Sounds like a cross between 'The Stand' and 'Lucifer's Hammer'.
I'm in, and because it seems obvious, I'll be Patrick. I'm about 30 years old, and I am/was a nuclear physicist working out of Fermilab, just outside of Chicago. Average height and build, and just beginning to go bald in front, but the rest of my hair is pulled back in a ponytail.
Getting through college wasn't easy for me. My parents died in a plane crash when I was 10, leaving my grandfather to raise me in Colorado. Through him, I learned a lot about woodsmanship, fishing, hunting and trapping. I had always had a knack for math and science, and I managed to churn out good enough grades to get into MIT. Grandad had to sell off some of his land just to buy my books and tuition, but I still had to work to pay for my room and board.
I couldn't afford to travel, so the only contact I had with Grandad was the rare phone call. When the job at Fermilab came through, just after graduation, I snapped it up, but I've been pretty unhappy being so far away from the mountains and my only living relative.
Oh, yeah...did I mention that I'm pretty handy at building useful and original devices out of ordinary parts and stuff?
