(R)Evolution - eBook

They tried to kill the ugliness, but they only made it stronger.

The world was consumed by water, but New York City stands tall. The beautiful dome of the city above is home to the privileged citizens, while the criminals below are forced to inhabit the polluted, walled streets of the old New York.

Richard Smith was content living in NYC with his wife until their deformed, life-supported child is medically terminated by the government. When he receives a message from a group called Right-To-Life, Richard discovers his son may be alive and living with the criminals below.

Desperate to find his son, Richard risks it all and journeys into the depths of the old city.

What he finds may be more than what society above can fathom.

Tense and wild, this sci-fi dystopian novel from the author of the Blunt Force Kharma series will have readers on the edge of their seat. If you enjoyed books of George Orwell or Phillip K. Dick, you'll be thrilled by the suspense of (R)Evolution. Buy it now!

Chapter 1

He had never seen her in so much pain.

Amelia Smith was on the metal slab, covered with black sheets, and wearing a white medical gown. Sweat covered her pale, soft skin that was now stretched in agony around her skull. Blond strands of hair stuck to her skull and neck. Her fists tightened around Richard Smith’s slender hand. He wanted to scream with her. He was willing to experience her intense pain around the groin and stomach. But that was impossible at the moment.

“Please,” Richard asked. His eyes were wet with tears and his spinning brain tried to stay straight in the situation that they never prepared for, could never prepare for. “Give her something for the pain.”

Doctor Craken who wore a medical black mask that covered his mouth and nose, a mask that matched his gown as well as the nurses’, brightened with a smile in his eyes and peeked between Amelia’s legs spread by the robotic stirrups.

“In a moment,” he said. “She’s just about there.”

Cracken nodded at everyone in the room. A few nurses peeked into Amelia’s groin and grunted in agreement.

Richard kissed Amelia’s face that spaced off into intense delirium. He hoped that she was mentally in a better place, that adrenalin and insanity brought her to a beautiful green meadow or a blue ocean at the beach. Any kind of fantasy would do.

He breathed deep to fight off the invisible vice gripping his throat. Why were they torturing her? Why did they torture all women like this? A woman went through enough after they found out their child would be born defective and part of the eighty percent.

Amelia screamed again and stared at Richard. He saw such hate in her eyes. He knew if she could Amelia would ignore the three years of happy bliss they shared since their union and kill him. Since conception, she blamed him for placing her in this position. He wanted a child. He wanted to roll the dice and hope they would give birth to the twenty percent. Amelia even said that he should be the one to carry it if he wanted one. And like always, he said that he would if he could. He always wanted a child. Daughter or son, it mattered none. He craved to hold a tiny bundle of flesh, bone, and soul in his arms and to inhale its unique scent of fresh skin as he kissed its tiny nose. Amelia felt the same. She said so. But taking the risk always scared her.

“Ahh,” Dr. Cracken said, looking between Amelia’s legs again. “I think she is ready. Nurse, prepare the epidural.”

Richard rolled back in the stool, released Amelia’s hand, and made room for the medical staff. They positioned her on her side and injected the needle into the bottom of her spine. Amelia was in such pain from the labor that she was unaware of their actions. After they returned her onto her back, Amelia’s face melted into a relaxed state.

“Does it feel better, love?” he asked, taking her now limp hand.

Amelia mumbled something. Richard smiled, so glad that her screaming stopped. The doctor warned that there would be pain during labor. More pain than normal labor. It was because of the defects. They were not natural for the womb. The scales caused abrasions against the fetal lining, which led to bleeding the last few months of pregnancy.

“I’m so so sorry,” Richard said to her fluttering brown eyes. “I wish you didn’t have to go through with this.”

If only abortion was legal. It was absurd. It was legal for rape victims within a month of conception. It was legal if the child showed signs in their DNA for mental disabilities, ADHD, and autism. But not for physical defects like this one. Physically abnormal babies were common the last hundred years. No one knew why. Perhaps it was because the sun hid behind clouds the last few hundred years or maybe it had something to do with pollutants in the water. It was a medical mystery that no one wanted to finance a study on.

Many years ago, long before Amelia and Richard were born, doctors tried to abort defective fetuses. Forensics discovered tiny claws along the outer coating of the fetus clinging to the womb. When they tried to remove it, the fetus took a large percentage of the womb with it. They tried to safely extract it. Techniques and drugs were developed. All failed. All the women died. And so did any hopes of abortion.

Gurgling erupted from the other side of the blanket that divided Amelia’s body. It blocked the view of her stomach that they sliced open for a C-section. A scaled baby caused too much damage exiting through the canal. It had to be extracted through the stomach. For some reason, the hard shell of the outer fetus softened by nine months allowed doctors to cut it open to remove the infant.

“Almost there, Mrs. Smith,” Dr. Cracken said.

The nursing staff nodded.

A scream broke into Richard’s head. His face tightened in pain. It exploded straight into his brain, not his ears. The medical staff seemed aware of it. A few flinched and shook their heads. One nurse mumbled, “Shut up already.”

It sounded like a baby crying into the new sterile world. Past autopsies proved that the infants had little to no vocal cords. So why was everyone hearing it during the procedure? Psychologists theorized that it was a group auditory hallucination caused by guilt. The subconscious compensated for what the consciousness was doing to the doomed life that they were bringing into the world.

Richard sniffled a sob, tried to be strong in front of Amelia. She had to hear the scream, too. He knew it was there. The medical staff verified it for him. Maybe they heard a different one. But they all heard it.

“There now,” Cracken said. “Close her up and send it to Disposal.”

A nurse placed a black-wrapped bundle in a baby gurney and pushed it out of the room. The screaming stopped. But the guilt remained.