Chapter 1: Introduction

My name is Jack Lostridge and for years I lived in the quiet little Appalachian town of Mountain View. I spent my whole life there - born in the little hospital, went to school here, got a job there. The same with all of my friends. Most folks accepted this as the "way it should be." I was ready for a change. One day I got my wish.

I worked at a quiet little place called Victory Station. Once you drove through the gates and got past the armed guards, it was actually kind of pretty, in a Cold War-concrete kind of way. If you've ever seen pictures of the Maginot Line, that's what Victory Station looked like. Beautiful green scenery dotted with dark brown concrete tumors.

You see, Mountain View was tucked away in the beautiful green hills of Virginia, isolated from the rest of the world by winding roads and the fact that nothing ever happened there. The only reason the town existed at all was the once secret complex of bunkers the government had built and inhabited from WW II through the Cold War. During the Cold War, everyone had known that something was going on "round Victory Station." Anyone foolish enough to ask too many questions got visited by men in suits. Government agents, just like in the movies. The smart ones got quiet, the others weren't seen again. Rumors flew about people reading the mail and listening to telephones, but the Mountain View folks were patriotic Americans and they believed that this was their part in the war against Communism. They endured what inconveniences there were as badges of honor.