RISING (A Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic USA Fantasy) (Mystical Slayers Heritage Book 1)

by Michael W. Huard

  As they drew closer to him, Taya sprung out from behind the bot and sliced at the president's face. Her sword connected on his cheek and sent the bigwig spinning backwards into the hallway wall. That would leave a big dent!

  As Taya started to run down the hall again, she stopped and yelled back to President Sweet, who was now on the floor, holding his blood covered cheek. "By the way," she said, "you’re the one with the big nose." She then ran at full speed and never looked back.

  Part Two

  Chapter Seven

  After a long journey home, Taya finally made it to the place that her three lost friends had directed her to before their capture. There she was welcomed with open arms and would spend her next seven years.

  The group was a band of people that were trying to resist the power of the Correlation, and she now had some intelligence on their operational base in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Word had also traveled fast that a young girl had defied the president there, and her reputation was now somewhat preceding her.

  Here in this small rebel apartment building, she would prosper into a decent member of the group. There were roughly one hundred of them living within the big building complex.

  Taya, with her background in martial arts, ended up being a teacher for many of the ones that were physically capable of learning. The law on firearms and highly advanced laser beam weapons made it hard to even possess them, yet the rebels here had a few such weapons.

  She was taught in the use of these weapons over the years too. The main job of the small resistance was that of recovering people and gathering those that could be useful to the group. Their basic life plan was simply to stay alive during these crazy times.

  The group also used their voice over the airways, thus stating that the Association was by no means looking out for or caring for anyone other than the rich and wealthy.

  The calling of this group was that there was an alternative, and that alternative was to never give up and to always fight back. The world was not created for robots, nor was it intended to be exclusively for those who had the most money.

  Taya learned that money, in its physical form, simply did not exist in this apocalyptic society. The JC was the only central bank here in the region, and all currency was controlled by them via electronic means. The days for those on the outside were all about trade and barter, and paper money existed here only if you were brave enough to enter one of the fortress cities; cities she now learned about too.

  They were the only cities that still existed in this one-time united nation.

  The Joint Correlation had yet to overthrow these fortress cities, although she discovered they were few and far between. As for the children in the group, most were scattered about the various apartment rooms, and Taya became a sort of storyteller for them.

  The budding young woman's tales were all on the theme of hope. She had an undying spirit that offered hope to all, and one day, hopefully, freedom to all that would listen to her tales.

  The stories from her past were her favorites, especially the one about the American unified flag that once waved proudly all over the now fallen United States of America. She told everyone about the pride that the symbol had represented and how all Americans would stand to honor such a flag, because at many of the events and gatherings throughout history, people believed in unity and justice for all.

  Nowadays, no such symbol existed. The Correlation had their own logo, which their soldiers and locations proudly displayed. It was a logo that portrayed no sense of pride for common folk, only fear and anger.

  She would tell tales about the painting she saw, the one left behind in Pennsylvania. She also told of a gigantic statue of a woman holding a flame in her hand, that which represented the faith to carry on in life and to believe in a better tomorrow.

  She was a Statue of Liberty that all citizens of America and beyond would come to see.

  They could look upon her in the bay and the feel a great sense of belonging to the country. Taya’s personality would shine, and through the years in this apartment building, the people came to see her as a beacon of hope.

  But eventually, the time would come for her to move on. The friends she made in the building and within the group often spoke of a place that had always interested her. It was a destination she had to go to. They called it another group of freedom fighters, but in reality, it was more like a hospital, a place where medical teams would try to heal people from across the entire northeast.

  It was a combination of a medical staff and scientists, and if the Correlation found out about it, they would immediately destroy it. Taya had planned to go there as soon as the time was right. She had done all she could for this small group, and they had helped her too. She had grown into a woman here. She made a point of thanking them all the night before her onward journey was due to continue.

  "First off, I am grateful for you all taking me in and believing in me. These years have meant a lot to me. I have learned so much, and I've hopefully given quite a bit too." She began giving hugs to all the gathered people. She remembered how much a hug meant and made sure she felt the heartbeat of everyone in the room. "I want you all to remember my stories, and to never, ever, give up the fight. There are people out there that need you all, and you need them too."

  Taya was unlike any young woman this rebel band had ever encountered. "I love you all, and thank you again for making these years special for me."

  In the morning, as she was packing to leave, she was very surprised to see several of the other women in the rebel group packing beside her. These ladies were all in agreement; if Taya was going somewhere, they were going too. Taya had inspired these women, and they considered her a leader. And so it began.

  As she left the building, a line of other women followed her. Twelve of them would make the journey beside her, and many other women would be set to join them along the way.

  They made their way towards the secret hospital with all the directions and information they had gathered from their years of research at the rebel building. Roughly a month later, through their many trials of fighting, sickness, and some dropouts, twenty-eight women entered the Seacoast area of New Hampshire late one afternoon.

