The First: EVO Uprising

by Kipjo Ewers

  “Put your trust in God, yuh hear me? Him bring you this far, him will bring you all of the way. Now,” her voice gained strength again, “the next time I see you, I betta see me granpickney next to you. How old is she?”

  “Ten,” Sophia said meekly.

  Her mother looked at her as if she wanted to take something and smack her. Sophia leaned back on instinct fearing she would.

  “I want to see her,” she said again, “and don’t you worry! Make whoever wan fe come, come! Dem tink you bad? Where dem tink you get it from? Ah one mad Jamaican and Belizean give birth to you. Ah, lead soup we drink and our forehead we use fe cotch steel door. Make dem come!”

  Her mother’s odd tough humor had a way of bringing lightness back into a room. She could not help but to laugh, which made her mother, who was attempting to be serious, laugh as well.

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  The next twenty minutes before she left her mother prepared a backpack filled with snacks such as Jamaican Bulla cake and Belizean style Gizzada. She also threw in some lotion, a Gospel CD of her choir’s latest concert, and some fingernail polish.

  Sophia protested that she did not need to carry the items and that her mother would see the child tomorrow, but her mother demanded that she carry them anyway to her grandchild.

  “And you make sure she gets these,” she reminded her as they walked out the door.

  “Yes, Mom,” Sophia sighed.

  “And remember!” her voice got louder, “I don’t want to just see her tomorrow! She’s spending the weekend with me so she better have a dress to go to church! If she don’t have one I will go out and buy one for her!”

  “Yes, Mom,” Sophia groaned.

  “Now come give your mother a hug before you go!” she commanded.

  Sophia trudged over wrapping her arms around her. She got back a kiss with a tighter hug, and a ten minute prayer filled with tears giving thanks and asking for safe travels.

  She exited the gate getting ready to take off, her heart much lighter than when she came until a familiar vehicle pulled up putting a scowl on her face. She threw on her hood hiding her displeasure from her mother as her youngest sister Gemma stepped out of her vehicle wearing a nervous look.

  “Auntie Sophee! It’s auntie Sophee!” young voices screamed.

  Spilling out from a jeep were her three nieces Natasha, Joyce, and Anita, along with her nephew, Austin, who was the second eldest of the four, stemming from ages eleven, eight, six, and four years old. They swarmed her forcing her to throw a smile on her face as she knelt down to hug them all.

  Showing her strength as a treat she stood up lifting all four of them up as they held on tightly. She gave them all kisses before setting them back down.

  “Are you staying? Are you staying?” they all chimed in.

  “No babies,” she smiled. “I just came to visit Grandma. I have to leave.”

  “When are we going to see you again?” asked Anita.

  “Soon honey,” she smiled rubbing her head, “maybe this Saturday.”

  “All right granpickneys,” her mother clapped, “ya auntie half to leave, come inside the gate!”

  They each gave her one last hug and kiss before entering the gate to greet their grandmother. Sophia walked away without acknowledging her younger sister. Gemma cautiously walked up to her hoping not to make a scene.

  “Hi,” was all she managed to say.

  “Mom texted you and told you I was here?” Sophia bluntly asked.

  “No, I came to drop something off to her,” Gemma answered defensively.

  “Yeah right.” She sucked her teeth.

  “Look can we please talk,” she pressed.

  Sophia, towering over her sister, made sure her back was fully turned to her mother and the children so they did not see the disgust and contempt she had for her.

  “About what, Gemma? It’s been almost six years now.” Her eyes began to glow brighter. “What exactly do you think is going to be any different from our last conversation or how the hell I feel toward you?”

  “I don’t know how many times I can say how much I am sorry for what I thought and said about you,” her voice quivered. “God, it was stupid, and I never should have thought or said those things.”

  “That’s it? I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Sophia huffed with a sarcastic smile. “And, magically, poof! We’re all good and everything is forgiven?”

  She gave her a scowl that would turn water to stone.

  “You, my own flesh and blood, believed and told everyone I was capable of murdering my own husband, and you did it for a fifteen minute spot on Fox news and then again on Season Five of “Snapped,” you miserable bitch,” Sophia growled. “Take your apologies and choke on them. What you did was unforgivable, and the only reason I’m even playing nice and uttering a word to you is because of that woman up there and our father.”

  “What happen?” Mrs. Dennison called out with concern, “you both all right?”

  “We’re good, Mummy!” Sophia turned with a fake bright smile on her face.

  Her face quickly returned back to hatred when addressing her sister. But her mother already knew she was lying to her face. It was a charade they were putting on in the street. Things were still not good between the two of them. Knowing that made her smile drop and her heart sink.

