Threshold

by King, R. L.

  “With those guns, they’ll cut us down before we get anywhere near them,” Jason said. “We could sneak past them, but since we don’t know how to get where we need to be yet—”

  “Stay here,” Harrison said, handing the binoculars back to Nakamura and rising. “Dr. Stone, please take care of group concealment.”

  “What are you—” Stone began, but Harrison had already started walking toward the guards.

  Stone sighed.

  “What’s he gonna do?” Verity whispered.

  It didn’t take long for them to find out. Harrison strode forward, apparently unprotected, into the circle of lights. The others watched tensely from behind the rock.

  “Hey!” called one of the men. Instantly most of them spun and ran toward Harrison with their guns leveled, while two took off at a run back toward the mountain. The others paused for a moment, and then two of them opened fire, their rifles barking into the quiet night.

  “Oh, shit...” Jason muttered. Next to him, Verity stiffened.

  The rifle rounds never reached Harrison, impacting harmlessly off a glowing shield that flared up around him. He stood there for a moment, as if contemplating his next move, then raised his right hand and swiped it in an arc from left to right. In the area his hand traced, a sheet of what could only be described as crackling blue fire spread out, extending in front of him in a deadly wave. When it contacted one of the gunmen, the man simply fell to the ground, with no scream, cry of pain, or other sound save for his rifle clattering down next to him. A small gray puff of energy left his body, flew upward, and dissipated. The wave continued, dropping the nearby gunmen in their tracks as it went.

  The other men, the ones who had been running toward the mountain, cried out in terror and attempted to alter course, but the inexorable sheet of blue fire followed them. One almost made it out of the perimeter, but he stumbled at the last moment and the blue energy hit him, cutting him down where he stood.

  For a moment there was silence. Harrison stood there, his back to the group, and looked over the area, perhaps to make sure that he’d finished the job. Jason, Stone, and Verity stared with wide-eyed shock, trying to convince themselves that they’d seen what they thought they’d seen. Nakamura’s face betrayed nothing.

  And then Jason and Stone both leaped up, running toward Harrison. Jason got there first. He grabbed Harrison’s shoulder and spun him around. “What the hell did you just do?” he screamed.

  Harrison’s expression didn’t change. “I cleared the way for us,” he said simply. He showed no sign of exertion, nor did he seem disturbed that Jason was yelling in his face.

  “You—fucking—killed all those guys!” Jason was still yelling.

  “Keep your voice down.”

  “You killed them. You killed like twelve people!” He was still gripping Harrison’s shoulder, and he shook him emphatically as he spoke. His eyes were wild. Without thinking, he pulled back his fist, intending to let Harrison have it.

  Stone grabbed his arm and pulled him back, but his eyes blazed as much as Jason’s did. “Harrison, we said no killing unless we had no choice!” he snapped. “Or did you miss that bit?” He struggled to wrestle Jason backward.

  Verity ran up behind Stone and Jason, standing back a few feet, her eyes huge with shock at what she’d just seen.

  Harrison’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll do what is necessary,” he said. His tone was colder than they’d ever heard it.

  “So—what—are you gonna kill the kids too, if they get in the way?” Jason demanded, still fighting to get out of Stone’s grip. “You know, the ones we’re here to save?”

  Harrison’s expression still didn’t change. “Our primary objective is to destroy that portal.”

  Jason stopped struggling for a moment, stunned. “You—you’d—kill a bunch of kids if it meant getting that portal down.” He wasn’t yelling now; his voice shook with disbelief.

  Harrison didn’t look at Jason, instead focusing his laser gaze on Stone. “Dr. Stone. Are the Evil as you have described them to me?”

  Stone looked startled at the change of topic. “What?”

  “Have you described the Evil accurately to me? Has everything you’ve told me about them been true?”

