Free Rise of Aen by Damian Shishkin

Zero?” she asked the ever-silent patient. “What’s happened to get you so worked up?”
    As usual, there was no response from her and Phillips wasn’t going to wait around to get one. She reviewed the charts one more time before placing them back at the foot of the bed. Turning to leave, she looked back to say her usual goodbye. “See you next time, Zero,” she muttered as she walked away.
    The Major only took a few steps when a sudden headache stopped her in her tracks. The pain was intense, and her ears were filled with static. Through the pain, a voice spoke in her mind. It said just one word, Ameia . Phillips dropped to her knees as the pain subsided, slightly disorientated. Words couldn’t describe what she had just felt. Slowly, she regained her composure and rose to her feet, all the time looking back at the comatose figure.
    “Is that your name?” she asked, but got no response. “You can talk to me more if you want. I want to learn from you; we all want to learn from you.” Again, her words fell to nothingness. The patient lay still, as always, and showed no sign of moving or communicating. The Major felt a little disappointed in the fact that there was no way to get through to this creature. Then, duty kicked in as she realized she had to file what had happened in a report. Looking down at her watch, she noted the time and subtracted the few moments that had passed since. Taylor would be keenly interested in this development and there was little time to waste as she walked briskly from the room to write out the happenings.
    When she approached the elevator, a feeling of nausea overcame her and she doubled over. It felt like the very world around her had been pushed ever so slightly beneath her feet. Looking around, she saw the other ward staff in the same predicament; all of them with the same look of confusion on their faces. The feeling passed as quickly as it had come, so Phillips rushed over to help some of the other nurses. As she helped another get her balance back, the feeling hit again. This time, she saw it coming; a wave of displaced air rolled through the building, rattling windows and doors as it struck the staff, knocking every one of them off their feet. Phillips managed to hold down the urge to vomit; something that few others in the ICU were able to do. Sounds of panic-filled transmissions from the morgue overwhelmed the radio; the cries of too many people talking at once made the calls undecipherable. Alarms went off and the emergency lights switched on as the entire building was seemingly affected.
    As Phillips picked herself up to grasp the receiver, she neared the window that overlooked the morgue in the valley below. It was a small building that was kept separate from the main facility due to the risks of contamination and was connected by a two hundred foot tunnel. She had a brief moment to see the building before it exploded in a blue fireball before her eyes. Instincts and training took over as the Major ducked and turned away from the window. As she barked out orders to the others to get down, she noticed something move out of the corner of her eye. She refocused and saw that Subject Zero was sitting up in her bed with her eyes open, her gaze focused on her. Then the blast wave hit the ward and everything went black.
    —
    She felt the first wave hit and surround her body with a wash of energy, refreshing her long quiet muscles. Ameia had rested for years, saving the last of her strength for today. And now it was time to rouse from the depths of the darkness, time for her to guide her progeny to safety. Her people had learned the ability to shut their bodies down in times like this and retreat into the depths of their minds; to disconnect physically from any trauma or torture they might endure.
    The second wave hit and immediately rushed through her body, sparking her nervous system back to life. In response, she sat upright in the bed she had been set in with her eyes snapping