Okey-dokey folks! Here it is! The final chapter of The Survivor. It's been a great trip, these past two years. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I have.

I will eventually be compiling the entire story into a second thread so people don't have to search through nearly 30 pages to find the next chapter.

--------------------------------

The SUV the feds had driven a couple days before pulled into the drive, followed by a U-Haul truck and a humvee driven by a pair of National Guardsmen. He adjusted the focus on his scope and drifted the crosshairs over to the house. The woman was there, wearing a rifle and body armor, an AR-15 in her hands. She was gesturing for the feds to pull in near the massive silo doors that once held a nuclear missile. Ah. They were open and the elevator was bringing up cans of ammunition. Tens of thousands of rounds of ammo. One of the agents was carrying the briefcase, opened it, and showed the contents to her. She nodded, took it, and gestured for them to take the ammo. The men in the humvee got out and the driver of the U-Haul unlatched the rear door. He disengaged the safety on his rifle with a soft click.

"Hey wait!"

"What? I'm gonna take the girl."

"No, there's something wrong. Hang on."

"Hurry up. If she gets inside with the money, we'll never get them out of that bunker."

"There! One o'clock high, cedar tree with a dead branch."

He lifted his head from the scope, scanned until he saw the tree his spotter indicated, and looked at it through the scope.

"What am I loo- I see him."

So that's where the man was at. The ghillie suit made him almost invisible, but the Barrett M82A1 was uncamouflaged and stuck out like a sore thumb. Especially with the sunlight glinting off the lense of its scope.

-----------------------

Blake shifted the stock against his shoulder, trying not to make too much movement. He knew they were out there somewhere. Where?

-----------------------

He brought the crosshairs slightly above the head pressed against the stock of the big .50 to adjust for bullet drop.

"Wind?"

"Slight breeze from the south."

He adjusted for that too, took a deep breath, let it out halfway and held it. Gently, he squeeeeezed...

CRACK!

The rifle bucked against his shoulder, coming as a surprise as he'd intended it to. He reacquired his target in the scope and saw the figure lying motionless.

"Where'd I hit?"

"Not quite dead center. Headshot. Shoulda used a tarp, you kicked up a bunch of dirt and leaves. Ok, go for the girl, then the feds. Wait- What the fu-"

Blake, all ghillied up, had his MG-42 and a 200-round belt of 8mm Mauser FMJ and tracers, which, unlike the Barrett, WAS camouflaged. One of the two men had a split second in which to shit his pants before their world ended in a hail of bullets.

The National Guardsmen who had hidden in the back of the U-Haul truck and had begun piling out as soon as they heard the gunshot followed the direction of Blake's tracers and added some fire of their own. Eventually, they all had to reload and ceased fire.

--------------------------

Blake and five of the National Guardsmen had gone to investigate the snipers after a quick check to ensure that none of the good guys had been hit.

It wasn't a pretty sight. The shooter, the rifle, and the spotter had been chopped up by gunfire pretty badly. One of the National Guardsmen toed the shooter's body over and whistled.

"Dang. This guy's got more lead in him than a Chinese toy factory."

A groan deeper in the woods led them to a third man, who had been watching the two ATV's the team had driven to their position. He'd been hit repeatedly, and judging from the amount of blood soaking into the ground, he wasn't long for the world.

"So. Are these those crazy guys you said you met earlier?"

"Yep. That's them. The feds thought they might have to shoot their way out after talking to these jokers. Must've wanted the cash and your ammo too."

The survivalist gurgled and tried to say something. The only word that came out was "how". Blake knelt down in front of him.

"You aren't the only ones in the world with a radio, dumbass. Next time, use encryption or codewords or some shit."

The dying man just stared at him with the same confused expression until his chest finally stopped moving and his eyes began to glaze over. Blake stood, shouldered his FNC, and began walking back.

"Where are you going?"

"You're big boys. You deal with the bodies. I've got a machine gun, a rifle, and a dummy to pick up."

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Epilogue: Two years later.

Blake sat at his computer, cursing the slow speed the internet was moving at. Sure, they'd restored the infrastructure and power across most of the nation, but it still wasn't anywhere near what it had been before the shit had hit the fan.

Beth was somewhere in the kitchen making dinner, out of ear shot, so he cursed a little more colorfully and whacked the side of his computer, as if that would help.

He looked up as the front door was unlocked and swung open, Sarah and Melissa bouncing in and throwing their backpacks on the ground. Sarah set her M1 Carbine on the gun rack next to the door and ran over to hug Blake.

"How was the first day of school?"

"Great! I haven't seen kids our age in forever! It was awesome! I gotta go tell Beth!"

As she ran off, Melissa walked over where Blake was and gave him a more reserved hug.

"You look like the cat who ate the canary. What's got you so satisfied?"

Melissa kept the smug grin as she whispered, "There's a boy at school Sarah likes."

Blake chuckled and pushed Melissa in the direction of the kitchen.

