Jack And Anna - Back To Winnipeg

9. An Extranormal Evening-3

Spreading its wings, the Dragon Man threw its head back and let out another ear-splitting shriek. It snapped into a rigid posture, its gaze settling onto her, its lips parting in a demonic smile. Stomping through the grass, it swiped at her.

Anna hopped back, its claws tearing gashes in her shirt but failing to touch her skin. She jumped and spun in the air, her foot swinging around to smash the creature’s cheek, causing it to howl.

When she landed, the Dragon Man was off balance.

Anna darted in close, her fists pounding that scaly belly, drawing a series of grunts from the beast. Each blow forced it to retreat a little further. Finally, she jumped with an uppercut that struck her enemy’s chin and wrenched its head backward.

The Dragon Man stumbled, nearly losing its balance, leathery wings folding around its hulking form. Once again, it screamed, and this time the rage was so intense that she half expected it to shatter all the windows.

The creature balled a fist and tried to bring it down on her skull.

Bending her knees, Anna reached up to seize its wrist with both hands. She moved off to the side, tugging on the limb, forcing her opponent to double over. Clamping one hand onto its scaly shoulder – hissing from the sting of spikes cutting her palm – she spun the Dragon Man around in circles and hurled it into the forest on a wave of Bent Gravity.

The beast went headfirst into a basswood, growling on impact, its horns digging into the trunk. With a little effort, it managed to extricate itself and then shook its head to clear away the brain fog. “What are you?” it demanded in a voice like crumbling rocks.

Anna blinked. “What am I?”

I?”“Humans do not possess such strength.” It spun around to examine her. Those yellow eyes were bright with curiosity. “You are something else. Something new.”

“So, you can talk,” Anna said, a scowl coming on. She sauntered toward the creature, unconcerned by all of its blustering. “Funny how you weren’t very interested in that when I kindly offered to send you home.”

can“Foolish child. I am home.”

amWith a powerful leap, the Dragon Man shot straight up into the air. Flapping its wings, it streaked over the trees and the nearby houses, heading south and west toward the edge of the neighbourhood.

Toward Pollock Island.

Arthur came around the corner with a look of utter horror, his mouth hanging open in shock. “What?” he stammered. “What was that?”

“Something else,” Anna muttered. “Something new.”

Carrie came charging out of the house so fast you might have thought the place was on fire. “We saw it all!” she yelled as she scrambled down the wooden steps. “What are you? How did you do that?”

Turning to the other woman, Anna grinned and bowed her head respectfully. “I’m a Justice Keeper,” she replied. “Protecting people is what we do.”

“I…I never!” Carrie’s face lit up like a schoolgirl at her first dance. “Oh, Jesus! We’re going to get through this, aren’t we?”

“That’s what I’ve been telling you.”

“Well, when that big, hairy brute came out here…”

Anna flinched. “Hairy brute?”

“Yes!” Carrie wailed, pointing in the direction the Dragon Man had gone. “It’s the same thing I’ve been telling you about! That huge, apish, Big Foot thing. It tried to smack you around, but you just threw it into a tree.”

The blood drained out of Anna’s face. l*****g her lips, she worked up the courage to ask a very difficult question. “You saw a big, hairy ape-man?”

“Yes! Didn’t you?”

“And it didn’t have wings?”

“No!” The fervour went out of Carrie’s voice, cold fear seeping in as she turned and gazed off toward Pollock Island. “Not sure how it could jump like that. Almost seemed to fly. But no wings.”

“Arthur, what did you see?”

“I’d rather not say.”

Drawing a deep breath through her nose, Anna shut her eyes tight. “Trust me,” she began, marching over to him. “No matter how silly it sounds, we’re not going to laugh at you. Just tell us what you saw.”

“I…” He hesitated, shivering as he turned his face away from her. “I saw the Devil. At least, that’s the only word I have for it.”

“The Devil?” Carrie prodded.

“It was a big, muscular figure: red skin, goat horns. It looked like it could tear her in half, but she manhandled it.”

Spinning around, Anna found Jack standing on the wooden deck with both hands on the railing. He winced as if someone had just kicked him in the belly. “A Gray,” he mumbled before she could ask. “That’s what I saw.”

“You mean one of those little aliens with the big, black eyes?”

Jack shook his head. “This one wasn’t little,” he rasped. “It was nearly a foot taller than me: that’s the one thing we all agree on. But it didn’t have big muscles. Its arms and legs were so skinny I thought the bones would snap every time it took a step. Its fingers were long and spindly and kind of shrivelled like they’d been pruning in water.”

