Force

by A.R. Rivera

All In a Daze Work

  A massive blue funnel stretches up from the ground. It’s at least five times the size of the one in Ivanhoe. As it materializes, stretching up to the clouds with its blazing heat and wind, snaking gracefully between the buildings, coating the bricks in heat and soot, I’m mesmerized.

  The firm lines of the buildings beyond it bend from the heat. The mouth of the burning cone doesn’t face the ground like it did in Ivanhoe. It faces upward like it’s waiting for Daemon who’s still drifting in free-fall.

  You’re going to jump off a building? I ask myself, taking in the scene and trying to recall how many flights of stairs I climbed chasing Daemon. Couldn’t have been any more than seven or eight stories. That’s survivable. Right?

  “Sack up,” I tell myself and then take a gulp of air and hold it. He’s got my stones, not my balls.

  Daemon blurs into the rainbow interior of the gateway. And I leap, just like he did, only less dramatic. I dive headlong after him rather than placing my arms out at each side like a moron.

  After I’ve flung myself into the scorching storm, as I’m sailing through the blazing wind, that’s the moment I realize how stupid this is.

  The rocks are what protected me from the gateway. I’m not in their protective bubble. I’m outside the funnel, contorted by the violent blue fog that burns and pushes me back from the upturned opening instead of suctioning me inside.

  I’m not falling, but twisting and thrashing through the wind, making for the window that hovers high above the ground. Moving my arms and legs like I’m swimming against current.

  Hope rises as the rainbow wheel looms closer. I’m going to make it!

  I’m screaming on the inside as I fly through the mouth of the vortex just as it starts shrinking. My skin feels too thin, but the rainbow wheel inside the tunnel is beautiful as ever.

  And then it’s gone. I’m surrounded by darkness, folding into a forgiving surface that feels moist and smells of wet earth. I splatter like a pile of laundry hitting the end of the chute.

  There’s no sound except the shuffling of feet as I get up.

  My eyes adjust quickly and I don’t feel sick. This is good, makes it easier to keep pace with Daemon. And I do keep the pace right behind him, kicking my legs high.

  Reaching for the tails of that damn jacket, I’m glad he’s still wearing it. I’m about to close-in on the fabric, about to feel it sweeping against my fingertips... and then the telltale blue fog appears again, with the crashing sound of the gateway opening.

  The rainbow wheel illuminates the night ahead. I leap inside right after Daemon.

  The next world is bright. Warm rays of sun are blinding. I shade my eyes and keep kicking, noticing that everything looks normal, older than the 1990’s, but normal.

  My legs are stiffening from all the running while Daemon’s stride is still vigorous and quick. When I trip over a surprised kid on a huge skateboard and fall a half-block behind while getting up, I know that without a huge stroke of luck there’s a good chance he’ll get away.

  A black Saab pulls up to the curb just ahead of me. A woman wearing a wide-collared power suit hops out of the drivers’ seat and casually walks around the other side of her idling car to pop a stack of mail into blue drop-off box on the curb.

  My father used to say that luck is there for those that need it. He also used to say that success was for those who recognize opportunities. The empty Saab looks like both to me.

  The engine purrs, smoothly shifting into fourth as I hit the intersection, taking my chances at the red light. I can see Daemon up ahead; hard not to notice a huge bald guy with a snake head tattooed on his bare scalp. He’s still on the move but looks to have slowed a little, assuming that he’s lost his tail.

  He spots me at the perfect moment. Right as he comes up to the next intersection, when there’s a break in foot traffic on the sidewalk. I see the way his eyes widen when the Saab jumps the curb.

  The victorious thunk of the tires hitting their target is short-lived. I don’t know how, but instead of thrashing over him, Daemon somehow ends up on top of the hood. His big ugly beard blocks my view of the road as I veer off the sidewalk and back into traffic, nicking at least one other car.

  A few screams. More horns. And a black stare from the man that killed my father. I make sure to look him directly into those beads of emptiness as I make for the side of the nearest building and give my parting words.

  “See you in hell.”

  He glances behind him, sees he wall he’s about to munch, then turns back to say something that sounds like he’s asking if I can swim. But that can’t be right. I mean, I can swim, but what does water have to do with—

  A huge vortex opens and I’m going too fast. It’s all there: the bustling city, then rainbow colors, the heat, and blue fog.

  In a heartbeat it’s gone, replaced by water. Lots of water. Everywhere. Gushing in through the doors and windows.

  Shit.

  The car is completely submerged and filling fast. I take a deep breath and brace myself, trying to think through the surprised panic.

  It’s just water. Rushing into the car through open half-open windows. It’s filling with bubbling cold and Daemon is gone. Through the windshield, I make out his wavy form getting smaller and higher as the car sinks and he swims away.

  Shit-shit, shit.

  I want to panic, but that won’t help me get out. Think, G.

  When ships go down, they say that the survivors in life rafts have to row away from the sinking ship so they won’t get pulled down by the suction of the water rushing into the ship. I have to wait for the car to fill before swimming away.

