"Cool." Morgan smiled, looking at the last box in Casey’s hands.
”Cool?! Is that what you have to say about all of this?!” Casey exclaimed.
“How about terrible?! awful! Horrid! You like having this fate?!"
“No…” Morgan stuttered. “You just have to admit…It is a little…Fun.” He concluded with a small voice, afraid of the beast that he had awakened in Casey.
“Fun…?” Casey whisked, smoke practically coming out of her nostrils. “You…I…God if you weren’t near dead…Fuck! Just open the god damn thing already so we can get this mess over with!” She trusted the box into Morgan’s hands who unsuccessfully attempted to pry it open.
“Nothing…” Morgan looked at Casey, “It’s not meant for me.”
"You know…”Colin tapped his lip.”Mrs. Kafka always did hate Din…"
"And me!” Morgan stated. Casey nodded.
“And you.” She agreed. “I hate you too right now but you already opened one box. It has to be Din; she always hated him for daydreaming in her classes."
"She always hated him for showing up drunk and daydreaming in her classes but that doesn't help us. Din is locked in the chamber with the rest of the apocalypse captured souls, and we have no way of getting him out of there." Toby reminded them.
"Then we have to find a way to get him out of there if we want everything and everyone back to normal…Including him." Casey shook her head. "But how?"
"I might have a way."
A sudden voice came from the door and all teens snapped their heads up.
“Lisa!” Casey jumped, surprising even herself at how genially happy she was to see her. “You got away!” She exclaimed and Lisa smiled sadly.
“I did, for now. But I’m afraid that I don’t have a lot of time until they are on to me so, I wish to know that I did bring Utopia to her end before she ends me and I have a plan about how we can get Din out of the chamber safely, with his body of course.” An uneasy silence swept the room.
Lisa had practically presented them her death sentence but she still wanted to use her last breath to fight, Casey felt guilty, she had truly misjudged her.
“Ok, tell us what you want us to do.” Casey decided.
"Mind you, it will be dangerous." Lisa warned and Casey grinned at her.
"We already faced dangerous, any kind there is out there I think and I am not afraid anymore. Whatever it is, we’ll do it."
Lisa nodded. “I see you developed some spunk while I was away. All right, here is what you need to know.” She took a deep breath. “I can only get one of you into the chamber to search for your friend provided you want to get out of there with him and we will only have about twenty minutes to do it."
"Why?" Casey questioned. “Why only one?”
"And what will happen if it takes more than twenty minutes?" Morgan added.
Lisa looked at him, her expression said that she was expecting this questions.
"Think of the chamber as a program with a self-distract mechanism.
In order to get Din out of the chamber safely I will be over righting Utopias security of the lockdown so more than twenty minutes in and the room will become a vacuum.
A black hole, sucking everything in its path to Utopias real dimension and trust me, you don’t want to go there.
If you think that what is going on now here is bad, hell is what awaits you in her kingdom."
"So basically…The end of the world as we know it?” Colin gulped.
Lisa smiled. "No, Just the end of your world.”
"But why didn’t she do it herself already?" Colin asked, puzzled. "Doesn't she want this world?" Lisa nodded.
"She does, but her own world is a nightmare. She seeks to escape it, not to just sustain herself in it. She wants control over this planet."
“Oh, splendid.” Colin muttered dryly, Lisa ignored him.
“So….Which one of you is up for the challenge?"
"Me." Toby stated in a 'Don't-argue-with-me' tone before anyone else could even think to open their mouth to say something.
"I have to save him.” He told the others, a dark cloud lingering behind his eyes. “I am responsible for him being in there in the first place, I have to do it."
“Ok…You go. “ Jon agreed, looking up at Lisa. “You’re not telling us everything, are you?" Jon asked her and the apocalypse slowly nodded at him.
“You might get stuck in there with him." She said to Toby. "Din will get out but you might stay in there in his place. Are you sure that you still want to risk it?"
