Uprising

by Gareth Otton

  You’ve done enough, Amber told her, sounding awed.

  It would have to be enough because Jen had nothing left to give. In fact, she wasn’t even sure if she could move her legs, let alone dreamwalk these people to safety.

  The teacher blinked in surprise as his hands explored his face. He ran them over his skin, cautiously at first but then with more passion as he ensured he wasn’t dreaming. A startled laugh escaped him as he regained full consciousness and even sat up.

  The injuries on the rest of his body had healed as well as Jen’s dream had done more for him than she imagined. It was like a chain reaction that started with his face, then moved throughout the body as she had shown it how to heal itself faster. The body had listened and done what was needed to to complete her work. The burns were soon a thing of the past and only the truly damaged parts of this man that had been burnt away and couldn’t be rebuilt remained to show he had once been moments from death.

  “I’m sorry,” Jen said, her voice barely more than a whisper as she struggled to find the energy to talk. “I don’t think I can do any more, not yet. Your eye…”

  Her words trailed off as she struggled to express how she was too weak to even attempt healing his eye. Tears welled as she thought of her failure to rise to the occasion… The latest in a long line of failures. Why wasn’t she not more like Tad? Why did Amber’s presence not help her do more so she could help these people the way they desperately needed?

  Strong hands took hers, drawing her attention to a once ruined face and making her look the healed man in his one good eye.

  “You have nothing to apologise for. This is…” He had to blink away his own tears as he struggled to finish his sentence. “This is a miracle. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.”

  Awkward with the praise, Jen turned away. However, she found no relief as every face in the room was turned toward her, some with frightened eyes and others who looked so stunned they couldn’t speak.

  The first person to regain his power of speech was Ashley Evans. He stepped in front of Jen and offered her his hand to help her to her feet

  “That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. You have… There are no words to describe what you just did. But if I’m not mistaken, you did that so we could get out of here as soon as possible and I think maybe it’s time we get moving, don’t you miss Holcroft?”

  His words of praise again made Jen uncomfortable, but she pushed past that awkwardness as he reminded her why she was here. Looking around the room, she agreed it was time to be moving. The trouble was that Jen had planned to walk. As she leaned against Ashley, she couldn’t help but feel the agony in her head as she even tried to animate her legs.

  “Jennifer? Are you okay?” Ashley asked.

  “I… I can’t…” Jen struggled for the words as she felt irrationally embarrassed that she couldn’t move after promising all these people she could get them to safety. “I can’t walk. That took all my energy and I can’t pull over Dream. I’m sorry.”

  “There’s nothing to be sorry about,” Ashley answered in a tone of voice that told her he was trying to be strong for her sake. He helped her into a chair, then looked around before swearing under his breath. “There’re no wheelchairs anywhere around here, so I’m going to have to ask you for a favour.”

  “What favour?”

  “I need to borrow your ghost.”

  Jen stared at the man, not sure she heard right.

  “Borrow my ghost? So you are a dreamwalker?”

  The man smiled, something that didn’t look quite right on his pale face and something he seemed out of practice with.

  “I’m not a dreamwalker, Miss Holcroft, but I can draw strength from your ghost if she will let me. I would normally not want to ask, but I’m afraid I don’t have a choice. I’ve never been an athletic person and don’t have the upper body strength to carry you any other way.”

  Ignoring her embarrassment at the thought of having to be carried when she was supposed to be the one rescuing them, Jen focused on his words.

  “If you’re not a dreamwalker, then what are you?”

  Again his smile was awkward as he replied.

  “That answer will have to wait. Let me just say that I’m not dreamwalker, but I can take advantage of a little ghostly help when it’s offered. I can see that annoys you by the colour of your aura and I promise that after what you just did, a few answers are the least you deserve. But I’m afraid you must be patient.”

  “You can see auras?” Jen asked, her eyes widening further as she met someone who could do the same thing as Tad, something no other dreamwalker could replicate. “What are you?” she asked again.

  “Like I said, that is a story for another time. Right now we need to get out of here. Can I borrow your ghost?”

  Jen hesitated, silently speaking with Amber who had been watching everything whilst sharing in Jen’s memories and knowledge. Amber hesitated only a moment before agreeing, recognising that this was the only way that they could make Jen’s plan work.

  Mist rose from Jen’s body as she released Amber, and a great weariness settled over her as the headache she had been ignoring returned with a vengeance. Suddenly the world felt darker, the details fuzzier, the smells not so crisp, and the sounds not so sharp. Jen felt like she could sleep for a week and was less sure than ever that she could dreamwalk these people to safety. Worse, without Amber she couldn’t even heal and regenerate that power as quick as she could when merged with the ghost.

  “What do I need to do?” Amber asked of the politician while ignoring the stares and gasps from the other occupants of the room.