  The lookout guards, seeing so many women together, albeit in a rather unified group, were taking serious notice. They met with this sisterhood of rebel women, and soon enough, the ladies were allowed entry into the hospital grounds.

  The entire setting was pretty awesome to say the least. An entire hospital was now being used as living quarters, and as a place for people to be safe and have a home. Scientists, doctors, and researchers were also gathered inside the building.

  Disease research was a top priority here. The scientists were also creating food that could easily be distributed to those within. Robots were designed for good purposes, not as forces to harm and kill like those of the JC.

  The medical teams lacked in numbers, but they could use modern day robotic arms to perform surgeries and save lives. Taya and the others would fit right in, as the community needed as many runners, transporters, and helpers as possible.

  The leaders would often find it necessary to go out and search for supplies. After all, no one inside could create everything.

  Taya was one of the volunteers chosen to go out on one such mission in the year after she joined this new crop of resistant people.

  It was on this mission that she would suffer her first serious wound . . . and rediscover a special old friend.

  Chapter Eight

  Taya and several others from the hospital's elite technician group hit the road on a recovery search. Their goal seemed to be somewhat of a simple task, but then again, especially nowadays, nothing was flat out easy.

  Inside the hospital complex there was lots of work being done on safe drinking water tubes. These were designed to purify the liquid with filters inside the straw so any type of water could be consumed. This tubing would be sought out for their journey to
o. Unfortunately, most water wasn't suitable for drinking due to there being too much crap in the air from past bombings and wars.

  The team mapped out a location for where these tubes were located. The hospital had several transport vehicles, but they were something Taya hadn't had much of a chance to use and experiment with in her younger years. These ground vehicles ran on a fuel that the scientists had created from various substances they'd put together. The aspect of real gas for the outsiders was nonexistent these days, unless the JC allowed it or if it was stolen.

  Each of these vehicles was nothing more than an off-road car. They of course were nothing quite like the Joint Correlation's flying cars or any of their fancy spacecraft, but they moved, and they carried more than one person, so eight people including Taya and her newest friend, Peru, started out on their journey. Peru was a young woman of Asian descent. She had long black hair and was a specialist in pistol use, which made Taya all the more happy to have her as a companion.

  Eventually, they reached their destination. However, they ran directly into a confrontation as soon as they pulled up outside the building said to have the tubing they needed.

  Her crew members were not the only street people out on the road today. They all knew the danger of other clans roaming about, some good and some bad.

  The tubing building had another building beside it, which appeared to be some sort of grocery store, and two groups seemed to be in the middle of a bickering contest outside the buildings.

  The hospital crew jumped out of their vehicles, and it was Taya who yelled right out for them to all stop.

  But that didn't happen. Shots suddenly rang out, and weapon met weapon as a big fight ensued. Taya’s group only facilitated the action because someone thought they were reinforcements for the other side and lost their cool.

  Laser gun technology at the hospital was still in its infancy, and the Correlation's robotic armor had mostly put a stop to all normal bullets being able to penetrate through the material, so these beams of burning heat were being introduced into the world more and more these days.

  The scene before Taya was more like an old barn burner than a fight. Those using old-school bullets and guns were heard clearly, and plenty of the others were using knives, hatchets, and clubs.

  One of the groups was made up of a bunch of guys that appeared to be much more heavily armed and more thug-like, while the other group was made up of regular people, a mixture of men and women, and they were the ones in the thick of it. Taya’s team decided to join in to help them before their entire clan was either killed or badly injured. The leader of the thug pack, a long-haired man with plenty of piercings, yelled for their group to back off and threatened them with death alongside the other thieves if they didn't.

  The sharpshooter, Peru, was the only one with a laser pistol, and she made good use of it. She dropped a few thug members responsible for most of the hand to hand combat, and the hospital crew and the others suddenly gained the upper edge.

  The thug band’s leader was an ugly fellow for sure; it was his full face of piercings that stood out the most, with three in each eyebrow, two in his nose, and several in his upper and lower lips. He screamed in rage, "What are the rest of you waiting for? Get the new arrivals!"

  The regular people fighting these dogs were down to about seven actively fighting members, so they were mighty glad to see the hospital crew fighting on their side against their now mutual adversaries. One of the thugs came at Taya, who immediately drew her samurai sword. She held the blade high above her head and took a stance, and for a moment, it looked like she had left her midsection open for the crazy-ass guy coming directly for her.

  He brandished a fairly long and thick bowie knife, planning to drive it into her small frame. As he came at her, Taya stepped slightly to her right and dropped her sword blade down on his extended hand. It cut into his wrist and his blade fell to the ground. She then spun around and sliced down on the side of his neck, and he was dropping to the dirt road before he even knew he was dead.

  Their group had roughly fifteen or so men in this battle, and one of them came for Taya next. He was a dirty, older guy with a faded visor cap, and he had some sort of a long spear driving at the young woman.

