The Secrets that Lie Below

2

The girl was enclosed in a capsule. It was upright, she was frozen in something. Tattoos covered her body. On her back was some sort of weapon. The position she was in looked as if she had been in pain.

"I wonder who she is." Pan said.

"Holy shit." Dane said again. Mara went up to what looked like a control panel. There was a button that said release.

"Should I press it?" Mara asked.

"What?" Blythe came forward.

"It says release." Dane and Pan walked up. Dane shrugged and pressed it.

"Dane!" Mara exclaimed and stepped back. There was a hissing noise and the capsule split open. The girl fell forward. She seemed to be unconscious. The girl look no older than 18, Mara's age.

"She's probably dead. No one could survive that." Pan shook his head. Mara crept forward and flipped the girl on her back. She was very pretty. Her bright red hair and pale skin matched her outlandish attire. He face arms and legs were decorated with intricate tattoos. Then hooked onto her ear was an earring that extended to her nose. Her lips were perfectly shaped and dark red. Mara saw her chest rise and fall.

"She's alive." Mara shook her head. Then the girl's eyes opened. One was red and the other white. She was startled at first. The girl jumped up and spun around with the weapon ready.

"Who are you?" She said. She looked at Mara. Her nails grew in length and sharpened so they look like blades. She went to Mara. Her index finger was pointed at her throat. Mara backed up against the wall.

"Is that anyway to treat your savior?" Dane asked.

"My savior?" The girl looked at Dane.

"She is the entire reason we are here. If it weren't for her, we wouldn't even be here." Blythe piped up. The girl look back at Mara.

"My apologies." She put her hand down and put the weapon away. The girl bowed and backed up. "I'm afraid being locked in my cell has wiped away my manners."

"It's ok." Mara touched her shoulder. "I'm Mara. This is Blythe, Dane, and Pan."

"What kind of weapon is that?" Pan went forward.

"My sword?" She took the long piece of sharpened metal from her back.

"That's what it is called?" Pan stepped forward. "A sword?" She nodded.

"Would you like to hold it?" He nodded and took the weapon from her.

"What is your name?" Mara asked her.

"Padma, you can call me Padma." Padma smiled.

"It's nice to meet you Padma." Mara smiled.

"This is heavier than it looks." Dane said as he took the sword from Pan.

"My abilities help me carry the weight of it on my back." She said. Then she froze. "Hide, now!" She whispered. Padma took her sword from Dane. The kids rushed around as Padma swung her sword around. Then she put the tip on the ground and waited.

"Oh shit." The guard said as he walked in.

"Hello, boys." Padma smiled. "Now, who wants to go first?"

"I think we should leave." The second guard said. Padma laughed.

"Perfect." She dragged her sword on the ground.

"Put the sword down." He said. Padma stopped and dropped her sword. Then she started walking again and reached the guards.

"So tense." She reached up and touched his neck. She lined up her fingers on the back of his neck. "Ready to go?"

"Yes come on." The first guard said.

"I'm afraid there's been some miscommunication." Padma said. "I didn't mean go, I meant," her smile disappeared, "go." Her fingernails grew in an instant and stuck out of the front of the guards neck. She ripped her hand away from his neck and the guard fell. The first guard stood there stunned. Padma turned to him and she sliced his neck. He fell to the floor.

"Padma? What's happening?" Pan called.

"You can come out now." Padma kicked the first guard out of the entry way.

"Did you kill them?" Blythe asked. Padma shrugged.

"No one will find them till morning." She turned to the others. "We need to go." They left and went through the woods to get back to the town.

"So, what happened to you?" Mara asked as they walked through the woods.

"First, tell me, what year is it? I hope it hasn't been too long." Padma said.

"It's the year 3016." Mara shrugged. Padma stopped and looked at the ground. "What is it?"

"Sit, this story is long." Padma sat and started a fire. "When the war started in 2016, everything was chaos. Despite what they tell you now, the war was only a year long. The United States only cared about domination, it didn't matter who they had to kill. They used a weapon so awful, so terrifying, that it got the job done so quick, the US was barely touched by their enemies. When the war ended, there was only control."

"How do you know all this?" Pan interrupted.

"That's the sad part." Padma pulled her knees up to her chest. "The weapon was a person, not an inanimate object. This person was taken at the age of twelve, six years before the war. They experimented and mutated her. The broke her bones and then mended them again. They made her into a monster." A tear rolled down her cheek. "They made me into a monster. I was promised to see my family again. But when the war ended and I returned home, everything was gone. I ran but the found me and locked me away in that cell. I've been in there for a thousand years."