The Uprising

by L. J. Suarez

  Rylan moved his finger along the map and found a suitable landing site at the main square located at the heart of the settlement. Closing the map with a wave of his hand, he turned to order the pilot to land in the open field when he felt something heavy impact the ship’s outer hull. “What was that?”

  “Something struck us,” the pilot replied.

  Rylan gave him an Of course something struck us look. Before the pilot could say anything else, all the digital instructions across the console went out, and the whine of the twin ion engines went out like a candle. The airship was in a free fall. “What is happening?”

  “I do not know,” the pilot said, his voice crackling with panic as he checked his instruments. “Whatever struck the hull has disabled all our systems. We are going down.”

  Rylan held onto his chair as the ship’s nose dropped toward the surface as the ship fell from the sky. “Set us down there!” Rylan pointed to the open field that was the settlement’s main square. Past the cockpit window, the surface was quickly approaching. The ship’s emergency retro thrusters deployed at the last second and slowed their rapid descent. The sudden burst from the thrusters pushed Rylan farther into his seat.

  “Brace yourselves,” the pilot called out right as the ship smashed through the settlement’s walls and skidded across the ground. Rylan held up his arm in front of his face as the transport crashed through several huts until coming to a halt inside a stone structure.

  Chapter 20

  Ava’s heart sank to her stomach.

  Her lips parted in utter shock, and she couldn’t even breathe as the unimaginable unfolded right before her eyes.

  Taking cover behind a stack of barrels, Ava watched the Monad airship that had been circling their home being brought down. It came crashing through the west wall before disappearing behind various huts in the distance. A lance with a pointed steel head attached to a long cable had latched onto the ship’s hull. The ship seemed to lose power the moment the lance made contact with the hull, becoming a flying brick as it fell from the sky. Ava knew the lance was shot from a harpoon rifle, and the one thing capable of taking down a Monad airship was an EMP. They had scrounged the device from the back of a long-forgotten human transport vehicle in the Outlands years ago. Aaron had forbidden its use—except in an extreme emergency, where they had no other recourse.

  Ava wasn’t even sure if the EMP device would even work, or if they would know how to use it. It seemed one of her people had gotten lucky on their first try. Her shock was quickly replaced with rage. She had specifically ordered the guards to not engage the Monads until she gave the word. It appeared that her words had fallen off deaf ears.

  Ava sprinted with her staff in hand toward the downed airship while the rest of the settlers remained safely inside their homes. She kept in between the huts to avoid being seen. Once she reached the west side, she glued herself to a hut wall. Peering around the edge, Ava spotted the craft sitting idly; its front section had penetrated one of the stone structures. The west wall was completely destroyed where the airship had entered from, leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

  Several New Lazarus patrol guards converged on the vehicle, each carrying a collection of crossbows, axes, knives, and hatches. Ava ground her teeth when she noticed one of the guards carrying a harpoon rifle that had likely been used to take down the airship. Before the guards could take another step, a blue energy projectile rocketed from above and made contact with two of the guards, who instantly dropped to the ground. A few more bolts followed, knocking the rest of the guards out.

  Looking up, Ava saw the gentle silver curves of the second Monad transport drifting several feet above the ground. Its mounted forward pulse cannon was pointed straight at the fallen settlement guards. The ship twisted to the side and came in for a landing, its claw-like gears touching down on the grassy surface. As the Monad troops made their way out of the second ship, the side ramp from the downed ship opened, and several more Empyreum guards poured out. They each wore pointy tactical helmets that covered the top portion of their large heads. One of the Monads leading them was Constable Rylan. Dozens of metal components assembled on each of their hands to form pulsar rifles and disk pistols.

  Rylan turned to the troops from the second ship and pointed his finger to the east end of the settlement. Both groups converged and moved in a two-by-two cover formation. They were heading in the direction of the holding block.

  Ava turned and moved along the outer walls of the surrounding huts to keep out of sight of the Monad infantry. Her heart rang in her ears as she heard the sounds of plasma fire coming from the other side of the structures. The Empyreum troops were engaging more New Lazarus guards. Screams and cries pierced through the air, followed by what sounded like an explosion.

