Expropriation 2: the Revelation: 2

By Derek Goneke

Unravel the Mystery: "One Revelation at a Time"

Beneath the surface, secrets and peril await.

Unbeknownst to humankind, an evil force takes form in the farthest reaches of the cosmos—a dark entity with the power to wreak havoc and instill fear in all living beings. Our very existence is on the verge of oblivion due to this otherworldly threat's meticulously planned destruction of Earth. An uneasy sense of doom takes root globally as even world leaders recognize the presence of an unseen adversary.

An unforgettable encounter.

Life will never be the same for those who were in the forest on that fateful day. Still grappling with the startling revelation that Earth harbors a secret capable of unleashing unparalleled chaos, they find themselves entwined with others who share their perilous fate—a fate that could signify Earth's final countdown.

The Flames of Defiance

But Earth's malefactors have gravely underestimated the indomitable spirit of humanity. Our resilience runs more profound than they ever imagined, and our determination to protect our world remains unshakable. As destinies intertwine and unexpected alliances form, the human race faces its most daunting challenge yet. Will we rise to defend our birthright and triumph over the encroaching darkness?

• Language: English
• Publisher: DGone Publishing
• Release date: Jun 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223711872

Derek Goneke

Author Derek Goneke has lived an extraordinary life, aiming to be fulfilled through his passionate pursuits and excellent work. As an author, he specializes in SciFi ,Entrepreneurship, Self-Help books, and children's books. As his mind is always hard at work, he seeks inspiration from a lot of things and aims to write other genres in the future. What our minds can conceive and what our hearts believe, we can achieve. Derek epitomizes this saying. He has always strived to be more, to be better, and to make a positive impact on the lives of others. The values of hard work, serving others in need, and the belief that everything is possible have been ingrained in his DNA. He is full of gratitude for the life that he's living that he just wants to give back to others. After earning his Master of Business Administration, he has worked for over a decade as an Account Executive for a Fortune 500 Company. His hard work, perseverance, and dedication have served him well as he earned numerous awards in his field. His career has also propelled him around the globe, allowing him to explore different countries and cultures. He took advantage of these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to learn from others. Derek's mind is constantly at work, thinking of new ideas and taking inspiration from the world around him. He has now become an entrepreneur and author. Taking his experiences in business, he writes Entrepreneurship and Self-Help books, hoping that readers will learn from what he has gone through. His books on Emotional Intelligence and the Entrepreneur Mindset are both aimed at helping individuals become more motivated and achieve their life goals. Derek's greatest passion and true joy - aside from being a self-proclaimed die-hard Liverpool FC fan - is being a father. He believes that being a dad is a great privilege, nothing short of amazing. He loves spending time with his family, and he takes this role very seriously. He relishes this role so much that he has also crafted children's books because of this. Not only does fatherhood allow him to become a better man, but it also makes his books more appealing to children because he knows their language and understands their fears, their needs, their happiness, and their apprehensions. The themes of his children's books center on destiny, heroism, and adventure. Calling the great state of Tennessee home,

Book preview

1

UNBALANCED

Clementine Springs Loading Dock

Hyder, Alaska.

Waking up that morning had been a chore.

Lena's head felt like there was an industrial-grade popcorn machine doing the rounds in it. The fall had been over three days ago, but somehow, it felt like the pain had only gotten worse this morning after having the dream the night before.

She had heard of PTSD, but to actually experience a fear and distress that she couldn’t control through reasoning with herself or meditate away was disturbing. Any time her eyes shut after a feeling of intense pain she would see herself in a box of rising flames.

The trauma of the park was something she was starting to get over; converting it instead into a drive to understand and triumph over whatever it was that was happening. But now, it was the incident of the arson and try on her life that haunted her.

Lena watched as Samuel checked his ABC watch again as soon as he straightened up; done loading the last crate from the delivery boat onto his truck.

It wasn’t actually that he had anywhere urgent to be, as much as that he still wasn’t completely used to this new, slower lifestyle. His mind was firmly wired to working the tourism circuit in Dubai.

Samuel glanced up and around at the landscape crowded with evergreens, wildlife, and a bunch of different water bodies.

