Ferdie and The Seven: Book three: Fractals

by Larry Buenafe

  I pulled my hood up over my head, mostly obscuring my face. As I walked, getting closer to the downtown area, it became obvious that the panic affecting the rest of the world had also reached Aurora. On a street corner I saw a group of Elephant Man Cult people gathered, all painted gray and walking in circles, honking and asking for donations. Man, people really make some weird conclusions about how they should react to things they don’t understand… if they knew the truth, I don’t think they would be doing this… it would be kind of funny if it wasn’t so pitiful…

  A little further down the road I happened upon a row of churches, and they were literally packed with people, with more folks outside waiting to get in. I guess I can understand them wanting to get comfort in times like this… I wonder what they would do if they knew about the Time Flies, though… the good thing for me is they are so worked up that it’s not likely that they will notice me…

  I continued ambling along, and then, right in the center of town, I saw something that might be unique to Colorado. A large group of people, probably a few hundred, many with fake dreadlocks and tie-dyed clothes, smoking marijuana out in the open. I looked around and saw a handful of police officers nearby, but they seemed for the most part to be unconcerned with the people “smoking the pots”, as my dad would have said. The potheads were dancing around, and some were strumming on guitars. Dude, it smells out here… it’s like they all have skunks for pets or something…

  I found the whole thing kind of amusing, if a little sad, and I walked up to a young girl on the outskirts of the crowd. “Hi, what’s going on?”

  She smiled broadly, and said, “Oh, you know, the world’s ending, so we might as well enjoy ourselves, right? And what are they gonna do, throw all of us in jail? I’d like to see that. They wouldn’t have enough space, so we’re just gonna party and not worry about it. Want some?”

  It took me a second to realize that she was offering me some marijuana. “Uh, no thanks, I’m… I’m cool.” I’m cool? I don’t think I’ve ever said that before… way to fit in with the hippies, Ferdie…

  She cackled, and said, “Alright, but you know where to come if you need some… stoned is the only way to face the apocalypse, you know.” Then she skipped off into the crowd. No, stoned is the opposite of how you should face the apocalypse… you need your brain working at maximum, not minimum… I continued walking around, just being amused and entertained by all the unusual happenings in my home town, and eventually wound my way back to my motel.

  I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening pacing around my little room, flipping through TV channels one after another, feeling unbearably ill at ease, and just plain bored. Eventually, despite all the anxiety, boredom, and pressure, I fell asleep and I didn’t wake up until eleven a.m. the next morning. Dude, it’s almost time…hey, no bad dreams again… The Master must be slipping… don’t get to feeling overconfident, it’s probably just lucky timing… ok, the plan was to get to someplace isolated in case things blow up… better start walking…

  I exited the motel, heading due south and into the woods at the edge of town. The woods at the edge of town… sounds like a song title or something… It took me an hour to get to the right spot, but finally I found a little clearing in the forest, and I checked my phone. Five after Twelve, time to get moving! Ok, I hope this works… it’s a little late for hoping, so here we go…

  I sent the predetermined signal blasting into the minds of Ling, Gabriella, Arnie, Denise, and Rafael… “NOW!” Total lack of creativity, but we had agreed that it should be as simple and clear as possible. My sending out that supernatural communication should have been enough to get the attention of The Others, but then I started popping in and out of the in-between at top speed, twenty times per second, coming out in a different spot each time. This would give me the advantage of surprise if one of The Others showed up at my location, would leave a huge supernatural “footprint” to attract The Others, and would provide me with the ability to leave quickly if a signal came in from one of the rest of our group. I was feeling scared but excited at the same time, but the excitement faded after about five minutes and got to be tedious after about ten.

  Wait, what’s that… come on, do it again… YES! A signal from Rafael… Once again I sent a message blasting out to the rest of the group: “Everyone to Jamaica NOW!”

  I popped out of the in-between at Rafael’s Jamaica location in less than an instant, and found him holding a young Hispanic female in a bear hug, his long arms seemingly wrapped around her twice. She was of medium height and build, and her black hair hung down, obscuring half of her face. “Mr. Ferdie, I caught her before she had a chance to do anything! I did good, yes?”

