RETREAT: Battles Trilogy, Book 1

By Curt Cagle

In Book 1 of the Battles Trilogy, we follow the path of a family, as they retreat from a high-tech world, to a primitive existence, as the result of an unprecedented natural disaster. As society quickly disintegrates into anarchy, the trio escapes to a house in the forest of north Georgia, where they adapt to their rudimentary environment. Adjustments to the new normal are made, drawing them closer and happier than ever until power is restored after one year; demanding a decision on whether to go back to a changed world or remain in glorious seclusion. The cyclical nature of existence is a repetitive theme as Richard becomes the thing that he never thought possible.
Please visit curtcagle.com to learn more about this book and more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Curt Cagle
• Release date: Jul 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311648389

Curt Cagle

Hello everyone, a little about me...My primary occupation has been that of ultrasound technologist for about 27 years. Since 2006, I've owned and operated a mobile ultrasound scanning service to physician offices. Along the way, I've had a lot of side interests. I've tried my hand at taxidermy, painting, tile installation, song writing or whatever it takes to pay the bills.Currently, I have a farm on 39 acres of rolling hills in the coal country of Northwest Alabama. My wife of 30 years and I take care of a few goats, dogs and cats. We had to replace taking care of children, since our least of three boys recently moved to college.I'm also a worship and music leader at a local church. I enjoy honey from the hives that I keep. Gonna try to make syrup next spring from sweet gum trees, they're here by the thousands (we'll see). Between all that I try to write a little. Hope you enjoy.

Book preview

RETREAT

The Battles Trilogy, Book 1

a novel

Curt Cagle

Chapter 1 Lights Out

Chapter 2 Anarchy

Chapter 3 The Intruder

Chapter 4 Goodbye Friend

Chapter 5 Reunion

Chapter 6 Out of Town

Chapter 7 Tremors

Chapter 8 Truth Revealed

Chapter 9 Arrival

Chapter 10 Housekeeping

Chapter 11 The Cabin

Chapter 12 Lessons

Chapter 13 Fond Farewell

Chapter 14 Burial

Chapter 15 Twisted Encounter

Chapter 16 Wreckage

Chapter 17 The Move

Chapter 18 Redemption

Chapter 19 Thankful

Chapter 20 Vapor Trail

Chapter 21 Power Returns

Chapter 22 Insomnia

Chapter 23 Alone

Chapter 24 Manhunt

Chapter 25 Addition

Chapter 26 Blackberries

EPILOGUE

Other Books by Curt Cagle

Chapter 1

Lights Out

Darkness was coming. In fact, for Richard Battles, it had arrived days ago. The forest had come alive with the competing songs of cicadas, frogs, and crickets. A passing cloud released its tiny droplets, but the drizzle was hardly enough from which to seek shelter. The sun had passed beneath the crest of the hills toward Grandpa’s old house several minutes ago.

However, he was oblivious to it all. Nothing penetrated his trance-like state. An occasional blink or a rare swallow would be the only evidence available to prove he wasn’t a statue. His face was without emotion. Any energy to pursue facial movement had long since been exhausted. The old familiar tree stump provided him with a seat for his numb body. His woolly overgrown face was fixed in a stare beyond the grave marker in front of him, to a place of focus that only he knew.

An owl found its way to a nearby low hanging Red Oak limb. Its vocal announcement was enough to rouse Richard into movement. He shifted his weight and looked down at the pistol that was still gripped in his right hand. He leaned forward, placing his forearms on his thighs, bringing both hands to the gun. His trance was swiftly reinstalled. The light rain had accumulated to the point of causing adjacent droplets to merge, sending varied occasional trails of water across his face before being lost in his thick beard. The old slick leather of his boots shined with the addition of the water, even in low light. Richard’s stare was adjusted through the gun to the ground below. In his distraught state of mind, there was no sense of urgency. Present and future did not exist. Only the past was in him. He was disconnected, visualizing himself in the third person, while the intricate details of the last twelve months replayed like a movie in his mind.

Twelve months earlier…

He closed the bottom desk drawer and strolled down the hall to his assembled team. The curse of success is elevated expectations, and it was certainly true, lately, in his case.

Okay, everyone, let’s get down to business and make the magic happen.

Richard Battles had grown accustomed to holding his team meetings in a less than formal manner. Years before, when he was much further down the line of command, he had felt his creativity was being stifled by his supervisors. It was in part, his leadership style that eventually caused the right heads to turn. But primarily, he just had a knack, an innate ability to plan a correct course of action.

As y’all know, it’s a never-ending cycle. One game runs its course and the new game has to come along and take its place.

He was glad that his professional programming career was going so well, despite the current path of the company. A shakeup in management had left him in charge of his division for the last six months. At 32, he felt it was high time he was promoted.

