Cataclysm: Survival in a Barren World by Robert F. Lundrigan Book Tour and Giveaway :)
Cataclysm: Survival in a Barren World
by
Robert F. Lundrigan
Genre:
SciFi Fantasy
The
story is told from two points of view. The Clark family finds
themselves seemingly alone on a barren planet while an alien named
Pzx is in charge of the fleet looking for a home. She is under orders
but would prefer to communicate with other beings. This is a tale of
the struggles of both of them as they seek to survive in a barren
world.
Bill
wakes at the crack of dawn and gets things ready for travel without
waking the others. As he leaves the main gate he stops to look in on
the ranger booth but no one is there. Somebody has left a uniform,
complete with shoes right there in the middle of the floor of the
small cubicle, and the cash box is open and filled with money. He
shrugs his shoulders at the strange condition but leaves the price of
a campsite rental for one night on the small counter and drives on.
Soon he is out of the Mammoth Cave National Park land and on the
entrance to the
highway
that leads towards Nashville. There hasn’t been a single car or
truck on the road so far but, now that he’s on the main drag,
there’s bound to be traffic.
He
looks both ways and there’s nothing coming in either direction. “I
know that there’s light traffic in the south as compared to the
north, but this is ridiculous,” he mutters to himself just before
he sees the two cars overturned in the ditch beside the road. He
stops and gets out to investigate. There’s nobody in the cars but
there’s clothing
scattered
about in both of them. He gets a terrible feeling in the pit of his
stomach. The road is straight and flat affording good visibility.
There’s no traffic in either direction. He waits for five minutes
and nothing shows up. Something is wrong, terribly wrong.
He
climbs back into the driver’s seat and proceeds slowly towards
Nashville. He sees more and more overturned and smashed vehicles
along the way but investigation always reveals the same thing - No
people in evidence but there is always clothing scattered inside of
each vehicle. There’s even watches and jewelry in some of them. His
head
is beginning to pound. None of this makes any sense. He turns on the
radio to get the news, to find out what in the hell is going on. All
he gets is the shoosh of the open airways. He scans the band over and
over but either his radio is broken or nothing is being broadcast. He
turns on the CB and gets the same shooshing sound, nothing more. “Oh
my God,” he shouts. “What is going on?”
His
shout wakes up the rest of the crew and they find him sitting in the
driver’s seat shaking like a leaf. “Dad, what’s the matter?”
asks Marty. “Are you alright?”
“There’s
nobody out there,” is all that he can say.
Diana
is the first to notice the smashed vehicles alongside of the road.
She shakes Bill and he snaps out of it. He tells them what he has
found, or has not found. The details are enough to numb them all into
a sort of semi-shock but Bill decides to press on towards Nashville
until they at least come to a McDonald’s or someplace where he
knows that there are always people.
For
a while they stop at every empty vehicle to investigate but it’s
always the same. They soon learn that it’s useless to stop, and
keep going until they come upon a sign that tells them there’s a
Burger King at the next exit. When they get to the exit ramp there
are several smashed vehicles and an overturned eighteen wheeler
blocking the way. The restaurant is nearby so they leave the
motorhome and walk. There’s no sound except the sound of a soft
breeze murmuring through the trees, and there’s no movement save
for that moved by the same breeze, and when they start walking, the
sound of their footsteps are like drum beats. The parking lot of the
Burger King is nearly full of cars and the big yellow and red signs
glow with the electricity that’s inside them.
“Looks
like there’s somebody here. The place is open,” shouts Mike as he
dashes on ahead followed by Marty and the girls .
When
Diana and Bill get to the top of the ramp the children are on their
way back, their faces as white as new fallen snow. There is shock in
their eyes. “All there is inside are piles of clothes but no
people. All the lights are on and there’s even Whoppers ready
behind the counter, but there’s nobody anywhere,” says Debbie.
“Oh, my God! What is happening, Daddy?”
“I
don’t know, honey. I don’t know.” He takes a sobbing daughter
into his arms, feeling helpless and confused.
They
go into the restaurant where Bill notices on the small computer above
the counter that the last order was taken at five-thirtyeight PM.
“Whatever happened must have happened at about five-thirtyeight
last evening,” he tells them, pointing to the screen.
Robert F. Lundrigan is a certified member of APICS and former Manager of Materials at General Electric. A native of Massachusetts, he graduated from Lowell Institute in Mechanical Engineering and later attended technical and creative writing workshops at Harvard. He has helped several companies as a consultant to improve profits by using the theory of constraints, with great success. Bob has written numerous articles for professional journals, this is his second novel.
***GUEST POST***
My
granddaughter, Amy, was pregnant with her second child in 2011 when
her doctor told her that the baby needed to be aborted because its
heart didn't develop properly and was only half a heart. Her own
heart was broken but she was determined so she went to a
specialist at Boston Children's Hospital, a place where miracles are
performed every day. It was a long hard pregnancy with less than one
percent probability of survival, but Amy was determined. When
the proper time arrived the surgeon took the baby by ceasarian
section and within the first hour of its birth performed a life
saving open heart surgery on the tiny heart, followed by two more
open heart surgeries before little Sammy was two. He never ate solid
food until he was three, but was fed through a plastic tube directly
into his stomach. It's a miracle beyond imagination, but little Sammy
is a happy, healthy little guy with a smile for everybody he meets.
To know him is to love him. I am donating all proceeds I receive for
Cataclysm to "It's My Heart, New England", a charity to
help the children and families of CHD in non medical ways. On June
24th of
this year there will be a family walk and picnic at Endicott Park in
Danvers Massachusetts. For details go
to walk.itsmyheartnewengland.org.
Sammy
will be here and so will I. Here's a picture of Sammy sitting
amongst a former years picnic tshirt
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the tour HERE
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Congrats on the tour and I appreciate the book description and the great giveaway as well. Love the tours, I get to find books and share with my sisters and now my twin daughters who all love to read. We have found some amazing books for everyone. So, thank you!
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