Resurgence, page 1
part #2 of Convergence Series
RESURGENCE
Nicole M. Ahles
This is a work of fiction. The characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
RESURGENCE
By: Nicole M. Ahles
eBook – 1st edition 2023
Copyright © 2022 by Nicole M. Ahles. All rights reserved.
Except as provided by the Copyright Act (title 17, U.S. code) Jan. 1978, no part of this publication may be used or reproduced, recorded, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher or author with the exception of the initial intent of obtainment and in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
NicoleAhles.com
NAB Publication
Cover design copyright © 2022 by Britani Christenson, Casey Christenson
Image copyright © 2022 Eezy Inc. All rights reserved
Interior design by Nicole Ahles
Printed by Ingram Spark
ISBN 978-0-9911126-8-5
For my daughter, Seylah.
Much like Tala, you, my darling, have fire in your veins and love in your heart.
And both are needed to change the world.
RESURGENCE
ONE
Tala let her feet wander the vacant corridors. The lights above were dim and cast a silver hue around her, meant to have the same effects as moonlight even though she was deep underground, the real moon nowhere to be found. She glanced at the time on her new palm pad. The sun would be up in only a few hours, and the daytime lights would return. Artificial sun. People needed natural light, or so she’d been told, for proper sleep, immunity, and mental health. For those who never left The Village, the engineered lighting meant to replicate the conditions of the actual sun was essential to daily life.
It was quiet, most people still nestled in their beds, though she didn’t sleep in the same living quarters as The Village’s general population. The long hallway opened to a large room, a lounge with sofas, two tables, and chairs to match. The oversized virtual windows around the room were a live picture of the outside world. Snow was coming down, lightly, softly, a mere dusting on the ground. She shivered at the sight of it. Or maybe she shivered from a different kind of cold.
There was a tug at her heart as she thought of Kane. It had been over a week since they’d said goodbye, but it may as well have been a lifetime. Her mind conjured an image of him, remembering the pained look in his stoic eyes before she lay down in the secret compartment of the truck.
“Take some time to rest. To recover your mind,” Vulcan had said, not unkindly, when he introduced her to The Village. “This is your new home. Get to know it. Get comfortable in it.”
Tala took a seat on a sofa, sinking into it, her back to the virtual windows. She pulled her knees to her chest, hugging them, grounding herself. She found herself awake at this time every night. While Cara slept away on the top bunk in their unit, she slipped out and came to the same spot.
Her mind was full. Mila, lying in a hospital bed in Stoughbour, over twelve hundred miles away. Still unconscious, according to the latest update from Cara. She was still in contact with Avery in the city. He had kept his word. Though little could be done for Mila, he had people looking out for her, people operating in secret in the hospital system. The Unified Rebels, or the Unified Revolutionaries as they referred to themselves, the Revos, had people on the inside all over Columbia City. Maybe it was better she was still unconscious. It meant she knew nothing of what had happened. The assassination, the massacre. A death toll nearing three hundred. Tala envied her. She thought of Max, whom she was relieved to have no contact with. How would she ever explain to him that she’d left Kane? That she’d lost Kane.
Despite herself, she thought of Thias. She found herself frequently wanting a glance inside his mind, just so she could know what he thought of her now. What he thought of her defiance. Would he concede that he’d underestimated her? Most of all, though, she feared she would only find he didn’t care about her. That she meant nothing. After everything, how was it that she could hang on to this small hope that there was something in him that grieved the loss of her?
She closed her heavy eyes, dropping her forehead to her knees. Most of all, her mind was filled with Kane. She thought about him day and night. It was only now and then that something would distract her enough that for a fleeting moment, she’d think of something else. But that was rare. He was on her mind and in her heart, and she felt an ache in the void he once filled.
Where was he? Was he safe? It had taken Vulcan longer than expected to get a contact to Clara City, where they’d left Kane, to look for him. By then, the service on the temporary palm pad they’d given him was expired, and when the contact went to the clearing in the woods, Kane was gone. Disappeared without a trace. He’d left the tent behind, but his personal belongings were also gone. Tala let that knowledge help keep the worst thoughts at bay. If his things were gone, maybe he just moved. Though that didn’t explain why. He’d been instructed to stay where he was. It was the only way for them to be together again. So, why would he ever leave?
She should never have left him. In a tiny bathroom somewhere in the Appalachians, they had sworn to each other they wouldn’t separate. They’d had no time to make a real plan; if they had, then maybe they could’ve come up with something else. But instead, she left, and the weight of that decision was heavy on her shoulders, heavy in her chest. She deserved every ache her choice left behind.
She missed him. She missed him in ways she didn’t know existed. But there was no one she could tell this to. No one who would understand. She kept to herself, going simply back and forth between the City Center, the large and open atrium in the heart of the underground compound, and her living unit on the secured fifth floor, away from practically everyone.
