Ragnarok Rising: The Awakening (Book One of The Ragnarok Rising Saga) Read online

  Ragnarok Rising:

  The Awakening

  Book One of

  The Ragnarok Rising Saga

  By

  Ragnarok Rising: The Awakening

  Book One of the Ragnarok Rising Saga

  By D.A. Roberts

  Second Edition © 2013

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without express written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Please refer all pertinent questions to the publisher.

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design and Interior Images by Phil Morrissey

  Typeset and Layout by D.A. Roberts

  Author Bio Photo by Annette M. Roberts

  Interactive Map by Kate Hughes

  Check out the interactive map for a new level of experience in reading. See the actual locations from the book, as you read it.

  Find the map on my website and Facebook pages.

  Published by D.A. Roberts

  Springfield, MO

  Introduction by the Author

  For those of you who are already fans of this series, I wanted to take a moment and explain the nature of this re-release. For those of you who are new to the series, please bear with me for a moment. As most of you already know, this series was originally published in the traditional route using a small publishing company. I'm very grateful to my former publisher for introducing me to the literary world and for helping me get my start. I always will be.

  Having said that, we reached the mutual decision to go our separate ways. I harbor no ill will, nor do I have any issues with my former publisher. This was merely a creative difference. We agreed to disagree and my rights were returned to me to seek my own path. After much consideration, I decided that the best path for me was to go forth as a self-published author. It was the best possible fit for me, under the current circumstances.

  The modern age of self-publishing has opened the doorway for many authors to share their works and to maintain total creative control of the project. There are some amazingly talented authors out there who have already pioneered the way for others to follow. I decided to chart my own course and set sail as an independent author. So with letters of marque in hand, I hoisted the Jolly Roger and steered for open waters.

  In your hand, you hold the new volume of book one of my series. Since the choice was now all my own, I went back and re-edited, reformatted, updated and repaired a number of things that I was unhappy with about my debut novel. The end result awaits you in the following pages. Oh, and by the way. There are quite a few more of them than in the previous edition. The printed copy of RRTA was 415 pages long. This edition is closer to 470. Part of that is different formatting, but a big part of it is new material. I added dialogue, expanded scenes and changed a few things. I hope you all like the differences. I know I do.

  So without further adieu, I present this new edition of Ragnarok Rising: The Awakening to you all. Thank you for being supportive, encouraging and most of all, understanding. Ragnarok Rising fans are the absolute best. Thanks for everything. Your kindness and appreciation of my work has helped make this writer's dreams come true.

  D.A. Roberts

  An Introduction by Mike Donner

  (aka Captain Creeper)

  My name is Mike but you can call me Capt Creeper. I co-host a little podcast called the Creepercast. When we started all we did was review movies. I felt that we were missing something by only focusing on one aspect of the horror genre. So one night in what I can only consider a fit of madness, or maybe drunken inspiration, I mentioned it might be a good idea to add a section for horror literature.

  My co-hosts were like “Great! You run with that idea… it’s all yours.”

  Swell. I somehow just turned a cool new hobby into work. Ever notice how you can read a book in a day when you are just reading for the hell of it but once it becomes a requirement it seems to double or triple the time it takes? It’s like some sort of break in the reading space-time continuum.

  Well I have been reading many a year and continue to do so to this day, so finding books to review wouldn’t be a problem even if I had to do some of them by memory. Then someone had the bright idea to pimp ourselves out and take a chance and review books submitted to us. I was all for the idea, as long as I got a fur coat, some chains and a bitchin’ hat. OK so that’s not exactly what happened. I guess it was more like we actually got some listeners and a couple of them turned out to be writers and wanted us, and by us I mean me, to read their stuff and review it on our show. I was like where’s my bitchin’ hat man? Fine I will do it without the hat.

  Anyway, one of our first submissions and requests for a review was from a gentleman named DA Roberts. He sent me a book called Ragnarok Rising: The Awakening. How cool of a title is that? Even if I didn’t have a clue what Ragnarok was it just sounds badass! My enthusiasm dimmed a bit when I read the book description. It’s a zombie book. Groan… another zombie book.

  Don’t get me wrong… I like zombies as much as the next creeper but man oh man have they taken over the last few years. It’s not just books either; zombie movies, comics and TV shows are everywhere. But being the good sport I am I eventually sucked it up and started reading the book. Despite all my bitching and moaning and my reluctance I immediately got sucked into this fantastic piece of fiction.

