Evolved: The Evolved Series (Volume 1)

By S.G. Woods

Imagine a day like every other, where people are going about their lives dealing with work, love, and the other humdrum tasks of living. Then a dark cloud appears over the horizon. Suddenly, small drones that shoot special arrows that can render a human dead within seconds are indiscriminately attacking. These drones seem determined to wipe out every man, woman, and child they can find. Those people who take cover only find a temporary respite. A second wave of drones begins killing those who are left, tearing through houses, cars, and other structures. The people the drones don't kill become slaves and are forced to clean up the dead.

But there are survivors. A band of rebels arises with a single-minded intent to destroy the drones, free the slaves, and find out who is behind the diabolic scheme. These fighters are not superheroes or military warriors. They are regular men and women who are determined to take their world back. "Evolved" follows these brave people who had their world turned upside down but form new relationships and alliances in their efforts to destroy the evil that has enveloped the entire earth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S.G. Woods
• Release date: Aug 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463990919

S.G. Woods

S.G. (Steve) Woods was born in Oregon in 1968. His family moved eleven times in his first fifteen years. Over the next twenty-two years, he became a father several times and experienced two failed relationships. He continued moving every few years, trying to find a place to call home. In 2007, he struck up a conversation with a woman named Michelle on the Internet. Even though they lived more than one hundred miles apart, their friendship grew. They finally met for the first time the following year, but Cupid failed to show. However, they continued their friendship. Circumstances led them to later become best friends. One day, he realized he had fallen in love with Michelle. They got married, and their love continues to grow by leaps and bounds. In 2013, Michelle decided to fulfill a dream for him and had a race car built for him. They hit the track the following year. In February 2015, he had the most vivid dream of his life. With Michelle’s encouragement, he went to work on his first book, Evolved. Watching her husband follow his dream gave Michelle a courage she had never known, and in May 2015, she too got behind the wheel of a race car. Each day they wake up grateful for a new day together and anxious to see where each new adventure will take them.

Book preview

Evolved

Steve Woods

Evolved

Published by Steve Woods at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book 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 word of this author.

Copyright © 2015 by Steve Woods

All rights reserved.

Freeze Time Media

Cover illustration by Tom Meyer, FX Design

Dedication

To my wonderful wife, Michelle. Thank you for pushing me to follow my dreams. You are my rock and my inspiration. You stood beside me during the good times and hold me up when things are tough. I spent most of my life looking for you, and if the world ended, I would spend eternity trying to find you.

Acknowledgment

Thanks to my wife, Michelle, and my father-in-law, Robert Cole. Your support and encouragement kept me motivated. Thanks, JJ McKeever, AuthorMax, and Di Freeze, Freeze Time Media. Your help in editing and publishing my book turned my dream into a reality. I would also like to give special thanks to my good friends, Tommy and Traci Meyer, at FX Design. Your cover is far beyond my expectations.

Chapter One - Blindsided

Chapter Two - Annihilation

Chapter Three - The Journey

Chapter Four - A City On Fire

Chapter Five - Breakthrough

Chapter Six - Crossing Paths

Chapter Seven - Into The Woods

Chapter Eight - Slavery

Chapter Nine - Bees

Chapter Ten - Blanket Coverage

Chapter Eleven - Disappointment

Chapter Twelve - Battle Plan

Chapter Thirteen - Hunger

Chapter Fourteen - Giving In

Chapter Fifteen - Chasing Drones

Chapter Sixteen - Finding Faith

Chapter Seventeen - Breaking Free

Chapter Eighteen - Deception

Chapter Nineteen - Preparation

Chapter Twenty - What’s In A Name

Chapter Twenty-One - Coming Home

About The Author

CHAPTER ONE

Blindsided

I can feel the cold dirt beneath my body as I patiently wait to join Michelle in death. Never in a million years would I have dreamed our lives would end this way. In the blink of an eye, the whole world changed, forever burning that day into my memory.

It was an abnormally beautiful spring day. What made this day so special? A large part of it may have to do with the facts: It was Friday, I was off work for two wonderful weeks, and my wife and I were taking our vacations from work at the same time. We didn’t have much money when we first got together, which meant that everything, including a vacation, was always on a shoestring budget. We had been together for six years, and each year we took fun trips close to home, but this year was special. We had been planning this since the day we met. Since day one, every spare dime had gone into a change jar, and now it was time to cash in.

