The media was quick to change their alliances and misinformation in the off chance the public should direct their attention on them next (which in some cases it still did). The media put out the word that the top officials had abandoned the White House and broadcasted the sad stories of citizens who had lost their lives.
The military that had been guarding the large quarantined area of the initial incident while not partaking in the civil war chose to disperse into the night. They returned to their families secretly stashing away their uniforms like discarded trash. A few of those military officers unknowingly had become infected while dealing with attacks of the
Fallen
. The man in charge of the quarantine site who was an avid lifer in the military for over thirty years finally broke down mentally from the responsibility, the desertion, and the downfall of the government. Being the last man at the facility which housed the survivors he decided to take his own life. Before he put a bullet in his own temple he shot every one of the civilians regardless of the fact that they had shown no signs of infection.
Nothing stopping the infected except unmanned fences and barricades the undead made their way out gradually over time. The term
Fallen
would soon hold several meanings. The most common meaning would be used for those who were overcome by other
Fallen
or from the plague that would bring a great rise in their numbers.
Chapter 1
Rising
I sometimes reminisce of the days before it all began. There are many things I really miss with a passion like family and friends, a hot shower, going out to a restaurant for a nice meal, or watching a movie in a theatre with the overpriced large bucket of popcorn covered in endless butter.
I suppose I should begin by introducing myself. My name is Ryan Pendleton, friends and close family call me Rye for short. I am of Irish and German decent, have dark brown hair, blue eyes, and am athletically in shape. I have a decent size family consisting of two sisters and a brother (Leah, Stacy, and Vance). Both of our parents passed away a few years ago in a car accident with a college student texting while driving. They were hit head-on doing about seventy miles an hour on an overpass. My siblings and I grew up in a large two story house in Smyer, Texas. Our parents worked hard to make sure none of us were ever wanting or in need. I was the second oldest after Leah. We all attended college getting degrees at a young age except for Stacy who had little or no desire in school. She was always more focused on her appearance, boys, and money. They say there is always one in every family at least who is the exception to the rest. Stacy always had a knack for finding trouble or creating it.
We eventually moved out and did our own things. I found employment in a law firm quickly becoming a partner and joint owner. However just to be clear let me say that my day job and who I was when not at work were complete opposites. I was known to get in some trouble myself (not like Stacy), but always knew how to take care of myself usually talking my way out of trouble with the law. I attended as many concerts, clubs, and parties I could in my younger days. Those eventually got tiresome so I learned to hunt, skydive, scuba dive with sharks, or anything that I found exhilarating with a little danger. At the same time I did make it a point to absorb any kind of knowledge I possible could. I was an avid book reader, a collector of historic memorabilia and antiques, and was an upstanding pillar of the community known for giving speeches about rights and justice. I wined and dined in expensive restaurants some nights. Others I could be found eating foods many have never heard of in the middle of nowhere.
My first house (excluding the cabin in Ruidoso, New Mexico I used for vacations a week or two out of the year) I bought was a quaint million dollars in Lubbock, Texas on three acres of land surrounded by a ten foot iron fence and lots of trees. The house itself was one that many said they could easily get lost wandering around inside. It was only two stories tall, but massive in size. As you can imagine there was always quite a lot of staff helping to keep things in order and running smoothly especially when I hosted parties.
Now just to emphasize, I was not born with money or left a great inheritance. Yes, the law firm I started off at and eventually completely owned paid a great deal of money. However, where this wet behind the ears lawyer of twenty-six made enough money to buy his first and extremely extravagant property was definitely not from currency tendered by legal matters, discovered in a sunken treasure chest while scuba diving, or from a magical leprechaun during my many visits to Ireland. In my spare time when not working long shifts with clients, I put to use another skill I learned in college. I developed and got a website fully running that quickly became a world sensation. Next thing I knew offers were pouring in to buy it. I eventually settled on two hundred million dollars while attempting not to laugh during the selling proceedings. I hired my law firm to handle the transfer making them quite a bit of money in the process. That alone became a good incentive for them to sell the law firm to me for a decent price not long after while my joint partners retired comfortably.
I saw no way I could spend all that money by myself in my lifetime since I was not a particularly greedy unscrupulous human. I bought all my siblings nice new houses, new cars, and spoiled my nieces and nephews that seemed to have become as numerous as branches on a tree (in truth there were only seven total). I dated a few women who like Stacy were interested only in wealth and not so much in an actual relationship. Eventually through trial and error I met Carmen while on vacation in California.
Carmen White was as the saying goes
as American as apple pie
. She was also as gorgeous as any super model in the fashion business. She was white, tall, long blonde hair, and had the body of a goddess. Needless to say she was highly sought after by many suitors (men and women included). Unlike the others I had met previously, money and looks were only secondary in importance to her. She was all about personality, old fashioned virtues, and how well a person fit with her likes and views in general. Because of her standards she chose to remain single waiting for the perfect one to come along.
The first time I saw her she was on a beach surrounded by admirers which she was quickly dispersing (as most were trying to impress her with their muscles, vulgar come on lines, or expressing their wealth and talents they possessed). When she was finally alone I decided to take a chance approaching her as others had done.
“Sorry to bother you. You seem to have quite the fan base here on the beach. You should be charging them since they appear to believe they are in an art gallery.” I told her with a smile.
“I do apologize, but I am actually quite exhausted from the endless gawking of my art today. Not sure I can handle much more appreciation.”
“Please allow me one chance to prove I am not only a connoisseur of art, but an individual whom has an appreciation of many things. I promise not to disappoint you as the others. Not today or hopefully ever.”
She turned and actually looked at me for the first time. She seemed to stare right through my soul with her beautiful blue eyes. She gave me a tiny smile, but I knew she was still full of doubt.
