Rise of the Mare (Fall of Man Book 2) (2 page)

Best I can figure is he was famous
for singing. I don’t get his singing voice, it’s the same as his
talking voice, deep with a yang to it. People like it though. They
ask him all the time to sing.

I do what he says, out of respect
and, well, because Davis was around before the world went to pot
and he knows things. Davis also doesn’t dismiss me even though I’m
young. One would think, in a world that was pretty much scratched
out, at nineteen I would be respected. Instead, I’m still treated
as a child.

I think a lot of that has to do with
the fact that in the beginning, a lot of kids didn’t survive. They
were killed by Savages or they were starved out.

In Angeles City, we are the remaining
hub of old world civilization, or as close to it as you get. We
remember the world and make it a point to teach others.

We also get strays from the Straits.
That’s the area where tiny villages are set up for people by the
Sybaris. We call these people Minnies, a nice nickname for minions,
because that’s what they are with the Sybaris.

They know only that world and what
the Civilized Sybaris tell them. The Civvies raise them, train
them, choose them, and feed from them.

And heck, the Minnies just hold
out their arms and let them take the blood.
Me, me, me, pick me!. I’ll be your slave, your
servant, your livestock!

They even let them take their
children. Yep. The Civvies take the human children, raise then
until young adulthood, then turn them. They do this because they
can’t have their own kids.

Unless of course, they mate with a
Mare. A Mare can be male or female, and is either born or created,
I don’t know the specifics. Some say God sent them to take down the
Sybaris, like Moses. People believe he was the first Mare because
he led the humans away from the Ancient Sybaris and that starved
them out.

The Sybaris claim the ‘Gods’ created
them as a gift. Although, I don’t think the Sybaris of thousands of
years ago thought Moses was all that much of a gift.

Just my observation.

Either way, a Mare can be dangerous
or a godsend to both humans and Sybaris.

Vala is a Mare.

This complicates things when it comes
to my feelings for her.

I said something to Davis the night
before the Lyons Estates attack. Vala had been getting these creepy
visits from her so called teacher, Iry. This teacher was a young
Sybaris. Why he was bothering her so much, I don’t know. He warned
Vala that an attack was coming, and Davis dismissed it as a
lie.

Vala, no matter how cool her
abilities, is not in control of them. Marie, Vala’s appointed
mother figure, took her to a small town outside of Angeles City to
show Vala what happens when a Mare loses control.

The town was overrun by Day
Stalkers and the Mare had struck out wildly in defense, killing the
Stalkers
and
the people of the town.

I followed them to the town because
it was my job to keep an eye on Vala, and I told Davis. He was not
happy. He and Marie got into it, and Vala stopped speaking to
me.

That evening, I told Davis how I
liked Vala but a part of me was unsure. Even though she went
through the bunker training where they taught her how to be like
us, a part of her wasn’t.

“Why do you think that is?” I asked
him. “She seems nice enough, still, there is something I don’t
trust.”

“
Maybe it’s not her you don’t
trust, rather what she is, or
who
she is,” Davis suggested.

“I don’t understand.”

Davis replied in a nonchalant manner
while fiddling with his guitar. “Well, you can take the boy from
the country, but you can’t take the country from the boy.”

“What the heck does that mean?” I
asked. “Seriously.”

“I never said that to you
before?”

“No.”

Davis looked up at me with a smile.
“Okay, I’m from the country.”

“This country. America.”

He laughed. “You sound like Vala.
Country is a term for more simplistic living. The area, the people,
it’s more open, fewer buildings. Sometimes south, sometimes deep in
the woods or on a farm. Animals, tress, country living. I’m from
the country. Down to earth, home boy.”

That made me laugh.

“Most people from the country talk
like me.”

“That slip sliding, drawn out way you
talk and sing?”

“Yes.” Davis nodded. “My way of
acting. Even though I live out here in the city now, or what’s left
of it, I still act like that country boy. You can take the boy from
the country, but the country is still in here.” He pointed to his
heart.

“Ah.” I nodded, finally getting what
he meant. “So like in Vala’s case, you can take the Minnie from the
Sybaris, but can’t take the Sybaris from the Minnie.”

“In a way, yes. You can take her away
from the influence, but the influence will always be there. Like
growing up Catholic.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. Do you understand?”

“Yes. Vala was raised by them, she
carries that infliction that they embedded in her.”

“Whoa. Good word choice.”

“What about Rusty?” I asked. Russell,
or Rusty as we called him, was from the Straits. He had designed
the deprogramming protocol that Vala went through.

Davis shrugged. “You have to ask him.
I know the boys are raised differently.”

“Vala says they aren’t.”

“Tanner, what is it you want to
know?” Davis huffed. “What are you searching for?’

I didn’t have an answer. I only knew
something about Vala didn’t feel right, and I just didn’t know what
that was. I wanted to know. I wanted to fully like her and trust
her, however, a part of me wouldn’t allow myself.

That answer was not one Davis could
give me and was one I had to discover on my own.

I
didn’t sleep that night after the brutal attack from the Day
Stalkers. I saw two friends slaughtered, one of whom was carrying a
child. The baby had been ripped from her womb and ingested in front
of her.

Mindy was her name. She was to
learn from me about living in Akana. We were planning to send her
to Akana so I could use my gift of projecting, of leaving my body
and traveling, and gather information from the Sybaris through her.
We were hoping she would be chosen because of the baby, and I could
tap into Mindy when she went to the city of the Ancients. Once
there, I could discover their weaknesses in order for the rebels to
take them down.

That plan had changed at the hands
and mouth of a Day Stalker. I had strongly suggested to Davis
beforehand that we didn’t need to send Mindy; I could find the
Ancient City and go there myself.

