by KJ Nelson
Cameron could tell how much he needed the water. Stafford looked over to her, taking in her strange action and his brow furrowed at the sight of her drinking water at such a strange time. Cameron nodded back to the bound man, letting Stafford see his reaction to the water.
“Who are you?” Cameron asked, holding up the water. She knew he would be able to see it even in the darkroom. The man breathed out heavily and looked at the water with longing in his eyes. She saw something change in him, it seemed like he had made a decision.
“My name is Draconius.” He said as if he was announcing the King of England. Even laying on his side hogtied with what looked to be blood running out of his mouth, Draconius carried more pride than any person she’d ever met.
“That’s a mouthful,” Cameron said at the strange name.
“If it’s easier for your Sape mind, you may address me as Drac,” he said rolling his eyes. “Now, come down here and help me out of these restraints.” Cameron shook her head in bewilderment. Most people in his situation would have at least faked being nice to be helped.
“What do you keep calling us?” Cameron asked, needing more answers before she decided if she wanted to help Drac. “What does Sape mean?”
Drac just stared at her sardonically, like she was the dumbest person on the entire planet. His stare made her inordinately angry. She’d only been around the man for less than five minutes and she was sure without a doubt that she hated him more than any other person she’d ever met.
“Let’s leave him,” Cameron said, talking to Stafford. She said it loud enough for Drac to hear.
“He’ll die if we leave him here,” Stafford said under his breath and turned his back on Drac. “He also might have the information we need…” Cameron nodded as he spoke. She didn’t actually plan on leaving him behind without answers, but she hoped to convince Drac that they would, in order to get him to talk.
“Play along,” Cameron said, barely moving her lips. She looked back at Drac over Stafford’s shoulders and saw the worry in his eyes. No matter how haughty he acted, he knew he wasn’t in control of the situation. Cameron intended to keep it that way.
“Agreed,” Stafford said louder than before. “Let’s keep searching, then get out of here.”
“Wait!” Drac’s voice cracked. It was the first sign of weakness he’d shown. His face tightened in anger at the sound of his own voice. “Please.”
“That’s better,” Cameron said smiling back at him. She pulled a bundle of rope out of her backpack and handed it to Stafford. The depression in the floor wasn’t deep, but she could see no way back out once she climbed down to free Drac.
“Lower me down with this. Once I’m down there keep your gun on him. I don’t trust this guy at all.” Cameron spoke to Stafford in a whisper. There was something off about the man. Between his name and the way he spoke to them, Cameron knew she needed to be careful with Drac.
“I’m coming down, don’t make any sudden moves or we’ll shoot you,” Cameron said, wanting to be plain with Drac about the rules of their encounter. Cameron had learned to state her intentions clearly, then when pushed, follow through without hesitation. It was the only way to maintain her role as Warlord.
Drac laid perfectly still while Stafford lowered her into the depression. The floor at the bottom sloped down then flattened out a couple of feet from the wall. It would make it nearly impossible to get out without help.
She stopped less than 10 feet away from Drac and looked him over more closely. The glow stick revealed more details now that she was closer to him. The clothes he wore were unlike anything she’d ever seen.
The cloth looked like a mixture of leather and silk. It had the lightness of silk but the sheen of leather. She wanted to touch the fabric to see if it was as soft as it seemed. From what she could tell, it was also one fluid piece of clothing. There were no seams along the sides or shoulders.
“Are you going to release me?” Drac asked, in a quiet voice that still maintained his earlier superiority. “I haven’t eaten or drank anything for at least two days.” Drac’s eyes met Cameron’s as he spoke, and she could see the pain he was experiencing. She couldn’t imagine being restrained for days in the position he was in.
“I will let you go, but I need answers from you. If you don’t give them to us, we’ll kill you.” Cameron said plainly again, stating facts. “Understood?”
“You’re a subtle creature aren’t you?” Drac said with a low chuckle. The action made him cough, blood leaked down his chin slowly onto the floor. “If you release me, and give me that water I’ll answer your petty questions.”
Cameron walked over to him and looked at the device that was attached to Drac’s wrists and ankles. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. The device was a flat black square with four rings coming out of it. Each ring had one of Drac’s appendages in it.
“What is that?” Cameron asked, looking at the device. She realized it looked to be made of the same material the transmitter Agbo had given her.
“It’s a simple restraining implement. Tap your finger in the middle of the device to activate the input.” Drac said quietly. Cameron could tell he was trying very hard to keep some of the derision out of his tone. He wasn’t doing a very good job. Every word sounded like a judgment of her intelligence.
Cameron turned to make sure Stafford was ready with his rifle and walked around Drac so that there was a clear line of sight between the two. She didn’t want to be in the line of fire. Cameron reached out her hand and touched the smooth black surface of the restraint.
As soon as she touched it, four of the pearl-like keys emerged from the black surface. It confirmed her suspicion that the device was made by the Squatches.
“You should see the input diodes,” Drac said with a grunt. Cameron could feel his impatience to be released. “They’re pressure sensitive.”
