The Radius | Book 2 | Living In The Radius

by Muga, D. M.

  Ben smiles with a grin when he sees that his right hand is missing.

  “I hope that hurts, mother fucker!” Ben yells at him.

  Abraham stops screaming and stares at Ben, dropping his injured arm to his side, letting it bleed profusely. Abraham doesn’t say a word, but only stares at him. Then a large cloud flies in front of him, blocking him for a second. The cloud quickly dissipates, and Abraham is no longer there. He’s gone.

  “You sack of fucking shit! I will find you, Abraham!” Ben yells into the sky and he feels the whole world shake through the vibration of his voice. With his voice echoing along the lake and through the mountains.

  He then feels a soft hand in his and looks to his side, seeing the beautiful green-eyed woman. Ben feels an instant wave of calmness expand over his mind, body, and soul.

  “Eileen.” Ben says to her. “What do I do now?”

  Eileen has stopped crying now, but she doesn’t answer him. She just stares at him.

  “Eileen? What should I do? I don’t know where to go from here…” Ben asks her.

  Her lips don’t move, but he hears her voice loudly. “Come back to me, Ben. Please wake up… Please wake up…”

  Ben’s vision goes bright white once again, and he feels like he’s in the clouds. This time, he doesn’t come crashing down. Instead it feels as though he floats down. His eyes don’t feel as heavy as the last time he was in this bright white room. He braces for the pain that he associates with this room and the brightness, but no pain comes.

  He sighs, heavily.

  “Where am I?” He says as he begins to open his eyes.

  With his vision clearing, he sees Eileen at his side again with those bright green eyes.

  “Ben!?” Eileen shouts with panicked excitement. “Are you okay?! Do you feel any pain this time?!”

  Eileen then turns her head. “Alexander! He’s awake again! Alicia, please bring more of that sedative, just in case!”

  “Eileen… why are you yelling?” Ben says as he smiles at her.

  “Oh! I’m sorry Ben…” She says and quickly changes the volume level of her voice. “Is your head hurting again? Alicia said it was a side effect of the procedures combined with your age. She said that your brain had pretty much rewired itself, afterwards… since you already had so many memories. I guess they do this to their infants to avoid this sort of reaction. But she also said you knew the risks...”

  “My head’s feeling a little fuzzy, but it doesn’t hurt.” Ben replies.

  She smiles at him. “Good, I’m glad.”

  Then her expression changes to one he knows well.

  She’s pissed...

  “So, now let’s talk about how you ran off without telling me, and thought it smart to have their technological advancements surgeries done… without telling me, I’ll remind you again… Do you know how incredibly stupid and dangerous that was?” Eileen says in a normal tone of voice, but with a very angry pretense to it.

  “Uhhh.” Ben starts and then feels flashes of pictures in his head.

  He raises his right hand and pinches the bridge of his nose.

  He hears the tone in her voice change. “Oh no… are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I think so… just give me a second really quick.” Ben replies.

  He focuses on the images popping up in his head, like a photo reel.

  Not pictures, memories…

  He stops the reel and it stops on a photo that shifts into a live memory. He’s inside a bathtub with bubbles, and the water’s warm. He has a toy battleship in front of him and a purple octopus. He watches as he plays with the two toys and notices that he cannot interact with the memory. Only watch it. He then hears a soft voice from his left and the live memory shifts to a very young version of his mother.

  “Mommy!” A young squeaky voice yells.

  Ben thinks the age is no older than three or four.

  Pause. He thinks to himself.

  He’s surprised to see the live memory pause, freezing his mother in place at the doorway of their family home bathroom.

  Wow! What the hell? When was this? Ben thinks to himself.

  Next, without realizing it, he thinks Location and Time.

  My family home, in Riverside. December 5th, 1992 at 1902.

  The thought was his own, but felt more rigid… more precise and robotic.

  What the shit?

  “Ben, are you sure you are alright?” He hears Eileen ask.

  He’s drawn out of his memory and he’s now looking at Eileen. “Yeah… I think so.”

