ONE NATION: A Post Apocalyptic, Dystopian Saga

by Michael W. Huard

  “It’s okay,” Tyne said. “Really. It happens.”

  “I just couldn't hold back. I lost it,” Naiera explained.

  Tyne nodded to her younger sister. “It can get crazy, I know. It happens to the best of us. All we can do is learn from it.”

  Naiera nodded, realizing she still did have much to learn.

  Chaya and Johan were now heading to Connecticut and Massachusetts, as well as Rhode Island. It was their job to make deliveries of the new postal service notification.

  Jo had made his plea to his mother to let Sun come with them one last time, but it was to no avail. Raegan wanted her son to be thinking of his own safety, not his girlfriend’s.

  She also had sent him with Chaya to keep an eye on him.

  As they flew off from the sisterhood's base camp in Liberty, Maine, he was quick to ask Chaya if she thought this was going to be something that would be successful. Most everyone was wondering the same thing these days back at both their Maine locations.

  Chaya had high hopes.

  “With no way to communicate, this seems to make sense. It's going to take a lot of work on our part, but I feel it might very well be a good thing as time goes by.” She then winked at the young man. “Furthermore, there is no endeavor too steep for your mother.”

  Johan understood that part clearly.

  “I think there's opportunity here, Jo,” added Chaya. “I really do. If Y-Wood is truly down for good, there may be no one that will try to stop this other than the one super bot left out there. If we can defeat him, big change could be on the horizon.”

  Johan was hopeful as well. “Perhaps a defining moment for us all,” he then added.

  The two of them made their rounds delivering the notifications to parts of the states that they knew had a respectable leader, individuals who, in the past, tried to keep the peace and hold the country together.

  The drop-offs in Providence, Rhode Island and in Boston, Massachusetts went well, but in Connecticut there was a problem. Hartford was a rough region. They were known for wanting to be first at everything they did. To let others know it was their idea seemed to always be their desire. So, Chaya and Johan had their work cut out there.

  Chaya explained to Johan as they left their flyer and headed to the city’s main district that there were a few things he should be aware of.

  “Okay, so you know, Jo, Connecticut in 1639 passed the Fundamental Order. It was a model that led to the US Constitution. So, we have to get them on board, but also give them something that signifies their importance in this. We need them on the team, that’s for sure.”

  Johan scratched his curly hair. “So, what do we do?”

  Chaya explained more. “We tell them we cannot do it without them. Tell them our dream is the promise of what could be, and that a postal service is a grand venture. They come in now first on our leadership team. They will be the forerunners of such a concept. We definitely stress these things in all we talk about here, okay?”

  Johan nodded he got it.

  Chaya and Johan had done well as they began talking with people now.

  But later, just as they were about to leave and were walking back to their ship, a group of individuals blocked their path.

  It was a pretty decent sized number of Afro Americans, and a woman in their group spoke out loudly right off the bat.

  “All our lives we have been treated differently. How are we to expect this to be any different? You are two white people in front of us claiming you want to offer such hope in a postal mail carrying service, one that has been obsolete for centuries. How do we not believe that you are just spies sent from the Y-Wood Corporation? If we jump in, they will surely come for us and make us pay for such defiance.”

  Chaya immediately answered her. “We are far from spies, and all of us oppose that Corporation and always have. And, if the rumors are true, you have little to fear from the Y-Wood Corporation anymore. The bombing pretty much depleted them to nothing.”

  A black man in the group replied to her words, “I highly doubt they are finished.”

  Then, one of their members, a younger one, came from the crowd, walking straight up to Johan.

  “You're just a boy like me. What makes you greater than I am?”

  Johan shook his head. “I’m no different, really. I’m just trying to help. That’s all.”

  The young black man came up closer to his face, almost touching it with his own face. “Help in what way? Prove you go what it takes,” the young man said, suddenly pushing Johan backwards.

  Johan looked to Chaya, not sure what to think of this outburst. She was no fan of a fight here. He could see that in the look she gave him.

  But Johan had a different thought in the mind. He had to prove himself to these people and do it without really hurting anyone. Their belief was lacking; he needed to earn some respect.

  “Hey, if this is what you want, let's go. You and me.”

  Chaya was not sure what the heck he was thinking, but put a hand up to tell the others to stay back.

  The black guy nodded that he liked the idea.

  “If you can best me, I'll give you my respect. Yes, I will.’ He looked to crowd for their approval as well.

  “I mean here we are, with a white boy who claims to be some sort of hope bringer, right everyone? I'll represent your postal service. All of us will. I'll even be the first carrier that signs up. But only if you can best me, kid. Let's go, you and me, mano a mano.”

  The crowd got a bit excited at what was transpiring here. Each person mumbled and called out, “Yeah! Fight it out! Show us what’s up!”

  With his training in the sisterhood as well as applications with the Y-Wood Corporation, with Galax as a mentor there as well, Johan felt confident.

  His opponent’s name, Shareed, was called out now by some of his buddies hooping the fight up. He was a street savvy fellow; Johan was sure of it. He most likely had a rough-and-tumble fighting style. So, this would be an interesting test for Johan.

