RISING_A Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic USA Fantasy

by Michael W. Huard

  Another guy jumped her from behind and jammed a knife into her shoulder. She winced in great pain and twisted him away. He came back at her, but her katana was waiting for him and drove into his chest. He paused as blood began to ooze from his mouth before he slowly dropped to his knees. Taya yanked her sword free as another attacker bashed her hand with a club, making her drop Bright. It was a woman, and a big woman at that.

  Cries of anguish filled the room as the women of her sisterhood fought on. Margo took a shot in the arm and dropped behind a desk. Her doctor friend, Annette, saw the shooter grinning at his small victory, a scrawny kid of no more than sixteen years. He came at her and leaped up on the desk, leaving Annette with no choice but to react. He glared at her, then down at Margo, and then back at her. He pointed his gun right at Annette's face. "Your black magic dies with you," he spat out. Then his pistol just clicked. He was out of bullets.

  Annette had no weapon, but on the shelf behind her was a statue of three posing monkeys. They represented an age-old proverb of hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. Today it was her weapon. She grabbed it and smacked the kid across the head. He tumbled over and landed on top of the bleeding Margo. She screamed out, and he stirred, still moving about and trying to recover.

  The big woman before Taya was a mean looking lass. She had muscles like a man, and her cropped hair cut made her look like one. A tattoo of a red demon on her arm caught Taya’s attention. This was going to be a doozy. "You’re the leader," the large woman growled. "Today is your last day on Earth." The gal then smacked her black billy club on her own palm, waiting and enjoying the lead up to this confrontation.

  "You don’t have to fight anymore," Taya explained. She then prepared for an attack. "Join us, and you can do great things." Her next words were cut short as the club wielder rushed in.

  The wild teen kid tried to grab at Margo as she kicked out at him. Annette came from above him and wrapped her arms around his throat. She choked as hard as she could, but the boy threw her off. Margo up-kicked him in the face while his attention was elsewhere, and the sole of her foot hit home. He fell back unconscious.

  The woman’s club swung out and missed Taya twice. The third attack Taya ducked under and got around to the big girl’s backside. She then kicked the back of her knee, buckling it and throwing her large adversary forward. The big lady was not happy. She turned and bellowed out, "Oh, you’re gonna get an ass whipping, woman."

  She charged in, swinging madly at Taya, her lunge backing the freedom fighter into a nearby wall. It was too much for her to stop, and she found herself sliding down to the floor. The big woman was now over her, club in hand.

  Taya had to use her legs in defense. As the burly gal reached down to hit Taya, she placed both feet on the woman's hips, thus keeping the strikes from being able to reach her. The woman swung Taya’s feet to the side, but before she could get by them, Taya placed them right back in the way, swinging her left first to block any movement. Then the woman just dropped her almighty weight down between Taya’s legs.

  There she found Taya grabbing her around the neck, the large beast of an attacker yelled loudly, "Let me go, you stupid hag! Rahhhhhh, let me kill you!" Taya held her composure, and as the woman forced one of her legs down to climb over it, Taya did one of her favorite moves. She pushed the hand of her attacker between her legs and wrapped her legs around the gal’s neck. The thick woman lifted up to free her head, and Taya then switched to an upright arm lock. She whipped her foot in front of the woman’s face and snapped on an elbow hold, sending the big girl flying backwards.

  One of the sisters in the room ran to them, and brandishing a chunk of broken chair, she cracked down on the large woman’s face. Several smashing blows later and the chunky chick was done for.

  Once all the fighting was over, Taya instructed the remaining women to collect all their doses of drugs and bring them along with the group. They needed a new location, and they needed it fast. She grabbed her journals, but suddenly stopped before climbing the cellar stairs with Annette and Margo right behind her. She looked at her most important allies, "We need to stop calling this formula a drug. It's making everyone crazy." The others seemed to agree.

