RISING_A Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic USA Fantasy Read online

  Taya reached into her backpack and removed some beef jerky and some bread for him. "Well, here you go, you can't say your luck has been that bad now, at least you're going to get some food. Isn't that what you really wanted in the first place?" The beggar nodded in agreement and then thanked the girl for his supper.

  Taya was making her way out of the warehouse when two men stepped out from either side of the door to block her exit. They were the very same two men she had seen at their fire pit earlier. The taller of the two had shaggy, brown hair and a knife in his hand. He greeted the teenage girl, who suddenly came to an abrupt stop.

  "Well, well, well, what do we have here? Seems there's a little girl lost in the middle of nowhere in a dark, scary building," laughed the man.

  Taya immediately tried to find focus inside her body; down by her navel was the special spot. Her Sensei Asake called it the one spot. This calmness would help her defend her mind, body, and spirit.

  The other bully, a bit shorter and fatter than his dirty companion, was grinning from ear to ear. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "She is a looker," he said. "Yup, a real looker. Yum, yummy in my tummy." He turned to his buddy, "Josie, can I have her first this time? I wanna be first. You always get first dibs, but this one is so young and so pretty . . . I want to go first."

  Josie licked his lips as he stared at Taya. He then turned and slapped his buddy in the face. "You'll have seconds, dick face . . . she's all mine. Once I'm finished, you get the leftovers. Take it or leave it, chubster!"

  Both guys came forward. They had planned to grab the young girl, haul her into the back, do as they pleased with her and then take everything she had. At least that's how they thought things would go. Josie waved his small knife as he approached, "Don’t you try anything, you little shit, or I'll cut that pretty face of yours."

  Fatty beside him, apparently also known as dick face, added, "Yeah, don't you try anything, or we’ll snap you in two."

  The old man in the background shouted out, "You assholes! Get out of here, leave her alone!"

  Josie looked back at the old-timer as Josie shouted out, "You shut your face, or I'll fucking kill you."

  That was enough for Taya. Her long, gray coat had been hiding her sword well, and just as Josie came to push her to the back of the warehouse, Bright, her teacher’s oriental blade, slid from its sheath and sliced across Josie's throat, closely followed by blood spurting out all down his filthy clothes.

  The tall man turned to his oversized friend and gurgled, "Help me!"

  The much shorter, dirty-faced guy was furious, but Josie was grasping at his bleeding throat and slowly fading away into never-never land. Chubby charged at Taya, wanting to get his big arms around her or at least tackle her and beat her badly. He decided to lunge for her small legs.

  Diving for a person's legs when they have a weapon is a risky maneuver, but the surprise low lunge at Taya's legs caught her off guard. Bright sliced an ear off the mad man, but Taya was thrown back to the floor with him landing on top of her. She lost the grip of her katana as both crashed down.

  He sat up and screamed in pain as a result of his missing ear. The open wound on the side of his head was leaking blood all down his neck. In a raging frenzy, chubby started punching down at Taya's face. The blood was not helping Taya, as it spewed down into her eyes and made it hard to see. Taya covered her face, not only to shield herself from the falling blood, but from dick face’s punches too.

  The portly bum raised his knees up higher and higher under the teen’s armpits. He had her completely pinned down.

  Taya reacted with skill. She grabbed him by the jacket and pulled him even higher up on her, she then swung both her legs up and under his arms, driving him further and further over her until he lost his balance and fell forwards. She kept pushing at him with her feet and spun out from underneath her assailant.

  She was now on his back as he thrashed about in an attempt to get her off. She knew her sword was nearby, having lost it in the scuffle, but she had no time to grab it. She found herself being rolled off, and again grabbed one of her attacker’s arms with skill, all the while swinging a leg in front of his face. The guy had his arm stuck by her movements.

