The Risen: Chapter One
By: Chris Akins
The fools and the wicked wake up on this day with the intention of going about their daily lives as they would normally do. These petty lives will no longer be as they once were. They are the condemned.
Every last person who has woken up on this day is doomed to walk the earth for eternity, save for those who find the light. Soon they will learn that this day is different. The will learn that over half the world has passed on. The souls of the righteous have been saved from this horrible fate, but for the wicked, they will only see the millions of corpses no longer occupied by the souls that once embodied them. They will forget yesterday’s headlines of the war and scandal and will look to the media for answers to the overnight passing of half the earth’s population. They weep for their losses, but do not realize that the lost ones look down from heaven and weep for the forsaken. The end of the world has begun.
Edward Mayor has just awakened this morning. He is a simple man; no family, roommates, or pets. Everything appears to him as it did when he went to bed the previous night. The truth will come slowly to him. He goes about his day for hours, oblivious to the events that are transpiring. Outside the world is in frenzy, but he simply sits in his home, quietly eating breakfast. Normally he would already be at work, but Edward has decided very recently that he is not too fond of his job. He quit last night, determined to make a new life for himself, an ironic coincidence that he will be soon forced to do so anyway.
At around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, Edward turns on his television. About thirty seconds after that, he realizes that every channel is exactly the same. A breaking news story has taken over every network informing each individual of the widespread passing. Edward is finally aware that this is nit just another day. He listens intently to the reporter on the television. It has come to his attention that the picture on screen is of the streets of his own New
York City, with bodies littering the ground. He turns up the volume.
“Medical professionals are scrambling to find the cause of the deaths, though some suggest some kind of biological weapon targeted at a gene that the ones lost possess. Autopsies are being done to find some kind of variation in these people that would make them susceptible to such a weapon. Many are flocking to the streets, ignoring the health warnings from our government, to search for their loved ones amongst the dead. Religious radicals seem to think that this was brought on by the wrath of God, punishing us for the sinful lives we’ve all led. Others say that this is the rapture, and that we are in the midst of the apocalypse, but scientists are regarding these allegations pure nonsense.”
Elsewhere, watching the same news story, Dr. Henry Burns, a scientist and professor at a local university, attempts to reach his family. No one answers. He gradually comes to the conclusion that they too are among the departed. He slumps into the chair in his office; he had slept here overnight working on a very promising project, the regeneration of dead cells and perhaps an end to old age. For years he and a handful of students have been working on this world-changing project in the university’s science lab. A thought suddenly comes to
Dr. Burns that perhaps some of his students have remained in his lab
as well, being that most of them were here when he had dozed off. He
rushes out of his office and down the hallway, screaming out the names
of his colleagues. His fears are turned to reality when he sees his
lab cluttered with the bodies of his former students. He opens the
door and falls to his knees in disbelief. His eyes stare blankly into
the room and fill up with tears for his fallen friends. Some of his
most promising students are sprawled across the floor, motionless.
Beakers and vials lay shattered and the lab itself, an utter mess. It
seems the students had fallen over the lab tables, knocking their
contents to the ground. Burns glances at a surgical knife that lies on
the floor. It all of a sudden looks quite appealing to him. In an
instant, all that he cared for had been taken away; his family, his
friends, and his life’s work. He slowly reaches over and grips the
knife tightly in his hand. He gazes at the blade with a certain
wonderment. Something he's used so many times before could now be used to end his sorrow. He raises the knife, but his arm trembles. He wants nothing more than to put a stop to this nightmare, but is unable to
take his own life. Just as he lowers his arm, a voice cries out in the
building.
“Dr. Burns!” Five students burst into the room and
rush at his side. “Dr. Burns! What are you doing in here?”
He looks up at them with his tear-filled eyes, “You…
Are you the only ones left?”
The students look grimly at each other. They have already
come to terms with what is going on. “Yes sir. We arrived this
morning. We just went to look for you in your office, we feared the
worst.”
Burns tries to collect himself. The survival of these few
has brightened his spirit slightly. “Do you have any idea what caused
all this?”
“…No.”
