Hell Follows After (Monster of the Apocalypse Saga) Read Online Free Page B
Author: C. Henry Martens
was wide open to men of vision or evil intent. Often, those lines were blurred.
§
Between the gathering of strangers who wandered through and stayed and the high natural birth rate of a polygamous community, the population of Roseburg had doubled many times. Disease and accidents took their tolls, but the community thrived, and there were better than thirty thousand souls within the city and another ten thousand or so across the river. Including all of the smaller outlier communities within a hundred miles, there were probably sixty thousand or more people in their immediate trading circle. That trading area extended north to Vancouver, south to San Francisco, and east to the foothills of the Sierras.
The expansion of industry and the resulting leap in population had started when the progenitor of the Sullivan clan had wandered into Roseburg. Cord was a man of contradiction. A man of immense charm and charisma, he seemed a popular addition, and he gathered many supporters. He proved to be ruthless as well, as he took over the governance and political powers from the unsuspecting former leaders in a lethal coup.
One of the first institutional changes he made on gaining power was to introduce a patriarch-focused polygamy. Matriarchal polygamy was already practiced in Roseburg, the result of many women having few choices in men worthy of being husbands and fathers, and it was their decision that led to couplings. This ended with Cord, and men took the power to make marital decisions. The birth rate surged.
Loyal men were rewarded with wives, and the strategy assured that the core group stayed in power. Over time the government evolved to be run by a descendent of Cord Sullivan, picked by a council of other descendants. The Council of Elders retained many powers and decision-making capabilities and provided a balance to the inherited leader.
A valuable addition to the community occurred roughly fifty years after Cord died an old man. Two men of German heritage and Amish background appeared seeking a new home. Their small community had been decimated by wild men from the north while they were away running trap lines. When they returned they found their relatives dead and the town sacked. They brought with them different but valuable ideas, a strange way of speaking, four bull calves of heritage seed stock, and a guild system. The religion they practiced faded out, but the calves grew into giant bulls, and the Guild and the formal language that they used flourished.
As the tiny, by pre-plague standards, community was still one of the largest groups of people with a goal in common, they retained their power by staying well ahead of the population curve. By developing industries over time and adapting to circumstance, they became the most powerful city on the west coast and possibly on the continent. And the focus remained growth at all cost.
§
This is the world that Edge would be leaving by becoming a part of the expedition. The comforts of his home, both in routine and protection from danger would be left behind. Edge would be cast into a world where he would have to make judgments and decisions that could mean success or failure, life or death. As a young man, unused to the scope of what he was undertaking, Edge romanticized his expectations and felt his adrenaline surge. He could not wait to begin.
Chapter 3
T he early spring Sierra foothills were beautiful with greening trees and pleasant wildflower meadows for the animals to graze. But the long pull up to Donner Summit lay ahead, and each of the men caring for the oxen knew the danger to his beasts was very real. Recognized by the Wagon Master, Till Willis, as a tough haul, the animals were given the first rest since leaving. Two full days were ordered, except for the oxen that would go ahead with the road crew.
The outriders had returned and given good news. The old I-80 highway would provide a good surface for the majority of the way, and any repairs necessary to
§
Between the gathering of strangers who wandered through and stayed and the high natural birth rate of a polygamous community, the population of Roseburg had doubled many times. Disease and accidents took their tolls, but the community thrived, and there were better than thirty thousand souls within the city and another ten thousand or so across the river. Including all of the smaller outlier communities within a hundred miles, there were probably sixty thousand or more people in their immediate trading circle. That trading area extended north to Vancouver, south to San Francisco, and east to the foothills of the Sierras.
The expansion of industry and the resulting leap in population had started when the progenitor of the Sullivan clan had wandered into Roseburg. Cord was a man of contradiction. A man of immense charm and charisma, he seemed a popular addition, and he gathered many supporters. He proved to be ruthless as well, as he took over the governance and political powers from the unsuspecting former leaders in a lethal coup.
One of the first institutional changes he made on gaining power was to introduce a patriarch-focused polygamy. Matriarchal polygamy was already practiced in Roseburg, the result of many women having few choices in men worthy of being husbands and fathers, and it was their decision that led to couplings. This ended with Cord, and men took the power to make marital decisions. The birth rate surged.
Loyal men were rewarded with wives, and the strategy assured that the core group stayed in power. Over time the government evolved to be run by a descendent of Cord Sullivan, picked by a council of other descendants. The Council of Elders retained many powers and decision-making capabilities and provided a balance to the inherited leader.
A valuable addition to the community occurred roughly fifty years after Cord died an old man. Two men of German heritage and Amish background appeared seeking a new home. Their small community had been decimated by wild men from the north while they were away running trap lines. When they returned they found their relatives dead and the town sacked. They brought with them different but valuable ideas, a strange way of speaking, four bull calves of heritage seed stock, and a guild system. The religion they practiced faded out, but the calves grew into giant bulls, and the Guild and the formal language that they used flourished.
As the tiny, by pre-plague standards, community was still one of the largest groups of people with a goal in common, they retained their power by staying well ahead of the population curve. By developing industries over time and adapting to circumstance, they became the most powerful city on the west coast and possibly on the continent. And the focus remained growth at all cost.
§
This is the world that Edge would be leaving by becoming a part of the expedition. The comforts of his home, both in routine and protection from danger would be left behind. Edge would be cast into a world where he would have to make judgments and decisions that could mean success or failure, life or death. As a young man, unused to the scope of what he was undertaking, Edge romanticized his expectations and felt his adrenaline surge. He could not wait to begin.
Chapter 3
T he early spring Sierra foothills were beautiful with greening trees and pleasant wildflower meadows for the animals to graze. But the long pull up to Donner Summit lay ahead, and each of the men caring for the oxen knew the danger to his beasts was very real. Recognized by the Wagon Master, Till Willis, as a tough haul, the animals were given the first rest since leaving. Two full days were ordered, except for the oxen that would go ahead with the road crew.
The outriders had returned and given good news. The old I-80 highway would provide a good surface for the majority of the way, and any repairs necessary to
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