  She had the arm and locked it up. He was stuck and again fell forward. Pulling on his wrist, she extended the arm out and cranked down on it, using her pelvis for leverage. Pop, pop, pop was the sound echoing around the warehouse. "Aahhhhhhhhhh!" the bully screamed over and over. He finally quit and dropped his face to the floor in a broken-arm-and-missing-ear defeat. He would not have his first dibs today, not even his seconds.

  Taya got up, grabbed Bright, and debated about whether or not this homeless turd should be allowed to live.

  Looking down at the piece of crap by her feet, she found herself speaking out loud, "If I am to kill everyone I meet, what will that truly make me?" She left the warehouse and took the first step of a long walk towards her destiny. "I have to be better than what I see, better than those I come across. If the world is going to get better, it’s going to have to start with me."

  Then she noticed a group of three teenagers, one boy and two girls, standing before her. One of the girls spoke, a short-haired redhead, maybe about the same age as Taya. "We saw what happened . . . those two have been doing as they please around here for weeks. We all hide from them."

  The boy, a lean, handsome kid with brown curly hair talked next, "You kicked their asses all over the place! It was so cool!"

  The third teen just stared at Taya and then gave a small grin. The first girl introduced herself as Moon. "This is Garrison," she added, pointing to the boy, "and this is TB, short for Tabitha Burns."

  Taya stopped and listened to the three teens, realizing all of them were dressed in beat down and worn clothing. They spoke of hard times and having nowhere to live. They had little food and no weapons, and to make matters worse, the hunting robots would come around every so often to terrorize them. Taya knew exactly what they were saying, but she could not give them an answer. She could only wish them well and turned to leave.

  "You didn’t tell us your name," shouted the shy girl, TB. TB was the smallest of the trio. She had her dark hair tied back in a knot, and she had the biggest of brown eyes.

  Taya stopped in her tracks and turned about. "My name is Metaya Valteese," she replied.

  All three teens jogged up to her again. Moon asked, "Do you mind if we travel with you, Metaya?" Taya paused and contemplated her words.

  "Could we?" added TB.

  They all walked on as Garrison chimed in, "We need a leader, someone that can fight like you, a person with guts, and someone who can stand up to people. There’s no one like that out here. Please let us join you."

  Moon added, "It does not matter where you are going, it’s that direction in which we will follow." Taya kept walking as the three new teens fell in behind her.

  The old timer had scurried into hiding during the scuffle, but he'd still seen it, peering out from behind a half-burned crate. He had never seen anything like it, especially from a teenage girl. She was good, real good! He walked over to where dick face was lying. "You are nothing like her," the beggar announced, grabbing Josie’s knife and slicing the other man’s throat. He mumbled to himself that it would be too dangerous for porky to be allowed to live here in his home.

  He then said to himself, "Too bad the world is so harsh for such a girl. She will hardly survive out there." He then returned to his hiding spot and had supper. Little did he know that his assumption was wrong.

  Chapter Three

  The four of them traveled for some time. It was a big city area that was full of danger at every turn. Garrison broke the ice by saying, "Could you teach me how to fight like that?" Taya only grinned at the boy and kept walking. She knew boys were reckless and too ego filled. They would use the training to harm people, even when not needed. She did not plan to teach any boys. However, in this case, these three would need s
ome sort of fighting skill if they were to stay alive out here.

  "All of you stay near me, we’re being watched as we walk," Taya warned.

  She guided them to a side street, and they quickly cut down an alleyway. "What’s going on?" asked Moon.

  Taya looked for any sort of opening where they might be able to hide. She found a door to a building and ushering them all in. It had perhaps been a store at one time, but it had obviously seen much better days and now looked wrecked inside. TB looked scared, and Taya held her close. She lifted a finger to her lips and motioned for everyone to be very quiet.

  Moments later, a noise was heard outside. "They went down this way," a squeaky male voice announced. There seemed to be people searching about outside the building.

  Another, much deeper male voice spoke, "No, I think they went over there." Things were being turned over, old bins, cans, broken building siding, but thankfully, no one came to the door. The sounds became more distant and soon were gone.

