The Reunion by Everette Morgan Read Free Book Online

herbivores… there will be carnivores looking for an easy meal.  The Nantahala River Gorge is very narrow in places so traveling with the herds could pose some risk but Jocelyn confirmed that as long as the shield was in place there shouldn’t be any problem unless there was a complete all-out assault. 
    Directly in front of them was a herd of brachiosaurs.  Marcus counted maybe twenty to twenty-five of them.  Over to the MAV’s left was a similar herd of triceratops.  Their massive horns looked imposing but they were generally docile unless they were cornered or attacked.  Over to the right was a herd of Plateosaurs.  They were similar in nature to the long necked brachiosaurs but not as large.  Marcus could see stegosaurs, parasaurolophus, hadrosaurs, and others as far as he could see.  The gorge was a beautiful valley and it looked like it was holding up well to the migration.  Of course, some trees were being destroyed but overall it was holding its own.  Marcus confirmed again what he had thought about dinosaurs and white water.  They didn’t like to walk in it at all even though the Nantahala River wasn’t that deep. 
    Marcus sent the drone out again to check on the group that was pursuing them.  The herds that came after the MAV entered the valley and continued on for about ten miles behind them.  It took about an hour for the drone to find the group.  Instead of entering the Gorge, they had assumed Marcus had gone the other direction and were headed to Maryville which was west of them. Marcus’ decision had worked.  Now, all they had to worry about was working their way through this migration and back home. 
    It truly was a site as they worked their way through the herds.  They rode in silence for the next thirty minutes just staring at all the dinosaurs in amazement.  Finally, Kim spoke up, “Well, it was only a minute but I met your girl friend.  She is pretty.  I love her red hair.  How long have you two been an item?”
    “Well, uh, we’re not, aaaa… we’re a… uhhh…  We’re not an item,” he said blushing slightly.
    “Not an item….” Kim said laughingly. “I saw her face when we talked about you and just now I saw yours.  Don’t even try to tell me that.  Now, tell me the truth.  You like her don’t you?”
    “Well, I, uhhh…. Okay.  Yes I like her. Now leave me alone about it,” Marcus said turning away.
    “Okay. I’ll leave you alone… for now…,” she snickered.
    Marcus turned to her and said, “We’ve got several hours before we make it home.  Tell me what happened when the virus hit.  It tore me all to pieces when I lost my entire family in a couple of weeks.”
     

Chapter Sixteen
    “Well,” she began, “It was difficult for David and me too.  Everyone was dying around us. David was part of a military investigative team that was looking into a village in the Sudan that had been completely wiped out.  Everyone was dead. No one knew what had caused it.  From there, they identified the virus and realized that it wasn’t a natural occurrence.  This virus was manmade and was so fast acting that it couldn’t be stopped. 
    ‘This virus didn’t have to spread from person to person.  It was dormant in the atmosphere and it wasn’t just localized to that area.  It was everywhere.  It just had to be activated.  Do you remember that about a week before the virus became public knowledge, there was above average sunspot activity? That was the trigger.  That’s the way the virus was designed.  Everyone thought that the population was dying from a naturally occurring virus.  This was planned and ninety-eight percent of the planet’s population was murdered… and the government knew who it was.
    “It was a group that called themselves HERO.  HERO stands for Human Eradication and Removal Organization.  Their goal was the extinction of the human race.  They blamed all humans, including themselves, for the destruction of the