  Emerging from between two huts, Ava found herself in the middle of a war zone. Monad soldiers were firing their rifles at an incoming group of New Lazarus guards, who dropped stunned to the ground like a stack of potatoes. Others were engaged in hand-to-hand combat as the human warriors swung their sharp metal weapons at their colossal attackers. One Monad guard threw a small sphere-shaped object at a large group of human guards. The object landed in the middle of the group and an electrical current burst outward, catching all the humans at once. Their bodies violently twitched before they dropped to the ground.

  Bodies of both humans and Monads lay on the ground, and a fire began to spread through the different huts caused by the intense firefight. Ava spotted Rylan and his Empyreum troops advancing onto the holding block with the Monad survivors inside. Before she could pursue them, an Empyreum guard stood before her and pointed his rifle straight at her head.

  Before he could fire off a single shot, Ava swung her staff at the Monad’s weapon and knocked it from his hands. She aimed her staff up toward the seven-foot-tall soldier’s face and swung it as hard as she could.

  The Monad caught the staff with his hand in mid-air. He grinned as he ripped the staff from Ava’s hands, grabbed her by the collar, and swung her in the air before throwing her hard on the dirt floor. Before Ava could get back up, she was lifted off the ground by her throat. She stared into the enlarged gold eyes of the Monad guard’s exposed face, his nostrils flaring as he looked upon the weak human. She could feel his hot breath blowing on her face.

  With her legs dangling in just the right spot, she drove her knee right into his groin. The guard let out a groan and released Ava from his grip. She dragged herself away across the ground. The furious Monad marched toward Ava to finish what he started until a New Lazarus settler swung a club at his legs.

  The Monad dropped to a knee, and with a single swipe of his hand knocked the settler away as if he were a pesky fly. Before he could get his bearings, seven more settlers piled on the Monad and forced him the rest of the way down.

  Ava rose to her feet, picked up her staff, and continued onward as the New Lazarus mob beat down on the intruder. The settlers were coming out of their homes to help the guards deal with the Monad forces invading their home. She dodged and slid her way through the chaos all around her. Spears and plasma bolts flew through the air, and more of her fellow settlers fell to the Monads’ hands. More blue plasma bolts struck the surrounding huts, causing them to crumble. Some erupted in flames.

  Ava was held back once again when debris from some of the destroyed structures blocked her path, forcing her to take another route. That was when she saw one Empyreum guard armed with only a curved blade pierce the chest of an attacking settler. The guard had a regretful look on his face as the settler dropped to the ground. A group of other settlers witnessed their fellow human murdered and charged at the Monad guard with a battle cry, who was in a ready stance. He switched to his pulsar rifle and fired blue stun bolts at the group.

  Ava left the scene by going around the destroyed structures, and by the time she finally reached the holding block, it was already too late. Rylan’s guards were already pulling the survivors out of the hut. As soon as Ava wa
s in sight, all the Monads’ rifles were pointed at her.

  She raised her hands, pleading for them not to shoot.

  “Hold your fire!” ordered Rylan. The constable stepped forward in front of his guards. “I didn’t want it to end this way.”

  “Neither did I.”

  With a single nod, Rylan ordered his guards to take the survivors back to the transport, leaving him and Ava alone. Rylan’s hand trembled as he held his disk pistol. Ava could hear the firefight in the distance dying down.

  “It didn’t have to come to this,” Ava said. “We were willing to return your people to you peacefully until you attacked us.”

  “We did not attack you. Whoever ambushed us at the Gray Zone border was not one of us. We had orders from the Inner Council to extract the survivors at all cost. But it was your people who brought down my transport and killed several members of my unit. If I wanted to, I could have had your entire settlement leveled from the air.”

  Ava was going open her lips to say something, then closed them.

  “You know this to be true,” Rylan added.

  Deep down, Ava knew Rylan was right.

