Misery Saves the Night
By Brittany Allen
Table of Contents
Prologue: The NSSH and You pg. 3
Chapter 1: The Capture pg. 8
Chapter 2: The Girl on the Seventh Floor pg. 22
Chapter 3: Have Wings, Will Fly pg. 44
Chapter 4: Into the Unknown pg. 62
Chapter 5: To Farous We Go pg. 84
Chapter 6: Operation: Get that Witch pg. 105
Chapter 7: She Chose Him pg. 129
Chapter 8: Reflections pg. 152
Chapter 9: Deceit pg. 175
Chapter 10: The Awakening pg. 195
Chapter 11: Long Awaited Reunions pg. 218
Chapter 12: From the End to the Beginning pg. 243
Prologue
The NSSH and You
A soft, warm wind blew on a day just like any the people of the country of Disten had experienced before. The streets were full of people coming home from work or heading out for the evening. In the small neighborhoods citizens walking at their leisure on the sidewalks waved to everyone they met, whether they knew them or not. They were a picture perfect society, but not without their fair share of crime just like the other parts of the world.
In all the euphoria and picturesque life that was Disten, lay a secret hidden in the shadows of their government. For the past two decades people with abilities not known to that of the normal humans began to show up all around the world. Their numbers were small and the people were mostly mild in their temper. Though, there were those handfuls of super powered humans that chose to set people on fire, blow buildings up, rob banks, and raising the crime levels in general.
In all of the panic the nation’s government elected a new leader named Temthaw Vene. This man, Temthaw Vene promised he could control the new breed of people. Half of year in his position, Temthaw had leveled the old government and replaced it with his own. The new government was called the Nation Security of Super Humans. Sadly it was exactly what it sounded like.
Normal citizens loved the NSSH as they watched crime limits fall to the lowest level in history. What these people did not recognize was that their neighbors, co-workers, friends, and many others were slowly disappearing. Around the same time the NSSH began acquiring large patches of land that was off limits to civilians. No one paid too much attention to the actions of their government as long as they were healthy, happy, and safe.
For the sake of those missing, whom were never reported gone, someone should have cared. Inside the newly acquired land, the NSSH constructed tiny homes with the bare minimum access to necessities. Each house, which was nothing more than four walls and a roof, was one room with basic utilities. That one room served as the kitchen, bathroom, living room, and bedroom. Entire families of special ability humans were shoved into these cramp quarters so that they could be watched and regulated.
Once all preparations were complete, every one of those gifted with an unnatural ability were shoved into the cramp Zones. Not one person was spared from the NSSH wrath, other than the normal humans that was. Men, women, and even children became the new inhabitants of these man created hells. To ensure that there would be no attempts of escape; guards were stationed outside of each of these neighborhoods that were called ‘Zones.’ With the guards not being enough security for Temthaw’s liking, a fence that surged with power dampening electricity surrounded the compound.
For the first several months, the prisoners did not sit back and accept the new forced upon them. All over the country people banded together and did everything they could to force their way out of the Zones. Each attempt ended in failure and each time they exhausted more and more power. With the special power restraint electronic fence, the power they used was gone forever and little by little they were losing all of it.
Inside a shack in one of the several dozen Zones, a couple sat on the dirt floor in the summer heat. The only thing that relieved them of the heat was the occasional breeze that came sweeping through the open front door. Her husband wiped the beads of sweat off of her tanned forehead and pulled back her violet hair with a hair elastic to try and cool her. She looked into his mournful silver eyes and ran her hand softly over his milky white skin.
“I know you are doing all you can for ‘us,’ but ugh!” The woman grabbed her bulging belly in pain. “It’s that fence. I heard the couple on the north end of the neighborhood lost their baby because of it.” She cradled the bottom of her stomach. “We can’t lose ours. We have to get out of here soon…”
“And we will. We will.” As his wife drifted to sleep, he laid her head tenderly on a lilac silk pillow which it also happened to be the only belonging they had from their old lives.
Straining to stand, the man pulled himself off of the ground and snuck out the back door of his house. Under the cover of the night, he crept down low behind the rows of bushes that lined the back of homes. Crawling along the path dirt and twig pieces dug into his hands. Against his boney legs the ground was hard causing an agonizing mounting pain with each stride.
He headed south while trying to avoid the patrol vehicles and spot lights. This was the first time he had done anything so reckless in his life, but for the sake of his wife and unborn child, he’d do anything. Heart racing and sweat coming out of every pore, he finally spotted several other prisoners of the Zone. Two men and four women greeted him behind the safety of the bushes.
“We are to move soon. I have knowledge from reading one of the tech soldiers mind that the fence is will be down for ten seconds while they put a new program in place. This new security program will not only be able to tell that we are still in the zone, but also where we are at during every second of the day!” The woman with the triangle face and short red hair whispered to her friends.
“That means this is the only chance we’ll have of getting out of here.” A man with a frail body frame poking his head out from behind a tree trunk said what everyone else was thinking.
