The Wrath of Yellowstone (Preppers Fiction): The Wrath of Yellowstone Trilogy Boxed Set (Preppers Fiction, Apocalyptic Fiction, Survival, Travel Fiction Book 4) Read online

  The Wrath of Yellowstone Trilogy

  Preppers Fiction

  Frank Montgomery

  © 2015

   Copyright 2015 by Zenith Publishing- All rights reserved.

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  BOOK 1

  Chapter 1:

  Chad Marks is simple man. He’s by no means unintelligent; he just revels in the joy of the small things in life. He lives a simple life but he’s an overall happy person. Living in Fortuna, North Dakota is definitely not for everyone. The town is incredibly small and in 2011 its population dipped below 100 people. Since there is a lot of open land in Fortuna, farming is the primary, well actually, the only real industry to speak of. Money had always been tight in the Marks household and Lynn, Chad’s wife of 3 years, hated the fact that he spent so much extra money on his ‘hobbies.’ Chad is what you might call an overly paranoid person. He has been clinically diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and he often has panic attacks.

  His main paranoia stems from the fact that he is confident that a global disaster is on the horizon. Lynn is always telling Chad that he’s going to scare their young kids, Bryce and Tammy, 9 and 13 years old, respectively, with his rants about global catastrophe. Chad has always been prepared for the worst, in his backyard he has an old brown RV stock-piled with a 2-months supply of canned food (tuna, salmon, beans, peas and soup), 6 gas masks, 5 machetes, 5 pistols, 2 shotguns, 15 grenades, 80 liters of water, 20 gallons of gasoline and a massive gas powered generator. He is constantly adding to his inventory and the backyard RV has become the root of almost every single fight that Lynn and Chad have had over the past year and a half. Chad continues to tell her that it’s for the good of the family, but his concerns seem to be falling on deaf ears.

  The Mark’s small bungalow seems to be shrinking by the day as tensions continue to rise due to financial strain. Nobody can seem to get away from one another and over the past few months Tammy and Bryce have both declared that they hate their father multiple times. These statements came about when Chad had to break the news to his kids that the family didn’t have enough money to put them on the baseball and soccer teams that year. Kids being kids, they never quite understand the reality of money and budgeting. Chad knew they didn’t really mean what they said, but that didn’t help him sleep that night, and it certainly didn’t help him dry the first tears he had cried in many years. Every day that passed Chad was feeling more and more broken. His best friends, Todd and Anthony, obviously noticed a change in his demeanor, but they knew that Chad would never complain about anything, so they decided to ask Lynn what the problem was. After speaking with Lynn they decided to give Chad a surprise.

  Chapter 2:

  Chad woke to find that Lynn was already gone. He glanced at the clock, shocked to discover that it was already nine. He had completely slept through his alarm and the sound of her leaving for work. Lynn worked down the road at a local veterinary clinic. She was an assistant to the head veterinarian and they mostly cared for horses and cows. Chad hopped out of bed wearing only his briefs, tripped on one of Lynn’s bras and nearly smashed his head on the end of the bed, but he caught himself just in time. He sauntered into the only bathroom in the house, which was very small and horribly designed.

  He turned the tap on, splashed some cold water on his face and gazed at himself in the mirror. Twenty-nine years of life had not been kind to Chad. His thin brown hair was clearly beginning to bald; his large beard seemed to tease his hair with how full it was. He had been planning on shaving for three weeks now, but every time he got into the bathroom he decided that he didn’t have time. He turned to the side, still looking intently at his reflection. He tried to suck in his plump belly as he reminisced about the tight abs that used to be in its place. He put both of his hands on his stomach and gave it a couple of loud slaps,

  “You’re pathetic, where the hell did you go wrong,” he said quietly to himself.”

  He jumped into the shower and lazily washed himself off, knowing full well that he would be filthy in about twenty-five minutes. When he was done showering, he dried off with the only towel left in the bathroom, unfortunately it was already soaking wet as Lynn had used it to dry the floor when she was done showering. He put on his work jeans and a thick blue flannel shirt, grabbed a few granola bars and headed out the back door. When he got outside he was surprised to see Todd and Anthony waiting for him next to his old brown RV.

  “Ya still sinkin money into this piece of crap?” Todd said as Anthony broke out in a chuckle. Chad brushed the comment off and tried to figure out what his two buddies were doing at his house this early in the morning.

  Todd had been Chad’s best friend since they were 6 years old. He was 28 years old and a few inches shy of being 6 feet tall. He had long blonde hair, pale blue eyes; he was sporting a red baseball cap and dark black aviator sunglasses. He wore a dark blue sweater and red basketball shorts. Chad and Anthony often joked about how Todd looked almost identical to Brad Pitt, in the movie ‘Troy.’

