by Ramona Gray
“What?”
“The orb,” he said. “Take me to it.”
“No,” she said. “I can’t take you to the portal. That’s where everyone is. We’ll be caught. We need to get out of the lab.”
“You will take me to the orb,” Vida said. “I will leave this place through it.”
She stared at him before shaking her head. “Vida, the orb won’t take you home. We don’t know exactly how the portal works, but we know there are many different worlds. The orb will probably take you to another world. Do you understand?”
“The orb,” Vida said with maddening patience. “Take me to it.”
“I won’t,” she said.
Vida sighed, and she moaned in panic when he took her arm in one hard hand and pulled her close. He traced the end of the wand against her stomach. “I have no wish to use this on you, little human. But if you do not tell me where the orb is, I will.”
Her stomach muscles clenched in and she glared at him even though she was terrified of being zapped. “You asshole! I’m trying to help you!”
“I know,” Vida replied. “That is why you’re going to take me to the orb.”
“I can’t,” she whispered. “They’ll kill you.”
He smiled at her, revealing his razor-sharp fangs. “I don’t think so. Take me to the orb, little flower. I will not ask again.”
She hesitated and then said, “Left. We go left.”
* * *
Okay, so this was bad. Very, very bad. She had been certain that she and Vida would be stopped before they made it to the portal room, but in the five minutes it took to get to it, they hadn’t seen a single person in the hallways. Where the hell was the rest of the security team?
Vida pulled her to a stop. They were just outside of the room and she took a shuddering breath when Vida reached for the door.
“Vida, don’t do this,” she whispered. “They’ll kill you.”
He ignored her and pulled on the door. It didn’t open, and he stared at the card key clipped around her wrist. She sighed and handed it to him. He pressed it against the sensor and the door unlocked with a quiet click. He opened it, pulling her into the room behind him. They were in the observation room. It was a large room with six rows of tables, loaded down with computers and other equipment, all facing toward the second door and the giant glass window that lined the far wall. Above the window on the wall, a giant digital clock counted down the time to the portal opening. It was currently at three minutes and thirteen seconds.
The room was full of people, most of them Solomon’s colleagues, although she could see a few admin and IT people. There wasn’t one security person, and she bit back her groan of dismay as Vida prodded her in the back with the electric wand. “Where is the orb opening, human?”
“There.” She pointed to the far door and Vida prodded her again.
“Move, little human.”
She walked toward the door, Vida’s hand on her shoulder and the wand in her back. The room gradually quieted as more and more people caught sight of them. By the time they reached the door, you could have heard a pin drop.
She glanced behind her. Everyone was standing completely motionless and staring at them with identical looks of shock and panic. She couldn’t blame them. If she’d seen a giant blue man with horns come walking into the observation room, she probably would have been frozen stiff too.
“Call security,” she said to the frozen observers as Vida used her card key to open the door. He herded her into the portal room, following closely behind her. The door swung shut and she stared at the group of people standing in the room. Solomon was there, as were Brody and Marissa. Four other lab techs were studying the tablets they held in their hands, and Daryl was standing in front of Solomon. The room was completely void of equipment or furniture.
Solomon gave Daryl an impatient glare. “Look, Daryl, I don’t know why Rose told you to come over here, but I didn’t…”
“Rose? What’s going on?” Brody gave her a cautious look. “What’s he doing in here?”
“Holy fuck.” A lab tech named Randy looked up from his tablet. “It’s Subject 10387. Jesus, he’s even bigger than I thought.”
“Why’s he in here?” Leslie, her long dark hair pulled into a ponytail, glanced at another of the lab techs. “John, why’s he here?”
“I - I don’t know.”
“Guys, we need to get out of the room.” A third lab tech, Rose thought his name was Peter, picked at his acne-pocked face before glancing at his watch. “The portal is opening in less than two minutes.”
“Rose, what are you doing with him?” Solomon asked as Marissa grabbed his arm.
“Solomon, I’m sorry,” Rose said.
“I am leaving in the orb and you will not stop me,” Vida said.
Solomon’s mouth dropped open. “He speaks English.”
“Guys, seriously, we need to go,” Peter said again.
“Call security,” Solomon said. “Call them right now.”
“They’re already here,” Brody replied.
Vida released her, and Rose turned to see five men carrying guns come bursting into the observation room.
“Move, little flower.” Vida brushed past her and her eyes widened when he ripped off the cover to the door sensor.
“Vida, no, don’t! We’ll be trapped if you -”
He pressed the electric wand against the sensor and pushed the button. Electricity sizzled into the sensor, there were sparks and the smell of burnt wires drifted into the air. She could hear the security team pounding on the door and she stared at the pale faces of her coworkers as they crowded up to the glass and stared at them.
“What have you done?” She whispered. The air was starting to crackle with electricity and Marissa made a frightened scream when a gust of wind ripped the tablet from her hand.
“Where is it coming from? Where is the wind coming from?” She babbled as she followed Solomon and the others toward Rose and Vida.
“Shit.” Brody yanked on the door handle before pounding on the glass window. “We need to get out of here right fucking now.”