Michelle is the most beautiful woman I know. She is smart, funny, and hardworking. I feel blessed to have her in my life. She just got off work and drove to my jobsite to check on me. We have different start times, so we took different vehicles instead of one of us dropping the other off. She was going to surprise me. I was the one with the surprise.

As she got out of her car, I caught her eye. It was like seeing each other for the first time. Her eyes lit up as she raced across the parking lot and jumped into my arms.

Daddy! she squealed.

I know it sounds odd, but that is what she calls me. I call her Princess. What really makes it funny is that she is nearly two years older than I am. I spun her around in my arms and held her tightly, thinking to myself, Could life get any better? For the first time in my forty-seven years of life, I finally felt things were going my way. She completed me totally.

Well, she said questioningly, are you off work?

I gave her a sly little smile and a wink. She squealed again, and then she got very serious.

Okay, we have a lot to get done. The first thing is we both need gas. I don’t want to come home to an empty tank. I want the house clean and all the little jobs done before we leave. That way, when we get home in two weeks, there’s no stress.

I smiled and agreed with her. Unless it’s a really big thing or a major decision, I always find it best just to agree.

It was now a little after 5 o’clock, and the sky was blue with barely a cloud in sight. It was a perfect seventy-two degrees. Yes, I do believe this is as good as it gets. I walked her to her car and then headed to mine. Our first stop was the gas station to top off our tanks. Gas prices had been fluctuating wildly over the last year. At one point, prices were over four dollars and fifty cents a gallon, then down to one dollar and sixty-six cents. This morning they were a comfortable two dollars and fifty-four cents.

Something was wrong. As we passed the first station, it said NO GAS. The next station we passed had prices posted at twenty-six dollars per gallon. I thought to myself, What the hell is going on?

I tried to call Michelle, but the call kept dropping. I turned on the radio and all I got was static. About that time, I passed another station that said Closed. A woman came running from the station flailing her arms. I stopped to see what the fuss was. With my wife stopped behind me, the woman came up to my window, and in a frantic voice, told me she needed to get home. She didn’t have a vehicle and time was of the essence. If I agreed to help her, I could take all the gas I wanted with no charge.

I motioned Michelle in behind me as I entered the fuel island. The poor woman seemed to be at her wits’ end. Michelle gave me that look — you know, the one a wife gives when she needs more details. After telling her all I knew, I returned to the woman to get some answers. She said that everything had started going wrong about twenty minutes earlier. The stations were all receiving warnings from their suppliers. They were told that there was a national emergency and to shut their doors instantly. A few took advantage of the crisis and sent prices through the roof. She went on to tell me that she had a shortwave radio in the station and was getting reports of an attack in Washington, D.C., where thousands were killed, including the president.

I asked if we were at war, but she wasn’t sure. She had heard that our military was unable to respond and that they were the first hit. About that time, the woman fell into my arms sobbing. I need to get home to my children, she cried.

Michelle finished pumping gas and came over to us. I filled her in as much as I could. I told her I’d stay behind and try to get more information if she could get the woman to her children. I’d be home in an hour and would meet her there. I could see the fear in my beloved Michelle’s eyes. She didn’t want to leave my side.

As I looked around, it was as if someone had thrown a switch. From the time we got off work until now, the world had changed. Pandemonium was breaking out all around us. We could hear yelling and screaming. People were making a run on the gas stations and on the grocery stores. I didn’t want us to be apart, but I needed answers. I honestly thought that it would be safer for Michelle to get out of the city. She could take the woman to her children and then wait for me at home.

I gave my beloved wife and partner in life a tight hug and kiss good-bye. I’ll be home in an hour, I told her. Then I watched as she and the woman drove away. After they were out of sight, I headed into the station to listen to the radio. It wasn’t much help. I kept getting bits and pieces of information. Nothing was making any sense. Whenever I changed frequencies, I only heard people screaming. I was beginning to panic myself when I heard gunfire.

I stepped out of the station. People were running in all directions. The grocery store across the street was being overrun, and they were breaking the glass out of a store window to get in and out quicker. Right next to me, two men were fighting at the pumps. Then I saw the man with the gun. He was randomly shooting it into the air; nobody was paying attention to him.

