I'm alive.

We've mostly accomplished our mission.

Just one small detour and we'll be steaming for the Keys.

Only a few more blank pages left.

RIP, William. You will be forever missed.

Epilogue.

Contrary to the crew's expectations, hordes of undead did not greet USS George Washington when she ran aground in the Keys that sunny Florida day. Long before the carrier's dramatic arrival, a contingent of armed civilian militias had secured Key West. It took some ingenuity, but it wasn't long before the remaining nuclear engineers restored power to the island, utilizing the carrier's two formidable Westinghouse nuclear reactors. A network of barter trade and the beginnings of a humble economy began to emerge on the islands.

With the carrier's complex burst communications equipment damaged beyond repair, the comm link with Task Force Phoenix at Hotel 23 was forever severed. On a recent reconnaissance mission over Hotel 23, a flight of Warthogs reported sighting a signal arrow pointing east, away from the facility. They searched the area until bingo fuel, but found no further trace of Phoenix. Although still a priority-one rescue operation, recovering the Phoenix operators would be an onerous task at best.

USS Virginia's detour brought her north, up the Russian coast, and through the Bering Strait. After serious discussion, both La.r.s.en and Kil agreed that human life was too precious to let fade out-humans were outnumbered as it was. USS Virginia had enough nuclear fuel in her reactor to circle the globe many times over, and was still well provisioned when she broke through the Arctic ice a couple hundred meters from Crusow, Kung, and their sled dogs. Their Sno-Cat had broken down ten miles before, the engine having seized up from dirty biofuel. Luckily their dogs were strong enough to pull them south far enough to the rendezvous. They'd been waiting for nearly twenty-four hours in a pile of sled dogs inside a make-shift igloo when USS Virginia's sail cracked the ice nearby, homing in on Crusow's distress beacon.

It was February when USS Virginia, along with a Chinese boomer submarine, made port call in Key West. The once lone survivor embraced his love on the pier; the captain sent the submarine's only expectant father ash.o.r.e first. Tara's pregnancy was definitely showing, and Kil beamed with happiness as he rubbed her belly softly. While he held Tara tightly, he caught a glimpse of John standing close to Jan, a bit too close. Kil smiled at them, inviting a wave. Jan gripped the back of Laura's belt as the little girl pulled forward, yelling for Uncle Kil.

Dean continued her teaching career in the Keys, keeping the likes of Danny, Laura, and a hundred other young people busy learning. Reading, writing, arithmetic, and Const.i.tutional core values replaced the diluted curriculum that had existed before the dead returned. Dean's wooden paddle did just fine in keeping the juvenile monkeyshines in check.

A new task force was established on the island with the mission of transporting Hourgla.s.s's recovered hardware to various surviving COG facilities for exploitation. Talk circulated around the island that a nuclear warhead from the Chinese submarine was being modified and reconfigured with a new payload, but no one really knew for certain. Rumors spread like wildfire in a small island community like this-they were rarely true.

Kil, John, Saien, and the other Hotel 23 regulars spent much time together; they sometimes played cards and even drank a little moonshine at the only watering hole on the island. John kept the radio communications running between the Keys, and Saien helped out in the guard towers, plinking the undead that randomly washed up on the sh.o.r.es.

A month before Tara had their baby, Kil negotiated for a large sailboat. His barter offer was a Chinese AK-47, four magazines, and five hundred rounds of ammunition. The boat's owners, an aging couple with no plans of ever leaving the Keys, traded straight across. The boat was designed to endure months at sea, utilizing automated systems, solar power, and other unique features. Kil didn't know where they'd go, but knew that nowhere was safe-not even this island paradise.

Kil moved everything he owned onboard his boat before his baby was born; he moved everything he loved onboard after.

BEGIN TEXT TRANSMISSION.

KLIEGLIGHT SERIAL 221.

RTTUZYUW-RQHNQN-00000-RRRRR-Y.

T O P S E C R E T//ECI//SAP HORIZON.

BT.

SUBJ: TIANJIN FACILITY HARDWARE EXPLOITATION EFFORTS.

