by Jamie Davis
“Yes,” Chrissy replied. “I’ve seen him in here before but he’s never caused any trouble, at least not like this.”
Marci snorted a derisive laugh. “Juicers can’t be coddled, Kurt. There’s no known cure once they get on the stuff. Most of them end up dead or in a lockup.”
Kurt ignored his companion. He’d deal with her xenophobic issues later. He focused on Chrissy to make sure she was alright.
“You have many of the Rankar around here?
“Yeah, they showed up soon after the Incident. Came wandering down out of the hills north of here a few months after it happened. My mom said they’d come all the way from somewhere in the western part of Virginia. A few of them caused a bit of trouble with some petty thefts and stealing livestock from farmers. The local folks killed a few of them, catching them in the act of their thievery and that’s when a delegation appeared at the courthouse asking for a place to call their own.”
“I would’ve told them to keep going,” Marci snorted in a derisive tone.
Chrissy shrugged. “My momma said they were fleeing a war on their world. They didn’t know the rules here and were just trying to survive. Our commissioners worked with some local farmers to find them some land. The refugees were settled nearby and started doing random jobs around the area. Most of them are pretty nice folks, but a few got hooked on the sweeteners and they get pretty out of control. The sheriff’s deputies usually have to shoot them like you did.”
Kurt stood up, shaking his head. “We didn’t want to kill him.”
“Don’t feel bad, mister,” Chrissy said. “I was trying to reach for my own pistol when your friend here shot him. I was going to just open the safe for him until he threatened my baby. I’m not gonna let some juicer do that to me.”
The store clerk raised her hand from behind the counter, revealing a semi-automatic pistol similar to the one Marci carried.
“Chrissy, you want to do us a favor?”
“You saved my life, and my baby’s, too. Name it.”
“We don’t have the time to deal with police encounters right now. Can you and my friend trade pistols and you can get the credit for shooting this guy, while we go ahead and get out of here?”
“Hey, I’m not trading my gun—”
“Quiet, Marci. We are in this mess because you shot this guy. You know we need to keep moving and why. It was a legit shooting but we’ll still get tied up with the police for at least a few hours. Give her your gun.”
Chrissy had already laid her pistol on the counter followed by two spare magazines. It looked like she’d taken good care of it. It was a nine millimeter just like Marci’s.
Marci laid hers on the counter next to it, along with the two spare magazines from her belt.
“Nice gun,” Chrissy said. “A lot nicer than mine.”
“Yes, it is. Make sure you take good care of it.”
“I will. If you ever come back this way, we can trade back. I wouldn’t blame you.”
“We’re not coming back,” Kurt said.
“He’s right,” Marci said, giving her new weapon a quick check before holstering it and slipping the magazines into their holders on her tactical belt. “Enjoy the pistol. It’s almost brand new. Consider it a shower gift for the baby.”
Chrissy picked up the new gun and checked it over with an expert’s eye to the details. Kurt approved. It also meant the pistol Marci received in trade was probably well cared for.
“We should go,” Kurt said. “I don’t suppose you can scrub the cameras for us?”
“Don’t worry about them. The security system is broke, hasn’t worked in years. They’re just for show, now.”
“Even better.”
“Hey, do you still want your chili cheese dogs?”
Kurt started to answer but Marci cut him off.
“Yes. you can consider it covered in the gun trade.”
Chrissy shrugged and then nodded. She turned and handed over the two wrapped up hot dogs along with a pile of extra napkins.
“You’ll need these. They’re as messy as they are delicious.”
Kurt smiled and waved goodbye, sidestepping the corpse and the pool of blood, holding the door open for Marci and then following her out to their SUV. They needed to scoot before anyone else showed up.
Chrissy was already on her phone, hopefully sticking to the story they’d arranged with her. There was nothing to be done about it. She either covered for them or she did not. If all went according to plan, he’d be gone through the portal and Marci on her way back to Baltimore before any of the local authorities came looking for them.
Chapter 13
Much had happened in the ten years since the incident on New Year’s Eve 2050 when the Newton’s Gate experiment catastrophically failed and brought all the gates into existence allowing travel between Earth Prime and not only thousands of planets but also other dimensions, and alternate Earth timelines. In the time since, most of the gates had been cataloged by the world’s governments.
Most, but not all.
New gates were still discovered from time to time either on Earth or in the near space part of the Solar System. Most countries required these newly discovered portals between worlds to be reported by local residents. They had to be catalogued and assessed for safety and threats to the local population, the country, and to Earth in general.
The coordinates provided to Kurt fifty kilometers northwest of Atlanta were not in his recently updated national database which put this crossing under the category of an undocumented gate. As such, it was highly illegal to trade or transport goods and people back and forth through it.
He was surprised the locals hadn’t called and reported this gate when it first opened. They had to have seen the cat-eyed people from the gate coming through the area since it was created.
Kurt decided he’d have to file that one away as something to be pondered later. For now, he had to focus on getting Clara back.
Marci was quiet in the passenger seat. She’d just finished field stripping and reassembling the new pistol for the third time. She slid the magazine home once more and holstered it.
