IN THE APOCALYPSE, A HERO RISES

by Vincent Fields

  “Boss; that was a great speech! You got everybody so excited….yes sir you did! I can’t wait till we take over world!” Gunner put his big hand on the tiny man’s shoulder, jerked the bandana down off his face with his other hand and said “Shut up Earl, and listen carefully. Your job is a very important one… perhaps the most important task of this day. You must not fail, our future depends on you, son. Get in place and call me the very instant it is ready to go. I’ll take care of the rest from here. All you have to do is keep your cool and deliver the package. Do not mess this up! Go now and remember; if you do this right you will earn your colors today.” Earl grinned from ear to ear upon hearing the last part, snapped to the position of attention, gave another sloppy salute to his god-figure, and pulled his bandana back up over his crooked nose in an attempt to look intimidating. He tried to do a sharp military about-face but almost fell over instead, and then ran off to do his deadly task. Gunner smirked as he watched the fool depart, happy to have such a loyal and disposable idiot so dedicated to his every whim.

  Gunner’s second in command; a man named Albert but respectfully referred to as “Ghost” due to the large number of people he’d sent to the afterlife, had been waiting to speak with Gunner when they could be out of earshot of anyone else. Ghost had met Gunner over a decade earlier while serving time in the same prison. When Albert was six he had witnessed his father murder his mother before splattering his own brains all over the boy, and he’d never recovered from it. He had been shipped from one foster home to another until going to prison for 13 years for a homicide when he was 17 years old. It was in prison where he’d first met Gunner, who had taken him under his wing after he had been raped and beaten by a rival gang. Albert spent his entire 20’s under Gunner’s guidance, lifting weights and developing a powerful body. Gunner was about the only man who Ghost respected, and he almost looked to him as a father figure. With Gunner’s help he’d exacted revenge on his prison rapists and established a brutal reputation as a ruthless murderer who preferred the blade. Whenever the Sons of Freedom met he would often teach them killing techniques with a knife that he had used effectively in several altercations. Even though he was quite anti-social, he enjoyed the fear that his prowess and reputation with the blade afforded him. He had a clean shaven head that was covered in tattoos of angelic women in sexual positions with male demons. On this day he wore jeans, motorcycle boots and a black t-shirt and the Sons’ colors around his neck. As always he wore a razor sharp fighting knife with an 8-inch blade in a sheath on his right hip.

  The man in charge spoke to him, “Ghost, you'll be running the drug gathering mission. Secure all of the pharmaceuticals that you can get. Take a half dozen men with you and hit every pharmacy you can. Hit the hospital too, they should have some good stuff. This is our best chance to secure some important meds that we might not have access to after today. I’m sure we won’t be the only people with this in mind so you need to act quickly and without mercy. Especially get antibiotics, painkillers and insulin. Look for morphine, oxy, hydrocodone, and anything that ends with “illn.” Hell man, get any damn drug you can. Take two trucks and a bunch of duffel bags and fill’em up. Ghost listened, an expression always as cool as ice on his face. When he spoke it came out slow and methodical. “Not a problem boss, I’ll get it done. Good luck at the Armory, I hope you get the job done there without any issues. If I get done with this fetching errand in time I’d like to get in on some of that.” Gunner replied, “Don’t worry about that man; it shouldn’t be a problem there since we already have a man on the inside. Call me when you get the drugs back here and I’ll let you know your next move. Be safe out there brother.” “Safety is overrated, my friend”, smirked Ghost. Gunner chuckled and slapped him on the arm and they both left to do their criminal tasks.

  CHAPTER 4: DISCOVERING THE GIFT

  Six year old Tak was in his father’s dojo and the current class was on Phillipino martial arts to include Kali, Escrima and Arnis. The Phillipino arts contain arguably the most effective systems of bladed combat, based off of experience gained through centuries of real life and death knife and machete combat in the jungles of the Philippines. The class had just drilled knife fighting and disarming techniques for an hour and it was time to test what they had practiced a bit more realistically. Little Tak was currently empty handed, facing his opponent who had a “shock-knife”; a training blade that delivered a small but painful electric shock to anyone the blade touched. The other dozen students were lined up against the walls watching the two students in the middle of the dojo. His opponent was his buddy Nathan, who would end up being a lifelong friend and a fellow Sergeant on the police force. Nathan was a strong, stocky child. He had a gleam in his eye that told Tak he was quite serious about putting the shock knife on Tak’s skin. Tak’s father, “Sensei Graves” as the students called him, was a tall wiry man with a tightly cropped grey flattop haircut. He wore a plain white gi uniform with a weathered black belt around his tight waist. He had instructed the students to spar with one trying to touch the other with the shock knife, and the other trying to take the knife away without getting shocked.