  He jabbed at her and then went to slice out one of her legs with a downward thrust. She moved her leg in the nick of time, but he was not finished with her yet. He swung the spear in a wild arc and tried to slice out the side of her other leg.

  Taya stepped back just enough and watched as the sharp tip swung across in front of her.

  He then raised the weapon and whirled it around in an attempt to come down across her face. He was pretty good with this spear!

  Taya moved to the left to avoid the blow and took her chance to attack his legs. With a swiping low-cut, she sliced at his calves. He buckled from the cut and lost his balance.

  It was enough time for her to finish him. She drove the tip of her sword directly into his jugular. He fell backwards, gurgling and trying to stop the fatal loss of blood.

  The fighting was going on everywhere. Peru had enough energy in her laser pistol to continue to fire, and she knocked down more of the thug band members. The regular people joined with the hospital crew, and the fight raged on. The freaky leader made his way towards Peru. Taya had caught him out of the corner of her eye making a circular route so as to take down the firing girl. She had to stop him. She quickly made her way in his direction, but another bad dude stepped out in front of her.

  He held some sort of an old-school rifle, which he now had pointed at her. "That’s as far as you will get," he boldly announced. "Drop your sword, honeybuns, and maybe I will let you live. Drop to the ground, stomach down." The guy looked like a hairy bear and stood at probably six foot six. He grinned at the little dark-haired girl, knowing he had her.

  Taya really had no choice. He was only a short distance away from her, but not close enough for her to cover the range and grab his rifle. If she tried anything else, she would be shot, so she dropped to the ground as commanded and faked surrender.

  The giant bear of a man walked over to her happy and proud. He then reached down to pick up her sword, and that’s when she made her best move of the fight. She knelt up, rolled over, and wrapped her legs around his. Her left leg folded around his right leg while her other leg swept out his opposite inner thigh.

  The grisly of a man toppled backwards, and she rolled on top of him. Now on his beer-bellied midsection, she elbowed him twice in the face, stunning him enough to grab his weapon and rip it away from him. But he was very strong and knocked it from her grip, sending it scattering to the road. From her top position, even though she was not very big, she set up a leverage-like move next as he attempted to push her off.

  He barreled up in between her legs, glad to be back on top but still really pissed. Taya wrapped herself around his back and grabbed him around the neck. Her goal was to stop him from beating her in the face. He braced both arms on the ground in order to posture up, and that’s when she made her next move.

  She shifted to the right and trapped his left arm by swinging her right leg over his shoulder. She then pulled her body out from under him to her right side and locked his shoulder with her legs in a figure four hold.

  He cried out in pain, "You freaking hag, let my shoulder loose!"

  From that point, she was able to reach out and grab his rifle, his arm and shoulder still caught between her legs and stomach. She had to take this burly man out and was just about to pull the trigger, but with a grimace, she held off.

  The thug leader, the pierced man, had now gone to Peru and was about to attack her. She had not yet spotted him circling around and planning his sneak attack.

  Taya had a choice, deal with this big thug on the ground, or shoot the leader as he approached Peru. She had to shoot the leader. She turned and pulled the trigger but only heard a metallic clicking sound. Nothing came out of the rifle. The big man looked up to her, "I
fooled you, darling! Ahhhhhh, let me go. You dumbass . . . stupid gun wasn't even loaded, I ran out ages ago," he laughed, struggling to loosen his locked shoulder. "Get the hell off of me!"

  Then his arm snapped, but it seemed he couldn't have cared less. He got up and wrestled free, grabbing Taya into a massive front bear hug. He lifted her clean up off the ground, squeezing the life and breath out of her. "RAHHHHHHHHH," he screamed like a madman.

  She wanted to head butt the grizzly bear, but she was too high up. The only thing she could do was kick him in the nuts, but he didn't even flinch, he just roared into a louder battle rage.

  "You're all done, lady! Somebody's gonna be picking up your bones," he spat. Luckily, from the right, a member of the regular people crew saw Taya in the hold.

  The female member ran over with an axe and chopped down into the neck of the burly bear hugger. She looked to be about the same age as Taya, and she was attractive with short red hair. The guy she'd just axed couldn't stop the blood from spraying out of his carotid artery. It would actually be his bones a random person would be picking up off the roadside one day. There was no time for pleasantries as other thug members were coming at them already.

  Taya ran as fast as she could to help her friend, Peru. The pierced thug leader had already dealt her a serious blow by the looks of it.

  The leader was about to jam a thick knife into Peru’s throat. Taya leaped up in the air and jumped at the greasy, long-haired leader. It was a flying side kick, going right at his head.

  He was waiting for such a maneuver and was able to duck down to make her miss, and he sliced back with his sharp knife, cutting it right into the back of Taya’s left thigh.

  It was a deep and serious wound. Peru was calling out for help as the man went back to her face, flashing the knife at her. "I like oriental chicks," he drooled out at her. "I ought to keep you for myself, but I am in the mood for blood."