  Shareed came at him with reckless abandon right off the bat. He wanted a brawl, not a strategic fight. Johan circled away from his attack and then, as the right-hander tried to hit him, he moved more right, to take away the power of his strikes.

  As soon as things slowed down and Shareed came within distance to hit him cleanly finally, Johan kicked him with a front push kick in the stomach.

  So far so good for Johan. The crowd was impressed, yet Shareed was becoming more frustrated by the moment.

  “Come on, man, fight!” he called out. “Stop stalling!”

  Johan was not rattled, keeping his poise. His hands up again, he started circling, making space and using angles so that he would not be hit easily. Shareed chased him some, trying to punch him a good one, but still landed nothing great.

  Finally, Shareed cut Johan’s movement off some and pushed him into the circling crowd. He could not move enough to get away now. Shareed had him finally.

  He rushed at Jo and grabbed him by the shirt collar. Johan grabbed him back, and the two of them swung about, locked in a grip that sent them both tumbling to the ground, with everyone cheering the sudden action on.

  They scuffled on the street and rolled about before Shareed ended up on top. He was much stronger.

  Shareed punched down but Johan only took a few shots before he reached up and wrapped his arms around his attacker, holding him down so he couldn't sit up straight to hit him anymore.

  It was then Johan bridged his opponent off of him, ending up now on top himself.

  Then, just as Shareed tried to push him off, Johan hooked his right elbow and swung his body around, putting Shareed in a cross-body armlock.

  He arched up, hyperextending the elbow, making sure Shareed was in pain and unable to get away as he called out in agony. Several people rushed in and broke up the fight at that point, separating the two of them now.

  “You did good,” said the young black man, standing back up. The two shook hands afterward as well. �
��You have earned my respect, and I’ll be your first and best recruit.”

  “I didn't even want to fight you,” Johan explained to him. “There's enough fighting going on in this country. What we need is unity.”

  Shareed nodded his head to agree. “But sometimes respect has to be earned. You guys are here calling a big game, but many of us find it hard to believe that some people care so much about others.”

  The people about voiced they too felt this way. One woman spoke out. “All everyone ever does is just care about themselves.”

  “I understand,” answered Johan. “Well, let it be known that we do care, and tell everyone you know that the postal service is back in business. Leave your letters here so we can come pick them up and spread them far and wide. Share these flyers all the way to New York as soon as you can too. Also tell them that the Mystical Slayers are looking out for them more and more as a new world order begins.”

  Raegan’s son had done good, darn good.

  For those now living in the Chimney Pond region, within the center of Mount Katahdin, more and more the aspect of working as a small community came into play. Some of the sisterhood’s members were now here year-round.

  Each person had a job, and helping one another live off the land was crucial. Of course, with air flyers they could fly out and get certain items when absolutely necessary. This made things a bit easier. Trips to and from Liberty often included small side ones for getting these supplies.

  Either way, some of the sisterhood would always be in Liberty, while others were here.

  The construction of the housing units made from nearby logs continued daily, while fishing, hunting, and herb-gathering became the norm. There was one way to hike up into this region. The only other way was to fly down into such. It was there at the hiking entrance that a large gateway was being constructed as well.

  Living off the land, so to speak, was a slow process. But as the days went by, the members here learned and got better and better. Moose, deer, bears, and the like were fellow residents that all were to respect as well.

  But it was one night when in the sky seemed incredibly dark and was filled with the most glorious of stars that one of the watchers, who would keep security above in mini tree lofts here at the Pond, spotted a ship late at night in the sky overhead.

  Someone had tracked one of the postal carriers upon return perhaps? That had to be the only answer. An alarm was soon triggered.

  Many of the sisters coming were soon rushing out of their log cabins, unsure what to do.

  But Mahira did not hesitate. She ran to a flyer and had the thing running and prepared to take flight in less than two minutes.

  Raegan and Jansa had both run out to get to her and were standing outside in front of the flyer now, making her wait.

  Mahira opened her ship’s side panel and stuck her head out.

  “You're not going to stop me, ya know. If we don't do something about that ship right now, it's going to go tell everyone where we are and everything, meaning your entire plan of staying here safely will be ruined.”

  Raegan knew she was right.

  “Okay, go. But we’re coming up there with you in another vessel. Look for us to assist you as soon as we can.”

  Mahira gave a forehead salute to them both.

  “Okay, I'll get its attention, get it to slow down from leaving, and see what's going on.”

  She then shut her door, and zoomed up into the dark night sky.

  Her night goggles helped as she reached closer to the mysterious ship. It was much larger than hers. It was scouting them out, that was for sure. It was big, lingering, and colored red and black. Okay, she thought. It’s surely part of the Godbot’s fleet.

  She then circled around it and came back on its left side. The thing seemed unafraid, if it even spotted her little flyer at all.

  Mahira knowing very well that her sisters would join her any moment. She hoped they would come on its right panel, that way they would be really close and have a chance to mess it up together.

