Free Rise of Aen by Damian Shishkin Page A
Authors: Damian Shishkin
open. Her vision took a second to catch up to her body awakening and the first thing she saw was a woman, crouching as she braced herself from what Ameia knew to be the final wave of her offspring’s birth cry. Reaching out with her mind, she opened his eyes and looked through them at the carnage he had caused.
—
General Taylor was up on the roof having a cigarette when the first energy wave washed over the building and immediately knew that something wasn’t right. He tapped his Bluetooth headset to activate the link between himself and the comm. center.
“Status report.” He barked into the microphone as he threw the cigarette off the roof to the canyon below and walked briskly to the door. “What the fuck was that, Private?”
“Analyzing now, sir.” The response came. “Sensors can’t quite figure it out other than it came from the morgue.”
Taylor’s walk turned into a run as he dashed through the doorway and towards the elevator bank. As he ran, his head turned towards the morgue below as the second wave took his equilibrium from him, sending him crashing to the floor in a heap. His head smacked into the hard tile floor with a crack and his vision blurred briefly. The impact had sent his headset flying off and it skidded to a stop about ten feet away. From where he lay, Taylor could hear the panicked cries of the morgue techs, screaming through the comm lines as the alarm klaxons rang and added to the throbbing in his skull. He crawled to the windows and pulled himself up by the ledge to find out what was happening below—just in time to see a ball of blue energy rip through the building below and send a shockwave towards them. It was at that moment that he knew they had pronounced Subject 54 dead too quickly, a mistake no one had caught until it was too late!
—
His eyes opened, but he hadn’t done it; his body stood amongst the burning wreckage, but he hadn’t told it to. Aaron was a passenger; watching as his body was being driven by someone other than himself. It wasn’t a secret who it was; he had felt her presence as soon as the third discharge of energy had restarted his heart.
Ameia was in charge, moving his body slowly and methodically through the remains of what used to be a three story building. He felt the cold mountain wind lash at him like an icy whip, yet felt no pain from it. There was much he’d have to learn about his new body, but for now he was just an observer.
“Where are you taking me?” he asked calmly.
Down the remnants of the tunnel and to the hospice where my physical body is; we both are leaving this house of horrors! Her voice replied. He could almost sense the smile on her lips as she said the words. Her voice was soothing and comforting to him, keeping him in a relaxed state so she could use his body as an instrument. Whatever you see, you must stay calm. In order for me to free us, I need to use your power to do it.
—
The first thing Phillips awoke to was the ringing of her ears. A high pitch hummed loud and constant, obscuring any other sound her ears might receive. Dizziness came next, followed by nausea. When she opened her eyes, her sight was blurry and grey, as she was able to make out smoke and debris around her. It was then that she realized that she was on the floor, partially buried under what was left of the exterior wall. Her training kicked in immediately and held back the normal reaction of panic and fear. Instead, she let her free hand explore the rubble that covered her and tried to lift her head to let her eyes assess the scene.
Only her left arm, shoulders and head were free, as her body lay in an odd angle. Phillips knew that underneath the remnants of the wall there were broken bones and possibly worse, but she aimed to take advantage of the fact that she was in shock and feeling little pain. Carefully, she worked her fingers around bits of debris and leveraged them off little by little in an attempt to free her right hand. It took all
—
General Taylor was up on the roof having a cigarette when the first energy wave washed over the building and immediately knew that something wasn’t right. He tapped his Bluetooth headset to activate the link between himself and the comm. center.
“Status report.” He barked into the microphone as he threw the cigarette off the roof to the canyon below and walked briskly to the door. “What the fuck was that, Private?”
“Analyzing now, sir.” The response came. “Sensors can’t quite figure it out other than it came from the morgue.”
Taylor’s walk turned into a run as he dashed through the doorway and towards the elevator bank. As he ran, his head turned towards the morgue below as the second wave took his equilibrium from him, sending him crashing to the floor in a heap. His head smacked into the hard tile floor with a crack and his vision blurred briefly. The impact had sent his headset flying off and it skidded to a stop about ten feet away. From where he lay, Taylor could hear the panicked cries of the morgue techs, screaming through the comm lines as the alarm klaxons rang and added to the throbbing in his skull. He crawled to the windows and pulled himself up by the ledge to find out what was happening below—just in time to see a ball of blue energy rip through the building below and send a shockwave towards them. It was at that moment that he knew they had pronounced Subject 54 dead too quickly, a mistake no one had caught until it was too late!
—
His eyes opened, but he hadn’t done it; his body stood amongst the burning wreckage, but he hadn’t told it to. Aaron was a passenger; watching as his body was being driven by someone other than himself. It wasn’t a secret who it was; he had felt her presence as soon as the third discharge of energy had restarted his heart.
Ameia was in charge, moving his body slowly and methodically through the remains of what used to be a three story building. He felt the cold mountain wind lash at him like an icy whip, yet felt no pain from it. There was much he’d have to learn about his new body, but for now he was just an observer.
“Where are you taking me?” he asked calmly.
Down the remnants of the tunnel and to the hospice where my physical body is; we both are leaving this house of horrors! Her voice replied. He could almost sense the smile on her lips as she said the words. Her voice was soothing and comforting to him, keeping him in a relaxed state so she could use his body as an instrument. Whatever you see, you must stay calm. In order for me to free us, I need to use your power to do it.
—
The first thing Phillips awoke to was the ringing of her ears. A high pitch hummed loud and constant, obscuring any other sound her ears might receive. Dizziness came next, followed by nausea. When she opened her eyes, her sight was blurry and grey, as she was able to make out smoke and debris around her. It was then that she realized that she was on the floor, partially buried under what was left of the exterior wall. Her training kicked in immediately and held back the normal reaction of panic and fear. Instead, she let her free hand explore the rubble that covered her and tried to lift her head to let her eyes assess the scene.
Only her left arm, shoulders and head were free, as her body lay in an odd angle. Phillips knew that underneath the remnants of the wall there were broken bones and possibly worse, but she aimed to take advantage of the fact that she was in shock and feeling little pain. Carefully, she worked her fingers around bits of debris and leveraged them off little by little in an attempt to free her right hand. It took all