  “Nothing complicated, simply surrender yourself to me when I reach for you. You will understand when it happens. However, this is important. You need to tell me when you start to feel exhausted. I don’t want to take too much power, and this isn’t like being with a dreamwalker. In that relationship you replenish each other through a dreamwalker’s connection to Dream and their connection to you. I have no connection to Dream so I must use yours, and that connection is not infinite.”

  Jen stared at this man like he was some strange monster stepped out of nightmare, desperate to ask him once again just what the hell he was. However, she remained silent and waited for Amber to decide. The young woman glanced at Jen nervously, then nodded her head.

  “I can do that,” she said, and again Ashley smiled that strange smile that didn’t look quite right on the skinny man.

  He made eye contact with Amber and the young ghost gasped and staggered back. Amber stiffened to regain her balance, looking around with an embarrassed smile when she saw Jen’s worried face.

  “I’m okay. I just wasn’t ready for that.”

  “Ready for what?” Jen asked.

  Amber opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by Ashley.

  “Once again Miss Lar… I’m sorry, Miss Holcroft… This is another subject that will have to wait. Thanks to your young ghost, I have the strength I need now.”

  Jen stared at the man with narrowed eyes, seeing him in a different light. The change wasn’t instantly noticeable, but there was something different about him. He seemed to stand a little straighter, hold himself with more confidence, and even his voice sounded stronger. Suddenly and without warning, he bent down and placed a hand under Jen’s knees and one behind her back, then lifted her like she weighed nothing at all.

  “I’m going to hold you to those answers,” Jen said, and maybe for the first time the man laughed loud enough that other people could hear.

  “Something told me you would,” he said. “So, what’s next? How do we get out of here?”

  35

  Wednesday, 30th November 2016

  16:46

  “Where’s your dog?” Ashley whispered as he risked climbing another step to peak over the floor and into the atrium. The dreamwalker who followed Jen down the stairs hadn’t been in the hallway when they exited and they had been unchallenged get
ting to this point.

  “I told him that once I was with you he should disappear. I didn’t want him to be in danger. But I’ll let him know we need him again.”

  Before Ashley could ask how she would manage that, Jen concentrated on Dream. Again there was a spike of pain, but it was not so great she couldn’t push it aside for now.

  “Hawk, I need you,” she whispered.

  Again her vision swam as Dream left her. As she waited for Hawk’s response, she wondered how she could dreamwalk these people away when just whispering into Dream hurt so bad. She needed Amber back so she could start healing from the punishment she put herself through. However, Ashley still needed the ghost so he could carry Jen without tiring.

  Thinking of the ghost, Jen wondered how Amber was handling whatever Ashley was doing. When she looked over, Amber seemed a little less like her normal self. The usual smile that created dimples in her cheeks had vanished and her vibrant energy had faded. She looked almost like she was sleepwalking and wasn’t concentrating on where she was going.

  Jen didn’t have long to wonder what was wrong because there was a pop and swearing from the other side of the room.

  “It’s back!” Someone shouted as Hawk popped into existence in the centre of the atrium. However, he vanished a moment later before anyone could react and there was another pop followed by a scream and Jen had to hold in her giggle when she saw Hawk biting the posterior of the man who shouted that the dog was back.

  The action drew the attention of every dreamwalker and ghost in the vicinity, and soon Hawk was once again leading them on a merry race as the dreamwalkers lost their patience.

  “This is our chance,” Jen whispered, and she tried to keep the fear she felt for her dog out of her voice. She didn’t like the expression on the guards’ faces as they chased Hawk. They didn’t look like they wanted to capture him anymore, but instead kill him.

  A fire ball rushed from the hand of one man, and a laser burnt a hole in the floor where Hawk had been standing a moment earlier.

  If anything happened to Hawk, Jen would never forgive herself. She was tempted to call him away, but just glancing over her shoulder at all the frightened faces waiting in the corridor at the bottom of the stairs reminded her why Hawk was taking this risk.

  “You need to be quick so I can help my dog,” Jen said to Ashley and the people behind her. “He’s put himself in danger for all of you, so don’t waste this opportunity.”

  That was all she had time to say before Ashley burst into a run that was quicker than she expected. Evidently the power he drew from the ghost was not insignificant, and he covered the short distance between the top of the stairs and the entrance of the building in no time.

  Out the corner of her eye Jen saw there were six people surrounding her dog, but he blinked away again, appearing at the back of the room and barking to get their attention. In doing so he drew all eyes away from their escape and the group went unnoticed until their rushing footsteps were loud enough to hear from the other side of the room.

  “What? Hey, you lot, freeze!”

  It was already too late. Ashley and Jen had stepped out into the frigid air of the Cardiff winter, and the others were only a few steps behind them. Ashley stepped aside, waving the others through as he placed Jen on the floor again and told her she could have her ghost back. Jen didn’t waste a second motioning to Amber that she would like to merge again. At first Amber didn’t respond, almost like she didn’t understand what Jen was suggesting, then she broke apart into mist that Jen breathed in and… Things were not as they should be.

