Hybrid: The Awakening

Chapter 24-Diana

Date on Earth: Tuesday, October 10

The dock was a few feet ahead, awaiting us. Water from the lake splashed its sides as the wind continued to pick up.

I took a quick look behind me, careful not to fall over. The freaky, deformed, possessed corpse had come back to life, and was chasing us slowly with a horrible limp. Which somehow made it more creepy.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I caught sight of the boat from earlier. That feeling was quickly squandered when another figure stepped in front of it.

"Now where do y'all think you're going?" A woman I'd never seen before crowed. Her eyes were rolled into the back of her head and her smile was way too big to be human.

I groaned. "Seriously? There's more of you now?"

The corpse let out a laugh. "You humans can't defeat us."

"Funny," Asher said. "Didn't we just get rid of three of your other buddies? And this guy isn't looking too hot either." He pointed to the limping monster.

The grin the woman wore faded into a scowl. "Just turn yourself in, Kasiel, and we will be on our way."

"You keep saying that name like it means something," Tristen retorted. "We don't know a 'Kasiel'."

The dead woman tilted her head, clicking her tongue. "Don't know him? I was under the impression that you were friends."

The statement hadn't even gotten a chance to settle before there was a loud grunting noise. The highly suspicious new girl was struggling to lift a piece of plywood off of the side of a broken-down shed. With a huff, she ripped it off and held it out in front of her.

"What are you planning?" Tesha asked her.

"This." The girl swung the wooden slab and knocked it into the woman. The monster was briefly knocked off balance, giving us the perfect opening.

I didn't hesitate. Within seconds I was in the boat, untying the rope around the dock. Tristen and Asher jumped in behind me, looking worriedly at where the sketchy new girl was fighting both corpses.

Tesha stood next to her with her alien gun pointed at the monsters, but the new girl shook her head.

"Go to the boat and get them away from here," she told Tesha. "I'll hold them off."

Tesha ducked as the creepy woman came charging at her, shooting it in the chest and sending it tumbling away from the boat.

"You can't fight them alone," Tesha argued. "There could be others in town."
The girl glanced back at us. "Your job is to get all of them to safety. Fulfill your mission, Tandra, so I can fulfill mine."

"And do it fast!" I interjected. "We aren't getting any younger over here!"

Tesha still looked conflicted, but eventually came to a decision. With one last blast to the corpse's head, she ran to the boat and hopped in.

Before paddling away, Tesha made eye contact with the new girl, whispering a quiet, "Thank you."

The only acknowledgement that the girl with the oversized black coat heard her was a slight nod of her head.

The limping monster lunged at the boat in a final desperate attempt, only for the new girl to grab it by the neck and fling it the opposite direction. She kicked the boat, pushing it into deeper water.

"Go!"

Determined to get as far away from the dead corpses as possible, I grabbed a hold of an oar and hastily started paddling backwards. Tristen sat down next to me and grabbed the other oar. Together, we paddled like our lives depended on it. Which it did.