The Hollow Men (Book 1): Crave Read Free Page B

strength, she gripped his head and pulled him closer.

CHAPTER 4
    S HADOWS F ALLING
    T hat fall, the temperature topped 109 degrees Fahrenheit, enough for asphalt to soften. Indentations and gouge marks blotched thousands of miles of roads across New York.
    Data poured in and scientists posited a theory to explain the aberrant weather. The Chandler wobble of the planet’s axis had significantly increased and created more variation in its latitude. The change was too drastic for global warming to be the cause. Pseudoscientists and conspiracy theorists claimed governments and big corporations were using secret mining technology to plunder precious minerals deep in the Earth’s crust.
    Religious groups said the apocalypse was imminent, claiming the four horsemen caused the planet’s wobble as they galloped across the earth. Churches filled to overflowing, whole congregations of people queuing in the street waiting for a chance to confess their sins and be counted as a believer for the Rapture.
    Infrastructure failed in the areas with the most extreme shifts in weather. Fluctuations in power led to food spoiling. Sewer and waste treatment became erratic. Hosts of previously unknown diseases appeared—whether the result of the unsanitary conditions in those broken cities, or millennia-old bugs awakened from hibernation by climate shifts, or some other reason, it was impossible to tell. The number and spread of illnesses appeared so quickly that the immediate priority was containment. Identification and treatment would follow.
    To slow the spread of newly emerging diseases, governments put populations on hyper surveillance, quarantining areas of infection and distributing antiviral medications. In those neighborhoods where infection appeared, people fled to the homes of any relative or friend who lived in areas far removed from illnesses.
    Many sought escape through alcohol, filling the sidewalks with lurching, glassy-eyed drunks becoming so intoxicated they passed out on the street. Some people consumed damaging amounts of anti-depressants and antipsychotics, resulting in an epidemic of serotonin syndrome, a form of medication poisoning that caused involuntary twitches, abnormal postures, over-responsive reflexes, and sweating. Victims struggled to walk despite muscle spasms, suffering from delirium and collapsing in the street.
    Those less affected by the freakish weather stifled their own anxieties so thoroughly that it became difficult to empathize with the parts of the world suffering the most. They convinced themselves the media exaggerated the problems and sent money to provide relief and to quiet their consciences. Having done that, they put the troubles of others behind them and pushed themselves to live their lives.
    They dealt with the changes they could not control by throwing themselves into the most absorbing activities they could find. Recreational drug use increased, as did prostitution and gambling. Others became obsessed with video gaming, binge-watching TV—anything to distract themselves.
    To slow the spread of multiple pandemics, the Center for Disease Control pressed hard for prevention measures, hosting frequent press conferences, encouraging every day precautions, pushing for school closures and the elimination of large public gatherings.
    People reacted strongly against the CDC’s warnings. Children and the elderly received flu vaccinations, but parents decided that would protect their children enough. Schools refused to close. Big events like musical concerts and sporting competitions grew more popular than ever as people gambled with their lives, playing what they considered to be extreme odds against catching a fatal illness among the many diseases bouncing their way around the globe.

CHAPTER 5
    H UMAN I LLS
    W arriors vs. Eagles. Neither team was the home team. New York state high school championships were hosted at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. Neither team had played there before.
    Taking the