Welcome to the first part of the ReGeneration trilogy. This is a three-part project that is very dear to my heart. The first draft is finally finished and the next step will be a round of thorough revisions. If you are reading, I hope that you will review. A big thank you to everyone who has supported this story thus far. To newcomers, I hope that you will enjoy…

1/4/09: Prologue has been added!

ReGeneration

Degeneration.

Civilization. Deprivation. Annihilation.

Contamination. Segregation. Fornication. Abomination. Devastation.

Humiliation. Desperation. Damnation. Frustration.

Congregation. Preservation. Determination. Retaliation.

Imagination. Destination. Revelation.

Reincarnation.

Generation and ReGeneration.

Prologue: A legend dies

Worn boots fell upon the rocky terrain, splashing through mud, legs tangling in the figure’s drenched skirt. Her chest heaved with her gasping breaths as she forced her feet to go faster. She whipped her head around, looking again over her shoulder. A strong gust of wind slammed her body, stumbling her steps and splaying a wash of red hair across her face. She raked it back savagely, her bright eyes probing her surroundings for the uniformed man who chased her.

Lightning suddenly ripped through the sky, accompanied by loud clap of thunder that resonated beneath her feet. In the brief blinding light that illuminated the cliffs, the woman could see no trace of her pursuer. She slowed her pace, turning completely around. The bitter winter winds continued to batter the bluffs, flinging drops of rain and the salt spray from the churning waters below like daggers against her skin.

She felt alone, enclosed in dome echoing with the cacophony of pounding black rain, screaming winds, and violent waves crashing against the rocky cliffs. Between the roar of the storm and the sound of her own heavy breaths, even her own shuffling footsteps were silent. But she could not truly be alone. The Black Rain cliffs were crawling with soldiers, and even if she had succeeded in losing the uniformed man that followed her, he would continue to chase her until she was dead. Or he was.

She ran a hand across her face, wiping away the stinging rain. Her breathing was slowing again, but her heart continued to race. She moved slowly, inching back from the cliffs towards the rock face behind her.

A presence lingered behind her. She didn’t hear his footsteps, nor his breath, and yet somehow she was able to sense both. A shadow fell upon her chest, dark and suffocating. But the acute chill she felt only lasted a split second—before she could whip her head around, an explosion sounded over the torrent of rain.

The woman’s body froze where it stood, suspended for an infinite moment in shock and utter despair. Another shot rang out and as the bullet punched a second hole through the woman’s back, she collapsed to the ground, her limbs in a tangled heap, her clothes and copper tresses splayed out in the mud. A dark grin spread over the uniformed man’s face. He ran to where his prey lay bleeding, holstering his weapon, and knelt beside her. He knew he wouldn’t have much time. He needed to move quickly. He untangled her limbs, spreading out her arms and legs as she lied on her back. In each wrist, he staked a knife, stabbing through her porcelain skin and staining it with her blood. Then he did the same to each leg, savagely pounding the blades through flesh and bone until it dug into the coarse ground.

As he finished, the woman’s eyes began to flutter open. He saw her movement and grinned, leaning over her to watch her face. She tried to sit up but immediately fell back as her nerves screamed against the stakes through her limbs. She looked about to scream until her wild, frightened eyes focused on the uniformed man hovering over her. Then she bit her lip hard, swallowing down the cry that threatened at the back of her throat.

“Welcome back, my love.” The uniformed man reached towards her and lightly traced his fingers over the contour of her jaw, then swept them over her raw, bleeding lips, pierced by her own teeth.

Her green eyes narrowed in utter disgust and she snapped at his hand, catching one of his fingers between her teeth and biting down hard. He yanked his hand away, crying out more from pure surprise than actual pain, and swept it backwards sending a blow to her cheek. He grabbed her neck then, squeezing until she began to choke.