In a panic, my mind raced to Michelle. I tried to call her, but there was still no signal. I glanced at my watch. It was now 5:27 p.m. Only fifteen minutes had passed since she left. Fifteen minutes and a lifetime, I thought to myself. I was glad Michelle had gotten away.

Little did I know that soon after leaving the station, Michelle began going through her own hell. She had been trying to calm the woman down as they left town. Everything seemed to be getting back to normal. Suddenly, the sky went dark. At first, it looked like a cloud had blocked out the sun. Then Michelle realized it wasn’t a cloud, but a thick swarm of drones, each one no larger than a softball. There were so many of them that Michelle stopped the car and stared. Everyone was doing the same. Cars halted all over the roadway. Many of them didn’t even bother to pull off the road first.

The two women sat almost mesmerized by the size of the enormous swarm. They figured there had to be at least a million of them. They snapped back to reality as the drones suddenly opened fire. The drones weren’t shooting bullets. They were shooting carbon fiber arrows that were no larger than a human hair and approximately the length of a cigarette. Although the arrows were limp, the drones shot them at an extremely high velocity. They penetrated the skin of everyone they hit, almost sinking to their full depth. Yet, when they struck solid objects, they bounced off and crumpled to the ground like limp string.

This attack happened aggressively, without any warning or provocation. People on the ground perished within seconds. Arrows hit many people who were in their cars with the windows down. A few attempted to drive away, only to crash seconds later. The ones who tried to run for cover perished with the same painful demise as the others outside. My wife could only watch in terror, as did the others in their cars or behind closed doors. Then as quickly as they appeared, the drones disappeared. They travelled further on, with the same outcome every step of the way.

Back at the station, I made my way from inside the building to the parking lot. Just as I reached my car, the man with the rifle approached me. He demanded I give him my car keys. Then, putting the barrel of the rifle against my chest, he said, I won’t ask again.

I tossed my keys to him and asked if this was really worth it. He claimed that a friend had just called him, and that he could hear screaming in the background. His friend was trying to describe to him what was going on when the phone went dead. He advised me to take any measure possible to get out of town quickly. Then, as he drove off, he hit a man on a motorcycle.

I ran over to help, when my own survival instincts kicked in. With the bike still running, I glanced down at the man, who was broken and bleeding.

I’m sorry, I tearfully told him as I picked up the bike and got on. The pain in his eyes quickly vanished from my mind as I watched the horizon darken. It looked like a swarm of locusts clouded out the sun. Unwittingly, I was about to experience what my beloved Michelle had just survived. I wasn’t aware that we were under attack until I saw people frantically running away from the swarm.

I squeezed the brakes and brought the bike to a sliding stop. Fear quickly built up inside me; I was afraid for myself, but I was even more concerned about my wife’s safety. She had left in the direction the drones were coming from. My mind raced as I contemplated my next move. Should I turn tail and run? Or should I push through and try to make it to my wife? Was she okay? Did she even know what happened? Call after call proved futile. Time was up, and I had to make a decision.

With my heart pounding out of my chest, I turned the bike in the direction of the swarm. Then I lowered my head down below the windshield and held the throttle wide open. I could see the fear and hear the screams of all the people I passed. It was odd, however. None of the victims showed any blood. Instead, it looked like they were full of porcupine quills. Some of the victims appeared to be stuck with a few hundred quills. They were able to make it a short distance before falling to the ground. Others with thousands of piercings never even made it a single step. The lucky ones had found some sort of shelter.

I was riding through the thick of the attack when I experienced some of the pain the others felt. The drones sent millions of arrows everywhere. Many of them pierced the backs of my hands. The pain was excruciating. Hundreds of them barely penetrated my heavy jacket, and the ones that hit my head bounced off. Still riding at full throttle, I glanced at the back of my stinging hands. I could see the hair-like arrows swelling in size and realized they were absorbing my blood. This is how they were killing! Not by hitting vital organs, but by absorbing enough blood to completely bleed out a person in a matter of seconds.

A few miles past the swarm, I stopped the bike and pulled the arrows out as quickly as I could. They had no barbs, so they came out easily. I had no blood on my skin, except for a few small drops where each arrow had been. A few arrows penetrated my skin. The arrows I removed were five times their original size from the blood they absorbed.

