Starting the Slowpocalypse (Books 1-3 Omnibus)

  STARTING THE SLOWPOCALYPSE

  Books 1-3 Omnibus

  JAMES LITHERLAND

  www.OutpostStories.com

  Durable Impressions

  Copyright 2015 James Litherland

  Certain Hypothetical

  Copyright 2013 James Litherland

  Threat Multiplication

  Copyright 2014 James Litherland

  Compromised Inside

  Copyright 2015 James Litherland

  All Rights Reserved.

  Cover designs by James Litherland

  Disclaimer: As should be obvious, this book is a complete work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons, places, or things is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To God be the Glory

  (and all criticism should be directed to the author.)

  Contents

  Prequel Short Story: Durable Impressions

  Book 1: Certain Hypothetical

  Book 2: Threat Multiplication

  Book 3: Compromised Inside

  Also by James Litherland

  About the Author

  DURABLE IMPRESSIONS

  (Slowpocalypse Short Story, #0.5)

  Part 1 – Senior

  Part 2 – Freshman

  Part 3 – Officer

  (*Please note that Part 3 takes place midway through the events of Certain Hypothetical.)

  Part 1 – Senior

  7: 50 p.m. Saturday, May 27th

  KAT kept her eyes peeled for potential problems as she sped down the two-lane highway. Far from any large towns, there was usually no traffic to speak of on the four and a half mile stretch between the gates of her private school and the gates of home, but any vehicle she did see might be a threat. The state police didn’t bother patrolling through here anymore, and the local sheriff’s men didn’t venture out unless they had to. These days, trouble might appear anywhere at anytime.

  Even here. And if she ran into some, there was no one around to help her. She’d be on her own. So far she’d never needed to use the tactical driving instruction she had received, but the way things were going, the day would come. It might be today.

  It wasn’t. Kat soon reached the turn-off for her house and pulled up next to the digital lock box before the gates without having encountered a soul. It felt eerie, even as it was a relief. She leaned out the window of her beautiful blue pickup and punched in the current code to open the gates, still wary though the shrubs and trees that might’ve concealed somebody near the gates had long ago been cleared away. When the gates had swung open, she drove just beyond them and waited. Even when they had closed behind her without anyone getting through, she did not allow herself to relax, not completely. The fence and the gates were only so much protection.

  For almost a year now she’d been living at home alone, ever since her father had moved to the FURC compound where he worked—her mother had been living everywhere but home for a long time—and so Kat had learned to be careful. Very careful.

  As late as it was, diffuse light still spread across the sky, enough to see by, and the hairs on the back of her neck quivered when she saw the distant hulk of a vehicle already parked in the spacious driveway in front of her house. But by the time she pulled up next to the big black SUV, she’d relaxed again. She knew who her visitor had to be, and she could guess where he would be waiting for her.

  Climbing out of the air-conditioned cab into the hot, heavy air of an early summer, Kat darted up the few steps to the deck as Red rounded the corner and came bounding up to her with his usual enthusiastic welcome.

  Kat crouched down and let him slobber all over her while she rubbed the top of his head. Then she scratched behind his ears and grabbed him by both sides of his head and looked him in the eye. “Okay, boy, it’s good to see you too.”

  If her visitor had been anyone other than who it was, Red wouldn’t have been waiting for her. Striding across the boards, Kat circled around the house and took the wooden walkway that connected to the little building behind it, but she refused to run. Red trotted along after her, up to the door of the dojo her dad had built for her several years ago. She slid the door aside and saw Tony.

  Kneeling on the tatami mat floor, his eyes shut, he dared to grin at her appearance. Red whined and turned back. The dog knew better than to enter the dojo, and he had no interest in the man inside. Unlike Kat.

  She called out after the black lab as he leaped off the walkway onto the grass, forgetting her and chasing after a yellow butterfly. “Alright, go play.”

  Turning back, she saw Tony rise smoothly to his feet, still with that blasted grin on his face. “You’re the only person I’ve ever known who would name a black lab Red.”

  He looked just the same as she remembered. “I haven’t seen you in ages.” She stepped into the big open space of the one-room building. “What brings you to these parts, anyway? Surely you didn’t come just to see me.” Though it would’ve been nice.

  “Work, what else? But as I was in the neighborhood, I thought you’d like a little training. Since it’s been ages.” He tilted his head toward the open door. “What are you going to do about him when you go to the FURC?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Students aren’t allowed to bring pets—I’m sure you know that—or do you intend to break the rules? You certainly can’t leave him here all by himself.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not going to start with dad pulling strings to get me special treatment.” As the daughter of the FURC director, Kat would have a difficult enough time without that.

  For the last ten months, Red had been her only companion here. She had always been the only one who’d taken care of him, and when she left, there’d be no one. She’d been avoiding thinking about that. “Neither my dad nor Caroline would take him in, or take proper care of him if they did. So I suppose I’ll have to find him a good home. I’ll miss Red terribly though. Could you take him, Tony?”