  “Of course it has!” he snapped. “Why the hell would we lie to you about—”

  “Then they are a profound threat to our entire world,” Harrison said dispassionately. “They must be stopped. If this is indeed their last remaining access point to our dimension, it must be shut down. That’s my only concern.” He swept his gaze across Stone, Verity, and finally Jason. “This is war, pure and simple. I have no intention of killing the children if we can accomplish our objective otherwise. But we will close the portal, however we have to do it.”

  Jason began struggling again, trying to get out of Stone’s grip, but Verity stepped up between them and Harrison. “Stop fighting!” she ordered. “Stop yelling at each other! Listen to you! I’m surprised the whole place hasn’t heard you by now!”

  “Look what he did, V!” Jason protested, waving a jerky arm toward all the dead guards. “He just waved his hand and killed these guys. You think he’s gonna give a fuck about the kids?”

  Stone sighed. “Jason.”

  “What?”

  “He’s right.”

  Jason whipped his head around. “Al, what the hell are you—”

  Stone let him go. His eyes were resigned. “He’s right,” he said again, with another sigh. “I don’t like it any more than you, but he is. We have to do this—no matter what the cost.”

  “What? You want to kill the kids?” Jason’s expression suggested that his entire reality had just fallen over sideways.

  “Of course I don’t. I don’t think it will come to that. But—” He spread his hands. “This is our last chance. We have to do it now. And if—”

  “If thirty innocent kids get blown away, that’s okay?” Jason demanded.

  “We don’t have time for this,” Harrison said. “Come on. Miss Thayer is right—if they hear us—”

  Jason glared at him, then at Stone, but then deflated. “Fine,” he growled. “I’m coming. But I’m not gonna let you kill those kids. If you try it, Harrison, I’ll find a way to take you down.”

  Harrison didn’t answer, except to move forward. Jason paused to pick up one of the dead guards’ rifles and sling it over his shoulder, then hurried to catch up.

  “So where are they?” Verity asked, obviously trying to get them back on task so they didn’t start yelling at each other again. She looked around. “This looks like it was a pretty big place.”

  “Well, since we obviously can’t see the portal or any of the others,” Stone said, “then we’re either in the wrong place, or they’re under cover somehow.”

  “We’re not in the wrong place,” Jason said, pointing. “Look.”

  They all looked where he indicated, and saw the bulky form of the school bus parked up ahead, off to the left near the foothills. A light-colored tarp covered it to help conceal it from prying eyes above, but from the ground, it was obvious what it was.

  “They’ve got to be near there, then,” Stone said. “I can’t imagine they’d troop thirty children too far across an abandoned military base. Kids might be gullible, but they aren’t completely stupid.”

  They headed in that direction. “Didn’t you say something about a hangar?” Verity asked Harrison.

  He nodded. “Probably built into the mountainside.”

  “Wouldn’t the entrance have to be pretty big, though, if they needed to get planes in and out?”

  “Not necessarily,” Jason said. “When they decommissioned the base, they might have sealed that part up. Look for a smaller door somewhere.”

  As they approached the foothills, sharp-eyed Verity spotted it first. “There!” she said, pointing ahead.

&nbs
p; A wide metal door, about twice the width of a standard one, was set into the side of the mountain, recessed about six feet back. Stenciled on it were the words: ABSOLUTELY NO ADMITTANCE, along with a gobbledygook of numbers and codes.

  Jason reached out to try it. It was locked. Harrison waved him to one side and grasped the handle. It made a brief sizzle, then the door swung silently open an inch or so. Stepping back, he motioned for Jason to resume his place.

  Jason pulled out the gun Nakamura had given him and held it at the ready. Nakamura pulled his own from his backpack and did the same.

  Stone took a deep breath. “All right, then. This is it.” He pushed the door open, revealing a long empty hallway. “Mr. Harrison, please try not to kill anyone else, all right?” He turned back around to look at Harrison, who was at the back of the group with Nakamura. “Perhaps you should—”

  He didn’t get to finish his sentence. With brutal suddenness the roar of a gun split the silence. Harrison pitched forward, blood spraying out in a fan from a gaping wound in his chest. He hit the floor and did not move.