I felt a bit light-headed from blood loss as I tried to steady myself. It took a few seconds for me to stand. Then, just as I started to get back on board the bike, I noticed movement to the left of me in a nearby ditch. I moved over to investigate and found a young boy who appeared to be seven or eight years old. His eyes connected with mine, silently pleading for help. Almost frozen with fear, I could see what appeared to be his parents. They were lying there motionless from the arrows that had pierced their lifeless bodies. I assumed they were deceased.

I ran to the boy and quickly removed the arrows from his face. The evidence surrounding him showed his parents had done their best to protect their son. Picking him up and carrying him in my arms, I ran to the nearest building. For the first time since the start of the attacks, I stopped and looked around. Cars and trucks had crashed in all directions from the chaos, and hundreds of bodies were scattered all over the ground and streets.

A few survivors came out of vehicles or out from under them. Even more rose up from the ditches and any other place they had found refuge. Most of the people who made it to some type of shelter only had a few arrows stuck in them. Many of the people in the buildings and houses were still too scared to come out and help. I gathered up survivors and got them indoors. I no longer heard screaming, just an occasional whimper or soft sobbing. Everyone was afraid to make noise or cry out, not knowing if being heard would cause another ruthless attack. Survivors had seen others attacked until they no longer made noise. The relentless attack, until there was nothing but silence, prompted the drones to move on.

A group of us sat quietly at a small coffee shop. As I looked around, I caught the stare of the young boy.

Is God mad at us? he asked me. His tear-filled eyes caused me to muster up the most reassuring voice I could.

No, I believe these were made by man. I wanted to take the little boy in my arms and tell him the worst had passed and that it would get better. I wanted to, but something in me told me this wasn’t a random attack but a calculated move. I had no idea what lay ahead for us.

I made a few more vain attempts to reach Michelle on my cell phone. All I got was a busy signal. I decided to push on and try to find my wife. A young couple stopped me at the door and offered to look after the boy. They also told me I could take their car. They thought that would be safer for me. After seeing how congested the roads were, with wrecked vehicles and bodies, I opted for the bike. I thanked them and headed out.

The few survivors who had stayed in their cars were either walking to find shelter or staying put in the vehicles. No other vehicles traveled on the roadway as far as I could see. It seemed like it took forever to navigate the roadway and roadside trying to make it to my wife. I knew where she was taking the woman. It wasn’t that far from the station and should have only taken her twenty to twenty-five minutes. After the attack and all the carnage, I knew it was going to take me a bit longer.

I had barely passed the edge of town when I saw something that almost knocked me off the bike. It was my wife’s car! It had left the roadway, taking one hundred feet of guardrail with it. The glass was intact, but the driver side door looked forced open. I dropped the bike and ran to the car. My heart pounded and tears welled up in my eyes as I searched the car. Nothing. I ran up and down along the roadside screaming out her name. I didn’t care if those damned things heard me. I had to find my wife. Why did I let her go alone? We could have left my car behind! Fear blinded me so much that at first I didn’t notice the old woman in the baby blue Caddy staring at me. Finally, I turned and made eye contact.

Her lost doe eyes looked deep into my soul. Then her gaze turned to the body of an old man not more than twenty feet from her car.

I told Allan to stay in the car.

What’s that, ma’am? I responded.

I believe the woman you’re looking for went that way. She pointed toward a couple of old mobile homes off in the trees. About ten of them took off when it all stopped.

I looked up at the mobiles and back to the woman.

Come with me, I said.

I can’t leave Allan, she said. Would you please help me put him back in the car?

I looked away and then back to her husband.

Yes, ma’am, I said.

As I moved her husband, the realization of what had happened started to sink in. There were no injured to speak of, just the living and the dead. Even if they didn’t kill you right off, the arrows seemed to quickly absorb blood until a person lost consciousness and died. I put Allan into the car next to his wife. Tears filled her eyes as she leaned against him, and she turned to me. You need to go get that girl and make sure she’s safe. I don’t believe this is over.

I closed the car door and ran off towards the mobile homes. They were up on the side of a hill nestled in the trees. I still felt the fear deep inside me, but I was also excited about the possibility of seeing my wife. I reached the mobile almost in a dead run. My mind raced. Do I knock or just go in? Protocol seemed to change. The rules between right and wrong hardly seemed to matter anymore. I burst through the door.

