The Next Dark Age: book 1 beginning

Chapter 15: Not dead

Trisha only saw black. Trisha pondered if this is what being dead is like, just experiencing nothing for the rest of eternity. Oh the irony, humans spend all their life trying to figure out what's after life, only to learn that you just have blackness and silence. Trisha figured she better get used to her current situation, because she was never getting out of it. Then Trisha heard all the noise, proving that even when you are dead noisy neighbors are still a pain.

Then Trisha listened closer to the voices, they were the voices of her friends, and she wondered if they had died too. She sure hoped so. She would like some company in the abyss. Trisha realized that she was cold too, and could feel the uncomfortable ground below her, and she could move her arms. She could even open her eyes.

She wasn't actually dead!

When she opened her eyes she saw the huge arches of the sewers. Everyone had a huge smile on their face when Trisha met their eyes, even Steph who only looked happy when she was eating and sleeping. Trisha sat up, and was quickly given a bear hug by Sapphire, and both of them were then enveloped in a hug by Harris.

Sapphire somehow yelled in one breath "OMG, I thought you were dead, and now you aren't and you're back, and I am so excited!" This went on for some time, as Trisha regained her bearings.

Trisha stood up when finally released from Harris and Sapphire's irons grip. "What happened after I didn't die?"

"Steph took care of your relative, and carried you out of the apartment. We went down to the sewers to seek refuge from the war going on upstairs." Michael answered with a very worried look, "after you fell asleep another wave of reinforcements came, which triggered another battle that is going on topside, we still have no idea why they are fighting, but it doesn't matter. We need to move, NOW!"

Trisha decided not to argue with Michael, and obediently got up and started walking out with all the others in her group. When they finally exited the city, Trisha heard people still fighting in the town. Trisha thought this was very odd. She must of been out for at least a few days to heal her stab wound and her fractured head.

Wondering just how healed she was, Trisha cautiously felt at the area where she had been impaled, and expected to find a huge and gross scab, or some kind of noticeable scarring. Instead her skin was smooth and clean (or at least as smooth and skin as one could be in this time period) how could this be? She must of been out for a few weeks in that case, are the Beast's cult and the Time God's keepers fighting a different battle?

"Wait a minute," Trisha stopped the group to ask "How long was i out?"

"Listen, Trish" Sapphire interjected as she sat down, and motioned for Trisha to sit down, "you weren't out for two weeks, you were out for about 10 hours."

Trisha took a step back and almost tripped on a log, "What? It should take me two hours to heal a papercut! I don't have regeneration abilities."

"Well, now you do." Stephanie stated sassily.

"No, I can't have regeneration, my mom only had one of the genetic enhancements, and in order to have all three modifications both your parents need to have at least two."

Michael responded to this with "Maybe you were adopted and your parents disappeared before they could tell you."

"Dude, I was seventeen when that happened, most parents will tell their child before they turn eight."

Everyone looked around silently, no one could come up with anything to say.

"Listen, I would love to figure out how you have all three abilities, but we need to move," Michael told Trisha.

Trisha looked at the ground, she didn't want to go, she wanted to stay. She almost wanted to go back to town. She wanted to go back and talk to the people who knew about ancient cities, and viruses that could give people magnificent power. She couldn't though, or she would be killed.

"Um, Michael," asked Harris, "where are we going to go? The Time followers are going to hunt us wherever we go, and our last safe place was just destroyed."

"Tim mentioned that he was heading out to the old suburbs, we should be able to find him there."

"And what exactly are we going to do once we get there? Tim is too busy dismantling the two gangs to really protect us."

Michael looked around, and seemed to shrink down like he would be anywhere else. He finally let out a sigh, "I... have no idea."

"Maybe we could join him." Trisha told the group quietly. She thought it was a bad idea, but it was an idea. "According to my brother, my mom is still alive and is being held in captivity. In fact, all of the Time's followers plan depend on my mother, if we find her, the Time followers will have nothing. We can move to the northern regions and live in isolation, where no one will bother us. We can finally be safe."

Michael would then surprise everyone with "Although I hate the arctic, I do like the idea of living in isolation with no one bothering us. now then, it would only be for a little bit until the cult collapses due to a lack of a plan, and then we could return to society. None of you guys are obligated to go with me, but I would suggest it," he then paused for a moment and smiled, "Especially you Harris, since you don't have a backbone."

"Hey!" muttered out harris, who was clearly offended, but was not disagreeing with Michael.

"I'll go with you guys." Sapphire told the group

"I suppose," groaned Stephanie, "that i will join you guys, as it seems like my only other option is to go alone."

"Good, now that we are all in agreement, let's head down there"