Icarus Rising
Emily Storey
Copyright Emily Storey 2014
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To Victoria, as always.
Chapter One: Rune and Canna West
“Just stay close Canna,” Rune growled, keeping his hand clutched tight on his little sister’s shoulder, “I know you’re excited to show Adee your drawings but you can’t run off. Like I said earlier, Adee is bringing someone along too and we don’t know if he’s a good guy.” Canna kicked her worn boots against the dirt, her sloppy blonde pigtails swaying in the wind like birds. Canna West wasn’t the most understanding of young humans. She couldn’t fully understand her brother’s words half the time, but it wasn’t her fault. Far to many unknown mental illnesses plagued her mind like flies on honey. “But if Adee is good why isn’t her friend?” Canna yawned, fingering dozens of colorful drawings. Rune had explained this a hundred times before but at times, words went from one ear and right through the other with Canna.
“He’s not her friend, Canna. This guy may not be as nice as Adee and chances are he could try to hurt people, especially us. When we get there Adee should be alone, which means we can’t trust the other guy, but if Daedalus is with her then everything is fine. Which means you can show Adee all of your drawings.” Rune said taking in a deep breath. This was far to risky; sure he had put himself in danger to see and speak with Adee plenty of times but now Canna was here. He didn’t mind if death came to himself, but Canna? No, God no, he couldn’t even think of it. He promised his parents to protect his sister and he would never forgive himself if something happened to her…
Rune and Canna West were some of the last humans left on planet Earth. Forty years ago or so, an alien species came to the planet and injected humans with a serum in an effort to kill them. Unfortunately the serum did nothing to the human race but change their DNA, shifting their bodies into something unknown. The alien race took any humans in sight to hide their mistake, leaving humanity near extinction. For all Rune knew, he and his sister were the last humans left. That was until he met Adee.
Adee was one of these “aliens”. Unlike most of her fellow soldiers, Adee showed compassion towards humanity and refused to help destroy them. During one of her trips to Earth she had spotted Rune and attempted to reach out to him through a journal. For weeks they wrote back and forth to each other and just a month before Rune was finally able to meet her.
Now however, Adee was assigned to stay on Earth, but she was not allowed to go alone. A man named Daedalus was to go with her and though she had met him a few times before, Adee or Rune knew if he could be trusted with the knowledge of their friendship.
“Is that why you brought Berdie?” Asked Canna, pointing to the large bardiche Rune was using as a walking stick. Canna may have been ten but that didn’t mean Rune was prepared to tell her that this giant battle-axe was meant for more than killing rabbits for dinner. Sure, the scythe-like weapon was usually used for such purposes by Rune and previously by his father, Michael, but today this weapon wasn’t meant for hunting. If Daedalus wasn’t on Adee’s side, Rune was prepared to take his life if need be. He had never killed anyone before but he sure as hell wasn’t going to let another person take Canna’s life… or Adee’s for that matter.
“I brought Berdie to get some dinner on our way home, don’t ask such morbid questions.” Rune grumbled, trying to put his sister’s mind at ease. This wasn’t going to work though and he knew that. The moment something was stuck into Canna’s brain it wasn’t coming out unless facts pulled it out by force. “You’re a liarrrrrrr.” Canna called out in a singsong tone. Great, Rune thought, “Alright so I’m a liar,” he admitted, “So what?”
“Are you gonna hurt the alien Adee is bringing with?”
Oh what he’d do to avoid his sister’s questions. “Probably not.” He muttered, pulling his sister down the over-grown land and towards the old shopping center. It was one of the only buildings left standing in what used to the town. It was a tall building; all windows broken out leaving it looking more like a skeleton than a mall. It still held enough supplies for Rune and Canna though. Although the food courts had been rummaged through years before – besides bags of mixed nuts, which was avoided since both Canna and Rune had allergies to them – but it still had plenty of clothing, blankets and books. The little things that made living alone under a hill in a cave a lot more pleasurable.
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