RISING_A Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic USA Fantasy

by Michael W. Huard

  As planned, the door was left unlocked and cracked open by the horny Dr. Marvin, and tomorrow night he would get his delicious prizes.

  Once inside, the women went straight to work. They took photographs of every single paper and every single document relating to this powerful, top secret new drug. Of course, they were told specifically not to take anything from the laboratory.

  However, the samples inside the laboratory's cabinets and refrigerators would have missing vials before the ladies' search was complete.

  They were not going to stick around to see what might happen next. Their plan was to leave as soon as possible.

  Chapter Ten

  There were both good and bad times for Taya and Moon. They learned and rode the storms as partners, living and growing together. It wasn't that Taya disliked men, there just wasn't anyone else she'd taken to other than Moon. The two of them made a nice pair. They promised the doctor, day after day, that his special night would come very soon. He kept their secret and covered for them while he waited and waited for the sexy romp he was owed.

  When word spread Taya was leaving, she had a small army of women that wanted to join her. It was always the women that seemed to take to her and believe in her. However, this time she felt it was the type of mission that would be better suited to just a few of them. She spoke to a gathering the night before she planned to leave.

  "I am so grateful to know all of you women. Each and every one of you has meaning and purpose. You can all make a difference in this world." Taya then hugged all of them, taking the time, one by one, to say goodbye and tell them personally that they all mattered. "We will always be sisters in life, and I promise we shall one day reunite. That day will be one we shall remember. It will be one that will lead us all to better days from then on out."

  The next evening, Taya, Moon, and their friend, Peru, stepped out from the hospital’s safe grounds and prepared to head to Boston, Massachusetts.

  The three were just about to clear the hospital grounds when Dr. Weasel was spotted outside. He, as it looked, was apparently waiting for the women to try to leave. He was smarter than he looked, but the three of them kept walking straight ahead.

  Peru, their Asian companion, suddenly sensed danger, and she motioned to the left. "There are more people out here, I can feel it," she whispered. And she was right. Several others came creeping out of the trees and shadows on either side of the doctor and joined by his side.

  The Viking guy, Arknic, was among them.

  He spoke first, "I guess it's time to find out if all your knowledge and skill will work in a real fight, baby girl." He gave all three women his trademark cocky grin. "Got a few friends here to take you all back in," he added. "The Doc tells us you all been stealing from the lab as of late. Naughty, naughty," the giant said.

  Dr. Marvin talked next, "I had a feeling you were up to something that you shouldn't have been involved with." The weasel then pointed to the ladies. "Take them in as prisoners, thieves. Check their packs, the evidence is all there."

  The women had no intention of being apprehended. Taya motioned to Peru not fire or kill these men. The women would have to defeat them without casualties or forever be branded as murderers.

  One of the men who had come from the shadows was now more visible. He was not a man at all. He was a robotic creation, and his creator was beside him. The thing stood seven foot tall and was mostly made of steel and wires. His eyes lit up blue as he made his way over to the three women, while the Viking and another guy moved in from the other side. Doctor Weasel had no intention of fighting, so he just stepped back and let the battle unfold. "Try and take them alive," he barked out. "You should all give up now while you can," he continued shouting.

  This was going to come down to open hand combat as it seemed obvious neither side was bent on killing the other. But that could possibly change when the struggle got heated.

  The robot controller seemed more interested in evaluating how his metal man would fare, and would therefore remain on the sidelines. Arknic went right at Taya, while his sidekick, a shorter stocky guy with beady eyes, came at Moon. The robot strode towards Peru, and she was already taking a fighting stance.

  The bot was odd in the fact that he was not like the JC heavily armored, bulkier types. Those patrol robots were a different breed altogether. This one was more about movement and looked to be a leaner model.

  Taya spoke quickly to her two friends. "Stay close together, that way we can lean on one another if any of us get in trouble." Moon nodded in agreement, while Peru shuffled in closer to both of them.

  The robot creation attempted to grab Peru first. Its long, lanky arms reached for her shoulders, but she ducked under his grasp and slid further round to the other side of her friends.

  The big wolf man would charge in next, trying to tackle Taya. She leaped back and sprawled her weight on top of his rushing upper body. Both her hands pushed down hard on his head, and before he could catch her legs, she twisted them to the side out of his reach.

  The third guy, who was a rugged middle-aged guy, leaped at Moon and grabbed her around the head. She reacted as she had been taught. She stopped his free hand from punching her, grabbed his arm over her neck and ducked under, spinning around to the guy’s backside. It was a nice jiu-jitsu move.

  She was now twisting his arm up behind his back. The big robot came at her, and she pushed her hold loose to back up away from him again.

  The big hospital robot took huge strides towards Peru, quickly closing the gap between them.

  She skipped to the side and drove a roundhouse kick to his midsection, but the thing took it well. He paused for a moment, but again came at the dark-haired Asian woman and shoved her backwards with unbelievable strength.

