Uprising Book Preview

I spouted a string of curses meant to slay demons and wound gods; it did neither.

“Gene, we’re being flanked on the left; go now! Go Go GO!” I shouted, seeing a small window of opportunity for our survival. It wasn’t much, but we were the best for a reason.

“Going!” came the reply as my teammate dashed forward and to the right, he was taking heavy fire.

“Cover fire,” I shouted, using my HUD to ping a location downfield where the enemy was bringing down the most heat on us from. They outnumbered us, had more ammo and better positions. Essentially, It looked terrible.

“Give them hell, boys,” came Grover’s reply. He was my second in command and the heavy artillery gunner. A barrage of gunfire resounded around us as my remaining three teammates sent the last of their ammo downrange. Bullets flew, debris spread, and curses were flung. It was a valiant effort; we even managed to take down one careless enemy who got too far from cover.

Then we ran out of ammo.

The counter-attack came hard and fast. We were pinned, no primary weapon ammo, and beaten up pretty good. The force of the attack drove us deeper into cover. I looked through my HUD to see the damage to my team and their supplies. It wasn’t a pretty sight! I pulled my pistol, looking over the barricade, then ducking back quickly as bullets ricocheted too near for comfort. Gene needed to complete his mission, or we were done for. “Gene, hurry the hell up!” I said and grunted as a single round made it through the barricade I was taking cover behind and hit my body armor. I moved to the edge, hoping it hadn’t been eaten away as much as the rest of the wall. I was running out of adequate protection fast. To my right, Grover fell to the ground cursing loudly.

“I’m hit bad!” He spit the words with venom; my HUD displayed a red light on his midsection. The shot had penetrated his protector. I was about to call for med kits when the world went and tipped upside down. An earth-shattering explosion blew away our cover and sent us flying. One second I was calling out to Grover, and then I was flipping head over heels. I landed hard on my back while my vision blurred into a chaotic, confusing mess.

“Artillery, Cover!!!” I shouted, trying to scramble or shamble behind anything that hadn’t been blown to bits by the initial strike.

“Got it,” Gene shouted in our ears. Instantly my health returned, and all my ammo replenished. The hum of my shields coming back up was music to my ears, and my vision sharpened immediately. I stopped dead run and turned around, facing the enemy team smiling from ear to ear.

“Counter assault!” I shouted, setting my weapon to three-shot burst. The grenades that appeared at my sides itched to be used. I obliged, tossing one with an expert motion. It landed perfectly behind a partially crumbled wall three enemies were using for cover. Two made it out; the other flew into the air with the blast. Two enemies down, six to go.

“Wooooooohoooo” my team and I yelled in unison as we charged. I took the two that had run from cover in the head with armor-piercing rounds. They fell to the ground in a heap, dust and blood billowing out from under them. Four down, only four more. A shot hit my shield hard, nearly depleting it.

“Sniper!” Grover shouted, and I dove just in time for the second bullet to whiz by safely. Not a second later, the sniper’s nest was blown from the earth. You shouldn’t attack the leader of the group first when there was a rocket launcher behind him. Noobs. Dirt and debris fell from the sky like rain around me while I advanced, shouting like a maniac. Three Left.

Gene, returning from the supply drop, jumped over a chest-height wall. Dashing forward, I lost sight of him; a moment later, a notification in my HUD let me know he had assassinated another enemy.

“Only two left,” I yelled into the com, seeing them retreat to higher ground hastily. The enemy team had poured it on heavy betting everything on the artillery strike. When they left the resupply point unguarded against Gene, they as good as lost the game. Now we had them. Wanting to finish them with style, I pushed my reserve energy into boosters. Jumping over the broken-down, bullet-riddled semi-truck in front of me, I landed on the car behind it. The metal roof caved in, glass flew out from the vehicle in all directions as my heavy suit caused massive damage to the poor sedan.

“Take them now!” Grover shouted as I switched to single-shot mode and aimed down the sites.

“Thrump thrump” two shots, two kills. They both fell, and we cheered.

“Victory,” a deep voice no human should possess, shouted over the intercom.

“God, I love this game,” Grover said, patting me on the back from the chair next to me. I smiled, saying goodbye to our other teammates then taking off my visor and control gloves. Only Grover, Gene, Jordan, and I lived in the area. The other four joined us remotely to game.

“You see the graphics this patch?” Gene asked excitedly as he extracted himself from his gear.

“Why do I always die first?” Jordan complained.

