The Event

By Glen Johnson

Mankind number less than nine million. The world is on the brink of the next mass extinction.

THE DYING WORLD

The year is 2073. The world stands on its final footing. Back in 2048, the world’s population numbered over a hundred billion. Wars were fought over food not land. A new organization was put to work; to find the cure for world hunger.

THE MACHINE

They used the best scientists from every nation and succeeded in creating D.E.F (Digitally Enhanced Food.) However, the name came to have a more sinister meaning. The machine manipulated time, speeding up the growing process. However, it caused rips in time and space, allowing another dimension – which had been poised waiting for mankind to make such a mistake – to churn through, reaping death and almost total destruction. The answer to their prayers became their worst nightmare.

THE LAST OF MANKIND

Humankind now numbers a mere nine million. The adults survive in eight underground cities, protected by barriers – it used to be thirteen, but five perished when the moon was rent in two. Their offspring lives on a vast space station, which sits in a geostationary equatorial orbit around a world riddled with creatures from the darkest parts of the imagination. The cities barriers are failing. Also, the Station is slowly being pulled down by the earth’s gravity – it was not designed to hold so many, for so long.

PART ONE: THE LAST HOPE

A small group of six holds all of mankind’s hope in their hands as they head towards the largest rip to try to close it down. A father withholds secrets, possibly sending his sons to their death – secrets that if they seep out will cause total panic in all eight remaining cities. The head of the Council of Cities knows what is coming, what’s heading their way; she sits and looks at aerial photos of the advancing armies that are closing in. The decision she makes will affect millions. The commander in charge of the orbiting space station awaits the yearly rocket with the children onboard. However, something is wrong with the data files, the numbers just don’t add up. With only one day to go, things start to take a deadly turn. Is there a traitor onboard their last hope for humanity?

Time is one luxury mankind doesn’t have; however, time is what they need the most. Unless a miracle happens, within the next broken lunar cycle, humankind will become extinct.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Glen Johnson
• Release date: Apr 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005335168

Glen Johnson

Glen Johnson was born in Devon, England in 1973. He is the author of 55 fiction and non-fiction books. In August 2014, he gave away all his belongings and bought a backpack and he started travelling around Southeast Asia. While he travels, he helps charitable organizations, writing and releasing books about their foundations, leaving them with all the royalties. His first charity book is called Soi Dog: The Story Behind Asia's Largest Animal Welfare Shelter and it's available in ebook and paperback worldwide. He has also started to release a series of books about his travel adventures as they unfold, and Living the Dream: Part One – Khaosan Road, Thailand, and Part Two – Krabi, Thailand is available from all good ebook retailers. He also loves to travel and has spent over eleven years living and travelling around the world – so far, he has explored forty-three different countries. At present, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand, but he has also lived in Mexico, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, and Singapore. He is also the lead writer on the development team for a new computer game called The Seed (2018), from the creators of the award-winning S.T.A.L.K.E.R Misery mod. Why not add Glen as a friend on Facebook. From his author's page, you can keep up to date with all his new releases and when his kindle books are free on Amazon. He checks it daily, so pop on and say hello. Don't be shy, he's friendly and accepts friend requests. www.facebook.com/GlenJohnsonAuthor www.facebook.com/RedSkullPublishing and all good ebook retailers. Glen has published 174 books worldwide (via two publishing companies he owns). 55 are his own work; the other 119 are modern-classic-fiction books that can be found on all good eBook and paperback retailers. Books Released by Sinuous Mind Books, and Coming Soon – Books released under his real name Glen Johnson NON-FICTION BOOKS – CHARITY BOOKS (with Gary Johnson) Soi Dog – The Story Behind Asia's Largest Animal Welfare Shelter (2015) BEES Elephants Sanctuary: A Haven for Old and Retired Elephants (Coming Soon) TRAVEL BOOKS (with Gary Johnson) Living the Dream 1 – Khaosan Road – Thailand (2015) Living the Dream 2 – Krabi – Thailand (2019) Living the Dream 3 – Penang – Malaysia (Coming Soon) FICTION BOOKS – APOCALYPTIC/DYSTOPIAN/HORROR THE SIXTH EXTINCTION SERIES (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short Stories)...

Book preview

(After The Event)

(Click to enlarge image)

City 1: Singapore (Pulau Ujong)

City 2: China (Beijing)

City 3: England (London) Destroyed

City 4: New York (Manhattan)

City 5: Saudi Arabia (Riyadh)

City 6: Russia (Moscow) Destroyed

City 7: Turkey (Istanbul)

City 8: India (New Delhi)

City 9: Thailand (Bangkok)

City 10: Egypt (Cairo) Destroyed

City 11: Mexico (Mexico City) Destroyed

City 12: Canada (Ottawa)

City 13: Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) Destroyed

The WHITE LINES represent the reach of the icecaps.

