The First: EVO Uprising (20 page)

“
I was supposed to be retired by now… from all of this,” he said, “sitting back on a porch watching the days go by, counting down for the grandkids to show up… with my wife. The virus made sure that would never happen.”
 

“
While you were still a tadpole in your pop’s sack, I was on the other side of the world watching a landmine blow two good kids to shit. The rest of the blast filled me up with shrapnel and took all of the vision out my left eye. Military career over, I came home as a typical vet with a purple heart to wipe my ass with along with what little pension and disability Uncle Sam gave me for giving up my eye.  
 

“
Took a job in construction to pay the bills, paid to go back to school and get a better paying job… as a teacher,” he scoffed, “then an old buddy of mine talked me into a wrestling gig… being that it was all staged didn’t matter too much that my eye was bad. Paid good money and, after 9/11, people would eat up the old
soldier bit. I said what the hell… quick fast money… couple of matches… quick stress reliever between working on houses for shit pay or killing someone’s kid over a spitball… who the hell knew it would take off like it did. Next thing I knew I got the BWI calling me in for an audition, and a month later I’m headlining.
 

“
Once again I was on the road, traveling from state to state and country to country, only this time I got sixty to seventy thousand people screaming my name or chanting “U.S.A… U.S.A…” He motioned as if he was there once again. “When I stepped onto that rampway, and walked down to that ring, I was as high as a kite.”
 

“
And night after night between all the promoting, endorsements, talk show interviews, and photo shoots; I went out and punished what was left of my body that landmine didn’t take all for that drug.” He grinded his teeth. “Then after a couple of days on the road, I’d go home to my loving wife who met me at the door with a hug and a kiss. She’d draw me a hot bath in our fully paid eight-point-five hundred thousand dollar house that she stayed alone in for most of the time. Pour me a drink and then talk to me about how she spent her days… till I fell asleep which would be for a day and a half till I had to get back on the road and do it all over again… her name was Katherine.
 

“
Sometimes I’d make holidays and birthdays… sometimes I wouldn’t… she never complained… ever… but I never missed a Christmas… ever… and every Christmas I’d look at her and say, ‘Baby this is it… I’m done.’” He gave a halfhearted smirk. “And then she would look at me with a smile and say, ‘You’re so full of shit… you know you’re not done yet.’ And she was right… after about four years it became like a running joke. Finally when the booze and painkillers couldn’t keep me going, when it took five more minutes to get to my feet when it should have taken three. On the seventh Christmas after coming home from the road… I looked at my wife and said, ‘Baby… I’m done,’ in which she replied, ‘You’re so full of shit… you know you’re not done yet.’
But this time… I held her hands, looked her dead in the eyes and said, ‘No baby… I am… done.’ She just burst into tears… was like watching her again when I came back from Kuwait.
 

“
Legacy 6 the grandest Pay-Per-View of the BWI was supposed to be my last match. Two months before that the sky lit up on fire and everyone thought it was the end of the world. But even with the possibility of doomsday the show went go on.” He breathed a heavy sigh. “As the weeks counted down I didn’t realize I needed less and less painkillers… that I was getting stronger, moving faster, going longer without tiring. Then it happened in the middle of my match at Legacy… it wasn’t almost breaking a kid in half after I launched him into a nearby turnbuckle, or putting an extremely serious dent in a ring post… it was when I could finally see clearly  out of my dead left eye… I had never been more terrified in my entire life till then.
 

“
I don’t know how I held it together. It was the fastest match I ever jobbed.  Couldn’t have gotten the hell out of there fast enough.” He let out a laugh. “All I wanted to do was go home. It was like a new lease on life. I went back to my wife deterioration-free of pain, booze, and pills. The night I got home we stayed in bed for two days and had to order a new one the next morning.”
 

Rosann could not help but crack a smile. Rogers’ stone exterior broke one as well remembering better days.
 

 “
A month after that Katherine was diagnosed with the Judgment Virus.” His stone cold look reformed. “The same thing that was healing and strengthening this once broken down body that I willfully punished and abused till there was nothing left was killing and destroying my wife who barely took a drink in her life and never smoked.”
 

He laid down the M4 next to the other guns on the table, and leaned against the firing range divider taking up the bottle of Jack in his grip.
 

“
She held on for six long months, after four she asked me to take her home.” Abe took a swig from the bottle. “We spent every day together talking and laughing like we were supposed to. Her last two weeks, I took her up to our cabin that she loved so much. One day she asked to go out on the river in the canoe I made. She died falling asleep in my arms. I must have just sat there for hours just talking and singing to her.”
 

Rosann somberly lowered her head; Rogers did not shed a tear from the memory. It was clear whatever tears the old hardened Marine had shed were gone years ago.
 

“
So when you ask me why am I here,” Abe shrugged his shoulders, “when you’re a bitter broken down old man… who’s lost pretty much everyone and everything he gave a damn about… and now has the inability to just roll over and die; there ain’t too many options for a son of a bitch in my situation.”
 

Rogers displayed a toothy grin before taking another swig from the bottle of Jack. Rosann lifted her head to look at him. A part of her regretted asking her question, unprepared for the painful answer she’d received. The other part of her was glad she got a glimpse into his world.
 

His face read that he did not care what she thought of his story, but Rosann’s heart told her that he needed someone to unload the pain he still carried. She was glad to be that person.
 

“
Rogers,” Lady Tech came over the comlink, “you and Rosann need to get up to central command like now… we’ve got a huge problem.”
 