Michelle! Honey, you here? A man came around the corner of the living room, his shirt torn and covered with blood.

Where the hell is my wife? I screamed.

Back here. He led me down the hall. As I pushed through the door, he stopped me.

When the drones attacked, I was in my truck. People stopped. Some got out of their cars. Then the drones opened fire on us. It was like a spider shooting a web. It didn’t look scary at first, but then people started screaming and falling down. Everyone tried to get away. Some did, and then a woman ran in front of a car as it tried to get away. The driver swerved and hit the guardrail. I didn’t think they were still alive. After the drones left, I went to the car. One woman was badly hurt and the other appeared to be okay. I grabbed the injured woman and a bunch of us ran up here.

With my hands shaking from fear, anxiety, anticipation, and lack of blood, I pulled back the blanket covering the woman. Her face was badly cut and bleeding. It was the young woman from the gas station, not my wife. Not my wife! My mind racing again, I turned to the man, panic taking over. Where’s the other woman, the driver?

I don’t know, the man quickly said, trying to relieve my fear. Everyone split up when we got here. Then he looked at me, as if trying to touch the innermost part of my mind. Why is this happening?

The man fell into my arms. He appeared to be barely older than my twenty-eight-year-old son. I held him for a minute. As we stood there, my mind began replaying the events of the day so far. One by one, they unfolded. It was barely an hour since we stopped for gas, and our lives were forever changed. All the normal worries like bills, money, things we thought we had to have, were now changed. Now I began to think. Is this an isolated incident? Are other areas affected? Other towns, cities, states, countries? My mind returned to the current situation. I only had one main thought and focus: Where was my wife? My head was spinning. I wanted to rest, to lie down. My body felt drained from the loss of blood and the events of the last forty-five minutes. The adrenaline was wearing off and I began to feel the effects.

I stumbled toward the kitchen. I knew I needed to replenish my fluids and went to get a glass of water. I quickly drank two glasses, and then took a third with me as I spoke to each person in the house. I tried to gather clues as to where my wife might have gone, and perhaps get some insight as to what had happened to her. My information gathering revealed some details a truck driver had picked up.

He was getting skip from the CB radio in his truck. Skip is a signal that bounces off our atmosphere and comes back down. Normally a CB can only get a signal for a few miles. When skip is in, you can hear a conversation a few hundred miles away or even from around the world. This truck driver told me he was listening to a man in Australia.

The Australian was going on about how gas stations there were shutting down due to lack of fuel, the driver said. He thought it was odd since he was pulling tankers hauling 5,000 gallons of automobile gasoline. Just as he was telling me about the refinery running at full speed to keep up with the demand, he started screaming. He was yelling something about being attacked and people falling down all around him.

The truck driver went on to say that at first he didn’t know what the Australian had meant. Less than an hour later, everyone around here was under attack.

It was clear now. This was no isolated incident. We were being attacked globally. The question was who, or what, was attacking our world? Was it aliens? What could attack everywhere so quickly and why?

Then a woman came out of the bathroom. She had overheard me talking to everyone. Are you looking for the woman who was driving that car? she asked.

I am, I said. Can you help me?

She was going on about needing to find her husband. She said they had always agreed to meet at a safe place if something happened. She didn’t seem to make a lot of sense. I believe she was still in shock.

Did she say where she was going? I asked. My heart pounded with anticipation.

Oh, my God! she let out. Are you her husband?

Yes, I quickly blurted out. Where did she go?

She took off back down the main road. I think she mentioned heading toward the freeway. All the roads were blocked, so she had to walk.

Thank you, I said as I headed towards the door.

She has about a thirty-minute head start. You can’t possibly find her, the woman yelled.

I believe she headed back into town, I said. One of our meeting places is where I work. I’m sure she would go there.

We set up our meeting places in case of an earthquake or fire. We never dreamed of something like this.

CHAPTER TWO

Annihilation

I was feeling recharged and had just left the mobile when I heard a hum in the distance. I froze in place for a second. The hum was getting louder and growing in intensity. Now I could hear screams.

Oh shit! They’re back, I yelled.

I ran back toward the mobile. I knew I wouldn’t make it back to its safety, so I dove into a hole