Then he turned back to stare at her where she sat back in the car.

She knew he didn’t like going on these supply runs into the virtually unpopulated (or, more virtually unpopulated) town alone, so Lena, his partner for runs who had woken up with a throbbing headache that morning, had forced herself to tag along. Knowing he wasn’t about to admit to being scared, she’d insisted on going with him and just sitting in the car even though he protested. And everyone else was caught up with their own duties for the day, so there were no chances for a replacement.

Shutting up the boot, Samuel climbed into the driver's seat,

Are we done? she asked.

Yeah. All through. How’re you holding up?

Lena rolled her eyes even though her head still felt a little heavy.

I’m the same as I was some minutes ago when you left the car.

Now, it was the man’s turn to look exasperated and he gunned the engine.

We’re going make one more stop before we head back.

The pair drove through the middle of nowhere as quickly as he could get them. There was nothing either of them wanted to listen to on the radio just then and Lena wasn’t really up to conversation.

She wasn’t sure if it was just a feeling, but it did seem like stations were almost only focused on news lately, and each headline tried to outdo the previous in strangeness.

Samuel stopped over at a small shack shop along the road.

What are you getting here? Lena asked curiously.

You’ll see, he said, getting out.

When he came back, he thrust a scrunched up paper bag in her direction without a word and started driving again.

What’s this? When he simply shrugged, Lena opened it and looked inside.

Oh! Thank you, Nazir, you didn’t have to.

She flipped the pack over and spotted the price sticker.

"You really didn’t have to."

Another fabulous result of the world being tumble dried was the steady rise of prices—especially with commodities. Lena thought back to those television shows where crazy evangelical fanatics would deliberately go and buy out supermarkets to stock up their survival bunkers against the rapture which was definitely taking place soon.

Somewhere out there, there’s an older woman with 13 packs of sensibly priced headache pills, she said sarcastically.

Samuel smirked.

You never know, it might be handy for when the aliens start sending down mind control beams in the form of bad music, he said.

The two chuckled as he pulled up to the building.

Samuel got out and stood staring at his new home for a second before helping his partner out.

From the outside, there wasn’t much to look at, and you could hardly even tell there was life bustling just beyond the walls.

The Experts Coalition was something Lena would have rolled his eyes at not too long ago...well, she still did sometimes.

A collection of fast minds and hands in different fields that believed in or had experienced the reality of the cosmic threat did sound more like the protagonists in a TV show.

As sceptical as she had a future where she would come to actively accept the existence of extra-terrestrials wasn’t one, she could ever have predicted. But, working to save humanity from them now seemed like a solid enough choice.

And, there was no doubt in her mind now.

She remembered having asked Samuel what had him so convinced there was really something going on.

Are you being serious? I’d have to be seriously in denial not to.

In his own case, the black sheep in a devout family of six, had been conducting camel safaris for well off tourists as usual on an average enough, hot Tuesday afternoon, when the sand had begun acting up.

The image he’d painted of a glimmering black bulk that seemed to bask in a light separate from the spotlight of the glaring Middle Eastern sun came alive Lena’s mind’s eye.

Shaking off the creeping chill, she caught up with Samuel who was ringing the bell in a special code on the door of the sub cellar house.

Twice-once-twice-twice.

Silas, the housemate who eventually came to the door to peek through the window soon let them in.

Well, you two took your time.

Uh, yeah. We were...taking in the scenery.

The man raised a single blond eyebrow and, looking from one to the other, mumbled something in Austrian.

Mm hmm, scenery indeed.

The moment they crossed the threshold of the first underground level, a stream of other cohabitators came out to meet them.

They got the stuff!

Do you think my packs of dried fruit are in there?

As the single box Nazir had come down with was taken from him and people headed back out to get others, Lena slunk away to the sickbay to check in with one of their two actual medical doctors.

When he’d finished up with unpacking, Samuel knocked lightly before peeping round just as Lena was getting her temperature taken.

Nazir, she called groggily when she saw him.

Hey. I thought you just had a headache?

Oh, it’s nothing to concern yourself about, Dr. Marlene said when she saw the worried angle to his brow. Just taking it as a precaution. Not everyone is used to the weather out here.

