ONE NATION: A Post Apocalyptic, Dystopian Saga

by Michael W. Huard

  As far as 7 miles out, many would become blinded and deal with the radiation for decades to come.

  When the smoke and crumbling buildings and rubble were finally cleared, robot flyers and metal body parts were all part of the wreckage in the heart of the city.

  Only the most hardened robots could survive such a close proximity blast. A few still lingered, but not many. Those with radiation-resistant chips hung their heads low as they walked about with little purpose.

  Aliah’s body was more than mangled from the drop and the ensuing metal ships that came down on her. But she was still alive, her face burned hideously. She crawled through the fiery smoke-riddled area with the smell of death all about her. She made her way to the Empire State Building, knowing very well that perhaps down in the bowels of such someone still lived.

  Meanwhile, BSR1 had not fared as well as she.

  He had survived the blasts, but was smashed heavily by the falling debris. He had already begun the creation of making his arms and body converse into a drill-like aspect. He needed to get free of all the metal ships that were pinning him down.

  But before he could finish, the Godbot, who had earlier made sure his and his hand’s defenses were perfected, came over and stood above the black robot.

  BSR1’s right leg had been broken off, his left ankle as well. He also had one arm dangling by his side. He could form back, put himself back together, but before he could do this, Omagus had already begun moving some metal pieces away from the downed super bot.

  He took a massive sliver of a ship and raised it over the black, broken-down robot. His face told the story. He was going to kill BSR1.

  He used the sliver like it was a giant sword and ferociously began chopping away at the black robot’s body and head.

  The unthinkable had happened. The black robot stopped functioning.

  Not much earlier, Sun called for her, Johan, and Karma to run as fast as possible.

  “We have to get back to my ship. There’s been a warning for a pending nuclear attack. Hurry,” she insisted.

  The problem was that their ship was still far from them.

  All looked to the sky to the east as ships up there began firing at one another as war erupted in the sky.

  There was nothing they could do but to keep on running. It was then that a smaller vessel flew like the wind, coming right at them.

  It zipped low to their side and it was Mahira’s red hair that was spotted as she poked her head out a side window.

  “Get your asses in here now. We only have seconds to spare!”

  They did as they were told told, and just as the ship took flight with Mahira kicking it in high gear and dashing away, a massive explosion erupted behind them. It came with great velocity up into the sky like a massive tornado. They just made it far enough away to not fry, but debris from everywhere started spraying all over the skyline.

  The ship rocked and swayed back and forth and was carried further to the northeast. There was no controlling it.

  The metal of ships in the sky was everywhere, becoming like birds in the sky. Some started bashing into their ship. And it was then that one massive shard broke through the right-side window and impaled Victory in the chest.

  Those on board, Sun, Johan, Karma, and even Mahira, screamed out in utter agony and shock!

  The young Mystical Slayer before them, bleeding from the big hit and now her mouth, slouched over to her death, still in her seat.

  Those on board became frantic, while Mahira still tried to calm them down.

  “Just hold on everybody, hold on,” she called out, diving the flyer faster, trying to escape the debris in the sky.

  Galax was close now, but before he reached Y-Wood, it exploded into thousands of pieces. He was carried in the air himself some 100 yards away, slamming into a weathered skateboard park and ramp-like fixture.

  Everything in the sky and most buildings came crashing down. Humans were dead on impact. Robots as well could not survive the intense levels of radiation, and most malfunctioned right away.

  The question was, was President Purcell still alive, somehow, some way?

  Galax’s left leg was blown off, so he barely moved at the moment.

  However, the synthetic Aliah made her away inside the rubble of the Empire State Building as planned.

  All about, bodies were strewn. She could hear bots malfunctioning with sounds and smells of zapping, burning, and smoke.

  She found the quickest route to try to get down below, looking for any signs of the living.

  Little did she know that Tessa Zune, the one-time Chancellor of Y-Wood, had already escaped. By the time Aliah got down deep enough, she did, however, hear the crying out of one individual still alive.

  It was soon thereafter that the burned and damaged cyborg reached this man. She saw that President Purcell himself burned, bloody, and down-and-out, was leaning up against a wall in a dungeon hallway very close to a series of prison-like cells.

  She slowly inched her way to him.

  Looking up and pleading, he begged for her help.

  “Help me, my creation. I am badly hurt.”

  He saw that his cyborg was a mess as well. But he was even worse. His body was so burned and punctured by various objects that he could not stand whatsoever.

  “Help me,” he repeated, as he reached up for the cyborg. “Save me. I am your president. You must do as I say. Save me, Aliah, save me.”

  Aliah looked down at the sorry soul before her. Something in the blasts had triggered memories back to her brain, that she would often have when she had first been manipulated by the Y-Wood Corporation.

