Pahnyakin Rising (28 page)

He tossed the empty bag through the air.  It flopped to the cold ground.  Dodge looked to the stun gun sword.  If he could just use it one more time, he thought, he might have a chance of pulling Dresden from the center silo. 

Greg checked the clip of his pistol and nodded. 

“I’m ready when you are.”

Dodge turned towards the silos and nodded to Greg.  “Then let’s do this.”

He heard the stomps of the others running for their lives.

Dodge approached the center silo and pressed his back against to the metal on the left side of the door.  He watched as Greg walked between the center and leftmost silo. 

“What are you doing?” Dodge yelled.  “You’re only supposed to take out one.”

Greg shot the first two bullets at the generator positioned at the center of the southernmost silo and followed up his actions by shooting two more holes in a smaller generator at the back of the center silo. 

Dodge opened his mouth to holler again, but the door to the center silo swung open and troops raced in Greg’s direction.  Half of the Pahnyakins from the silo were outside.

From the moment he volunteered, Greg knew what his end-plan was. 

He flipped a long tuft of hair from his forehead and pulled the pin on his grenade.  As the second set of troops attacked from the southern silo, Greg sprinted to the left silo’s generators. 

He nodded to Dodge.

Dodge didn’t have time to nod in return.  Greg’s grenade exploded and knocked out the wall to the left silo.  With its lost support, the building creaked and plummeted to the ground.  Pahnyakin troops were thrown in the air or instantaneously blown to pieces.  Dodge ducked in the center silo.

He was temporarily blinded by the transition from dark to the bright lights in the silo. 

The first blow to his chest knocked the wind out of him and threw him back.  He instinctively rolled to his right side for his landing and screamed in agony as he landed on his cracked ribs.

“Dodge?  Dodge blow it up,” he heard Dresden shout urgently. 

He blinked and his surroundings slowly appeared.  Two Magisters stood over him and he could see at least 15 more Pahnyakins in the silo.  He rolled to his back and saw the Gaia pacing at the top level of metal that was molded around the building’s interior.

Dodge bolted to his feet and extended the sword. 

“MOVE,” he demanded, flicking the button on the side. 

Jolts of electricity danced from the blade but the Pahnyakins did not budge. 

“Dodge,” Dresden ordered, “blow it up.”

He stretched his neck to the right.  She was strapped to a table at the back of the silo.

“I’m not leaving you, Dresden,” he insisted in a sing-song voice. 

“You have to end this, Dodge.  They’re all connected, on the wall.  You need to get to the generators at the top of the ramp.”

The Gaia called down an order to her creations.

Kill him.

Dresden shouted out a warning but it was too late.  Every creature in the room moved to take his life.

“Can you get yourself undone, Dres?” he called to her.

“If I could do that I wouldn’t be here right now,” she sassed back.

“Yes or no would’ve been good enough, babe.”

He ducked and sidestepped as the beings moved in on him and took swipes at his head and torso.

“No.”

Dodge stabbed at the army in front of him but couldn’t make enough contact with their exoskeletons to make a difference if he pushed the button. 

He cried out at the burning sensation sinking in his right shoulder. 

“Dodge, don’t die on me,” Dresden warned.  She flexed every muscle in her body and pulled upward. 

The black canvas straps were bolted to the table and gave no leeway.  She was trapped.

Dodge did the only thing he could think to do and wondered if it had been part of the Uni’s plan.  He could only go one way.  He stepped towards the Pahnyakin army and winced as he lifted the sword. 

It slammed against the pale yellow chest of an Assistant and he didn’t hesitate to press the button on the sword’s side.

She couldn’t even turn her head.  Dresden rolled her eyes to her left in hopes of seeing
anything
.

Fifteen of the troops fell to the concrete floor.

The sword was losing power. 

Dodge did a quick count of the remaining creatures.  There were six more, if he didn’t count the Gaia overhead.  It slowly and intently descended from the ramp. 

With the sword, he took another swipe at three Magisters lined in front of him.  He stabbed the center Pahnyakin through the abdomen and pressed the button.  The blue and white bolts fizzled as the three dropped. 

“Sword’s dead,” he said calmly to Dresden. 

“Get me out of these things and I can help you.”

Dodge glanced repeatedly to the deep purple being just three levels from the ground.

“Annnnd the Gaia’s coming down,” he said.

“Then get me out of here,” she nagged.

Dodge released his grip from the sword’s handle and the Magister slumped forward, a pitched tent as the protruding weapon propped it at a sharp angle above the ground. 

The Gaia picked up speed as Dodge sprinted to Dresden’s side.  He snatched his serrated knife from his lower right pocket and sawed at the strips pinning the girl’s wrists to the table. 

He turned his head to the left to see the three remaining creatures protectively stand in formation around the Gaia.

They walked across the room in a swift stride. 

“I don’t have time to get your feet,” he confessed.  He shoved the knife in Dresden’s hands. 

She sat upright and witnessed in horror as the three Unies teamed up against Dodge and lifted his body.  His size 11 boots dangled above the ground before the Pahnyakins tossed him across the room.  Dodge’s back and head took the impact as he slammed against fellow mankind in transformation. 

“Oh my god,” Dresden whispered in a broken cry. 

She furiously sawed at the canvas strap around her right ankle until she was free.  The girl stretched to cut the final strap keeping her on the table and four feet from the floor, but the Gaia’s visor flashed violet and it snatched the knife from her hands by the handle.  The blade slid upward and through Dresden’s clenched hand.  Blood poured from the deep slice that reached from the bottom of her palm to the start of her index finger.  The Gaia let the knife drop to the floor.

