ONE NATION: A Post Apocalyptic, Dystopian Saga

by Michael W. Huard

  He wondered if she knew he had their leaders locked in cells. I bet she knows this, he then surmised.

  “Yes,” Jerry answered. “They’re a part of the alliance.”

  “You do know there have been a lot fewer vehicles ruining the air that I have seen as of late, and I have heard nothing of these birth defects you speak about. However, I do realize there has been an increase in the tick population, but it is not my job to worry about ticks.”

  Jerry seemed exasperated. “But it is your job if you want to be a good president and make a worthy difference in this regard.”

  Berlin shook his head. “Jerry, it’s been a long time. I’m not so sure you’d think of me as a good person these days.”

  “You can't change everything with a snap of your fingers, but slowly you can begin to make a difference, at least here in America. And people change. I know. Why not be a person people admire for having a decent heart?”

  Berlin came closer to his former love now. He took her hand in his. “How bad are you?” he then asked with a sadness in his tone.

  Jerry squeezed his hand. “It’s only a short matter of time now. My days are dwindling.”

  He then asked her with good intent, “Tell me how, Jerry. Can I really do things that can change the future? Tell me, and I will do my best.”

  Jerry Bends remembered the days when he was a young military cadet and wanted to serve his country proudly. They’d moved from place to place as he followed his dream. She had been loyal to him and he had been full of hope.

  She was starting to feel such hope in his words right now. But then he made a demand that shook her. “We need to go over your terms of surrender, and so you know, we’re currently on the brink of rounding up all the Mystical Slayers as well. The ones called Raegan and Jansa are currently locked in prison cells facing judgment as we speak.”

  Jerry swallowed hard. But before she had a chance to respond, Berlin kept speaking. “If you want me to do things that you feel are important, I will need your help in this matter. Stop all the defiant acts that have been happening, broadcast it to the world, and let me do my job.”

  “I will do my part,” she replied. “But, first and foremost, you need to educate women from all over the world. You need to take initiative and make sure that places where these women have no education about our country start to decrease. This could show a good light in this world coming from you.”

  “Oh, come on now, Jerry. Is this all about me doing things to make women happier? You must have a better plan then that.”

  “That's not everything,” she advised. “Be an advocate for planting trees. Every tree you plant helps control the emissions and so much more. They bring life to a dying planet, Berlin. Do this and you again make a difference.”

  “Okay, I'll plant some trees if that makes you happy!” the president replied, rolling his eyes.

  Jerry became frustrated. “This is all just a big game to you, isn't it?”

  Berlin shrugged his shoulders. “It is what it is. You think changes come easy. I would think you know better than that.”

  “Change is never easy, but the world, and especially our own country, need it so badly.”

  “What happens to you after this, then?” Berlin asked. “Are you just going to sit idle and dance off into the sunset?”

  “Well, to be honest, I don't plan on dancing very much anymore. I only have a few days left now.”

  “What's that supposed to mean?” Berlin asked.

  “I'm sick, in case you didn't notice. Not only am I crippled, my body is beaten and being eaten away. My organs are failing. It's only a matter of time now.”

  Berlin seemed perplexed. “Isn't there something or someone that can help you?”

  “No,” Jerry answered. “It's too late now. I've come to the realization that my time is drawing near and I don't have a problem with it.”

  “I'm sorry,” Berlin replied.

  “Well, there's really no time for being sorry. I do ask that you spend a day or so more here so that we may discuss matters much more. I'd like to think that you care about the future. Would you give me, a dying old woman, a few days of your time?”

  Berlin gave her small smile. “I have no problem with spending a few days with you here. After all, at one point we had a pretty good thing going, didn't we?”

  Jerry grinned. “I suppose you can say that.” She was glad she could keep him here for sake of the sisterhood’s dire situation in New York.

  “Thank you for coming here to discuss matters with me. I respect you for it.”

  She was happy at how their conversation had gone. That was until he then asked, “Now can we at least go over the terms of your surrender? And would you please pinpoint the location of the remaining meddling sisterhood for me?”

  She wanted to shoot him with the hidden laser gun she had by her side. This was all a façade. Power and ego had overwhelmed him.

  Chaya and Sun were dressed to the nines, playing the role that was laid out before them. When they arrived at the Empire State Building, their looks got them through the main gates and through various checkpoints. The guards only briefly even looked at their documents. This appeared to be routine, the ladies now realized.

  It was then at the 4th stoppage, the so-called men looking for a good time had to be dealt with.

  Seeing these two ladies in sexy attire told them a fun time was at hand and the tall man had come through once again.

  Chaya explained to the two guards, who were human, that they were here to go in and offer an evening of pleasure. Yes, Torres was giving them such a gift.

  The men led them to a side door that entered the lower part of the main complex. It was there that the men complimented the woman on looking so hot. They appreciated newbies as well.

  “Fresh bodies it is,” One of the men, with a clean-shaven face and massive cauliflower ears, declared.

  The other guard voiced his thoughts stating outright, “You, my dear, are so sweet and young.” He said this to Sun, who was not sure what to reply.

