Rebirth (The New Age Series Book 2)

Book summary

After four decades of challenges, Hokura returns to the transformed city of Meridiana, seeking solace from haunting memories. Surprised by the city's rebirth, she joins forces with a mysterious professor and a supportive governor. As they navigate a labyrinth of secrets and deceit, Hokura faces startling truths about her past. On the edge of humanity's survival, will she overcome her demons or succumb to them?

Excerpt from Rebirth (The New Age Series Book 2)

It had been 40 years since Hokura had fled the city of Meridiana with the rebel commander James alongside her fellow peacekeepers, Amara and Adam, and friends Dr. Allen and Annette. Just as the rebels had promised about looking for the free world, they had found it, a life that they could start picking up, a city where they could live with old government laws. They were welcomed with open arms, given jobs and tasks, and had lived happily, or as happy as they could be.

The peacekeepers had been anomalies from the start; their brute strength had been welcomed, but the people of the city shied away from them. The rebels from the caravan had happily embraced them and considered them friends. As the three found themselves as outsiders from those of the city, Amara had clung onto Adam while Hokura had stayed at James’ side, but even with all the freedom to come and go and live as they pleased, there had been one thing the peacekeepers couldn’t fight. Time.

Barack had been the first, followed by many of the rebels, and then Annette. Hokura watched in disdain as those around her aged and died. Even Dr. Allen became frail with lines on his face, as the three peacekeepers didn’t look a day older than when they had left. Hokura became distraught and had asked James to take her away from the city the day the doctor didn’t wake up from his sleep. Something she often asked of him, as some days being in the city had become unbearable. As much as she tried to live for the moments and enjoy her freedom, time was a continuous enemy, and death was the ugly reminder of their own immortality.

Hokura herself had become more distant. She no longer wished to take part in anything that went on within the city. From public announcements to city discussions, she ignored them all. She had even become distant from Amara and Adam as she doted upon her rebel as he too began to show his age. She was determined to spend as many of her waking hours with him, trying to absorb any knowledge he still had left to teach her. Her anxiety grew as the years weathered him even more. He had asked her the same question time and time again, but she never answered. She couldn’t think of life beyond him.

It had been just after the harsh winter that one of her nightmares had become a reality. Hokura had cried over James’ cold body for the entirety of the day before Adam had to physically lift her off him and take him away as his friend screamed in misery as Amara held her back. She was alone in this new life other than Amara and Adam. Even though it was well known who and what they were, they didn’t seem to overly fit in. Life around them was once again dying. The fertility rate in females had dropped, and the human race as they knew it was at its end.

Hokura fell into a deep depression. Once again, she felt like she couldn’t speak to the others. She felt as if she were slipping away and drowning in her sorrows and regrets. She had dissociated herself from everyone, spending hours on end alone or walking the oceanside reveling in the memories of her fallen love. Becoming detached from everyone, wishing she would just simply fade away into the darkness that came every night, hoping maybe one night her nightmares would just swallow her whole and take her from her pain.

“You haven’t been yourself for months,” Amara stated as the three of them walked down the dusty city road after dinner one night at sunset. “You barely eat, you’ve barely said a word, I know you haven’t been sleeping either. We’ve heard you wake up screaming from nightmares.”

Hokura shook her head. “The nightmares are nothing new. After forty years, they haven’t changed.”

“It’s been forty years, Hokura,” Adam sighed. “Forty years, and he still hasn’t come for you. What makes you think that he’s still out there? For all we know, the compound and the city of Meridiana don’t even exist anymore.”

Yet again, there was a wedge driven between the three of them, and Hokura found herself the outsider of the group. She was broken and alone and feeling a loss that neither the other two would ever feel. As grateful as she was for that notion, she also felt more isolated and alone without James by her side.

She had become a ghost of the person she once was, barely existing and only surviving because something had forced her to carry on.

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately. We don’t know whatever happened to the compound. It might still be there…” Hokura’s voice was hoarse and tired.

“Because nobody ever wanted to find out,” Amara added, looking at her friend for a moment taking in Hokura’s peculiar look. “Don’t be stupid!” she stated but already knew what was on the first child’s mind. “Dammit, Hokura, I know you’re going through a loss right now, but there is no way in hell that I am going to allow you to go back there!”

Adam stared at Hokura in disbelief. “Did you not just state that you’ve had nightmares for the past forty years? You’ve spent the last forty years telling us about them, about how you’ve dreamt of the professor coming after you, and now you want to go back there?”

“I don’t know why… but I just need to know Adam. I need to know whether my nightmares are justified. I have this feeling inside of me that just won’t stop! Ever since James died, I’ve felt the pull to go back there, and it’s been driving me mad!” Hokura cried.

“Because you are mad!” Amara cried back.

The three had stopped walking and were now facing off on the desolate sidewalk. “Maybe I am,” Hokura shot back, then chuckled. “Maybe I’ve been mad this entire time.” Tears came to her eyes. “I don’t feel like I fit in here. I’ve never felt at home here, but I stayed for James and for the rest of you. I’ve always felt out of place wherever I’ve been, but I just need to know. I feel like this is something I have to do. What else is there for me?”

The two stood in silent shock, absorbing what was being said.

Hokura smiled at them lightly. “It's not like I expect you to come with me… or to even understand.”

“And what if something happens?” Adam asked in all seriousness stepping forward.

“Then something happens,” Hokura replied, her tone suddenly dull. It was as if her words were final. At that moment, she had felt so exhausted that she couldn’t make herself care if something happened to her.

Amara breathed. “There’s nothing we can say to keep you from going, is there? We just have to accept it and hope that you’ll come back?”

“I’m sorry, Amara, I do intend to come back if I can.” Again, her voice held no emotion.

Amara didn’t want to think about what might happen if the compound was still there and if the professor was still waiting for her. She closed her eyes. She had hated the professor. If she had ever gotten her hands on him, he would no longer be of this world. Surely Hokura must have thought about the possibilities of what would happen if he ever got his hands back on her. She couldn’t take it. “You’re putting yourself in danger!”

Hokura chuckled darkly. “When haven’t I been in danger? Please, Amara, I know I can’t convince you or explain this in any other way. You just need to trust me.”

Adam placed a hand on Amara’s shoulder as she huffed angrily at her friend. “You’ve been right about a lot of things; I don’t have your intuition, so I guess all I can do is trust you and trust that you’ll come back someday.”

Hokura nodded. “Thank you. Besides, what’s time to us when we have all the time in the world.”

“Now that sounds cryptic,” Adam stated. “We’ll help you get ready to leave and make sure you have enough supplies, I promise.”

“Good. I’m leaving tomorrow,” Hokura stated.

“What?” Amara bellowed in anger. “How long have you planning all this?” She grabbed Hokura by her arms, staring hard into her eyes. “Tell me the truth!”

Hokura closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’ve been thinking about this for a few weeks, but I started packing and preparing a few days ago.”

“And you didn’t tell us.” Amara’s words were curt.

“I didn’t think I was going to go through with it… at first, I just wanted to leave the city for a week or so and camp somewhere like James and I used to, maybe even go to the cabin. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought, what if I went a little further? What if, during my journey, my curiosity got the best of me, and I ended up there?”

“You were going to leave either way; you just didn’t know if you were going to go back to Meridiana?” Amara asked, still holding Hokura in her solid grip.

Hokura sagged. “It’s not like I haven’t left the city before…”