  Anthony was almost 7 feet tall and he was one of the only black men in Fortuna. He was 28 years old and he had a completely shaved head. He was wearing torn jeans and a black t-shirt. Both Todd and Anthony worked on the other side of town, at a farm owned by Todd’s uncle.

  “What are you guys doing here so early?” Chad said with a confused look on his face.

  “Well the three of us are about to drive 8 hours,” replied Anthony with a grin.

  Chad didn’t respond.

  “We’re going to Yellowstone!” Todd clarified.

  “Ya man we already checked it over with Lynn and we got so
me workers from Todd’s uncles farm that are going to tend to your fields for a week.”

  Chad was ecstatic; Yellowstone National Park was a place he had always wanted to go. He had been once as a young boy, but the memory has faded so much that he feels as though he was never actually there. Yellowstone is the largest caldera super volcano on earth. The park is primarily located in Wyoming, but it also extends into small regions of Montana and Idaho as well. Essentially the entire park is inside of an active volcano. Yellowstone brings tourists from around the planet because it has some of the most amazing geologic features and wildlife you will ever see.

  Chad was fully aware that Yellowstone was an active volcano with a definite capability to put the world in jeopardy, but he didn’t fear it like he feared other things. Chad’s main fear was a meteor strike. He knew that even a meteor smaller than a minor city could strike the earth with enough force to peel its crust away into a massive tsunami of volcanic rock and scorching lava. If he dwelled too much on the thought, he almost always had a panic attack. Experts believe that Yellowstone is overdue for an eruption, but they say that eruption could happen anytime within the next 20,000 years. Chad liked his odds of not being alive when Yellowstone decided to blow. For the time being, Yellowstone was a park worthy of great appreciation and admiration for its stunning beauty. Chad believed that the fact that Yellowstone could possibly someday end human life on planet earth, made it all the more mystifying and gorgeous.

  “That’s amazing boys, when are we leaving?” Chad said excitedly.

  “Right now man!” Todd exclaimed. “Get some camping gear together and let’s hit the road,” he continued.

  “Can we take the ol RV?” Asked Anthony.

  “Na man, she’s all loaded down with supplies and I need to do an overhaul on the engine. It’s been giving me some trouble lately and I don’t fully trust it yet, I mean it is a 1990 model after all,” Chad said with a smile.

  “Alright then, we’ll take my SUV,” Todd decided.

  Chad hurried inside to grab some supplies. He hadn’t been this excited for a very long time. Before running out the door he slipped into the bathroom to take a leak, on his way out he paused to look at himself in the mirror. He gave himself a wink and a smile and scurried out the door, the anticipation was killing him.

  Chapter 3:

  The car ride took nine and a half hours once you factored in all of the stops they had to make for food and gas. When they arrived at the front gate of the park they paid the entrance fee of $20 dollars, got a couple of detailed park maps and headed into the deep woods of Yellowstone. The woods were thicker than arctic ice. Chad thought that if some kind of animal were chasing him, maybe a wolf or a grizzly bear, which were the two most deadly animals in Yellowstone, that there would be no possible way you could run away through the dense forest.

  The road looked so unnatural in the beautiful forest, at some points it looked as though the trees were reclaiming the road because the roots were growing up through the pavement, causing it to crack and crumble. The three friends drove about an hour through Yellowstone until they arrived at their gorgeous campground called ‘The Eagles Nest.’ The campground was actually located in Montana and it was on a small mountain just outside the northwest entrance of Yellowstone. They set up their large blue tent, but not without a few arguments about the best way to put the rain guard on. Once the tent was secure and they had unloaded their belongings, they jumped back into the SUV and headed to the small town below their campground.

  They entered a bar called Red’s and grabbed a round of the cheapest beer they could buy.

  “Boys this is going to be an awesome week,” Todd said and he took a big drink of beer.

  “Yuuup,” Chad and Anthony said, practically in unison.

  As they finished their drinks Anthony was elected to head to the bar to get the next round. As he briskly walked away Todd leaned in to speak to Chad,

  “Man is everything all right with the farm and Lynn and stuff?” He asked sincerely.

  Chad leaned in as if to lower the chances of anybody hearing his response,

  “I mean, yes and no. The farm is just becoming so much work and the profits aren’t that great. Lynn doesn’t really get it and the money situation is frustrating her. I love working but I just wish Fortuna was a better town for making money,”

  Todd nodded his head in a totally understanding manner,

  “Ya Chaddy boy, times are tough, we’re all feeling it. I think your old lady is just sour about all the money you’re sinking into that emergency RV.”

  “Todd, come on. I didn’t plan on coming all this way to listen to you harass me about the RV as well. It’s just something that I need to do, so just drop it man.”