“We all saw something different,” Anna whispered. “Like the footprint.”

“But it was real!” Arthur insisted. “Wasn’t it?”

wasAnna held up her hand to reveal the angry, red gash across her palm. “I’d say that’s real enough,” she said. “The creature I fought had sharp spikes growing out of its limbs. I cut myself on one when I threw it into the tree. You saw that part, right?”

They all nodded.

“And before that?” she asked.

“Well, it swiped at you,” Jack said. “You performed an aerial hook-kick that knocked it senseless. Then you hammered its stomach with a flurry of punches.”

“So, we all agree on the basic sequence of events,” Anna observed. Turning on her heel, she hurried over to the basswood tree. It didn’t surprise her in the slightest when she found two curved indentations that perfectly matched the Dragon Man’s horns. “Jack, come here a sec!”

Her husband was at her side a moment later.

“Do you see these two marks?”

“Yeah.”

“Trace them for me just so I can make sure we’re seeing the same thing.” He did so, running his fingers over the shallow scars in the wood. She breathed a sigh of relief when the shapes he outlined matched the ones she saw. “The alien you saw me fighting: it didn’t have horns, did it?”

Jack shook his head.

“But my enemy did have horns!” she exclaimed. “And when I threw it into the tree, it left those marks.”

myJack went very still, examining the trunk as if he thought it might come to life and start attacking him. “So, what are you saying?” he asked. “That you saw its true form?”

“No, I don’t think any of us saw its true form.”

“Then how do you explain the marks?” Arthur grumbled, shouldering his way between the two of them. He pointed to each indentation. “How is it that we all saw a different creature, but the clues it left behind conform to your experience and not to ours?”

Anna raised her wounded hand, wiggling her fingers. “That I do not know,” she admitted. “But I think it’s clear this is more than just a simple telepathic illusion. We’re dealing with something new here.”

She turned to her father-in-law, reaching for the multi-tool. “Maybe the scans you took will give us something to go on.”

Arthur placed the metal disk in her palm, and it immediately started buzzing, a red LED blinking on its outer edge. Someone was calling her? How was that even possible? Everyone who remembered her was already here.

Well, unless you counted Desa, Kalia or Melissa Carlson. But they were all on different planets, and she very much doubted that one of them would be trying to get a hold of her at that particular moment. Curious, she pressed a button to answer the call.

“Very good,” a highly-synthesized voice said through the speaker. It sounded like one of those old text-to-speech programs. “You have exceeded our expectations. Your reputation is well-earned, Operative Lenai.”

“Uh-huh. And who are you?”

“I am Administrator 4-5-7.”

Anna stiffened, frantically scanning her surroundings with Spatial Awareness. It was too dark for eyes to be of much use, but she looked anyway and found no sign of anyone lurking nearby. “What’s your game in all this?”

“This is your only warning,” the computerized voice replied. “Cease all inquiries into this matter and return to your life. We will not pursue you further. However, should you persist in this ill-advised endeavour, we may be forced to take drastic action.”

“I don’t respond well to threats.”

The call ended abruptly.

With a heavy sigh, Jack came forward to stand beside her, placing a hand on her back. His face was tight with anxiety. “So, I’m guessing you want to bring in some extra help now.”

“No,” she murmured. “Arthur, you were right; we can’t bring in anyone.”

“Why not?” Jack asked.

Whirling around, Anna held the multi-tool up for her husband’s inspection. She c****d her head, blinking slowly. “These Administrators,” she began. “Somehow, they got my contact information, even though it shouldn’t exist anymore.”

Jack nodded. “And did you hear what he called you?”

She froze. That little nugget had slipped her mind, but Jack was right; Mr. 457 had called her “Operative Lenai.” He knew who she was.

“We have no idea who the Administrators are,” she said. “They know things they shouldn’t know. They have tech that no Earth-based organization should have. Maybe they are just a small fringe group. Or maybe they have agents all over the place. The point is we can’t risk telling anyone what we know until we’re sure.”

are“So, we’re on our own,” Arthur said. “What’s our next move?”

Slapping the metal disk back onto her gauntlet, Anna strode out of the woods. “First, we come up with a way to close that wormhole.” She paused, looking back over her shoulder. “Then we find the creature and give it a chance to go home.”

Jack and Arthur stood side by side under the drooping branches of the basswood tree. Her husband’s nervous frown spoke volumes. “And if it refuses?” he asked.

“Well, it’s like that old song says, honey,” she replied. “It doesn’t have to go home, but it can’t stay here.”