  The clean-shaven guard pointed next to an open bunk door. “Let’s party, ladies!”

  The taller of the two, who went by the name of Ron, immediately went closer to Sun. His counterpart, who introduced himself as Gareth, reached for Chaya. “I'll have this one. I prefer a woman, not a child.”

  Ron seemed very excited to enjoy the much younger red head.

  “I love redheads,” he announced, licking his lips. “I can't wait to see that nice little body of yours all naked. Come on. Do it right here. Give me a kiss and take your clothes off.”

  Sun gave him a coy smile. “Oh, by the way, was it you that said I was sweet?” she teased.

  “Yes,” Ron replied. “Sweet and hopefully delicious. Now let’s get naked.”

  “I'm not that sweet,” she countered, moving at him and blasting the palm of her hand directly into the bridge of his nose.

  He staggered back, holding his snout in pain. He was shocked.

  Gareth as well was shocked, looking at Chaya for answers. She kind of tilted her head to the side and added a funny smile.

  “I don't know. I guess it's hard to tame such a young kid. She isn’t so sweet after all!”

  Chaya then sprang into action herself. She elbowed Gareth across his eye socket, spun around and kicked him in the stomach, then grabbed the back of his head and kneed him in the face. She moved left and lastly kicked him in the knee joint. The nasty kick buckled him head-first to the hard floor.

  She didn't stop there. She leaped on his backside, wrapping her arms around his throat in a rear strangle technique that she held onto, until he was long gone.

  The man Sun had palm-smashed was furious.

  “Who in the hell are you people?” Ron cried out, coming directly at Sun. He drew a gun from his side holster, pointing it up at her face, really pissed now.

  She immediately deflected it to her right and spun around, clocking him in the side of the temple with the heel
of her foot. It was a shot that sent him sprawling in the air and landing hard, unconscious to the floor.

  She looked over to Chaya, who was nodding in appreciation of her good technique.

  “I'm not sweet, am I?” Sun asked her sister.

  Chaya stuck her tongue out, answering, “Well, it's a different kind of sweet. Now grab their key cards. Let's go. We have no time to spare. Reagan and Jansa need of us.”

  Sun made a fist and was soon following Chaya, seeking her sisters in the Empire State Building.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Paka and Naiera certainly looked the part, with their jumpsuit clothing, as they role-played the part of delivery people. Their van was full of silver, and their credentials and appearance were on point.

  Everything went as planned for them, until they reached their final destination, where several corporation clones stopped them from removing the boxes of silver from the van.

  It was sort of a dilemma. They had to keep going further into the complex so they could seek out Reagan and Jansa. This stopping point was not deep enough inside. They need to reach the main complex.

  Yet in a matter of minutes, the clones were already zeroing in on what appeared to be new delivery people. One of them already seemed to be on to them.

  “I haven't seen you two around here before,” a tall, dark-skinned Hispanic associate declared.

  All associates were genetically made to be very handsome, charismatic men in the Y-Wood Corporation, yet both Paka and Naiera knew very well that they were cunning, cruel, and very intelligent.

  Paka wanted to discuss things further, but it wasn't in her blood. There were three clones at this one spot and she felt she herself could take them.

  She looked the tall Hispanic clone in the eyes before stating, “Well, we’re pretty new and to be honest, boy are you in for a surprise.”

  She immediately cried out a war scream and delivered a hard low leg kick to his knee, bashing her shin bone rather harshly. However, as hard as it was, his leg was like metal and Paka was the one in pain.

  “That wasn't nice,” the associate said to her as he reached for a laser pistol at his side.

  Paka immediately grabbed his wrist so he couldn’t pull it out. She twisted his arm behind his back and wrapped her right arm around his neck, throwing him over her hip. To his surprise he went flying, but still he landed on his feet, making Paka the one now surprised.

  He took a fighting stance with his hands up, facing her. Paka now did the same.

  He screamed out this time, coming right at the black woman in front of him.

  Another associate then called forth, “We have criminals about.”

  From the left, another clone had his laser gun out and was pointing it Paka’s way.

  The Hispanic man told him to hold up. “This one’s mine,” he announced, attacking Paka with a series of punches and kicks.

  The other two associates started moving at Naiera now.

  She had already slipped a blade from her hair, which was tied up so it kept the blade out of sight. She had it in a reverse grip, hiding behind her wrist.

  The first associate came at her and she slid left, slicing his throat deeply. He was taken by surprise but the wound was not enough to drop him. He turned about with a mad expression on his face. Some wires were burning and sparking in his neck area.

  Naiera growled at him, but then had to duck a punch from the other clone besides her now.

  She then reached up, grabbing the new attacker. She went behind him, reaching around and driving her fingers into his eyes, trying to rip them from the sockets.

  The other clone came at her with a series of punching combinations, but she kept her hands up high, forming a wall that blocked most of them. These associates were tough.

  One shot hit the Native American right in the mouth, but it did not matter. She licked the blood from her lips and continued fighting.

  Paka and her opponent went at it hard and furious. She parried a punch and tried to knee him, but he grabbed her leg, tossing her back some.

