After The Rising (Book 1): The Risen Storm

by A. R. Daun

  Richard must have come to the same conclusion. He sighed and pulled himself out from beneath the Land Cruiser, then helped her up, and Haley stretched and looked around somewhat pensively. She half expected to see the parking lot filled with police cars with all light flashing, and perhaps crowds of lookie loos crowding around the edges. But it was still eerily quiet, save for a small group of people clustered around the east end of the third floor, and she realized only a few minutes had passed since they had rushed down from their room.

  The man who had greeted them held out his hand to Richard. The Corolla car keys lay on his palm as if he had conjured them up by magic.

  “We had better go soon,” the man repeated, and he moved to the front passenger side and waited patiently for Richard to go around and open all the doors. They all hurried in, and Haley did not visibly relax until they had flowed into the relatively light traffic of Interstate 10 freeway.

  Richard grunted, then briefly turned to eye our new companion before turning back to watch the miles pass as the old Toyota pulled us farther away from the motel.

  “Is there any chance you can tell us what the hell is going on?” He finally said. “Who are you and how do you know me? And what in heaven's name is that thing that's chasing us?”

  The man nodded.

  “My name is Gani,” he began. “And I know your name because a year from now we will meet again, although in rather different circumstances.”

  He turned to look at me.

  “And it's also a pleasure to meet you Miss...” He prompted.

  “Haley...Haley Miles,” she responded instinctively out of habit, and it was another moment before the full impact of what the man had first said hit her.

  “What do you mean?” Richard said, glancing at Gani. “How can you know me from some second meeting that hasn't happened yet?”

  Gani sighed.

  “It's a long story,” he replied. “And some parts of it I'm not able to reveal because doing so might alter events in such a way that the outcomes we are trying to achieve may not come to pass.”

  “That is the darndest gibberish I've heard in quite a while young man,” Richard scoffed. “You managed to sound knowledgeable without actually saying anything meaningful.”

  “I apologize,” Gani said. “It's just that some things about this are somewhat complicated, so perhaps I should just go ahead and state everything right out...at least the things that I can reveal.”

  “I'm from the future,” he began. “In a somewhat round-about way, I was sent here by a sentience who calls itself the Gatherer of Memories from Times Past.”

  Gani grinned then, as if from some inner burbling of humor at the mention of the eccentric sounding name, and it was such a boyish smile that Haley thought it made him seem much younger.

  “And I have to admit,” he continued. “I had my doubts that such a trip was even possible. But that thing that was chasing after you...it too is from the future. We're both from a time when a nanotech plague has swept through the entire world. This infestation...this blight... almost cleansed it of all people, except for a few communities led by those who for some reason are able to incorporate the nanites into themselves without losing their consciousness....their sense of self and their memories.”

  Gani gestured towards the front.

  “Careful Mr. Richard,” he said calmly. “you're straying too far to the left.”

  Richard cursed under his breath and twisted the wheel to correct for the drift.

  “This is insane,” he said angrily. “This is crazy talk from some man who I've never met before, who seems to think he's from the future!”

  Haley touched his shoulder. She could feel how tense he was, and he was gripping the steering wheel so hard that his hands looked almost bloodless.

  “Please Richard,” she said softly. “At least let Mr. Gani finish.”

  Gani turned to look at her and smiled.

  “Thank you Haley,” he said. “But my surname is Uwais, so please call me Gani.”

  He turned back to Richard.

  “I'm not crazy,” he continued softly. Haley thought he had the most calming voice she had ever heard. “You've seen that creature. It came back to the past for one reason and one reason only: to prevent you from stowing aboard the cruise ship Coral Odyssey in New York and meeting Annika and several other people on that ship. One year from now you'll inoculate these people with nanites, and this conversion will help them survive the coming plague and then later enable them to help build flourishing human communities.”

  “And that...thing...what is it?” Haley asked from the backseat.

  Gani again looked back towards her, his demeanor becoming even more serious and his eyes pools of black obsidian in the dim light.

  “We call them the Risen,” he replied. “Nanotech that have consumed the original person and have manifested themselves at the macro level as something more...and less....than human. In this case, that thing can also be called an “avatar”, because it's simply an appendage of a very dangerous megalomaniac who people have called the Dark Man.”

  He looked out the window and pointed at a red sign in the distance that had a five-pointed yellow star with smiling cartoon features. Large white script that spelled “Carl's Jr.” on the red background proclaimed that somewhere nearby passersby would find “charbroiled burgers”.

  “Why don't we pull over for a short while there and get something to eat?” He suggested. “I haven't had anything substantial in hours.”

  “Wouldn't it be safer to just keep going?” Haley asked. She was worried the creature might already be hot on their trail by now, and she had no desire to meet it ever again.

  Gani smiled at her.

  “Not to worry,” he said. “It'll take some time to recover from the shock I gave it. And I'll need some food in me soon or my body will start pulling on my fat and protein reserves....and believe me, I'll want to be at my best when we meet that particular avatar again.”

  Richard sighed, and turned up the ramp to the fast food restaurant.

