The Anomaly

THE ANOMALY THE EARTHBURST SAGA: BOOK 4 © 2023 CRAIG A. FALCONER The Anomaly © 2023 Craig A. Falconer This edition published May 2023 All rights reserved by the author. The characters and events herein are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. At the author’s request, this book has been made available free of all DRM. CONTENTS Books by Craig A. Falconer Get a free story and more! 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 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Authors Notes BOOKS BY CRAIG A. FALCONER * * * THE EARTHBURST SAGA Last Man Standing Into The Fire Operation: Starshot The Anomaly Reason To Fear The Last Horizon * * * NOT ALONE SERIES Not Alone: First Encounter (Prequel) Not Alone Not Alone: Second Contact Not Alone: The Final Call ~ Contact Trilogy box set ~ Not Alone: Fractured Union Not Alone: Leap of Destiny Not Alone: Revelations ~ Discovery Trilogy box set ~ Not Alone: The Awakening Not Alone: Hidden Wonder Not Alone: Endgame ~ Evolution Trilogy box set ~ Not Alone: Origins * * * TERRADOX SERIES Terradox The Fall of Terradox Terradox Reborn Terradox Beyond ~ Terradox Quadrilogy box set ~ * * * CYBER SEED SERIES Sycamore Sycamore 2 Sycamore X Sycamore XL ~ Cyber Seed Compendium Box Set ~ * * * SCI-FI SIZZLERS Wanderlust Bound For Glory Sunset Stays Arise With Us Whence They Came Replica Megaton Murphy A Scent Of Man Yester Year Too Good To Be True Happy, Inc. Pamela 2.0 Funscreen Pumpkin Splice When Santa Slays ~ Chasing Tomorrows 15-Book Box Set ~ Seedling GET A FREE STORY AND MORE! Sign up to my author newsletter today, where you’ll receive important news about future releases as well as great deals and information on how you can read my books before their public release dates. You’ll also receive a link to download your FREE copy of the prequel to the Not Alone series, Not Alone: First Encounter. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP 1 They say some years ask questions and some years answer them. If they’re right, we’re sure as hell overdue for some answers right about now. Tomorrow, the world will mark the third anniversary of our hollow victory over Ignacio Zola. Politicians and celebrities will be back on TV, celebrating my role in stopping that maniac’s plan to destroy life on Earth in his bid to reach the distant world of Bayzen 4b. I’ll give a few interviews to try to keep people’s spirits up, like I always do, but this year feels different. Sure, a lot of the same questions we’ve had since the dust settled are still circling. Questions about Bayzen, questions about theocite, questions about Laika and how much we can learn from his incredible brain… But this year, there are a whole new host of questions. Questions about the changes everyone can see in the world around us. Questions about what else some people might know. Questions about a loose bundle of inexplicable phenomena, none of them positive, that the media has given a simple name: The Anomaly. “Ray, snap out of it,” Eva says, clicking her fingers a few inches from my ear. “I know it’s hard. But if we want Joe to have a nice few hours without all the worries, we need to try to shake them off first. He’ll see our faces and follow our lead.” I blink the thoughts away. She’s right. We’re already on the verge of being late and I’ve spent more than enough time gazing dumbly at my shoes, anyway. “I’ll heat up the car,” I tell her. I grab my phone from my pocket to open the car-control app. My home screen tells me there are eighty new message notifications since I last marked them all as read, which can’t have been more than an hour ago. I do that again and set the car to warm up before we get in. Lorien is already here to babysit Scarlet, which is good for everyone. We’re going to an information morning at the preschool Scarlet will be starting soon, then taking Joe for a milkshake afterwards. We try to have some deliberate time with just Joe every week, and Lorien makes that possible. Although our entire family is very friendly with hers, there’s no pretense that Lorien moved here to Salt Lake City for any reason other than to be as close as possible to one of us in particular: Laika. That works out well for everyone, since she’s one of his favorite people in the world. The progress they’ve been making with the neuro-translator is incredible, and it definitely comes in handy that Lorien is one of the few people Scarlet is comfortable being left with, too. The idea of preschool is a tough one to get our heads around, given how unsettled little Scarlet can become without much warning, but we know we’re not alone in that. Kids born around the time of Zola’s destructive onslaught have grown up in a world of chaos and transition like no generation before them. Hell, our baby spent most of her first six months underground in an ERF survival bunker. I wish Scarlet had it easier in a whole