  Taya again had the wolf man on the attack. He started swinging with a barrage of wild punches, and then he went to his favorite move. As he tried to reach down to grab her legs, he only managed to get hold of one, but Taya twisted it quickly while pushing on his head, and then she yanked her leg free.

  He came after her again, only to be met with her kicking him in the mouth. He screamed out, "You little bitch, you’re gonna pay for that!"

  An alarm went off inside the complex, and armed guards started appearing on the scene outside. But before any decisions were made, another group of hospital people came to join the craziness out front. They were a big bunch of women, all demanding that their friends be set free.

  "You have the numbers, but not the weapons," Doctor Weasel yelled out. "These women should be taken into custody! They are thieves, and I demand that justice be served."

  He continued to rant and rave until Taya walked over and punched him in the mouth. He fell to the ground, literally knocked out.

  The Viking man tried to punch Taya in the same spot. He jabbed a left as she slipped right to avoid it, he then punched with his right and she slipped left to avoid that too. "Araaahhhhhh," he yelled, then caught her off guard by stomping on her left foot, and it hurt like hell.

  Luckily, the robot and his controller had stopped and were awaiting the crowd’s choices, while Moon jumped on the bearded man’s back and was biting at his ear. Everyone around started yelling for the fighting to stop as shots were fired in the air.

  Eventually, things started to calm down, and by using their sheer numbers to their advantage, the gang of hospital women came to an agreement that Taya and her two friends could leave.

  The weasel had suffered a concussion, so he was slowly helped back into the hospital.

  The three women bolted down the street, never looking back. Now it was time for a new chapter in their lives to begin.

  Part Three

  Chapter Eleven

  The trio would make their way to the first of many so-called fortified cities in the northeast. There were very few places the Joint Correlation was not in control of. The JC was growing at an alarming rate, and soon the entire country would be under its grasp. Over the y
ears, they had visited places in Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and even up into the Canadian border towns.

  There had always been a consistent theme with all their stays and all their encounters with the various tough people holding out against the tyranny of technology and the power of robotics. Taya, time and time again, would call out the same game plan to anyone who would listen to her voice of hope. "You can’t give up! You have to keep fighting, and you can make a difference."

  She spoke about how a statue, long ago, represented great freedom for the land, and how a flag waved proud and true for all to see. Some places and some leaders would not listen. Tough and seasoned solider men told her she was a dreamer and that she needed to move on. She knew when to press the issues and when to leave. There were small fights along the way and some miscommunications. She was abused by more than one guy, as were her sisters, Moon and Peru. Each was hit, injured, and thrown out on the street more times than they would care to remember.

  At one point or another, they had all announced they were quitting this mission, yet the three remained together through it all.

  In one of the fortress cities, Taya met a somewhat mad scientist by the name of Perry Pew. He was a late sixties, curly gray-haired fool with the mind of a genus. They simply called him Perry, and he guided Taya and her friends to a discovery of a lifetime. The North Star drug could be used, even in this day and time, to their great advantage, and he proved it. He also studied the longevity ingredients Taya had taken from the JC headquarters in Pennsylvania.

  They spent six years together working on these formulas, and Taya had eventually volunteered to take the longevity potion herself. The following year she was taken sick, and more than once Moon thought she would lose her loving friend. Taya caught every disease known to this world, but even on her deathbed, she kept them all from losing faith during such dire circumstances. Perry miraculously came through by figuring out what had gone wrong and what was missing. He adapted his expertise and knowhow to create medicines that would make Taya well once again.

  More years passed by, and each time Taya traveled to a new place, women would flock from everywhere to join her cause. It was not an army in the sense that they could go marching in on the opposition; it was more of an army of the spirit.

  There were skirmishes too. Oh yes, fights with the JC and any others who tried to bully or shake an iron fist at those that stood against their egomaniac and controlling ways. One such fight resulted in the death of Peru, which both Taya and Moon took very hard indeed. This massive company with tons of killing machine robots was starting to become invincible. Again, they had wanted to quit. What was a world when love could be taken away so quickly and disappear before one's very eyes?

  But wherever the two remaining gypsy women went, they got back up each morning and renewed their hope to carry on. They had each other, and that was enough to keep moving forward.

  They were onto something, and it was a something they made many doses of. This North Star thing could be replicated, and they intended to use it one day.

  The news that many of the cities were being defeated had thrown the women into despair once again. They spent several years hiding underground in secret spots around old Connecticut. The worst travesty struck when Moon became fatally ill and died from a sort of flu virus. Taya was devastated. Her one true love was now gone forever.

  It wasn’t until Taya saw the threads of gray hair streaking down her dark locks that she finally came to the thought that life was passing her by, and maybe, just maybe, time was running out. She needed a new plan, a better and more effective way to cause an uprising.

  In one of only a few remaining strongholds in the northeast region, that being Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Taya revealed her new and exciting plan.

  Chapter Twelve

  War is war, and across the centuries, America and many other countries had fought in all types. Pockets of life still existed all about, even amidst such destruction, and people continued their struggle to survive.

