Terror in Oblivion

By Jo Carey

Melanie Prescott loved her life in the quaint almost-ghost town of Oblivion. It was a peaceful existence until a genetically engineered terror in the form of a tiny purple bug invaded.

Will the town and its residents survive, or will they learn that Oblivion is more than just a name?
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jo Carey
• Release date: Nov 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393308065

Jo Carey

Jo Carey grew up in the Midwest but her curiosity and gypsy-spirit has kept her on the move. She's lived in eight US states and spent three years living in Ireland. She has always loved creature movies, so creatures and bugs often show up in her books. Jo, a former information security compliance guru, writes fast-paced, character-driven stories in a variety of genres from medical thrillers to space operas and cozy mysteries. Her novels are filled with humor, romance, and sometimes creatures or aliens, or maybe even all of the above. She often builds her stories around a strong female lead character surrounded by plenty of hunky male heroes. Jo's been under fire on a golf course and climbed out the roof of an elevator in the Netherlands. Life hasn't been boring. Now residing in Texas, setting often plays a huge role in her stories. Jo was intrigued by the League of Planetary Systems, a world her husband, Frank, created for his science fiction books, and she now writes mysteries and other types of tales sets in that world. Jo was bitten by a cat, a fire ant, and a snake, before succumbing to the bite of the writing bug.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Dr. Strawser, are you ready for tomorrow's test, General Munson asked.

We're prepared, but we need more time to ensure all the safety protocols are fully functional, Dr. Mark Strawser said.

All eyes we're focused on the screen in the front of the room. They don't look like much of a threat, the general said as they watched the bugs infected with the enhanced virus crawl around their high-tech habitat surrounded by cameras that recorded them 24/7. Why are they that color?

We wanted to make them easy to spot and differentiate from the unaltered ones, Mark explained.

I knew this would happen, Haley said. We need more time. Our data on the controls is limited, we need to run more tests.

General, I have to agree with Dr. Brown. We need more time. Why not stick to the original schedule? Mark asked. Our data on the success of the genetic mods is too limited to draw any reliable conclusions at this point.

Thank you for sharing your opinions doctors, but I'm in charge of Project Ticktock. You can go ahead with more tests...

Thank yo... Dr. Brown started to say, thinking the general had seen the wisdom of following the advice of his experts. The look of relief in her eyes was obvious.

As soon as we see how your little creepy crawlies handle Building C, General Munson finished. My people will be on site at nine in the morning. Make sure everything is ready. He turned on his heel and walked out of the lab with his aide trailing in his wake.

Haley was at Mark's elbow before the door sealed closed. We can't do this, Mark. It's irresponsible.

I share your concerns, but the general is in charge. I'll prepare a report detailing our objections tonight and send it to you for review. We'll submit it, so our concerns are documented, but that's about all we can do.

The general won't care.

You're right. If we don't go ahead with the test, he'll just replace us with someone who will. I'd rather stay involved so I have some hope of keeping this from blowing up into a major disaster.

Haley and Mark had worked together since their college days. They agreed on the need for controls when dealing with dangerous diseases. While Mark reviewed the data on Project TickTock, he spent a lot of time thinking about what precipitated his accepting a job developing bioweapons for the military. He knew the answer, he just didn't want to let his thoughts wander down that path. He needed to focus on the experiment and what he could do to ensure the security protocols were reliable.

There has to be a way to stop this, Haley said. If any of those bugs escape, it could be disastrous.

The general will go ahead with the test, whether we help or not, Mark said.

I've got to do something. There's got to be a way to stop this.

None that won't result in us getting fired or worse, Mark said. Look Haley, I agree that it's too soon for the next stage of testing, but you can't really be surprised. You knew we were developing a bioweapon. Taking a look at his colleague, he realized how dark the circles under her eyes had become.

Do you ever wonder how you ended up doing this kind of work? she asked.

We were young and excited for the opportunity to continue our research, he said.

Research that started out as finding a way to fight insect-borne diseases, she said. Not finding ways to make them more deadly.

Mark was five years older than Haley. She'd been his post-doc at Aegis Labs where they were working on finding ways to limit the spread of insect-borne diseases like West Nile, Zika, or Lyme disease. Their research consumed them both for the past 10 years. In that time, he'd lost his family to a terrorist attack, and she'd lost her heart to Dr. Strawser. It seemed that neither of them were going to be able to overcome those losses.

CHAPTER TWO

After breakfast at the Fry by Knight Cafe, I walked the few yards back to my home in the remodeled assayer's office on Main Street in Oblivion. The cozy 2-story abode sits tucked between the old bank building and the jail. Living in a former ghost town might seem a little strange to some people, but I love the community here.

Fresh brewed coffee in hand, I sat down at the PC to check email before getting back to work on my latest novel. I consider myself an author since I spend most of my time writing, but I'd be the first to admit that I'm not a very successful one, at least if success is based on income. In other words, I don't make much money writing, but I enjoy it, and it fills my time.

My email box held a message from my only daughter, Amy. It included her usual concerns about my choice to live in the middle of freakin' nowhere. Alone. I also read through some posts from my old high-school classmates on a Facebook page we all use to stay in touch. I checked a few other messages, but there was nothing exciting.

I pulled up the novel I was working on and reread the last chapter I wrote the previous day to get back into the story. By mid-afternoon, I had added another chapter to my draft, so I took a break for a hike with Duke, my rescued dachshund. Duke and I met up with Lars Hansen and his dog Jake on the trail. We were all headed to the top of Inferno Mountain. It was sunny and warm and the view from the top was spectacular. When I was looking through the lens of my camera, I saw the glint of a reflection from something over on Hell's Peak.

Lars, take a look. Something over there is reflecting, I said, handing over the camera so he could check it out.

Yeah, I see it, but I can't tell what's causing it, he said. Can't think of any metal up there.

Any hikers pass through town in the past few days?

Couple of guys came through recently. Could be them, I guess.

Lars is a world-renown metal sculptor. He bought the old blacksmith's shop in Oblivion and turned it into his studio. He ships sculptures all over the world. Anything Lars creates has at least a five-figure price tag. Over the years he has placed sculptures throughout Oblivion making the whole town part of his gallery.

You didn't put one of your sculptures up there, did you? I asked him.

No, but that gives me an idea.

When I