Jacqueline Druga - Omnicide

Once Seaver was consumed, it wasn’t long before they had to bring out the crop duster. Nolan, the pilot, did a great job. Usually the dusting would stop the growth for a week or so, then he had to go back out.

Cass wished that they’d be able to continue dusting, at least until the natural barrier was finished. But it didn’t work out that way and that frightened her. A few sections of glass had been erected. It didn’t need to be too tall, just high enough. The natural barrier was close to seventy percent complete. At least the first round. They’d go back and add that safety measure if they could.

It was a lot of ground to cover and a part of Griffin was still so vulnerable. That section, west of town, right where the welcome arch was located, was open.

It was also the place Cass went to every single day.

It wasn’t long before that day when she could gaze outward and just see road.

Now she looked out and all she saw was a wall of the growing fungus in the distance.

It was still far away, and it hadn’t moved in weeks. But it was tall, like a forest; the fungus not only spread wide, in some areas it grew upwards, taller than the tallest tree she had ever seen.

It moved too fast for there to be any positive outcome when it was all said and done.

She spent a lot of time thinking of those astronauts on the Space Station. How the world looked to them. Could they see Griffin, a bare spot in an encapsulated world of new growth?

After visiting Ada, she parked her car by Eb’s shop and walked through town, a loaf of homemade bread in one hand and bottle of wine in the other. She passed Brass Balls and Beers and could hear the music inside, but it wasn’t coming from a juke box. The power had gone out months earlier. It was a group of musicians playing. The laughter and noise carried out into the street. She was envious of those in town who lived life to the fullest and didn’t think about what was to come.

Every time she did that, she remembered they were literally on borrowed time. She hated when those thoughts hit her.

She stopped at the end of town, just at the arch, staring out.

Was the fungus still at a distance, did it move closer?

“I thought I’d find you here,” Kit said, coming from behind.

“Oh, hey, I’m sorry. Yeah. I wanted to do my daily check.”

“And?”

“Does it look closer to you?” Cass asked.

“No. And it isn’t. I went out this morning.”

Cass nodded.

“Cass, we’ll burn it if we need to. It hasn’t moved.”

“It doesn’t mean it won’t.”

“You’re being this way because of the crop dusting.”

“Yeah, our safety net is gone.”

“Don’t think that way. We’re still here. Art said there is a chance it could die off. Hold onto that. And for today, can you just pretend all is fine?”

Cass finally turned and faced him. “I’ll try. I mean everyone else in this town is.”

“No, they aren’t pretending. They really are grateful,” Kit said then looked down to the items she held in her hands. “Are they for us?”

“Oh. Shit. Yes. Ada made bread and sent wine.” She handed them to Kit. “How’s the turkey?”

“Considering it’s the first one I made on a wood burning stove, I think it’s almost done. The whole house smells like Thanksgiving.”

“Well it is.”

“You bagged a great turkey,” Kit said.

“I bagged twelve.” Cass laughed. “People need to start eating the game around here before the game start eating everything else. I’m killing more meat than they can eat.”

“Did you ever wonder about that?” Kit asked. “I mean the world is supposed to be dead, right? Where’s all the game coming from?”

Cass didn’t say anything.

“I know you look out every day and all you see is death creeping our way. But there’s life out there. It’s Thanksgiving, Cass, let’s be thankful we’re still here, because we very well could not have been.”

“You’re right.”

“I know I’m right,” Kit said. “I also know my little pep talk here will last only until tomorrow. So… let’s go home.”

He wouldn’t get an argument from her, she never stayed long at that spot. Just a brief daily stop, a reminder that no matter how bright and cheerful life seemed to be, out there somewhere, was something waiting to take it away.

As she walked down the street with Kit, she glanced over her shoulder once more to what loomed on the horizon.

That moment was so indicative of her life and how she had lived it for the last eight years.

Moving forward, yet always looking back to the dark behind her. Only this time it was different; she didn’t just choose to survive, she and everyone else in Griffin fought to survive.

Cass had to keep reminding herself of that. She had to try to find the optimist when the realist in her tried to surface.

No matter how many times she looked back to the bad, waiting for it to swoop in and snatch it all away, she had to focus on what was before her, what she lived for, what she and the others had. Whether it was short term or for the long haul, bottom line was… Griffin had beaten the odds. The world had been swallowed by an insurmountable force, but not Griffin. Griffin lived and thrived. And as much as she fought to admit it, Cass, like those in the town of Griffin, embraced her second chance at life.

Jacqueline Druga is a native of Pittsburgh, PA. Her works include genres of all types but she favors post-apocalypse and apocalypse writing.

For updates on new releases you can find the author on:

Facebook: @jacquelinedruga

Twitter: @gojake

www.jacquelinedruga.com

What we Become by Jacqueline Druga

Like many, Mackenzie Garret complains about the weather. It is the hottest summer anyone can remember. The high temperatures are out of control with no end in sight. Until it all changes. Overnight, blue skies become gray, and the hot, humid weather turns to rain, then snow, then ice as the temperature plummets. The entire northern half of the country is thrown into chaos as blow by blow, storm after storm, nature rips into the world, tearing it apart. Towns and cities are evacuated, and Mac and her family are forced to leave their world behind and face a treacherous journey south to safety. Will they make it, or will they be left behind in this new, frozen world?

Huge thank you to Dark Heart Designs for the wonderful cover and to AI Jones for all your help.

Copyright © Jacqueline Druga 2020

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission from the publisher.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any person or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No affiliation is implied or intended to any organisation or recognisable body mentioned within.

Published by Vulpine Press in the United Kingdom in 2020

Cover by Lindsey Thorburn at Dark Heart Designs

ISBN: 978-1-83919-061-2

www.vulpine-press.com