by JK Franks
The commander looked squarely at Scott. “Mr. Montgomery, I am not a conspiracy nut, I am a man who has worked within this system for most of my life. I can assure you, the people that run this country have always run this country. They are not the ones you might think, and they are definitely not the ones you vote for. Our electoral process was clouded and indirect. For a supposedly true democracy, our process was not all that democratic. The group behind Catalyst desires control. That is all they seek, and they will do anything necessary to retain it.”
Scott nodded, having considered this possibility before. Despite his internal conflict at which side to support, he had come to some decisions. “Commander Garett, there is something else you should know… or perhaps you already do,” Scott began nervously. “The pandemic overseas...” He got no further.
The commander leaned forward and made a silencing motion. He went to the door, requested the guard on station to leave and firmly closed the solid door. He came back to his desk, opened a drawer and flipped something that looked like an electrical switch.
“Are you telling me that Catalyst is behind the pandemic?”
Scott swirled the tumbler of Scotch in his hand pensively. “Yes, sir. It was part of a larger plan to ensure that other world nations would not be in a significantly better position than the US. I only got fragments of intel from my original research, but we have a contact who has been working with the Catalyst paramilitary doing bioresearch."
The Commander looked stunned, then fell back deeper in his chair, even wearier. “You have someone working with them to concoct that damn doomsday bio-weapon?”
“No, sir, you misunderstand. He’s my niece’s boyfriend, he’s actually just a grad student at FSU. He’s not working on the pathogen. They…” Scott paused, "They have him trying to find a cure.” Scott let that statement hang in the air, waiting for the obvious question.
The commander instead said, “Go on.”
“His best guess has been that it was a bio-weapon, an engineered virus that got away from them. It mutated. Whatever cure they previously developed isn’t working any longer.”
Commander Garett stared in quiet horror out the port window at the darkening sky, the words of the atom bomb’s inventor, the late Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, coming to him, “What have these fools done? They have become death, destroyer of worlds.”
Scott stood up and approached at the rail, looking out over the flat land now surrounding the large ship. Now he truly knew this was only the beginning. A storm was approaching and with it, even greater trouble.
About the Author
Fiction author, JK Franks’ world is shaped by his love of history, science and all things sci-fi. His work is most often filled with vivid characters set in dire situations only a step or so away from our normal world. His focus on gritty realism and attention to meticulous detail help transport his readers into his stories.
The first novel of his apocalyptic Catalyst series: Downward Cycle, was published in 2016. The follow-up to that, Kingdoms of Sorrow, continued the tale of a near-future apocalyptic event and a group of survivors’ efforts to hang on to the remnants of a collapsing civilization. The novella American Exodus published late in 2017 takes a look at the disaster from a fresh and more personal perspective. Look for at least one more book in the series.
Always writing, JK Franks now lives in West Point, Georgia, with his wife and family. No matter where he is or what's going on, he tries his best to set aside time every day to answer emails and messages from readers. You can also visit him on the web at www.jkfranks.com. Please subscribe to his newsletter for updates, sneak peeks, promotions, and giveaways. You can also find the author on Facebook and Twitter or email him directly at [email protected].
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Other books by JK Franks:
The Catalyst Series
Book 1: Downward Cycle
Life in a remote oceanfront town spirals downward after a massive solar flare causes a global blackout. But the loss of electrical power is just the first of the problems facing the survivors. In the chaos, that follows. Is this how the world ends?
Book 2: Kingdoms of Sorrow
With civilization in ruins, individuals band together to survive and build a new society. The threats are both grave and numerous—surely too many for a small group to weather. This is a harrowing story of survival following the collapse of the planet’s electric grids.
Book 2.5: American Exodus Novella
This companion story to the Catalyst series follows one man’s struggle to get back home after the collapse. No supplies, no idea of the hardships to come; how can he possibly survive the journey? Even if he survives, can he adapt to this new reality?
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Table of Contents
Catalyst Book One
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Epilogue
About the Author
Other books by JK Franks:
