Good and Evil : Freeland - Part Two (9781628547375)

by Pulver, William

  The incandescent light bulb white tongue separated from the frog’s mouth as the frog was trying to save itself from drowning. The rest of the cutoff portion of the long tongue swung from side to side after snagging on a stout branch of a video game looking tree where the other end stuck itself to the front of a cool looking hover cycle jet air ski.

  After seeing what happened to the humongous blue and yellow game frog, Treble wasn’t about to swim the girth of the illusive river. Instead, he wandered into the canyon a little ways until he saw a way to get across. There were little see-through cubes that gave off a different color than this slower part of the river. They were only noticeable if looked at from the right angle. Once viewed, the block would emerge from the neon blue river and create a passage for the one doing the viewing. In this case, it was Treble. He quickly jumped in a zigzag formation while he was making the blocks emerge with his eyes. To him, this was like doing plyometrics in athletic conditioning class. It was a cinch, beings he was one of the top athletes on the charts for side to side block jumping. He never touched the water once as his last jump landed him on the opposing side of the river.

  On the other side of the video river, a loud motor sounded from far to near as Treble leaned back at the waist to avoid a near collision. Some little droid-like, dreadlock having, mini-monster rode by his face on one of those sweet dual colored blue/maroon hovering skycycles. The whizzing past his head parted his hair, that’s how close the little monster man came. Treble almost fell backwards into the river. He wasn’t having any of this. He rebounded and ran to his intended air ski as he hopped on the front part of its black, two passenger seat. He tried to start it, but nothing happened. He looked behind at the white tongue and realized it hadn’t disappeared like the rest of the frog. That meant it was useful. “But what for?” he thought. It started blinking.

  Treble got off the hyper-electric blue hovercraft and stepped to the front. He reached down to lift the end of the lopped off still glowing tongue which surprisingly didn’t have much texture. It was a smidgen heavier than air. The tongue elongated itself like an earthworm while the blunted tip was feeling for the rectangular hole in the front of the air scooter. It found the entrance as Treble ran around to the back to watch it slither through. Once able, he grabbed it with both hands and slung it over his shoulder while on a dead sprint away from the air ski. The entire tongue zipped through the bike. The air bike’s wave making motor started to rev. Treble ran back and jumped on just in time for it to take off down a zip line. He held on for dear life as the machine sped through the air pushing visible bubble waves out of its back end. The cable overhead started to spark from the friction until it ended, but the bike kept going. Not for very long, though. Just enough to make it to the next sitting, sweet looking, hovering jet ski bike. The only limitation with these bikes was that they couldn’t ascend. So, he wasn’t able to ride out of the canyon via these forms of video game transportation, like he wanted.

  Treble looked down at the faceboard of the craft as he was throttling it through some tall tip exploding cattails that were coming up through a swampy part of the river. He could only think to himself now because he couldn’t talk having lost the lower half of his jaw. This is so rad, dude. I gots an onboard screen that tells me in infrared where all the bad dudes are. I gotta figure out how to start zapping them, or else I’m going to get dead. Treble throttled the quickly submerging machine to try to squeeze out the last of its juice to push him closer to the next one. Another frog was inflated to blown up skin fragments this time. It lost its tongue as the process started over and down the zip line Treble sped again. The screen on this bike showed a blinking, off-colored snake which was camouflaged to regular sight, waiting in the reeds of this part of the river swamp. Treble tried to shift the left handle and a laser shot out of the front of the bike next to where the tongue went through. The vivid brown snake, emulating a cattail reed minus an exploding tip, was highlighted for a second as it flashed repeatedly until fading altogether. This was starting to get fun.

  Another jet bike with a midget monster on the back of it sped by on the way down as its power was waning to none. Equipped with a laser tazer on its back, it aimed at Treble and pulled the trigger with an eager grin on its face. Its soupy cheeks had tentacles emerging at skin’s end, but none of them ever poked out, like it was running a bunch of wormy tongues against the side of its cheek from the inside of its mouth. Treble’s left arm disappeared, so now he couldn’t fire back with the bike. Oh contraire! He reached over in mid-stride and jerked the handlebars, causing the bike to do a one-eighty mid-air and rolled the left fire stick back to disintegrate the little maniac munchkin in one revolution. The bike the little freakling was on sputtered to its belly as Treble jumped on the other air cycle and rode it out for the duration of its energy. A bit awkward adjusting to his anatomical imbalance, Treble kicked the machine away once it got almost down to slow as a snail status. He checked the screen for anymore atrocities. None were seen. Then, he got off to run over to a little stone walled house that caught his gamer’s eye from the other side of the river. Once again, the cubes emerged and he made it safely across.

  Once at the front jail cell door of the mini-cabin rock castle, Treble looked inside to see if anyone was home. The smoke from the chimney is what caught him looking over here in the first place, and led him to believe that the home wasn’t vacant. He stepped on a floor mat with his good leg as the mat lit up and a deep bellow sounded. Within seconds, there was a princess looking girl who softly spoke instructions through the vertical bend-a-bars door.

