Pahnyakin Rising (19 page)

“What did you bring us out here?” Phil asked.  “Why did you pick me for this group?  What are you?”

Dresden completed the translation and quickly looked behind her. 

“Separate,” she shouted.  “Now.”

The girl shoved Phil’s left shoulder and propelled herself to her left as the Imperator she eyed bolted in the group’s direction. 

“This one’s running towards us,” AJ yelled. 

The group stood alert with two feet between one another as the Pahnyakins neared.

“Don’t react,” Dresden directed.  She turned her head to see AJ at the end of the line. 

“The rest of you get ready to grab them.  Ends of the line will distract them.”

“I don’t want to die,” Brady sobbed with his eyes tightly shut, bracing for the green being’s impact. 

Dresden did not have time to evaluate Brady’s contribution to the group in his state of mind.  She fumbled for the screwdriver in her pocket and charged at the Imperator in front of her.  Brady had to rely on the rest of the group.  She couldn’t protect them all.  

The Imperator hit Dresden in the chest and she fell backwards.  She glanced to her left and witnessed AJ, Phil, and Zane attempting to pry the second Imperator’s hands from Brady’s neck. 

They all heard the snap.  Even in the commotion, it rang in the air as it was the only sound.

Brady’s body went limp and he fell to the ground. 

“No,” Dresden wailed. 

Her teeth clattered and her lips snarled.  She pushed herself from the ground and ran towards her own attacker with her right elbow bent upright.  The tip of her screwdriver penetrated the Imperator’s chest armor and she pressed down on the handle until metal clanked at her feet. 

Even as she shoved the tip of the tool in the creature’s left lung, it continued to speak to its partner. 

The girl…the girl to transform,
it said. 
Transport-base. 

“What base?” she screamed as she pressed the screwdriver deeper in its lung.  The chain around her forearm clinked together and weighed her arm down. 

“He’s dead,” AJ panicked.  “Brady’s dead.”

“What are you talking about?” Zane shouted to Dresden.  “Help us.”

The girl withdrew the screwdriver from the Pahnyakin and it stumbled backwards, pressing its hands against its wound. 

Dresden sprinted to the rest of the group and the Imperator attempted to retreat as she neared. 

“Why isn’t it attacking you?” Zane hollered. 

Dresden hurried to untangle the chain from her arm.  She practically threw one end of the silver metal to Zane.  Her hands and face were smeared in the Pahnyakin’s red blood and her shirt was splattered with the mess. 

“Around the neck,” she instructed.  And we’ll bolt it in the back.”

He nodded and the two moved quickly in the Imperator’s direction.

Upload,
it said to the other. 
Upload. Report.

As the chain made contact with the Pahnyakin, the creature voluntarily dropped to its knees and gave in without a fight.  She glanced to the other Imperator and it did the same.

“What the hell is going on right now?” Zane yelled.  He pulled a padlock from his pocket and cinched the chain tightly around the Imperator’s neck like a leash.

Phil stood to the side of the group and glared at Dresden.  She pointed to the open bag next to Brady’s corpse. 

“Give me the other chain.”

“Get it yourself,” Phil snapped in reply. 

“I’ll explain everything,” she said, “but we need to get out of here
right now.
”

“Or what?  You need to tell us what’s going on.”

“No,” she ordered with a shout, “we need to get out of here now.  They’re reporting something.  Every single one of these anywhere near this area is going to be after us.  We have to get back now.”

“It’s a two mile walk,” AJ exclaimed.  “It’s going to take us even longer to get back if we have to drag these things back.”

The free Imperator looked onward and remained still.

“Tell us what you are,” Phil screamed.

“I’m not your Dresden,” she confessed. 

Phil drew a 92 Compact Beretta from the holster on his left side and aimed at Dresden’s head.

“Wait,” she pleaded.  “I’m not from now.  The night Dodge brought me back to town, it was 2028 to me.  None of this has happened for me.”

“Bull,” Phil said. 

“It’s not.   If I was sent here to kill you guys, don’t you think they’d let me remember where the supplies were held?  Or how to defend myself?  I’ve had to learn that.” 

She motioned to the free Pahnyakin.  “They have some kind of plan.”

“You didn’t bring us out here because you wanted to fight them, did you?” Zane questioned.

“No,” Dresden responded.  “I needed more than one so they’d talk to one another.”

“So what are you,” Phil asked, “some kind of
Terminator
?  How did you get here?  What do you want?”

“I was next to a Gaia when it exploded, and—.”

He scoffed and cocked the gun.  “You were next to a Gaia?  They
let
you get close to a Gaia?”

“The others ran.  It was hurt or something.  And then it exploded and I woke up exactly where I was, only everything was different.  I don’t know how or why, but I’m here now, in this time.”

“So you really
did
die?  No wonder these things are afraid of you.  They’re probably trying to figure out how you came back,” Zane reasoned.

AJ was mum and stood off to the side.

“We have to get back to town,” Dresden urged. 

“I don’t believe any of your story,” Phil stated with the shake of his head.  “You’re not going back to Easton.  Uh-uh, no way.”

The girl muttered to herself.  “This is un-freaking-real.”  She pointed to the bleeding Imperator.   “There’s something important they’re going to say.  I just know it.  We have to get back before the others get to us.  If there are two right outside town, that means there are probably more close to where we are.  What aren’t you understanding about that?”

“I understand that part just fine,” Phil said.  His rock-hard chest was puffed out and only then could Dresden see the man’s veteran personality.  “You’re not going back to Easton.  I don’t trust you.”

“And that’s going to get you killed.”

“Is that a threat?” he exclaimed.  “Are you really threatening me when I’m pointing a gun at you?”

