by Jake Bible
Except it wasn’t what the valley held that they were all looking at. It was what the bubble inside the valley held that had their attention.
“Is it me or is that some Mad Max-looking Topside down there?” Raff asked.
“I see people,” Dr. Xipan said. “People walking around.”
“Heavily armed people,” Cash said. “And those are rollers. And fucking crawlers.”
“And look!” Raff said, pointing like a six year old seeing fireworks for the first time. “They have air support! Did you see that? A jet just flew by!”
“This is a mirage, yes?” Pytor asked. “An illusion.”
“We can’t all be seeing the same mirage, pal,” Raff said with a snort. “That’s crazy talk.”
“Mass hallucinations have been recorded,” Dr. Xipan said.
“We’re not hallucinating,” Barbara said. “That’s a time bubble. And that is Topside.”
“How?” Cash asked. “And why does it look so…?”
“Military?” Raff finished for him. “Very good questions. I’m thinking, and I’m only riffing here, that maybe, the answers to those question are down in that valley and on the other side of that bubble. What say we all go for one last hike and see what happens? Who’s with me?”
No one replied. They only stared at the bubble and the activity happening inside.
“Uh, those weren’t rhetorical questions, folks,” Raff said and shrugged. He started walking down the steep decline. “Follow if you want, but I’m gonna check it the fuck out right the fuck now.”
“Raff!” Cash shouted. “Stop right there.”
Raff stopped and turned to look up at Cash.
“What?” he asked.
“That’s a shitty route,” Cash said and pointed off to the left. “There’s a much easier one right over there. I do not want to have to carry you because you broke a fucking ankle just when we may have found a way out of this shit.”
Raff looked where Cash was pointing and nodded. “Yeah. That’s a much easier route.”
It took two hours to descend to the valley floor. They lost sight of the bubble as they entered a thick forest of giant ferns and pines mixed with palms.
Without rifles, they had to carefully navigate the forest, always on the alert for predators or, as they had come to find out, carnivorous plants. One wrong step and they would have their leg clamped by a hungry plant that looked like a Venus flytrap and a steel bear trap had had an ugly baby.
It was very slow going through the forest.
By the time they reached the other side, and caught glimpses of the time bubbles shimmer once more, it was evening and quickly turning into night.
“Something is tracking us back there,” Pytor said when they stopped at the last few trees of the forest and stared out at the shimmering bubble. “I hear it following about five meters back.”
The group turned but couldn’t see anything back in the darkness of the forest.
“Then let’s get the fuck out of here,” Raff said quietly. “You’re seeing what I’m seeing, right? Those look like Topside Industries uniforms. Those are our people in there.”
“Hold on,” Cash said. “Notice something, Raff?”
“That we’re about to experience indoor plumbing again?”
“No, asshole, those vehicles and operators are massing by this bubble like they’re bracing for an attack,” Cash said. “We go rushing toward that and we may get our heads blown off. Let’s stay put for a minute and see what…happens…”
Over twenty operators appeared out of nowhere. They stepped out from behind trees, popped up from the tall grass that stretched from the forest to the edge of the bubble, and stood up from their hides dug into the bank of the river several meters off.
“Drop your weapons and state your names!” someone yelled. “Comply now or you will be shot!”
“Trevon Cash!” Cash shouted as he slowly set his empty rifle on the ground. “We are unarmed! We ran out of ammunition days ago!”
“Weeks,” Barbara said as she tossed her pistol on the ground and raised her hands in the air.
“Weeks? Huh,” Cash said.
“Raphael Bellows!”
“Dr. Xipan!”
“Does she have a first name?” Raff whispered to Cash.
“Shut the fuck up,” Cash snarled.
“Pytor Kasinov!”
“We’ve got a fucking Russian! There’s a fucking Russian with them!”
The operators rushed Cash and the rest of them and they were all thrown roughly face down into the dirt.
“You a Russian too?” a voice growled close to Cash’s ear. “You kill the real Trevon Cash and now think you can sneak—”
“That’s enough, Purfoy,” a voice said from a few meters away. The voice did not shout, but the command in the tone changed the atmosphere quickly. “Let them up.”
