hello welcome to another first chapter Friday today's horror story because it is still the month of October is one that I absolutely loved when I was in seventh grade and it is by Stephen King it's the story The Stand now this is the graphic novel version of it I'm going to be reading from the actual novel the actual novel is definitely I'd say an eighth grade up book and it is a huge story I loved every single bit of it until the end just saying I'm one of those people that says that Stephen King's endings bug me okay and then um I'll put in a few pictures if I can find anything that match up with the graphic novel but I don't think they will match up I just wanted you to be aware that if you don't want to take on this huge novel then do try out this Stephen King The Stand um as a graphic novel Soul Survivors as a by line all right so let us begin one of the best horror stories to me from my my childhood the circle opens we need help the poet reckoned Edward Dorne Sally a mother Wake Up Now Sally a louder mother leave me alone he shook her harder wake up you got to wake up Charlie Charlie's voice calling her for how long Sally swam out of her sleep first she glanced at the clock on the night table and saw that it was4 2 in the morning Charlie shouldn't even be here he should be on his shift then she got her first good look at him and something leaped up inside her some deadly intuition her husband was deathly pale his eyes started and bulged from their sockets the car keys were in one hand he was still using the other to shake her although her eyes were open it was as if he hadn't been able to register the fact that she was awake Charlie what is it what's wrong he didn't seem to know what to say his Adams Apple bobbed feudly but there was no sound in the small surface Bungalow but the ticking of the clock is it a fire she asked stupidly it was the only thing she could think of which might have put him in such a state she knew his parents had perished in a house fire in a way he said in a way it's worse you got to get dressed honey get baby leavon we got to get out of here why she asked getting out of bed dark fear had seized her nothing seemed right this was like a dream where you mean the backyard but she knew it wasn't the backyard she had never seen Charlie look afraid like this she drew a deep breath and could smell no smoke or burning Sor honey don't ask questions we got to get away far away you just got to go get baby leavon and get her dressed but should I is there time to pack this seemed to stop him to derail him somehow she thought she was afraid as she could be but apparently she wasn't she recognized that what she had taken for fright on his part was closer to Raw Panic he ran a distracted hand through his hair and he replied I don't know I'll have to test the wind and he left her with this bizarre statement which meant nothing to her left her standing cold and Afraid and disoriented in her bare feet and her baby doll nighty it was as if he had gone mad what did testing the wind have to do with whether or not she had time to pack and where was Far Away Reno Vegas Salt Lake City and she put her hand against her throat as a new idea struck her awall leaving in the middle of the night meant Charlie was planning to go awall she went into the small room which served as baby lavon's nursery and stood for a moment indecisive looking at the sleeping infant in her pink blanket suit she held to the faint hope that this might be no more than an extraordinarily Vivid dream it would pass she would wake up at 7 in the morning just like usual feed baby leavon and herself while she watched the first hour of The Today Show and be cooking Charlie's eggs when he came off shift at 8:00 a.m. his nightly tour in the reservation North Tower over for another night and in two weeks he would be back on days and not so cranky and if he was sleeping with her at night she wouldn't have crazy dreams like this one and hurry up he hissed at her breaking her faint hope we got just time to throw a few things together but for Christ's sake woman if you love her he pointed at the crib you get her dressed he coughed nervously into his hand began to yank things out of their bureau drawers and pile of them Helter Skelter into a couple of old suitcases she woke up baby leavon soothing the little one as best she could the three-year-old was cranky and bewildered at the being awakened in the middle of the night and she began to cry as Sally got her into her Underpants a blouse and a romper the sound of the child's crying made her more afraid than ever she Associated it with the other times baby leavon usually the most Angelic of babies had cried in the night diaper rash teething C olc fear slowly changed to anger as she saw Charlie almost run past the door with a double handful of her own underwear bra straps trailing out behind him like the streamers from a New Year's Eve noise maker he flung them into one of the suitcases and slammed it shut the Hem of her best Slip hung out and she just bet it was torn what is it she cried and the distraught tone of her voice caused baby leavon to burst into fresh tears just as she was winding down to sniffles have you gone crazy they'll send soldiers after us Charlie soldiers not tonight they won't he said and there was something so sure in his voice that it was horrible pointed sugar Bape if we don't get our a in gear we ain't never going to make it off the base I don't even know how in the hell I got out of the tower malfunction somewhere I guess I don't know why not everything else sure God malfunctioned and then he uttered a high Lon likee laugh that frightened her more than anything else had done the baby dress good put some of her clothes in that other suitcase use the blue tote bag in the closet for the rest then we are going to get the hell out I think we're all right winds blowing East to West thank God for that he coughed into his hand again Daddy baby lvon demanded holding her arms up what Daddy sure horsey ride daddy horsey horsey ride sure not now Charlie said and disappeared into the kitchen a moment later Sally heard the rattle of Crockery he was getting her pin money out of the blue soup dish on the top shelf some 30 $40 that she'd put away a dollar sometimes. 