“Yes, but during that ten seconds they’re going to have us all locked in our homes so we can’t escape.” The second man said as he held back the urge to punch a tree.
“My wife can’t survive much longer here. I am pretty sure your families are in the same way. We’ll need to pull everyone’s powers who can still manage them. I have the perfect plan.” The man relayed his idea to the others who agreed that it might just work.
In the week leading up to the switchover, the group recruited all those willing and able. They knew being confined in that cage was not right, not even for an animal. For their families these people would risk their own lives at the slight chance that they might make it out. The team met in the same spot behind the bushes to fine tune the last details of the plan until it they had it all memorized by heart. Days passed slowly and the minutes wound down until the moment had finally arrived.
Inside their homes, guarded by a dozen NSSH soldiers, they waited for the moment to arrive. The man held his barely conscious wife in his arms while waiting at their back door. While waiting he went over the operation in his mind.
“First because we are only allowed the ten second window, we have to take out the guards first. Team one, the Psychics have that covered. They are going to pull their forces and send out a wave a power that is lower than what the minimum level for the scanners are. That wave will not knock out the guards, but make them believe that everything is running smoothly. That’s when the fence goes down and team two moves in to destroy the fence. With it out of commission, I help those too weak to move with my abilities. After we make it off of the Zone and into the woods, we’re on our own.” His wife was losing her balance so he wrapped her in his right arm and let her head rest on his shoulder.
“Three. Two… O
ne!” The psychics let out the call and the next minute of his life was a blur. He felt his body moving and power surging, but was in another consciousness completely until he found himself out in the middle of a field under a crystal blue moon.
One last look behind him, and he saw the Zone had gone up in flames. He had helped many people move out of the Zone, but now it was time for him to focus on his own family. As soon as she was out of the Zone’s boundaries, his wife was already feeling better. She no longer needed her husband’s assistance and was able to use her own power to make them invisible even to the eyes of the NSSH’s most powerful soldiers. Dodging spotlights, soldiers, and dogs, the couple headed west towards the mountains.
“This isn’t the last we’ll see of them.” She referenced to the NSSH. “We may not have started this war, but somehow I know the ones to stop it will be us.” With a strong desire in her eyes she felt her stomach twitch.
“Their days are numbered.” The man said as he helped his wife sit down a fallen tree. “I heard rumors of a group in the west…” He stopped when his wife grabbed his hand.
“THE BABY IS COMING!” She screamed, but then smiled. “They’ll be born free and healthy.”
“They have no idea what will be coming for them.” He looked into her eyes and she raised her head to his thin lips. “I love you and in the end that is all that matter.”
Chapter 1
The Capture
Night had come and all citizens locked themselves in their homes. Everything at the neighborhood Nation Security of Super Humans, or the NSSH, was quiet and undisturbed. This was the way each night had been all over the country of Disten for the past fifty years, ever since the NSSH had moved in. Once the streets had been full of people talking and playing around, but now lonely security vehicles roamed city streets at night, arresting anyone who dared stepped out of their homes. For this was not a normal country with your everyday citizens.
Disten was a country of super powered humans who lay under the control of their government. Since the sixties those humans who were born with the ability to foresee the future, move objects with their minds, and any other power not born in “normal” man was segregated into small, secured facilities, or Zones. In these Zones, superhuman individuals lived together for days, weeks, or even years on end without stepping outside electromagnetic walls. They waited for the day when their government would call upon them to serve the nation. Many times the individual would never return to the Zone from their mission.
Now, these men, women, and sometimes even children were not considered heroes, for their actions could be considered villainous. They would do anything and everything the NSSH told them to do. Whether it would be rushing into a burning building to save civilians or going overseas to carry out a political assassination, they would comply.
Most super powered humans would die on their quest mostly due to poor training and nourishment. If they would complete their quest, they would be hired on part or full time to a part of the NSSH government. With the loyal NSSH officers, came the handful of people who escaped their captures and went into hiding. If anyone had managed to escape, it would usually be one or two months before he or she were inevitably caught again. Only two people had ever fully eluded the NSSH with their ware bouts unknown. These two where on the NSSH most wanted list. A kill on sight order was out for these two people and no one ever disobeyed orders.
Beep!
...
Beep!
“Ugh?” A young man stumbled out of his sleep and out of slumber. “What?” His hands brushed piles of papers off the security console in front of him. “No!” Something on the screen before him had him fully awake now. It was a message from field scouts with what surely had to be a joke.
“This cannot be…” Hands shaking and his heart racing, this man no older than in his late twenties or mid-thirties closed his eyes and concentrated. “Lieutenant Sean, sir?” He communicated through brain waves, a telepath.
“Officer Ian, what has got you all up in a flurry?” Lieutenant Sean, also a telepath conversed back. He could hear the younger agent having a panic attack.
“Huh, huh.” Ian inhaled than let his breath go. “Lieutenant, there has been a sighting. The Hunter says so.”