  “You can’t keep this up.” Gemma shook her head. “You can’t keep hating me. I’m your blood, there are children involved.”

  “Don’t you dare use your children are a bargaining chip against me!” she slightly raised her voice, “from the hair clip, to almost getting expelled from college, to your friggin’ first marriage, and everything else in between, I’ve been cleaning up your mess and standing beside you as an older sister, and the one time my world falls apart you join everyone else in sending me to the gallows. Screw you. We aren’t ever going to be good. If those kids need anything from me I will always be there, but as far as you and I go, you are dead to me. By the way, you have a niece, and she won’t need anything from you. Now move from me.”

  A hurt and stunned Gemma stepped back as Sophia, not giving her a second look, exploded into the air rocketing off. She lowered her head covering her face in the middle of the street so her mother and children would not see the tears she shed.

  “Gemma! What’s wrong? Tell me what’s wrong,” Mrs. Dennison yelled from the steps.

  “Nothing, Mummy! Nothing.” She turned away wiped her eyes.

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  Twenty thousand miles up, she hovered and screamed her lungs out against the cold harsh air until she could scream no more. She felt like bringing down another mountain to relieve her frustration. Looking at her bracers she opted to do something more constructive.

  Taking a deep breath, she slid open the right bracer revealing her new super minicomputer. Pulling out the earpiece, she wrapped it around her right lobe making sure the listening part stuck it in her ear canal. With a tap, the earpiece constricted locking onto the ear. Placing the earpiece on also activated the computer.

  “Hello, Ms. Dennison,” a female voice spoke into her ear. “I am your personal A.I. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Female voice,” she smiled.

  “I can also be a male voice if you desire.” The A.I.’s voice changed into a proper speaking male voice.

  “Let’s keep you as a male for now,” she decided. “Do you have a name?”

  “No,” he cheerfully answered, “you can name me if you’d like.”

  She thought for a minute about using a particular name but decided it would just be too weird, like attempting to bring back the dead.

  “How about Vincent?” she asked.

  “I like Vincent,” he responded.

  “Then Vincent it is,” she smiled. “Vincent, can you sync with my phone?”

  “I have the a
bility to sync with all of your computer and communication devices if you wish,” he confirmed.

  “What the heck,” she shrugged. “Go ahead.”

  “Detecting an iPhone 5S, iPad Air, and an Alienware 18 laptop computer,” Vincent confirmed, “syncing now. All devices synced.”

  “Wow, that was fast!” her eyes widened.

  “Thank you, I try to be proficient,” he said.

  “Vincent,” she sighed, “I need to relieve some stress. You have my music?”

  “All eight thousand songs, including your twenty playlists,” he confirmed.

  “Need some flying music.” She stretched. “Just so you know, I plan on traveling hard and fast.”

  “Anything in particular?” he asked.

  “Surprise me.” She adjusted the straps to her backpack.

  “I think I found something,” he chirpily responded.

  “Holdin’ On” by Skrillex and Nero Remix pumped into her ear drawing a bright smile on her face.

  “Oh yeah,” she nodded. “I can work with this.”

  She exploded across the sky, soaring higher, moving faster. The wind was no match for her as she tore through it. All it did was boom out her location as she pushed her limits only to find that she had none.

  She pitched and rolled executing every cliché flight pose she could think of. She dove skimming the ocean creating her own waves with the force she generated, and then ascended back up to the skies climbing higher. The hook of the song was her trigger to push herself faster and faster.

  While opening herself up, she came across two superhumans streaking across the sky in front of her. She could tell they were not heroes, as they dawned no special letters, initials, or symbols other than Nike and Under Armor. They were just people enjoying the new found gifts given to them.

  The male in a blue and white compression outfit used powerful thrusts of plasma flames to propel himself through the air, while his female companion in a pink and black compression suit channeled air spinning around her body similar to a mini tornado to grant her flight. They both wore face masks and goggles that matched their outfits.

  Feeling devious she increased her thrust easing up right in between the two of them.

  The two flying companions were quite shocked to see her, however, with a nod they decided to give her the race she was looking for.

  She made them believe they were her equal, soaring, diving, and strafing across the sky together. Then she revealed to them that they were not. Rolling on her back, she increasing thrust to slowly pull away from them. No matter how much they pushed their powers, they could not catch her.

  With enough distance between them, she waved goodbye and rocketed up to the heavens forcing them to halt and hover staring up in amazement as she disappeared.

  She kept on going, increasing her speed, her mission was to break through the Earth’s atmosphere once again. There was a chance the food would be inedible in the backpack she carried, but she did not care. She would make a quick stop to one of the small islands if need be. Her focus was reaching the stars that she now saw appearing before her.

