Survivors, page 1
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Preface
Exodus - Day 1
Exodus - Day 2
Exodus - Day 3
Exodus - Day 4
Exodus - Day 5
Exodus - Day 6
Exodus - Day 7
Exodus - Day 8
Exodus - Day 9
Exodus - Day 10
Exodus - Day 11
Exodus - Day 12
Exodus - Day 13
Exodus - Day 13 - Night
Exodus - Day 16 - Arrival
Greeting
Dinner
EBO - Day 1 - AM
EBO - Day 1 - In the Beginning
EBO - Day 1 - PM
EBO - Day 2 - AM
EBO - Day 2 - PM
EBO - Day 3 - AM
EBO - Day 3 - PM
EBO - Day 4
EBO - Day 5
EBO - Day 6
EBO - Day 7
EBO - Day 8
EBO - Day 9
EBO - Day 10
EBO - Day 11 - AM
EBO - Day 11 - PM
EBO - Day 12 - AM
EBO - Day 12 - Revelations
EBO - Day 12 - Step by Step
New Horizons
Epilogue
Enjoy this book? Make a difference!
Characters
About the Author
Also by J. J. Mathews
The Recycled Earth
1. Searchers
2. Droppers
3. Survivors
The Recycled Earth
Book 3
J. J. Mathews
Copyright © 2024 J. J. Mathews
Smashwords edition
All rights reserved.
First published in 2024
Cover artwork by Mail Creative / @mailcreative
https://www.instagram.com/mailcreative
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand.
Print ISBN: 9781738608089
eBook ISBN: 9781738608072
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Mouse Moon Press
PO Box 27055
Garnett Ave
Hamilton 3257
New Zealand
www.mousemoonpress.com
Dedication
For my sons, Michael, Liam, and Daniel.
Preface
Year 998 P.E. (Post Earth)
A thousand years ago, humans destroyed the Earth.
Dead. No life. Gone.
We now live in thirteen Arks orbiting the dead planet, hoping it will someday recover and support life once more.
Searchers have spent centuries looking in vain for signs of recovery on the Earth below, and for hospitable planets out amongst the stars.
Day in, day out, analysing the endless streams of images that Oversight brings them, looking for the tell-tale green of life.
Until one day, eighteen-year-old Miya saw something else.
Something that shouldn’t exist on the dead planet below.
Something she wasn’t supposed to see.
Fearing for her life, Miya fled the Ark to the inhospitable planet below.
After arriving on the surface, Miya and her companions set out on a mission to rescue her husband. They travelled hundreds of kilometres on foot, on the edge of deep winter in the middle of an ice age.
Miya and her companions have rescued Thomas – only to be rescued themselves by the mysterious fire-spitting drones sent by Oversight.
Where are they being taken, and why?
Their questions remain stubbornly unanswered as Oversight asserts its influence once more.
Exodus - Day 1
Thomas stared out of the window at the circle of ash that was all that remained of Mars Base Two West. The four-seater drone aircraft had been circling the site for over an hour, looking for signs of life.
“It’s hard to believe that they were actually cannibals,” said Hank, squeezing Thomas’s hand.
“Uh-huh,” said Thomas, his gaze fixed on the devastation below. Nothing stirred in the ash and snow, other than wisps of smoke drifting on the breeze. Thomas had mixed feelings about finding nobody alive down below. Yes, they had all been cannibals, but what had happened to them the day before had been horrific. Seeing people being burned alive wasn’t something he wanted to repeat anytime soon.
“I mean, we’re lucky the drones saved us, right?” Hank prompted.
Thomas pulled his hand free. “If you say so.”
“Hey.” Hank put a hand on Thomas’s shoulder, and Thomas flinched. Hank withdrew his hand.
After one final circuit of the smouldering remains, the aircraft levelled out and headed southward. Thomas continued looking out the window until the last traces of the burned-out village disappeared behind them. When Thomas turned away from the window, his expression was grim. “I should be down there.”
Hank’s eyes went wide. “You mean leave you behind? There’s no way Miya and I would abandon you. We just walked for weeks to find you.”
Thomas shrugged. “That’s not … what I meant.”
Hank put a hand on Thomas’s shoulder. Thomas flinched and tried to push Hank’s hand away, but Hank tightened his grip.
“Let go of me, Hank.”
“No.” Hank shook his head. “Now you listen here, Thomas Jacob Solas, whom I love and cherish. You do not deserve to die.”
Thomas stared at Hank. “I do. Cannibals deserve … to die. You’ve seen … the proof. You should let go of me, or you might … get flame-balled too.”
Hank stared intently into Thomas’s eyes, but Thomas just stared back at him with a haunted expression. Hank let his hand fall. “I strongly disagree. But maybe you’ll listen to Miya.”
Miya leaned forward and put a hand on Thomas’s knee. “We love you, Thomas. We talked about this last night. You did what you had to do in order to survive. That’s all. It’s not your fault what they made you eat.”