  Roberts writes a fast paced, action-filled, heart wrenching story. What makes this work and not just another zombie book is the fact that it’s more about the people and not about the zombies. Obviously there are zombies here… a crap load of zombies and Roberts clearly put a lot of thought into his story because he changes the whole game by introducing and categorizing five types of zombies. But the focus of the story is his characters… primarily his protagonist Wiley Grant. A prison guard who gets trapped in a nightmare separated from those he loves and all he wants to do is get back with them.

  However it’s not that simple. Grant has a duty and he holds that duty to be almost important as his family so he can’t just grab his gear and go. I got so frustrated reading this book because I just wanted our hero to get back to his loved ones and pass on all the responsibility to others but then if he did that then he wouldn’t be our hero. I read through the book in no time at all and finished with only a short wait till the second book came out which I plowed through in record time. It was always “just one more page or just till the end of the chapter and then I will go to bed.” I was tired a lot.

  Now I am not saying Roberts wrote the perfect books. There were issues I had but they were minor and let’s face it… I nitpick. I guess the main point I am trying to make is that Roberts made reading zombie fiction enjoyable again. I hope to meet him in person one day and thank him for that small miracle… well that and hopefully score a free autographed copy of his books but that’s just how I roll. I also plan on running that way if the zombie uprising actually happens because this guy seems to have a plan. So do yourself a favor and continue reading this awesome stuff. Feel free to hear my official reviews over at www.creepercast.com.

  Mike aka Capt Creeper of the Creepercast

  Acknowledgements

  With the re-launch of book one, I wanted to change the acknowledgement page to reflect the things that have happened since this all started. I wish I had the room to say thank you to everyone who has given me encouragement and support throughout this process,
but it would require a book all of its own. So, to everyone who helped along the way, I say thank you. Ragnarok Rising has been a journey, and I am honored to have shared it with all of you.

  First and foremost, to my family: my wife Annette and my three sons; Nathan, Nic and Noah. You guys kept me going when even I didn’t think I could go on. You inspired me, encouraged me and believed in me. I love you guys, more than anything.

  And to the men and women of Alpha Shift, Greene County Sheriff’s Office – Corrections Officers. You were the inspiration behind many of the faces in this book. No one in the book is an exact representation of any one of you, but I tried to give them the courage and strength that I’ve come to admire in all of you. Writing is about inspiration, and you all have inspired me in many ways. To the officers who gave of themselves to read, correct and polish this book, I’ll say a special thanks. So, to Matt Roper, Chris Sowards, Chris "Tank" Wilson, Nate Branscom, Mike Mello, Casandra Smith and Brian Forrester…thanks for everything.

  To my friend and amazingly talented artist, Phil Morrissey. Your hard work and encouragement made all the difference. The covers are great and always remember…Data go everywhere.

  Also to some great new friends that I've met because of all of this. Roger Noriega at NDB Media and to Jeff Hunt, Jason Nagy and Mike Donner at CreeperCast, you guys are amazing. Thanks for everything.

  - DA Roberts

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One - Dark Clouds on the Horizon

  Chapter Two - The Gathering Storm

  Chapter Three - Rude Awakening

  Chapter Four - To The Rescue

  Chapter Five - The Gauntlet

  Chapter Six - Storming the Castle

  Chapter Seven - A New Sheriff in Town

  Chapter Eight - Serve and Protect

  Chapter Nine - Filling a Prescription

  Chapter Ten - Bushwhacked

  Chapter Eleven - Ghost Town

  Chapter Twelve - Overdue at the Library

  Chapter Thirteen - The Long Way Home

  Chapter Fourteen - The Place with the Helpful Hardware Zombie

  Chapter Fifteen - Yard Farming

  Chapter Sixteen - Once More Into The Breach

  Chapter Seventeen - Gunfight at the Golden Corral

  Chapter Eighteen - Get Out of Town

  Chapter Nineteen - Breaking Containment

  Chapter Twenty - Going To Ground

  Chapter Twenty One - Reunion

  Author’s Bio: D.A. Roberts

  Coming Soon From D.A. Roberts!

  From the east drives Hrym, lifts up his shield

  The squamous serpent squirms with rage

  The great worm with the waves contending

  The pale-beaked eagle pecks at the dead,

  Shouting for joy: the ship Naglfar

  Sails out from the east, at its helm Loki

  With the children of darkness, the doom-bringers

  Offspring of monsters, allies of the wolf,

  All who Byleists's brother follow.

