LAND of the FREE

by Michael W. Huard

  After a time spent reminiscing and in prayer Raegan, Mahira, Sinaye, Jansa, Zaey, and Chaya all gathered together to discuss the next step in trying to save the United States of America from pure tyranny. Raegan was a little flustered and rambled to her sisters, "The whole world is going crazy. One Corporation is taking over and the common people are becoming like rats. Men are dying at an alarmingly uncommon rate and children are not being born in the numbers they used to be. We have Nano produced foods, titanium jaws, skulls, hips, knees, legs, arms, feet, backs, vaginas, and cocks for God's sake. Machines think they are human, everyone has a tracking device embedded in them . . . and . . . oh . . . I don’t know." She shook her head, still uncertain on the sisterhood’s next move.

  Jansa stood and reached out to hold Raegan’s hand. It was a calming move to try to get all the sisters to relax. "Listen, you guys, New York headquarters has fallen, there’s nothing we can do about it. What we need to do is decide on Boston, and also if our Maine location can be utilized as part of our plan."

  "It’s hard to believe that once upon a time there were actually elections in the USA," added Zaey as the conversation continued.

  Sinaye, pondering the next move, realized that a flying vessel suddenly emerging out of underground Boston would certainly draw attention. "Where is Blu anyway? I have not seen her for a while now," she asked.

  Raegan would be the one to answer, "Last I knew, she was tending some of the bereaved families from New York."

  Chaya, who was looking at her wrist and the imbedded chip beneath her skin, contemplated her internal question out loud, "Are we still sure these are working and can get us past inspections?"

  "Envy is working on new uploads, and a chip for each of us will be ready before tomorrow evening," spoke Raegan.

  "I have to ask," Mahira blurted out, "was that stinking Field Marshall Purcell part of the New York hit?" Jansa nodded to confirm and Mahira turned beet red with anger. "That son of a bitch! One day he will pay, he’ll feel the sharp steel of my axe, I promise you all." The girls all nodded in agreement.

  "All servers are now down, nothing is online except the R-Bel news network and their shitty commercials," spoke Sinaye. "We don’t even know if Maine is safe."

  "We have to know! There has got to be a backup haven for if or when this place is attacked. People need hope. They need to know that another location will be ready for them if we need it," added Zaey.

  Raegan agreed. While rubbing her hands together, she sent the sisters to go in the various directions that were needed. "Chaya, you and Jansa take the train to Maine, update your microchips to fool the inspections, and get there as fast as possible. Sinaye, Mahira, and I will work on an escape plan for if we decide to evacuate underground Boston. We will also discuss an attack at Y-Wood headquarters and plan how best to destroy them."

  "Where is Lomax, if I may ask? I have not seen him as of late?" Mahira asked her friend.

  Raegan answered, "He’s trying to find a way back online to hack into the Corporation’s networks. Somehow, hopefully, he will find out if they are planning to come here to underground Boston, or if they are just waiting for us to retaliate at Old Fenway." Raegan clapped, "Okay, everyone, let’s get going."

  ***

  Jansa and Chaya made their way to Maine. The bullet train they had planned to use was not heading this way anymore, as per the recent announcement from Y-Wood that all trains were shut down until further notice. So they had no other choice; a flight was in order. It had to be quick and stealthy, so they took the special plane this time. The goth girl, Blu, was back and was to be their pilot. They flew hastily and hopefully went undetected. Maine was a big so-called state and was surrounded by water as well as many trees and islands. The three women docked on the shoreline. Today, Blu was showing off all her war piercings, two lip piercings, two eyebrows, her nose, tongue, and a pointed chin piece. Her hair was spiked extra high and colored blue as always. She carried her favorite laser rifle and the other women each had a bladed weapon and a pistol.

  The coastal grounds around Maine were jagged in parts with wild, beautiful scenery. An early fall in Maine was often considered by many to be the closest thing to paradise in the world. The vibrant colors were simply amazing. Leaves of yellow, orange, green, brown, and red were dancing around all over the city. After landing their craft, the three sisters stopped on a rock cropping, just for a minute, to take it all in. It had been years since any of the sisterhood had visited this place.