“I’m not threatening anyone.”

“Death follows you wherever you go,” Phil hissed.  He motioned to Brady’s lifeless body.  “Look what you did.”

“Nobody was supposed to die tonight.  I can’t save everyone, but I can save you if you
listen
to me.”

The injured Imperator communicated in clicks to the Pahnyakin on Dresden’s right. 

Leader undead.  Report location.

“The others know where we are.  We need to go
now,
” Dresden insisted.  Her voice quivered. 

“How do you know that?  How can you understand what they’re saying and nobody else can?”

The girl groaned.  “We don’t have time for this.”

“Make time.”

Zane grew fidgety and AJ scanned the group’s surroundings with his darting eyes.

Phil’s brother finally broke his silence.  “Phil, maybe you should just listen to her.  You know what they’ve said about her.  She
knows
things.”

“Shut up,” Phil snapped. 

“I’m just saying, there’s gotta be a better way to work this out.”

“How?”

Zane suggested in a rush, “Ask her questions about her time.”

“Any of us would know the answers, nimrod.”

“I can’t tell you anything about what is happening here,” Dresden said.  “I don’t know which cities were destroyed.  I can’t tell you anything about the military or what happened to President Cartwright or anyone else in my life because that hasn’t happened for me yet.  None of this has.  I’m telling you, I woke up on the Wotomack Bridge and if you don’t start listening to what I’m saying, you’re going to die out here.  You can blame me for Brady’s death all you want, but
you
are going to be responsible for the rest of us dying.  We have to get back.  If you want to hand me to Shepherd, fine, but I’m not staying here anymore.”

“Take one step and I’ll shoot you.”

“Phil,” AJ begged, “let’s go.  Something doesn’t feel right out here and you’re going off the deep end, talking about shooting people and stuff.”

“Stand down,” Phil barked.

“Listen to yourself.  Phil, we need to get back.  We’re standing in the open with a perfect hiding spot for them on one side of us, and we have these two sending messages to the others.  We can’t be here right now, you know that.”

The pistol was shaking in Phil’s unsteady hand.  His breathing sped up and was heavy as a line of sweat swelled above his wiry brows. 

“This town is the only safe place around here.  And she’s a terrorist.  She’s going to blow up the town.”

“What?” Dresden asked.  “Phil, something’s not right with you right now.”

“SHUT UP,” he shouted.  He stabbed the gun in her direction.  “Don’t speak.”

With his hands empty and up in the air, AJ approached his brother.  “I’m coming over to you, Phil.  Be calm.”

“I am calm,” the man grunted.  “This is my rifle,” he began to himself.  He repeated the Marine aloud and AJ shot Dresden a look. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Zane asked.  “Phil, what’s wrong with you?”

“He’s having a breakdown,” Dresden answered.  “He’s more dangerous than they are right now,” she nodded to the Pahnyakins. 

“I told you to shut up,” he ordered the girl.  He paced.  “Why can’t you just shut up?  You’re in my head.  Get out of my head.  You’re one of them!”

He hit the butt of the pistol against his temple.

“I can help you,” Dresden said softly.  “You just need to calm down and take deep breaths.”

AJ shook his head at her, as to warn her to stay quiet.  She nodded to acknowledge him.

Phil stepped forward.  “What was that?  Why did you just nod?”

“It was because of me,” AJ quickly confessed.  “Leave her alone, Phil.  Come on, buddy, you need to calm down.”

“She’s one of them,” Phil argued.  “She’s sending me messages.  I hear her in my brain.  Make her stop.”

He turned back to Dresden.  “Stop sending me messages.  Stop.”

The teenager bit her lip.  There was no way out of this situation.  It was only a matter of time before the rest of the Pahnyakins arrived and killed her…or Phil did. 

“Stop him before he kills one us,” Zane said to AJ. 

“Are you one of them, too?” he accusingly asked Zane. 

“What?  No,” the guard answered with an incredulous chuckle.

“Don’t laugh,” Dresden whispered.

“What?” Phil asked.  He approached Dresden.  “What did you say?”

“I told him—.”

“I told you to BE QUIET.  But you can’t do that.  And the messages.  I told you to stop.”

He raised the gun and pressed the icy barrel to Dresden’s smooth forehead. 

Her heart raced.

She closed her eyes as Phil pulled the trigger closer towards himself. 

Dresden heard two gunshots and her ears were ringing.  She was sure she was dead.

“Oh my God,” AJ called out.  “No.  Phil.”

The teenager opened her eyes to see the injured Pahnyakin drop the smoking gun to the ground.  It scampered backwards as Dresden made eye contact with the creature. 

Phil was facing upward.  Blood pooled under his lifeless body.

She is of no use dead,
the creature said to the other. 

-20-

It took more effort to drag AJ back to Easton than it took for Zane and Dresden to lead the chained Imperators.  The man sobbed loudly over his brother’s death and kept falling to the ground in tears.  Dresden and Zane promised at least fifty times that Phil’s body would be retrieved and given a proper burial, but it was little condolence to AJ.

Dresden talked him out of taking out his anger on her captured Pahnyakins, though she, too, wanted to torture each until they spilled their secrets. 

It was clear
why
they wanted her.  Zane was right: it must have been a surprise to the aliens to see the leader they killed walking with the living once again.  Since the night Easton’s perimeter was breached, the creatures were careful not to bring harm to the teenager.  Under any circumstance, one was likely to find this to be a good thing, but Dresden knew it was bad, very bad.  Her prisoners had spoken of transforming her.  Is that what the people of Easton had feared?  Were the creatures planning to reprogram Dresden and turn her against her kind?