  He was about to speak again when a sharp spear penetrated his chest from behind. The tip of the spear retracted, and blood gushed out from the fresh wound in the constable’s chest. A permanent look of shock was transfixed on his face.

  Ava screeched. “No!”

  Rylan dropped to his knees. Behind him, one of Bishop’s guards who was posted at the holding block held the blood-stained spear in his hands. A satisfied grin cross the guard’s lips as he looked down upon Rylan. He turned to Ava. “You alright?”

  Without hesitation, Ava swung her staff right at the human guard’s face, knocking him out cold. She dropped next to Rylan and cradled his body. His lips moved rapidly as he tried to get out a word, but he was choking on his own blood. The wound was already being healed by the NI nanites, but the spear seemed to have damaged Rylan’s heart beyond repair. “Stay with me,” she pleaded.

  Rylan’s lips ceased moving, and his eyes remained permanently open as he slipped out of this life. A single drop of blood rolled down his mouth.

  Ava lowered her head as she mourned in silence. She moved Rylan’s corpse gently onto the ground. Then she saw a group of Monad guards heading her way.

  Ava ran in the direction the soldiers were taking the Jafner survivors. She passed more debris and the bodies of unconscious settlers. Hiding behind a wooden crate, Ava noticed the Empyreum guards picking up the bodies of their fallen comrades scattered throughout the village and carrying them toward the transports. Some Empyreum guards Ava had thought were certainly dead were actually getting up from the ground and joining the others making their way back to the transport, as if nothing had happened.

  She moved down in between other crates without being seen, and when she made it back to the west end, Ava stopped in her tracks as the last Monad guard boarded the first air transport carrying Rylan’s lifeless body with the ramp closing behind them. Both airships lifted off the ground, and their ion engines blasted them off to the nighttime sky. It seemed the EMP shot had only temporarily disabled the first airship. The running lights of the crafts disappeared behind a thick cloud.

  Ava stood amongst the rubble left behind by the Monad “rescue mission.” They had collected all their dead and their weapons and taken them back to Empyreum. The people Ava had recovered from the downed transport in the Outlands and brought here for shelter were gone.

  Rylan’s last words before his death replayed in her mind. She felt that Rylan was sincere when he said they were not responsible for the ambush at the border. All she knew was that the humans themselves had drawn blood first here today. What should had been a peaceful transition from the start had turned into a massacre that had cost more lives. Whoever was behind the ambush wanted to trigger a war between humans and Monads. It looked as though they had been successful. The question was – why?

  She hoped Mace would return from the Eastern Regions soon. Because of today’s altercation, this wouldn’t be the last conflict they would face with their descendants.

  Chapter 21

  Strenuous was the only way to describe the Eastern Regions.

  Luckily, Mace had his New Lazarus companions by his side as they neared the end of their two-day trek. According to Bishop, they would reach the facility in the next several hours at their current pace. They had only made one stop each day to eat and rest during their journey across this part of the Outlands. The temperatures were a bit on the warmer side, and the nights would plummet into the single digits. Fortunately, they had packed the proper clothing for the Outlands’ extreme weather conditions.

  They’d conserved as much water as possible, occasionally stopping at nearby streams they could find to replenish their canteens and later boil them at a campfire. They had enough horalo meat to last the whole trip, but Emerson and Andre would still hunt any critters they could find along the way just for the sport of it. After entering the region, they had stumbled upon numerous withered husks of long-dead animals. Mace couldn’t tell what caused their demise, but one thing was for certain: there were large predators lurking around somewhere. They needed to be ready.

  Following behind Bishop, Mace carefully maneuvered his leeback down a ridge overlooking various tall trees. He heard the buzzing sound of flies near his ear and waved off a few of them from his face. Conner was to the left of Mace, while Andre and DJ took to the back and Emerson and Gareth were on the right. Conner made a series of swinging motions with a pocket knife, getting a feel for the blade.

  “You know how to use that thing?” DJ called out from behind.

  “Yeah, just point and stab.” Conner swung the knife forward in the air in a stabbing motion.