  Margo gave her quick two cents. "Instead of North Star, let’s just use something like . . . Starigen. It sounds better and less intimidating." Taya liked it.

  Annette added, "This was our sixty-second test on animals and our eightieth test on the rats. Why not just add in 6280 and make it a full name?"

  Taya spoke it out loud, "Starigen 6280 . . . there we go, we have a name! Our name. Let’s get out of here."

  Taya’s red-haired husband, Trout, worked outside mostly, building back up what was left of the city's infrastructure. He tried daily to create safety and make it a solid city, one which would be worthy of protection from the outside dangers of this crazy world. He was wonderful with his hands and so very supportive of Taya’s teachings, research, and everything else she was trying to do.

  Little Sun had to now be kept closer to Taya than ever before. Starigen 6280 was tested in the months to follow. It was administered to anyone willing to take the risk, and several women did exactly that. The results were not perfect. Some could take to it, but others reacted very badly. Some even died.

  Doctor Annette figured things would take time. One evening, she privately explained to her friends what she felt was the solution. "Taya, the thing is, it needs to be given right from birth, if not before. That way, the body would have a chance to adapt."

  Taya knew she had a point. She turned to Margo. "What do you really think?"

  The scientist took a deep breath. "It works. We have seen it. There’s always going to be issues because it’s a discovery for the ages. We can use this to make all our sisters more powerful, and one day defeat the Joint Correlation."

  Taya was hearing sweet music to her ears, albeit a bit premature. "That’s what I wanted to hear. You two have done so much for this. I love you guys, thank you."

  The word was out that Taya had run for mayor, and she won by overwhelming margins. The city was hers, and new women came in droves to be a part of it. The time had come to name all these women. A council meeting was set up and everyone joined it. Hundreds of women were gathered together in Portsmouth, New Hampshire this very night. They made their way to the ocean point and lit torches by the water. They also had a decent bonfire to keep themselves warm in the cool evening air of fall. Their discussions began. Taya had her little bundle of joy with her for this very special occasion. Sun’s hair had grown out some over the year, and she had the wildest, bright red locks all about her tiny, pretty face. The other women all dearly loved the child too.

  Taya let her long black hair down tonight. She was getting grayer by the day, but she still felt amazing and full of life. Her body was still in excellent shape, and she only felt half her real age.

  "Good evening to all of you. Tonight is a night we celebrate and bring forth new hope; the hope for better days to come." She then walked about to hug everyone there. "A hug is healing," she announced. "It means a lot. Today is our day to come to life; not only as women, but as freedom seekers. The world has been through war after war, and many have decided to give up." Her voice was getting louder and more enthusiastic as she continued, "Some have chosen to live in holes and do as the rich and powerful command. Well . . . not us!" she yelled out.

  The women present all cheered and raised a hand in defiance of the JC.

  "It’s a big world out there, and let me tell you this," she smiled as she walked about the lines of women before her. "There’s a ton more just like us. Women that are strong and smart . . . they are all waiting to make a difference too.

  "Let me introduce two women here tonight that have helped me make an incredible medical breakthrough, and one that will lead us forwards in our revolution." She went and grabbed both Annette and Margo by the hand, passing baby Sun to another friend beside her.

  "Dr. Anne
tte Fallen is as crazy as they come, and also as ingenuous. She was part of our research as well as this woman, the master scientist, Margo Manes. Margo is simply centuries ahead of anyone with her knowhow and inventive ways. Together we have created a formula to help all the sisterhood get better and stronger, and one day," she now yelled at the top of her lungs, "we will kick some JC ass!"

  Everyone again cheered and raised a fist in great hope for the future.

  "I have been thinking for some time now about what we should call ourselves. I want someone in California to know our name, another in Texas, and then someone else in Utah. We have to have a name that everyone will remember . . . and I came up with one."

  All waited in great anticipation of her announcement.