“It looks like she took pretty good care of her gun, Marci. I know it’s not as nice as the one as you’re used to, but after disassembling it three times and putting it back together again, I would figure it would have passed your standards by now.”
“I’m not sure I’m talking to you.”
“What?” Kurt asked. “Are you mad about what I said to you back at the truck stop?”
“You’ve got to stop treating me like a little girl, Kurt. I’m not the kid you watched grow up anymore. I’m a grown woman and enough of an adult to know that I was perfectly justified in dropping that guy back there. I didn’t know if you’d thrown your little stick or not. All I saw was when he turned and aimed his gun at you.”
“I know, Marci. It’s just I have seen enough killing in my day to last a lifetime. I don’t need to see any more people, humans or aliens, die. It’s why I opt to use the stun baton over going around armed with a conventional sidearm.”
Marci’s expression softened. “I can’t imagine what it was like being in the army right after the Incident. So many small wars and horrific battles popped up around the world, not to mention what we were dealing with here at home in the U.S. with our own gates.”
“Your dad and I were in the thick of it for a long time. It was a time of desperate survival and sometimes initiating wholesale slaughter just to stay alive. It left an impression on both of us. I just want you to remember that.”
“I’m not going to apologize for saving your life if that’s what you’re looking for.”
“It’s not,” Kurt said, letting out a long sigh. “Let’s just drop it.” She wasn’t going to understand where he was coming from, and to be honest, he didn’t want her to ever reach the point of bloodlust he’d nearly succumbed to just before he mustered out.
His superiors had tried to keep him in. They offered him so
many incentives and bonuses that he was really tempted at the time. In the end, he decided it was too great a risk. He almost lost his sense of humanity. The last mission with Trent and the team in Bolivia had been the clincher.
The shaman from a nearby tribe who’d helped heal up the survivors of Kurt’s team had insisted on anointing each member of the team with the blood of those demon things they’d killed while plugging up the portal. They’d allowed what they thought was a harmless ritual as a thanks for his help with their wounded.
Something in their human blood reacted with the demon blood. The special ops team blacked out within minutes of the ceremony. When they came out of the demon-blood induced stupor, Kurt and the others discovered they’d killed everyone in the village, man, woman, and child.
Trent and the other handlers from the U.S. Embassy who came to extract them covered up the whole thing. The official story the PR team released said the demons had killed the villagers and the American soldiers later killed the demons. The special ops team was absolved of any responsibility in light of the involvement of the shaman’s magic coupled with the demon blood.
When Kurt came out of the bloodlust with his team, he had the sudden realization that the aliens and demons he’d killed in his career were just people who looked different, just ordinary folks who’d come from another world. He saw most of the conflicts as mistakes of communication.
He wasn’t naive enough to say all the incursions from other worlds were benign. For the most part, though, the various races on the other side of the gates moved to Earth with their families seeking a better place than the hell-hole they came from. Instead, some of them encountered the demons on this side of the gates. That’s what some men could become when afraid of the unknown. Many people and families were wiped out because of a misunderstanding.
It turned out Trent had seen enough that trip, too. He decided, along with Kurt, that they’d both seen and done enough on behalf of their government to last a lifetime. He submitted his resignation to his superiors at the same time Kurt did.
Most of the special ops team stayed in, though. They liked the power the shaman’s mistaken spell now gave them whenever they spilled blood. They were willing to trade the blackouts in exchange for the killing machines they became when under the bloodlust.
Kurt was not. Which was why he’d gotten Jonesey to come up with the stun baton in the first place. It allowed him to defend himself without drawing blood. As long as any blood spilled nearby wasn’t done by his hand, he could hold off the bloodlust, most of the time.
A chime on his navigation system went off. They had reached the place where they turned off the old highway and Kurt slowed to a stop with his lights shining on a dirt road leading off into the woods.
Cat had said his cat-eyed people came through a gate in the hills. He supposed this worn track led up to the gate somewhere in the wooded mountains nearby.
“Looks pretty creepy,” Marci commented. “Maybe we should wait until it’s light out.”
“No, that gives any cops or feds who might be looking for us more of a chance to catch up. We need to find this gate and unload the cargo. Just tune your portal senses long enough to help me find it, then you can take the truck back home and wait for me to return.”
“I told you. I’m going with you, Kurt. You’re not going to shake me off that easily. If you’re going in tonight, I’m going with you.”
Kurt shook his head. He didn’t have time to argue with her. Clara was waiting for him to deliver the cargo and free her. That took precedence.
Turning onto the dirt road, they headed up the winding track into the woods until they were well into the forest. The dirt road ended in a clearing and Kurt was surprised to see a collection of old, ramshackle house trailers jutting out from between the trees.
As he pulled up, several figures emerged from the trailers and stood watching him, shielding their eyes.
“Is the gate close by?” Kurt asked Marci while watching the approaching figures from inside the SUV.
“It’s not too far. Maybe a kilometer, maybe a little less. It’s off that way, over the ridge behind this trailer park.”