  It was her turn now to take over and, charging at him, she leaped up on him, wrapping her legs around his body. Her weight pulled him forward and as she tumbled down on her back, she released her feet, pushing back on his chest with them, and grabbed his ankles. She soon threw him backwards to the ground, following up by climbing up on top of him.

  Mounted over him, she punched him several times in the face and then took his arm and spun him around into a quick armbar.

  His arm was not that of a normal human, however, and she could feel the weight of the metal inside of it. And even though she raised her hips and ripped it nearly from its socket, he did not seem to mind the pain.

  He turned towards her, shoving her away from him, and with a hanging, useless arm now, he continued to fight, coming right back at her.

  The loan associate with a gun was not sure whether to shoot yet. His leader had said to wait.

  The clone fighting shook his head, again saying not to shoot. It was now a matter of pride.

  Naiera did her best trying to remove her opponent's eyes but he was soon grabbing her by her hair and tossing her over his shoulder, slamming the young teen into a chair and nearby wall.

  Naiera new very well that her shoulder had been knocked out of place, but it did not stop her from getting back up, ready to fight on. She snapped it back in, wincing in pain.

  This time, Paka exchanged blows with her adversary, knowing very well that a gun was pointed at her. She manipulated her opponent in front of her as a shield and pushed him towards the clone holding his gun her way. The clone panicked and actually shot out laser beams, just missing Paka and his guard friend, blasting into the wall behind them.

  Next, she stomp kicked the clone at the other guard and screamed, charging at him while his buddy shot again, this time right into the back of his co-guard. It only nicked him, and he punched out at Paka.

  She avoided his hook and next went about grabbing his pistol from his own holster. She dove right, firing two shots at the other guard, dropping him.

  She rolled nicely, coming back and then turning and shooting her main opponent as well.

  He staggered back, busted and sparking with fire and smoke. Yet he seemed puzzled as he had been trying to fight her fairly.

  “Why did you cheat?” he asked.

  Paka motioned to him, dropping the gun now herself.

  It was then in one dazzling motion that she ran to her right, almost as if climbing up the nearby wall next to the associate, and with a superkick she blasted him in the neck with a roundhouse that snapped his neck over, throwing his head partially off his shoulders.

  The associate flopped over to the floor thereafter.

  Naiera dodged her adversary’s attacks with a series of fleet foot movements. These set her up at a dominant angle where she drove a downward hammer elbow right into and on top of his nose.

  But before she could try to finish him off, Paka had regained the gun from the floor and shot him down.

  She motioned to her sidekick next. “We have no time for messing around. We need to get to the prison area immediately. Come with me, hurry!”

  The two of them then ran down the hall.

  Beaten and overwhelmed to say the least, Raegan, head shaved and embedded with robotic-like flies still sticking out of her, was deposited back in her cell, much to the chagrin of Jansa, who was hollering at the robots that had brought her down to the bowels of the Empire State Building once again.

  “Are you okay” she now called to her friend. “What did they do to you? What happened?”

  Jan called out to her sister over and over, but Raegan was weak and could only eventually mumble some answer to her questions.

  “I don't know…they messed with my mind…he hit me and cut me…threatened me.”

  She then moaned in pain.

  “What is it?” Jansa then asked.

  “They…tried to get more information, then put robotic insectoids in
my brain. I'm feeling very woozy…dizzy…I can hardly stay awake.”

  It was then, from a side door, that Jansa heard someone approaching. They stopped any conversation and a few moments later Della Winstrip poked her head into Jansa’s cell.

  “We have very little time. No need to say anything. He’s coming for you next.” She fumbled about with the keys and unlocked Jansa’s cell door. They got the bindings unlocked as well from the sisterhood’s doctor’s body. They then immediately ran up to Raegan’s cell door.

  They went in and got the Mystical Slayers’ leader standing and dragged her down the hall with them. Della gave them hope, saying others were already inside and coming to help as well.

  Raegan’s feet were leaving a blood trail wherever they went. They made it up several flights of stairs, Della urging them on as they moved. It was when they came into a new hallway that out stepped BSR1.

  He just stood there with his hands on his hips for a moment then announced, “And where would you all be going?”

  Della turned around, pushing the women back out the doorway and down the stairs, choosing a different direction to go as they reached level flooring.

  After going around a bend, they went up another set of stairs.

  They soon ran out of a new hallway, but again the crystal black robot was waiting for them.

  “THERE IS NO ESCAPE!” he yelled rather loudly. His eyes were now glowing red.

  Della, who had been acting as the sisterhood’s special spy and liaison in the Empire State Building, knew her life was now on the line. She was not made for such situations.

  However, she again found herself pushing the two very weak leaders back through the door down the stairs again, with vigor. But this time, before she herself could get out of the hall completely, the robot had run up and grabbed a hold of her. Both Raegan and Jansa looked back as he grabbed the woman, lifting her up by the jaw bone in midair.

  Jansa was about to go back up but Raegan held her. “It’s too late,” she groaned out. “Too late.”

  “What do we have here?” the black bot called out from the door opening. “I think I found a rat. I was always interested in studying how you came to be here. I knew something was different about you and now I've caught a spy.”