50 cents at a time her house money it was real then whatever it was it was really real baby leavon denied her horsey ride by her daddy who rarely if ever denied her anything began to weep again Sally struggled to get her into her light jacket and then threw most of her clothes into the tote cramming them in held her SK shelter the idea of putting anything else into the other suitcase was ridiculous it would burst she had to kneel on it to snap the catches she found herself thanking God baby leavon was trained and that there was no need to bother with diapers Charlie came back into the bedroom and now he was running he was still stuffing the crumpled ones and fives from the soup dish into the front pocket of his Sun Tans Sally scooped baby leavon up she was fully awake now and could walk perfectly well but Sally wanted her in her arms she bent and snagged the tote bag where we going daddy baby leavon asked I was seeping baby can be sleeping in the car Charlie said grabbing the two suitcases the Hem of Sally's slip flapped his eyes still had that white stary look an idea a growing certainty began to Dawn in Sally's mind was there an accident she whispered oh Jesus Mary and Joseph there was wasn't there an accident out there I was playing solitire he said I looked up and I saw the clock had gone from green to Red I turned on the monitor Sally they're all he paused looked at baby Leon's eyes wide and although still rimmed with tears curious they're all d e a d down there he said all but one or two and they're probably gone now what's deed daddy baby leavon asked never mind honey Sally said her voice seemed to come to her from down a very long Canyon Charlie swallowed something clicked in his throat everything's supposed to be mag lock if the clock goes right they've got a chub computer that runs the whole place and it's supposed to be fail safe I saw what was on the Monitor and I jumped out the door I thought the GD thing would cut me in half it should have shot the second the clock went red and I don't know how long it was red before I looked up and noticed it but I was almost to the parking lot before I heard it thump shot behind me still if I'd looked up even 30 seconds later I'd be shut up in that tower control room right now like a bug in a bottle what is it what I don't know I don't want to know all I know is that it that it Cana i l l e d them quick if they want me they'll have to catch me I was getting Hazard pay but they ain't paying me enough to hang around here wind's blowing West we're driving east come on now still feeling half asleep caught in some awful grinding dream she followed him out to the driveway where their 15-year-old Chevy stood quietly rusting in The Fragrant desert darkness of the California night Charlie dumped the suitcase in the trunk and the tote bag in the back seat Sally stood for a moment by the passenger door with the baby in her arms looking at the Bungalow where they had just spent the last four years when they had moved in she reflected baby leavon was still growing inside her body all her horsey rides ahead of her come on he said get in woman she did he backed out the Chevy headlights momentarily splashing across the house their reflection in the windows looked like the eyes of some hunted Beast he was hunched tensely over the steering wheel his face drawn in the dim glow of the dashboard instruments if the base gates are closed I'm going to try to crash through and he mented she could tell suddenly her knees felt watery but there was no need for such desperate measures the base Gates were standing open one guard was nodding over a magazine she couldn't see the other perhaps he was in the head this was the outer part of the base a conventional army vehicle Depot what went on at the Hub of the base was of no concern to these fellows I looked up and saw the clock had gone red she shivered and put her hand on his leg baby leavon was sleeping again Charlie patted her hand briefly and said it's going to be all right hun by Dawn they were running east across Nevada and Charlie was coughing steadily okay so hopefully it hooked you it really is a horror story that feels believable for today especially after covid and it is one probably that got picked up again you know because of Co the the horror of something breaking out that does something awful to everyone it touches most people dying and then the people who survive are going to be in a it's going to be they're being drawn into two sides there's the evil side which is represented by those who follow the man in Black the walking dude and then there's um the the good people or the ones who have that pull towards the good and they're drawn to a a mother and she is in her 90s and she is just like I believe it's it's kind of um it was maybe Abigail Moses her name it's been a while since I read it um but she's just this wonderful motherly figure and she's not perfect um the people who are with her are not perfect and you wind up finding out all these different elements of betrayals and you know how people are tempted away from Good Into the bad and then when you're in the bad side which of course you're going to hear that Viewpoint as well some of those people are just not all bad either which is very believable and realistic I really think it's worth the trip though reading the entire book and I hope you do try it even though I didn't like the end maybe you will all right thank you so much for listening have a great day