“Let’s see if these people know where it is.” Kurt shut off the SUV, powering down the systems, and got out, slowly.
“Hello, my name is Kurt. May I ask who is in charge around here?”
One of the figures stepped forward. It was a large, heavyset woman. As she got closer, Kurt spotted the reflection of her strange vertical pupils reflecting the light from his headlights.
“You with the government?”
“No, not at all.”
“You drive a government truck,” she said pointing at the black SUV.
“Lots of people drive black cars. We’re not from the government. We are travelers with a delivery that must go to people with eyes like yours. We seek the gate near here.”
The woman shook her head. “You don’t want to go there. Warlords fight over the scraps of our world. We fled after centuries of conflict. If you go through, they will likely kill you as soon as they see you. That is why we came here. It was the only way to be safe.”
“I hear what you’re saying, but others of your kind came and took someone I care about through the gateway. Now they require me to deliver something to them in exchange for her life. I must do what I can to save her.”
“What is this thing you must deliver through the portal?”
“It is a gold sarcophagus. I am not sure what it’s significance is to your world, but it is something they want in exchange for my ex-wife.”
“Let me see this sarcophagus.”
Kurt took the woman to the rear of the SUV and put the lift gate up as he stood back and pointed. She walked over and looked inside.
“Strange, it looks a lot like a relic described in a few of the oldest sacred texts from my world.”
“I am not sure how that could be. Before the time when all of the gates opened, there is only limited evidence of any gates or portals being opened between Earth and other worlds. This supposedly comes from another place entirely. It is unlikely there is any relation to the relic you speak of.”
“And yet, here you are with a golden sarcophagus very similar to the one described in my world.”
“Can you tell me what the significance of this relic has to your people?”
“I can, but it will take time. Come with me. Bring your mate and we will go to my home and sit and discuss why it is someone might need this relic. It is supposed to be very powerful. I am concerned why a person from my world needs it brought through the gate.”
Marci got out and Kurt closed and locked the SUV. Then he and Marci followed the woman to one of the house trailers. While the steps leading up to the outside of the mobile home were worn and broken in places, once they arrived inside, they found a quaint, clean home.
“Please, have a seat. I will make some tea. Do you like tea?”
“Tea would be nice.,” Marci said.
“Excellent. I will get the kettle on. I’m sorry, I did not expect guests this evening. It is so late after all. I’m curious to find out what it is you are running from?”
“What makes you think we are running from something?” Kurt said.
“Oh, you have the look about you. It’s none of my business and I don’t care who you’re running from unless of course, they intend to harm to me or the people I live with.”
“I don’t think they will cause you any harm should they track us to this point,” Kurt said. “They are local and federal authorities. If they come here, they might have questions about where we went. That is all. Just tell them the truth. They can come after us if they want to.”
“I’d rather not have any human authorities poking around in our small community here. We have eluded their efforts to register us so far. Human friends in the local community have helped cover for our presence here. We’d like to keep it that way.”
“I don’t think they are going to follow us here,” Marci s
aid. “We covered our tracks pretty well.”
The woman nodded and went into her tiny kitchen. Marci and Kurt sat in silence for a few minutes while the woman puttered around getting out mugs for the tea and waiting for the kettle to boil. She must’ve recently heated the water because the kettle boiled rather quickly.
He decided to break the silence and make conversation while they waited for her to bring over a small tray with three steaming mugs of tea, a sugar bowl, and a small pitcher which Kurt assumed must contain cream.
“I never did get your name.”
“That is because I did not give it,” the woman said with a smile. “There is power in a person’s name. It is not something I share with people I do not know and trust.”
“We have to call you something,” Marci blurted out. “I can’t sit here in your house and call you Old Woman.”
This made the cat-eyed woman laugh aloud. “If you did, I’d think you channeled the voice of my dead husband. He called me that quite frequently as our marriage progressed. In all fairness, I called him ‘Old Man’ just as much.”
“So, what do we call you?” Marci pressed.
“Is there a name that would make you feel more at ease. I can answer to anything you’d like.”
“My Aunt Ilsa always used to make me tea before she passed,” Marci said after a few seconds’ thought. “Would that suit you?”
“Ilsa? Yes, I like the sound of that name. I would like that.”
“Ilsa it is, then,” Kurt said. “How long have you been here in our world?” Kurt asked.
“I came through with my husband the day the doorway opened between worlds. We were fleeing for our lives. Our village had been burned and we sought a way out, a way to escape to anywhere.”
“And that brought you here?” Marci asked. “I find it interesting that at the time of your greatest need it was also the time when all of the gates were created here on our planet.”
“You do not believe in coincidences, my dear?”
“Let’s just say that coincidences can sometimes be helped along by other things in certain circumstances.” Marci tapped her chin and a thoughtful expression crossed her face. “At times of greatest need, people often manifest abilities and powers they did not know they had. I wonder if something like that happened in this case. We know that some gates cross not only boundaries of space and distance but also time. It may be that in your time of greatest need, your husband or you, or perhaps both of you together, opened this gate, connecting your need to our massive gate event that made the opening of gates easier than expected.”