  They now had to go and see if their old secret spot was still in operation. To see if it even still existed. They needed to establish if the people of the underground could actually live here if it was needed. Even though they still carried heavy hearts for the uncertainty of Boston Underground, the loss of Wynne, and the fact that Y-Wood was closing in on them, life as a Mystical Slayer always held a heavy burden, and they had to carry on.

  Maine was different to all other places. The region was cold, too cold during the winter, and sparse. Most of the Corporation people avoided winter completely, so the land was open to anyone who dared to build on it. Some people were more savage than others in this respect. Some were more giving and would offer hospitality to those who needed it. Jansa had no need for friends. According to her map, a location they were seeking near a light tower was the only thing she needed right now.

  By the time the Slayers had made it part way up a rocky climbing path, several unknown figures appeared from the wilds of the sloppy landscape. They may have just been locals, but the weapons they carried and the clothes they wore suggested mores that an ambush was about to take place.

  The Q-Jin saw men and women who, at first appearance, could have been homeless people. They were dressed in rag clothing, having thrown anything together they could find. But their skin was not normal. It had an eerie yellow tint to it. They moved slower than normal people. But each one carried a dangerous weapon. Some held spears or knives, others held tridents or spiked clubs. Their eyes were the biggest giveaway. They were not human.

  The band of unknowns lumbered out of sea caves and crevices to attack the women. Jansa had her sword and Chaya had an axe. Neither had a rifle or laser gun with them. They hadn't expected to need them on this peace and scout mission. But Blu did. "I am just gonna shoot these mother fuckers," she cried out to her two comrades. The approaching men all had thick, shaggy beards. Three of them marched towards the Slayers. Together, the girls were ready. It looked like around a dozen men and just a few women were the making of this zombie band.

  The three strongest men had spears and jabbed them forward with every effort made to kill the visiting women. Chaya tried to slow them down. "Listen, you people, we are not here to cause any harm or give you pain. We are friends of this area." Hopefully they would now understand there was no need for a battle.

  Jansa was quick to add, "We are part of the others who live here, and we’re all in this together, helping people in this region." They did not slow their approach.

  Chaya yelled now, "Put down your weapons. Now!" The yellow-tinted, homeless humans did not stop.

  "Stay close," Jansa instructed to Chaya as they both prepared for bloodshed. Blu backed away to get a better angle to shoot from without hitting her two friends. "These people have been contaminated. Perhaps by nuclear exposure? That would be my first thought," Jansa insisted as the battle was starting.

  Spears drove in. Jansa and Chaya parried the thrusts, one spear knocking into another, the weapons becoming entangling without either making contact with the women. Jansa's sword slashed an arm off one attacker, while Chaya used her axe to cleave another in the chest. Both zombies were now down. The last of the first round of attackers started swinging his spear in a wild manner at Jansa. She bobbed and weaved the attempts to hit her. Having maneuvered herself to a better angle, she was then able to drive her sword into the old guy’s neck. He hit the ground with a thud. Blu fired at the others and they began to drop one by one onto the rocky
terrain.

  Four more contaminated beings came next. They wielded knives, clubs, and a meat cleaver. "Take two each," spoke Chaya as she shifted to her left. "Let's see how they move with no legs," she added, dropping low and swiping her heavy axe across their lower regions. Jansa turned her sword outward, blade pointing forward, with the center of the sword resting on her front elbow and forearm. Her attackers swung their knives, awkwardly slashing and stabbing. Jansa kicked a knife loose from a short, rugged woman's hand, while angling right and piercing her blade tip into another woman's throat.

  "There's more coming from below," Jansa warned as she sliced at another zombie.

  Blu saw the new arrivals too. "I got this," she yelled out as more of her shots dropped several of the attackers.

