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Gone

by Gerald Otten

373 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0200; ISBN 1-55369-387-6; US$30.50, C$38.95, EUR25.40, £17.60

GONE describes the incredible journey of three young adults who find themselves suddenly living in the aftermath of the most terrible holocaust imaginable. How they cope with their new environment and how they relate to each other is the basis of this romantic, moving, and compelling story.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book What would you do if you found yourself living in the aftermath of the greatest holocaust imaginable? How would you feel, thinking only you and your companions survived, and how would you live in such an environment? This is the story of a young man, his girlfriend, and a young female companion, who suddenly find themselves living in a world totally different from anything they could ever have imagined. Why the impossible happened and why they survived that fateful Saturday night in mid-September is not as important as the relationships among these three survivors with each other and with others they encounter on their journey in search of a new life. As the year ends, they have seen both the best and the worst of humanity but with faith in themselves and with the love and support of each other they look forward with renewed hope to the New Year and beyond. Read about their experiences and feel their emotions in this romantic, uplifting, and moving story by first-time fiction writer Gerald Otten.

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About the Author Gerald Otten works in Washington, D.C. and lives in central Maryland with his wife and grand-dog. He describes the writing of this novel, his first venture into fiction, as a labor of love. Gerald is an avid jogger, drives a Miata, and enjoys gardening.

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Sample Excerpts

Chapter One
Friday

Kevin got to the restaurant to meet Gina but was 15 minutes late. He looked for her inside but didn't see her so he waited in the entrance area for her to arrive. Finally, 15 minutes later, Gina, with her long, lean legs and beautiful dark brown eyes was walking toward him. She had shoulder length, shiny, black hair, and a natural deep tan complexion. Today, she was wearing a white linen blouse that made her dark skin look even darker and a black leather mini-skirt. Her black pantyhose accented the curves and smoothness of her legs and made them seem even sexier. When she entered the restaurant, everyone turned to look at her because she was so gorgeous. Kevin often wondered what she saw in him, but Gina knew she loved him probably before she ever met him.

Chapter Seven
Becoming A Family

When they arrived at her parents' house, she walked very slowly from the car, across the front yard, and onto the porch. She was quiet, almost reverent as she entered the house. She went to every room, examining everything. It was as if she was there after their funeral, which had occurred only that morning. She wanted to take as much as she could, but the Miata was already full, so she began setting items aside for a later trip. She took pictures and other items from her family that had been passed down. From her grandmother, all they had left was two place settings of dishes. They were cheap dishes, probably bought at a street market decades ago in Italy where her grandmother lived. She also set aside some inexpensive jewelry that her mother loved and an Orioles baseball cap that her father often wore along with an old brown winter jacket that her grandfather wore in World War II. She set aside pictures of her and her sister when they were young and her sister's riding boots and gloves that she saved when she rode her horse years earlier. Finally, she took the family bible, which had her family history all the way back to her great-grand parents, both in Italy and in Germany. The bible she took with her to Kevin's.

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"We heard the President speak in the afternoon on TV and were concerned like everybody else about what we heard on the news," began Jim. "We looked at each other and couldn't believe what we heard. It just didn't make any sense. We walked to the front door and looked out on our street. It was sunny and kids were playing in their yards and people were just doing their usual things that afternoon. I guess, when the President said the country was doing all it could and to be calm, we trusted him. We turned off the TV and went about our regular business. We didn't watch any more TV and certainly didn't want to hear any more news. Besides, we are older people and I guess we thought, if something terrible happens to us, we have already lived our lives."

Chapter Eight
Next Steps

Angela laid in her bed wondering about her life and thinking about her brother. How he teased her when she was little. The Christmas she got her first bicycle and how he helped her learn to ride it. The time Tony was in high school and she was in junior high and how she helped him with his chemistry and algebra, and how he protected her from boys he didn't like. She wished she had known him better and spent more time with him when they were together. But that is how everybody feels when someone close to them dies.

She also thought back to the hug that Timmy gave her and the strength she got from that one simple hug. She took a deep breath and smiled. So many emotions were running through her mind. How easy it would be to fall into another 'pity party.' But she was no longer the young woman of twenty-three who only a few months ago thought about fashion, the latest CD, her career, her boyfriend, and all the other things that twenty-three year olds think about. She had a very uncertain future, but she had close friends in Kevin and Gina and was determined, despite her age and lack of experience, to be the second best mother that Timmy could ever want. She loved him. He might be the only child she'll ever have. She'll instill in him her values and guide him to adulthood. As she thought about this, she felt so much better about her future and eventually fell asleep.

Chapter Fifteen
A Place On The Gulf

Gina tried the back door, but it too was locked. She peered through the kitchen window and saw that it was tidy and clean. She thought that maybe the people who lived here were absent when the disappearance occurred. Kevin then tried the door, pushing it as hard as he could and turning the door handle. When that didn't work, he took a rock and broke the window on the kitchen door, reached in carefully and unlocked it. As he pulled his hand back outside, he scratched his left wrist on some jagged glass. It wasn't deep, but it was about a half-inch long, and as soon as they got inside, Gina wrapped it tight in a kitchen towel she found in a drawer. I've got to be more careful, thought Kevin. Second time this has happened.

It was very light inside the kitchen. There were plenty of windows and a skylight above. They noticed that the plants inside the kitchen, and directly under the skylight, seemed healthy. Gina thought it was strange, and mentioned it to Kevin. He touched the soil, and it was wet.

"They should be dead, like all the rest we saw," said Gina, "but they seem healthy. What do you think?"

"I think it's obvious. Somebody has been watering these plants for a long while. Maybe not recently, maybe not today, but somebody lived here," said Kevin.

"Or is still living here," said Gina. "Kevin, maybe this was a mistake to take this house. Why don't we leave and go on. I really feel bad about this place."

Kevin agreed and they walked out the back door very quietly but quickly toward their Explorer. They were careful to close the back door as silently as they could.

As they reached the car, they heard the front door open. A man, about Kevin's age, walked outside on the porch carrying a shotgun. Kevin and Gina turned to look at him, as fear swept over them. Gina reached for Kevin's left hand.

Chapter Twenty
Faith In The Future

When the man left at twelve, Tom asked Beth if these cases were typical of what she had seen.

"They are all over the board, Tom," she said. "Accidents are common, though I haven't seen anything too serious so far. No pregnancies yet, though the odds of that continuing seem low, and older people who have conditions such as heart, liver, lung and other problems that we probably can't treat very well in our clinic. But these are only the physical problems. There are the emotional problems associated with the disappearance. Things like loneliness, disorientation, fear, depression, and even guilt. And on top of all of this, of course, there are the under-nourished and those that are cold, living as best they can from day to day. These are the ones we see. It is the ones we haven't seen that I am concerned about."

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Kevin and Gina knew they faced a future that in many ways was still uncertain, but because they had been through so much together they were positive about whatever the future would bring.

"All we have is hope," said Kevin, "and the strength of ourselves and our family."

"That's all we ever really had," responded Gina, "without that, you have nothing."

They kissed each other again as they had so many times before. Gina rested her head on Kevin's shoulder and Kevin smelled her shampooed hair and kissed it.

It was a new year and a new life for all of them, so full of promise and love.

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Catalogue Information

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