Worm

by John McCrae

  “Wait, look, give me that,” he took the paper from Jess, “Listen. ’Client three should be informed about the impact of the product on his cerebral palsy, blah blah, legal stuff about liability, no promises, blah, blah, where was it? Right. Product potentially offers a mild to total recovery.”

  They stopped. More than one set of eyes turned towards Jess.

  “I-I don’t have cerebral palsy,” she said.

  “But cerebral palsy starts with the brain, right?” Cody asked. ”That’s the most complicated, delicate part of the body. If something’s going to fix your brain, maybe it could fix other stuff. Let me read more, it’s-”

  “No,” Jess said. ”Even with that. Especially with that, I’m not going to take it. And I’m not going to let you guys take it either.”

  “Why?” Cody asked. ”Why especially?”

  “Because!”

  “You’re getting paranoid,” Luke said. ”It’s the singing in your head that’s making you think that way.”

  “It’s not! I know. I’ve read about this stuff! About her! This is what she does!”

  “What is?” Krouse asked.

  “Why do you think they’re so scared? Why do you think there’s a fence with soldiers ready to shoot you? Do you even get why they’re staying out of earshot?” She pointed at Krouse, “Why the heroes Krouse saw wouldn’t listen to him?”

  “Because of the music. Because we’re edgy, unpredictable,” Oliver said.

  “They could use tear gas to manage that. Or soldiers and guns! Why couldn’t they, with ninety percent or more of the the city evacuated?”

  “Then why?” Krouse asked.

  “Because this is what she does. This is why she’s scary. Behemoth can turn people to cinders if they’re within two hundred feet of him, Leviathan has sunk or leveled major landmasses. Killed millions in one day. But the Simurgh is the one that scares them all the most. You saw how she fought, the way she dodged and blocked stuff. She sees the future.”

  Krouse nodded, “I kind of guessed that, but-”

  “No,” Jess cut him off. Her eyes were wide. ”Listen to me! She showed up in this city in Switzerland. First time. Then after a while, she sings. Starts throwing buildings around, puts a nuclear power plant in critical condition, spreads winds contaminated with radioactive dust, kills some heroes, drives people to riot and panic with her song. Like, okay, that’s Endbringer standard, right?”

  Krouse stayed still, waiting. He could see Marissa and Oliver nodding.

  “Six months later? A promising scientist commits suicide. Another person tries to blow up a TV station to get back at his girlfriend. Superhero assassinates a prime minister and the next guy to be in charge of that country starts a war. They were all there, when the Simurgh showed up. The superhero’s friends said there was no sign, before his encounter with the Simurgh. He just went downhill, after. There was other stuff, stuff I don’t remember. But it’s all bad.”

  “I don’t get it,” Luke said.

  “It keeps happening. Every time she shows up. Every time, people who’ve heard this song that’s in our head? Things go wrong. They snap, they break, their lives fall apart, or they do something, and it makes something else happen, and there’s a major disaster. That guy who was supposedly making a clean energy source that could power whole cities? His wife and kids got killed and he became a supervillain who made it a life goal to murder anyone who tries to better society with their powers. There were others. Over and over, every time she shows up. She never does quite as much damage as Leviathan or Behemoth, not right away, but stuff always happens later.”

  “So she… what? Makes people into murderers?”

  “No,” Jess said. ”Not exactly. She doesn’t change how you think. Not directly. It’s more subliminal, like… like cause and effect. Every time she shows up, she picks a few people, turns them into guided missiles, so they make something horrible happen weeks, months or years after they ran into her.”

  Krouse looked at the suitcase. ”And you think this briefcase is that? A cause and effect thing?”

  Jess offered a short, high laugh, humorless, “Isn’t it? Isn’t it awfully coincidental that we got in this situation, here, trapped within her range, with Krouse going out to find a doctor for Noelle and finding this instead? I know what you guys are thinking. This stuff, maybe it can let me walk again. If it works. Maybe we all get superpowers. But the Simurgh sees what’s going to happen. Probably. And she’s not on our side. However she does it, she’s already rigged it all like some Rube Goldberg machine that starts and ends with a mindfuck.”