  But, before she could think another thought, she and her vessel were struck harshly as the larger ship veered into her. It sent her in a whirlwind of a spin. She had to recover on instinct or she would crash at any moment.

  She did it, steadied herself, but the big ship was now onto her and reared about, turning to come after her.

  It fired a flashing stream of missiles. She darted out of the way of in just the nick of time.

  It was then the thing came right forward after her.

  “You sucker,” she screamed out at the big bot ship. “I figured you were going to try to bully me. The problem is, you're going to have to catch me first.”

  She continued to steady her flyer and zoomed away from the red and black metal ship closer now to a jutting out mountain peak.

  Her two sisters were up there with her finally. They saw the big ship chasing Mahira and knew they had to grab its attention quickly.

  But the robot ship shot again and this time Mahira’s vessel was hit solidly as it tried to escape.

  One of the gas lines erupted and caught the flyer on fire too.

  “Oh crap!” Mahira yelled. “I was hoping that would not happen!” She banged her hand on the side of her ship. “Come on, I just need a few more minutes. Don’t explode. Please don’t explode.”

  She then cut her flyer heavy this time to the left and was zipping down towards Chimney Pond.

  Once again though, the big ship swirled about and went after her.

  But it was then that Raegan and Jansa's ship came about and laid a good volley into the red and black vessel. With this move, they had surely gotten its attention.

  It would have to choose between the two smaller flyers now. It then appeared from their night vision goggles that this ship was being manned by no one. Jansa and Raegan both made note of that.

  “We need to get to the back of it,” Reagan said to her sister. “We'll shoot its engines out and drop it.”

  Jansa nodded to agree. However, she had a gut feeling. “I think it's going to turn and try to run now.”

  Raegan then wondered the same thing. It might just do that to report this activity.

  In the meantime, Mahira had already swung her ship around, firing on the larger ship.

  The big red and black bot vessel indeed had started to now turn to escape, but, seeing the smallest ship come back up and shoot, it hesitated, turned, and fired once more at Mahira. This time a solid hit was made and the gladiator’s ship was in grave jeopardy of exploding at any moment. It simply started to tumble towards the ground a moment later, out of control.

  “Oh, heck no,” Mahira cried out.

  It was time to eject and she immediately jumped out of her falling ship, opening up her parachute.

  The ship toppled downward and exploded, a crash that would have killed her in an instant. But she floated down and landed in Chimney Pond, right in the water, with many of her watching sisters out there with flashlights and candles seeing her drop from the sky.

  With the big ship paying attention to her ship crashing, Raegan and Jansa had the time to again fire into the ship. They did decent damage on it, that was for sure.

  The thing tried to run now, swirling about the mountain, but it had suddenly lost control of its noted path and clipped the side of the mountain. It was a mistake that would send the ship up into a great explosion itself. A fireball in the night sky erupted.

  Reagan and Jansa raised their fists in shouts of approval as they zoomed down now to the pond area afterward.

  There Mahira was, climbing out of the water. Their ship landed and that, coupled with the bot ship blowing up above, had the entire sisterhood cheering.

  The three women soon came together, happy to have been successful as a unit.

  However, Raegan knew very well that that spy ship, well, it had most likely already contacted home base, reporting that there was a large amount of people and activity here to the Godbot.

  They had to move
faster than ever now. They had to prepare for one last big fight in New York.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Aliah had dressed in a tattered cloak and hood, covering up as best she could. She looked so real, like any human would, with dirt on her face and weathered from the recent bombing here in New York. She had now grouped up together with several individuals in a building cellar complex, discussing any hope of a future together after all the destruction.

  Hidden below her clothing was one of the more powerful former tools of the Y-Wood Corporation.

  It was soon a man, perhaps in his 60s with very little hair left on his head and scars and skin color deformations, stood up and told those gathered a story.

  “Listen up, everybody,” he announced. “On July 4, 1776, the United States of America was founded. And within such a nation many regions came about more inhabited. The Northeast, with its forested mountains, fertile valleys, navigable rivers, and excellent harbors attracted many settlers overtime. Here was the country's most densely populated region, but in truth one of its most beautiful. And then there was the Southeast, with its rounded mountains, big rivers, and fertile plains. Of course, there was the Midwest, the American Heartland, that stretches across the central United States from Ohio in the Great Lakes, almost to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Then we have the Southwest, these diverse landscapes and sunny weather. Deep canyons mostly dominate the Colorado Plateau west of the Rockies. And last but not least, the West, where the Great Plains begin. I could go on and one about these marvels. You see, my brave listeners, there are so many amazing and interesting facts about our beloved country. That’s why we never give up hope. We keep thinking of how it once was. We wish to again one day return to the glory of the good old USA.”

  Aliah heard wisdom in his words. And it was then he went on.

  “On July 4, 1776, the founding fathers wrote the United States Declaration of Independence. They won the Revolutionary War and started a new country. They signed the constitution in 1787 and the Bill of Rights in 1791. General George Washington, who had led the war, became our first president.