"You go help Beth set the table. As soon as I'm done with this, I'm going down into the silo to grab the DVD player so we can set it up and watch a movie upstairs this time."

"Ok!"

Blake watched as she ran off, then shook his head.

"Great. Boys. I liked it better when the only dick I had to worry about was mine. Now I gotta worry about all of them."

He resisted the temptation to push the submit again and cursed the slow speed of the internet. Finally, his patience was rewarded and the page loaded.

There it was, in all its glory.

"Dear Arfcom: How I survived the apocalypse, got the girl, and wasted some bad guys. Now with poll."

THE END.

Originally Posted By Swindle1984: "Dear Arfcom: How I survived the apocalypse, got the girl, and wasted some bad guys. Now with poll." THE END.

LOL!!!

Been Real, Been Fun....hell, been real fun too.

Don't think doing this all in one post would have been as fun.  Not saying the wait was worth it (hell, it's done now) but it sure has been a great ride.

Now get your ass back to work.  I'm sure there's another 2yr story in you.....right?

Originally Posted By millerized: Originally Posted By Swindle1984: "Dear Arfcom: How I survived the apocalypse, got the girl, and wasted some bad guys. Now with poll." THE END. LOL!!! Been Real, Been Fun....hell, been real fun too. Don't think doing this all in one post would have been as fun.  Not saying the wait was worth it (hell, it's done now) but it sure has been a great ride. Now get your ass back to work.  I'm sure there's another 2yr story in you.....right?

Actually, the reason I was in a hurry to wrap The Survivor up is because I have another story I'm itching to write. I'm going to start the first chapter so I don't forget about it, but after that I'm condensing all of The Survivor into one easy-to-read location, fixing the one chapter I've already said I wanted to revise, and giving the ending a little more closure.

great story - even tho at times i almost gave up on ya - i kept lookin for that one more chapter - thanks for sharing the story - i know it was a lot of work -

Good story. I started it about 3 months ago, so the wait wasn't that bad!

Originally Posted By Usagi: Good story. I started it about 3 months ago, so the wait wasn't that bad!

Same.

Originally Posted By Usagi: Good story. I started it about 3 months ago, so the wait wasn't that bad!

I've been Swindled out of two years. Actually, it was a great story. Thank you Swindle.

cool story - thanks man!

Thanks for the ending. Good job. I am looking forward to reading more of your work.

Originally Posted By KOW: Thanks for the ending. Good job. I am looking forward to reading more of your work.

*cough*

Holy Duck Crap!!!!

That was a good read, 52 Pages of Tahoma 8 font (copied it into Office Word so I can read it easier)

I loved this story, we need more.

Originally Posted By brifol6111: Holy Duck Crap!!!! That was a good read, 52 Pages of Tahoma 8 font (copied it into Office Word so I can read it easier) I loved this story, we need more.

Feel free to e-mail it to me as an attachment, I never got around to saving all the chapters to my computer. If this thread disappeared, so would most of the story.

Thanks for the story.  It was very well thought out.  The bad guys got what they deserved and the good guys ended up prospering.  

After all the other stories that get started and never finished, its always nice to see one completed.

nicely done.

I'll echo the remarks.  Great story.  Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.  You have talent so don't let it go to waste.  I expect the first chapter of the new story tomorrow.

Originally Posted By badeffect10: I'll echo the remarks.  Great story.  Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.  You have talent so don't let it go to waste.  I expect the first chapter of the new story tomorrow.

Somehow, you not only missed the thread for the new story, but also the post ON THIS PAGE linking to that thread.

And so far there are FOUR chapters.

Just found this part of SF. Found your story about three hours ago, and read it all. Must have been tough to write with life stepping in all the time......

I did enjoy it all. Thank you sir!

Originally Posted By Swindle1984: Originally Posted By millerized: Originally Posted By Swindle1984: "Dear Arfcom: How I survived the apocalypse, got the girl, and wasted some bad guys. Now with poll." THE END. LOL!!! Been Real, Been Fun....hell, been real fun too. Don't think doing this all in one post would have been as fun.  Not saying the wait was worth it (hell, it's done now) but it sure has been a great ride. Now get your ass back to work.  I'm sure there's another 2yr story in you.....right? Actually, the reason I was in a hurry to wrap The Survivor up is because I have another story I'm itching to write. I'm going to start the first chapter so I don't forget about it, but after that I'm condensing all of The Survivor into one easy-to-read location, fixing the one chapter I've already said I wanted to revise, and giving the ending a little more closure.