  He snorted. “I don’t have the time to take proper care of him either, Kat. But I’ll try to find a family inside the FURC who’d do right by Red—at least you could visit him from time to time, then.”

  Kat felt a warm sense of relief. If Tony said he’d do something, it was as good as done. “Thanks, Tony, I’d really appreciate that.” She tried to ignore all the other things she was feeling at the moment. “If only you’d called to warn me, instead of showing up all of a sudden.” She hadn’t prepared herself to see him again so soon, and now all the hard work she’d been doing to convince herself that it had only been a schoolgirl crush was going down the drain. Still, it had been an awfully long time. She had missed him and hadn’t realized how much until now.

  He nodded. “I would’ve called, except that I left my FURCS pad back at the compound.”

  Her ears pricked up. He would not have risked calling her on an open line, not knowing who might be listening in, but the FURCS pads were encrypted and secure—and the only reason for him not to have taken his with him would be to keep the FURCSnet from pinging his location, so there’d be no electronic record of just where he’d been and when. It made her wonder exactly what he’d been up to.

  “Now, did you want to train? Not that you need it, but since I’m here…”

  Kat nodded and started to stretch as she walked around the room. “What happened to always needing to work at improving my skills?”

  Tony watched her as she circled him. “You can already defend yourself far better than you’re likely to need, either here or at that fancy school of yours. And you’ll be safe in the FURC once you start classes in the fall.”

  She glared at him. What did he
think it was like at school? Safe wasn’t the word she would use, and she wasn’t convinced that FedU would be any better than high school. And what did he think she wanted to do with her life, that she wouldn’t need the training she’d made a part of herself over the years? She wasn’t going to go into law like her father, and there was no way she’d act like her mother.

  Since the glare wasn’t working, she just avoided looking at him as she continued limbering up. “You said likely. There are still plenty of dangers I’m not ready to face, aren’t there? Even if I’m moving from one gated community to another. Those gates don’t protect us that much, Tony. And the way the world is going, soon no one will be safe anywhere.”

  “You know the FURC is far more than some gated community, Kat. You’ll be safer there than your hypothetical anywhere.”

  True. She’d visited FedU a couple times, and it had strict security like a military base, even down to the armed guards patrolling the perimeter. “And I’ll be just as vulnerable going to and from the place as I am commuting to high school.”

  Tony snorted. “But you’ll be living there inside. And it’s not only the size of a small city, it’s got restaurants and shops and everything else you’d want. So there’s no need to leave and go anywhere. And it is getting bad out there, worse all the time. Which is why your dad and I will be happy to have you safe in the FURC this fall.”

  Kat looked at him then and saw he was no longer grinning. While it might be relatively safe inside, it sounded almost like a prison—except that she’d be allowed to come and go, even if there were limits on when and how. And though she had visited FedU a couple times, she hadn’t had the opportunity to look around and see all these wonderful things Tony was talking about. Even so, she couldn’t imagine herself staying inside those walls all the time. Tony clearly came and went, so why shouldn’t she?

  She saw his lips twitch as if he were reading her mind—thankfully, he couldn’t really. “I’m sure you and my father are too busy to worry about me.” Or to spend time with her even once she was attending FedU. But that was alright—she’d be busy living her own life and wouldn’t mind too much. “So I need to be able to take care of myself, in any situation. Besides, training is fun.”

  Tony looked her up and down as she continued to walk and loosen up. “At least you’re wearing sensible clothes you can actually move in, prepared for a fight. And I think you’ve warmed up enough now. Are you ready to start? What will it be?”

  Kat smiled. “Ren-dori, of course.” Though the exercise was supposed to continue indefinitely, she found it usually ended far too soon.

  “Of course.” He approached her slowly, preparing to attack.

  Incredibly handsome he might be—he also happened to be twelve years older than her and a friend of her father’s. She even had vague memories of her mother flirting with Tony, back when Caroline actually deigned to spend some time with her daughter, playing the role of wife and mother.

  Then his fist was flying toward her face, and she was shifting slightly to let his arm pass through the space where her head had been. She was turning in to try and put him off balance as she grabbed at his wrist, but his arm was already retracting and pushing down through her elbow. All of a sudden he was behind her, twisting her arm. Then she was flopped over, her face pressing into the mat as he pinned her to the ground.

  “What was that, Kat? Where’s your head at?”

  “Sorry, I was distracted.” She couldn’t say what her mind had been preoccupied with. All of the reasons why she shouldn’t even think about Tony—but none of those things mattered to her heart. She had to face the fact that this wasn’t just a crush.

  Tony shook his head as he released her and took a step back. “This isn’t going to do you much good if you can’t last longer than that.”

  “I know.” And usually she did. How would she manage when she was living at the FURC and actually seeing a lot of him? It would be a problem, and especially since she didn’t intend to avoid him—just the opposite. She sprang to her feet, sighing as she eased her shoulder. Her feelings for this man hadn’t caused her this kind of trouble when she was younger—why should it be so different now?

