soon as we can get squared away and have some time, I want you sit down and tell us about your ordeal. It must have been even more frustrating to not even know your own name,” said David.

  “Yes it was. After a couple of days I just started referring to myself as John. I figured John Doe was just as good as any,” laughed Marcus.

  As they entered the house, they heard Wynd yell.

  “Is that you Marcus?” yelled Wynd.

  Kim gave them the quiet sign and ran up the steps to the upper floor. Marcus and David followed a few steps behind them. Before Marcus could get to the bedroom, he heard the squeals of delight from Wynd and Kim. As Kim was sitting by Wynd in the bed and hugging her, it took several minutes for them to settle down enough to have a conversation.

  “How’s the leg?” asked Kim.

  “It hurts but the pain medicine is helping. Of course it just makes me sleep. I had just awoken when I heard y’all come in,” said Wynd.

  “Well it’s time for some more if you want it,” said Marcus.

  “I will in a minute but I’d like to talk for a little while,” said Wynd.

  They talked for another thirty minutes until Wynd said that she was hurting pretty badly. Marcus left to go get her medicine. He brought her the medicine and then went back to check with Jocelyn about what she had found.

  David, Kim, and Wynd talked for a couple more minutes when Marcus called them to the other room.

  They left the room and walked over to the computer screen Marcus was looking at. As they approached, Marcus spoke.

  “You aren’t going to believe what Jocelyn found,” said Marcus.

  David and Kim could see the shock in Marcus’ face as they both moved in and stood by him. They looked at the big screen and immediately both of their mouths dropped open.

  …if you enjoyed this, be sure to be on the lookout for the sixth installment of Tomorrow’s Past tentatively titled “Tomorrow’s Past: Sequoyah” by Everette Morgan. The group learns the whole story of what happened when the virus hit. Thanks to everyone that purchased this novelette.

  About the Author:

  Everette Morgan lives with his wife and kids in the most northwestern part of Georgia at the southern tip o
f the Appalachian mountain chain. His hobbies include fishing, hunting, sleeping, and reading… sometimes all at the same time. This is his fifth venture into writing. Constructive criticism is always welcomed and you can leave any comments/suggestions at [email protected]. Visit his webpage at http://trex480.wix.com/everettemorgan. Also, be sure to ‘like’ his page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EveretteMorgan480 .

  Check out his other books on Amazon Kindle.

  Tomorrow’s Past: The Hunt

  Tomorrow’s Past: The Rescue

  Tomorrow’s Past: The Reunion

  Tomorrow’s Past: The Raid

  Tomorrow’s Past: Shenandoah

  Tomorrow’s Past: Sequoyah (tentative title)

  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

  About the Author