Thomas drew in a ragged breath. “Doc and I snared a little … once I was strong enough, but it made … no difference. We ate white meat, Miya. White meat … from fucking people! Somebody’s mother, or father, or—” Thomas burst into tears.
Miya looked up at Hank. Hank wrapped an arm around Thomas and pulled him close. This time, Thomas didn’t resist. His tears dampened the front of Hank’s jacket as his body shuddered with grief.
Miya unbuckled her restraints. She slid off her seat and knelt awkwardly on the jumble of gear they had piled up between the pairs of facing seats. She leaned forward and held Thomas, too. “It’s going to be okay, Thomas. You’re going to be okay, I promise.”
“I’m n-not okay,” Thomas gasped. “Maybe never.”
“Shhh,” said Miya. “Give it time, that’s all.”
The three of them remained like that for several minutes until finally Thomas took in a ragged breath and wiped his eyes. “I don’t deserve … you two, either.”
Miya slapped his leg and looked up into his face. “Now you listen up, Thomas. We love you. Hell, we walked to the ends of the Earth to save your sorry ass. Now the least you can do to thank us is to not be a dodo.”
Thomas gave her a lop-sided smile. “A dodo.”
Hank loosened his grip around Thomas. “Yes, a dodo. It may not feel like it right now, but you deserve to live, Tom. And we love you. That should be enough for now.”
Miya shifted her weight back onto the tangle of equipment. “We’re here to help you through this. But I don’t want to hear you saying you should be dead, or that you don’t deserve us.”
Thomas wiped his eyes. “It’s going … to take some time … for me to feel like I … deserve any of this.”
Miya smiled. “We’ve all got things to deal with, the things we’ve had to experience. I mean, look at Sam with his broken ribs. He did what he had to do to save you, despite his injury. He’s paying for that, but hopefully resting like this while we fly wherever we’re going will help in the healing.”
“They’re just cracked, I think,” said Sam. “And resting seems to help. Rest, and time should help Thomas, too.”
“Just don’t do anything stupid.” Miya patted Thomas’s knee, then slid back up onto her seat. “The rest, we can work on one day at a time.”
“Hurry it slow,” said Sam. “That’s what we do, to stay alive on the trail. And that’s how we saved you. You said you owe me your life, right?”
Thomas smiled weakly. “Yes, I said that.”
“Right.” Sam took a breath, then spoke slowly and carefully. “Well, if you owe me your life, then I want you to promise not to do anything stupid with it. And I owe Miya my life, so that makes it double on you. Don’t be a dodo. Can you do that?”
Thomas stared at Sam. “I don’t know … what you’re saying.”
Sam studied Thomas closely. “I don’t like the look in your eyes, Thomas, not one bit. I’ve seen it before.”
“Where?” Miya turned sideways to look at Sam.
“On the faces of friends who went for the long walk in the dead of winter when our bellies were the most empty, and the food was nearly gone.”
“Why would they go for a long walk?” asked Hank, then his face paled. “You don’t mean—”
Sam fixed Hank with a cool stare. “They sacrificed themselves to save the rest of us. One less mouth to feed can make the difference between life and death for several other people. At Two West, they’d have gone into a pot. But we don’t do that.”
“Holy shit.” Miya trembled. “People actually did that? Sacrificed themselves and walked off into the snow to die?”
“Yep.” Sam sat upright in his seat and grimaced. “That same look is in Thomas’s eye right now. So you two hug and coddle Thomas all you like. It will probably help.”
“Okay.” Miya nodded. “We can do that.”
“Good.” Sam drew in a careful breath, then spoke. “Because I’ll be fucked if I’ve walked three weeks through second snow into a nest of cannibals just for him to go off and die on us voluntarily. That ain’t right, no, sir. So yes, I’ll have that promise from Thomas.”
“What promise?” asked Thomas.
Sam fixed him with a stare. “Promise me, promise us, that you won’t be a fucking dodo and get yourself killed.”
Thomas stared at Sam. “I wouldn’t—”
“Swear it. Promise us. Right now.” Sam hissed, pain etched on his face.
Thomas looked at the others. “I wasn’t going … to do anything, I swear.”
Miya raised an eyebrow. “I think you should do what Sam said. You keep your promises, right?”
Thomas gave an exasperated sigh. “Fine. I promise … not to kill myself or … be a fucking dodo. It sounds stupid … even saying it.”
“But you promise?” asked Sam, his eyes fixed on Thomas.
“Yes,” Thomas hissed. “I fucking promise. Are you happy?”
Sam studied Thomas’s face, then nodded. “Happy enough. Now I, for one, would like to hear what happened to you since you left the Ark.”
“Maybe we should let Thomas be,” said Miya. “What happened to him was obviously traumatic.”
“It must have been,” said Hank. “We can talk about it later. Hurry it slow, right? Give Thomas a chance to recover?”
“No.” Sam grunted as he shifted in his seat.
“Those broken ribs seem … pretty painful, Sam,” said Thomas. “Miya and Hank are right. We should all rest.”