CHARACTERS

SCIENCE TEAM (New York – City IV)

Drake Tellez: 61. Male. Chief Science officer of City IV

Camble Tellez: 44. Male. Scientist

Caleb Tellez: 28. Male

Darrell Tellez: 29. Male

Jaxxon (Jax) Gilliam: 25. Male. Pilot

Zane Reis: 31. Male. Co-pilot and radar/navigation

Arnica Ouyang Gui: 23. Female. Medic

Eugene Williams: 27. Male

SPACE STATION (Geostationary equatorial orbit – 2,000 miles above)

Commander Edward Philips: 52. Male. Commander of the Space Station

Lieutenant Khatiti Asari-Dokudo: 41. Female. Head of the Biosphere Department

Lieutenant Matthew Davies: 31. Male. Engineer

Lieutenant Sophie Tanner: 33. Female. Software engineer

DEADLANDS (New York State)

Mouse: 14 – 16? Male

Ganesh (Gan): 15 – 17? Female

Zhuguan Zhe: 63. Male. Settlement boss

The Oracle: 89. Female. Seer

WORLD CITIES COUNCILORS (The Council of Cities)

City 1: Singapore. Male – Lim Heng Chee

City 2: China. MALE – Wang Wei Zhou

City 3: England. Female – Edwina Blackwood Inactive

City 4: New York. Female – Feng Chou Ouyang Gui

City 5: Saudi Arabia. Male – Mohammed Shahween

City 6: Russia. Male – Dimitri Vasiliev Inactive

City 7: Turkey. Male – Kerem Korkmaz

City 8: India. Female – Saanvi Puri

City 9: Thailand. Male – Nattapong Bunyasarn

City 10: Egypt. Female – Mariam Badawi Inactive

City 11: Mexico. Female – Daniela Sofia Inactive

City 12: Canada. Female – Hannah Tremblay

City 13: Brazil. Male – Gabriel Oliverira Inactive

MILITARY (New York – City IV)

Thomas Sandpiper: 55. Male. Four-star Admiral City IV

THE EVENT

Part One: The Last Hope

1

Drake Tellez – Chief Science Officer

City # IV

Science Tower II

Below Manhattan Island

New York

The old man leaned forward, and with a gentle push, he activated the screen in front of him. He repositions himself in the camera; making himself comfortable. He starts to narrate, to add to his digital diary. He talks to the microphone as if it’s an old, trusted friend.

"Time will tell. All things, it seems, is judged by time; and supposedly healed with it. However, like most people I don’t have the luxury of time. What is time to me? Something that hangs on my wrist, something that’s just another fashion accessory; another article of clothing to colour coordinate with what I’m wearing. People’s lives are ruled by it, and occasionally die for it. But what is time to us? What does it mean? Time is not physical, not eternal. Time only represents itself to us by the rotation of our planet – twenty-four hours; one day. In the eternity of space, time cannot be measured; time cannot be controlled.

Until now… or so we thought.

He sits staring at his image on the computer screen, wondering where it all went wrong?

The room is large, with computer displays filling the walls and desks. All are empty of personnel. He has sent all the staff back to their quarters. Only he sits in the large room, contemplating the world around him.

The background noise is the whirring of computer terminals. The clacking of keyboards has thankfully stopped for the day.

The screens display the eight world cities, all that’s left of mankind on earth, condensed into pools of humanity that hide underground like frightened animals. There’re some that have escaped the land and watch it from above, miles over the scared surface. They peer down, too young to understand what they see, what they are expected to do in the future.

Those young souls are our only hope.

He groans.

I have a heavy burden to bear, he mutters at the camera.

He closes his old tired eyes, and rubs them with his sore wrinkled hands.

Why did I not see it coming? Though now it’s too late for me, my time is running out. My time, as they say, has come. For me, for my part, all I can do is try, in the last few fleeting moments I have left, to try to explain where it all supposedly went wrong. How the world of man ended.

He shifts in his seat.

"The year is 2073. The time is one of the darkest in our world’s history. A world that only decades ago was celebrating; celebrating a new era, a new beginning, a new time for all. A time it turned out to be the most devastating our world has ever faced.

But let me start at the beginning, where all stories should. Please bear with me, it’s been hard on me, as it has with every other human on the planet, I suppose – those that have survived – but like most, I believe my story to be harder, worse, that much more in need for attention than others. Even now the words and images come hard. Who would’ve believed it? Who would have known it would’ve come to this?

He rubbed a hand down his tired face, brushing through his long white beard.

You see we thought we had created something marvelous, something amazing, and something beyond all our previous expectations. We had succeeded where all previous generations had failed. He gave a gruff laugh. There was no joy in the sound.

However, our greatest achievement would become our ultimate downfall – our own demise. It would take us to our untimely deaths. A world now on the brink of extinction.

He closed his eyes for a minute. The screen recorded his silence.

"The world’s leaders joined in praise and exultation at what we had created. A new start they said – world peace once and for all. A new epoch for mankind. No more want. No more hunger. No more war.

In hindsight, it was just that. Until it started to happen. It then became apparent what we had really created, what it represented. What we’d done with our so-called superior science.

He rubbed his old hands together. They sounded like sandpaper.

You see wars were still fought, but no longer over land, but rather over food. The world’s population in 2052… he sighs, realizing it’s been like this now for over twenty years, twenty years of agony, constant fear and hiding.

"You see in 2052 the world’s population had increased to over one hundred and six billion – mostly in the third-world countries and throughout Asia. The people of the world were starving. Too many mouths to feed with not enough land to grow the food on. World leaders had to try to overcome their differences and group together to find an answer.

"Eventually, they did – they had no choice after the great drought of 52/3, which wiped out over twenty-eight billion souls, mostly in India and China – in 2054, when a new organization was created. An organization whose only goal was to stop world hunger by the latest technological advances.

"In the early parts of the twentieth century a new discovery was made concerning G.M (Genetically Modified – Genetically Engineered or Bioengineered) foods, which decades later was made illegal because of the way the product was changed at the DNA level,