Paige - Code Human

NJ PAIGE

CODE HUMAN

Published by NJ Paige.

Distributed by Smashwords

This book is a work of fiction. Thecharacters, names, incidents are drawn from the authorsimagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actualpersons, living or dead, business, companies, events, or locales isentirely coincidental.

Copyright 2016 by NJPaige

All rights reserved. No part of thisbook may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed orelectronic form without permission.

For all of Humanity

Who would you diefor?

PROLOGUE

T he sound of explosions crashes around me. It takes only aminute to register in my mind what has happened, that we are underattack.

When I turn around to facethe dancing white veils of smoke, darkness and fire in its wake, Isee Father lying face down on the cold hard ground.

Father, I call out as Irun towards himAnicey not far behind!

I feel the thunder of myheart, for a storm has been brewing; it hovers over our heads likea rabid Nighthawk taunting and playing on our fears.

We hide like diseasedfugitives, fit only to exist in a dark...dark place beneath theearth. Nevertheless, it has landed, only to destroy everything andeveryone I have ever cared about.

Father, Father! I cryout once more.

Anicey and I both drop tothe ground when we reach him. He is on his belly, face down,bleeding from his back.

Mother! I just rememberthat she is still inside. I hear Father murmur, desperately tryingto force the words from his lips. Father is alive! He isalive!

Sara, Sara, he calls outwith a weakened voice.

Father, dont move, Isay, my voice unsteady, breaths, short anduneven.

Anicey looks on quietly,her body quivering as I attempt to pull the shard of glass that iswedged in his back. I pull it out slowly, and he groans. Thebleeding begins to flow more profusely now.

Anicey, I want you topress hard; press hard to stop the bleeding, just like they taughtus in Health class.

I place her hand firmly onthe wound. The blood immediately squeezes through and around herfingers.

She winces.

Dont move it, I tellher.

Mother is still alive; Itell myself. She has to be alive; shes protected by concrete andsteel, which had survived the nuclear attack. So, why wouldnt shebe alive?

I rush towards the cellar,with every step being a test of my sanity, and a test of my ownbreath, or the lack of it.

I am near now.

There are pieces of ourhome strewn all overa reflection of what is left of our lives, ourfamily. I step over pieces of burning wood, broken glass, andblocks of concrete. Flame and smoke dance in the wind. I look down at what is now a mangled messof concrete and burning branches. A tree has fallen and is lyingacross the wide hole in the ground that was once our safe place. Icant see mother! I must get closer! I scream in my mind. I inch myway beneath the tree and into the cellar. There, I see a legsticking out from beneath one of the metal shelves, which must havefallen on her during the attack. I feel a quickening dread travels through me, rendering me almostbreathless, as if the life has been knocked out of me. I cough. Thethick smoke is beginning to overwhelm me. However, I cant let itstop me from helping her. She is still there, alive! I keep my eyesfocused on, moving even quicker towards her.

Mother, Mother! I callout, but she does not answer. Mother!

My body trembles hardernow. My heart throbs with anxiety and pain. I clear the smoky,burning path I take to reach her, scorching my hands, eyes burning,lungs caked with smoke, struggling to breathe. With a ferventdesire for my mother to be alive, I quickly remove the shelf away from her body; the pain is unbearableas the hot metal burns my flesh. I scream because her leg has beensevered from her body.

I stand there frozen indisbelief. My body trembles even harder as tears flows freely downmy face. My mothers eyes are so brilliantly blue, just likeAnicey's. They look motionless up at me. Her face is partly coveredin black ash; theres a long gash spewing with blood and ash acrossit. Her hair is no longer snow-white; it is instead, a smokygrey.

Mother. I weep softly,but she does not hear me. Mother...I love you.

She begins to fade awaybefore my eyes, in a wave of fog and light. And I begin to feel mybody drifting. Drifting away on a soft cloud in thin air, where allis silent in a world, and nothing else exists, just an empty voidof light.

Mother, I call reachingmy hand out to touch her. But soon, I see nothing but white,bright, but translucent, yet, nothing can be seen through it. I tryto force my eyes to look into it. To see what is beyond, theimpossible, the unimaginable. With all my efforts, I see mother andFather smiling down on me.

Father is holding my hand.I can almost feel his warmth. I try to call out to them. Tell themhow relieved I am to see that they are all right. Then, I rememberthat I had lost them that day. That dreadful day.

BLOOD CIRCLE

Chapter 1

BEFORE THE LOSS

T he air is different today. Am I the only one, who feels theweight of it? It crawls on my skin like some creepy thing I canneither see nor touch, and it reeks of fear and unrest, likesomething badSomething. Really. Badis going to happensoon.

Images from the dream,which I had, the night before, continue to flash in my mind. Thereis no escaping them. They are strong, very strong, holding on toevery neuron in my brain, causing feelings of panic to surgethrough me, and pain to hammer on the inside of myskull.

I try to lose my thoughtsby concentrating on the dress in the display window of Mrs. EmsDress Shop. Instead, the figure across the train tracks, in themiddle of Main Street, draws my attention. I dont want to look atwhat my eyes are seeing. As if, I have a choice. Still, I pretendnot to notice the Shiller coming toward us out of the wavering fog,like a ghost lost in Manorville, wandering aimlessly in search ofsomething lost long ago.

My heart feels like it hasstopped for a momentjust a brief moment, as if something,undeniable strong has just reset my familiar reality. It hits mehard and fast, unexpectedly, knocking all the air out of me. Thenmy heart starts again, this time pulsating to an unfamiliar rhythm,a new reality, and a new truth, which has just emerged beforemy eyes as if it has not always been there.

Now I see her, as if forthe first time. Strange, because she, a Shiller, and the rest ofthe Underkind are otherwise invisible to us. Not because wethePurest and Purestkindcan't see them, but because we choose not torecognize their humanity. The Underkind are inferior to any Purest orPurestkind on every level.

We forbid them to makesolid eye contact with us and teach them only to obey our voices.Something intangibleis drawing me to her. I see her. And its notbecause I have chosen to, or even want to. Its because I have to.I have to look at her. You know what its like when you feel you shouldnt lookat something or someone for whatever reason, but yet, you justcant seem to control what your eyes decide to do. In the end,curiosity always wins. Doesnt it?

My hands are balled insidemy coat pockets, fingernails pressing into palmsindignantresistance on my part. The hammering in my head intensifies. The Maggot had better not come nearme ! Damn it, damnit ! But of course she is comingstraighttowards us, and all I have done is draw more attention tomyself. Fool, fool . Just call me a lightning rod waiting for astrike strike me down now, damn it, andget it over with as soon as possible.

She bends her head towardthe red cobbled road, dejected, perhaps wailing. She doesnt seemto care about the vehicles traveling swiftly toward her on eitherside, horns honking loudly, tinged with rage and malice from theirPurestkind drivers.

One man even sticks hishead out, white hair flopping in the wind, a flag of dominance, andthen he sticks out his arm and waves his middle finger. Get out ofthe way, you, yellow maggot! he yells.