Toby closed his eyes momentarily, he didn't say anything but when he opened his eyes again the answer was clear to everyone.
He wasn't going to back down from it no matter what it took and his friends knew it, trying to convince him otherwise would be just a waste of time.
"Ok." Lisa said, concluding the conversation. "Then we should really get going…"
She looked at Morgan. “We can’t take your body with us…Too dangerous.”
”I am not staying here.” Morgan pulled himself out of the bed, standing up shakily.
“May can stay here with the body.” Casey quirked an eyebrow.
“You really don’t want me to comment on that, do you?” She growled. “I’ll lock the door, we are all going.” She gestured to Jon to help Morgan walk and then she shooed the rest of them out as they all fallowed Lisa.
Casey was the last to get out as she took a look around the room and then grabbed the two joined shards of crystal and locked Morgan's body in their bed room.
‘It should be safe there for a little while until we come back.’ She thought to herself.
The maze was quiet as they made their way down to the red brick wall at the end of a green musky hallway.
"Where are the other apocalypses?" Casey wondered out loud. “The privies time we were in here there were apocalypse guards everywhere and now there are none.”
“Do you miss them?’ Colin teased.
“No, just concerned, I don’t want any crawling creeper to jump us.” Casey stated.
"They are all busy.” Lisa said, taking a step forward. ”Utopia needs almost all the ‘man’ power she can get to execute Utopias master plan. “ She explained in a dark voice.
”Oh, how 'evil genius craving world domination' of her.” Colin shook his head.
"Right…” Lisa looked at the teens before her.” Jon, help me here for a second."
She said when she stopped at the wall. Jon looked at Morgan who he was supporting and his brother nodded.
Jon helped Morgan lean against the musky wall and complied with Lisa's request.
He came to stand before her and Lisa took his hands and stretched them out, and entwining her fingers with Jon's she started weaving nearly transparent silver strings, creating a nice silver ball of what appeared to be yarn.
“Here we go.” She held the ball up for them all to see.
“What is that for?” Jon looked at the strings curiously.
"We don’t want Toby's body getting into the chamber with his soul, now do we?"
She said, answering everyone's puzzled expressions.
"So I will bind Toby's body to this place and reality with us." She concluded as she finished making the thread, giving one of its ends to Toby.
"Tie it around your waist; make sure it touches your skin.” She ordered. “As tight as you can, we don’t want to lose contact with you." Toby nodded, doing as he was told, tying the silver breakable looking thread around his slightly trebling body.
"Once you are inside,” Lisa continued her instructions to him. “We won't hear you but you will still be able to hear us so we will count the time for you and I will tell you how much time you have until I have to pull you out. But remember this, time is a different concept in there, you feel it slipping a lot faster than it should on this side of the doorway so you have to hurry. Ready?"
Toby nodded again. "Ok, oh and one more thing." Lisa remembered.
"I will sh
ield you from the pain caused by the other apocalypses as they feed but Din will be in agony and probably disoriented so you have to get him to focus on you or you won't be able to get him to come with you. And don’t forget his body. You have to touch it to pull it out. Understand?”
“Fuck, couldn't you have shared this little tidbit earlier?” Toby groveled.
”Toby…You don’t have to do this, let someone else go.” Casey looked at her friend, feeling like she was going to lose another one of her close companions.
”No.” Toby looked at Lisa. “I’m ready.”
“Then do it.” Lisa pointed at the doorway. “Go on, touch the wall."
Toby took a deep breath and placed his hand on the door.
He saw the blue light surround him and a second later his body became numb and collapsed to the floor as his soul traveled on into the chamber.
Colin and Casey hurried to the limp body and pulled him away from the doorway, leaning him against the wall behind them as they all watched the silver thread that was visible from the brick wall, straining and pulling in.
Casey looked at Lisa, her face was contorted with concentration as she focused all her human and monstrous strength on releasing a little of the thread at a time to allow Toby free movement inside the chamber.