He stands up with the help of one of the students. “Well, according to the news, neither does anyone else. We need to do
something. I think... I think we should halt our work here and try to
figure this whole thing out. We owe it to our friends here. Clean up
the lab and meet me in my office with ideas.” He stumbles out of the
lab leaving his students to clean the corpses of their colleagues.
The sun sets on this historic day and the night is without sleep. All
around the world, people mourn for their lost friends and relatives.
Wars have been put on hold, and scientists are working harder than
ever before. Of course they refuse to accept the truth. For the first
time in a long while however, the streets of major cities are empty
and churches full. People have come here to honor the dead and attempt
to save their souls in the event of a true Armageddon. Either way, it
is too late for them. They are doomed.
Eddie had no trouble sleeping the previous night. He wakes up again like it is just another day. He searches through his closet for his
favorite coat, a rather long, black trench coat, and makes his way
outside. He walks the streets of New York, enjoying the quietness that
is so uncommon in this city. He goes by the bustling church and keeps
moving. He seeks no salvation. He has left his home for the sole
purpose of obtaining food for his home. It is as if yesterday’s
events have not even fazed him. The streets have been mostly cleaned,
with nothing left but wreckage of the hundreds of cars that suddenly
went without their drivers. Eddie simply walks past these crashes as
if they were everyday traffic. He enters a small convenient store, one
he visits frequently. The owner still lives, but is not currently at
the store. Eddie notices a small sign on the door that reads "Not
dead, but not here. Back in a few hours." He finds that the door is
not locked, but though he is a sinner, he is not an evil hearted man.
There are no thoughts of stealing when he clearly could get away with
it. He enters the store and patiently waits for the owner to arrive.
As he paces around, his gaze shifts out the window. The sight is a
gloomy one. It is no longer death that occupies the city, but sin.
People have taken to looting from the local stores they regularly shop
in. It seems these people too had no trouble sleeping at night.
Eddie waits in the store for hours before the owner shows up. Ernie
Gilbert is man who has very recently acquired his faith. Just
yesterday as a matter of fact. It’s no coincidence that he had been
watching the news all day and listening to the many religious signs.
He walks into the store as if he was sneaking in, shocked to see
anyone there.
“Oh! Mr. Mayor, uh, hope you haven’t been waiting long.”
Eddie puts his groceries down on the counter. “It’s fine, I don’t
really have a busy day today.”
“You caught up in this whole rapture thing too?”
“Well, not really. I’m not sure about all that.”
“Really? Have you heard the news? They’re trying to find a cause,
but there’s nothing. No indication of any poisons or toxins.”
“Aren’t those the same thing?”
“It doesn’t matter. What they’re saying is that there is no cause
for all these deaths. Doesn’t that tell you anything?”
Eddie ponders this for a moment, but it is of no use. His mind is not
changed. “Okay then, let me ask you this. If this really was the rapture, then why weren’t you taken? You seem to be highly religious.”
“Actually, I never really believed in anything up until this happened. But I know you use to believe in God. In fact, you were very religious when I met you. That was only a few years ago.”
“Yeah, well… Things change. I’ve realized the truth. Now are you gonna ring this up? I don’t want to spend all day here.”
“One second, I only came down here to watch something.” Ernie runs into the storage closet and wheels out an old television set. “The president is addressing what’s happened.”
He turns on the TV, and the President of the United States appears on screen. His speech has already begun, but the frantic shopkeeper has missed nothing of importance. He had simply stated how much of a tragedy the situation is. He then went on to explain that no other president has had to deal with something of this magnitude. He’s using this as an opportunity to make himself seem noble. Not really surprising, seeing as he still walks the earth. Ernie is captivated and fooled by this speech, but Eddie is not. He sees through the lies being poured out and the false sympathy. He shows no respect for a man who uses the death of millions to rally support in his favor. Eddie leaves the store, his groceries still sitting on the counter.
Dr. Burns paces his study as his remaining students sit wearily in
their chairs, waiting for him to speak.
“So, we have nothing. How can we have nothing? So many dead and no explanation? No abnormalities, no diseases, nothing! What are we missing?!”
