T-minus 5 days to DEADLINE.: seanan

T-minus 5 days to DEADLINE.

Denver, Colorado. July 27th, 2014.

Denver was burning. From where Dr. Wells sat, in the front room of his mountain home, it looked like the entire city was on fire. That couldn't possibly be true—Denver was too large to burn that easily—but oh, it looked that way.

In the house behind him he could hear the sound of shuffling, uncertain footsteps as his wife and children made their way down the stairs to the hallway. He didn't move. Not even to shut the door connecting the living room with the rest of the house. He was lonely. His city was burning, his research was over, and he was lonely. Couldn't a man be lonely, when he was sitting at the end of the world, and watching Denver burn?

Daniel Wells lifted his scotch, took a sip, and lowered it again. His eyes never left the flames. They were alive. Even if nothing else in the city he called home was alive, the flames were thriving. There was something comforting in that. Life, as a wise man once said, would always find a way.

A low moan sounded from the hallway right outside the front room. Daniel took another sip of scotch. "Hello, darling," he said, without turning. "It's a beautiful day, don't you think? All this smoke is going to make for an amazing sunset..."

Then his wife and children, who had finished amplification some time before, fell upon him, and the man responsible for Marburg Amberlee knew nothing but the tearing of teeth and the quiet surrender to the dark. When he opened his eyes again, he wasn't Daniel Wells anymore. Had he still possessed the capacity for gratitude, it is very likely that he would have been grateful.

***

Please return to your homes. Please remain calm. This is not a drill. If you have been infected, please contact authorities immediately. If you have not been infected, please remain calm. This is not a drill. Please return to your homes...

When will you Rise?

notalwaysweak

May 27 2011, 02:48:00 UTC 6 years ago

New comment

Ouch ouch ouch oh dear gods.

May 27 2011, 02:55:05 UTC 6 years ago

OMFG I JUST GOT THE TEXT FROM MY BOOKSTORE TO SAY DEADLINE IS IN AND WAITING FOR ME

BRB, GOING TO RISE

kshandra

May 27 2011, 03:58:12 UTC 6 years ago

When you get back, I just wanted to say I love your username. ;-)

6 years ago

orlacarey

May 27 2011, 06:01:41 UTC 6 years ago

No fair reading ahead of the class! (I wonder if I can swing by a bookstore tomorrow to find a copy mistakenly shelved early)

paradisacorbasi

trialia

May 27 2011, 10:52:08 UTC 6 years ago

Heh, I just got an email from Amazon to say mine's been mailed out...

tygerversionx

May 27 2011, 02:56:57 UTC 6 years ago

Gaaahhhh. Given that I live in Colorado I'm all "now I'm thinking about what Denver would look like burning." :P

Got Milk?

admnaismith

May 27 2011, 03:20:11 UTC 6 years ago

Poor guy. I wonder if he ever knew that his own creation had contributed to the rising?

mrshoneybee247

May 27 2011, 03:20:29 UTC 6 years ago

OH.
MY.
EVER.
LOVING.
GOD!

May 27 2011, 03:36:46 UTC 6 years ago Edited: May 27 2011, 03:57:23 UTC

Words. I have none.

EDIT: You, on the other, have plenty; the next segment will move Countdown into eligibility for Best Novella for the 2012 Hugo Awards.

And yes, I have every intention of recommending it for a nomination.

lysystratae

May 27 2011, 04:23:46 UTC 6 years ago

Oh, please do... these are as good as the books

amanda_nye

May 27 2011, 05:26:00 UTC 6 years ago

That is awesome news. Go Seanan!

May 27 2011, 03:55:29 UTC 6 years ago Edited: May 27 2011, 07:00:11 UTC

Oh.

Tragic.

Suicide by zombie.

And did he have any idea that his lifesaving creation helped cause the near end of the world? Poor man. Poor, poor man.

And the irony ... the irony that the mother of his pride and joy patient started the Denver outbreak! And that his pride and joy patient was (thankfully) spared the rising.

...just wow.

Every time I think you have topped your last "heh, watch THIS ONE really blow the readers away" devious maniacal giggle before setting fingers to keyboard, you manage to blow this reader away anew.

I can just envision this poor, sad, broken, grieving, guilty, heartsick, lonely man. I can see him sitting in his chair staring out the window. I can see the red-rimmed eyes. I can see his hair having greyed from the stress of what happened in the research center, and the age lines he didn't have before this summer.

In my mind's eye I can see the tears drying on his face, the quaver in his hand as he empties that fifth of scotch, because you painted with a swift, broad stroke, and my mind built details. And like with poor, dear Alexander, I just want to reach out and hug him.

And I got a lump in my throat for knowing when I heard "shuffling, uncertain footsteps" were his wife and children, already converted, even though we hadn't ever had a chance to meet them.

I say thank you every day, and I mean thank you, every day.

These Rising vignettes have made many a bad day better, and made many a good day awesome.

So once again, from the heart -- thank you.

Updated to add that after a comment by another reader, I also love how you write in negative space. There are things you DON'T say that lead to "...!!!" moments later. Much later, even.

May 27 2011, 04:24:48 UTC 6 years ago

Must remember not to read these when I've been drinking...

georgiamagnolia

May 27 2011, 04:33:58 UTC 6 years ago

omgomgomgOMFG

*breathes*

Oh dear gods above and below.

*runs to the door to check, yes Denver still there on my doorstep*

I thought there couldn't be anything more to freak me out. I was SO WRONG. And you are SO AMAZING.

*worships*

snowishness

May 27 2011, 04:52:44 UTC 6 years ago

Oh wow. Ouch. Wonderful, as always.

yellowblackhaze

May 27 2011, 04:57:13 UTC 6 years ago

Oh, it's so brilliant the way you're removing all hope from the situation, piling tragedy upon tragedy. Deadline is going to be soooo good.

cleothyla

May 27 2011, 06:05:42 UTC 6 years ago

Just.....WOW! I just have that one word.

Deleted comment

alessandriana

May 27 2011, 11:37:22 UTC 6 years ago

For some reason, this is the one that nearly brought me to tears, where all the others haven't. I think it's the quiet despair.

ETA: Okay, scratch that 'nearly...'

dimloep_suum

May 30 2011, 02:30:38 UTC 6 years ago

Damn. Y'see, I know I guy by the name of Daniel Wells in Real Life, so that was kinda wince-inducing, there.

That aside, damn, Seanan, these are incredible.

fayanora

June 12 2011, 13:09:22 UTC 6 years ago

I want to go to a convention dressed in a white lab coat, with two fake syringes, one labelled "cure for cancer" the other labeled "cure for the common cold," and go around asking people if they'd like free samples of the cures, see how many get the reference.