“Impossible.” Randy, his face oddly serene, took off his glasses and tucked them into the breast pocket of his lab coat. “That glass is bullet proof and they’ll never get the door fixed in time.”
“What the fuck are you saying?” Daryl grabbed him by the collar and shook him as the wind picked up and began to howl.
Randy tore away from him and straightened his lab coat. “What I’m saying, you idiot, is we’re about to go through the portal.”
“No! No, this cannot be fucking happening.” Solomon shoved Brody out of the way and grabbed the handle to the door, twisting and turning it. “Get me the fuck out of here! Get me out of here right fucking now!”
“Brody!” Rose grabbed the redhead’s hand and he held it tightly. His face was pale, and he gave her a sick look of fear.
“Rose, I think we’re fucked and not in a good way.”
“Maybe it won’t happen, maybe it won’t…”
There was a pulse of bright light. Rose threw her hand up to shield her face as Marissa shrieked in fear. The wind grew even stronger as the orb appeared. Leslie and John were closest and the first to be sucked in. As they disappeared, Marissa screamed again and bolted for the window. She pounded on it, sobbing and screaming for help.
Rose could feel the power from the orb, could feel it’s relentless pull as first Daryl and then Peter were sucked into the orb. As Randy was lifted off his feet, he gave them a dry smile. “See you on the other side.”
He was gone before she could blink. Vida stepped past them and walked directly into the orb’s light. It flashed bright and the big man vanished. The light pulsed brighter, she squinted and held tight to Brody’s hand as they were lifted into the air. Behind her, she could hear Marissa and Solomon screaming, and she cried out when she was ripped away from Brody and sucked into the light. There was a brief and intense flash of pain and then…dar
kness.
Chapter Three
“Rose, wake up.”
A hand was patting her cheek. Her head was pounding, and she wanted to ignore the hand and drift back to the darkness.
“C’mon, Rose, look at me.”
She blinked and then squinted at the face above her until it came into focus. A light rain bathed her face in moisture and she could hear the distant rumbling of thunder. “Brody? Wh-what happened?”
“We went through the orb. Can you stand up?”
“Yeah, I – I think so.”
Brody helped her to her feet. A wave of nausea went through her and she swayed. He steadied her, and she squinted up at him again. “Where are we?”
He barked harsh laughter. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Solomon! Where’s Solomon?”
“There.” Brody pointed to his left. Solomon was sitting on the ground. He had a stunned look on his face and, weirdly, Marissa had her arm around him and was resting her head on his shoulder.
“Is he okay?”
Brody shrugged. “I think so.”
“Why does my head hurt?”
“Looks like you knocked it against something.” He tugged her head down and pressed on the top of her head. She hissed out a breath. “Sorry. You’ve got one hell of a goose egg starting.”
A flash of blue in the dim light caught her attention. Vida was standing apart from the others. He had taken off the too-small hospital shirt and his skin glistened with rainwater. He studied her silently for a moment before turning and staring up at the trees.
“How long was I out?”
“Just a few minutes. When we first got here it was storming like crazy, but it’s already starting to slow down.”
“We’re in a jungle.” Rose stared at the lush vegetation that surrounded them. The air was humid and warm. Now that the rain had almost completely stopped, she could hear a low roaring noise behind her.
She turned, wincing a little when it made her head ache and her vision blur. “Holy shit. Is that a cliff?”
“Yeah. If the portal had opened twenty feet behind us, we’d be dead right now.”
Randy joined them, cleaning his glasses on his wet shirt before poking them back on his face. “We could have survived. There’s water – an ocean from the looks of it. The drop wouldn’t have been enough to kill us.”
“I can’t swim,” Brody said.
“Solomon and I can’t swim either,” Rose said.
“Well, then I guess the three of you would have died.” Randy’s voice was matter-of-fact.
“Thanks, Randy.” Brody scowled at him.
“I’ll be right back.” Rose walked over to Solomon and crouched in front of him. A wave of dizziness passed over her and she bowed her head, taking a few deep breaths until it passed. When she raised her head, Solomon was staring blankly at her.
“Solomon?” She touched his face. “Solomon, say something.”
“He’s in shock. Leave him alone.” Marissa hugged him a little tighter.
“We’re all in shock.” Now was probably not the time to be a bitch, but something about Marissa bugged the crap out of her.
She touched Solomon’s face again. “Hey, snap out of it.”
He blinked at her. “Rose?”
“Yeah. Can you stand?”
“We went through the orb.”
“Yeah, we did. Stand up for me, okay?”
She stood and hooked her hand around his arm. She tried to ignore her irritation when Marissa took Solomon’s other arm and helped him stand.
“Are you hurt?”
Solomon shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. We went through the orb.”
“Yes,” she said patiently. “We need to get moving.”
“Where?”
She shook off her frustration with him. “We need to find shelter. It’ll be dark soon and I don’t think we should stay in the jungle at night.”
Solomon looked around blankly. His gaze landed on Vida and animation seeped into his slack face. “He did this.” His voice rose higher. It was full of anger and darkness. “He did this to us.”
“Solomon, keep it down.” Brody looked around. “We don’t know what the fuck is in this jungle with us.”
