Synopsis

In this harrowing tale of humanity well past the brink of insanity, Canadian author J. F. Bloomfield takes the reader on a dangerous adventure through the corpse of a world that went horribly wrong. Starting off unprepared and deathly afraid, the main character, Will, just barely makes it underground with some hiking and camping gear and has to plan his journey south into the remnants of the coastal United States to find his wife, who was on a company sales trip to Florida when the bombs fell.

What awaits him down the coast is nothing short of soul-rending. The freaks of nature and anomalies of physics take their toll and change both his body and his mind in disturbing ways. Who is he now? Will his wife recognize him anymore?

It becomes obvious to him that every part of the country was hit by a different experimental bomb that pushed the boundaries of what was possible to predict. What else would he find?

The author invites you to join him on this complex mission to discover who we really are when no concept goes unspoiled by the wildest impossibilities.

Amazon

Read for Free via Kindle Unlimited

Excerpt

The Grocery Store

In the middle of this parking lot, there were three juvenile trees scattered randomly among the parking spaces. One of the trees had upended a car that used to park there. The scene looked as though the tree grew underneath the car with such force that it eventually toppled the car over and it landed roof first on the car beside it. Will locked his focus in on one particular family out of a dozen or so. This family was heading in the direction of the upturned car. Their shopping cart was closer to him than all the others were, so he kept his cover. He stared around the corner with one eye and noticed that their cart was violently shaking through the lot. The wheels were hitting every vine and root and tossing their groceries from one side of the cart to the other. They were a husband and wife and very happy. They laughed while saying something Will could not hear. The husband pushed the cart into position behind where their flipped car used to be and where the tree now commandeered the space. The wife brought out her keys and made all the motions necessary to pop the trunk and the husband started putting the groceries into nothing but air. It was as if they were pretending to still have their car there.

Will was puzzled by this behavior. If these people were aware enough to get groceries, why could they not see the obvious state of their car? Nobody seemed to notice the state of the parking lot or of the vicious war the land was waging on the otherwise desolate city. The grocery bags hit the ground, the woman closed the non-existent trunk, and the man returned the cart to the overgrown corral. They both opened the doors to a car that was no longer there and then tried to sit down in it and fell to the ground. They then got up quietly and stone-faced. Their disposition was no longer that of a happy family but was all business now. They stopped pretending they had a car. The man picked up the groceries from the ground while the woman grabbed the cart back from the corral. Then, like robots on a production line, they moved back towards the store for a reason that Will couldn’t guess.

Will emerged from the corner and moved towards the store. He was emboldened both by his curiosity of this new situation as well as the fact that these people seemed oblivious to everything about how their environment had changed. He deemed them no threat. He caught up to them with a jog and simply followed. He knew he wasn’t dreaming now. The sounds were too real and then there was the smell. The land here smelled the same as earlier, like fresh-cut grass, despite the fact that it was a parking lot. It was a nearly sickening aroma. The groceries in this store were probably spoiled. It was then that Will realized everyone had “reset”. Some people were headed back towards their cars and others to the store, but altogether drone-like and inconsiderate of each other.

There was no more talking and no more laughing. He followed them into the store, which must have had the doors open when it lost power. The produce which should have been kept fresh with mist and refrigeration now decomposed on unmanaged shelves and hung the air with the stench of decay. The whole store was bustling with the commotion of what appeared to be an army of shelf stockers. All of the people who had been shoppers now worked diligently to put everything back where they found it. All the cans, bottles and packages were stocked back on the shelves by rote memorization. Will tried to move so that he wasn’t in the way of all of these worker bees. Or perhaps “zombies” was a better term for them. The most anti-social zombies in the world with a mean streak for obsessive repetition.

Will watched until everyone had dutifully completed their seemingly God-given tasks. Then it was like everyone had hit play on the video of their lives again. They were coming into the store, grabbing hand carts and push carts and gathering the things they needed for the next cycle. They were talking again and laughing but the whole store came to life too. The cashiers beeped items through the checkouts and the whirring of refrigerators came online. There was just one issue. There was still no power. Will didn’t think it possible that the refrigerators could start working again. If the produce was any sign, then the refrigerators weren’t running at all. So, what was that sound? Will looked at the checkout lanes very intently for a few seconds, only to realize that the people playing cashier were making the beeping noises with their mouths. He looked to the refrigerated section and everyone who opened the door mimicked the whirring sound of a fridge purposefully as they took their undoubtedly spoiled prizes out. It was starting to dawn on Will that these people were some other kind of crazy.

About the Author

Author of mind-bending Sci-fi, Dystopia and other genres that beg thrilling questions. J.F. Bloomfield has over 35 books he needs to write, including themes like Cyberpunk, Alternate History, Space Exploration, Planetary Expedition, Lost Biomes on Earth, Transhumanism, Futurism, and many more!