Free Rise of the Prepper: A Story of the Coming Collapse by Frank Bates Page A

have received a message that your Chief of Staff, Sheila Adams had succumbed to the virus and have passed away this morning.”
    Hillary gasped. Sheila was dead. The closest person she had to a friend was dead. Hillary was quite shaken by the news. After suffering the loss of her husband and subsequently losing her good friend Wilmer, the former Vice President, to the virus one after another, hearing that another person close to her had passed away from it filled her immense, debilitating grief. Hillary did not know what to say. She sat in her chair, shocked and unable to think clearly. She was so lost in the wave of emotions that filled her that she did not notice the curious twinkle in Kennedy’s eyes.
                  Yes , Kennedy thought, that’s it . Kennedy knew that the two were friends. To hear about her close friend’s death just a few days after losing her husband and Vice President, Kennedy could only imagine the dreadful weight of the burden she was carrying personally and politically. Now that the enemy had been considerably weakened, it was time to deliver the finishing blow.
                  Kennedy assumed a mournful appearance. Sorrow filled his face and tears misted in his eyes. “I’m afraid the bad news does not end there.” He said quietly.
                  Hillary looked up at him in a daze. “What more could there be?” She asked weakly.
                  “Your—” Kennedy seemed to struggle to say the words out loud. “Your daughter, Elizabeth—”
                  Hillary sensed it before he even said it. She felt as if she knew what he was going to say but up until the last second that he finished uttering the words she most feared to hear, Hillary’s heart and mind desperately wanted them to be a lie.
                  “The helicopter carrying her crashed. It seemed that the pilot had been infected by the virus but had been hiding it. He lost consciousness while they were in the air.” Kennedy said. “No one was reported to have survived. I’m sorry.”
                  Hillary remained still in her seat. “You’re telling me my daughter’s dead?”
                  Kennedy rightly remained silent, as any sympathetic person might do in an effort not compound the situation. Hillary remained motionless in her seat and Kennedy watched as the light faded from her eyes. It was as if her energy—her life—was being sucked out of her until she was nothing more than an empty shell of the person she used to be.
                  Kennedy put his hands together in front of his face in a seemingly contemplative manner but was in reality hiding a grin, a grin that could only come from knowing that he had won the game. Checkmate .
                  “I’m sorry but I suddenly feel unwell. I hope you don’t mind but I will have to ask you to leave now, Kennedy.” Hillary said.
                  Kennedy inclined his head. “Of course.”
                  Without saying anything more, Kennedy got up from his seat and walked quietly out of the room, closing the door on an image of Hillary staring listlessly out the window.
    *****
    Hillary had asked all her staff not to bother her for a while unless an urgent matter turned up that required her attention. She was still in her office, in the same state she was in when Kennedy left the room.
    It was too much. What did she do to deserve this? She wanted nothing but the best for everyone. She tried to be the best president that she could be. She tried to be the best mother that she could be. So, why were everyone she’d ever cared for dead ?
    Just when she thought that she could no longer take any more tragedy, the phone rang. She told everyone that she would not be attending to any matters for the moment so she was sure that for them to disobey her order, it must surely be an extremely important matter.
    Though