  She said, “My name is Bathsheba, and my beau, David and I, are trapped in this cabin in the middle of this friggin’ canyon. It is up to you to get us out of here and take us with you to wherever it is you are going. Here is some blue rejuvenating power-up pops that you must break open and rub on your parts to get your jaw, leg, and arm back. I have been in this mini-cabin/castle for way too long and would like to know what living outside of this canyon is like.” The words lit up mid-air, above her head, in bright orange on a lime green background. Treble read them slowly, like a child learning to read, trying to interpret the message.

  Treble took the power-ups and slammed them against his good leg as they broke open and he rubbed them on all the places where he was whole formerly. His leg filled back in along with his arm and jaw. He looked to the magically beautiful blonde hair, steely grey eyed princess nurse and bent the bars to let her free. David was inside, chained to a wall in the corner. He lifted his head in greeting, as Treble walked over to hand him the fishing pole he had been trying to reach in the one corner and the leaning water rifle in the other corner. That is all he wanted to do was fish and hunt. This whole time of having a river on the other side of the cobblestone lane, separating his home from his one of two true loves. Now he could do both, and it was all because Treble wasn’t afraid to brave the mystery of Clue Valley Canyon. David flung his prince’s crown into a cave amidst the rock walls, undid his fishing hook from the eyelet of the pole with one hand, loaded his water rifle with the other, and took off afoot to chance the lands around and waters of the variably wide Shord’s Knuckle River. He was gone soon after.

  David went up the river, angling video fish for power-ups to give him enough energy to survive. He would squirt any water dissolving mutant pterodactyl/pelican/storks that would try to keep him from taking away their food supply, with his high-powered scoped water rifle. Having many years of practice all around the different levels of canyon land, he ventured to new heights where he had never braved before. He was searching for something other than what he had been seeking all along and not even he knew what that was. A new breed of species that was more dangerous and evasive than anything he had ever hunted or fished for before.

  Three precious little children came out of the mini-cabin/castle with thoughts in the form of conversation bubbles above their heads, following them around as they frolicked ab
out the game land. This was their form of communication. Several words of “Oohs and Ahs” scrolled, like they were walking through some candied forest and had reached their sweet tooth salvation. Bathsheba and David’s oldest kid, Solomon, was a little Tasmanian devil. He spun everywhere he went, taking things out like a swift tornado. He donned a gray cowboy hat that seemed to be sewn to his head because it never came off when he was in his spinning tantrums. He rode a blue tornado. He bounced into and wrecked two of the floating bubble cars that Bathsheba had reserved for both of their future use. It cost Bathsheba dearly, but she had faith that everything would be alright as soon as Solomon’s fiancé, and he would get married, have their baby, and they would move out to start their own life fighting for the army of the Magistrate and one day be king. This was Solomon’s new dream as well, according to the thought projector that followed him everywhere he went.

  Shobab, the next eldest young one, was more reserved, just carelessly lollygagging around popping bouncy balloons with his extraordinary athleticism, being good at everything he ever attempted. The floating balloons would sometimes have prizes in them that enabled Shobab to enhance his sparkling attire. He would, at times, dribble the balloons like basketballs just for fun as he shot some hoops with them; draining balloon shaped threes from every angle of his outside basketball court. Each shot made enabled him new surprises that leveled him up in the life of being trapped in Clue Valley Canyon.

  Nathan was the third child, who was as cute as a button. He had up and coming skills like his older brother, but was more solid in his genetics, that meant he would one day pass Shobab up. A couple years younger, he carried the thoughts of God around with him, livening up alter gamer’s days by scrolling verses so they could see the light. He also projected an evanescence that appeared as a halo about his embodiment. He was pure in his quest of making someone else’s day. It shined from deep inside him. He followed Shobab around the basketball court, careful not to upset the overhead roosting leoplurodon of ancient dinosaur history that had paddle wings which enabled it to swim the river.

  Bathsheba took Treble by the rejuvenated hand and led him through the lighted darkness beside the river up the canyon, fighting off perils with her will along the way. The Tasmanian Twister and his two brothers followed as they all went to conquer this level of game land. They all combined their skills to combat the evil doers who were trying to keep them from reaching the final level and exit the back side of Clue Valley Canyon, where no one had ever been. Old school enemies and new the like, in video game land, were overcome as they approached.

  There were three teepees on the other side of Shord’s Knuckle, across the cobblestone street from where the mini-cabin/castle was located. Bathsheba returned Treble to the base of them after crossing via the emerging blocks of the river and stood to allow Treble to make his choice of which teepee he would enter. This was a tough decision for him to make because if he made the wrong one, he might get eaten by the big brown bear that lived in one of the teepees. Not that it mattered, because he had the hunting skills of Solomon with him, who had shot down many a mean brown bear in his life within the canyon. Treble opted for the middle teepee as they all entered and stood in a circle around a glowing ember stone situated in the middle of the Indian tent. Not until they all joined hands did the crystal power them up to the point that they were invincible like a cheat code had been used to make this game so much easier. They gobbled down the rays from the shining rock, gaining more and more nourishment until all were fat with usefulness.