  “Okay… because you said to give you a second and then your face went blank and you just stared off like a freaking zombie, Ben.” She says looking at him. “Are you sure you are not in any pain? Like last time?”

  “Last time?” Ben asks.

  “Yeah… you woke up three days ago and started screaming in pain. Alicia had to give you one of their sedatives and you’ve been out ever since.” Eileen explains.

  “Oh… yeah” Ben says, seeing the live memory pop up in his mind... from three days ago.

  “So, what? I’ve been out for about a week, then?” Ben asks, to confirm his live memory.

  Eileen nods. “Yes, Ben. Because of your reckless decision, you have been in a comatose state for a week now.”

  Ben looks at her in the eyes. “And you’ve been here the whole time?”

  “Well… most of the time. I’ve been staying on the Leviathan with Alexander, Alicia, Lieutenant Leslie Yang, and many of the others. It’s safer on this ship than it is out there. At least until we actually locate Abraham and the rest of the Federalists.” She explains.

  Ben bolts upright, startling her. “Abraham! Where’s that son of a bitch!” Rising so quickly, Ben feels dizzy and light-headed.

  “Calm down cowboy…” Alexander says, entering the room. “You’ve been out for a week. Let’s get some more rest and some solid foods into you before you go running off again.”

  “Yeah! Bullshit… You are not leaving my sight again, Ben. Not until I know you won’t run off and do some more dumb crap like getting some advanced implant put into the back of your skull, plus a series of injections to steady your aging process.” Eileen snaps at him.

  Ben scratches the back of his head, “What day is it?”

  “Don’t you have an automatic calendar in that upgraded brain of yours, now? It’s Friday, Ben. July 19th of 3433.” Eileen lectures him.

  “Yeah, Ben. Catch your breath and get caught up on what’s going on. Plus, Sergeant Burke and Lieutenant Yang tell me it may take some getting used to your new advancements, and that memory bank that’s still booting up in that thick head of yours.” Alexander adds.

  Ben grits his teeth and then looks back to Eileen, and then is softened by her eyes. “Where’s my Uncle’s body, Eileen?”

  Eileen sighs. “He’s in storage. We wanted to wait for you to wake up before we had a ceremony. Most of the other survivors already had their ceremonies for their lost loved ones.”

  Ben then recalls the CSDs firing upon the crowds of people and the radiant blue waves everywhere... through his live memory snapshot.

  This is going to take some getting used to.

  “How many casualties?” Ben asks.

  Eileen turns and looks at Alexander, with him sighing. “There were 4,357 casualties on our side of the battle, Ben.”

  “Oh, dear God!” Ben blurts out.

  “Yes, Ben.” Eileen says, grabbing his attention. “That’s why we are all hiding in the Leviathan until we find Abraham. The survivors are scared to death, with a lot of them being women and children.”

  “What? Why? Do we even have any clue as to where that POS is?!” Ben says, getting angry all over again.

  “Before you guys arrived. Before Steven stepped in and saved me and the girls… Abraham had already started executing those that would not come out of their homes and to the lake. He was abducting the women and children and killing the rest. Additionally, there were those that we
re in the crowds that were struck down in the parking lots.” Alexander explains.

  “That’s insane! And we have no clue where that sick piece of shit is?!” Ben asks his friend.

  Burke and another young woman walk into the room. The dark-haired woman with an Asian complexion and dark eyes speaks. “It’s good to see that you are recovering well, Benjamin Reilly. My name’s Lieutenant Leslie Yang, of the Utopian Union.”

  Ben is confused by the newcomer and doesn't say a word.

  Lieutenant Leslie Yang continues on. “We are searching your Earth for Abraham Jackson. Rest assured Benjamin Reilly, we will find him, in time. However, there are others of your people that need help, aid, and assistance. We have a dozen STARUs out helping other settlements, and the Galileo, under the command of Commander Yang, is out searching for Abraham. Trust me when I tell you that we want him brought to justice just as much as you do.”

  We’ll just see about that…

  “Commander Yang, huh? Any relation?” Ben asks.

