Final Dawn Complete 16-Book Series Set

Chapter 1
10:17 AM, March 26, 2038
Nancy Sims

Nancy blinked and rubbed her eyes for what felt like the thousandth time that day. Driving across the plains of Kansas, bound for Florida, Nancy had barely started her trip but was already exhausted. Not used to long car rides, Nancy usually preferred to take a plane, but accepting that new job offer required that she move her car along with the rest of her belongings. Money was tight, so she decided to make the trip the weekend before she was slated to start at the new job. Three hours out of Denver and she was already regretting the decision, wishing that she had just sold the car and bought a new one after a few months of working.

Nancy was well aware of the economics of such a decision, though; after all, she was starting at one of the top law firms in Florida as the head accountant, brought in to clean up sloppy accounting practices and help increase the firm's profit margin. For the last two years she had lived in Denver, taking advantage of the advanced mass transit system and rarely driving except on the weekends and holidays. The only apartment she could find on such short notice in Miami was far enough away from her new office that she didn't want to risk taking its comparatively primitive transit system. So there she was, driving along the highway, already two hours behind her original schedule thanks to a blown tire just outside the Denver city limits.

Rolling down the windows to let in a fresh breeze, Nancy coughed a few times at the dust kicked up by the tractors plowing the nearby fields in preparation for the next growing season. This was the last place on earth she ever wanted to be, and merely driving through it made her feel like falling asleep at the wheel. Row upon row of corn passed by as she drove on, their waving motion hypnotic in the heat of the sun. Though it was still only spring, the Midwest had been hit hard over the last few weeks with an intense heat wave. While she wasn’t happy with the drive, she was looking forward to escaping to the South, where it was still only in the upper 70’s instead of the 90’s. Of course, that would all change in the coming months, but it would be nice to have a few more weeks of reasonable weather before the heat and humidity kicked into overdrive.

Nancy rolled past the Kansas/Missouri state border sign just after six that night. Driving faster to make up lost time had cost her dearly with a freshly minted ticket to the state police ball. Still fuming over the incident, Nancy didn't pay any attention to the bright flashes that appeared in front of and behind her on the highway. After a moment, they grabbed her attention, though at first she thought that they were simply the lights from Kansas City. As they grew in number and brightness, she had to pull down the sun visor to shield her eyes from the blaze. As she did so, she happened to glance in the rearview mirror. Nancy's jaw dropped as she saw similar flashes on the horizon behind her, then off to the south, towards Oklahoma as well. She glanced up ahead again, trying to keep her eyes on the road without being blinded by the intensity of the light. Finally, as the first lights began to fade, Nancy put her hands to her mouth in horror, watching the mushroom clouds rising in the distance, forgetting that she was still driving along at nearly sixty miles an hour. As the wheels of the SUV hit the ditch and the vehicle began to roll, the last sight Nancy saw before she blacked out was a fresh flash in the sky, back-dropping the multiple mushroom clouds in the distance.