  “Well, get your head in the game—if you want to use this time to your advantage.”

  She certainly wanted to do that but couldn’t see how. Whatever other obstacles were in the way, one stood seemingly insurmountable before her, staring her in the face—Tony didn’t see her as a woman. He probably couldn’t see her as anyone but the girl she had been when he’d first started training her, as the daughter of his best friend. It was hopeless.

  The only thing she’d get out of her time with Tony would be some much needed training, so she had to concentrate on that. “I’m focused now. Let’s begin again.”

  When he punched, Kat responded the same way she had before, let herself make the same mistake—this time, though, as Tony was twisting her arm, she was straightening her shoulder and dropping down to sit through the side of his knee. But he was turning already and that leg slipped away while his other leg was wrapping around her neck to send her back toward the mat. She dove toward the ground, cartwheeling out of his grip and away from him.

  At least she had escaped, kept him from pinning her, but now they were back at square one. They began circling each other slowly, waiting for an opportunity to attack and start the drill all over again, and this time it would be different.

  But first, Kat had a question. “How can you be so confident I’d be able to defend myself if I needed to? I’ve never been attacked, for real, to find out for sure how I’d react.” She felt fairly confident herself, but not completely, and she wanted to know.

  Tony nodded. “You can never know how you’re going to respond, not for sure, until it happens. Especially the first time. But part of the reason you’ve never had to defend yourself is the way you move. It sends a message to people’s subconscious, that they shouldn’t mess with you, even if they’re too thick to realize that’s what they’re seeing.”

  She scowled. “I’d rather not rely on somebody’s subconscious reluctance to avoid an attack.”

  “Don’t knock it. How many times have I tried to tell you the best way to win a fight is never to get in one? But if anybody is so stupid as to go after you, I trust the training that’s been drilled into you—it’s a part of you now, and you would react the right way without even thinking about it. It’s ingrained.”

  Kat felt that way too, but she still wasn’t sure of herself. If it were just one person, attacking her like Tony did in practice, but without his skills, then yes. “Alright, but what if I were facing half a dozen opponents or more? Like one of these roving gangs.”

  Tony shook his head slightly, without letting his gaze leave her—she could always attack him first. “I doubt they would, but if they should, run. It’s better to avoid a confrontation whenever you can, and that goes triple for gangs.”

  “What about when running isn’t an option? If I had been in Miami when the riots broke out, would I have been able to escape the mobs?” She thought about the images she’d seen on the net. “I saw plenty of people trying to run and still getting caught up in the violence.” She suppressed a shudder thinking what it must’ve been like.

  He paled and nodded her point. “Sometimes it doesn’t help to run—it might be the worst thing you can do. I pray to God you’ll never be in that kind of situation, Kat, but if you are, your best option might be to hide. Those kinds of mobs, and the gangs too, for that matter, are just looking for a target to loose their violence on, so if they don’t know you’re there, they’ll find someone else. I know that sounds like a difficult thing to do, but those videos don’t begin to show how bad it really was in Miami. And after the reporters were gone, it got even worse.”

  That sounded like he’d been there. Shaking her head, she kept a wary eye watching out for a potential attack. “That doesn’t sound very heroic.”

  Tony scowled at her. “The last thing I wa
nt you to do is try to be a hero, especially in a situation like that.”

  “Alright, but what about one of the gangs looking for victims?” He probably thought she was still talking about stuff she’d seen on the net. She didn’t know what it had been like when Tony went to high school, but that had been a long time ago. And he’d clearly seen much worse since. But even Kat’s high-priced private school was a pretty rough place. “If a group like that picked me to prey on, what should I do?”

  Tony’s color had returned, and he actually managed to grin. “It’s unlikely. Just like a single attacker, they’re searching for someone weaker than they. A gang is just a bunch of bullies, and like all bullies, they’re cowards at heart, and they need people to be afraid of them. Those are the people they’ll target. And that’s not you.”

  “Aren’t there times I should be afraid?”

  “Never. Fear is always there—sometimes softly tapping, sometimes banging on the door—but never let it in, Kat. If you do, it will take over, and you cannot allow your actions to be dictated by fear. Every move you make should flow from what you know in your heart is right. Guided by your intelligence and training.”

  Kat snorted. “And suppose I look at the circumstances and my intelligence tells me to be afraid.”

  Tony nodded. “I don’t mean ignore any threats you may be up against. You have to pay attention to the particulars of your situation at all times to assess your options. I’m talking about the emotion of fear, the pressure of which will try to push you into panic mode, which will short-circuit your intelligence and training.”

  “The fight-or-flight response. Doesn’t that save people’s lives?”

  “It can and has, but it’s an unreasoning reaction that can also get you into a lot of trouble. Force you to flee when you ought to fight or vice versa. Even if you respond the right way, without judgment your flight might be in the wrong direction, or you might lash out in a frenzy instead of relying on your training, which will serve you much better. The worst is when the simultaneous pressures to fight and to flee paralyze you, prevent you from doing either. That’s deadly.”