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Excerpt From American Messiah
Excerpt From American Messiah
Messiah
BY
James A. Hall
Part I
Chapter One
Chapter Two
My Dearest Valora:
If you are reading this letter, it means that my worst
suspicions and fears have been realized. From this
day forth, you must face the fact that the nation, as it
once was, has vanished like a mirage. Keep in mind
in the coming months that everything that I did, I did
for the two of you.
I tried to raise you to be a realist, but you were
always a dreamer. Good thing too. The world will
need dreamers and idealists more than ever. The
world that you envisioned is now within your grasp.
You must take the remnants of the old world and help
to construct a better world on top of the ruins of the
old.
Daddy
It seemed that her father had seen the dark, storm clouds
gathering far off on the future horizon long before most. He’d been
downloading articles from the electronic newspapers, as well as,
military and survivalist data from a large cross section of sites.
But, that wasn’t anything new. He researched countless topics. He
had a passion for knowledge.
In addition, he was an avid chess player, honing his skill in
the city’s parks. Through the game of chess, he taught Valora the
fundamentals of military science and the art of war. He taught her
to plan her moves far in advance and to use each piece in
combination with the strengths and weaknesses of the other pieces.
Her father was fond of saying that the seeds of both victory
and defeat lay in every move. Even a retreating move should
compel one toward victory and not simply delay one’s defeat.
As she grew older, the two of them poured over the
campaigns of Napoleon, Lee and Hannibal and discussed the
tactical philosophies of Shaka, Sun Tzu, and Machiavelli, the way
most families discussed box scores.
Hours seemed like minutes as she sat alone, allowing her
father’s grave message to burrow in. Valora could feel her father’s
pain in his every word. She wondered what could coax him away
from his family.
Having foreknowledge of the coming fate of the world must
have forced him to die a thousand deaths, she thought.
Valora took another sip of tea, sat the mug down, and curled
up in the recliner. Fully relaxed, she stared at the family photos
adorned throughout the den. The resonating warmth of the tea
mixed with memories of happier times brought a smile to her face.
As her father had forewarned, the coming days saw the start
of widespread bank failures sending out shock waves across the
globe from ground zero, New York City.
Night after night she sat watching her country coming apart
on MSNBC. Meanwhile, Olivia slipped deeper into darkness.
Valor knew that whatever she was going to do, she had to do it
soon. Their window of opportunity was quickly closing. She was
certain that she could get them to the underground refuge, but what
then? With no better plan, she decided to go for it.
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
In the dark void, there was only the pounding of her heartbeat,
and the feel of a Death-Valley-like dryness against her face. Valora
soon spotted a flashing red light on what she took for an electrical
panel. After lowering Olivia gently to the floor, Valora ventured
across the stretch of unknown. Cautiously, she inched forward, her
arms outstretched, her steps probing the divide. After reaching the
beacon, she felt around on the face of the panel for an on switch.
Valora pressed the switch and the florescent lights overhead
staggered on, randomly. The room was slowly taking shape
through Valora’s squinted eyes. Mouth agape, she wandered
throughout, growing increasingly astonished as she went.
The museum storage rooms had been overhauled into a small
maze of rooms separated by partitions. Right off she saw her
father’s meticulous nature and his disciplined mind in the modular
floor plan. Though practical, the living quarters did not want for
comfort.
The smallest of the four spaces comprised twin beds. The
other three areas, equally modest, included a kitchen, a living area
and a workstation. Each section was well designed and outfitted
with the best equipment that money could buy. Down a long
narrow causeway and behind a formidable door sat twin
generators. Valora found the deep drone from the generators
strangely soothing and in the days ahead would spend hours there
reading.
Just beyond the generators was another door. Behind it were a
giant fridge and a sub-zero walk-in freezer stocked with enough
food to feed an army. The last stop on the tour was a door with the
word ‘Caution’ stenciled overhead, a skull and crossbones
hammering home the message. Valora decided that finding out
what was behind the last door could wait.
Over the first few days, Valora spent countless hours surfing
the Net. Using a back door that she and some friends had installed
in one of Berkley’s mainframes, she crisscrossed the globe using
satellite uplinks. With most commercial sites abandoned, pirated
sites and government-sponsored sites were her windows to the
world. The fact that they gave such conflicting reports was a
source of amusement. Painstakingly, she pieced the information
together into a plausible account.
Official sites provided daily updates, mostly scripted stuff. But
something was better than nothing. Each morning she monitored
emergency broadcast by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency sites where they warned residents to stay indoors while
giving the locations of staging areas for evacuations, and
emergency services. Valora interpreted the message to mean,
venture forth at your own peril.
Chapter Five
September 2, 1012