  "Since we will take out those that stand in our way, those that fight out of pride and ego like the rich bullies who are happy to see the poor suffer . . . I give us a last name of slayers." She then drew Bright and raised it in the air for all to see.

  All watched as she did a kata, or dance routine with the blade. "Now we need a first name too, something to remember and be proud of. I say we are all mystical, and for that reason, I call us the Mystical Slayers."

  The gathering went wild with excitement and danced about in happiness. Tonight was their night. It had never been easy for them, and it never would be. The land was an utter mess, and they had so much to do to even make just a small difference. Yet tonight each felt so proud and so united. They truly were a sisterhood.

  Later, by the fire when things had settled down and when the drinking, the dancing, and the stories were all done with, Taya sat next to a few of the remaining women. Most had already retired back to the inner city for the evening.

  One woman asked, "Why Mystical?"

  Taya, sitting with Trout and a fast-asleep Sun, smiled at such a question. "To be honest," she replied, "I thought it sounded cool." Everyone around the fire laughed and nodded in agreement.

  Chapter Thirteen

  On the walk back home, Taya, Trout, and baby Sun were stopped by a patrol of Correlation robots. They were mostly covered in all black armor, and their eyes were a bright green. Each carried a laser pistol, and four of them stepped before her family.

  One of the bots stepped forward. "Metaya Valteese, you’re under arrest," he said in a commanding voice.

  Trout was not happy. The construction worker placed both his wife and daughter behind him. "Under what authority? She has done nothing to merit such an arrest."

  Out from a dark corner of the street walked Deekan Armas. Under the street lighting, Taya could recognize him from his dark suit and the large star tattoos on either side of his neck, and he still had a well-trimmed dark beard. As she recalled, he was the right-hand man of the sinister President Sweet for the entire JC. Taya remembered him instantly from the judgment day so many years ago. She would never forget a face, especially his.

  He did not recognize her. "We know all about you and your antics," said the well-dressed man. "The time has come for you and this to be ended." He motioned for the black soldiers to apprehend the family.

  Trout yelled, "Back off!"

  The armored and ruthless bot shot the man in the leg. Taya screamed and little Sun woke up with a startled wail.

  As luck would have it, a few of the women from the earlier meeting were still about and had heard the yelling. They appeared and called out for it to stop. There were seven of them. They jumped the bots from behind, and a great struggle ensued.

  Deekin Armas came to grab Taya. "If you fight, your child will be at great risk. Just surrender and come with me," he said with a serious glare.

  But Taya had no intention of surrendering. She put her child down, and as the associate tried to grab her, she countered his reaching hand with a left block and a right strike to his ribs. She weaved her striking had up under his elbow and placed the back of her hand behind her head like a pillow. She dropped back, putting great pressure on his elbow and forcing him to follow the fall, face first down to the street.

  Trout crawled to Sun and watched over her, and as a robot moved in at them and started to loom over, Trout kicked the thing's knee out. The bot stumbled back but returned with a laser pistol pointing down. "Okay, okay," Trout said. "Don’t shoot . . . we give up."

  The other three Joint Correlation soldiers were battling Taya’s sisters nearby. Two of the women had fallen already from shots, and the others held on by grappling and trying to get the guns from the bots' grasps.

  Armas fought his way out of Taya’s hold, and the two of them ended up in a brawl. He was stronger and crawled on top of her, but she immediately wrapped her legs around his waist. He struggled to break her legs apart and started to punch down at her.

  She had to defend herself from his onslaught, so she opened her legs and placed her knees in front of him. This made it difficult for him to reach her, and his punches started to fail. Armas reached for the inside of Taya's thighs and tried to swing them out of the way. This provided Taya with the chance to wrap both her legs around his neck, and she began to choke him.

  He fought back by raising his body up and breaking free from her hold. She quickly switched to an upright arm bar, swinging her leg the other way and catching his forward elbow below her rising pelvis. The associate’s arm popped three times. He hollered out in agony and fell backwards to the ground, grabbing hold of his busted arm. He got up and was clearly not happy. "You freaky bitch! You’re going to pay for such defiance."

