Chapter One: The Uprising

" I truly made it on the inside!" Lizon gasped to his brethren among the feast. " Nudenbourn will have a new day!" A burst of courage was found in his racing heart. 

A sudden yank broke the attention of young arrogant Lizon. He was snatched up by his father and held in a heartfelt embrace. "I'm proud, my son." The husky bearded man who was respected as the strongest in Nudenbourn. The Hiker family all-around was a well respected family. Lizon's mother Penelope had always been great at art of all sorts and could build a sturdy yet elegant- because of her 'woman's touch'- house in only a few days. Of course she would need workers but she got the job done. Lizon's father, Nezerabcus, was the partial founder of Nudenbourn's current law and led the military. He also kept the sewage and water plants operating and taught many men and teens to help run it. He indeed was one of the largest idles in Nudenbourn. 

"You always made me proud." Nezerabcus grinned wiping his scruffy beard which was a nice light brown laced with silver. Not White but silver like that of steel wool, which was quiet coincidental for the 'Steel Man'. "Always the athletic one, always the one who could prove himself of acrobatics and strength." 

"Thanks dad." A pat to the shoulder made Lizon feel as if he was the Golden Child.

"So what's the plan, brother?" The obviously jealous brother of Lizon, Ezza, propped himself against the wall folding his arms. The abruptly spirited young man smirked. "Are we to waltz in, guns blazing, asking Mezerriah himself if we can dance with one of his many wives?" 

Lizon only grins. He walks to his only one year younger brother. As they meet in eye contact, Ezza grows tense. Lizon lightly places his hands onto Ezza, not even gripping as the younger brother unfolds his arms. "Of course brother. We would need to give you some women since you like to allow the infected to feast on the flesh of yours."

This was Ezza's breaking point! You could spit in his face and curse the family name and he would still remain unscathed, but when you said things about the incident of Elizabeth, his semi-pacifism broke! Without any words Ezza shoved Lizon back, and as he recovered Ezza threw his right fist. Lizon had recovered in the nick of time to catch the heavily thrown right! Instead of assaulting his brother Lizon chose just to humiliate him, sending an open-handed slap to his cheek. Ezza stammered to the side as the numbness flowed into his face. He gained full awareness of what Lizon did next, which was a roundhouse.  Ezza quickly stops the leg from impacting his ribs!

Lizon suddenly noticed he was predictable! And so did his father! Ezza suddenly took advantage of Lizon before he could realize he was doing the same strikes and left-right combos that he had been doing since they were children. The only thing that had changed was the amount of violence that was put into it. Now Ezza threw his brother to the ground, mounting him! In an overpowering position he stated, "Your arrogance makes you insolent brother."

As Ezza tastes the blood from the quick surprisingly rough slap he begins to punch his brother's jaw. Lizon flailing like a rat caught in the snake's deadly wrap, can only manage to defend himself from few punches. Finally, their father, getting his fill of the most interesting duel they have had yet, pulls Ezza off of Lizon. He then shoves him aside, pushing his son further than intended because of his massive strength. He lifts his firstborn and dusts him off, handing a cloth he had earlier snatched from the feast. He wiped the blood from his son's mouth.

"Now Lizon, you see the mistakes you make in combat?" His father says.

Lizon only nods.

Ezza finally vents. After seeing that for once he overpowered his brother fairly, Ezza actually admired his new skills. He felt a bit more confident. "Sorry father, and I'm sorry my brother." Young Ezza did not like his brother but of course he loved him. His brother was the only one there after Elizabeth. His parents did love him but he was sort of detached from the family after joining with the Tunics, a gang outside of the ruins of the nearby city; Caro. He became a thief and started scavenging even inhabited areas. 

"No, I'm sorry." Lizon shook his brother's hand. " I shouldn't speak wrong of Elizza." Elizabeth was also Lizon's friend but not as close as she was  with Ezza.

"Now son,"  Nezerabcus spoke, interrupting the apology. "What is your plan?"