Because I was a ‘Mare’, I was sought
after by both sides. To the Sybaris, I was life, I gave them the
ability to create a new species that was invincible. To man, I was
the ultimate weapon, because I easily could defeat the Sybaris.

To some I was a blessing, to others I
was a curse. I had not only the ability to travel out of body, but
to make things happen. I could pick up a simple stick, believe it
was a mighty weapon, and destroy the enemy with just the power of
thought. That portion of the gift was still not within my control,
therefore I was dangerous to anyone around me.

Who cared if I was in the City of
Ancients, and if I were a danger to all of them? They, the Savages,
the Elder Sybaris, the Day Stalkers, had to be eliminated from this
world for man to finally be free.

Even knowing the weaknesses of the
Sybaris, we still needed a plan of attack. A strategy of war.

We had been struck by an unexpected
battle which weakened us. This battle was the reason I left when
the sun rose.

The death of Mindy hit me hard, but
not as much as the death of Marie. She was a mother figures, a
woman who was kind without asking for anything in return. I trusted
her and loved her. She was also brave.

When the Day Stalkers came, so did
Nito. Nito was a Sybaris with great power. She was a leader, and
she had been around for thousands of years. She was there when men
first defeated the Sybaris and rose when man fell.

Not only did she hate me, she wanted
me, and Nito would stop at nothing. I found out my mother was
giving in to Nito’s bribes.

Once I didn’t return Nito came for
me. Marie battled her and lost. I couldn’t stand the thought of
anyone else from Angeles city dying because of me.

I left as the sun began to rise in
the sky, leaving a note regarding my departure.

It had been nearly a month since I
had left Akana, and it was time for a choosing ceremony to occur. I
needed to make it back for the ceremony, to be chosen, to get
inside the Ancient City. To defeat not only the Sybaris, but mainly
Nito.

She was the head of the serpent that
needed to be decapitated.

Davis, I believe, would understand my
reasoning. As leader of the rebellion, he may not like it, but
would know it was their best option.

I knew Davis before I arrived in
Akana. He was there when I was little, when my mother took me away.
He was a welcome sight when I arrived in Angeles City.

I also met Tanner. He was the first
one from the rebellion side that I came in contact with. A year or
two older than me, Tanner was different than the males in Akana, or
even Esperanza Straits. All males in the Sybaris villages had long
hair, and everyone dressed the same.

Not Tanner.

He wore tan pants with big pockets.
His shirts had short sleeves with writing on them. Tanner was
colorful. He spoke fast and lazily, using the word ‘man’ to address
everyone.

I liked Tanner. When I received
another warning that his life would be taken next, I couldn’t take
that chance.

He found my letter, chased after me,
and begged me not to go.

His eyes cried out to me, and I
turned away.

I didn’t look back, I kept going,
praying that he would forgive me and understand my decision.

My journey from the town of Lyons
Estates was a long one. I had to make it to the Salton Sea and then
cross it to Akana.

The gatekeepers, hideous monsters
with minds, would decide my fate. Surely they would let me in, if
only to let Nito choose me.

Davis and Marie had gone to great
lengths to integrate me into Angeles City, to make me like everyone
else. They taught me and showed me things. I was educated on the
history of Man. Everything I had learned in Angeles city, the
mindset, the clothing, the way of talking, would have to be traded
once again for the way I was expected to behave in Akana. Silent,
proper, and subservient.

It would be an act, but one I’d take
on.

When I left Lyons Estates, I took
with me the best clothes I could find, rations, my time capsule box
that I brought with me, photographs of Marie, and a smaller version
of the book called The Bible that Davis gave me to read.

I prayed to their God because I was
certain my gods had abandoned me.

Without a direction, I followed my
heart and rode east, hoping to find the sea.

I did not want to return to that
life, however, it was what I had to do.

Vala’s note was the final strike in the battle against the Day
Stalkers.

After all of the training, all of the
caring we showed her, breaking down walls, reprogramming and
reaching out to her, she still left.

The day of the attack, she stopped
being angry at me for whatever it was she was mad about. I liked
her, I told her that. Before anything further could transpire
between us, the battle began.

Both of us were too busy
fighting.

I saved her life. Marie was gone,
Vala was in the throat grip of the top Sybaris chick, and I saved
her.

Vala was devastated. I understood
that. She wanted to be alone. I understood that, too.

She said nothing about leaving.

I discovered that she was gone just
after the first light of the day, and she had left a message for
Davis. Without reading the letter or knowing what it said, like a
fool I sought after her, chasing her down, begging her not to
go.

She just rode away as if nothing I
said even mattered.

This was a girl who fled for her
life, ran to us, wanted to be a part of our side, and then went
back. My mind raced with thoughts that she had used us, that she
came to us, found our weaknesses, led the battle our way, then
after finding out for the Sybaris how to take us down, she left
under the guise of self-sacrifice.

I didn’t buy it.

Davis scolded me with his
typical,
“oh, you’re nuts, you’re
just pissed because she left.”

“Why don’t you care?” I asked
him.

“I do. She left for a reason.”

“No kidding. Do you buy it?”

Davis locked a stare on me. A serious
one. “Yes. She had good reason to go. And I think... I think with
Mindy gone, this is our best option.”

Mindy was supposed to be our link,
our connection so Vala could do her projection thing, find Mindy,
find the City of the Ancients, and plan an attack. Then Mindy was
killed and Davis found it logical for Vala to replace her.

Should we trust her? I asked that of
Davis.

“Do we have a choice?” he
replied.

Yeah, yeah, we did.

I was so filled with anger about her
leaving, I could only choose to let it go.

We were still reeling from the loss
of life and she just up and left.

The battle was us against the
Sybaris, and no longer did it include Vala the Magic Mare.

Until I was positive otherwise, I
wasn’t even factoring her into the equation when it came to
counting on her to fight.