  Chaya took the legs out from under her next two assailants and both tumbled down. Others now rushed in on the fight. A tall man in a yellow raincoat, a guy with a black beanie cap, and several others with severely rotted teeth were trying to overwhelm the women.

  But the girls knew how to fight and positioned themselves apart just enough to leave openings for movements and team work. The remaining survivors lasted no more than a minute before being finished off by the Slayers. Breathing heavily, but still unharmed, both Jansa and Chaya cleaned their weapons on the old rag clothes of the dead people before them. Time stood still for a moment and the sea nearby, the Atlantic Ocean, roared its waves and crashed against the shoreline. The sky seemed darker for a moment. A seagull flew by, surveying what food may come from the remains of this fight. It was most definitely looking for leftovers! If smart enough, the hungry gull would avoid this contaminated meat.

  An explosion then rocked the entire state of Maine, shattering the moment of silence which the women were savoring. It was an asteroid. The Earth jumped back and forth. The ground was shaking to its core and the girls were thrown high up in the air over the coastline. For a moment, they tasted death in their souls . . . but the water cushioned their fall. However, Blu was not so lucky. She did not make it as far out as the ocean and landed hard on the jagged rocks of the shoreline. The boulders, like towering spikes, had pierced her small frame and she was now crying out in pain.

  A nine-hundred foot asteroid had just hit northern Maine. No one knew of its coming. A large, pointed rock was now protruding from the sky captain’s chest. Jansa and Chaya swam to the shore in sheer panic and ran to Blu. They took her in their arms and held her close. Jansa sprayed her IHF onto Blu's chest, a formula for instant healing which all the sisters used regularly to heal a wound quickly. But this injury was just too severe, it would not heal in time.

  "I love you guys, my friends . . . my besties. You bitches are the only family I've ever had . . . it hurts so much . . . Ahhhhhh!" Sinaye was shaking Blu in an attempt to keep her awake. Blu looked so faint.

  "No! You can make it . . . don’t go," cried Sinaye.

  Jansa pulled her back with tears in her eye. "There’s nothing we can do, Blu. I’m so, so sorry."

  Blu struggled to stay awake, "It’s okay, I . . . ahhhh, a better place, my friends . . . goodbye." Blu’s eyes slowly closed as one last breath exhaled from her lips, and with that, she was gone.

  The two remaining sisters held each other and cried as they sat on the rocky shoreline. Both were lost in grief for a long while, far north in rural Maine. The ocean was vast, the waves came and went, and both girls sat in despair.

  The entire land around the secret sisterhood location in Maine was shocked and gutted by the news of yet another tragedy. By fate or perhaps luck, Jansa and Sinaye had survived. All of the old sisterhood buildings and cave complexes along the sea were flattened by the asteroid. All but one. A log cabin miles down the shoreline was where they would finally come to rest. It would be a long time before any sort of normality would be restored to the region.

  The loss of Blu was a hard pill to swallow. Yet the one building left standing, ironically, was a front for a USA flag making set up. As yet unknown to the wider world, the American flag was being recreated by the sisterhood in Maine. A few survivors had approached the women. They had known there would be fellow sisters, or at least they had prayed as much. The sisters comforted the survivors and tried to offer some hope. These local women of Maine were much older than Chaya and Jansa. The Q-Jin hoped they could bring extra wisdom and knowledge to their sisterhood.

  Jansa and Sinaye learned that the workers in this area had pretty much lived here their entire lives. They were dedicated to the cause and were happy to be here. They spent time chatting to all of the survivors as the days passed.

  On the next to last day of their time in Maine, Jansa and Sinaye were helping the locals to retrieve lost members and workers from the rubble of the asteroid damage. While digging through the wreckage, Sinaye came across what looked like a time capsule buried in the sand, wedged between two rocks close to the shore. It was clearly quite old and looked very interesting.

  The Q-Jin had indeed found something very important. A certain digital virus, a thumb drive, simply labeled as "The Bible". This could be invaluable. When they had finished with the final burials and helped the survivors as much as they could, Jansa and Sinaye knew this find, and their grave news, must be taken straight back to Boston Underground.