“I know. There are three levels to each button. What’s the combination?” Cameron said without thinking. Drake turned his head suddenly to look at her. His eyes changed, they showed his real emotions for the first time since they’d met. He stared at her in wonder, trying in vain to figure out how she knew about the alien technology.
Drac listed out a complicated pattern for Cameron to input into the device. She forgot halfway through all the steps. After 30 seconds of slowly inputting each command, the restraining device made a whirring noise and released all four circles at once.
Drac’s legs fell forward and his arms moved to the side quickly. Cameron could hear the bones in his shoulder cracking as he brought his arms to the front of his body. He turned to lay on his back, a low moan escaped his mouth and he moved his arms in front of his body for the first time in days.
Cameron stood quickly, moving away from Drac. She didn’t want to be within arm’s reach in case he decided to attack her. Drac continued to stretch not paying any attention to Cameron. He breathed deeply through his mouth, the relief pouring out of him.
“Water.” He said quietly after another 30 seconds of stretching. Cameron took one last gulp of the liquid and rolled it to him. There was enough there to wet his throat. Drac grabbed for the water and gulped it down without restraint.
He wiped the blood away from his mouth and sat up in the middle of the cell. He continued to stretch his shoulders and wrists.
“I must thank you for releasing me. I’m in your debt.” Drac spoke formally again. He looked at her taking in her appearance, waiting for her questions.
“Yes, you are,” Cameron said, agreeing with his statement. She was ready to cash in that debt immediately.
11
“I’ll ask again, who are you?” Cameron was sitting on the floor across from Drac. It put her closer to the rope, and her escape in case Drac decided to attack her. She looked up at Stafford who had the rope tied to his waist, and the gun trained on Drac’s forehead.
“I am Draconius, Highlark of the Angstrom Armada...” Drac said in his imperial voice. “Former Highlark of
the Angstrom Armada.” He corrected himself with a grimace.
“You realized that tells me nothing, right?” Cameron said, shaking her head. The words were basically gibberish. “What’s a Highlark?” She thought that was the word he’d used.
“It means leader. I was the supreme leader of the Armada, the…” Drac searched for a word motioning with his hand. “... army that harvested this planet,” Drac just looked at Cameron with his light eyes. Cameron stared back at him, the words slowly formulating in her mind. Was he saying that he was one of the aliens that destroyed the planet? How was that possible, he looked nothing like the Squatches.
Cameron grabbed her gun out of its holster and pointed it at the man’s perfect forehead. She rose to her feet, anger flashing in her eyes. The hatred that had cooled while she tried to maneuver Drac into helping them filled her chest with tightness.
“Say that again,” Cameron said, her hand holding the gun shaking from the anger. She was going to kill him.
“Cam,” Stafford said in a low voice above her head. “Stay calm.”
“No!” Cameron shouted back to Stafford. Whether the man was telling the truth or lying to make himself seem more important, Cameron wasn’t going to sit there and let the man peacefully talk about the destruction of everything she loved.
“That’s right little homo sapiens, I gave the order that destroyed earth,” Drac said with a wicked grin.
Cameron pulled the trigger of her gun, sending a bullet hurtling toward that stupid grin. At the exact same second Stafford pulled on the rope that was tied around Cameron’s waist and she stumbled backward. It affected her aim, and she missed Drac by a few inches. The bullet struck the wall behind him with a loud thud.
Cameron was hauled up off her feet and left dangling on the side of the cell. She raised her gun again to take a second shot, this time closing one eye to aim. She didn’t plan on missing another shot.
“Stop!” Stafford yelled shaking the rope. Drac jumped to his feet and with a quickness that seemed impossible jumped out of the way. Cameron unloaded a full clip at him, hitting only air. Between Stafford lifting her up and down repeatedly and Drac dodging back and forth she didn’t stand a chance of hitting him.
I’ll have to wait to kill him until later. Cameron thought to herself as the top half of the Glock pistol locked in place ready for a new clip. She knew Stafford was right in wanting to hear more of what Drac had to say. She could hold onto her anger until he was ready to kill Drac as well.
“I’m done,” Cameron said to Stafford so he would drop her. Stafford stopped moving her around and looked over the low wall to make eye contact with her. She looked at him and nodded, letting him know she meant what she said.
He lowered her back to the ground, and Cameron grabbed a new clip and loaded it into her gun. The gun made a satisfying thunk as the new round was loaded into the chamber. She itched to put a piece of hot metal into Drac but knew she would regret it if she did.
Drac watched her every movement, ready to dodge again if she decided to shoot him. He breathed heavily and sweat dripped down his brow. Seeing him standing for the first time, Cameron realized how small Drac was.
He must have barely been over five and a half feet tall. The way he talked had made him seem so much larger than he actually was. She almost started laughing at how little he was. She had a feeling that he probably weighed as much as she did. Drac frowned as he saw the rapid change in her emotions.
Cameron and Drac stood looking at each other for what seemed like hours. Drac was looking at her waiting for her to make another move to kill him. Cameron was trying to understand who or what he was. The way he spoke, the way he looked completely perfect ran through her mind. She began to think, maybe he was telling the truth. She needed answers.