Sam shot Thomas a dark glance. “I’ll be fine. In fact, a nice story-telling can be soothing, they say. Takes the mind off things. So start talking.”
Thomas took in a breath, then shook his head. “I don’t remember all of it.”
Sam gestured with his hand. “Then tell us what you do remember.”
Thomas dragged his fingers through his hair. “Where do I begin?”
Sam pointed at Miya and Hank. “They both got dropped from an Ark. Obviously you did, too. What happened after that?”
Thomas cast a furtive look up at the ceiling. “We’re being … watched by Oversight, you know.”
Sam shrugged. “I kind of figured that. Drones snoop on us around Mars Base Zero from time to time. Now we’re flying in a big drone. Of course they’d be snooping. That’s what Oversight does.”
Thomas sighed. “Okay. Well, up on Ark Three, Katriana … forced me into a capsule—”
“Your first wife, right?”
Thomas nodded. “Yes.”
“The one who’s part of Oversight,” said Sam.
Thomas’s eyes widened. “How do you know that?”
“Miya told me.”
“Right.” Thomas shook his head. “Well, there was something … wrong with my capsule. The round thing above me — the parachute … didn’t work properly. It didn’t make a proper circle … when I looked out the window. Some of the ropes sheared off … left one side flapping. When the capsule … landed, it hit really hard, and … I blacked out. The next thing I knew … someone was poking me … with a stick.”
“They poked you with a stick?” asked Miya.
“Yes,” said Thomas. “I was hanging inside the … capsule, in the middle of a … creek, strapped in. The capsule … ripped up a lot of forest … on the way … down the mountain. Thrown around … like a rag doll. Took me a while … to talk … proper again. Banged up … pretty bad.”
“Holy shit,” Hank whispered. “You’re lucky to be alive.”
Thomas nodded. “Should have … been dead. Purée, Jake said. He and Simon … dragged me … back to Mars Base Two on a trav, though I … don’t remember … much of that. The doc … Clarence … took me in, healed me … fed me. It would have been … easy enough to just … let me die. But he said he … took a vow to … do no harm.”
“I didn’t know you went through all that,” Miya whispered.
“Doc saved my life.”
“And he fed you white meat,” said Sam.
Thomas shivered. “Yes. Not … his choice, he said. They wouldn’t let him … leave the base. He fixed them up … when they got hurt. And they brought him … white meat.”
Sam shook his head. “If I was in your position, Thomas, I’d have done the same thing while I was an invalid. Eaten what I was given, I mean. No shame in that. You probably didn’t know what it was.”
“Not at first. When I was … strong enough, I … cooked for Clarence. Then I found out … what I was eating. The choice was to eat … or die and end up … in a pot. But we snared when we could … for dark meat. Clarence taught me … how to do that. He could have done … some snaring, but he didn’t … trust Simon … one bit.”
“The same Simon that rescued you?”
Thomas snorted. “Turns out … that Jake … saved my life. Simon was … a murderer. Everyone else … ate white meat … that was … already dead. Not that … it made it right. People disappeared … and Simon … always had meat.”
“You’re a very lucky man, Thomas,” Sam whistled.
“And then … you came. Simon … murdered doc. The drone … flame-balled Simon. That’s it.”
Sam shook his head. “You’ve been through a lot, Thomas. But we’re here for you.”
Thomas nodded, visibly exhausted. “Thank you. No more … talk, please.”
“Okay.” Miya nodded.
The four fell into an uneasy silence until, one by one, they drifted off to sleep.
Miya watched Sam fiddle with the map in his lap as he tried to figure out where they were. It was hard to believe that only three weeks ago she'd been living on one of thirteen Arks orbiting the planet, searching for signs of life on the Earth below. And now, here she was, rescued by drones after discovering that humans had been surviving on Earth for years. It was all a big lie, but why? She stared out the window at tall mountain peaks off to her left, or east. Sam was having some difficulty with the change in perspective, so Miya helped him trace their route with her finger. The aircraft was apparently not that high in the air, relatively speaking, as the peaks still towered above them outside the window. But it was different from trying to work out their location on the map when their feet were on solid ground. The compass itself was completely useless. The red arrow spun in a slow circle as the rotors turned overhead. So they had to work things out by sight alone, searching for landmarks. That was getting more difficult as the sun sunk lower in the western sky, lighting up the tops of a long bank of low clouds.
“As best I can tell, we’re somewhere around Mars Base Four South, Two West. Straight south of Two West, about four hundred clicks or so.” Sam pointed. “But I doubt we’re going there.”
“Probably not.” Miya sighed.
The aircraft gradually descended and set down in a small clearing with a thump. The rotors slowed, then stopped. A harsh metallic clank reverberated through the interior.
The side door opened. A drone waited for them, hovering several metres away. The air was fresh outside, but slightly warmer than where they had left, though still below freezing. The trees all around them were covered in a thin layer of snow.