  The robot near her husband and child said, "Give up now, or they will die."

  Although Trout had said he was giving up, he now tackled the bot and sent it crashing to the ground. He wrestled its gun away and shot the thing in the face several times. He yelled out in a bloody rage, "You are not taking my family!"

  The other robots killed another two of the seven women that had come to assist Taya, and now only three were left. They had managed to put down two of the deadly association bots, but one still stood to fight.

  Armas drew a knife and launched it at Trout. It stuck deep in his chest, and he recoiled back, dropping his newly acquired pistol to the ground. Armas then marched over to grab Sun from her little cradle next to Taya. "I warned you," he shouted out. But Taya was too fast. She dove at his leg before he could reach Sun and locked his knee up, sending him falling to the side as they continued to fight again on the ground.

  He tried to grab the so-called witch of New Hampshire, but as he reached for her, she pulled his arm across her body and spun around to take his back. She wrapped her arms around his throat and hooked her legs around the top of his thighs. He could not free himself, and she started to choke him until the life went out of his body. No one touched her daughter. She rose to her feet, stared down at his lifeless body and spat on him.

  Grabbing the laser gun, she blasted the artificial life out of the remaining robot and then went to Trout. He was hit and injured badly, but he would live. They embraced as she picked up baby Sun, and went to join the surviving sisters. "Thank you. If it hadn't been for you and the sacrifice made by those that have fallen, my family would have died. Thank you, your actions will never be forgotten."

  In the weeks that followed, Taya and her friends studied robotics more than ever. These creations were getting tougher and smarter by the day. Margo and Taya locked themselves in study for two days straight, and when they re-emerged, a few solutions had been discovered. Better weapons were needed, and the forged metal they used to create the weapons needed to be different as well. But their biggest discovery was that the sisterhood needed to start with doses of Starigen 6280 immediately if they were to ever stand a chance against the JC. One of the bots from the most recent fight was used as a research model.

  There was a great nervousness across the city for the rest of the month, because everyone knew retaliation would come from the Correlation. It was only a matter of time. Taya loved being a mom whenever down time came about. She would play with her daugh
ter and read the stories to her that she herself had written in her journal entries. They would bake things and draw pictures of all the patriotic symbols Taya had learned about in her youth.

  Most of her nights were filled with study and training. She continued to teach martial arts to all the sisterhood members around the city. Others even came from further afield for clinics and weekend sessions. Everything she learned and experienced was written down in her journals. The information was passed on from city to city and all over the fallen country. The sisterhood had also started to use the powerful drug, now commonly known as Starigen 6280, and the Mystical Slayers were born.

  ***

  When the bombs came, Taya’s world was spun about yet again. She had been out on a run that day to gather supplies with some fellow sisters. It had seemed like any other normal day . . . until they saw the explosions, fire, and smoke rising up through the air in the distance.

  They sped back to the inner city as quickly as possible. Spacecrafts were seen zooming about, and they knew them to be the Correlation's ships. Taya could not breathe, and all of the women were in a state of terrified shock.

  One ship landed right in front of Taya and her group, and a walking strip dropped down followed by an army of troops from the JC. These were not your average men. They were mostly cyborgs, also called androids, part men and part machine. Each raised a rifle and had the women stopping dead in their tracks.

  Then, out stepped Taya’s worst nightmare. He was a tall man with blond, graying hair. He was wearing a navy-blue suit and grinning from ear to ear. A large scar across his cheek was his most noticeable feature. He looked the same as when she had first met him and hadn't aged one bit. President Sweet, the leader of the Joint Correlation, stood before her. "Ladies," he announced with a cocky tone, "what is the big rush?"

  The robot men blocked any possible path to him and would shoot anyone who dared to move forward.