  Maine was still a place the women would utilize as a compound, but it was going to take some time to rebuild. Perhaps the finding of an old thumb drive could lend to something of a silver lining amidst all this destruction. The older sisters of Maine hugged the younger Slayer women and walked them back to their ship. The big hummer, thankfully, and by an act of sheer luck had not been damaged. Jansa and Sinaye would share the responsibility of piloting the craft, since their previous captain, Blu, was sadly no longer with them. Several weeks after their arrival in Maine, they were now flying home.

  ***

  Back in Boston, and in every corner across so-called "fallen America", the Green Bug virus had come as a shock to all.

  Most say it was caused by mosquitoes, our most dangerous insect species on Earth.

  Every year, by transmitting the dangerous malaria disease, they wreak havoc on the population. Only this time it was far worse. Mosquitoes had always carried the malaria disease from one place to another, transmitting their germs into the victim's blood with a single bite. Global warming caused the increase of Earth's average surface temperature due to the effects of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels or from deforestation. This process trapped the heat that would have otherwise escaped from the earth's atmosphere. The world saw it coming. Over the centuries, things had changed. It had only been a matter of time before species of bugs migrated to different parts of the world and changed their DNA into something far more dangerous. Water supplies were destroyed worldwide, the climate became too warm, and the water levels became too high. The temperature of the earth’s ocean also continued to rise, which meant that tropical storms began to pick up far more energy, and the bugs became even more dangerous.

  In addition to Malaria, mosquitoes were also responsible for the spread of dengue fever, yellow fever, encephalitis, and the west Nile virus. These flies lived in mid-continental Africa, particularly near the Sahara Desert. They carried a chemical called trypanosome, which causes sleeping sickness among humans. Perhaps the mating of various species was what led to the Green Bug virus; no one was one hundred percent sure. Whatever the reason, the sickness was spreading like wildfire.

  Extreme heat waves had caused tens of thousands of deaths around the world in recent years. And in an alarming sign of things to come, Antarctica had lost billions of metric tons of ice.

  All cities faced deadly new insects, heat waves, heavy downpours, and increased flooding. Allergies, asthma, and infectious disease outbreaks had become more common due to the increased growth of pollen-producing ragweed, higher levels of air pollution, and the culturing of conditions which were favored by pathogens and mosquitoes. No one had realize
d how serious this Green Bug pest would be. The initial bite caused a fever and made the patient dizzy, nausea followed, vomiting, chills, and a steady rising of the body temperature. Without the necessary and hard to find medication, death would occur within forty-eight hours. There had to be a cure, but it had not yet been found. People were dying.

  This was a hard time for the Mystical Slayers. The ladies worked tirelessly on finding a way to stop the fevers. And Y-Wood would keep trying to find the Q-Jin locations. Every so often they would launch a missile strike at a random, lone standing tower building, adding to the post-apocalyptic landscape that Old America had come to see as the norm all over the country. Everyone would stay inside, hiding from the threat of disease.

  Attempts at producing an effective Green Bug Malaria vaccine were ongoing. The Malaria parasite was a complex organism with a complicated life cycle. The parasite had the ability to evade the immune system by constantly changing its surface. Therefore, developing a vaccine was going to be very difficult. This new virus was stronger than any the world had ever encountered.

  Malaria was typically found in the warmer regions of the world. With the effects of global warming, this was no longer the case.

  It took just over a month, but somehow, the sickness bug seemed to slowly burn itself out. The stress of it all was hard on everyone.

  Raegan tried to get a restful night's sleep every once in a while. Tonight was not to be one of them, and she struggled to sleep at all. Lomax rubbed her back and sang to her, but still she could not sleep. She had dozed off for an hour or so, and then Johan woke her. "Mommy, I thought I heard something," he said, shaking her up. She tried to comfort him and cuddled her boy until he went back to bed. She then tossed and turned, and even though she finally fell asleep, her mind was not at rest.