  The four of them took a deep breath in unison. "They had been following us for some time," Taya explained.

  They decided they had gone far enough for one night. It was very cold, and this old store would have to suffice for the evening. The other kids told Taya their life stories, and like most children nowadays, they were not tales of easy times. The bombs, the war, the chemicals, the fighting; it had been going on for many years. Those left were either from wealthy families that had joined the JC, or abandoned on the streets to fend for themselves. If your clan or family was not big enough, or if they didn't feel you were of value, you were left out on your own. Kids were being used as test samples by the rich, so none of them were safe out here by themselves.

  Garrison gave Taya some new information. "Some guys told us about a fortress city far to the west of here. We were thinking maybe we should try to get there."

  Moon added, "We also know about a group of kids, mostly teens and few slightly older ones, living in a building that’s in that same direction."

  TB was shivering now, and Taya knew she needed to warm everyone up. "Let’s all get together to stay warm," she said, removing a blanket from her pack and giving it to TB. "Get some rest. We need to leave early in the morning."

  The next day, Taya was up before the others. She didn't have all that much food, but she had searched the area and found a few useful items. A box of instant cocoa, which she made for everyone in her new little group, and a few packs of Ramon noodles stored in a bin along with some maple syrup. These were all still okay to consume, so she did her best to make up a breakfast for them all.

  They traveled en route to the building where Moon had said more kids were located. They spent that evening outside and built a small fire to stay warm. Taya looked to Moon, who was staring up at the night sky. "So, Moon, how did you get such a name? I like it."

  The redhead laughed and replied, "I was sitting here like this one day, and Garrison looked up, just like we are now, and he saw the big round moon. He said it would be a good name for me." TB smiled and added, "None of us really had names when we were born, people just called us whatever, so if we made something up and it stuck, we kept it. I liked Moon because the moon speaks to me. It’s like a guide for lost souls out here."

  Garrison was about to speak when a group of people came around the bend at the top of the street and spotted their little group around the fire. As the group of six came towards them, one yelled, "Can we use your fire?"

  Taya instructed the other three to place their backs against the wall and do as she said.

  "It’s cold as the dickens out here," called out another man, perhaps in his early twenties with badly self-cut brown hair. He came closer with a solid stick in his hand. His group was a motley crew of teens and so-called young adults. He introduced himself as Eric, and the others he named in turn. As he approached the fire, Taya notice that Eric also had an eyebrow piercing that looked somewhat swollen and infected.

  Moon asked, "What do you want?"

  "Easy now," spoke Eric. He was wearing a military-green army uniform and still had the thick stick in his hand. The others in his crew were a mix of girls and guys, three male and two female. All of them were street kids, dressed in whatever they could find. One guy, introduced as Berserker, had a Mohawk hairstyle and a dirty, black leather jacket. Taya could also see he had a knife in a sheath at his hip.

  They joined by the fire and pulled out a bottle of some sort of alcohol, offering a drink to any members of the group who wanted one. Eric announced, "This, my new friends, is whiskey. You ever had it? It’s really good!"

  Garrison recognized these people and knew they were trouble, but he had no way of explaining this to Taya without causing a stir. Before more words were spoken, Taya gathered her team up and prepared to move on. "You guys can have the fire, we were just leaving—"

  The guy with the knife by his hip shot up to his feet. "Wait a minute, that’s just rude!" He slid the blade from its holder and continued his rant. "All we want to do is share this nice warm fire, sip the whiskey, and," he walked over to Moon and grabbed her by the shoulder, "have a little . . . fun."

  The others in Berserker’s group voiced their approval. He leaned in and tried to kiss Moon, but she pushed him away. Eric pointed his stick at Taya. "Relax, little darling, it’s all good."

  Taya knew this was anything but good!

  Another of the boys, the one they called Watts, went to grab TB. Watts was full of random tattoos all over his neck and face, and the young girl was terrified. The teen girls in his group didn't seem to mind what was going on, and they even encouraged their guy friends.

