The Storm Keepers

By Sallie Cochren and Elsie Marie Cochren

When a virus wipes out most of the human race, the few who are resistant flee the infected cities and retreat to the woods. Setting up small villages, the survivors begin a new life free from most of the modern technology they are accustomed to. Many years later, three mysterious strangers show up, one with an uncanny ability to predict storms. The villagers become dependent on their new Storm Keepers and look to them to keep them safe. As more power is given to the Storm Keepers, the villagers follow them blindly. There's something the Storm Keepers aren’t telling the villagers, though, something about the wind clouds that they don’t want the villagers to know. Will the villagers discover the Storm Keepers’ secret before it’s too late?

This story is also available in the short story collection, "No Time to Panic!"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sallie Cochren
• Release date: Dec 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781005547110

Sallie Cochren

Sallie Cochren has always loved a good story and enjoys stories in a variety of genres. She started writing short stories and skits as a child, thinking it was a great way to spend her free time. She always wanted to write a book of her own, but her teaching career kept her so busy that there was no time to write. When she resigned from her teaching job, she finally had time to start writing and fulfill her lifelong dream.Sallie is drawn to many genres. Her stories encompass a range of writing. She has written horror novels, science fiction, psychological thrillers and even Christian fantasy. She has also written a lighter read with her Alien Cats trilogy. She is currently working on a dystopian series as well as continuing her vampire hunter series.When she isn’t writing, she enjoys reading and watching movies. She also loves animals and enjoys spending time with her cat.

Book preview

The Storm Keepers

By Sallie Cochren and Elsie Marie Cochren

Author’s note: All characters and events in these stories are strictly from the author’s imagination and are not meant to resemble any person, living or dead.

To learn about more books by the author or to view book trailers, go to www.salliecochren.com.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by mechanical or electronic means including storage and retrieval systems without the author’s permission. An exception will be made for reviewers. If leaving a review, you may quote a short excerpt. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

The Storm Keepers Copyright Sallie Cochren and Elsie Marie Cochren June 2017

All Rights Reserved

Table of Contents

The Storm Keepers

Author’s Notes

The Storm Keepers

The Year 8370

The villagers surveyed their new surroundings. Most of them had lived their lives surrounded by concrete, caught up in the hectic and busy life of going to work and taking care of families. Any nature retreats they had taken were planned in advance. It was so strange for them to now be standing in their village, looking out to the perimeter and seeing all the green foliage and trees that seemed to go on endlessly.

There were so few of them now. So many friends and family members were gone. Colleagues, neighbors and even those who had annoyed the villagers in their past lives were now mourned by everyone in the village. Could they possibly survive with their numbers?

They weren’t alone. There were nearby villages. Many had retreated into the mountains and woods to form their villages. Everyone supposed it was this way all around the world. The cities were feared, thought to still be dangerous, hosting the virus that had wiped out more than 90 percent of the Earth’s population.

Some were resistant and were unaffected by the virus. Those were the people who now went wherever they could to survive. The survivors worried, though. Could any future children they created become victim to the virus also? Could they be sure that their children would inherit the genetic protection necessary to ensure their survival? The villagers hoped that relocating to the woods would protect their descendants and ensure that future generations would keep humanity going. The virus seemed to die quickly without a human host. Surely in these woods where people had rarely come, it would be safer than in the germ-infested cities where so many corpses lay abandoned and rotting.

Greatly outnumbered by the animal kingdom now that their population was so small, everybody knew that there was safety in numbers. No village housed less than fifty people. Most of the former city dwellers feared the bears and mountain lions who now had to share their homes with humans.

Many of the villagers had barely gotten out in time before their cities were put on lockdown. Others escaped the borders after their cities were quarantined, risking being shot by the authorities who guarded the perimeters of the cities. Of course, there wasn’t much to worry about when most of the people enforcing the quarantine died from the virus. Then, survivors just walked right out without anyone pointing a gun at them.

The woods seemed much safer, more virus-free, if there was such a place. Everyone had always believed that fresh air was healthy. Here in this remote place, there was certainly plenty of that. In time, the air in the cities began to clear as factories shut down, fuel ran out and vehicles stopped traveling the roads. But no one knew how long it would take for the virus to go away, and many wondered if the cities would ever be safe again.

Over time, life became more primitive when cell phone batteries ran out and satellites became useless. Villagers now had to live without running water or electricity. It was very hard for most people at first, having been used to the luxury of city living. Some didn’t know if they could ever get through this.

They now were forced to have conversations with their new neighbors. No more texting. That seemed minor now, though, given all of their losses.

So, a new world began. The cities sat abandoned, waiting for future generations who were too afraid to reclaim them. The villagers learned to survive in the woods and to make do without all of the technology to which they had become accustomed. Soon, thoughts of the old world passed. People looked to the future, striving to rebuild their civilizations.

Present Day, Year 8412

The village of Phloxwood was founded in the mountains of Colorado. Several other villages were nearby in the region also. The villages had grown in population slowly with many people dying of illness or falling victim to animal attacks. But now, things had stabilized a little. Over the years, there had been a few brave people who had made treks to the old city of Denver to retrieve needed supplies from pharmacies and stores.

Travel took time. Men rode horses and traversed old highways, pulling wagons behind them. Some of the roads had