Meanwhile, inside the chamber Toby gasped in shock at the sigh that had been revealed in front of his eyes.
In a space too big to measure were you don’t know where is up or down and everything seemed to blend into one color, he stood in a battle field surrounded by fallen bodies.
Most of the bodies small, they appeared to be of children his age and some even younger, all of them decaying, aging without growing, long since lost the humanity that they ones had in them.
"Din?!" Toby shouted, his voice trembling, still in shock from the horrific sighs.
"Din?! Where are you!?" Toby screamed again, his voice coming back at him as an echo but no sound but his own heart beat was heard.
Toby sigh, he didn't really expect an answer in this dead place but suddenly he felt a chill run down his spine.
He turned around just in time to see Din appear inside one of the many fog like swirls of blue grey clouds that littered the space between them.
Din’s soul was half floating in the air, his spirit surrounded by snake like fumes and the fog seemed to bind him from every part it could have a hold of him.
‘Is that how they are feeding?’ Toby shuddered.
"Din!" Toby took a step towards his friend and reached out his hands in order to try and grab him.
”Din.” His hands met his friends flesh and Toby screamed in pain, a horrible burning sensation shooting through his system as his hands rested on Din’s body.
"Ohh….Din…" Toby fought through what felt like raw iron pressed against his already opened skin.
He pushed his hands inside the fumes, refusing to give into the pain and give up on getting Din out of there.
He felt himself almost thrown back, rejected like the side of a powerful apposite magnet.
"Ten minutes, Toby!" He heard Lisa's voice; it seemed to come from everywhere, surrounding them from every direction.
"Shit." Toby grinded his teeth. "No! I need more time!” He exclaimed, knowing that Lisa couldn't hear him.
”Shit! Din!" Toby screamed, finally grabbing a firm hold of his friend and pulling him out of the fumes, falling to the ground with Din’s seemingly unconscious form on top of him.
”Din!” The incinerating sensation stopped but his flesh still felt scorched.
"Din! Din! Wake up!" Toby rushed him, trying to pull his friend up from the floor and back into a conscious state.
"Din! C'mon!" Din opened his eyes and cried out as Toby managed to pull him half way up.
"I know, I know it hurts but you have to focus, ok?" Toby forced Din to his knees and then grabbed a hold of his friends face, forcing Din to look up at him.
"C'mon! We have to find your body! I came for you! I am going to get you out of here! Stay with me, ok?" Din's eyes were wide open and tears ran down his face but a sort of understanding loomed behind the unfocused oracles as he slowly nodded, gesturing to the pile of bodies to the left side of the field.
"Toby! Five minutes! Get out now! You don’t have time!" Toby realized that Din must have heard Lisa's voice too cuss at that moment his body went rigid and he then tried to push Toby away.
Din tried to speak but words failed him, his throat felt burned. He raised one hand to his throat and with the other gestured for Toby to leave him.
Toby growled, he knew that Din was telling him to get out on his own but Toby wasn't having any of that. He shook his head furiously.
"I am not leaving you behind again! If you want me to get out you have to come with me! Do you understand?!"
Din smiled weakly at Toby's stubbornness, having only enough strength to nod.
---
"Where are they?!" Jon asked, concerned, looking at the unchanging brick wall.
"One minute." Lisa scoffed, looking at her human watch. "I will have to let the thread go if he doesn’t come out soon, we can't risk …"
"No! Look!!" Casey suddenly screamed, pointing at the wall as a transparent hand came through the red breaks that now glowed in silver and bright blue.
"Grab them! Pull them out!"
Lisa urged the excited teens as the space around them began to glow.
"Ten! Nine! Eight…"
Casey and Colin jumped up to the wall and grabbed Toby’s out stretched hand.
They pulled him harshly and together they yanked both him and Din free of the chamber, seconds before the thread disconnected and Din's body hit the floor alongside with Toby’s, his soul joining the pile seconds after that.