So, speaking of new things, we’re going to have to really focus and work hard to get zombie – soldier to production by August.

Nobody cared for deadlines, but regardless of that fact, if the software design division couldn’t finish getting the bugs out of the prototype game software, it would be Richard’s head that rolled. Richard had already seen the tailspin that the company was in, primarily due to the supreme failure of last year’s efforts, which would have killed the company, had the board not taken some late advice from him. While that debacle didn’t fall on him, it was obvious that the board was pinning all their hopes on Richard’s vision.

What do you guys think we can do to get this thing moving a little faster?

As his last word was exiting, the florescent bulbs began a flickering dance that drew everyone’s attention to the ceiling. The square pattern of ceiling tiles seemed to pulse against the strobe effect of the lights. A suspended animation held the stoic onlookers in a prolonged stare. But as quickly as it started, it was over, and the lights were back to normal.

Okay, that was strange, Richard said, in a voice that was neither a whisper nor intended for everyone to hear. As I was saying, we need… Richard began but didn’t get a chance to finish. The conference room lights were down. It was odd, but not shocking. Lights go out. Power failures can happen. The urgency of the situation was realized by none in the room. The sun’s light easily filled the room through the large tinted windows which essentially were the walls of their room. Richard said, Go see what’s up, and motioned to Daniel who was seated closest to the door.

As the door was opened, the darkness of the corridor immediately drew Richard’s attention. He had been through at least two other episodes of power failure during his years in this building, and knew that the emergency generator should come on to provide limited power and lighting to their floor. It was apparent that the backup system had failed. As the door slowly closed, he felt the first sense of anxiety.

Folks, I’m sure power will be back up and running in a few minutes. His demeanor was calming to those in the room. He turned around and walked three steps to the glass.

The view was magnificent from this height. Being on the 43rd floor had its privileges. It’s really why he chose this room to hold most of his creative meetings. There was always an unspoken sense that the sky was the limit for whatever they were trying to accomplish. His attention was not directed toward the sky, with its high cirrus clouds being stretched west to east, but was instantly directed downward. Traffic, in the few minutes since the power first flickered, was at a standstill. He figured a few traffic lights might be out, so he began to scan the landscape. Amazingly, not a single vehicle was moving. No traffic lights were on. Long sections of empty streets lay ahead of packs of cars. Why aren’t they moving forward? Besides this, most of their doors were opened with the drivers standing beside them. Richard’s mind was racing. ‘Is there an accident that I can’t see that knocked out our power and snarled traffic? Terrorism of some sort’, he pondered.

Moments later Daniel appeared back in the room announcing, The power is out everywhere.

The sound of the door opening forced Richard’s attention back.

Everywhere? What do you mean? The whole building?

No, the whole city.

Richard wasn’t fond of undue hyperbole, but Daniel wasn’t one to give it either.

The whole city, no way. He stepped back to the long conference table which reflected brightly in the sun’s afternoon glare. He picked up the phone and pressed zero as the phone ascended to his ear; nothing, no voice, no dial tone. He pecked a few other buttons with agitation before putting down the phone. And no phones, he inaudibly said to himself. Daniel began to explain that he had gone to the roof, since they were on the top floor. From that vantage point, he could see that all power was out in every direction. Richard’s hand reached for the cell phone in his shirt pocket. But even the cell phone was dead.

I need everyone to stay put in here. I’m going to my office to get a flashlight.

His office was just two doors down the hall, so getting there should be easy. The hallway was cave-like. He had never noticed that there were no windows visible from the corridor. As the conference room door slowly shut, he felt the darkness close around him. He stared down at the odd pattern of decorative curves in the Berber carpet as the scene faded to black. Automatically, he again reached for his cell phone to use for illumination for the short trip to his office. But again was faced with the fact that his phone was completely non-functional. This puzzled him greatly as his mind attempted to reconcile the situation. His hands slid across the wall as he stepped forward, one short stride at a time. The mystery of his phone seemed the most puzzling of all to him. In the quick trip to his office door, he couldn’t figure out how a citywide power failure could kill his phone. He distinctly remembered taking the phone off the charger when he was going to the meeting, so he knew the battery should be full. His hand arrived at his office door, and made fast work of finding the knob.

The office furnishings were easy to see due to the window in his office. After the blind approach through the hallway, his eyes were sufficiently adjusted to make the search for the flashlight easy. He quickly found it in the top shallow drawer of the walnut-stained wooden desk. Putting it on his desktop, he sat down in the plump, black leather chair to take it all in. The big deep breath with an audible exhalation through puffed cheeks helped him ease back in his chair. His left hand ran once through his hair from front to back, while his right hand moved below his desk to a locked drawer that required a quick tapping of the combination to open. He pulled the door open and spun his chair around to face the contents. He pulled out the secret occupant and poured a shot glass to the brim, then returned the bottle to its stored position. With one jerk of his head and neck he took in his life’s antidote. His office door opened abruptly with Daniel and several of his coworkers standing in the hall. Daniel was holding a flashlight of his own. Holding it up, Daniel said, It was in the conference room.