RMKS: IN THE PAST YEAR SINCE THE RETURN OF HOURGLa.s.s, COG SCIENTISTS HAVE MADE SIGNIFICANT STRIDES IN THE EXPLOITATION OF RECOVERED MINGYONG HARDWARE. AFTER EXTENSIVE DNA TESTING ON CHANG'S RECOVERED REMAINS, WE HAVE DETERMINED THAT ALTHOUGH GENETICALLY ENHANCED/EVOLVED, CHANG WAS HUMAN. DATA CUBE INTERPRETATION THROUGH THE EXTRAPOLATION OF PROBABLE CHINESE LINGUISTICS HAS ENABLED REASONABLY ACCURATE ESTIMATIONS OF CHANG'S TIMELINE ORIGIN AND OTHER REVELATIONS RELATING TO THE MINGYONG ANOMALY.

CONTROLLED NEVADA SPECIMEN TESTING AND RECOVERED DATA HAVE DETERMINED THAT THE MINGYONG ANOMALY IS NINETY-SEVEN PERCENT ACTIVE/EFFECTIVE WHEN INFECTING EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE FORMS, WHILE ONLY FORTY-FOUR PERCENT ACTIVE/EFFECTIVE WHEN INFECTING HUMANS.

INSIDE EXTRACTED ICE CORES, TRACE AMOUNTS OF CHANG'S MINGYONG MATERIAL WAS CONFIRMED PRESENT 20,000 YEARS DOWN INTO THE STRATA. THIS SUGGESTS THAT EARTH'S MODEST BIPED POPULATION OF THAT ERA, COMBINED WITH THE LESSER EVOLVED DNA CONFIGURATIONS, MITIGATED THE EFFECTS OF THE ANOMALY TO NEAR ZERO. THE MINGYONG ANOMALY WAS REJECTED, SELF DEACTIVATED, AND BURIED UNDER CENTURIES OF STRATUM. MINGYONG TRACES RECOVERED FROM SAMPLES VERIFY THAT THE ANOMALY [POSSIBLY AN ADVANCED FUTURE BIOWEAPON] WAS NOT ENGINEERED TO SURVIVE OUTSIDE OF A VIABLE HOST (CHANG) OR OUTSIDE ADVANCED PROPRIETARY CONTAINMENT SYSTEMS.

RECOVERED CONTAINERS:.

THE RED TIANJIN FOOTBALL, HEAVILY DAMAGED IN THE DIRECTED ENERGY EVENT THAT LIKELY BROUGHT DOWN CHANG'S SHIP, IS CONFIRMED TO POSSESS HYPER-CONCENTRATED TRACE AMOUNTS OF THE MINGYONG ANOMALY.

THE UNDAMAGED BLUE TIANJIN CONTAINER HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF INTENSE RESEARCH AND DEBATE, AFTER MORE DATA ILLUMINATING THE DAMAGED RED TIANJIN CONTAINER WAS DISCOVERED. EXCEPTIONAL EFFORTS ARE UNDERWAY TO DEVELOP A VIABLE AIR BURST DELIVERY METHOD, HOWEVER TESTING HAS NOT YET BEEN AUTHORIZED.

OTHER DATA EXTRACTED FROM THE TIANJIN SITE IS AVAILABLE THROUGH SEPARATE COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION REPORTING CHANNELS.

BT.

T O P S E C R E T//ECI//SAP HORIZON.

END TRANSMISSION.

BT.

AR.

I AM QUANTUM.

News and insider information about J.L. Bourne and his projects can be found at these online data nodes until the servers rust out of postapocalyptic existence: Facebook.com/OfficialJLBourne.

Twitter.com/JLBourne.

JLBourne.com.

J.L. BOURNE is on active duty as a commissioned U.S. Naval officer. Born in Arkansas, he resides in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Visit him at www.JLBourne.com before the online servers rust out of postapocalyptic existence.

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Also by J.L. Bourne.

Day by Day Armageddon.

Day by Day Armageddon: Beyond Exile.

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end.