  But at this moment, one came to her quite clearly. She remembered the day when the Corporation had blown her up and that one particular horrible moment when she was on the hospital operating bed and the president himself was looking down at her, excited about what he was creating with what was left of her.

  Yes, she always knew that one day she would have her revenge. She never wanted to be a metal girl. So now, upon seeing the dying president, she simply turned a cheek to his pleas for help, thinking to herself, I see no one here to save.

  And then, she walked away.

  Raegan now stood before all the sisters and friends of the sisterhood.

  “Sometimes it’s hard to fathom all those who gave their lives in service this country. So long ago, those before us brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

  “Now we are still engaged in a great civil war, testing whether this nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. My sisters, it is here we have come to dedicate a as a final resting place for those who gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

  “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what we have and will do. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work of those who fought so nobly before us.

  “It is, rather, for us to be here, dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth, but return if we, the Mystical Slayers, have a say in such."

  LIBERTY

  THE STORY SO FAR

  Hundreds of years ago, a sisterhood of women was born. Scientists, doctors, and warriors joined in creating a doctrine and team that would one day hope to change the world. Their one goal was to reform the Undivided States of America.

  You see, at one time, North America was a democracy, and all humans could live free and make a life for their families and loved ones.

  Yet, greed and power overtook the nation. />
  The changing wars throughout history have now all but destroyed a once proud country. First other countries joined and began a most devastating nuclear war. But that wasn’t enough. The holy wars followed. Religion had become so mixed in America, they fought one another over the expectations of what was being banned and allowed in a once-proud open nation.

  This all came about during the land-altering global warming epidemic. The vast floods and storms were hard as well. Now this was not a so--called changing war, but the planet sure felt different. Extreme weather events, including an increase in average temperatures and temperature extremes, in addition to the sea level rising and ocean acidification were now taking effect and changing everything that was once normal.

  But soon, biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, came to the forefront of the nation. was the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi, each with the intent to kill or incapacitate humans.

  The Land of the Free was knocked on its heels. It would need someone or something to bring it back from devastation.

  There was no doubt Russia, China, North Korea, and all Islamic nations were in hot pursuit of tearing the USA down and leaving it in ruins. Or better yet, taking over the region.

  The Y-Wood Corporation soon came to the forefront. They were an elite robotics firm, rich in technology and run by men who wanted to be kings.

  This corporation pulled America together in a different sort of way. But with the advent of a robot army and super specimens, they soon acted like tyrants and elected a president from their very own family ranks.

  And then came The Great Hunt.

  This more recent war on procreation, initiated by Y-Wood, the so-called saviors of America, Their technology and robotics brand had developed enough war machines and equipment to thwart other nations and keep North America on the map. But they did not mean well for the average citizen hoping for a good new start in a fallen country.

  The Corporation was secretly working under the leadership of a vast computer system, a creation they helped make. The computer had taken on a life of its own and manipulated the leadership of Y-Wood to slowly seek out all males and, in essence, stop the creation of humans. The computer explained that with no males being born, soon all Corporation men would be sought out by the female species for procreation, and the president would become like the lord of all men.

  It was in truth a ploy to rid the land of men and the aspects of human creation as a whole. It almost worked; an artificial mind nearly became supreme ruler of the USA.

  Even still, robots of the highest magnitude were the Corporation’s most elite commodity and weapon of war. Other countries took notice. The Y-Wood Corporation now became so big, so wealthy and powerful, that they named their CEO the president of the country.

  However, the sisterhood had now taken the mantle to stop this progression of power. The women created a super formula of altered DNA and named it Starigen 6280.

  But there was more to these women. They trained in the best martial arts and weapons use. They also enlisted more and more scientists, robotics experts, doctors, and the like. Soon they too were creating cyborgs and computer systems at the highest levels of AI.

  The sisterhood, known as the Mystical Slayers were out to take down the authoritative-led Y-Wood Corporation and make America whole again. It became their mission.

  And so it was that the two clashed.

  It seemed like a quick conclusion would come about. A group of women versus a global corporation of billionaires and an army of robots, with super robots at their disposal.

  But here is where it gets interesting.

  Hidden in the states, cities, towns, and communities of fallen America were a lot of people. Citizens who wanted nothing more than to see Y-Wood fall themselves. But they were bullied, scared, and overwhelmed, with no sense of hope. That was, until the sisterhood began their escapades and showed them that hope never dies if you just believe.

  Such belief came first in the form of a time capsule. One that the sisterhood recovered. The women discovered a book in digital format, the bible, and it brought in many thoughts about a higher power existing in the world.