  “Sure, kid,” Gareth said. “Be sure not to stab yourself. Don’t want your blood attracting any of the indigenous creatures out here and have them make a meal outta your ass.”

  “Yes, Mother,” Conner said as he continued to wave the knife around.

  DJ let out a chuckle. Emerson and Andre looked onward, not paying much attention to the conversation. They weren’t the talkative type, mostly muttering occasional single-word replies. Despite keeping largely to themselves, Emerson and Andre were inseparable; they were always seen hanging around each other. They had an unspeakable bond no one fully grasped.

  Mace was surprised by how fearless Conner was at his young age. Then again, repressing one’s own fear was a requirement if you were to survive in the desolate landscape they traveled through. He’d never complained once while out here, and was loyal to the end. Mace had gotten to know him, as well as Emerson, Gareth, Andre and DJ. Out here in the middle of nowhere, aside from trying to stay alive, they’d had plenty of time to talk during the mostly uneventful trip.

  Conner reminded Mace of himself when he was his age. Full of curiosity and wonder, and at the same time, possessing an inner strength. Yet there was a hint of naiveté that was unsurprising for his age. Mace remembered being the same way—until the most important person in his life was taken from him, thus shaping him into the man he was today.

  Mace’s thoughts then shifted to his father. He hoped they would be able to get Aaron to Empyreum and receive the medical attention he desperately needed. He also thought of Ava and how much he wished she was here with him. But her presence was needed back at New Lazarus to watch over the settlement until he got back—a task she was more than capable of carrying out.

  Conner rubbed his stomach. “I could go for some grapefruit pie right about now.”

  “I’d rather have a slurma,” DJ said.

  “Make that two,” Bishop added with a grin.

  “Once this is all over, we’ll eat and drink until our stomachs pop,” Mace said.

  Conner raised a fist in celebration. “Hell yeah!”

  As the warriors made their way to the bottom of the ridge, Bishop suddenly forced his leeback to stop and held up a fist. Mace pulled back on his reins,
and his leeback halted; the rest of the group followed suit. Bishop’s fist was still raised as he tilted his head as if trying to hear something.

  “What is it?” Mace said in a low tone.

  Bishop whispered, “Movement up ahead.”

  Mace inched his head forward and stared into the foliage ahead of them. He couldn’t hear anything at first. That was when he heard the sounds of wood breaking, followed by a low grunting sound. Something was moving about among the trees. Whatever was in there, it was big and it was getting closer.

  Mace turned to the other guards on either side of him. “Look alive.” He reached for his bow and carefully placed an arrow in it. Bishop already had his axe in hand, ready for whatever was coming. Before Mace could aim his bow, the sounds ceased. Time itself seemed to come to a complete halt. From behind, Emerson, Conner, Gareth, Andre and DJ had their custom weapons trained toward the tree line ahead. Mace’s eyes scanned the foliage to catch a glimpse of what was beyond the trees. Nothing.

  He turned to Bishop, who was equally perplexed. Suddenly, a giant horned beast burst through the foliage beside them, pieces of wood flying everywhere. The hairy, bipedal creature had the body of a rhinoceros, the face of a rodent, and was twice the size of a leeback. Mace had never seen anything like it before. It must be native to this Regions.

  The creature charged after Bishop just as he raised his axe to swing at it. With its massive horn situated on top of its snout, the creature knocked Bishop’s leeback to the ground, causing him to fly off it like a rag doll. Mace’s leeback was spooked; it started to wobble uncontrollably, but he was able to keep it steady.

  A second creature emerged from the trees in front of the group. These monsters had actually sprung a trap on the unsuspecting foolish humans. One of the creatures charged after Mace. He managed to fire off a single arrow, but it bounced off the creature’s horn without much effort. Mace smacked his reins to get his leeback out of the way of the advancing monster, but soon found himself going airborne. The creature had penetrated the leeback’s underbelly with its massive horn. The leeback let out a screeching cry as it was lifted off the ground with Mace still hanging onto the saddle. He could hear Bishop and the others below dismount from their leebacks and engage the second creature.