Bug: First 200 Words

The first 200 words of Bug. This is also a rough draft, so I am less focused on grammar and spelling at this point.

She always thought the end of the world would happen overnight. Rebecca stood on the edge of a cliff looking out over her home town below. She remembered how full of life the town used to be. Now it is motionless and silent. A corpse of what it once was. It's death slow and agonizing. Brought on by the unexpected harbinger, the mighty little bug. She was thirsty. Everyone was thirsty. Not that there were many left to complain. She scanned the horizon from her vantage point. The town below looked barren. Likely picked clean of all food and water by other survivors. The thirst made her mouth feel like she had eaten a box of chalk.

The grocery store in the center of town was clearly a victim of the early riots. It's doors and windows shattered. She raised her rifle so she could peer through the scope. Through the scope she saw the empty shelves at the front of the store. Slowly scanning the rifle across the street to the elementary school she saw more of the same. Spray paint, shatter glass, black ash stretching up the walls. Remnants of the fires from the early days. Back when they thought it was bad. A small crumpled body lay next to a garbage can. The skin and bone frame visible even from this distance.

She lowered her rifle, not wanting to see the destruction and death below.

Discussion

In these first few words I have done the following:

• introduced a main character named Rebecca. She may not be the only main character as I plan on this book following at least 2 groups of people. More on this latter, but I plan on using this approach to build up suspense.

• Implied a few things about her

  • She is a survivor

  • She was likely a prepper or was at the very least somewhat prepared. Either this or just lucky.

  • she has a rifle, so she likely knows how to use it.

  • she is compassionate and possibly a bit squeamish, not wanting to see the dead body in the school

• introduced to the town. This town will be one of many main locations throughout the story.

  • at some point, there will be a flashback to how the town was before the collapse. In fact, the first act of this book is likely to be a flashback. I plan the second act to catch back up to the opening. Followed by the third act going beyond the opening

• .introduced the lack of food and water

• introduced riots from the early days. These riots were the result of something bad and were only the tip of what was to come.

Additional things I would like the first 500 words to say:

• The town is a modern-day town. This can be done by describing some modern-day items scattered around the town. Like automobiles, or a cellphone tower. This could also be done by letting Rebecca use a drone to explore the town.

• The town is overgrown with vegetation.

  • This may be counterintuitive, as water is scarce. If water is scarce does it make sense that there would be so much vegetation? Do I want to introduce some sort of story-specific explanation, like the groundwater being tainted or the vegetation being abnormal? Somehow a result of the apocalypse.

  • This would indicate how long it has been, as it would take a few years for vegetation to become so overgrown. This may not fit the timeline of events, as this story takes place a year or so after the start of the end, not decades.

• She is part of a group of survivors that live in a nearby community. A neighborhood that banned together to survive.

  • The group uses GMRS radios to communicate with each other inside the community. For scouting missions they use VHF/UHF HAM radios that give them a little bit further range.

  • Rebecca has a cross band repeating radio attached to her bicycle, and a hand held ham radio on her person. This gives her a range of around 50 miles via simplex.

  • The local repeaters are not functioning. HF and VHF\UHF simplex are the only forms of regular communication. Cellphone towers are dead, and the electrical grid is down as well.