  Unlike the last few times the Jen merged with the ghost, her weariness did not vanish, her eyesight didn’t sharpen, and the pain didn’t flee. Jen probed her new connection for Amber’s memories, then gasped and looked at Ashley with horror on her face.

  This had not been like merging with a dreamwalker. It was like he was a leech of energy and all Jen could compare it to was how a mad ghost’s touch felt, like it was sucking your life out through the contact. It was icy, it was cold, and Jen was sure that if it happened long enough, it would do untold damage to Amber.

  “What are you?” she whispered yet again, but still didn’t get an answer.

  “Concentrate on Dream, it should replenish her and she will replenish you.”

  Jen stared at the man, wanting to press for a better answer, but her mind filled in the gaps. If it was Dream that powered ghosts and let them keep one foot in this world, then it stood to reason that more Dream could help Amber now.

  Just thinking about the door in her mind was painful, but feeling the exhausted ghost inside her, Jen didn’t hesitate for a second. She slammed the door open and bathed in the warmth of Dream that rushed over even as the pain spiked. However, the pain was temporary. As Amber started coming back to life, the benefits of their merging came to life as well.

  “You okay?” Jen asked internally, and felt more than heard Amber’s response. She was okay, but she was also worried about what had just happened. It hadn’t been a pleasurable experience, and again Jen wanted to question the skeletal politician. However, now wasn’t the time for that because the dreamwalkers were turning their attention away from Hawk and were blinking into existence near the entrance to recapture the people she had taken.

  Jen returned her attention to her plan and the people she came to rescue, all of whom waited on the steps outside the building, looking terrified.

  “You five come here, the rest of you run and don’t look back,” Jen ordered, motioning her school friends closer. “They won’t hurt you because they need you, so if you stay away and trust Hawk to keep them away from you, you will be fine until I can come back to take you too.”

  Before any of them could protest, there was a nearby pop that made everyone jump. Jen turned in surprise and found Hawk standing between their group and the dreamwalkers who were rushing out of the entrance. Suddenly all playfulness had gone from Hawk as he progressed to this next stage of the plan. He knew his job wasn’t to play with these dreamwalkers anymore, his job was to protect everyone while Jen dreamwalked them away.

  Before any of the dreamwalkers could react to his presence, Hawk planted his feet like he was bracing himself against a strong wind, and then barked the mother of all barks. Filled with Dream, it was so loud that the dreamwalkers fell to their knees, covering their ears , and the enormous windows behind the dreamwalkers shattered. Even with the sound directed away from her Jen winced in pain as her ears started ringing.

  Recognising that she needed to take advantage of Hawk’s most recent distraction, she called the closest five people over and told them to grab hold of her. As soon as they had complied, she changed the channel and they appeared in the only safe place she could think of; Tad’s house.

  The five closest people had been three of her friends and two politicians, all of whom were dry heaving as Jen had forgotten to tell them to jump. However, her friends recognised Jen’s bedroom and Jen felt good to see the relief on their faces.

  She changed the channel and again felt a punch to the head as overusing Dream became a serious problem. However, with Amber’s help she thought she could manage and tried not to think about Dr Buman’s warning about the potential damage she was doing to herself.

  She arrived back to a scene of mayhem. The cluster of hostages had spread out, running in every direction as they fled the dreamwalkers. However, while the dreamwalkers had recovered and were trying to recapture the hostages, they had a big problem in the form of a giant fury package who was having far too much fun as he chased down a dreamwalker in one place, then vanished to nip at the heels of a dreamwalker somewhere else. He was creating mayhem that the frustrated dreamwalkers couldn’t ignore, and it gave Jen the opportunity to choose who to save next. She had only saved three of the children from her class, but there were at 10 more and they were all running in the same direction. With a thought, she appeared in front of them and they skidded to a stop.

  “I need the ne
xt five and I’ll come back for the rest in a second.”

  Frightened eyes stared at her as everyone wanted to go, so Jen had to pick for them. Robert wasn’t among the five she picked, and she promised herself it wasn’t anything personal. Soon she had five more people back at Tad’s house, but didn’t waste a second before she was back to collect the next group, which finally included Robert, no matter how much she was tempted to leave him behind.

  Her room was getting crowded and she told everyone to go somewhere else, maybe even call loved ones so they could get home. Then she dreamwalked back to the Senedd.

  By this time her brain was on fire and she wasn’t sure how many jumps she had left in her. Everywhere she looked there were people running in their own direction, not staying together as the children had, and Jen worried about how she would get them all. The only way she could catch up was via dreamwalking, and every time she did that was one less journey she had in her. She couldn’t think of a way to round them up and was running out of time.

  Hawk was becoming less effective as the dreamwalkers were turning to more aggressive tactics. They were no longer trying to evade him or scare him away. Now they attacked like they wanted to kill him every time he appeared nearby. The steps in front of the Assembly building were alight with the brightness of laser fire and orange flame. Jen looked up in time to see a near miss that singed the fur on Hawk’s back and knew she had to get her dog out of danger.