  Luke shook his head. ”But you can’t… if you think that way, then there’s no action we could take that she wouldn’t have predicted and nudged so that it leads to the worst case scenario.”

  Jess laughed again, short. There were tears in the corners of her eyes, “If she picked us, and that case makes me think she did, then we’re screwed. Period. Every time she shows up, people in her range become walking time bombs. We don’t use the stuff in that case, we still wind up playing the roles she predicted we’d play, and horrible things happen. But if we do use the stuff in that case? It’s the same, we’re following the sequence of events she envisioned, only the horrible stuff is worse because everything we do from then on out is a few orders of magnitude more… I don’t know. Superpowered.”

  “There’s got to be something-” Luke said. He winced as he shifted position and moved his leg, “Something we can do.”

  Jess shook her head and said. ”There’s no way this works out for us, because she’s already seen what’s going to happen. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you.”

  Nobody responded. Krouse looked at the others, saw Marissa’s eyes, wide, saw Oliver sitting with his arms hugging his knees. Luke’s face was drawn.

  Jess continued, “Those soldiers outside the fence? They knew it too. That’s why they were scared of us, Oliver. They think we’ll say or do something, and it’ll give them some idea, put the right ducks in a row, and they end up dying in a car accident or murdering their wives. It isn’t a quarantine against a disease or a virus or any of that. It’s a quarantine against cause and effect. A quarantine to limit our ability to affect the outside world.”

  “It can’t possibly work that way,” Krouse said.

  Jess shrugged. Bitterly, she said, “Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe you have to listen to the song, so she can hack your heads and figure out how you’ll act, and people are otherwise too complex for her to predict. The way we act, the fear and all the emotion, maybe it’s just a side effect of that hacking. Or maybe all that’s wrong, and she really is that powerful. But that’s what she is. She’s more fragile than the other two, doesn’t last as long in a knock-down, drag-out fight. But the aftermath?”

  Jess shifted the case from her lap, shoving it to the ground. ”The aftermath is where she’s worst.”

  Krouse stared at the metal case.

  It took maybe a minute before Krouse could be sure it was happening, but the screaming began to fade. Two more minutes passed before it was gone in entirety.

  Silence. Absolute silence, without any screaming in their heads, rumbles of destruction miles away, or ambient urban noise.

  That silence was broken when Jess began to sob. None of the others joined her. Krouse suspected it was because they had yet to process it. Only Jess had had the chance to really think through all the ramifications, only she knew enough of the details and evidence to paint a more complete picture and believe it all.

  Krouse felt damp in his own eyes, more for Jess than himself, odd as it was. Some of it was exhaustion, the sheer mental strain they’d been under. He would have stood, walked over to offer support, to reassure her, except how was he supposed to tell someone things would be okay when everything suggested they wouldn’t?

  But he wasn’t the type of person who could do that anyways. He’d never had to, didn’t know how. He was worried he’d fuck it up, and Jess was good people. She didn’t dese
rve a fucked up attempt at reassurance.

  No. He’d stick to what he knew. Krouse blinked the tears out of his eyes, cleared his throat, forced a shit-eating grin onto his face. ”I don’t see why everyone’s getting so worked up. How bad could it be?”

  Jess made a choking sound, some combination of a sob, a sputter, a hiccup and a laugh.

  Krouse saw the incredulous stares, couldn’t help but smile.

  “Ass,” Luke said, but he smiled too.

  Cody turned, stomped off, kicked something hard as he passed through the front hall. Any miniscule lift in the mood faded in his wake.

  The room descended into silence again. At least, Krouse noted, Jess isn’t crying anymore.

  Krouse was still holding Noelle’s hand, his fingers interlaced with hers. He pulled her hand towards him and kissed the back of it. His eyes settled on the metal case.

  Maybe it wasn’t us, he thought. Maybe she picked a bunch of other people, and dragging us into this world was just something that happened. Maybe we’ll get Noelle fixed up, we’ll find our way home, and all of this winds up being some scary memory.