  Treble felt like he was awakening from a dream now that he had found what he had been looking for all the while. Bathsheba led him through three tunnels toward the end of the canyon holding a lantern so he could see his way through. She wanted him to take her with so she could live a life away from the comfortableness of this region, but she and her three children faded out as he looked up to see David dangling his leg while sitting with his chin in hand on the other knee, high from the top of a cliff, waving goodbye with his free hand. Treble walked through the final tunnel, which was foggy at tail’s end, and found himself miles past where he had started walking. This had to have been a dream, an illusion, or something.

  The canyon was like a wormhole in time. It was nothing more than a state of mind, a time warp, a hallucination that he imagined while walking through the desert having great hunger and no food. That dreamy oasis was nothing more than a time consumer that enabled him to travel and not get lost, but also further himself closer to his friends’ benefit where he will try his best to save the day.

  Chapter 11

  The Wilderness

  The fog lifted once he was through the last tunnel. Treble looked around. There was no canyon anywhere to look back on; it had vanished just as it had appeared. He felt a little uncomfortable inside, queasy and nauseous, but didn’t have anything extra other than alcohol last night. Maybe this was the message Treble was to convey to anyone leftover who could receive the warnings and be protected from having to go through the region he just survived.

  The solar star was piercing the flat horizon, vivifying the barrens all around. Treble took his t-shirt off and wrapped it around his head, knowing as soon as the morning star had risen that he was going to be in a world of thirst. The sweat from his body could be recycled, as well as his pee, if it really came down to it, and it meant that he either lived or died. He remembered tales of people surviving for days in the barrens, living solely off their own urination. The thought of it kept him walking, pushing that future need out of his mind.

  Up ahead, there was a distinct figure sitting by another distinct figure. Treble was in disarray to believe either was actually present after what he just went through. As she spoke, he got more nervous. He took the shirt off his head and put it back on to cover his chest.

  “I did as you asked. I went and told all of the parents and their friends and their friend’s friends. I think the whole planet has gotten the message. There are no more physical magistrates on Trendago; they have all been murdered. No one wants to harm the kids for it, though. They just want them back, safe from harm. I brought several legions of people with me who are willing to find our lost friends. I’ve heard that this is going on all over the planet. I don’t know what it is, but we are definitely facing the end, again. It is nigh, Treble. Are you ready?” Abby looked down at the ground after realizing the mistake she had made of jeopardizing Treble’s friendship with Brody.

  “You aren’t supposed to be here. You aren’t real. I am just imagining you.”

  “Oh really, so I guess you are just imagining this?” She reached over and started the jet air ski with no zip line. Its quiet motor vibrated the colors from electric blue to deep maroon and back as it idled.

  “That’s not real.”

  “Okay, hop on and drive. I will tell you where to go. I gotta show you something that might change your mind.”

  Treble got on the air bike and drove it. They cruised for a couple miles back toward the direction of where the canyon was, or wasn’t. There was no canyon. Just vapor arising from the now solar, starlit, endless desert. Once they approached a lull in the desolate barrens, Abby had him stop and get off. She walked him to the edge of some scattered rocks, her arm threaded through his for reassurance that she was real. Standing at the edge of a mirage of a sheer cliff, they looked down at the bottom of the small valley and saw droves of people armed with everything from food and water to head lamps and weapons (in the case they were needed to defend themselves from the unknown creatures living in the barrens). Treble saw his mom amongst the masses and climbed down to give her a hug. She quenched his thirst by offering her flask of water. He was so excited to be able to drink. Everyone else did the same.

  Now that everyone was hydrated and assembled, the game plan was to walk together across the desert using each other for shade as the front row continually peeled to the back so everyone got a turn at being the on
es to block the heat from the sun for the others. It kind of looked like the Indian summer drill the football team did during practices. The last person races to the front of the long line of players and then continues jogging as the next last player sprints to the head, and so on, for miles at a time. Only this was being done in reverse, and the people were walking instead of sprinting because of the extreme one hundred and twenty-five degree temperature. The ground was already frying their feet through well-padded running shoes and hiking boots. Another way to look at it, by the volume of people, is to think of male penguins huddled together to protect the egg during a perilous winter’s storm. These people were huddling together to protect their brood, which ironically, even though they had no idea, were beneath their feet underground.

  The trek seemed long; several people were running out of water and getting tired from carrying their weapons for so long. They were dropping like flies from heat exhaustion and huge, solar star blocking, overhead birds, with wings as wide as the length of the heli-bus, eyes on both sides of them, were picking them up to stack them in tightly-woven rings.