  “Alright, alright, jeeze don’t be so uptight. I’m just tryna help you out. All I’m saying is that it seems like a waste of money. Money that you might not necessarily have right now,”

  Todd’s tone faded near the end of his sentence as if to make what he said less offensive to Chad.

  “Drop it!” Chad snapped.

  He then left Todd alone at the table as he walked over to the bar to help Anthony carry the fresh beers back to the table. The three friends drank another few rounds of beer and then they took turns stepping outside into the brisk October air to call their wives. Chad had stopped drinking early so that he could drive everyone back up to the campground. When it came time to leave, everyone jumped into the SUV in a hurry, trying to avoid the rain.

  “Damn, where did this rain come from?” Anthony shouted as he buckled his seatbelt.

  “I dunno but I hope that tent really is waterproof,” Todd said as if looking at Chad for reassurance.

  “Don’t worry it will be fine. That tent has been through a lot worse than a little bit of wind and rain,” Chad said in an attempt to calm Todd’s concerns.

  It took them twenty minutes to drive the two miles back up to the campground due to the difficult driving conditions. At one point during the drive, Chad noticed something on the side of the road. He pulled over and they all got out to investigate. It was a half eaten elk corpse. This served as a grim reminder of the dangers within Yellowstone. Todd grabbed a small bone from the elk to keep as a souvenir. When they got back to their tent they discussed what they wanted to do the next day.

  “Okay, so tomorrow we will go see the mud volcano, the geysers and the boiling river,” Chad said with confidence.

  Anthony and Todd nodded in agreement and they mapped out the route they would take through the park the following day.

  Todd and Anthony fell asleep very quickly; surely aided by all of the beer they had consumed. Chad had difficulty sleeping so he decided to grab his flashlight and take a walk around the campsite. There were some light snow flurries in the air and Chad could see his own breath in the chilly night air. He walked around the perimeter of the campground and he could hear hundreds of elk bugling in the distance. It was a magical wilderness orchestra and within a few minutes he could hear coyotes yapping and wolves howling. There was soon a cacophony of different animals, each one of them speaking their piece to the bright full moon that hung dauntingly in the sky above. Chad realized that the moon was providing more than enough light, so he turned off his flashlight and continued to walk.

  The snow flurries began to subside and the temperature started to rise. Chad walked back to the tent but paused before he went crawled inside. He looked around, scanning the vast landscape and taking a moment to imagine just what all of the animals of Yellowstone had planned for the long night ahead. He crept inside the tent and got inside of his thick sleeping bag. He breathed a sigh of relief and fell asleep in seconds.

  Chapter 4:

  Breakfast consisted of grits and beans, not the best food in the world, but certainly very filling. As they drove to their first destination, the mud volcano, they began reminiscing about the previous night. They exchanged some laughs but their laughter was suddenly brought to a halt when they noticed a traffic
jam. They waited for about an hour as over sixty vehicles snaked through the windy Yellowstone forest at a snails pace. There was a park ranger controlling the flow of traffic and when they reached him Todd rolled down his window to speak with him,

  “Morning friend, you mind telling us what’s going on?”

  The ranger responded,

  “This your first time to Yellowstone or something?”

  “Ya man as a matter of fact it is, what’s with this traffic? It’s ridiculous,” Todd answered in an annoyed tone.

  “Minor quakes, gotta take precautions, especially through the high parts of the park.”

  “Like earthquakes?” Anthony interrupted.

  “No, like air quakes,” The ranger said sarcastically.

  With that comment Todd rolled the window up and averted his gaze back to the road in front of him.

  “I didn’t feel no earth quake,” Anthony said under his breath.

  “Yellowstone can sometimes have up to 100 small earthquakes in a day. A lot of times you can’t even feel them, but there’s people in the park that are closely monitoring all of the ground activity.” Chad said rather smugly.

  “Alright Mr. Yellowstone,” Todd laughed

  The guys spent the day gawking at the amazing features of the park. Geysers shooting boiling water hundreds of feet into the air, bubbling mud pits and desolate landscapes that appeared to be sinking into the earth. When the day was done they ventured down to the boiling river. The boiling river is interesting because it is located at a point where an ice-cold river and boiling underground water converge. This creates a kind of three-faced river. On one side the water is ice cold, in the middle it’s hot and cold and on the other side it’s scorching hot. The three friends took turns changing into their bathing suits in the SUV, they found a temperate location in the river and relaxed as they ranted about how amazing their day was. The sound of the roaring river was almost drowned out by the sounds of the nearby bugling elk. Surrounding the river were at least fifty massive buffalo, slowly walking and grazing the nearby grass.