“You don’t have the choice anymore,” he growled. “You belong to me now. You don’t have the choice to deny me. It’s over. It’s over, my darling. I’ve won. And you are my prize.” He loosened his grip enough for her to breath, but kept his hand firmly placed beneath her jaw. She hacked a shallow cough beneath his hold. “My master—my father—wants you for his own. What he’ll do with you, I don’t know. Now is the only time we have. Our last moments together before I take you to Madden.” He leaned closer. His hand gripped her jaw like a vice, levering her mouth away as he touched his forehead to the side of her face, grazing her cheek with a light brush of his lips.

“I don’t belong to you,” she spat. “You will never have me. Never!”

The uniformed man leaned back, his features contorting in a stormy rage. He pulled out a small blade from his belt and grinned down at her left hand, pinned helplessly by the blade through her wrist. “One way or another, I will have you,” he said softly. He held the knife over her index finger, then sliced down, severing it from her hand. She screamed out in pain, squeezing her eyes shut. “Be a good girl now and give me what I want.” The man hacked with the knife again, slicing off two more of her fingers. “Or I will make you feel pain like you’ve never felt.”

He moved on to her other hand, separating the digits from her fist. She was biting back sobs of agony, a sharp, itching fire blazing down both of her arms.

He paused then, watching the woman writhe beneath him. It was both beautiful and painful at the same time. He gingerly touched the tip of his blade to her cheek. “Don’t make this any harder than it has to be. It doesn’t have to hurt, my love.”

She narrowed her eyes, then spat at him.

He growled and gripped her left arm at the elbow. He dug his blade into her flesh, carving through her bicep. She howled and bucked beneath him, washing his hands and her torso in her a shower of her blood. His knife sawed through muscle and bone, the sounds of which echoing in her ears over the roar of the storm. Her breathing became shallow, unconsciousness tugging at the edges of her senses.

“It doesn’t matter what you do,” she whispered. Her throat was dry, her voice sounding small and far away to her own ears. “If you want me, you’ll have to kill me first.” A small, sad laugh escaped through her lips. “And you can’t kill me.”

The uniformed man let go of the stump that remained of her left arm and gaped at her. His gaze was blank for a moment, watching her eyes flutter, drifting in and out of consciousness. Then his jaw clenched and his eyes glowed with rage. He lashed out with his blade, slicing her open, spilling her innards, painting the rocky ground and his uniform in the crimson of her blood.

He could see nothing but a blur of red as he continued to hack away at her wrecked body. She would fall unconscious, allowing him a brief glimpse of victory, before she would awake moments later, sobbing and screaming as she coughed up blood, her eyes wide and wild. And he would carve into her again and again, growing angry and more desperate with each breath she drew.

He could feel his hand shaking as he gripped his knife with white knuckles. Her screams had taken shape to words, he realized. She was speaking to him again. Pleading.

“Kill me!” Her sobs rocked her frail form, her words barely intelligible. “Please! Just end this now! You win! Kill me! Kill me!”

He stabbed his blade into her chest, and she gasped, choking. “I’m trying!” he screamed back at her, his voice strained and uneven. He yanked his knife out of her chest and swung it at her head. The blade sank into her ear, burying itself up to the hilt into the side of her head.

And then he was finally blessed with merciful silence. She crumbled, lifeless, to the ground. He swallowed, watching her for a long time, waiting for life to return to her wide, vacant eyes. But it didn’t. He slowly leaned down and pressed his ear to her bloody chest. It no longer rose and fell with her breathing. He could hear no pulse.

He inhaled a shaky breath and sat up, his wide eyes fixated on her frozen face. He reached towards her with trembling fingers, closing her mouth and eyelids. Tears began to slide down his face, washed away by the rain. He leaned down and kissed her lifeless lips, his chest hitching. He pulled his knife out of her skull, stroking her blood-dyed locks, then pulled out each knife that had pinned her to the ground. He gathered her up in his arms, bowing his head and relishing the feel of holding her in his arms for the last time. He walked to the jagged edge of the cliffs, both their bodies being buffeted by the rough gales sweeping from the churning sea.

He offered a silent farewell to the woman that he loved before casting her pathetic form to the waters below. He watched her plummet into their depths, the black waters rushing in to swallow her.