“Why are you doing this to us?” Dresden demanded in a shriek. 

The Unies stepped away from Dodge and returned to the Gaia’s side.

She looked to each of the Unies and in unison they exited the silo.  The door closed behind them with a slam that echoed throughout the silo. 

Dresden’s eyes darted to Dodge’s lifeless body and she sobbed.

“You killed him.  You-you
killed
him.”

Her breathing became unsteady and she gasped for air until she gagged and retched over the left side of the table.

“Why?” she wept loudly.  “Why are doing this?”

The Gaia pressed against the center of Dresden’s chest and slammed the girl to the table.  It cocked its head and studied her tears as they slid to the sides of her eyes and down her temples. 

It leaned closer to her face and clicked.  Dresden couldn’t translate the clicks.  She was too distraught.  Instead, she spit at the Pahnyakin’s mask.

With its flat, fingerless hand, it smacked her cheek.  Dresden’s neck cracked as her head jerked to her right and she cried not only in sadness for Dodge but also in pain for herself. 

The Gaia pulled at Dresden’s choppy black bangs until her forehead was smooth.  It turned her head to the left and right before snatching her head up from the table.  Dresden looked to Dodge.

His body wasn’t there.

Dresden was too afraid to allow her eyes to follow the trail of blood up the ramp.  If she alerted the Gaia in the slightest, the creature would surely call for reinforcements.

It clicked at her again. 

How?

“How?” Dresden asked with a quiver.  “How, what?”

You live.

Dresden shrugged.  “I don’t know.”

The Gaia forcefully turned the girl’s head in its direction.

How?

“I told you,” she said firmly and with more aggression, “I don’t know.”

A clatter came from above and the Gaia slowly twisted its neck upward. 

Dresden took the opportunity to reach for her screwdriver.  She stabbed at the canvas strap and used the tip of her tool to try to saw the strap in half.  The Pahnyakin started to walk towards the ramp.

The teenager raised her eyes.  Dodge was slicing at clear tubing on the sides of the wall from the upmost level of the silo with a bowie knife from the cuff of his boot. 

“What are you doing?” she screamed in confusion.  “Blow the generators.”

“If I set off this grenade the reaction is going to kill us both,” he said.  “But if I can cause a short…”

The Gaia stomped in his direction. 

It practically flew in his direction as it ran full-speed in twists up the shaky ramp.

“Dodge,” she screamed.  “Watch out.”

“Get yourself undone and get out of here,” he told her.

“I can’t,” she replied in panic.  “The strap is stuck.”

“Get it undone and leave,” he repeated sternly.

She shook her head and tried to focus on the canvas through her hot tears.  “I’m not leaving you, Dodge.”

Dresden glanced up and witnessed the Gaia swiping Dodge away with one slap to his throat.  He lifted his hands to his throat and gasped for air. 

The girl returned her focus to the strap and jabbed at the canvas with her screwdriver.  The strap loosened as it frayed.  Dresden tugged at it with both hands until it snapped and she fell off the table.

“I got it,” she shouted to the top of the building.  “Dodge,” Dresden ordered firmly, “set the grenade.”

He nodded to her.  “Run.”

She stood and stared to him with tears in her eyes.  “I love you.”

“I love you, too.  But you have to run now.”

As the Gaia took another open-handed swing at him, Dodge pulled the grenade from his pocket and pulled the pin.  He ducked from the Pahnyakin’s second swing and rolled the white canister across the floor.  It plinked as it roll between the Gaia’s strong metal legs and bounced gently off the silo wall.

Dresden turned towards the door as sparks erupted from the canister’s top and the lights in the building flickered on and off.  The girl was overwhelmed by the sound of electricity crackling down the walls. 

The half-humans, half-Pahnyakins on the walls convulsed from the power flowing through them.  Dresden spun around just in time to see the Gaia grab Dodge by the collar of his sweater.  The creature shrieked and wriggled in pain.  She staggered over the ramp’s coppery railing and pulled Dodge with her.

“Dodge,” Dresden squealed.  She raced in his direction. 

The Gaia hit the concrete first and landed facedown.  She writhed in pain as Dresden had only witnessed one time before.  Dodge’s fall was broken by the Gaia.

Power lines at the top of the building swayed and detached from the ceiling.  They swung wildly and dipped lower.  Sparks flew from the walls and singed Dresden’s skin. 

“Go,” Dodge moaned.  “You have to go.”

She crouched beside him and wrapped both of her hands around his left upper arm.

“Get up,” she said in a rush. 

He stood and wobbled.  She gave him a gentle push. 

“I can’t go.”

“What do you mean, you can’t go?” he panted.  “Dresden, this place is about to collapse.  We have to go.”

The girl motioned to the Gaia. 

“This is what it did that night.  This is what brought me here.  I have to stay and see what happens.  I could go back.”

“You could die,” he reasoned pleadingly.  “You could end up in another time, another place.  Dresden,” he begged, “come with me.  Please, if there’s one time not to argue with me, this is it.”

She shook her head and leaned forward to wrap her arms around his neck.  Her calves ached as she stood on her tiptoes.

“If it takes me back I can change this.”

“You don’t know that it will,” he argued insistently.  He hugged her tightly and attempted to drag her towards the door. 

She squirmed out of his grasp. 

“In every time I live, I will love you.  I need you to know that.”

Dodge nodded and sniffled.

Dresden smiled lightly before leaning forward and arching her feet one last time to reach around his neck.

Their lips meeting gave off more sparks than were shooting from the silo’s walls. 

All around them, light bulbs popped and black smoke swirled around the room.  In the darkness, the only light was the purple flash of the Pahnyakin behind the two.