Richard inconspicuously returned the shot glass and slid the drawer closed as he stood up. Good work. I didn’t realize we’d put one in there also. Richard had made a push a few years earlier, as safety team captain, to have everyone keep a flashlight in their desk, just in case of a power failure. That was proving to be a great idea.

Let’s get back to the conference room, Richard said as he moved toward the door. Entering the conference room again he announced, Okay, listen up. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m sure the utilities will figure it out. Look, it’s around 3 o’clock. I don’t think we’re going to get anything more accomplished this afternoon. Everybody plan on working hard next week. So let’s get on out of here, and I’ll see you guys bright and early on Monday. Daniel and I are going to guide y’all down the hall so you can get your flashlights. And, oh yeah… Be sure to bring your flashlights back on Monday, he said with a smile that put everyone at ease again. They worked their way through the office maze of cubicles until the flashlight beams were scanning the room like a laser light show.

Someone yelled out, Elevators aren’t working.

Richard responded, Well, I hope y’all wore your hiking boots. At that, several of the women began to slip off their heels in preparation for the long journey of near endless steps. The crew entered the stairwell which Richard immediately noticed had great acoustics. They could hear voices from far below them on the steps. It wasn’t long until they encountered more people on their way out. Richard kept a watchful eye on the progress of his team. Several times he called a timeout to let everyone regroup and catch their breath. There were a few on his team who were the obvious physical weak links and he didn’t want to push them too hard. After all, this didn’t seem to be an emergency situation so much as just an incredibly huge inconvenience.

How do you like that 43rd floor office now? Someone passed through and asked Richard with a smirk.

Richard just laughed with one big, Ha, didn’t really see this coming. The stairwell was quite crowded and slowed to a crawl as they neared the ground floor opening. With the loss of air-conditioning, and the addition of so many bodies, the stairwell was becoming uncomfortably warm. As they spilled out into an expansive lobby, the individuals in his group dispersed and were soon lost to him among the hundreds of other bobbing heads, now illuminated well through the glass walls.

Richard made his way across the lobby to the main entrance, and saw the doorman on the sidewalk outside of the twin set of automatic sliding doors. It apparently had been forced open, since it was off its track on one side. Richard approached him. Have you heard what’s going on?

No sir, but it must not be nuttin to worry about cause there ain’t no police nowhere.

The sound of the city was unique. Richard had been working in downtown Atlanta since his son was born 10 years ago, and had never heard this sound; the sound of nothing mechanical. No cars, no jackhammers, no radios, just a small mumble of voices in the symphony of taps and pats from the steps of all the feet going somewhere. Richard spotted a fire plug nearby with a ‘no parking’ sign within arm’s reach. He climbed up onto the fire plug, gaining a better line of sight. The heat from the early June sun was making its presence known. He had sweat beading on his forehead trying to force a pathway into his eyes. As he stood there, he heard something different. Was it a car? Yes, there it was a few blocks down the street, a car slowly weaving through the pedestrians and the motionless parade of disabled cars. It was only visible for a moment as it crossed the intersection of Peachtree and Decatur. The hum of that engine had no sooner faded when another emerged adjacent to him from the very parking garage where his car was also parked. His high rise office building had a 10 level garage beneath the surface.

See you later, good luck to you, Richard yelled to the doorman as he went back into the main entrance. He made his way to the parking entrance and began another long descent into the labyrinth below. After becoming a member of management in January, Richard’s parking situation was upgraded. He had acquired an assigned parking spot just one floor down. He hopped the last two steps down and entered the first level. The keys made a jingle in his pocket as he approached his spot.

Where’s my car? he said audibly to no one but himself.

Almost simultaneously, he panicked and then remembered the events of this morning. As fate would have it, he had a late arrival and someone had parked in his place, causing him to have to find an alternative parking spot. A crowded garage had sent him circling farther down. Recalling his misadventure, he turned quickly toward the stairs again and exhaled a huge huff. His mind wandered while he proceeded on his monotonous path. The thought of getting out of town before sundown began to take preeminence among his competing ideas. The importance of getting to his son, Hunter, grew with each step of the stairwell. The bottom level had a different smell than the first. It was a musty odor combined with a hint of exhaust and urine. The cooler air was welcomed by his white, sweat-dampened collared shirt. Still leading him through the darkness was his cheap flashlight. No one else had made it down to this level yet. He reached into his pocket and removed his keys. Pressing the open button did nothing. At this, his pace dramatically slowed. The anticipation of a way out of town and a means by which he could pick up his son now fell headlong into the despair of being trapped. Standing alongside the driver’s door, he pressed the button again and again. He tried every button. His focus was disturbed by someone. Another soul had found their way to the lowest level and was walking toward him.