  The plastic décor and brightly-lit interior seemed surreal in light of their current predicament. It was almost midnight, and yet there were a few couples inhabiting some of the tables near the periphery. They had parked the Corolla with its back to the front of the restaurant, and now they picked a table so that they could keep close watch on the car through a large window.

  Haley was amazed at Gani's appetite. He had ordered four super star burgers, several large french fries, and a large root beer, which she figured he would later replenish from the drink stand. Even the waitress who delivered their order had done a slight double check when she realized there were only three of them in the table. She had to ferry food to their table twice in order to fulfill the entire order. Haley thought that if she had seen the large rip on the back of Richard's shirt, she was at least tactful enough not to comment on it.

  Gani wolfed down his food in what Haley thought were nauseatingly large bites. When he saw her looking at him he smiled grimly, then sat up straight. He looked out the window, where the neon lights that were scattered throughout the parking lot cut across a shadowy landscape of mostly empty asphalt, broken by parked cars whose dark interiors somehow seemed ominous to Haley's already strained nerves.

  “There was a war brewing,” Gani began. “On one side was an army of avatars in the hundreds of thousands, their numbers growing daily due to a sentient Risen who called itself “The Devourer” and churned them out by the hundreds more every day at the behest of this Dark Man.

  “Opposing them were the remnants of humanity, scattered in small communities along the lower eastern seaboard, and governed by the individuals who Mr. Richard over here will be inoculating with nanites in a year.”

  He glanced at Richard and smiled, but the other man stared back at him expressionlessly.

  “But that's not all,” he continued. “There's something more at work here, a shadowy influence sensed by the Gatherer...hidden by
the immediate danger of the Dark Man and his hordes of avatars, but perhaps pointing to the ultimate origin of the plague.”

  He shook his head, as if to clear it.

  “In any case, it would not have been a fair fight,” Gani continued, turning back to Haley. “Humanity would have lost, and all the communities overcome by the tide of Risen rushing in from the west.”

  He paused and took a bite from his burger, chewing on it meditatively for several seconds.

  “But there was a wild card in the deck.” He continued. “One that could tip the balance of the scales and ensure that the world would not be utterly cleansed of humanity. And that's where I came into the picture.”

  CHAPTER 46

  Year 150 A.R.

  Manhattan Cruise Terminal, New York City

  No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.

  - Hal Borland

  The woman stood on the railing of the promenade deck and watched the sun come down on the western horizon. Her thick and wavy golden blonde hair swirled around her face like an angelic halo, framing cold green eyes that were set in a strikingly angular face with prominent cheekbones, full lips, and a slightly elfin look.

  Below she could hear an orchestral score rising as the first evening show started in the Starlight Theater. She forgot what the schedule was for tonight. Chicago maybe? Or Cats? Or Phantom of the Opera? Now that was a musical that she had always loved. The deep and obsessive love of the scarred and lonely Erik for the singer Christine was something she could understand. She decided that she would enjoy watching that tonight, and when she tilted her head slightly to the left she could now hear the faint strains of “Think of Me” drifting in the breeze.

  She smiled wistfully. She could easily imagine the haunting melody being carried deep into the ruins of what was once one the greatest cities in the world, but which was now a desolate wasteland. Rogue beasts roamed the streets in feral packs, their humanity stripped from them and long forgotten. In the deep shadows of the crumbling buildings, slumbering monsters dreamed away the years, their brutish thoughts filled with memories of the days when there was still abundant human prey for the taking.

  Perhaps there would come a time when she would see New York City rise again. Then they could stroll Times Square, and spend long leisurely days in the the Metropolitan Art Museum. She'd always wanted to shop for sea food in Chinatown, perhaps have lunch at one of the many high end establishments along Grand Street.

  She felt hands grasp her shoulders. The touch was gentle but strong, and she shivered in pleasure as HIS hands rubbed her upper arms briskly, as if to impart some heat to the chilled flesh.

  “It's getting cold darling,” the voice behind her said. “What are you doing out here?”

  She smiled and turned around.

  “I was just thinking how nice it would be to have the city back,” Annika said, placing one hand tenderly on Gani's bare cheeks.

  Gani smiled.

  “Yes, it's been too long since I've had a good dimsum,” he said. “I used to frequent this place at Allen St. that made the best shrimp shumai. I would love to take you there sometime.”

  He took her arm and entwined it in his, and they strolled contentedly along the deck. Passengers automatically made way for them, casting curious glances as the Captain and the Guest Services Manager passed by.

  “Oh, I would love that!” Annika almost squealed with delight at the thought. “Do you promise to teach me how to use chopsticks? I don't want to drop any of the food by mistake.”

  “Well, I'm not exactly an expert myself,” he grinned at her. “But I've been known to handle California rolls with such skill that nary a drop of soy sauce has ever been known to spill and sully the clean tablecloth.”

  “My hero!” Annika said breathily in a pseudo-mocking voice.

  He leaned forward and kissed her delicately on the tip of her nose.