“Even the Russian fuck?”
“Even the Russian fuck,” the voice said.
Cash blinked a few times and slowly turned his head to stare at Barbara. He mouthed, “Liv?”
“I said get them up,” the voice ordered and Cash and everyone were yanked up onto their feet.
Cash blinked at the person that walked up to him with a wide grin on her face. She also had a wide scar across her left cheek. But other than that, Cash recognized her instantly. Although…
“Liv? That’s a new fucking look,” Raff said.
“Raff,” Olivia said, turning her smile to Raff. “It’s good to see you.”
“Major?” one of the operators asked. “What are your orders?”
“Get your guns off our friends,” Olivia said. “Head back in and let everyone know this is what we’ve been waiting for. Training time begins and Brain’s plans can now move forward.”
The operators hesitated then lowered their weapons, some looking disappointed they didn’t get to shoot anyone, then all turned and walked back toward the bubble.
“No, seriously,” Raff said, waving at the tactical gear that Olivia was dressed in. “This really is a new look for you.”
“Liv…” Cash started, but didn’t finish as she raised a finger then pointed it at Pytor.
“What’s the Russian’s story?” Olivia asked.
“He’s a friend,” Cash said.
“We don’t have Russian friends Topside, Tre,” Olivia said. “Explain.”
So Cash explained. Olivia didn’t move from her spot until he finished speaking.
“You trust him with your life then?” she asked.
“Yes,” Cash replied without hesitation.
“Then he lives,” Olivia said. “But he will be watched.”
“Sure,” Cash said. “Expected considering what the Russians have done.”
“Oh, Tre, you know nothing about what the Russians have done,” Olivia said. “Or what’s going on.”
The sounds of roars could be heard from inside the bubbles.
“Teeth!” Raff yelled and looked about. His eyes stopped on the pistol on Olivia’s hip. “Can I have that? I’d really like to have that so I can shoot some teeth.”
“These teeth we do not shoot,” Olivia said and stepped aside so they all could get a better view.
Inside the bubble, a pack of what looked like armored tyrannosaurs marched by. With people walking alongside as if it was no big deal.
“Teeth hate to be ridden, but the herbivores are pretty compliant,” Olivia said. “I learned a few things living in the wild for six years.” She sighed. “And, if Brain isn’t wrong, in a year I’ll be able to go back and see my babies.”
Cash blinked a few times. Everyone else stood there, their jaws wide open.
Once Cash was able to find the words, he asked, “Liv? What the fuck is going on?”
Olivia laughed and laughed hard. She clutched at her belly until she could catch her breath.
“You were right,” Olivia said. “Fuck, Tre, you were right that this would feel good to say.”
She took a deep breat
h, turned to face the bubble, then looked back over her shoulder at Cash.
“Ask me again,” she said.
“Ask you what?”
“What’s going on.”
Cash hesitated then asked, “What’s going on?”
“Oh, you’ll see,” she said and started laughing again as she walked off. “Come on. You have an entire future and past to catch up on.”
The End
Author Bio:
Jake Bible, Bram Stoker Award nominated-novelist, short story writer, independent screenwriter, podcaster, and inventor of the Drabble Novel, has entertained thousands with his horror, sci/fi, thriller, and adventure tales. He reaches audiences of all ages with his uncanny ability to write a wide range of characters and genres.
Jake is the author of the bestselling Z-Burbia series set in Asheville, NC, the bestselling Salvage Merc One, the Apex Trilogy (DEAD MECH, The Americans, Metal and Ash) and the Roak: Galactic Bounty Hunter series for Severed Press. He is also the author of the YA zombie novel, Little Dead Man, the Bram Stoker Award nominated Teen horror novel, Intentional Haunting, the ScareScapes series, and the Reign of Four series for Permuted Press, as well as Stone Cold Bastards and the Black Box, Inc. series for Bell Bridge Books.
Find Jake at jakebible.com. Join him on Twitter @jakebible and find him on Facebook.