Is that you, Richard?

Yes, but I can’t see anything with your flashlight in my face. Richard’s tone was unusually harsh.

It is me, the stranger said as he turned the flashlight toward his own face.

Indeed, it was Daniel Flanigan, his next-door neighbor, coworker, and the reason he had landed the job in first place. Daniel was the consummate tech geek. A guy who could spend 12 hours writing computer source code and coding algorithms without coming up for air, or even remembering to eat. While Richard was computer savvy, with Daniel, it was downright in his DNA. Other than Richard, Daniel had no friends, best anyone could tell, save a few associates at work who could talk computer programming lingo with him. Had Daniel had any people skills, he would likely be in Richard’s position. But as it was, he was happy being in his cubicle doing his thing.

Will your vehicle’s ignition actuate? Daniel asked.

I don’t know yet, I can’t get the door to open.

Have you tried the manual key?

Umm… Actually, I was just about to try that. Richard smirked at something so obvious escaping his thought process. What you know, it works. Upon opening the door, the lights came on. He placed the key in the ignition switch and said, Here goes nothing, as he began to turn the switch. It roared to life. That’s what I’m talking about.

Uninspired, Daniel said, I suppose I will see you later.

Do you want me to wait and make sure that your car will start?

I know it will, since your vehicle did.

Not knowing exactly what that meant, Richard just looked at him in silence.

Daniel continued, I am fairly certain that I have ascertained the culprit behind today’s malfunction.

What’s the cause? Richard asked attentively.

I am not saying yet, not until I prove it. Come over this evening and I will enlighten you.

I can’t wait to hear your ideas, Richard said as Daniel started walking toward the clunker three cars down. If you get home before I do, tell your mom I’ll be over to pick up Hunter as soon as I get there, Richard said in a voice that was louder than anticipated against the concrete walls surrounding them.

Richard had received joint custody of Hunter shortly after the divorce, whereby Hunter stayed with him one weekend per month and one month during the summer. Hunter was one week into his annual summer month-long stay with his dad. Richard had planned on working next week and then taking the following two weeks off work to spend time with Hunter. Daniel’s mother Mildred was a godsend at times like this. She was like a grandma to Hunter whenever he was home with his dad, which happened to be the only time that he got to have that kind of a relationship. Hunter had grown to love her over the years, even though he only saw her on weekends when he was with his dad. Loving and appreciating someone wasn’t difficult for young boy who was being offered homemade cookies at least once a day. The difference between Daniel and his mother, Mildred, was amazing and unexplainable. One was seemingly emotionless, while the other had an overwhelming spirit of love and happiness. But, they supplemented each other’s weaknesses and seemed to be quite functional.

At that moment, Daniel’s car sputtered to life. It sounded like it may have had difficulty turning over, but that was probably more of an aging car problem than anything else. Daniel backed out and soon disappeared around the first turn. Richard, as best he could tell, was alone again. He reached to the left, pressing the trunk button, and made his way to the rear of the black Maxima sedan. After a brief shuffling of contents, he felt a familiar crinkled paper bag. It was just to calm his nerves. At least, that was the justification in his mind. After the trip to the trunk, he resumed his position in the driver’s seat. Richard slowly began his ascent to freedom, passing several people early along the trip, who were also now starting their cars. When he had made it four or five turns on his way up, it was as though a line had been drawn dividing the working cars from those that were completely disabled. Eventually, Richard’s headlights and the few cars trailing behind him weren’t the only lights to be seen. The brightly lit exit came into full view. With the sun illuminating the entire area, he felt a sense of relief come over him, like he had just been exhumed from a grave. He slowly approached the awaiting street that would take him home.

Chapter 2

Anarchy

Making it out onto the street would prove difficult. The mass of humanity now on the street and sidewalks was unlike anything he had ever seen. His eyes caught a figure that stood out among the rest. He quickly lowered his window and yelled, Officer! The policeman looked toward him, but never dropped his pace, nor his place in the group as the people passed by. Do you know what’s going on? The man’s face never changed expression, as he shrugged his shoulders and kept walking with the others.

Progress was excruciatingly slow due to the onslaught of pedestrians. He never realized that there were this many people in the city at one time. About a block into the trip, with crowds surrounding him, he could only go at a pace that matched that of the people. He heard the distinctive snap of the handle coming from the passenger side door. Thankfully, the door was locked. He quickly locked his