  Taya yelled out, "Stop, leave us alone! We will go . . . just let us go." She grabbed Garrison and motioned for Moon and TB to follow, but the gang was not for letting them go. Watts pulled TB back towards him as she struggled to break free.

  Moon could not hold back. She kicked Eric in the balls and screamed, "Get away from us!" But the hooligans would not listen. Berserker pulled his knife free, and Garrison ran over to tackle him before he could do any harm.

  Moon tried to free TB, but Watts fended her off. Eric was furious now and called out, "If you idiots continue to resist, I’m going to let these guys rip you to shreds."

  Taya had no choice. She had to fight. She drew her sword, Bright, and attacked Eric’s stick-holding wrist. He bellowed out in pain and dropped his weapon. She had no time to spare and went right for Berserker as he as attempted to stab Garrison. She chopped with all she had, and the wild man’s arm was cut severely, left mostly hanging off. Bloody rage was now all about as the others attacked Taya, Moon, and Garrison.

  Watts pushed the young girl aside and came straight for Taya. She pointed her sword at his face and shouted, "Go, get out of here, or I will cut you too." Much to her surprise, the guy bolted down the street. Eric, still screaming out in pain, called for him to return, but he was long gone into the night. A younger teenage boy ran off as well, and the remaining girls jumped at Moon.

  She fought them off with decent skill, first with a round kick to the lead attacker's head, and then a punch to the face of her second attacker. Neither of the women dropped, but it gave Taya enough time to deal with Eric while Garrison took care of an already injured Berserker. The boy found Eric’s club and repeatedly bashed the freak on his head until he stopped moving.

  Eric looked at Taya now. "Who in the world are you?" he asked, holding his bloody wrist and grimacing with anger. "I will kick your little ass." Taya waited for him to come for her. He faked a charge but backed up slowly. "We will meet another day, girly, and that day will be the one where you will pay. Yes, you will pay!" he called back as he turned and ran away.

  The surviving men and women ran away, cursing and swearing at Moon, Taya, and Garrison all the while. Taya looked to her new-found friends. "You all did alright. I am proud of you," she smiled as she put her sword away. "We need to get out of here and find better shelter. Where exactly is this bui
lding you speak of with the people in it?"

  Chapter Four

  The apartment building was a decently tall structure. The foursome approached its location at roughly noontime the next day. The armed guards stationed in upper windows watched as the group neared the building. One called out, "Don’t even think about it." He pointed a rifle down at them, peering through his sight to get a better look.

  "We only seek shelter," called Taya to the man.

  He looked the four over and replied, "That’s nice and all, but what do you have to offer us in return?" Taya was about to answer, but the sky reined terror before she had such a chance.

  Joint Correlation drones appeared alongside a large flying ship, which zoomed by overhead. The drones raised arms of laser shooting menace and pointed them down at the teens. The people in the building instantly took cover away from the windows. The flyer wheeled around and hovered for a moment before dropping to the street.

  "We have to run," yelled Moon, motioning the group to follow her to another stone building down the street.

  But it was too late. Robots leaped out from the ship and blocked their path as the drones zipped down and did the same. If they continued to run, they would die. The ship lowered a large cage to ground level. A small army of bots were each holding large laser rifles, and Taya knew that to fight back would be to fail. They had no choice but to surrender. The JC patrol took all four of them and locked them inside the cage, which was then hoisted back up into the ship. The friends all looked at one another with sadness in their eyes, mixed with fear and many other emotions.

  The cargo area within the ship was tight, and despite her best attempts, Taya found no means of escape. She gathered more strength than most fifteen-year-olds could ever dream of and tried to calm the others. "Listen, even though we are captured, we must hold out hope for a better situation. Wherever they take us, we will find a way to get free. Remember, it may take time, but hang on, okay?" She hugged TB and reached out to hold Moon and Garrison’s hands as they all huddled together.