  The car is already full as I have the thought. I’m not buckled in and so float hastily out the open window. Start kicking my way towards the surface, following the air bubbles from the sunken car.

  Breaking the surface, I pull in a ragged breath and rub the sting of saltwater from my eyes.

  That was crazy, I think, thankful for the air, and then take a look around.

  Only water. Everywhere. In every direction.

  “What the hell?”

  Swimming in a circle, I search the glittering surface of the water until I spot a dark line in the distance. Shielding my eyes from the bright sunshine, I’m able to tell that it’s more than a dark line—it’s land. And it’s hella far away. If I pace myself, though, maybe I can make it.

  But where’s Daemon?

  I don’t spot him or anyone else. No ships or boats. There’s barely any movement on the water at all, but if Daemon is still alive and wants to stay that way, he’ll be swimming for land, too.

  Self-recriminations run through my head in the form of my father’s weathered voice. Seriously, G? This is where you end up—in freaking Water World?

  It’s ridiculous. I knew that killing Daemon would be difficult, but if this is any indication of what I’m up against, then I am ill-prepared. He’s faster and a hell of a lot better at using those stones than I am.

  Quietly making for the distant shore, I’m careful not to make too much noise. Sharks are attracted by splashing, learned that on Discovery Channel.

  Where’s Kevin Costner when you need him?

  The water is clean, bright blue, and still as a millpond, save the intermittent splashing I spot, maybe a hundred yards ahead. It’s tough to gauge distance over water.

  After examining a while, I’m sure it’s Daemon. The black tent of his trench coat blankets the surrounding water. His position is my new target.

  Grab the stones. Drown him. Or choke him out and then take the stones. Yeah; surprise sneak attack and then I take every set of stones he’s got.

  Of course, since we’re in the open freaking ocean with nowhere to hide, my advantage depends on stealth. There’s nothing between us but water and I can’t hold my breath long enough to swim underwater the whole way. So I go under just enough to keep the sound of my strokes muted. Once I get close enough to reach him in
one breath, I’ll come up behind him and... figure something out.

  It’s slow-going. Proper revenge takes patience, but my muscles are feeling the burn.

  Daemon is either oblivious or pretending to be. Does he think I’m dead? Is that why when I get close enough I can hear him singing?

  Just as I’m about to take a deep breath and submerge myself for attack, a dark shape under my feet stops me. Puzzling, I begin to wonder just how deep this water is. I can’t see the bottom, but I could have sworn that it wasn’t black down there.

  I’ve never had a heart attack before, but the way my chest feels—like someone has replaced my heart with a block of ice—I’m thinking I may be having one as the dark beneath me becomes a mass. A huge blob-like shape with eyes. I start swimming back, frantic, needing to get as far as possible from the thing. Its smooth, like a wall shooting up out of the water beneath Daemon. Like a submarine breaking the surface, only it has a mouth and my mortal enemy disappears inside it.

  A long gray blade slices through the water, too close to my shoulder, and I realize it isn’t a blade, but an enormous fin. The submarine-sized thing is actually a giant fish. Some kind of whale, I think, but I see no dorsal fin.

  The giant creature breaches and falls sideways back into the water. I brace myself and roll with the gigantic waves, trying to keep my eyes on the bright sky to avoid confusion about which way is up.

  Luckily, I manage to break the surface again.

  No Daemon. A minute ago, he was ten feet away and now he’s gone.

  Swallowed whole by a giant meat-eating whale?

  Yes! Ha! I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes.

  Hah-ha!

  Good-fucking-riddance, you prick!

  Ah, what a life. What a way to go.

  Eaten alive. I hope that fish chokes on him.

  That was a pleasure to watch. I honestly wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself.

  My body feels alive with elation and I resume swimming for the shore and start planning what to do next.

  Once I get to land, I’ll find a way to get to — Shit.

  That Jurassic fish ate Daemon... and he has the stones. The sea monster ate the three stones I need to get out of here!

  Right about the time I’m ready to have another heart attack, a geyser bursts up from under me. I’m suddenly out of the water, flying.

  From my quick aerial view, I spot the gigantic shape of the missile-like monster fish and the formation of a long cylinder of blue fog shooting through the hole where the creature’s eye used to be.

  A gateway?

  The water where I make my landing is markedly warmer than it was when I was hurled out only a moment ago. It’s the heat of the vortex.

  It can open under water?

  Daemon has opened a wormhole and is skewering the fish with it. The creature writhes before going still and I seize the opportunity to make for the boiled corpse, feeling the heat of the water rising all around me. My skin is going red, but I don’t care. I’ve got to make the vortex or I’m stuck here.

  Using a giant tailfin, and ignoring the briny stench, I maneuver up onto the creatures’ body, slippery and scratchy at once, crawling my way towards the funnel cloud stretching up into the sky. I watch Daemon sail from the hole in the fish’s head. He’s curled in a ball, encased in light.

  I jump after him. Clutching the coattails of his soaked trench coat, I feel nothing but the burn of pure relief.