One of his students attempts to provide a solution he knows his peers will not accept. “What if… what if it isn’t a medical problem?
What if it’s something else?”
Dr. Burns becomes intrigued. “What do you mean?”
“Well," the student continues, "have we considered anything… super natural?”
The other students find this proposition ridiculous. “What like witchcraft?”
“No, I mean something… biblical.”
“Sounds like you’ve been watching too much news. Since when are you the religious type?”
“I’m not. That’s just my point. None of us are, but what about some of our… former colleagues? They were openly religious and now they’re dead.”
“So you’re saying that only the religious people were killed? Don’t biblical disasters normally kill off the unholy?”
Dr. Burns’ eyes widen. An idea comes to his mind. “Not all of them.”
Eddie has decided that he doesn't want to have to deal with more
religious nuts or supernatural theories, so he abandons the notion of
buying groceries. He persists in finding a place where he can go on like everything is normal. No place better for him than the local gentlemen's club. This wouldn’t be the first time for him to do this. As a matter of fact, he’s sort of a regular customer, being that he lives alone. But as he approaches the club, he witnesses something at the entrance that causes him to change his mind. One of the “dancers” seems to be screaming quite loudly at her employer.
“Look Louie, I’m not working like this!”
“Felicia, don’t you walk away from me! Now we have a full house and you’re the only dancer I’ve got today!”
“Oh, I wonder why? Oh that’s right, it’s because everybody’s
f***ing dead! Dead or smart enough not to show up for work today. I’m
not going to be the only one in there, so f*** you, and f*** all those
perverts that come here on a day like this! She storms away and shoves Eddie aside.
“Move it perv!”
Eddie looks around with a look of utter confusion on his face. A bum sitting on a flap of cardboard across the street laughs hysterically
at him as if he were more unfortunate than himself.
“Hehe! Having some trouble getting into the titty bar son? Oh you
might wanna get going, as soon as them other fellas realize that there
ain’t no dancer, they’ll be coming out here all angry and such. Maybe wanting to rough somebody up!”
Eddie once again looks around to make sure that the bum is indeed
talking to him.
“Uh, th-thanks."
"Don't mention it! Hehehe!"
Eddie swiftly makes his way back home after concluding that there is
absolutely no where that will be normal today.
Two days have passed and on the dawning of the third, there is a
different mood in the world. It is as if everyone can feel what’s
coming without knowing it. Even Edward wakes up earlier than usual. He
turns on his television, expecting to see another disaster on the
news, but there is nothing. Just the same news stories about the
recent event.
He then shrugs away the feeling and goes back to bed. However, before
he reaches his bedroom, he begins to feel a slight vibration in the
floor. He stops and listens for a moment. Nothing. He continues to
walk toward his room again, but is thrown off his feet by an enormous
quake in the ground. Glass shatters all around him as he brings
himself to his feet. He rushes to his door in an attempt to get out of
the building, but then stops and runs to his closet to grab his
favorite coat. The quake begins to bring down his apartment, so he
reluctantly decides to let it go. Concrete begins to crumble as he
makes his way out of his room and down the stairs. As he reaches the
final flight, he stumbles and falls down the remaining steps. The
trembles continue and he forces himself back up. He limps his way out
of the apartment building and makes his way to the streets along with
thousands of others. The confused people run in a panic, and all that
can be heard is the shouting of the word “Earthquake” and of course
the quake itself. People scream as buildings fall and the road
crumbles. A large crack splits the road in half and it begins to
widen. Eddie looks in horror, as the earth itself seems to separate
right before his eyes. The ground begins to convex into the air and
once the separation ends, a mountain appears to have formed.
Riots continue in the streets for hours after the quakes. In the midst
of the chaos, Eddie gets a good look at the trench. He’s forced to
climb on top of a few pieces of road that have been brought up in
order to get to the top. He gazes down the pit and heat engulfs his
face. He backs away from the trench that seems to reach into the
depths of hell.
Chris Akins is a writer for Nerdism Comics, and wrote this in a document with some pretty f*cked up formatting. He apologizes. You can write to him at Nerdismcomics@yahoo.com