  He huffed out a breath, a silent, derisive, one-note laugh. He’d managed to distract or trick Jess into feeling just a tiny bit better. But even telling myself something that ludicrous, I can’t do it for myself.

  17.06

  “We have to tell them,” Krouse murmured.

  He and Jess were in the kitchen of a stranger’s house, using that stranger’s utensils to prepare their food. It felt odd, invasive. Except it’s not like they’ll be coming back any time soon.

  “I need another knife,” Jess said, “This one’s awful.”

  “Are you dodging the subject?”

  “No. I need a better knife if I’m going to keep cutting strawberries. We can still talk.”

  Krouse opened a drawer and passed a knife to where Jess sat on a stool at the counter. ”They’re going to find out sooner or later. I’ve noticed something like five major clues since I started paying attention. They’re distracted for now, but-”

  “This knife sucks too.”

  “All the knives suck. Whoever lived here didn’t take care of their stuff. Make do.”

  Jess set to cutting the tops off the strawberries.

  “They’re going to be upset,” she said.

  “No shit. We’re stuck in a whole other world, and things are just different enough that we could fuck up and reveal ourselves as aliens.”

  Jess nodded. She gathered a mess of strawberry tops from the cutting board and strained to reach forward enough to get it in the empty plastic container.

  Krouse put one foot on the bar of the stool to give it a little more weight, so it wouldn’t fall, then moved the plastic container closer.

  Jess said, “That would be bad, if we got caught. The people of this world? They’re scared. There’s laws against people or objects being transmitted across worlds. When that hole between universes came about, the first idea on people’s minds was that we might go to war, a whole other planet with resources. Water, oil, wood, metal, all that stuff. And Earth Aleph would lose because Bet had all the capes. The rest of the world thought this gateway would make America into a bigger superpower than we already are. So there were sanctions, deals.”

  Krouse nodded. He flipped the pancakes over on the frying pan. They were the crappy sort, the sort that came from a box. Still, it was better than nothing.

  “It’s bad, Krouse. Even if we were willing to go home, with the Simurgh maybe planning something-”

  “We can’t let that dictate our choices,” Krouse said. ”We’ll go crazy trying to second guess everything. We can minimize the damage, try to keep a low profile. And I’ll admit you’re right. Not using the contents of that briefcase is a start. If we get a chance to meet the president or something, we should probably turn it down.”

  “Yeah,” Jess said. Then she held up a hand. ”Shush.”

  Floorboards upstairs were creaking.

  Marissa came downstairs, her hair wrapped in a towel. ”Shower done, if either of you want to rinse off. We have power?”

  “Came on a bit ago,” Krouse said.

  “Got restless, decided to do something. Food in our bellies, keep the furnace burning.” Jess said. ”Hungry? Offering up some pancakes for dinner.”

  “Yeah,” Marissa said.

  Krouse checked the pancakes and put them on a plate, tearing one in half and popping it in his mouth. ”Mars, you want to relieve Oliver? He’s looking after Noelle right now.”

  “Who took the shift before that?”

  “Me,” Krouse said. ”I’ll bring you a plate. Butter and Syrup?”

  “Sugar and lemon juice,” Marissa said, before leaving for the living room.

  Krouse spoke in a low voice, “We have to tell them.”

  Jess nodded.

  Krouse opened his mouth to say something else, then shut it as conversation erupted in the living room.

  Noelle?

  He turned off the oven burner and headed in that direction, only to be stopped by Jess. ”Krouse?”

  He paused, looked back, saw her perched on the stool.

  “Bring me?”

  He grimaced, sliding one arm around her shoulders, with his other one beneath her knees, making sure not to bump his injured hand against anything. He lifted her and commented, “You’re lighter than I thought you’d be.”

  “Ever a charmer, Krouse.”

  “Guys!” Marissa called out.

  Krouse hurried for the living room, pausing only to ensure he didn’t slam Jess’ head or feet into a door frame.