  What of the gods? What of the elves?

  Gianthome groans the gods are in council

  The dwarves grieve before their door of stone,

  Masters of walls. Well, would you know more?

  - The Voluspa

  Chapter One

  Dark Clouds on the Horizon

  “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because

  rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”

  - George Orwell

  01 April

  April Fool’s Day arrived and I started my day pretty much like any other day, by watching the news prior to getting into uniform and heading in for my shift. The local news crew started out with some lame attempt at humor based on the April Fool’s theme. I couldn’t tell you exactly what they were talking about, since I didn’t really pay attention. It was moronic and seemed too blatantly obvious to be truly funny. It seemed like it was forced, like the smiles on the newscaster’s smarmy little faces.

  I was busy with polishing my tactical boots and drinking my second cup of coffee. I couldn’t care less about the drivel that they pushed through most of the news. I was only interested in the headlines and the weather. I didn’t care about the sports scores, the human-interest crap or the financial stuff. I just ignored all that garbage until they brought up a story that caught my interest. When they moved on to the headlines, they did just that. The lead story got my attention, and kept it.

  I liked to catch the stories that involved Law Enforcement or crime, since that stuff could directly impact me and my job. The bigger the story, the more likely that I was going to have to deal with it at work. I could tell that this story was big. Although it wasn’t local, the implications were dangerous for everyone. I could easily see how it could happen here. I’m a Corrections Officer with the Nathanael County Sheriff’s Office in Springfield, Missouri.

  “The rioting continues today in downtown Los Angeles, as units of the National Guard have been called in to contain what was being called mob violence,” said one of the talking heads. “Reports of rioting continue to pour from all over the city.”

  The images that came on the screen made me set my coffee down and take a better look. They were so vivid that I couldn’t help but stare wide eyed at the screen. I’d been hearing occasional reports of rioting for over a week, now. The violence had escalated way past small riots that flared up in homeless camps or bad neighborhoods. This looked like an up-scale residential area in a good part of town.

  Law Enforcement and National Guard were squaring off against a large mob that was coming at them from down a debris-strewn street. Although the images were distant and grainy, you could see well enough to know what was going on. Close to fifty armed officers and soldiers were behind a makeshift barricade made of vehicles and sandbags. It looked more like a scene out of a movie than what you’d expect from a major city in America.

  The barricades were set up at an intersection that bordered a gated community. Whatever the heck they were trying to contain, it damned sure wasn’t a gang from the projects. This was coming out of an expensive neighborhood with good security. In the distance, you could see the mob that was coming their way. They were too far away to see details, but there were a lot of them. Then the cameraman zoomed in on the leaders of the mob and I got my first look. The camera was jostling and the image wasn’t very good, but you could see well enough.

  Most mobs are made of similar groups of people, going after a common perceived goal, threat or enemy. One quick pan of the crowd and I could see business suits moving along side gang colors, track suits and cover-alls, homeless and professional. There were even a few that looked like they might have been law enforcement or firefighters.

  The only unifying factor seemed to be they way they moved. They all moved with the same odd shambling, jerky movements. What really stood out in my head was that they all looked…well, they just looked wrong. I can’t really explain it any other way. There was no screaming of obscenities and no throwing of objects at the officers and troops behind the barricades.

  The quick view of the faces showed blank looks and dark blood around the mouths of the ones in front. It was almost as if they’d vomited blood or had been drinking it. Some of them had horrific wounds to the throat, limbs or body that left arms and legs at unnatural angles. A couple even dragged their legs with severe damage done to them. You could clearly see bone showing through some of the wounds.

  The images vanished as quickly as they appeared, replaced by the officers launching tear gas into the crowd. For a few moments, the mob disappeared into the white clouds of gas that filled the street. Seconds later, they began to emerge from the cloud and it didn’t appear to have any effect at all. I’ve seen what tear gas does to people, first hand. There’s absolutely no way that they could just ignore it like that. No way at all.

  However, the mob didn’t even seem to lose a step. No one gagged, no one coughed, and no one looked nauseat
ed. Hell, no one even tried to cover their mouths or noses to keep from breathing the noxious smoke. It should have been severely burning sensitive membranes in their noses, eyes and lungs, but it wasn’t. It was all just plain wrong.