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done, you asshole?” Solomon glared at Vida as he staggered forward a couple of steps. “Do you?”
“Shh,” Rose said. “Solomon, now isn’t the time to -”
“Now isn’t the time? Now isn’t the fucking time, Rose? We are in the middle of a fucking jungle on a completely different fucking world because of that giant blue piece of worthless shit! I think now is the fucking time!”
She took a step back as Solomon’s hands clenched into fists. “I’m going to fucking kill you. I’m going to bash your fucking blue brains in with a goddamn rock.”
“Enough,” Brody said. “Solomon, he’ll kick your ass. Just relax.”
Rose watched in horror as Solomon bent and pried a rock out of the dark earth. The others stared at each other uneasily as Solomon started toward Vida.
“Solomon!” Rose grabbed his arm. Solomon snarled at her and shoved her back. She stumbled, tripped over a root and fell on her ass.
“Rose, are you okay?” Brody helped her to her feet.
“Yeah.”
“Solomon’s lost his mind.” Brody watched as her fiancé stopped a few feet away from Vida.
Vida had moved until he was standing at the edge of the cliff. He stared silently at Solomon before turning his head to stare at the water below. With a low grunt, Solomon threw the rock at Vida.
“Watch out!” Rose’s cry echoed through the forest.
The rock hit Vida squarely in the chest. Solomon’s triumphant grin faded when Vida didn’t even flinch. He stared at the rock at his feet before turning and diving off the cliff.
“Vida!” Rose stumbled forward. Brody and Randy were right behind her and they stared down into the crashing, tumbling waves. There was no sign of Vida and they watched the water for almost two minutes.
“He’s dead,” Randy announced. “Must have hit his head on a rock or something.”
“He has gills.” Brody gave him an exasperated look. “He can breathe under water, you idiot.”
“What I want to know,” Daryl had joined them at the edge of the cliff, “is how old Subject Blue Balls got free and took Rose as a hostage. He was locked up tight when I left.”
He stared at Rose who took a nervous step back.
“How did he get free, Rose?” Brody asked her.
“I…”
“She was with him when I left. In fact, she lied to me. She told me that Solomon was going to let me watch the portal opening, but when I got to the lab, he didn’t know what the hell I was talking about. Isn’t that right, Solomon?”
Solomon nodded as Marissa clung to his arm. “Yeah, that’s right.”
“You got something you want to tell us, Rose?” Daryl asked.
She glanced at Solomon, but he was studying the trees around them. She took a deep breath. “I didn’t know he was going to -”
“Guys? Who the fuck is that?” Randy’s voice had grown weirdly high-pitched.
Rose swung around. Her eyes widened as she stared at the man that had emerged from the jungle. He was very tall, close to seven feet was her guess, and his skin was a pale pink. Long, blonde hair fell past his waist and his eyes were a vivid blue.
When he grinned at them, Brody made a noise of disgust. The man’s abnormally large teeth were a mottled green and they ended in sharp points. His tongue flicked out, long, dark red, and forked at the end.
“What the hell?” Brody grabbed her arm. “Is his… what the fuck is happening with his jaw?”
“It’s getting bigger,” Randy said.
“That’s impossible,” Brody replied.
He took a step toward the man and Rose tugged him back. “Brody, wait.”
John was standing a few feet from the pink man. As the man ope
ned his mouth and his teeth protruded outwards, John made a terrified squawk and stumbled back.
Rose gasped when the pink man darted forward and snatched John into his embrace like he weighed nothing more than a feather.
“John!” Brody started forward, his steps faltering when the pink man made a howl of undeniable delight. The skin around his mouth was peeling back and his teeth and gums were jutting out even further.
With another low howl, the man clawed John’s head back by his hair and buried his mouth in the lab tech’s exposed neck. John shrieked as the others watched in horror. Blood sprayed out in a glistening arc and John beat frantically at the creature’s arms. It hugged him tighter, sucking and tearing at his skin.
John’s screams became muted gurgles and his madly-swinging arms slowed until they hung limply at his sides. The creature dropped him indifferently to the ground and Rose’s gorge rose when she saw the blood and tatters of flesh hanging from the creature’s mouth. As she watched, his tongue flicked out and grabbed a piece of dangling skin, dark with John’s stubble, that hung from its lower teeth. It slurped it into its mouth with a smacking sound.
“We need to go. Right now.” Rose’s voice was so shaky and filled with fear, she hardly recognized it.
The others had backed away until they were standing in a loose cluster near the edge of the cliff. The creature cocked its head and gave them an undeniably hungry look before taking a step toward them.
“Fuck, yes,” Brody said.
“Solomon?” Rose reached for his hand but before she could grab it, Leslie made a low moan of fear.
“Uh oh.” Randy’s throat worked convulsively. “There’s more, guys.”
“What do you mean – more?” Solomon asked.
“More!” Leslie’s voice was shrill. “More of those fucking things!”
She pointed to her left. Two more of the pink creatures had emerged from the trees.
“We go right,” Brody said. He grabbed Rose’s hand. “C’mon.”
He took two steps toward the thick curtain of vegetation sprouting to their right, before stumbling to a stop.
“Brody?”
“Oh fuck.”