“I’m not going to kill you,” Cameron said after the stare-down. Yet. She thought to herself. If what he said was true, he had invaluable information, but it also meant that he was responsible for killing almost every human on the planet. He was also responsible for stealing every life-giving resource as well.
Cameron swore to herself, she would make Drac start to repay what he’d taken from humanity by providing a way to save the remainder of people who were still alive. Then, she would enjoy the pleasure of killing him. Slowly.
Drac continued to stare at her, he flinched every time she made even the slightest movements. Cameron decided to sit back down in an attempt to calm him. She regretted taking the shots at him, it would make it harder to get him to start talking.
“So, you destroyed our planet. Tell me about that.” Cameron said in an even tone. Her curiosity warred with her anger as she spoke. She would try her best to stay calm regardless of how Drac acted or what he said.
“I don’t think you have the mental fortitude to understand anything I have to say,” Drac said, narrowing his eyes at her. She could tell he was measuring every word he said. It was nice to know she’d at least scared him enough to show her some amount of respect.
“Try me,” Cameron said evenly. “The only thing keeping you alive right now is what’s in your head. Answer our questions or we will fill your tiny body with American lead.”
“You Sapes have always been so proud of your little fire sticks haven’t you. They’re such a primitive weapon, I don’t understand why you would want to use something that affects your sense of hearing.” As Drac spoke, Cameron could tell that he loved the sound of his own voice. She’d run into it so many times when she was selling medical supplies.
There were some men that no matter how gruff and prideful they acted, were simply in love with themselves. All it took to get them to open up was to ask the right questions, and they would talk for hours. Cameron felt that Drac, regardless of how different he thought he was, would fall directly into her trap.
“What’s your weapon of choice?” Cameron asked intuition leading her more than her own thoughts. Her plan revolved around the idea of asking questions that weren’t confrontational, but still provided the answers she needed.
“I prefer the simple silence of a M-Div,” Drac said simply with a look of lust in his eyes. “Watching your enemies crumble into a fine powder while their body deconstructs down to the molecular level, is one of my greatest pleasures.”
Cameron stared at him in disbelief, as she realized Drac was describing the weapon that had been used on Charleston. The reverence that Drac used when describing the weapon made her nauseous.
“Isn’t that less personal though?” Cameron asked, wanting to know more about what weapons Drac’s people had at their disposal. “Killing everything within a 5-mile radius?”
“Ah, you’ve only seen the effects of the ship grade M-Div’s. The handheld version is much more ah, personal.” Drac said showcasing his small grin again. Cameron could see in his eyes, the joy he had at killing other beings.
“Why don’t you look like the other Squatches?” Cameron asked finally getting to one of her most burning questions. It was so much easier for her to accept the huge hairy creatures being the ones responsible for their destruction.
The Squatches at least fit the part. They looked like aliens, even though they had roughly the same shape as humans. Their hair and grotesque features were part of the nightmare of humanity. The beautiful, perfectly honed man in front of her didn’t match her idea of ‘destroyer of worlds.’
“What did you say? Squatches? Like Sasquatch?” Drac said almost laughing. Cameron hated his cocky demeanor so much, she almost shot him again.
“Yeah, the huge hairy creatures that we’ve been seeing for the last two years,” Cameron said in frustration. She hated that Drac was able to get under her skin so easily.
“Ah yes, the OAF’s,” Drac said nodding his head in recognition. “Those are simply the organic suits we wear when planet-side.”
Cameron couldn’t believe what she was hearing. All the Squatches she’d seen over the last two years were really just people wearing suits? It was hard to wrap her mind around t
he idea.
“They make my men much faster and stronger which makes it a lot easier to get their work done.” Drac continued talking. The way he said the word ‘work’ made Cameron sick to her stomach. How could he view the destruction of an entire planet as just another task to be completed?
“Are you humans?” Cameron asked, trying to keep her voice steady. She heard Stafford breathing heavily over her head and she thought he might have finally reached his limit listening to Drac. Cameron hadn’t ever seen him truly angry, she thought it would be enjoyable to see it happen at Drac’s expense.
“No, we are the Neandraton,” Drac said, making a sour face at being called a human.
“Then why do you look like us?” Cameron asked, pushing the question. It didn’t make sense that they looked so similar to humans if they weren’t.
“I don’t look like you. You look like me.” Drac said, smiling wickedly. Cameron sat there in silence for a few moments taking in his words.
“What do you mean?” She asked quietly.
“Your race looks like Neandratons, not the other way around. Humans descended from my race thousands of years ago. When we harvested this planet last time, some Neandratons decided to stay behind and colonize here. They neglected to keep their bloodlines pure, and that led to the homo sapiens race,” Drac spoke in his haughty voice. It was like he was explaining simple math to a kindergartner.
“You’ve been here before?” Cameron asked, her voice shaking.
“Yes, many times. We’ve owned this planet since its creation. We’ve cultivated it and nourished it to where it is today.” Drac said with pride in his voice. The way he spoke about owning the planet, made her skin crawl. Who was presumptuous enough to think they owned an entire planet?
“So you just go around killing everything and stealing what’s left?” Cameron asked, the hate she was trying so hard to mask coming through in her voice.