A loud noise caught Tala off guard, and she jumped. Likely a janitor. They came around this time most mornings. She glanced back at the time on her palm pad. It was after five. People were going to start waking up, The Village would soon come alive. She rose from the sofa and made her way back to her unit where Cara was still sound asleep. Quietly, Tala eased into the bottom bunk bed and wrapped the blankets tightly around herself. Her fingers brushed the edges of the two photos she kept wedged between the mattress and the wall, and she tucked them in farther to keep them safe. Even if she wanted to look at them now, it was too dark in the room. Rolling onto her side, she curled her body up and closed her eyes.
She waited. Kane’s face lingered in her mind. And then, like she did every time she slept, she imagined his arms sliding around her, pulling her close. She’d imagined it so hard that if she pushed her mind enough, she could almost feel those arms like they were really there. And then she was finally able to fall asleep.
Tala woke to a quiet room, which was louder to her than the bustling streets of Columbia City had ever been. She rubbed her eyes and reached for her palm pad under her pillow, glancing at the time and sighing with relief. She’d actually slept. She missed breakfast entirely, but she’d slept, and that was everything.
There was a sudden click from the unit door as it unlocked, and a moment later, it slid open, Cara strolling into the room.
“Good,” she said. “You’re awake.”
Tala sat up, her grogginess ebbing.
“Vulcan wants to see you.”
Tala felt her body tense. She had seen him a few times in the City Center, though they hadn’t spoken since her arrival. And she knew her time to rest had now come to an end.
She nodded at Cara as she slid the blanket back and rose from the bed. “I need a few minutes, then I’ll be ready.”
“I’ll wait,” she said. “I’m escorting you to his office.” Cara would disappear during the day for hours at a time, to where, Tala didn’t know. She knew lots of people who lived in The Village. But she always returned to their unit at night. She’d been assigned to Tala as a security detail. Tala was free to move about during the day, but after dark, it had been made clear to her that she was required to have an escort. Though many residents of The Village didn’t know her face, most of them knew her name. Many saw her new alliance with the Revos as a victory, but for some of the ex-pats from the Republic of Columbia, she wasn’t a welcome addition to their community. When they looked at her, they saw an Alexander, they saw Thias. And too many had suffered under his authority.
Tala went to the dresser, grabbing a pair of black jeans and a blue t-shirt. She had brought few belongings with her during her escape, and Vulcan had given her enough money when she arrived to buy the essentials, including new clothes from the two clothing stores in The Village. If she wanted more options, she’d have to go above ground into Hatfolk which she was prohibited from doing. But it didn’t matter, her wardrobe was the last thing on her mind.
Stepping into the small bathroom, Tala washed her face with cold water, pushing the last of her sleepiness away. She loved this about The Village, no water restrictions. No coordinated blackouts for electricity conservation. She ran a brush through her hair, which was finally blond again after the brown hair dye had washed out. She pulled it into a pony, then quickly dressed. When she was ready, she emerged from the bathroom.
Cara was sitting on their sofa, picking at her thumb nail. “Ready?
“Yes.” Tala nodded. It was time to be put to work. It was the entire reason she was there. Maybe a sense of purpose and a mission would help her melancholy.
Tala followed Cara out of their room, down the long corridor and past the empty lounge she found herself in every night. They passed through the security doors of their living quarters, then rounded a corner, officially leaving the east wing. They passed a block of elevators and the stairwell, then turned down a corridor in the south wing that Tala had never been down before. Not that it was surprising. The Village was huge, relatively speaking, and because of her self-imposed isolation, she hadn’t seen even a fraction of it.
They came to a reinforced glass doorway where Cara pressed her hand to a security pad that lit up at her touch. The door clicked, unlocking, then opened, and the two of them stepped through. The hallway widened, with glass walls on both sides that looked into an empty conference room. They passed what looked to be a control room, with a dozen or more people sitting at large desks with hologram computer screens. None of them looking up as they passed.
At the end of the hall was a waiting room with a tall desk in the center and a woman behind it, mostly obstructed from view until she stood. She was portly, with heavy brown curls and dark eyes hidden behind a pair of thick-framed glasses. She gave a silent nod at them as they passed.
Tala followed Cara down another corridor. Its walls were lined with horizontal panels of glossy wood, and their feet echoed loudly on the tile floor. They passed one door and approached a second, and Cara gave a hard rap on it before stepping through it.
“Ahh, you’re here,” Vulcan said as he rose to his feet.
Tala, suddenly unsure of herself, hesitated in the doorway, taking in the spacious office. She was slightly surprised by its stylish design, though she didn’t exactly know what she had been expecting. Vulcan stood behind a white, C-curved desk with two gray upholstered chairs sitting in front of it. Behind him, protected behind a glass panel, was a large map. It was worn, the edges frayed, with obvious creases and folds in the paper. She didn’t recognize what it was a map of however.
To her left was a small seating area. Four armchairs sat facing each other, a coffee table in the center. One wall was made of floor-to-ceiling virtual windows. The clouds outside were low and gray. The snow from the night before was now melted, leaving the browned and wilted grasses exposed and ugly. The adjacent wall was tinted light blue, a digital wall, though with nothing to show on it at the moment.