“Because you suck the most,” Gene said, laughing rather hysterically at his joke. Nerds.

“Look, the whole enemy team, I’m going to run straight at them while low on ammo! Follow me, guys!” Grover said in a goofy tone while waving his hands running forward; we all laughed.

“He does have a point,” I chimed in.

“Just because I’m not a camper like all of you doesn’t mean I’m not a good player,” Jordan argued, more than a bit defensive.

“Boys, time for dinner,” my mom called from downstairs, interrupting our very loud conversation. And just like that, all other priorities disappeared into nothingness while the thought of food consumed our brainpower. I patted Jordan on the back as I went by.

“Don’t worry, buddy, one day you can be like me. Just keep trying reeeealy hard” then I spun away before his sloppy punch could hit me in the chest and bounded down the stairs.

“That’s not fair,” he huffed at my ability to dodge him. It wasn’t my fault; only Grover was coming to self-defense classes with me anymore.

“First one there gets dessert choice!” I shouted.

“Were not in third grade anymore,” Grover said but charged after me quickly. We rounded the corner to the kitchen, nearly knocking mom over in our rush.

“Sorry, mom,” we said in unison. She just shook her head and called for the other boys. Grover and I both stopped in front of the kitchen island.

“Oh, man,” I gasped.

“Miss French, you shouldn’t have!” Grover said in a dreamy tone. Only two things could get 16 and 17-year-old boys this happy, a distinct lack of clothing on beautiful women and cheeseburgers made by my mother. They weren’t just any cheeseburgers either. Mom’s recipe for them was legendary in the small city of Kernersville. Greasy, plump, medium-well heaven topped with enough cheese to clog a horse on fiber. Gene and Jordan rounded the corner, and we rushed forward. We all scrambled, trying to get the burgers at once. Good thing mom lived up to her reputation of overcooking for every meal again; there must have been 30 pre-made burgers sitting on the platter. Just enough for lunch!

“Don’t break my plate, boys!” Mom shouted over our blundering insanity. Food had always been one of my favorite things about life; with moms cooking, that wouldn’t change anytime soon. As I scooped four cheeseburgers and an over-sized serving of perfectly seasoned fries onto my plate, I couldn’t help but smile. At that moment, I knew that I had more in this life than I could have ever thought. Mom, friends, a regular home, and good food! Now, if only I didn’t have to go to school on Monday.

An hour later, six double cheeseburgers, about a ton of French fries and cookie dough ice cream, the four of us sat watching TV. We didn’t move, but that wasn’t because we didn’t want to; we couldn’t.

“Ohmygawd, your mum makes the best burgers, dude,” Grover huffed, taking his last bite of ice cream, looking a bit overstuffed.

“Thanks, Grover!” Mom called from the other room. “Whew, no kidding, man,” Jordan said while Superman toppled half the city buildings on the TV screen. “How cool would it be to have power like that” Gene said, pointing. It was the first Superman movie in the newest series of them. It came out a long time ago; I frowned, trying to remember the year. “Was it 2013 or 2014 this one came out?” I asked. Grover smacked me on the back of the head.

“Come on, man, keep your facts straight! 2013 was the rebirth of the Superman series,” but Gene shook his head

“How can Superman kill someone? It’s not in his nature historically!” Jordan argued, and I groaned. I hadn’t meant to start this again.

“So, he should have let that guy kill millions of people?” Grover asked, getting more upset than anyone should rightly get over a superman movie.

“Guys, guys!” I shouted over their rising voices

“What should have happened was Kal goes to his dad, gets the plan to kill Zod before he attacks. Then he gets the pod ready, flies into space, throws it, touch down. Superman wins, and metropolis gets to keep the majority of its populace and buildings,” I said, feeling proud of myself.

They looked at me like I was an alien and then continued fighting with each other.

“You ever get the feeling they argue to get out of dishes?” I asked Gene

“Absolutely!” Gene replied, narrowing his eyes at them. I forced myself from the couch, grunting.

“Come on, then ladies, it won’t work tonight” I moved from the living room down the hall. Grover’s phone buzzed loudly behind us. The sheepish look he cast in our direction after looking at the text made me interested. Who was texting Grover outside of our group? I mean, Grover was a cool guy and one of the best friends/computer techs you could hope to find. But popular, he was not. One could say he was downright awkward most of the time unless he was with the guys.

