CATACLYSMOS Book 1 Part 3: The Deacon: A Post-Apocolyptic Serial Thriller Read online

  praise for michael lister

  The Florida Book Review says that "Vintage Michael Lister is poetic prose, exquisitely set scenes, characters who are damaged and faulty" and Michael Koryta says, “If you like crime writing with depth, suspense, and sterling prose, you should be reading Michael Lister," while Publisher's Weekly adds, “Lister’s hard-edged prose ranks with the best of contemporary noir fiction.”

  “Like a two-hundred page poem, with words that skip on the waters of the imagination like well-polished stones, DOUBLE EXPOSURE is absolutely riveting! Elegiac prose, insightful characterization and a wonderfully ingenious plot.” Michael Connelly

  "Eerie and cinematic, classic whodunits with thoroughly modern sensibilities. John Jordan manages to be deeply flawed yet utterly appealing. Lister, with his gift for exploring the nuances of human relationships, creates a vivid and multi-faceted supporting cast, each character finely-wrought, each portrayal unflinching. Suspenseful, complex and original, page-turners with a soul." Lisa Unger

  “Michael Lister has the world of Florida Panhandle noir all to himself. Tough, violent, and hard-boiled, This novel of obsession and suspense will remind you of Raymond Chandler, Graham Greene, and why you started reading crime novels in the first place.” John Dufresne

  “Tight, taut, terrific PI noir with a classic and fully-realized 1940s setting. Michael Lister is one of those rare, gifted writers who can immerse you with his first sentence. The “Soldier” series is a treasure—don’t miss it!” Kelli Stanley

  “Lister’s hard-edged prose ranks with the best of contemporary noir fiction.” Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review of The Big Goodbye.

  “Michael Lister successfully brings back the hard-boiled 1940′s P.I. with his Jimmy ‘Soldier’ Riley series. Soldier has heart, the dialogue is relentlessly hard-boiled, and the local is steamy and original. Lister knows how to mix it all together with the steady hand of a solid pro.” Robert Randisi

  “Michael Lister delivers the goods like Tyson in his prime, hard, fast and beautiful kind of brutal.” Gary Phillips

  about cataclysmos

  Thank you for giving the post-apocalyptic world that is Cataclysmos a try. I really appreciate you taking this journey with me. Cataclysmos is a serial thriller with new parts being published on a regular basis.

  For more information about Cataclysmos and for notifications of new installment releases, sign up for the Cataclysmos Communiqué by clicking here.

  Don’t miss a single thrilling episode of Cataclysmos!

  Click here to sign up today!

  Post a review and join the Cataclysmos Communiqué and I'll send you the next installment of CATACLYSMOS FOR FREE! Click here.

  The end.

  This is the way the world ends!

  When the end comes it comes with astonishing speed.

  It has been a slow build to the brink, but once the point of no return has been breached, night falls fast.

  Disasters, avoidable and not, and the inhuman responses to humanity’s existential crises, every tipping point tipping us over the ragged rim, into a black abyss from which there is no return.

  One man walks alone on a lonely road in search of his loved ones in a wasteland that used to be the world.

  Though danger lurks around every bend of the desolate landscape he is undaunted and will be undeterred. His mission is simple if nearly impossible – find his family and friends who are still alive.

  Encountering survivors who range from colorful characters to deadly adversaries, his journey is as much inward as it is outward, revealing as much about himself and the other survivors as the bleak new world they now inhabit.

  Warned to stay away from the coast, he heads directly into danger, choosing death over a world without his remaining loved ones in it.

  But is he too late? And if he’s not, is he up to the task of saving them?

  books by michael lister

  (Cataclysmos)

  Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 1: This is the Way the World Ends

  Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 2: Night Fires of the New World

  Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 3: The Deacon

  Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 4: Perish Twice

  Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 5: The Long Dark Night

  Cataclysmos Collection Book 1 Parts 1-3

  Cataclysmos Book 1 Complete in 5 Parts

  (John Jordan Novels)

  Power in the Blood

  Blood of the Lamb

  Flesh and Blood

  (Special Introduction by Margaret Coel)

  The Body and the Blood

  Blood Sacrifice

  Rivers to Blood

  Innocent Blood

  (Special Introduction by Michael Connelly)

  Blood Money

  Blood Moon

  Blood Cries

  Blood Oath

  (Jimmy “Soldier” Riley Novels)

  The Big Goodbye

  The Big Beyond

  The Big Hello

  The Big Bout

  In a Spider’s Web (short story)

  The Big Book of Noir

  (Merrick McKnight / Reggie Summers Novels)

  Thunder Beach

  A Certain Retribution

  (Remington James Novels)

  Double Exposure

  (includes intro by Michael Connelly)

  Separation Anxiety

  (Sam Michaels / Daniel Davis Novels)

  Burnt Offerings

  Separation Anxiety

  (Love Stories)

  Carrie’s Gift

  (Short Story Collections)

  North Florida Noir

  Florida Heat Wave

  Delta Blues

  Another Quiet Night in Desparation

  (The Meaning Series)

  The Meaning of Jesus

  Meaning Every Moment

  The Meaning of Life in Movies

  Sign up for Michael’s newsletter by clicking here or go to www.MichaelLister.com and receive a free book.

  about cataclysmos

  Thank you for giving the post-apocalyptic world that is Cataclysmos a try. I really appreciate you taking this journey with me. Cataclysmos is a serial thriller with new parts being published on a regular basis.