  Behind him stood Nakamura. Deadly calm, he swung his gun barrel around until it was pointed at Verity.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Stone and Verity, momentarily paralyzed with shock and half-deafened by the gun’s blast, stood rooted in place.

  Jason, his protective instincts for his sister overriding everything else, moved without thinking. He lunged forward, slamming hard into Nakamura’s arm. Nakamura staggered back, but managed to hold on to the gun.

  That was enough time to jolt Verity out of her terror, though. She glared at Nakamura and instinctively forced out with her mind. He clamped his hands to his head, dropping the gun, and then went to his knees as a puff of gray mist rose up and disappeared. He slid sideways and collapsed next to Harrison.

  “Holy fuck...” Jason whispered, his heart pounding in his chest. “He was—”

  “Yeah,” Verity said numbly. “He was possessed. He...” She trailed off.

  Stone dropped to his knees next to Harrison, rolling him over. He didn’t say anything; he didn’t have to. The shot had been point-blank: a spray of bright red blood streaked the concrete walls and stained their own clothing.

  “Is he—” Verity ventured.

  Stone felt for a pulse. Harrison’s normally pale face was ashen gray, the entire front of his fine suit soaked with blood. More blood stained his lips. He didn’t move, and didn’t appear to be breathing. Stone’s expression was grim, but then he stiffened. “Bloody hell, he’s still alive,” he said, surprised. “But barely.”

  “Can we heal him?” Verity got down next to him, already pressing her hands on Harrison’s chest to try to stem the bleeding. More blood bubbled up around them.

  “V—” Jason stood back, still breathing hard, watching Nakamura to make sure he didn’t wake up. He was tempted to shoot him, but didn’t do it. Not yet. If the man made another move, though, all bets were off.

  “Jason, we have to try!”

  “You heard what he said. We gotta shut down the portal. We don’t have time—”

  Stone sighed. “He’s right, Verity. We have to—”

  “Can’t we at least try to stabilize him?” She glared at him and her brother in turn. “We can’t just let him die! If he’s still alive after—”

  Stone nodded, still looking grim. “All right, then, but quickly. You take the lead, Verity—you’ve got a better touch for this than I do. Jason, can you give me some extra power?”

  Together they bent over Harrison’s still body, moving their hands over the tattered, bloody wound where the bullet had exited. Jason hovered nearby, his hand on Stone’s shoulder and his gaze darting between them, Nakamura, the door they had just come in through, and the other end of the hallway, expecting any second for someone to find them. His ears still rang from the gun blast.

  They spent less than a minute on it, relaying instructions and comments back and forth in clipped tones. At last they both stood, looking tired.

  That’s the best we can do for now,” Stone said, letting his breath out. “It’s not much, unfortunately. Neither of us has the expertise for this sort of thing.”

  “Is he gonna live?” Jason asked, looking down at Harrison. He looked as bad as ever, except that their healing efforts appeared to have jump-started his ragged breathing and no fresh blood pumped out of the wound at the moment.

  “No idea,” Stone said, shaking his head. He glanced down at Harrison a last time, then squared his shoulders. “Come on, then. We’ve got to go. I’m amazed that gunshot didn’t send them all running out here. Let’s not take chances.”

  “What about Nakamura?” Verity asked. “If he wakes up and gets possessed again—”

  Jason rummaged in Nakamura’s backpack and withdrew a plastic zip-tie, which he used to bind the man’s wrists behind him. “At least it’ll take him a while to get out of that.” He stuffed Nakamura’s gun into the backpack and handed it to Verity. “Can you carry this? It’ll get in the way of the rifle if I have to use it.”

  She nodded and slung it over her shoulder. “Jason?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks. You know, for stopping him from shooting me.” Her voice shook a little, like she was holding back tears.

  He patted her shoulder and grinned. “We need you, V. You’re the only one who can kick these bastards out of their houses.”

