FOUL
PLAY
Wipeout Series
Book 2
By
E.S. Richards
Mike Kraus
© 2020 Muonic Press Inc
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
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Special Thanks
Special thanks to my awesome beta team, without whom this book wouldn’t be nearly as great.
Thank you!
Wipeout Book 3
Available Here
Chapter 1
“Status report. What’s the latest in Chicago?”
FM waited for her report to finish printing, holding her hand out beneath the crisp, white page that emerged from the machine at a painfully slow speed. Command still demanded reports be kept in a physical state as well as digital, their actions in the last week proving just how fragile the digital world now was. It made sense, but it still didn’t make anyone locked underground in the bunker feel any more faith in their leaders.
“The city has entered total lockdown,” FM replied once she could finally read from the page. “All travel in and out has been halted and while thousands of residents flee north for the border with Canada, there are equally as many trying to get into the United States creating chaos on the streets and throughout border control.”
“Estimated losses?”
“At present, roughly three hundred.”
“Excellent. What about the west coast? Who has reports from California?”
“Hollywood continues to burn,” AC replied with a slight smirk, unable to deny he was taking a fair amount of joy from watching the world around him crumble. “Wildfires are catching throughout the state with hundreds of homes already destroyed and thousands of people running to the beaches in terror. There’s no word on an estimated death toll yet, but currently the Americans here are banding together to try and repel the fires. They’re not having much luck, and I estimate that soon they will start fighting amongst themselves as well.”
KW nodded, turning her head to the next of her team and raising her eyebrows. FP was the quietest amongst her group and the man that she knew the least about. He was however – after her – the most talented hacker among them which made KW feel slightly wary around him. Their social activities down in the bunker weren’t exactly high fashion, but even so when the rest of them spent time together, FP chose to distance himself and remain aloof.
“The effect is starting to snowball across the continents,” he reported, his voice monotone and uninterested. “In Europe, the UK has all but entirely run itself into the ground. The tiny island has been unable to survive for longer than a day with any sense of normalcy. The mainland is just a step behind, but they are all starting to crumble too. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in search of food and water, following large stores being destroyed by the riots. In the Vatican, all religious deities have been overthrown and a rebel group has taken over, closing off its borders to anyone else. It seems they’re trying to make a micro-community that can outlast this and avoid the repercussions, but already groups in Italy and further afield in Germany are amassing to fight back against them. I predict that within a matter of weeks we could be seeing full blown warfare across several of the European countries.”
“The death toll?”
“Already in the thousands. But news media went dead a few hours ago. It’s becoming more difficult to receive credible updates in real time.”
“What are you doing to combat that?”
“I’m working my way into personal systems,” FP replied immediately, the professional already having a solution. “As well as being hooked up to the CCTV that covers every street corner, I’ve broken into one of the service providers so I’m able to overhear conversations and in some cases even get into personal computers. The targeting is fairly random as of yet though – I’m working on a way to focus on certain individuals, but that will take more time.”
“Good,” KW nodded, impressed by FP’s skills. “Consider the satellite images too. That goes for everyone. We’ve got full use of the systems so we need to take advantage of them. Include large infrastructure changes in your reports and try to identify any travel patterns. Was there anything else?”
FP shook his head, the last question directed at him. His reports were already the most detailed of the group and he knew he could uncover more. Unlike everyone else in the bunker, he didn’t have anything pushing him to return to the surface world. FP was more than happy to spend the rest of his life underground; it was being inside the systems that made him feel alive. So long as there was an electronic current running through the machinery in his hands, then he was happy.
“Good. What about our corner of the world?” KW turned to DM, the only one in their group yet to speak. “How are we holding