  For more information about Cataclysmos and for notifications of new installment releases, sign up for the Cataclysmos Communiqué by clicking here.

  Don’t miss a single thrilling episode of Cataclysmos!

  Click here to sign up today!

  FOR A LIMITED TIME GET PART 2: NIGHT FIRES OF THE NEW WORLD FOR ONLY .99 CENTS. CLICK HERE.

  Post a review and join the Cataclysmos Communiqué and I'll send you the next installment of CATACLYSMOS FOR FREE! Click here.

  The end.

  This is the way the world ends!

  When the end comes it comes with astonishing speed.

  It has been a slow build to the brink, but once the point of no return has been breached, night falls fast.

  Disasters, avoidable and not, and the inhuman responses to humanity’s existential crises, every tipping point tipping us over the ragged rim, into a black abyss from which there is no return.

  One man walks alone on a lonely road in search of his loved ones in a wasteland that used to be the world.

  Though danger lurks around every bend of the desolate landscape he is undaunted and will be undeterred. His mission is simple if nearly impossible – find his family and friends who are still alive.

  Encountering survivors who range from colorful characters to deadly adversaries, his journey is as much inward as it i
s outward, revealing as much about himself and the other survivors as the bleak new world they now inhabit.

  Warned to stay away from the coast, he heads directly into danger, choosing death over a world without his remaining loved ones in it.

  But is he too late? And if he’s not, is he up to the task of saving them?

  books by michael lister

  (Cataclysmos)

  Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 1: This is the Way the World Ends

  Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 2: Night Fires of the New World

  Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 3: The Deacon

  Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 4: Perish Twice

  Cataclysmos Book 1 Part 5: The Long Dark Night

  Cataclysmos Collection Book 1 Parts 1-3

  Cataclysmos Book 1 Complete in 5 Parts

  (John Jordan Novels)

  Power in the Blood

  Blood of the Lamb

  Flesh and Blood

  (Special Introduction by Margaret Coel)

  The Body and the Blood

  Blood Sacrifice

  Rivers to Blood

  Innocent Blood

  (Special Introduction by Michael Connelly)

  Blood Money

  Blood Moon

  Blood Cries

  Blood Oath

  (Jimmy “Soldier” Riley Novels)

  The Big Goodbye

  The Big Beyond

  The Big Hello

  The Big Bout

  In a Spider’s Web (short story)

  The Big Book of Noir

  (Merrick McKnight / Reggie Summers Novels)

  Thunder Beach

  A Certain Retribution

  (Remington James Novels)

  Double Exposure

  (includes intro by Michael Connelly)

  Separation Anxiety

  (Sam Michaels / Daniel Davis Novels)

  Burnt Offerings

  Separation Anxiety

  (Love Stories)

  Carrie’s Gift

  (Short Story Collections)

  North Florida Noir

  Florida Heat Wave

  Delta Blues

  Another Quiet Night in Desparation

  (The Meaning Series)

  The Meaning of Jesus

  Meaning Every Moment

  The Meaning of Life in Movies

  Sign up for Michael’s newsletter by clicking here or go to www.MichaelLister.com and receive a free book.

  a post-apocalyptic serial thriller

  cataclysmos

  the deacon

  book 1 / part 3

  by

  michael lister

  table of contents

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  1

  He races toward the car.

  All previous weariness suddenly gone.

  Glancing around, he realizes he’s not being nearly as cautious as he has been, but simultaneously realizes he can’t be. It’s his little girl, his precious Meleah.

  Is that her blood?

  It has to be, right?

  Her old Mustang is fire red with black interior. A love for Mustangs, like their love for smart suspense novels, horror movies, and romantic comedies, is something they share.

  Reaching the car, he leans down and looks inside, the beam of his flashlight moving from blood-smeared airbag to seats, dashboard, floorboards, backseat.

  There’s no doubt it’s her car—complete with extra pairs of shoes, old Starbucks coffee cups, and white hairs from her dog, Lila.

  He misses her so much he wants to cry. And almost does.

  Blinking back tears, he stands up and scans the area again.

  All the vehicles around him are empty, most of them with their doors open.

  Where are the bodies? Did everyone survive? Were the bodies moved?

  Shutting off his light, he feels his way over ten feet or so, squats down and waits. It’s too dark for him to see any movement, but he’d be able to hear it.

  Nothing.