"Din?" Toby crouched down beside Din's soul and slightly shook it.
Din steered, willing his eyes open as he focused his gaze on Toby.
"Where…Where am I?” He stuttered.
"You're safe." Toby smiled, looking up at Casey. “Give him the box.”
He said and then Casey nodded and crouched down as well, handing the box to Din.
“Open it.” Din looked at them lost. “Just open it, we will explain in a second.”
Casey smiled.
Din shrugged and took the box into his hands, pulling the lid open and handing it back to Casey who pulled out the last shard of the divided crystal.
“No more riddles.” Casey whispered, attaching the last shard to the bigger peace she already had from the other two boxes, watching as it too merged with the half mended crystal, creating a cone like shaped whole crystal in the palm of her hand.
"Now what?" Toby asked puzzled. "How do we use it?"
"May I?" Lisa took the crystal from Casey's open palm and pulled Toby’s body closer to her.
“Like this." She said as she turned the crystal and placed it on Toby's forehead, looking at it with certain awe.
The crystal gave out a bright blue light and Toby's soul shimmered and disappeared, his body opened its eyes almost instantly, smiling up at the others.
"Now you." Lisa pointed at Din who still looked a bit disoriented.
She moved closer to him and placed the crystal on his forehead.
“It’s warm…"
Din whispered before his soul also faded and his body breathed in, in new life.
"Din!” Toby practically jumped on his friend to hug him tightly.
"Wow!” Din laughed, hugging Toby back.
“Having...Trouble...To breathe here, Toby."
"At least you are breathing!" Casey laughed at him as she took the crystal back from Lisa. "Thank you for bringing our friends back,” She said, looking into her human eyes.
“I’m sorry for…”
“It’s ok.” Lisa raised her hand. “Forget it Casey, I would have acted the same.”
“Right…” Casey smiled bitterly. “Now let's get back to our room and finally bring Morgan back…" Casey turned to her brother.
"W
hat do you say Morgan? Let's…Morgan? Morgan!!!"
Morgan was lying on the floor, his eyes wide open but it was clear that he was looking at nothing.
“Morgan!” Casey hurried to him as Jon laid his brother’s head on his knees; this scene was looking horribly familiar.
"I'm dying…" Morgan whispered as Casey took his trembling hand into her palms.
"No! You are not!" Casey screamed. “We have the crystal Morgan! You can’t leave me now!”
She exclaimed, grabbing Morgan under his neck and knees and swinging him up off the floor.
"I am not going to let this happen again! We have to get back!" She howled, not giving her friends' the time to react as she turned on her heels and ran back to their room with Morgan's fading spirit in her arms, as light as a feather.
---
"Didn't I lock the door?!" Jon heard Casey ask in horror as he followed his siblings, noticing immediately that the door to Casey's and Morgan's room was half opened.
"NO!” Casey screamed as she kicked the door and it swung all the way open.
“Not again!" She cried out. “I can’t…” She laid her brother on the now empty bed, his body wasn't there anymore.
“We were only gone for a few minutes…” The others heard Casey whispered as they hurried to catch up to the triplets, entering the room and seeing with their own eyes the tragedy that happened yet again.
"I knew it was a trap!" Jon muttered. "Lisa lured us away so she could get him!"
He looked around them in the filled up room.
"And where is she now?!"
"She stayed behind to cover for us so we could escape.” Toby shook his head.
"It couldn't have been her; it doesn't make any sense. She helped us take him back from Utopia .What reason could she possibly have to give him back? And she was with us when the body was stolen so she couldn't do it, she couldn't take him."
“Who then?” Jon questioned. “Who knew about him being here except for us?!” "Morgan…" Casey laid her head on her brother’s belly. ”Morgan…Please…"
She whispered.
Morgan was fading further, they could all see it, and as Jon was about to come closer and comfort his sister a loud bang on the door made them all jump, their hearts almost tearing out in fright from their chests.
Winds Of The Apocalypse Page 26