  Soon the women formed many new alliances, recruited more members, and started using symbolism to get the word out that change was an option and coming. The old American red, white, and blue flag suddenly was being seen out in the open.

  Prior to such progression, the sisterhood finally took it to Y-Wood, crashing their big ball one night in Boston Massachusetts. There, they discovered the president was being led by this monster-sized computer and when the women put in a so-called virus, the bible eBook, it sent the puppet master of Y-wood and her AI to malfunction and destroy itself from within.

  It was indeed a huge step for the sisters.

  But nothing came easy for these women. Along the way many friends were lost. But the sisterhood would not give up. Even their leader’s husband was killed and her son was taken by the corporation.

  So yeah, the leaders of Y-Wood were now onto them. They hunted the sisterhood down and prepared to destroy them on a large bridge in California.

  The women, with many allies, held off the attack, but when Raegan saw her son Johan on the bridge about to die in the midst of fighting, she rushed ahead to him. That’s when the unthinkable occurred: an angel had appeared and saved the boy just as explosions came near him. Reagan met this angel thereafter, high in a hidden mountain peak. It was then that her belief skyrocketed. She fell in love with him, and he with her.

  Maybe God did really exist? Perhaps the voices a new young female recruit named Sun was hearing, were he? Raegan knew one thing: Pure had come to her and Johan, and her spirit was uplifted.

  But it would not end here.

  Y-Wood was powerful, their super robots and clone associates top-notch. The women had to hide more and more as the years came about. A deadly black crystal bot now facilitated warnings all over that all Mystical Slayers were criminals, outlaws of the nation, and wanted dead or alive.

  With big alliances still forming, the sisterhood went on their own attack even still, in the former capital city of Washington D.C. It was there the most special of monuments kept intact by the corporation themselves still existed.

  The entire alliance, sisterhood and all, led by Jerry Bends, a world renown political and rebel activist, took the capital back to the people in a huge battle. This victory would be short-lived however.

  Y-Wood was too powerful. The president was not happy, and his new super bot BSR1 was down right angry.

  The women could not chance repercussion, so they had to hide once more.

  The Mystical Slayers were portrayed as criminals, outlaws of the nation, and now fully wanted dead or alive.

  Yet it was most recent that everything turned to mayhem when one of the Corporation’s top super robots turned on them. Omagus had overrun his system and had more and more feelings toward those of his own kind. He broke from Y-Wood and created his own legion of robot soldiers. He offered his brother Galax and the president a chance to see his point, to change the world and lead it into the birth of a robotic-led society.

  Y-Wood refused and chaos erupted.

  Omagus, now being called the Godbot, would still not have his way. The people resisted his lifestyle plan to have humans and robots labeled gold, silver, or bronze. They fought back and soon he burned their homes and communities for their defiance.

  The Y-Wood Corporation used his vileness to call out to the people for them to save them, for they were the good guys now. But that too was not successful.

  The Godbot had seen enough disobedience and, in a rash decision amongst an aerial war of robot ships against Y-Wood, set off a nuclear bomb in the Corporation’s home base in New York.

  Devastation occurred.

  The word later was that BSR1 and Galax, as well as the Corporation’s president Berlin Purcell, were dead. Thus, Y-Wood had itself fallen.

  It woul
dn’t take long before the Godbot rebuilds and enforces his lifestyle plan for all humans. Other countries are sure to recognize the fallout of Y-Wood as well. America is in grave jeopardy.

  So now just might be the right time for the sisterhood to make their last and final move before it’s too late. But, can they chance revealing themselves once more after hiding out for some time? Have they not lost enough already?

  Well, the plan was and always has been to form a nation, one all can be proud of. Hiding in the shadows will not accomplish much of that. So, it is now we reach a most pivotal part in the epic tale of these freedom fighters.

  PRELUDE

  Omagus knew his brother Galax was still alive. He was out there somewhere in the wreckage. But that did not matter. His creator and the corporation were no more.

  He and Old Horny, his hand, went about salvaging what they could from the mess around the Empire State Building and the miles surrounding it. Humans were nowhere to be seen as of yet.

  “Not much left around here now to rule over is there?” the hand asked.

  The Godbot soon told his second-in-command his thoughts. “Rest assured though, humans will rebuild. They’re like ants. And others will come to their aid too. It is but a mere stepping stone in the grand theme of things. IF ONLY THEY WOULD HAVE LISTENED!” he proclaimed loudly with his metal fist in the air.

  The two of them rummaged through more of the wreckage in the city. There were plenty of parts to build and work with.

  The mostly shiny red robot with tall horn-like ears soon turned to his boss again.

  “We will have to rebuild ourselves, master. There’s a lot to be done, if we remain in this region.”