  “As a matter of fact, he’s my father… and to be clearer, Abraham killed over 800 million people on E2. We have the same goal, Benjamin Reilly.” Lieutenant Leslie Yang says.

  “Yeah, we heard about that...” Ben replies.

  Lieutenant Leslie Yang nods and gestures to Burke. “Sergeant Burke here will help and assist with your recovery and rehabilitation.”

  She then looks at Eileen. “Deputy Eileen Rivera, If Sergeant Burke does anything out of the ordinary, report her directly to me and she will be executed for her affiliation with the Federalists. Whereas, my father has given her mercy and the chance to atone, I'm not of the same mind.”

  Ben sees Burke visually gulp and get nervous.

  Looks like she got in trouble… Ben thinks as he grins at the former Federalist.

  “I look forward to working alongside yourself, Benjamin Reilly, and the rest of your people. I shall let you acclimate to your new surroundings and the improved upon status of your body.” Lieutenant Leslie Yang says, and exits the room.

  “Yeah, nice meeting you too…” Ben says as she leaves the room.

  Ben then looks to Burke. “So, Burke… when do we start?”

  He tries to move his legs off of the bed and shifts his upper body as well. His legs don’t respond, and he goes tumbling off the bed onto the cold floor.

  “Holy hell! Ben! Really?” Eileen blurts out as she comes to his aid.

  Alexander, Burke, and Eileen help him back up into the bed.

  Once he’s back in his bed, with a few grunts from the others, Burke looks at him. “Firstly, we need to teach you how to use your memory bank, and you need to let your body recover from being out for a week.”

  “Yeah, you idiot! What were you thinking?” Eileen asks. “It's a damn good thing that you are pretty, Ben. Geez, I swear!... Are you okay?”

  Ben scratches the back of his head and looks around the room, starting at Eileen, Abraham, then Burke.

  “Yeah… I think so. But now that I think about it, Alexander was right… I'm pretty damn hungry. Is there anything good to eat on this spaceship?” Ben asks.

  Alexander laughs and Eileen just shakes her head.

  “Of course you are, Ben… Of course you are...” Eileen replies, shaking her head at him.

  She then smiles at him, with those bright green eyes. “Let’s see what we can find you on this massive hunk of a spaceship. They do have some pretty good food on here, that’s for sure…”

  “Good deal then. Let’s start there and then I’ll worry about putting one foot in front of the other.” Ben replies, looking at Eileen.

  She smiles at him. “Good! You are finally listening to some common sense. Sounds like these upgrades may have been a good thing after all.”

  This gets a round of laughter from Alexander and Eileen. Ben smiles back and sees Burke standing there awkwardly.

  These upgrades were a good idea alright, despite the loss of a week and that searing pain. These upgrades are going to help level the playing field, so I can hunt down every single one of those murdering Federalist bastards… saving the great Abraham Jackson for last. He’s going to pay dearly for what he has done… Ben thinks as he smiles at Eileen and his friend Alexander.

  Afterword

  Thank you so very much for reading Living in the Radius: Book 2 of The Radius Series.

  It’s my hope that you enjoyed the second installation of this story of survival as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

  If you enjoyed reading this book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon.com. As always, it would be greatly appreciated. You can also find D.M. Muga on social media.

  Facebook: @DMMUGA

  Instagram: @dmmuga

  If you would like to read more by D.M. Muga, Book 3 of The Radius Series is scheduled to be released in the Summer of 2021.

  About the Author

  D.M. Muga is a survivalist enthusiast and considers himself somewhat prepared for varying scenarios, based on the ideal that no one can truly be perfectly prepared for any given scenario. Chance will always be an unpredictable variable in the equation of life and survival.

  D.M. Muga is a United States Marine Corps Veteran, from 2002 to 2007. He has earned several academic degrees, a B.A. in Political Science, an M.A. in National Security Studies, and another M.A. in Education with his focus in History.

  D.M. Muga resides in Southern California with his wife and two daughters. He works in the field of Education. He’s adamant with his hopes to live out the rest of his life in peace, but prepares for the future, “planning for the best, but preparing for the worst.”