Scenes from a Quiet Apocalypse

By Dawn Vogel

Without warning, most of humanity stopped speaking. Acting in silent unison, they overthrew the world in service to an unknown force. Their takeover was swift and decisive. Those who were not among them were left to rot in the streets.

Destiny is one of the Untouched, unaffected by the Silent Upheaval, and also something more. As she travels through the post-apocalyptic city she once called home, she meets those who will help her and those who will hinder her as she seeks what caused the Quiet Ones to emerge and takes the fight to their home in the Silent Core.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DefCon One Publishing
• Release date: Feb 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370046058

Dawn Vogel

Dawn Vogel has been published as a short fiction author and an editor of both fiction and non-fiction. Her academic background is in history, so it’s not surprising that much of her fiction is set in earlier times. By day, she edits reports for historians and archaeologists. In her alleged spare time, she runs a craft business, helps edit Mad Scientist Journal, and tries to find time for writing. She lives in Seattle with her awesome husband (and fellow author), Jeremy Zimmerman, and their herd of cats.

Book preview

Scenes from a Quiet Apocalypse

By Dawn Vogel

Cover photography and layout by Dawn Vogel

Copyright 2018 Dawn Vogel, except where noted

Smashwords Edition

historythatneverwas.com

patreon.com/historythatneverwas

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

Table of Contents

Chapter 0: Destiny Dances

Chapter 1: Dee for Disorientation

Chapter 2: The Blind Seer

Chapter 3: The Empress's Beehive

Chapter 4: Emperor of the Stadiums

Chapter 5: Curious Father Quedil

Chapter 6: Rhythm Lovers

Chapter 7: Chariots Abound

Chapter 8: Hold Fast

Chapter 9: The DJ

Chapter 10: Destiny, Paths, and Wheels

Chapter 11: Know Justice, Know Peace

Chapter 12: A Warning

Chapter 13: There Is Still Death

Chapter 14: Hope, Tempered

Chapter 15: The Man in Red

Chapter 16: Forty-Fifth Floor

Chapter 17: The Evening Stars

Chapter 18: Dark of the Moon

Chapter 19: Expansion of Life

Chapter 20: It Breaks

Chapter 21: The Message

About Dawn Vogel

Chapter 0: Destiny Dances

Destiny isn't the name that her mother gave her, but it is the name she gave herself. She hasn't kept much of what her mother gave her. At least not since her mom's response to Carl, her mom's boyfriend, staring at her was put on more clothes.

When the world goes silent, she's couch-surfing on the fifth couch since her rapid departure from home (and she is counting, thank you very much), worrying about how soon it will be before she's worn out her welcome here, too; speculating if sleeping with a member of the household will hasten or slow that wearing out; and figuring the odds on which member of the household will keep her around the longest. Right now, her money is on Bryant, but she hasn't quite figured out how to see if he's interested. He doesn't seem like the type she should just throw herself at, though that would work for most of the others.

When the entire household except for her goes silent, it's a moot point. They throw her out of the house and lock it before they leave.

Getting back in isn't a problem. Being in the house alone is. She plans her food consumption poorly, eating too many of the canned goods and not enough of the fresh food before the power shuts down. She has all of the liquor in the house to drown her sorrows, but it mostly only makes her feel sick and miserable. And once her phone runs out of power, she doesn't have any more music to fill the silence. She keeps her headphones on anyway, nestled in amongst the cloud of her afro. At least then she can pretend she's still blocking out the noises that other people make.

When her stomach is loud enough to pierce the noise-cancelling headphones, it's time to move on.

She heads back home, first. Mom and Carl are both gone. She'd hoped that Carl would be gone, that she can patch things up with Mom, and they can figure out what the heck is going on together. No such luck.

On a whim, she checks all the other houses on the block. All vacant.

So she starts with the houses whose former inhabitants have the best camping gear, and ransacks all the houses on the block for everything she can think of that would be useful.

Especially the solar chargers. The world might be quiet, but the sun still shines, and that means it won't have to stay completely silent for long.

~

Destiny is having a good day. The sun is out, so her phone is charged, which means plenty of tunes. She dances her way down the sidewalk.

She doesn't know why she's bothering with the sidewalk. It isn't as though any cars are out.

The next song that comes up on shuffle demands a big dance number. There's a wide intersection ahead, so Destiny takes the plunge. She runs into the street, down to the intersection, and dances with wild abandon. It feels good, despite the gnawing hunger in her belly, and her increasingly desperate need for human interaction. But when the tunes are this good, sometimes you have to just ignore the bad stuff and dance it out.

When the song ends, she opens her eyes and finds herself face to face with one of her former housemates.

Bryant? she asks, fumbling for the pause button on her phone and pulling her headphones off.

He stares at her mutely.

He isn't the only one.

Destiny is surrounded by a cluster of men and women, all staring at her. They stand shoulder to shoulder, encircling her in the center of the intersection. None of them speak.

Hey, guys! What's going on? Are you, like, waiting for my next dance number?

Bryant's eyes are glazed, like he's looking in her direction but not at her. Destiny glances over her shoulder. The woman directly behind her has a similar vacant look.

Her gaze darts across the faces of the assembled people surrounding her. None of them look particularly alert. I'm surrounded by frickin' zombies, Destiny mutters.

She takes a step toward Bryant, smiling at him.

He doesn't move.

She takes another step, close enough now that if she extends her arm, she could touch him.

Still he doesn't move.

Lifting her arm slowly, trying to keep it from shaking, she pokes gently at Bryant's shoulder. Hey, man, I was just thinking about going--

She trails off when he reaches for her wrist. Part of her brain screams to pull her arm back, to not let him touch her. But the other part of her brain is curious. Something weird is going on, after all. Will he link her into some sort of psychic network that explains why everyone around her has stopped talking and wandered off toward downtown?

Bryant grabs her wrist and holds it firmly. There's no tingle, no