  “Do I detect a hint of skepticism?” He said, then turned her towards him, and pulled her close. “I'm going to have to remedy that.”

  They kissed, and to Annika the moment stretched in time until she thought she would never get her breath back.

  This was everything she had ever wanted. She was with someone she cared for, and who in turn cared deeply for her, and it did not matter to Annika that the man who had just enfolded her in his strong arms was a susuwatari construct that she had assembled from the corpse of what had once been the Staff Captain of the Coral Odyssey.

  In the beginning, she had often wondered about what made up a man. If you took all a person's memories, his emotions, and behavioral quirks; if you could somehow distill all the qualities that added up to the whole and infuse all these into a new vessel that looked, smelled, and acted like the original, then who's to say that what you've created is not the same thing?

  Gani was unlike any of the other passengers who populated the resurrected Coral Odyssey. Whereas the several thousand others were recreated from an assortment of the attackers who Annika had overcome and then transformed, she had painstakingly salvaged every single organic remnant of the Staff Captain, then deliberately fashioned them together using susuwatari from her own body. When he had at last opened his eyes and taken his first long drawn out breath, Annika was not surprised to discover that he was not only identical in appearance and behavior to the original Gani, but that he had somehow gained sentience, or at least a good facsimile of it.

  They broke the kiss and she turned her head slightly to watch the sun finally dip down the horizon. She thought about that first night when the ship had been overcome, and for the first time in years she wondered about the people who had managed to flee the Coral Odyssey and survive the initial onslaught of the attackers. She knew that chances were good that they had managed to carve a niche for themselves in this new world, since three of them were like her, and that alone would assure their continued survival, at least for the first few years.

  “What's wrong darling?” Gani asked, and Annika smiled. She was always surprised at how perceptive he was when it came to her moods. It was just another piece of evidence that he was more than a reconstruction. None of the other passengers she had resurrected displayed the depth of emotion and awareness that Gani routinely showed.

  “I was just wondering what happened to the others who had left the ship.” She told him. “Are they still out there somewhere after all these years?”

  His brow furrowed, and he seemed to ruminate about this for a few minutes.

  “Perhaps it's time we found out,” he finally said.

  “What do you mean?” She asked, and a feeling of dread suddenly bubbled up from deep inside her.

  “I mean, perhaps we should send out a team to try to reconnect with whoever is left.” he replied, his dark eyes now slightly unfocused as he thought about it in earnest. “I could it lead it myself.”

  “No!” Annika exclaimed. “It's dangerous out there, and where would you even begin to start? I won't allow it! No Gani, I won't allow it at all!”

  And she thought: my place is here with you, and you here with me. I deserve this slice of happiness, and I won't let anything change that. I couldn't care any less about the others, but oh my darling I care for you so much and I will not lose you again.

  She saw that Gani had started at her sudden outburst, and now he looked at her with sudden alarm.

  “Please darling,” she gripped his hand. “Let's not think of this. I regret mentioning it already, and I think the show is about to start.”

  “Of course Anni,” Gani immediately replied.

  He smiled. She thought he still seemed somewhat tentative, but then he nodded and took her hand in his, guiding her towards one of the deck doors. It opened with a sideways swish, and cool dry air from the air conditioning washed over her face.

  They stepped into the Coral Odyssey's interior. There was a maelstrom of passengers who were jostling and weaving their way to the casinos, and theaters, and all the other entertainment venues scattered throughout the vas
t ship, but they all parted for her and Gani as they made their way to the Starlight Theater. It was as if the two were enclosed in an invisible bubble.

  Annika took one last long look at the darkening night through one of the wide curving windows that looked out. In the distance the ruins of New York rose up like bleak sentinels, guarding their monstrous inhabitants in crumbling masonry and within the abandoned subway tunnels that ramified beneath the city like moist rats nests. It was a daunting challenge to anyone who tried to pass through it, a moat that encircled and protected the world Annika had carved out for herself and Gani.

  And if by chance someone did manage to breach that fortress, then they would have to deal with Annika herself, and she knew that she was by far the more powerful of the two barriers.

  Let them try, she thought, as she and Gani entered the Starlite Theater hand in hand. Oh yes, let them try.

  CHAPTER 47

  Year 1010 A.R.

  NYC Metropolitan Area

  In sad endings may come new beginnings.

  - Ammara Lewis

  He raped her before strangling her.

  He had met her as she stood by the intersection of Grand and Allen Street in lower Manhattan, as the clock ticked just past nine in the evening. She was some sort of mix, with her almond eyes, pale almost porcelain skin topped by lush brown hair, and long coltish legs that seemed to go on forever. She was wearing a mid-riff baring white blouse, tight jeans, and high heels to accentuate her legs, and he had immediately tagged her as a hooker, or at the least one of its derivatives. An escort maybe, or a dancer at one of the many go-go bars that dotted the city, perhaps even an aspiring model looking for a break. Mid-twenties maybe, definitely not more than thirty.

  He had leaned forward, looming over her, a tight smile plastered on his dark face. He had his usual grungy looking backpack slung back along one shoulder.