Lizon stares among his people. "Brothers and sisters, we have been tormented long enough by such an understatement of an empire. Rios must fall because they do not understand the meaning of an empire. All they see is the idea of changing humanity! They believe that growing the world their way will force it into better shape, but truly all they are doing is building their own destruction. Eventually a group of people will rise within their means and force them to fall or just kill a large number of their population. I was on the inside! They do not fret to shed blood." Lizon sighs, walking around in the circle the crowd had made. He places his hands on his head, rubbing his temples. He then noticed that the rings he had been given by his mother were gone. The Rios soldiers must have looted them when they took him prisoner. He pretends not to notice and continues, "We have suffered for what gain? Not dying? Well we will soon starve because the empire continues to expand like the virus that overtook our beautiful world. They will soon rid of all food except for themselves. We must stop them before they get out of hand. We are already losing our grip."

Nudenbourn was the second largest civilization expanding. Although they were second largest, they didn't near the size of Rios! What Lizon said was true. Rios was expanding vastly through the wasteland. The truth was that Mezerriah had 200 people in a bunker to help him build onto a mint condition city.  Eric and Nezerabcus only had a pile of rocks and 12 people. The ruins were created by a firebombing that was done during the infection in a hope to quarantine. The bright side of being in the ruins though was that there were not as many infected in the area. But then again the ones that were there were the strongest or stealthiest.

"Question!" A hand in the crowd pops up. A man. He reveals himself in the rags of a middle class citizen. This was probably just what he chose to wear.

"Yes?" Lizon replies.

"Shouldn't we be sticking together, what with all the infected and such?" The man's voice seems to peep as if he's nervous of asking the seemingly innocent question.

"That's exactly what we are doing, my friend. We are stopping them before they decide to enslave their own kind and take human life into the will of one man. Or an unjust God if you will." He sighs.

"Understood." The man withdraws his hand not really ensuring if he is satisfied or not.

"Son," Lizon's father begins. "Now you seem to demonstrate a great idea but how much of our resources will this take?" The father speaks to Lizon not as a son now but a militiaman or a fellow war major.

"Honestly father, I believe we'll need quite a few soldiers armed with two firearms and a melee weapon." He rubs the back of his neck, taking a seat on an unsmoldered ebony chair.

"How many?" Nezerabcus speaks, not planning on giving Lizon any slack even if he is his son. If anything this will make his desicion even further no.

"A little over 500, at least." Lizon hesitates.

"No." He simply answers.

"Father-"

"You heard me Lizon Emanuel Hiker!"

"Father!"

"No! The risk is too great!" And what he spoke was true. Having only a population of 1,500 and only 700 being trained soldiers this would leave Nudenbourn in tremendous danger.

"But father, the army of Rios wields 1,200!" Lizon argued.

"Exactly."

"They are only going to grow dad!"

"And so can we!"

"Not if they attack!"

"They have no reason."

"Yes they know I am Nudenbourn and I cheated in their games!" Lizon admitted. Then the argument grew quiet.

"What?" His father dared him to repeat.

"I hid light armor and sneaked a gun through when they took me as prisoner."

His father laughed in disbelief. Grabbing the bridge of his nose, he sat down. "They didn't check you?"

"I told them a lie to soil even the devil himself." Lizon grinned with the vile smile, demonstrating his pride.

Ezza's eyes rose to glare at his brother. He used the old 'trigger' trick. Ezza shared a large bluff with Lizon. The Tunics, if captured, were always rumored to have wired explosives into their clothes. They are the only ones that supposedly know how to get off the clothes. So Lizon explained to his father that he used a trick the Tunics used on everyone. He proved a bit of his cunning to his father. Little did he know the younger once taught the older.

Reviews

[Charles Anthony Almanza]

Hahah, I see you've managed to master the art of abstract writing. It's almost a bit overwhelming, just being thrown into a world that seems to be fully fleshed out and real, yet you don't know a damn thing about what is really going on. I feel like a silent observer from afar. I can't really make any judgements just yet, but this has piqued my interest considerably.

Please post more ):