That story helped me get through 7 months of Staff time in Iraq Great Job

Originally Posted By nukldragr: Originally Posted By Swindle1984: Originally Posted By millerized: Originally Posted By Swindle1984: "Dear Arfcom: How I survived the apocalypse, got the girl, and wasted some bad guys. Now with poll." THE END. LOL!!! Been Real, Been Fun....hell, been real fun too. Don't think doing this all in one post would have been as fun.  Not saying the wait was worth it (hell, it's done now) but it sure has been a great ride. Now get your ass back to work.  I'm sure there's another 2yr story in you.....right? Actually, the reason I was in a hurry to wrap The Survivor up is because I have another story I'm itching to write. I'm going to start the first chapter so I don't forget about it, but after that I'm condensing all of The Survivor into one easy-to-read location, fixing the one chapter I've already said I wanted to revise, and giving the ending a little more closure. That story helped me get through 7 months of Staff time in Iraq Great Job

Glad it was good for something then.

"We aren't the ATF!" My favorite part!

Great story!! Thank you for giving it a happy ending!!! I really didn't want a shitty unhappy ending!

I was one of the lucky ones that only stumbled upon this a couple of months ago. I had no idea it took that long to write.

Originally Posted By TarawaS2000: "We aren't the ATF!" My favorite part! Great story!! Thank you for giving it a happy ending!!! I really didn't want a shitty unhappy ending! I was one of the lucky ones that only stumbled upon this a couple of months ago. I had no idea it took that long to write.

I had no idea it took that long to write either, until I looked at the post date for the OP.

BTT to keep this from disappearing into the archives.

Sweet.

That is fucking hilarious.

Since I'm posting reference images in From Sea To Shining Sea so someone can do some fanart of the characters, I figured I'd do the same for The Survivor.




I always pictured Jerome as being kind of like Crichton from Farscape, especially with the irreverent, slightly-cocky attitude and penchant for pop-culture references that he has.



Jerome carried an original Jericho 941 (not a Desert Eagle/Baby Eagle version) in 9mm, which he only had Clinton-era 10-rnd mags for. He carried it because it was his favorite pistol and not because it was overly practical. Much the same reasoning behind why he often pulled out his other toys, like the MG-42 and Barrett M82A1 when other firearms may have been more suitable.





The missile silo Jerome lived in wasn't based on any particular model, mainly so I could change the layout to suit my needs. Like some of the missile silos for sale here, his had been gutted of most of the original equipment, brought up to code, and remodeled as living space. Jerome's silo didn't have an above-ground facility (except for the guard shack at the gate, all the buildings on the property were dismantled.), which is why he built his house directly on top of the silo. Plus, every kid wants secret passageways in their house (and most SFers haven't left that phase. ) and the only thing cooler than a secret passage in your house is a secret NUCLEAR MISSILE SILO in your house.


ETA: Also, the original inspiration for The Survivor was reading Day By Day Armageddon way back in 2004, when you could read the entire story online (before Raptorman got it published and took all  but the first chapter offline). I highly recommend reading that book, he is a master at zombie/survivalist fiction.

Great read!
Glad I found it once it was all done I am not sure I could have handled the waiting for each chapter.
You are a talented story teller and it had me intrigued to see where it went next.

Congrats on a job well done.

Alf

Thanks. I consider The Survivor my prototype for figuring out how to tell a story. It's obviously clunky in a few areas, especially toward the end when I was hurrying to wrap it up, but I think I did ok with it.

Now go check out From Sea To Shining Sea.

Very nice I just read the whole thing lived it. I like how you put them in realistic settings. So when is the next one comeing out?????????

Most excellent read!

I have had it bookmarked for some time.  Just this morning re-discovered it.

Thanks for a great story!

A millionaire with a machine gun collection and his own private nuclear missile silo is realistic?

The next one IS out already. From Sea To Shining Sea. Look for the thread in this forum.

Swindle- has this been compiled into a PDF or single work document yet? If so where, I would love to get a copy of it as it is in its final version.

Yes, it's compiled as a single pdf file. Send me an e-mail.

I would like the PDF flie of this please.

Send me an e-mail and you got it. Just be aware that I often don't check my e-mail for great lengths of time, so it may be a few days before I e-mail you back with the pdf.

Swindle, I'm another of the lucky ones that just came across this. I got a great story in 2 nights of reading.
I just opened the link to your next story, hopefully it is done too.

Thanks for the time and effort in writing this.

Mike

Does anybody still have a PDF of this story?  I emailed Swindle for a copy, but he didn't have it handy (broke computer with PDF on it...).  He said it was ok for me to ask here for a copy from whoever might still have one.

Anyone???

I second this request. I didn't get his permission though.








 

WELL DONE SIR.
WELL DONE.

Just read the whole story in 1 sitting, awesome.

holy zombie thread!

I don't know how anyone found this story so far back on the board but I am really glad they did. It was a great read and hopefuly he will post some more stories. I have emailed him. I am not sure if it will do any good but it was worth a try. Here is a bump for a great read.

Just found this myself and stayed up way too late reading the whole thing.  

Thanks swindle,  great read!

Just did the same

And over 4 years later I'm still waiting and hoping for a PDF copy if anyone has one?  

I don't think sea to shining sea was finished either. That was a great story as well.