  Taya started a new life in Portsmouth. She inspired many people in the city and became a council member with a decent following. All the years spent at the various cities made her a very well-known and respected leader.

  It was here she married a very kind man named Trout. The two of them had a child; a beautiful baby girl. Taya, on the morning of the wee one's birth, looked out of her window. Despite all she had suffered and everything she had been through, the sun was still rising and a new day was upon them.

  "You, my little darling, shall be named Sun. You are the hope of the world, and you are now my world." Taya was happy again for the first time in a long while. She had always written in a journal and today’s entry, for once, was not about war, drugs, weapons, or anything else in that regard. She wrote about her feelings of being a mother for the first time. It was an experience like no other.

  Taya opened a hospital and a training station for martial arts and weaponry. By now, women were coming to New Hampshire from far and wide to meet her and learn everything they could from her.

  Several of these women became her inner secret circle. They worked endlessly on the North Star Drug formula. One of the women was a medical smarty pants, some were scientists, and others revered plants, nature, and Mother Earth, even in this time of decay and planet wreckage. Together, they discovered a breakthrough.

  They gathered together down below Taya’s apartment. Annette, who was the smart doctor of the team, a curly-haired brunette, commented first. "I think we have it now. Every test has been on target. I think we did it!"

  One of the scientists present added, "This is a game changer." Her name was Margo and she had an IQ beyond measure. "But, it’s one thing to conduct all these tests on rats and other animals, what about real-life people? Are we at that stage yet?"

  All the women shared the same thoughts and concerns. One woman, a very short, dark-haired lady called Liz, well known for being tough and a heck of a good cook, tuned in. "Everyone respects you, Taya, but there are those in the city that call you a witch." Margo the scientist went to stop such talk, but the short woman spoke even louder. "Let me finish."

  Liz continued, "Some of your healing methods and talks of an uprising have people nervous. The JC are always sending spies in here, and sooner or later they will oust this area just like all the others. People are scared you will facilitate this. They see your long black hair with strands of gray, and they say you’re a witch and should be turned away from the city."

  A murmur went up in the room, but Taya calmed everyone back down. "I don’t care what they think. In fact, I plan to run for mayor of the entire city." All the women reacted to this statement and it seemed all were in approval. Taya had a vision, and ironically an old license plate; back in a day when people had their own state registered vehicle plates hung on the wall behind here. It read 'Live Free or Die' and it was a fitting backdrop for a woman with a purpose.

  "This formula will give its user increased brainpower, tons of extra adrenaline, thicker and stronger bones, and a very high pain tolerance. Its mixed in HGH injection offers leaner and stronger muscle mass, that coupled with the added energy and skin strengthening ingredients will make this the most sought-after drug in the country." Taya raised her hands in triumph. "Testing begins immediately on all those that wish to volunteer."

  Then the cellar door burst open. It was a mixed lot of citizens, all out to stop Taya and her odd group of witches. Shots rang out, and several of the women fell before even putting up a fight.

  Men and women from the city rushed down the stairs. Fear drove them onward with guns, knives, and homemade swords that were being used to attack Taya and her group of women. It was utter madness. Annette called out to the intruders, "What are you all doing? Stop this craziness . . . we’re all on the same side!" She was not the fighting type, so she and her tiny frame found themselves heading to the back of the room, hiding behind those women capable of fig
hting the onrush of attackers.

  Margo too was more the studious type, much more a scientist than a warrior. Both the women had been trained, as Taya taught whenever she could in the many martial arts skills she had learned as a child, but still, this was one heck of a dangerous situation.

  One man with a very dark complexion and a graying, thick beard barked out, "We have given you warnings, which you have not paid any attention to. For all who dwell in this Granite City, we shall live free or die trying." He raised a gun and shot at the women.

  Taya was so mad. He had no idea that what he was saying was exactly what she was trying to accomplish. She was no witch. Her healing methods were all they had, and the city was already in partial ruins. She screamed for them to stop, "We are helping, not harming the people here. Don’t do this! Put down your weapons."

  Nothing the women yelled out mattered. The rowdy attackers were set on destruction, filled with drugs and alcohol and hell bent on going through with their witch hunt. The JC filled the simplest of brains with commercials, showing how life was better now and how things were heading in the right direction. It was all lies.

  The two groups clashed together as blood and cries filled the private chamber. Taya drew her sword and tried to spare lives with non-lethal blows, yet she had no choice but to fight.

  A man with a sword attacked her. She blocked his first swing, and dragged a chair in his way. He kicked it aside and came at her with a straight stab to her belly. She was able to twist Bright low to deflect that attack as well. His next swing was a slash to her cheek. Taya dropped to her right, lifted her blade in front of her face, let his blade slide down her own, and then countered his blow with a slice of her own. The guy’s throat spilled blood and he dropped down on top of the very chair he had kicked aside moments earlier. As his head thudded against the back of the chair, it was obvious he would fight no more.