The Gathering Storm (Surviving the Fall 2)

“Damocles infected them when they stole it?” The same general speaks again and the President answers before Dr. Evans can.

“Damn straight. That’s part of why it’s so dangerous. It learns from every interaction it has, be it with a system or a human, isn’t that right, Evans?”

“Indeed, Mr. President.” Dr. Evans pushes his glasses up on his nose and sighs. “Unfortunately, due to Damocles not being completely air gapped as I recommended, page thirty-five lays out the worst-case scenario for what’s going to take place over the next week. When I say worst-case scenario, though, you should know that I mean that this is the most likely scenario.”

Pages are turned across the table before a series of slight gasps are heard. “This can’t be true.” Another man in uniform speaks next, his face contorted in horror. “Is this some kind of a joke, sir?”

The President shakes his head grimly. “I’m afraid not. Evans?”

Dr. Evans clears his throat and tugs nervously at his collar. “Gentlemen, what you see before you is what Damocles was designed to do.”

“Surely our military systems are hardened against this!” A woman a few seats down nearly shouts and Dr. Evans shakes his head.

“I’m afraid not. Again, if my suggestions had been heeded then we would have had—”

“Evans.” The President speaks gruffly, glaring at Dr. Evans. “Stick to what we can do now that it’s out in the wild. A lot of people screwed up and I’ll personally make sure their heads are on spikes before it’s all said and done. But we need options right now. Suggestions?”

Dr. Evans eases back into his chair and runs his hands through his hair, then takes his glasses off and rubs the lenses with the bottom of his shirt. He says nothing for a moment as he stares across the room at a satellite map of the country. When he finally puts his glasses back on he takes a deep breath and turns back to the President.

“Pray, Mr. President. That’s the only thing to do at this point. Pray.”

Chapter 10

The Waters’ Homestead

Ellisville, VA

Nearly a week after setting up the security cameras, Dianne and her children fell into an uneasy routine around their home. With no signs of anyone on or near their property during the day or evening, Dianne began to relax her vigilance with watching the cameras and started focusing more on getting the house and property set up for a long-term stay.

Two days of work with Mark in a small clearing out behind the house yielded a fifty percent increase in power availability thanks to the installation of several new solar panels as well as two more batteries that Dianne had found in a box in the basement. There was enough power to keep the deep freezer, refrigerator, cameras, a few lights and a small space heater all running at once during the day. When night rolled around the batteries provided enough power to keep the freezer, refrigerator and cameras running, but Dianne restricted the use of lights

and the space heater.

Once the solar panels were set up and hooked up to the house, Dianne started replenishing the stock of firewood outside the house while Mark worked on collecting and cataloguing pieces of a potential greenhouse and aquaponics setup in one of the barns. Jacob and Josie, meanwhile, were tasked with working in the vegetable gardens and the small field where they collected potatoes, corn, squash and other vegetables. After stacking what they collected into paper bags, Jacob and Josie carted them back up to the house and took them down into the basement for Dianne to help sort through at a later point in time.

As Dianne stood up from helping Mark carry a large box full of rubber tubing out of a room in the barn, she realized that she hadn’t noticed the additional weight on her back for the last couple of hours. In addition to keeping her pistol tucked into her waistband Dianne also made a point of carrying her rifle on her back anytime she was outside. At first the weapon had been bulky and uncomfortable, but after a few days of work she started to not notice it as much until—finally—it felt almost natural to be carrying it. That realization bothered her more than she cared to admit, but she pushed it from her mind and refocused on the task at hand.

“Do you really think we can grow stuff down in the basement?” Mark scratched his head as he looked at the organized chaos of the supplies laid out on the floor of the barn.

Dianne nodded. “I do, yeah. These LED grow lights barely consume any power and there are enough of them here to fill almost the entire barn. I want to keep things confined to the house at first, though, especially as the weather gets colder.”

“How much do you want to grow?”

Dianne shrugged. “As much as we can. I think having some fresh greens all winter long will make things easier on everybody.”

Mark shook his head and snorted. “Not me, mom. I hate salads.”

Dianne laughed and embraced Mark in a hug before he could pull away. “I know you do, kiddo. Trust me, though, after a month or two of eating canned food you’ll be extremely happy to have some fresh veggies.”

“What is it we can grow in this, anyway? Just lettuce?”

Dianne scrunched up her nose. “Good question. Your dad’s first test was just with greens since it was a system that was full of water all the time. What I’m seeing here looks a lot more complicated, though. I think maybe he upgraded and got a fill and drain system. If so, then I think we can grow other stuff like carrots. I’m not sure, though. I guess we’ll find out!”

“Bleh.” Mark stuck his tongue out. “I’ll help grow everything but I don’t want to eat it.”

Dianne laughed again and patted Mark on the back. “Come on; let’s go see how much actual work the two J’s are getting done.”

Dianne and Mark headed out of the barn and Dianne locked it up behind them. Outside, Jacob and Josie were walking back from the house down to several rows of paper bags filled with food they had pulled from the gardens. “How’s it going, you two?”