  His blood ran cold as he saw what had the others attention. It wasn’t Noelle.

  The television was on, and it was displaying footage of the Simurgh.

  “Shit,” Jess whispered.

  “We have cable!” Marissa said, smiling.

  “Maybe we’ll have working phones soon,” Luke said. ”Get ahold of our parents.”

  Krouse navigated past where Oliver was lying on the ground, blankets balled up so he had something to lean against, a book in his hands. He stepped around the coffee table and set Jess in the one empty armchair.

  Then he walked over to the TV, blocking it with his body, and pressed the volume button at the top until the sound was off.

  “What the hell, Krouse?” Luke asked.

  “Asshole,” Cody said. He was sitting in the adjacent dining room. ”We might finally get a chance to find out what’s going on.”

  “You’re going to find out because I’m going to tell you,” Krouse said.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Luke asked. ”Is this that thing you were putting off telling us yesterday?”

  Krouse nodded. He saw Jess shifting position as though she were trying to face everyone else, met her eyes and shook his head just a little.

  She frowned, but she kept quiet.

  “Spit it out,” Cody snapped.

  “We’re a long way from home,” Krouse said, shrugging. ”Better you hear it from me than find it out on TV.”

  Marissa frowned, her eyebrows knitting together. ”Long way from home? But-”

  “We’re still in Madison. We’re just… we’re not in our Madison.”

  He stopped to let that sink in.

  “Oh fuck you,” Cody snarled.

  Oliver was looking around the room, seeing people’s expressions change. He looked at Krouse, “I don’t understand.”

  “When the building fell, that was her bringing us through?” Luke asked.

  “Yeah. From Earth Aleph to Earth Bet,” Krouse confirmed. He saw Oliver’s eyes widen as he belatedly understood.

  “Wait,” Marissa said, “But… what?”

  “You knew too, Jess?” Luke asked.

  “I- yeah. Yeah, I figured it out.”

  “It’s what we were talking about, after we first got to this house,” Krouse said. ”I convinced her to keep quiet. Figured it wasn’t crucial to know just then, and with the
screaming in our heads, we didn’t need the added stress.”

  Jess stared at him. He glanced at her, then turned his attention to the others. I’m better at being the bad guy than you are.

  “You had no right,” Cody said.

  “Probably not.”

  “So you were keeping us in the dark?” Luke asked. ”Deciding it was for our own good, deciding for us?”

  “That’s the gist of it. I think you’ll look back on this and see why I did it. We needed to look after ourselves, look after Noelle, and we couldn’t do that if we were thinking about how we had no way of getting home. I strong-armed Jess into being quiet, hid one or two pieces of evidence. Hate me if you have to, but it made sense.”

  “But we- is that why you told us we should stay here instead of heading out?”

  Krouse shrugged. “Part of it. Another part of it was just like I said; we can’t be sure the heroes have found and defeated all the monsters the Simurgh dropped into the city. Maybe they won’t ever get all of them. But yeah, no point leaving because there’s no home to go to.”

  “But how-” Oliver started.

  He didn’t get a chance to finish. Cody was on his feet in an instant, his chair falling to the ground. He rushed Krouse, gripping him by the shirt collar. Once he had a hold, he swung Krouse around to one side, shoved him, throwing him across Jess’ lap and into the coffee table that sat between her and Luke.

  Luke tried to stand from his chair, but Cody pushed him back down. While Luke fell back, Cody stooped down to seize Krouse’s shirt with one hand, striking at his face with the heel of the other.

  “You fucker! Lying to us? At a time like this!? Fuck you! Fuck you!”

  Krouse tried to shield himself with his arms, but it didn’t help much. He brought his knees up to his chest, between himself and Cody, then kicked outward, forcing Cody off.

  Cody fell back, nearly hitting the coffee table in front of the couch. It would have been a good opportunity to close the distance, to hit back, but he didn’t. Krouse took the opportunity to stand, tenderly touching the spots on his cheekbone, chin and nose where Cody had landed some good hits.