Life by the Red Oak: A Random Story in the Apocalypse

He didn't know he had it in him to be a hero. She didn't know she had this much courage.

Nine days before the first wave of infections, NASA had released images of the largest ice shelf — three times the size of Texas — to ever break off Antarctica. The fracture itself should have been enough to occupy newsrooms from around the world for many cycles. The media and the science community, however, were more baffled by the now exposed black hole estimated to be dozens of miles long and up to three hundred feet high. Infrared stills captured via satellites showed vapors, a gas of some sort perhaps, pouring out of the seemingly hollow strip in massive quantities.

At the onset of the pandemic, Jonathan Foster seeks refuge in a warehouse his boss Mr. Dean has recently purchased a few miles south of the City's downtown core. The old man joins Jonathan and, while the two men mourn those they have lost, they transform the warehouse into a home in anticipation of what they believe will be a long stay.

Anna Cobb, a patient at a rehabilitation center located seventy miles east of the City, is nearing the conclusion of a painful rehabilitation following a devastating car crash that robbed her of the use of her legs. After the initial strike of the virus, the few survivors among patients and staff are left with little resources and no news from the outside world. When the center is attacked by thugs, and after a second wave of infections, Anna is forced to flee. On her own, she undertakes a long and dangerous journey to the City in her wheelchair. Upon her arrival there, her path crosses Jonathan's and the two join forces in their attempt to survive in the new world.

In the months that will follow, the escalation in what Jonathan and Anna will be forced to do to ensure their survival will become the source of a powerful bond and change them for as long as they live.

Humanity has been lost. Anna and Jonathan will pay a high price to preserve theirs.

Life by the Red Oak offers a random, yet compelling story in the apocalypse in which the end of the world serves as the backdrop of a play starring two involuntary and reluctant heroes.