“Hey guys, let’s go to a party tonight” I turned slowly in surprise. Jordan’s jaw fell open, and Gene stood eyes wide in shock. Grover wasn’t unpopular, but he wasn’t the type to be sociable either. Okay, I take that back; the poor guy was as undesirable as they came. The idea of Grover at a party besides our gaming sessions was akin to Superman taking Kryptonite pills. He didn’t like large crowds, dancing, socializing, or pretty much anything else besides pretty girls that went on at parties.

“Since when did you want to go to parties,” Gene asked, and I shook my head in rebuff.

“Screw that! Since when did you know people who threw parties,” Grover rolled his eyes at us.

“I happen to be rather popular.” I tried to keep a straight face, tried, and failed. The whole group, minus Grover, burst into hysterical laughter.

I walked into the kitchen with everyone in tow to clean for mom. Mom could make meals to feed armies and impress kings, but the messes left behind were near as awe-inspiring. We dove into cleaning while Grover persisted in trying to get us to come with him.

“Guys, I think you all would like it,” he insisted.

“How would you know?” Jordan said, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Gene and I said at the same time turning from the sink.

“Well, I might have been to a couple,” Grover said sheepishly.

“What!?!” We all yelled.

“Okay, who’s the party host?” I asked suspiciously.

“Mindy,” he replied, even more pulled in on himself.

“As in Mindy Hanson?” I said, eyes bulging. He nodded, and Jordan cursed softly. Mindy was the most attractive and popular girl in school. Maybe in all of the schools. Head cheerleader, excellent grades, track star, and aspiring model. She was the girl to know at East High School and pretty much the entirety of the east coast’s senior high school students. Her impressive figure and achievements were only passed up by her snob nosed attitude and overly spoiled lifestyle. She was also a member of a ranking Blood Born family. Honestly, I had no idea why she was at our school. It was prestigious sure, but not THAT prestigious.

How did that happen?” I asked, throwing up my hands at the dirty look he shot me.

“No offense, buddy, but we’re not the type of people she hangs around; she is a freaking Blood Born dude or at least close.”

“Maybe she found out she digs nerds?” Grover said, looking hurt.

“Yeah, and the president is coming to visit me tomorrow,” I said in a very sarcastic tone.

“Come on, man, spill,” Gene said, backing me up while putting dishes in the sink. I nodded to him a silent thanks.

“Okay, well, you know how Mindy has perfect grades, right,” Grover said.

“Yeah,” I shrugged. Everyone knew that; she told the whole school every chance she got.

“Well, she stinks at math, so I help her with homework. She is a pretty cool girl. I mean, she’s conceited, but then most people are. She started inviting me to hang out a bit at these parties as a “thank you,” I guess. Some of the people that come are cool too.” He shrugged, and I had to admit I had underestimated my friend. Grover was a genius, like Harvard and MIT full academic ride kind of smart. I figured he would help others as friendly as he was, but getting in with Mindy Hanson. Wow!

“Okay, I’m in,” I said, not over thinking it. I got invited to these parties pretty often since I moonlighted as a jock at school. My true colors were geeky; I chose games and time with mom and friends over parties most of the time. I hadn’t been to one in a while, and I was kind of excited for Grover. Maybe he would even get a girlfriend out of the deal. But then again some people at our school were not nice. I also worried there might be some other motives flying around behind the scenes.

“Sweet!” Grover said, smiling. “I was getting a little bored going to these by myself,” he sighed in relief.

“Well?” I said questioningly, looking at the other two. Gene shook his head, saying he had too much homework and Jordan bowed out also. I put the last pan into the dishwasher and started it with a push of a button.

“Sweet, then I’ll see you guys later.” We all bumped fists as they grabbed their bags from the hallway.

“Party is at her house and starts at 8,” Grover said, walking out the door.

“I’ll meet you there,” I said and shut the door.

“Making plans without asking me, huh,” mom said from right behind me. I hadn’t heard her approach and nearly jumped through the roof when she spoke.

“Holy crap, mom, You’re going to kill me one day!” I panted, trying to catch my breath as she laughed loudly.

“Maybe you should learn to keep your ears open. That puts me up three to zip this week.” She walked away, smiling, pleased with herself. I still hadn’t recovered.

“I figured you always try and get me to do new things. Besides, seeing Grover at a party isn’t something I can pass up.” She smiled and nodded, looking back before turning the corner she spoke to me.

“It’s alright; just remember to be smart about it,” I nodded. Mom knew I wouldn’t do anything too stupid.

“Thanks, mom, I’m going to get ready,” I said as I walked up the steps.

“Ok, Hunny,” Mom called back.