  The two opponents circled each other, looking for the right opening. Tak had never felt the shock from the training knife before, although he had done the same drill numerous times with a rubber training knife. Nathan charged and swung in with the knife towards Tak’s mid-section, the edges of the dull blade crackling with electricity. Tak threw both arms up and jumped back, but not quite quickly enough. The blade slid across Tak’s stomach from right to left, and Tak felt the jolt of pain sear across him. Before that pain, it hadn’t truly been real to him. Tak fell down into a ball and a tear fell from his cheek. Some other students started to run to his aid but his father stopped them with a stern look and loud command of “sit”. The room fell quiet, all eyes on Tak. The shock wasn’t extremely painful, but for six year old Tak who had never been shocked before, it was a scary eye opener. He looked to his father and they locked eyes. He knew his father expected him to be strong and get up… but he was scared of that shocking knife. After a few moments Tak rose with a look of determination on his face as he wiped his cheeks. His father nodded his approval and said to both students in the center “Again”.

  They began circling each other again with their hands up. Tak’s adrenaline was pumping and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He did not want that electric blade to touch him again. After a few moments Nathan charged in with a straight thrust to the midsection… but something unexpected happened as Tak focused on the incoming weapon. His pupils dilated open widely, taking in millions of tiny pieces of information and sending them on to his brain to be processed. The neural pathways in his mind began firing neurons much faster than they ever had before. It looked like a lightning storm was traveling across the hilly landscape that was his brain. The rings of his iris seemed to flash a brighter blue than they had ever been as they compressed into tight, thin circles; suddenly looking like bright round slivers of topaz gemstones. As the training blade came towards him, time slowed down around him. He watched the blade approaching, surprised that it was moving at what seemed to be about an inch per second. He saw a bead of sweat from Nathan’s head slowly expand and break the surface tension of his skin and gradually begin its downward plummet. It took almost five full seconds to drop from his forehead, passing in front of his right eye where Tak perfectly saw a slightly magnified version of Nathan’s eyeball through it, beside his nose, and finally to splash in slow motion on his chin. It moved so slowly that Tak could have reached out and flicked it away if he’d wanted to. He saw Nathan’s teeth barred behind curled lips as his momentum crept ever so slowly forward. He read the shirt Nathan was wearing, which was the uniform that all the students wore and listed the names of the several martial styles they trained in at the Graves dojo. He saw the electricity on the blade pulsing at a greatly slowed rhythm as the individual arcs of white lightning rose and fell along its length. His senses great
ly heightened… he could suddenly hear Nathan’s heart beating from a few feet away from him. He could smell the toothpaste his friend had used that morning. Tak took it all in, in wide eyed wonder. As the blade continued to approach his midsection from Nathan’s right hand, Tak simply stepped to his own right, grabbed the top of Nathan’s right hand with his left hand, stepped in deeply with his right foot and turned his back to Nathan as he performed one of many simple Judo throws his father had taught him; an “ippon seoi nage”, which he knew translated to “one armed shoulder throw”. He drove his right arm under Nathan’s extended right armpit and grabbed that arm tightly with his own right arm, and continued to pull Nathan’s right arm forward and down with his own left hand. As he pulled that arm forward, Nathan was pulled along faster than he had been moving an instant before, as he was now affected by Tak’s seemingly supernaturally increased speed. Tak had his knees bent when he stepped in, and with his feet together and his back to Nathan’s chest, he extended his knees, shoved his rear end up into Nathan’s stomach as he launched him over his back. Nathan’s feet arced up and over, at one point aiming straight up towards the ceiling. Tak continued the throw as Nathan flew several feet through the air. The instant that Tak stopped pulling Nathan forward at an unnaturally fast speed, he observed that Nathan’s body reverted to the unnatural slowness of everything else that was happening in Tak’s perspective. Only Tak’s mind and body continued to move at what appeared to him to be completely normal speed to him. Tak held Nathan’s hand that had the shock knife and guided him towards the mats on the dojo floor. As Nathan’s body was about to impact the floor Tak secured the knife wielding wrist with both hands as he placed his knees down on either side of Nathan’s extended right arm, with his hips driving into the back of the elbow in a kneeling armbar technique. Nathan’s back began to make impact with the mat just as Tak began to carefully remove the knife from his hand by applying a wristlock. It consisted of twisting the opponent's wrist in two small circles at the same time; one moving towards Nathan’s body and the other twisting outwards to the left, just as he had been taught by his father to apply the technique. Nathan’s hand had no choice but to be forced open, and the shock knife began to fall. Tak watched this in awe for a few seconds as it moved in very slow motion, falling towards the ground. Tak reached over and snatched it out of the air as easily as if it had not been moving at all, and he slowly stood up with the knife in his hand.

  Time suddenly returned to normal for Tak. From the moment Nathan had charged and time slowed down until the moment Tak stood up after the disarm, less than a second in real time has passed for everyone in the dojo watching. It has seemed like at least 10 seconds to Tak. Every mouth in the dojo gaped open, including sensei Graves’. Nathan had been thrown at what appeared to be an impossibly fast speed and slammed hard into the mats. Nathan rolled over to his knees with a confused look that seemed to ask Tak; “What the hell just happened?” Tak had no reply to the question in his eyes… and he himself looked to his dad for answers. The training knife slipped from his grip to the floor. What the dozen students and Tak’s dad had witnessed that day was simply a blur moving around Nathan and throwing him at a speed that seemed impossibly fast… that was impossibly fast. The room was silent and nobody made a noise as they tried to understand what they had just experienced. It was as if they had just witnessed a miracle. Only Sensei Graves knew the truth of the matter as a grin grew over his face. He hadn’t been sure if Tak’s half Caucasian heritage would allow it, but now he knew; his son had the gift.