“I am Carmen. It is nice to meet you. You are quite handsome. Nice expensive watch too, is that a Rolex?”
“It is a pleasure to meet you Carmen. I am Ryan or Rye for short if you prefer. I may be handsome just as you are extremely gorgeous. However, I prefer a person with inner beauty above outer appearances. As far as the watch goes, a person has money or does not. It is not a defining factor of their principles or aspirations.”
For almost a full minute Carmen was completely silent. Obviously my words broke down one of her walls or she was in shock. Perhaps she simply just had disbelief in the authenticity of the words I spoke.
“Tell me Rye, what are your plans this evening for dinner? I would very much like to get to know you a little better.”
Dinner was followed by many more dates. We had endless conversations while strolling the parks. Eventually we began falling hopelessly in with one another. During the first year we dated I made many trips to California. In time I was introduced to her parents who had already known much about me from Carmen. Her father apparently had thoroughly researched on the internet including background checks until he was fully satisfied according to conversation during dinner. The evening went splendidly without problems. Carmen told me that I very much impressed her parents. They were delighted about the two of us being together. A few months later I proposed (after getting her father’s permission) having a small wedding with just family and a few close friends. I asked her if she preferred to find a house in California or somewhere between both of our families. She told me neither, that she would happily move to Texas. It was a big change for her, but after a couple months she grew accustomed to the odd weather changes, the wind and dust, and bad drivers. She also got used to the wealth, but never spent extravagantly or flaunted the money. She consumed a lot of time volunteering to help others in any way she could occasionally asking if it would be alright to give a donation to charity or for something small that would help out another family. Every day and every moment with her was full of amazement and wonder.
When the explosion occurred, we were both dumbfounded. We called around to see what we could do as far as aid or to help in any means (we both knew the government would be lacking in their duties to assist properly regardless of what they actually said). The propaganda speech from the President the following day made me just shake my head knowing fully that he was just another in a long line with their own agendas who spoke many promises while fulfilling a few. He spoke only as an absolute necessity to appease the public. I was not at all surprised about the riots when they began. I had known for a good ten years at least that the government was a complete failure being disgusted with it my entire adult life. I knew without a doubt what would be coming next (the dispatch of military to threaten the citizens into submission).
The government tried to mandate new laws making it impossible to buy guns or ammo, while at the same time began stock piling their armory on the greatest scale ever. These two things escalated the public into stock piling before the new laws could pass. Ammunition shortages became a huge thing throughout the nation. Prices of guns and ammo skyrocketed to new heights. Resellers made a killing on profit with ease. A large part of the population began making other preparations such as buying camping gear and survival items. Water purification tablets, filtration bottles, vitamins, and food with the longest shelf life were a few of the major selling items. Gold and silver prices rose to heights never imagined before as many prepared for the fall of the US dollar. The oil companies attempted to drain every penny they could with their outrageous prices creating a huge crime wave of gas thefts. So on and so on, the smart prepared and those who did not would soon wish they had or eventually become the ones who fought and killed for their supplies.
I was among the intelligent ones that prepared for the possibility of total military suppression. I even went so far as to fortify my property and make sure the cabin in Ruidoso was ready in case for some reason we needed to make a hasty escape to a secluded area with forests to easily disappear in.
I have already gone into detail of what happened once the military was dispatched to the major cities to the point of the top officials abandoning the United States to find support among allied Nations. The citizens celebrated ecstatic that the oppression and tyranny of a once great system was finally at an end. Just when everyone was beginning to relax and wind down, a new evil fell upon the nation.
During the months that followed everyone was focused on the issue of creating a new system of government or if we should even have one. Most simply lost interest or forgot about the area under quarantine. Unbeknownst to the public we soon had a new war to fight. The infected that the military kept secret for months while eradicating as many as they could find were let loose in the vicinity after the military guarding ground zero had dispersed. Several were dealt with by armed citizens after the media showed live footage of a group of these most bizarre undead humans attacking a couple at a park. It was not difficult for anyone to connect the dots of where this live footage was taken in correlation to the area that had recently been a under quarantine. These things were given the name ‘
Fallen
’ by churches and spiritual followers to express that they had befallen a great evil done to them including the loss of life, humanity, and individuality. The media helped to spread the term.
While all became aware of the
Fallen
, no one was in the slightest prepared for what else was to come. The storm that originally arose after the explosion eventually dissipating reforming about six months after its initial structure had broken down. The cellular structure of whatever was in that storm spreading through the atmosphere in an inactive state. The new storm brought the first snow of the year. Millions immediately came down with Pneumonia like symptoms which eventually spread outside the United States (now called Allied Nation by many by former resistance members). Millions turned into a billion in a short period of time across the vast expanses of the planet. In that time it was discovered that those that caught the new pneumonia like strand (Pneumonia Mortughetlicatis) termed by most Living Death eventually died. No known treatment or experimental drug would make them better. A race for a cure led nowhere despite the massive efforts. Those who died from the Living Death were reanimated joining the numbers of
Fallen
that grew exponentially. Around twenty percent of the world’s population came down with the Living Death epidemic. A bite from one of those
Fallen
led to an infection that would kill you in a few days becoming one of them. Looting for survival became a global thing for over half the surviving five billion population who were not prepared. In about three months food, water, and most other supplies became extremely sparse. Murder and suicide became a natural occurrence for many uninfected. Starvation killed off tens of thousands more daily. Without medication those in hospitals died and mentally ill became psychotic. Some of those mentally ill were basically harmless and wandered the streets talking to themselves until attacked by the
Fallen
. Others became a danger to themselves or others.