Overtaken by Barry Napier & Mike Kraus

Author:Barry Napier & Mike Kraus
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Muonic Press Inc
Published: 2023-04-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

6 miles east of Hillsboro, TX

Mike Garrison read the text and thought he surely had to be in a nightmare. This simply couldn’t be real…could it?

RED PROTOCOL, the text read. UNDERGO EXPECTED PROCEDURES AND EVACUATE.

He should have been relieved. But something about the company’s President sending the message indicated that things outside had gotten much worse than what the news was broadcasting. Mike looked around his control room and saw that all readings on the panels were normal. Seeing the typical readings on the heels of a red protocol to evacuate simply made no sense.

But he knew the kudzu was on its way. And when you were in charge of making sure a fertilizer and storage plant was safe and accounted for, any unknown threat was not one to take lightly.

Four hours ago, Mike Garrison had drawn the short straw—literally. He and nine other plant operators had stood in the break room and plucked pre-cut drinking straws from the large, sweaty hand of their supervisor. The supervisor had been weeping as his workers went through this exercise. It had been decided that the four women that worked in the plant would not be considered. Chivalry wasn’t dead after all, apparently. After the women had been excused, so had men with wives and children. And then men with wives.

In other words, Mike and the nine other single men had been left behind and drew straws to see who would stay behind up until the very last moment. Mike had lost and here he was, trying to process the text that was ordering him to undergo expected procedures and evacuate.

Those expected procedures were simple terms for shutting the plant down to its safest state. Given the state of the threat that was on its way, part of the shut-down procedures would be to shut down the ventilation systems. With the kudzu coming and now confirmed to be able to fit in and through the air conditioning units on most vehicles, this was a must. While it was absolutely true that lack of ventilation could cause deadly fertilizer chemicals such as ammonium nitrate and nitrocellulose to overheat and potentially combust, it seemed like a safer gamble than just allowing the kudzu to enter the building.

Mike was aware of the arguments and discussions that had been taking place in the four hours he’d been in the plant by himself. There were some on the board of directors and owners who wanted to do everything they could to salvage the plant and the materials stored inside. But there were other, more logical and compassionate people, that were more worried about shutting it all down. If the plant was compromised and even the smallest of fires started, the result would be catastrophic.

Fortunately, Mike would be the only person to die…right away. The chemicals and gases that would enter the air would create even more problems, though, and likely kill anyone within a three-to-five-mile range, depending on which way the wind was blowing. Of course, with

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