  She tore through it like wet tissue paper entering the coldness of space; becoming truly unbound. With her new target in sight, she extended her arms and let it go. She was a billion times faster with no atmosphere attempting to fight against her. Meteors from the size of pebbles to baseballs capable of making Swiss cheese out of a normal unprotected human body crumbled to dust as they struck hers.

  It was vast, the endless Universe, as she streaked through it with the song pumping in her ear. Whipping asteroid belts, cannoning comets, spinning planets, with no fear of dying it was all beautiful to her, and tempting to explore; for now, she just wanted to be the first woman to visit one place.

  She was amazed in the years after her reawakening she never bothered to travel to the moon. She circled slipping easily into its orbit. Even without the light of the sun, she could see the barren surface of the moon. As she came back into the light of the sun, she could see all five flags once with the red, white, and blue colors now stark white due to the abuse of space. She decided to come back and visit the surface. Maybe next time she would bring Kimberly if she was up to it, along with a Jamaican and Belizean flag.

  She remembered she had a daughter to get back to as she put it in warp drive leaving the orbit of the moon heading back home.

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  Back at Sanctuary, Kimberly slowly strolled, with Sir George walking beside her, onto the village boat harbor where she tracked down Kyle and Akram.

  She had not spoken to them since her blow up in front of everyone in the village. She stopped by Kyle’s home where her mother happily told her what they were up to and could be hiding out.

  They sat side by side each other with makeshift finishing poles, a six pack of soft drinks, and a bucket of bait. Without a word she stepped out of her flip-flops and sat down next to them, while Sir George curiously peeked into the bucket wondering what was inside. Neither boy looked in her direction to acknowledge her. Instead, they simultaneously scooted down creating a gap between themselves and her.

  For a minute they just sat there, the boys staring off into the horizon, while she looked down at the water that her toes nearly touched.

  “Look,” she fumbled around with her words, “I’m like really sorry about what I said the other day.”

  “Whatever,” Kyle shrugged.

  He had a face wishing she would leave. Akram slowly glanced her way while continuing to show unity with his friend.

  “You guys aren’t stupid.” She began to rock. “I was just mad and really jealous of you guys.”

  “Jealous about what?” Kyle glanced her way.

  “I only have like two memories of my mom,” she sighed. “The day I was born and the day she saved me from some, like, really bad people. That’s it, I didn’t know anything about her until like two days ago. And you guys not only have your parents, but you had her. You knew almost everything about her, and I didn’t, and she’s my mom. It wasn’t fair. But you guys didn’t deserve that. You were trying to be nice to me, and I was a jerk.”

  “Nah, it’s cool.” Kyle finally understood. “I guess I’d be jealous too if I had a cool mom like yours.”

  “So, are we good?” She turned to them.

  “We’re good.” Akram turned to her, speaking for himself.

  “Yeah, we’re good.” Kyle smiled.

  They sat there for another minute as Sir George pulled out one of the baits giving it a sniff and lick test. Not a fan of either, the Spider Monkey twitched and flung the bait away. He then went back into the bucket to see what else was in it.

  “So, how high did you go?” Kyle coughed out his question.

  “Really high,” she smirked.

  “Did you see stars?” Akram turned with a grin.

  “Try floating in space for a couple of minutes,” she beamed.

  “No way!” Kyle’s eyes widened.

  “Way!” she grinned.

  She turned sitting cross-legged to tell them in detail her first attempt to fly. The boys moved closer listening attentively, no longer concerned about fishing.

  CHAPTER 20

  Thousands of miles away at the Ranch, Rogers granted a day of R&R for the team. Rosann decided to spend her day training in the Hurt Locker honing her abilities and transformations.

  She started by transforming into a humanoid Bengal tigress, she then reverted back to human form to quickly change into a humanoid black-tailed jackrabbit. Remembering Erica’s teachings, she conditioned her body to get use to the extremely painful transformations. She decided that if she was going to remain with the team, fatal flaws, like discomfort, had to be pounded out of her. Remembering that every second counted in battle, her transformations had to be as simple as breathing.

  As this was also the first time she actually used her rabbit transformation, she took the time to
examine herself running her paw like hands over her soft brown pelt and then her long ears. She then looked down at her massive feet and hind legs. With a powerful leap she left where she stood, soaring across the floor that was twice the length of a basketball court. With another huge leap, she landed feet first against the wall on the other side of the room backing flipping off of it for a somewhat graceful landing.

  Satisfied with her feat, she quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching her, and then assumed the position using her hind leg to scratch the back of her ear.

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