“
On our way,” Rogers acknowledged before turning to Rosann. “Guess it’s time to prove to me you can make a difference.”
 

˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

Five minutes later the entire team was in central
command facing Lady Tech; an uneasy tension filled the room like a chilling breeze. Lady Tech’s big emergency eclipsed it for now.
 

“
Midtown Manhattan is under attack!”
 

“
Say what?” Adrian cocked an eyebrow.
 

“
Five minutes ago Midtown Manhattan fell under attack to an occult terrorist cell known as the Zombie Nation.” She pulled up a holographic image.
 

“
Wasn’t that a house song way back?” Hard-On asked.
 

“
The Zombie Nation is comprised of five EVOs who have managed to keep under the radar for quite some time. They are wanted in connection for several kidnapping and murder charges throughout the U.S and Europe among other things,” Erica relayed. “They’ve uploaded several videos onto the web performing actual satanic ritual sacrifices on live people which, thanks to me, have been intercepted before anyone can actually see them. They’ve evened mailed some to television stations hoping they’ll air them. They believe their powers are gifts from Satan himself so that they can usher in his rule on Earth… they are also cannibals.”
 

“
That’s just messed up,” Oliver sneered.
 

“
We’ve been trying to block their sick messages in hopes of not alarming the public and catching these filthy bastards, but it looks like they’ve gotten frustrated and decided to do something drastic,” Erica continued. “Causalities are in the double digits and growing. Captain Omega is reported to be on the scene along two other heroes… Seeker and Lady Electrify.”
 

“
Great,” Adrian muttered, “with those three the fight will probably be over before…”
 

“
Miss, Lady Electrify has been killed in action,” Maxine reported. “Cause of death is impalement and severe brunt force trauma.”
 

“
Oh my god.” Rosann’s eyes widened as she took a stunned step back.
 

“
Suit up, people. Get locked, loaded, and ready to fly in four minutes,” Rogers ordered. “Anyone not ready by then gets left behind.”
 

CHAPTER 10

Five minutes later the Tornado was once again in the air headed for Manhattan, moving at Mach 8 they would be at the combat zone in less than eight minutes. Rosann stared at the ground as her brother sat next to her clutching the crucifix chain given to him by his mother for his sixteenth birthday.  Oliver, sitting on the opposite side of Rosann, also stared down at the floor. Every minute he fidgeted with either the bracers on his arms or the straps on his boots. Rogers sat there looking at each one of them with his modified M249 LMG rifle in his lap. In his eyes, these were just more children marching once again to hell itself; a hell he himself had never faced before. He did not like it one bit. If he was not ready for this, they definitely were not prepared for this.
 

“
Miss reports indicated EVO known as Seeker has been killed in action,” Maxine reported. “Cause of death is decapitation.”
 

“
Jesus…” Rosann uttered cupping her mouth.
 

“
Erica! What’s our ETA?” Rogers yelled.
 

“
We just entered New York State,” she barked back, “we’ll be there in two minutes at this speed! Patching in Channel 11 News. They’ve got a reporter crazy enough to be on the scene!”
 

The sound of battle and the screams of one lone reporter telling the tale of the designated warzone within Times Square forced everyone to sit up within the Tornado.

“
I report, Seeker has been killed,” the reporter screamed. “The well known superhero speedster of New York overwhelmed by a two on one attack has been decapitated! It has now become a three-on-one fight against Captain Omega and three out of the five members of this Zombie Nation! We have bodies of innocent men, women, and children littering the streets of Times Square! This is just too overwhelming, and Captain Omega is fighting like a mad man to turn the tide!”
 

“
Going to stealth mode folks,” Lady Tech yelled, “hang on!”
 

“
Oh, Jesus Christ,” screamed the reporter over the audio speakers, “Captain Omega has just been killed!”
 

Dead silence filled the cabin of the Tornado as Hard-On, Blitz, and a shocked and teary-eyed Rosann, looked at each other, then back at a stone faced Rogers.
 

“
I can’t believe it,” the reporter cried, “the Captain looked like he was going to turn the tide of the battle, and then he looked like he was blinded out of nowhere. Then the monster of a man who looks like an unholy Viking just started hacking away at him with that huge battle ax of his… till he cut his head off… our greatest hero is
gone
folks… he’s gone… they’re literally desecrating his body in front of us… it’s horrific beyond imagination…”
 

“
There’s a goddamn Promethean down there,” Lady Tech muttered to herself with her head down.
 

“
Erica, keep us up, and open the bay doors,” Abe ordered.
 

“
You gonna parachute into…” she began to ask.
 

“
Just open the damn door, and keep us up!” he yelled,
losing his patience.
 

Rogers quickly checked his M249 LMG heading for the rear doors now opening; he stopped and turned feeling three presences standing behind him. He turned to see Hard-On already in metal form along with Blitz and Rosann ready to go.

“
Where the hell do you think you three are going?” demanded Abe.
 

“
Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane with you, sir,” answered Hard-On.
 

“
Cut the shit, Esposito,” Rogers ordered, “wait till the ship lands then…”
 

“
Excuse me, sir, but you can go screw yourself,” said Adrian.
 

“
What did…?” he snarled.
 

“
We ain’t got time to discuss this!” Adrian yelled back. “People are dying down there, so when you jump out of this plane… we’re going to be following you… as a team.”
 

“
Whether you like it or not,” Rosann chimed in.