  Reluctantly leaving Harrison, they snuck the rest of the way down the hallway. At the end on the left side was a set of double doors with small windows set into them at head height, though from the angle where they were standing all they could see was that light shone out from the other side of them. Jason pointed forward, then looked questioningly at Stone.

  Stone held up a finger. He made a small hand gesture, then crept forward on his own, crouching to keep lower than the level of the window. Slowly he raised up just high enough so he could see, and stiffened. Without looking away, he waved Jason and Verity forward.

  “They haven’t done it already, have they?” Jason whispered, moving up next to Stone.

  He shook his head, pointing at the door. “I think I see why they didn’t come running, though.”

  Jason raised up and peered through. He didn’t say a word, just stared with wide eyes.

  On the other side of the door, just as Harrison had predicted, was what looked like a small hangar, carved into the side of the mountain. The ceiling was so high he couldn’t see it from his vantage point, and the hangar itself extended out to either side of the doors into dimness. It looked like it had been designed to house two or three fighter-sized aircraft, or perhaps one large bomber. He didn’t notice whether anything had been left there by the Air Force when they abandoned it, though: his gaze was pulled inexorably to an area near the back wall, in the center of the room.

  The portal was the first thing he saw there, and he wasn’t surprised. It hung in the air like the one in West Virginia, roiling and pulsing, cycling between green, red, and purple. It didn’t look as diseased as the other one had—he hoped that was because no one was messing with it yet, and not because they’d already managed to stabilize it.

  Around the portal, someone had built what looked like an elaborate framework, making it appear even more like a doorway to some mystical land. Around that, Jason saw what could only be described as a theatrical set, complete with stage platform and magical props, illuminated by two spotlights powered by generators off to either side.

  Two figures stood in front of the set, facing three rows of chairs arranged in a semicircle ten or so feet back. In each of the chairs, he could see a small seated figure. They were all focused forward, their attention apparently riveted on the scene in front of them. Four taller figures—three male, one female—patrolled to either side and around behind. The teacher-chaperones and the bus driver, he figured. And behind that, completing
the scene, a folding table held a large jug and a collection of paper cups.

  The two figures on the stage moved around, gesticulating; Jason could hear Tarkasian saying something, but couldn’t make out what it was.

  He took this all in quickly, then scooted to the side closer to Stone so Verity could get a look. “Can you tell how far along they are?” he asked Stone. “At least it looks like they haven’t killed them yet...”

  “No...they haven’t,” Stone murmured. “But it still isn’t good. Remember how I told you they had to link them all together in order to siphon their power all at once?”

  Jason nodded.

  “It appears they’ve done that already. Look at the floor.”

  He glanced down, only now noticing the complicated array of crystals, candles, and chalk lines surrounding the block of chairs. He wasn’t surprised he hadn’t seen them before: the only light in the room came from the spotlights pointed at the stage, where the portal and the props cast an eerie, flickering glow over the audience.

  “Why aren’t they glowing?” Jason whispered. “Don’t they have to light the candles and stuff?”

  Stone nodded. “That’s one of the last bits. Verity, look at the children, though: can you see it?”

  She leaned forward, pressing her face against the little window. For a moment she said nothing, but then she gasped. “There’s—some kind of tendrils or something, linking them all together,” she whispered. “And then going up to the stage.”

  “Well done,” Stone said, ever the teacher. “We’ve arrived just in time, it appears. Look, they’re starting.”

  And indeed they were. As the two figures on the stage continued performing their magic show to keep the children’s attention locked on them, the chaperones and the bus driver moved around the circle, lighting the various candles.

  “Why don’t the kids notice?” Verity asked. “That show can’t be that exciting.”

  “They’re not quite here with us,” Stone said, still focused on the scene. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they hadn’t put something in their drinks to make them more—pliable.” To Jason, he said, “Try the door, but do it carefully. If it’s locked, we’ll have to blow it.”