Tala stepped into the office, Vulcan carefully watching her take it in. He quietly studied her, his long dreadlocks hanging over his shoulders, his left arm a sleeve of black ink, his golden nose ring catching in the light.
“Sorry,” she said, realizing she’d been quiet too long.
He cleared his throat as he motioned to the seating area. “It’s no problem,” he said, his face impassive.
Tala took a seat in the deep chair, sinking into it. Cara sat beside her, Vulcan across from them. Vulcan – Addox, she reminded herself, thinking of his real name – had obvious dissimilarities from his brother. Where Kane’s skin was a rich, caramel brown, his was fair with faint freckles across his cheeks, and his eyes were hazel while Kane’s were dark brown. But Tala couldn’t help but see Kane in his other features. His jaw was a defined line, his cheekbones were high, his brows thick with a small peak at the top. Like Kane, he had full lips and an intensity in his gaze that was unsettling. It only made her miss Kane more.
“You’ve had some time to decompress,” he said. “Though I imagine things are still hard.”
Tala swallowed rising emotion and gave a solemn nod. She wasn’t about to let him see how deep her heartbreak ran. He couldn’t possibly understand.
“But there’s work to do. And I need you. It’s why you’re here,” Vulcan said. He stood, making his way to the digital wall. He tapped it, waking it up, then pressed his hand to it, unlocking it biometrically. With a few taps, a map appeared before her, the same one behind his desk. He swiped his fingers around, zooming in on the eastern side, and it dawned on Tala what she was seeing. She could clearly make out the Republic of Columbia with DeSoto to the south.
He continued to zoom in to the northeast corner of DeSoto, bordered by the Republic, to an area where the Atlantic coastline was highlighted in red.
“You see this?” Vulcan asked, turning toward her, pointing to the colored area. “This is what the Republic is in control of in DeSoto. DeSoto’s President Pierce has positioned her troops along the coast south of this region to hold off farther encroachment, but her numbers are nothing in comparison to the Republic’s. With air support, Republic Militia Forces pretty much walked in and took over.
“The Republic claims DeSoto is responsible for the attack in Columbia City and the assassination of President Royer, but Pierce has repeatedly denied these allegations. Mazanada to the south of DeSoto is already intervening on their behalf, and Pierce has requested military support from the Central Colonies, Tahari, and Pacifica as well. But without proof that they weren’t responsible, no one is eager to act,” he continued.
“No one wants to fight the Republic,” Tala said. Thias knew this. “But isn’t that what I’m here for?”
“To fight our fight, the Revos’, not DeSoto’s,” he said, pursing his lips. “But it still might be in our interest to help. If MF continues to gain control farther down the east coast, the Republic will also control major shipping hubs, giving them control over imports from around the world that we rely on. If the Republic can get across all of DeSoto, it would interrupt the flow of resources like food, medicine, cotton, and even petroleum in the Gulf. And that definitely would affect us.”
“What do I have to do with any of this?” Tala asked, glancing at Cara as she sat quietly in the chair beside her. Her ink, a closed red fist with a stem that resembled a rose, shown near her collarbone as she brushed her dark hair aside.
“You’re the only one who knows the truth about what happened that day in the city,” Vulcan said, folding his arms across his chest.
“But I don’t have physical proof of anything,” she said. She’d only seen the documents of the massacre plans, the payments to the shooters, to the sniper, on Thias’s computer. But she’d been unable to download or copy any of them. Though she was there when President Royer was assassinated. She’d failed to stop that.
“It’s still worth it for you to say something,” he said.
“To who?” She screwed up her face.
“To the leaders of our neighboring countries. We appeal to them with your knowledge. And then decide together how to proceed,” he said.
This took her by surprise, that the UR collaborated with the other North American countries. Vulcan was right, she was the only person who knew, unequivocally, what happened, what her brother had done, and she nodded in understanding. She had to at least try. Giving the Republic any amount of power or control was out of the question.
“Good. I’ll set something up,” he said.
“Is there any news?” she asked before she could stop herself.
Vulcan gave a furtive glance at Cara before looking back at Tala, his eyes meeting hers. “No,” he said with a shake of his head. “We’re doing what we can. But the situation inside the Republic is deteriorating daily. My people have to be careful about how they go about looking for him. But they are looking.”
Despite herself, her heart still fell. “Is there anything else?” she asked, rising to her feet.
“Make friends. Part of influencing people is having connections with people,” he said. Influencing people. He sounded like Thias.
But she knew he was right, though she hated it. The last thing in the world she wanted to do was put on a happy face and pretend everything was okay.
“Got it,” she said, knowing this wasn’t up for debate.
Tala collapsed onto the small sofa in her unit, Cara sitting on the armrest beside her. They had walked in silence back to their unit, Tala replaying Vulcan’s words in her head, wondering if this had been Thias’s goal all along.