  CHAPTER 5: REVELATIONS

  16 year old Tak knew there was something different about him. In the years since he had first discovered his unnatural level of speed he had struggled to understand and develop it. With his father’s help he had been learning to control it by utilizing extreme focus. Mr Graves had been helping him develop his focus through extensive training and a daily meditation exercise. His meditation sessions grounded him and allowed him to be centered in a way that most people would never experience. As thoughts would come, he would observe them with his mind’s eye and allow them to pass. Distractions would rise up from his subconscious, and with mental discipline he would allow them to simply go away. Eventually he was able to control his mind so that he could reach a point of extreme calm and clarity. When he meditated he was rooted in the current moment; nothing from the past or the future even existed. This gave him an extraordinary aura of peace that people often noticed. He was the calm in the midst of chaos. People couldn’t push his buttons; instead they would only reveal to him why they were trying to do so. He could quickly see their motivations, such as what drove bullies, parents, addicts and lovers to do the things they did. He could see how people trying to hurt others simply didn’t know how to deal with their own pain. He was becoming wise beyond his years through his father’s direction and the meditation exercises.

  One brisk late fall day of that year Tak was out hunting squirrels with his father. They both enjoyed spending quality time together outdoors, and his father would teach him outdoor survival skills. They had sat down on a fallen tree and Mr Graves had taken a military Meal Ready to Eat from his backpack that they were sharing. Tak had asked about his speed before and had always been told that he would be told more when the time was right. Tak thought about asking, reconsidered, and then reconsidered again. His father could see the questions contorting his face. Tak said, “Dad, will you tell me why am I able to move so fast but other people can’t? And why can’t you do it? I’m old enough to know.” Tak’s piercing blue almond shaped eyes locked with his father’s similarly hued orbs. His father stopped chewing and looked at Tak, and a grin came across his face. He reached over and rubbed Tak’s black hair playfully.

  After a few thoughtful moments of contemplation, he took a deep breath and began. “Alright son… I guess you are old enough now. Everything I am about to tell you has been carefully recorded and passed down through the generations in a large Takamura family history book that I will give you later today. You must keep a careful record of your life’s story and family in it, and one day pass it on to your son. You see; you carry a very special gift inside of you. This gift originated with your ancestor Yukitaka Takamura, who was born in Japan in the year 1165 of the Eiman era. As an infant his parents were killed when their village was raided, and he was found and raised by Minamoto Yoritomo; who was head of a large clan of warriors. Yukitaka diligently followed Yoritomo-san’s teachings, training and meditation techniques and would grow to become a truly legendary warrior. When he was just a teenager he already stood out above all others in his clan in martial prowess. When he was 15 years old he heroically saved Yoritomo-san’s life in an assassination attempt, defeating six would-be assassins by himself. That was right at the start of the Genpei war that lasted from 1180 to 1185. From the day he first saved Yoritomo-san’s life, he served as his most elite personal guard. Yukitaka saved his life several times during the war over the next five years and became a living legend due to his amazing combative abilities on the battlefield. When the war ended Yoritomo-san became the all-powerful ruling Shogun of Japan in 1185, and prayed for the highest blessing that he could for Yukitaka.”

  Mr Graves took a breath to compose his thoughts as Tak continued to listen. “Now Tak, I don’t know if I necessarily believe all of the spiritual stuff that your ancestors did, but I will tell you exactly what they recorded that happened when Yukitaka first received the gift. In your family history book it is written that in the ceremony that Shogun Yoritomo held to have the gods give a blessing to Yukitaka, he bestowed the title of Samurai upon the man. He held the ceremony at his newly established capital in Kamakura. If the book is accurate then Yukitaka was the first samurai; although several men became Samurai around that same time, which was start of the Bunji era of Japanese history. During this ceremony a blinding light came down from the heavens and shone directly upon your ancestor’s face and held him motionless for almost a full minute. The earth shook and thos
e in attendance dropped to their knees in awe and fear. As the earthquake stopped a meteorite fell nearby. It is worth mentioning that an actual earthquake, a blinding light from the sky and a meteorite falling in Kamakura has been verified by several independent sources around Japan on that same day and time. As the earth shook and the light hit Yukitaka’s face, he received the gift. He wrote in his journal that when the light hit him he heard a voice in his head that told him the following, which has been translated from Japanese.

  “Brave warrior, you are now bestowed a gift that will enable you to conquer your enemies, as long as you remain a disciplined force of good in this world. This gift will pass on to every generation of your family. However, to access it, it must be cultivated, as a farmer sows and reaps the crops of the land. You must remain disciplined in your meditations and unaffected by emotions as you follow the bushido code. If your mind is chaotic you cannot access your gift. You are now able to become Hoshoku; and you shall prey upon the evil and corruption in this world and in the hearts of men. There will be only one of your offspring with this gift per generation.”