Sean, who had been reading the local newspaper, let out a jolly laughter. “About time. About damn time.” He slowly stood out of his comfortable black leather swivel chair, still laughing. Sean took a sip out of the cup of coffee sitting on his mahogany desk as though he knew what the boy was talking about. This was a day he had waited decades for.
Having not received further instructions from Sean, Ian reestablished contact. “Sir, are you still there?”
“Meet in room B in five, soldier!” That was all Sean had conveyed before contacting several other NSSH officers working in the neighborhood area.
He wobbled, being a heavy-set man as he was, over to his mahogany wardrobe that matched the desk in his office. Inside of it was a row of white, standard issue lieutenant uniforms. All nine uniforms of which had not been worn within the last ten years. Sean picked the suit hanging on the end of the right side of the wardrobe. It was the most recent uniform he owned and the biggest as well.
“Ugh!” He struggled out of his gray sweatshirt and sweat pants, leaving him short of breath and blue in the face.
Within three minutes of struggling with his uniform, Sean had managed to button the button at the end of his crisp polyester shirt. Thunderous plods of his steps could be heard the moment he stepped out of his office and into the main hall of the NSSH headquarters where they worked. His eyes caught a glimpse of the clock on the wall to the left.
“Ugh!” The lieutenant picked up his pace. “Thirty seconds left. Good grief I should have said thirty instead of five.” His legs started to cramp and he lost his balance. White fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling began to blur as the gray walls spun around the lieutenant.
Luckily, Sean was at his destination, room B. Before going into the room, he straightened the dull crumpled suit he had so forcefully shoved over his bulging frame. After pushing the last strands of grey hairs into place on top his head, Sean turned the cold door handle ready to greet his troops.
A bright white light greeted him inside room B. Nine men stood around a silver metallic rectangular table, all of whom saluted the lieutenant as he entered.
“At ease, gentlemen.” Sean sat at the head of the table and the other men followed suit.
“Here you are, Lieutenant Sean sir.” Officer Terrance, to the left of Sean, passed the lieutenant a manila folder. “This just came in, and if I may say so sir, there is not much to go on.”
The lieutenant let out a grunt then thumbed through the folder.
“Has not approached... Has not been approached...” He said a few words aloud while reading all of the available information. “No pictures!” Sean slammed his swollen fist on the desk. None of the officers stirred, they had gotten used to their superiors antics.
“No sir!” Officer Arcane on Sean’s left informed the group. “The patrol squad only got an alarm as they passed its position by mistake. Unfortunately they believe its abilities may be blocking any readings of it, sir.”
“Ugh, yeah. I suppose that sounds about right. Maybe…” Sean scratched his pale white neck. “Alright, you three there.” He pointed to the three officers on his right. “You will be led by Arcane to bring about a thirty mile diameter quarantine force field of the surrounding area.”
The selected team stood and saluted their lieutenant. “Yes sir!” They shouted remaining in their position until they were to be dismissed.
“Terrance you and the other four, which includes Ian, will lead the capture with me.” He surveyed the group. “Who is the Nature Combatant here?” Sean referred to the one team member who could shape and control nature to their will.
A poor sullen excuse for an officer raised his hand. “I am sir.” He stood before Sean like a pale reflection in a mirror.
“Good.” He commented speaking to himself. “And the Healers?” The lieutenant referred to the twins at the end of the table.
Ever since the first recorded history of super humans, twins had always had the ability to heal and mend others using their abilities. However, that was not the case with triplets and other multiple births. Triplets had been known to be fire starters and sextuplets usually developed psychic abilities due to so many of them sharing one brain wave.
“Combatants!” Sean signaled to the final two in his command. “And Terrance you are my defense, correct.”
“Yes sir!” His team chanted in unionism.
The lieutenant stood and admired his hand chosen crew of only those he deemed the best. “Now, need I remind you that this is a Level Five security danger and we must take the necessary steps and precautions to make sure this is done without a hitch?”
“Yes sir!” The nine officers saluted once more.
“Now fallout, soldiers.” Sean led the two teams out of the room.
They walked down the hall together in the opposite direction Lieutenant Sean had come from. At the end of the hall, there were three directions; forward, left, and right. For each team there was a path. Arcane’s team went left for that was the way to their division’s transportation. Team Two went left for ammo and weapons, for ‘insurance’, before they rejoined team one at the rendezvous position.
Team Two loaded up on semi-automatic handguns, gas grenades, and stun guns in a faintly lighted room at the end of their hallway. These were all instruments that scientist believed should knock out or kill any super powered human if initial sedation failed to do so. A few of the soldiers had sparkles in their eyes as they selected their weapons. They were trained to be the best, but being the best was easy when almost everyone conformed to the rules of the NSSH. So when it would come time for them to be in an actual conflict, it was as if Christmas had come early. As soon as they had made sure all weapons were loaded, with a silent nod to one another, the headed to their hanger.
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