Unknown World: The EMP Survivor Series - Book 3 by Chris Pike

Author:Chris Pike [Pike, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-01-26T00:00:00+00:00

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The former Big View Ranch had been established in the 1800s by William and Agnes Chandler, immigrants of English origin. They settled on fertile land near the Colorado River, unknowingly building their one room cabin in the hundred year flood plain. Ten years later a flood washed away the cabin. During those ten years, Agnes had given birth to five children, three of whom had survived. The ranch had prospered and William decided they needed a bigger, grander house, so he commissioned carpenters and an architect to build a two-story house on high ground above the flood line. He marked the line by planting ten pecan trees so future generations would know how far the flood waters had risen.

To this day, seven of those trees still lived and produced a good crop of pecans. The trees created a luxurious canopy in the summer, while a healthy pecan crop could be harvested in the winter.

Fast forward to present day where the only remaining male heir, John Chandler, and his family lived. The ranch had been divided and sold off, and the Chandler family had only been able to keep the old house, along with ten acres, thick with oaks and cedars, animal trails, and dens.

One acre of land near the house had been cleared for an orchard of peach and plum trees, while the other half had been cultivated for planting vegetables.

The house sat at the end of a cul-de-sac, surrounded by million dollar homes with swimming pools and manicured lawns. Speedboats were docked at the individual boat ramps.

The once pristine woodland and ranchland of the Big View Ranch had succumbed to developers and the unmerciful blades of bulldozers making way for a perfect grid of streets and houses. Concrete covered native grasses, old wood oaks and cedars growing for hundreds of years had been chain-sawed down in a matter of minutes.

Such was the way of progress.

William Chandler (named after his great-grandfather), John’s brother, was known as Uncle Billy. He was a lifelong bachelor, and always looked out for the other guy. He had a casual demeanor, but after he came back from the war, he was a changed man. He never fully recovered from his wartime duty, nor had he successfully transitioned from military to civilian life. He hopped from job to job, being fired from several after getting into fistfights with his bosses.

He tried to hide his problems with humor and a six pack which was never far from his reach.

The years had softened Uncle Billy into a man whose main pleasure was shucking pecan hulls to pass the time. When the weather was better—and the weather never quite got to his liking—he planned to go fishing. It was always too hot or too windy, too cloudy, too many boaters out on the lake, although he always told the tale about the big one that got away the time he was fishing at Mansfield Damn. Each time he told the story, the catfish magically gained a pound or two, along with growing an inch.

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