  After a while, he snaps his light back on and begis moving through the vehicles again.

  Looking. Scanning. Searching.

  —Meleah, he whispers, even though he knows no matter what happened she wouldn’t still be here. Meleah?

  A few of the other vehicles have blood in them, some with deployed airbags, others with broken windshields, but no bodies, no signs of what happened to the drivers and passengers.

  He searches the sides of the highway, the ditches and edges of the woods.

  The area is largely clear and unscathed. There’s a constant smoke-tinged north wind and he wonders if that has anything to do with it. Is it like an unseen Gulf Stream that keeps toxins and other harmful elements away?

  It’s so dark, so difficult to see, and his light has nearly lost all its charge.

  It will be several hours before there’s enough light for him to look around the entire area. Though he wants to look more now, he decides the best thing to do is find a safe place and sleep for a while.

  He thinks about climbing into one of the vehicles and locking it—perhaps a van or extended cab truck, but realizes he’d be trapped if someone snuck up on him.

  Wondering if the old roadside country store and gas station is still standing, he heads west on Highway 20 for a block or so to check it.

  One side of the red, white, and blue awning over the gas pumps is missing completely.

  Gas nozzles on the ground, their black hoses coiled around them like snakes. Vehicles scattered around the parking lot and beneath the awning covering the pumps. Trash and newspaper boxes and random displays and supplies spilling out of the open doors of the only store for many, many country miles.

  The two ice machines in front of the store sit open, empty, graffiti covered. THE END IS NEAR written on one. THE END IS HERE written on the other.

  Be stupid to go inside.

  If someone were inside, the doors wouldn’t be open.

  Withdrawing his 9mm from the bag, he slowly enters the open glass doors with it in one hand and his light in the other.

  The cash register, its drawer open, is on its side on the countertop surrounded by a variety of products—from plastic soda bottles to packaged foods that should be rotting but are not because of all the chemicals inside them. Batteries, first aid items, hygiene products, fishing supplies, maps, all types of tape and tampons.

  A cardboard cutout of a NASCAR driver drinking a Coke still stands not far from the huge blue fountain drink dispenser.

  Mostly empty shelves running back toward mostly empty coolers—a few with their doors open.

  A deli that once served pizza, fried chicken, and potato logs is empty, its carts and cookers overturned, its glass broken, graffiti on the side of its pizza oven.

  From the bait box in the back, crickets chirp. They are the first insects he’s heard in a month or more.

  He searches the entire building—restrooms, storage room, office. No one is here.

  Finding some string and empty cans, he ties a crude makeshift warning system across the front door opening, then leans against the back wall, his gun in his hand on the floor beside him, and falls asleep.

  He’s not sure how long he’s slept when he wakes with a start.

  Someone’s here. In the store.

  He’s unable to see or hear anything, but he senses someone. He has no doubt he’s not alone.

  What do I do? Turn on the light? Move? Wait?

  He strains to hear any hint as to where the person is, but comes up with absolutely nothing.

  Could it be an animal?

  He’s seen very few since the beginning of the end, but Jackson let him know there must be a few left somehow.

  No, it’s not an animal.

  Slight? Why do I think the person is slight? Small in stature?

  Maybe it’s because we’re all s
tarving to death. He or she may be even skinnier than you are.

  Maybe.

  In the opposite corner of the store, diagonally from where he is, a small, faint penlight clicks on and begins moving around.

  Whoever it is must not know I’m here.

  As quietly as he can, he stands and begins to make his way toward the light. Leaving his bags behind, he takes only his flashlight and 9mm.

  As he gets closer, in the tiny fraction of fill light spilling from the small beam, he sees a waifish teenage girl with jagged blond hair that looks like she hacked off herself.

  She’s attempting to get the last few drops from a green plastic two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew.

  The clothes she’s wearing, olive green tank top and a pair of wrinkled khakis, hang on her as if she’s a cardboard cutout of a person instead of an actual living human being.

  Something shiny, a necklace of some sort, hangs around her too-thin neck and dangles between where her cleavage would be if she had any, which she does not, and probably didn’t before she began the starvation diet she’s now on.

  Coming up behind her, he clicks on his light and whispers to her.

  —I’m not gonna hurt you.

  She runs, but there is only wall.

  —It’s okay, he says. I’m one of the good guys. I’m not here to hurt you in any way.

  She stands in a defensive position, ready to fight, ready to run.

  Part of her hair is pink—a soft, faded pink that has mostly grown out now. Her left eyebrow is pierced. So are her ears—these last with several earrings rising up her entire earlobes. Beginning at the corner of her left eye and trickling down the side of her face are tattoo tears, but instead of green gang tears they are small upside-down pink hearts melting into tears.

  He swings the light around on himself.

  —It’s okay, he says. You’re safe. I’m not going to hurt you. I have a gun. If I wanted to hurt you, I could have already. I don’t want to. See?