He nodded slowly as she excused them.

I'll give you some space now.

How are you feeling?

Oh, I’ll be fine. There’s a weird humming in my ears though. I guess it’s all just side effects from that fall I took on the ice last time we went out.

Hmm.

Hmm nothing.

Fine. We have to make sure all our best minds are running optimally.

Lena smiled at this and reached out to offer a side hug, Oh, stop it.

Their moment was intruded on by someone tapping on the half-open door.

"There’s something happening in the briefing room. Roman wants all the members present, Dr. Bhatt," the person called in.

She and Samuel exchanged glances. Then, she lowered herself from the bed and they walked out into the foyer.

The invitation was beyond unexpected and the fact that her heart was now beating faster wasn’t making her head feel any better. Roman hadn’t had cause to address them there in a minute.

What now? She groaned inwardly but tried not to look worried on the outside as she opened the only door without a lock.

THE EXPERTS COALITION was something she had stumbled on purely by chance.

When she had fully recovered and knew she was expected to start fending for herself again, Lena became pretty confused about what to do next.

Taking up gigs tutoring high school science online to survive and finding herself on her laptop for most hours of the day anyway, Lena started researching proven sightings of alien crafts and theories behind the chain of events going on around the world.

Her anonymous conversations had been with all sorts of people; from young YouTube conspiracy theorists to other earth and space scientists who outright called her crazy.

She had told her story everywhere, but hadn’t really managed to get feedback that tied in with hers. That was until, one day, Roman Evans, a retired agent with the NSA had stumbled across an argument she was having online and messaged her.

When Lena read that someone from the NSA wanted to get in contact with her, her feelings had gone from relief to terror.

She was so sure Agent Moore had found out about her former dealings with the Department of Défense and was now trying to trap her, preying on her need to be believed.

But, she had been in a tight spot and what he said seemed to make sense; never mind that the group he was describing sounded like some sort of doomsday cult.

As she walked into the briefing room, leaving Samuel, who said he had something to check first, just outside, Roman instantly looked up.

Miss Bhatt. I’m sorry to intrude on your rest, I understand you still aren’t completely sound.

It’s no trouble.

Please come and have a look at this.

Making her way over, she leaned over to look at the computer where a few of the others were huddled.

An Instagram page?

Look a little closer.

The page seemed to belong to a teenager somewhere in Europe. The words were in the Cyrillic alphabet, but the general idea of it was clear enough even before the text was translated. Lena looked closer at the nightmare fuel.

The youngster seemed to have taken on the role of documenting the apocalypse.

There were photos of little whirlpools of sand in the ground, huge sinkholes, areas where hordes of birds and drones which had fallen out of the sky lay sprawled, and rivers which had filled up with sediment almost overnight.

The latest post was from just over an hour ago. There appeared to have been a crash just minutes after a plane in Moscow had taken off. But, it wasn’t any ordinary crash.

Do you see the top of this? Jeffrey, a landscaper who was one of the older members asked.

Lena checked the part he pointed to. What the hell? It’s almost as if a huge amount of pressure was applied to it in the atmospheric regions.

The entire roof of the plane was caved in—only it didn’t look as if it'd made contact with anything, but rather, was as smooth as if it had simply sunk in of its own accord.

Our very existences defy scientific explanation at this point, someone else chipped in.

Is she safe? Do you think they’ll go after her?

Not really. Look at all the locations things are being sent in from. If they go for the owner of the account in Ukraine, who’s going to stop any of her followers from cloning it, or even pinning the disappearance on the government? It’ll just help them pick up momentum, Jeffrey’s wife, Dion, answered.

I agree, Roman said. Things have gone beyond the point where they can silence the effects...it’s the cause the higher-ups are still managing to keep under wraps.

I wonder how long that’s going to work for, Lena said to herself, looking over the photos again.

Who can tell?

2

PICTURE IT

Institute for Astronomy and Atmospheric Science

New York City, New York.

He was late to work and it showed.

Getting a job at the institute after years of having family members ask him what the forecast for the weekend was going to be was a literal miracle.

Lucky had had so