  At that moment, Denise appeared, and her eyes went wide. Her hands flew up to her mouth as if in shock, and she cried, “Aida! Ferdie, that’s Aida Fernandez, my one of The Seven! I thought she might be dead by now… why would they send her?”

  In the next instant Arnie and Ling appeared, and we just stood there, dumbfounded. Then it came… a signal from Gabriella. “She’s being attacked!”

  Arnie disappeared instantly, and I shouted to the rest of the group, “Stay here and make sure she’s secured, then get back to the RV!” And I bolted after Arnie to Gabriella’s location in Sweden.

  Chapter Seven

  When I arrived Gabriella was on the ground, apparently unconscious, and two exceptionally large demons were nearby; they were covered in wounds and appeared altogether dead. I turned to the right, and there was Arnie, engaged in battle with two more immense demons. Before I had a chance to move, Arnie fended off a stab attempt by one of them, spun around and plunged both his now pick-shaped arms through the iron-hard skin of the demon. He yanked violently, and exited with a heart in his hand. He spun again as the other demon approached and was on the verge of engulfing him, and literally ignited. I felt searing heat and dove behind a tree; I couldn’t see for a few seconds due to the blinding flash, but when my vision cleared, it was obvious that the last demon was also utterly dead and that Arnie was beginning to cool down.

  “Ferdie, they ambushed her with four demons… she managed to take two of them out but there were too many…” Arnie fell to his knees, panting and coughing, and I ran to Gabriella, ignoring the fact that everything in the vicinity was burning. She was lying on her back, her left arm completely mangled; it was bent in several wrong angles, and the side of her head… Oh crap, it’s smashed in…

  I quickly went into her mind, but… she wasn’t there. “Arnie, she’s… she’s… oh no.”

  I have to catch her before she goes… the Book of Names says she’s going to the bad Line, but she’s not supposed to die yet… not for another seven hundred twenty three days… the book could be wrong… Marsh-dog said it’s possible that the book could be wrong because the Time Flies can’t account for how The Seven influence the time line… she can’t go to the Bad Line, she doesn’t deserve that… come on, at least give her that…

  I had to make a choice, and make it quick, or I would never know. It has to be the Good Line… has to be… come on Marsh, come on Time Flies, come on Ol’ Flashy, help her out…

  I turned to Arnie, who was still glowing with heat, and he shouted, “Go!”

  I bolted for the in-between, and… there stood Gabriella, looking totally normal and beautiful as ever, her arm no longer sticking out at odd angles, her head undamaged, and her pixie hair clean and neat. Standing next to her, or should I say floating next to her… was Marsh-dog. Well, my legs just gave way; I fell to the ground, crying uncontrollably. Sometimes when traumatic events like this happen, I get this weird out-of-body experience. One side of my mind is caught up in the emotion, but the other side feels like a rational observer, and I always figured that was my mind’s way of keeping me from going totally nuts. While I was on the floor crying, the rational part was observing the scene, and found it funny when Marsh-dog leaned over to Gabriella and whispered, “You just gotta let him cry it out. He gets like t
his sometimes.”

  Gabriella gave her Mona Lisa smile and said, “Yes, I know.”

  After some time had passed, I recovered enough to ask, “What happened?”

  Gabriella and Marsh-dog shared a look, and she said, in her musical voice, “What Arnie told you is essentially what happened. I got the signal from you to converge on Rafael’s position, and just as I was leaving I was hit from behind. I fought, but there were too many of them… I’m sorry, Ferdie, I don’t want to leave you, but I...” and then her composure broke just for a moment, and her hand sneaked up to wipe away a tear. “Well, at any rate, somehow your friend, our friend, Marshall, has arranged it so that the Good Line is now my destination, and I will never be able to repay him for this greatest of gifts. I don’t know how he did it, and he insists he can’t tell me, so I will simply accept it. You must succeed, Ferdie. Remember the power that exists in creativity. Trust your empathy. It will tell you not just how to win, but the right way to do it. I think they somehow knew of our plan, and targeted me in hopes of getting to you, either physically, or by hurting you emotionally, weakening your resolve. Don’t let them succeed, Ferdie.”

  She paused, gazing out at the unbearable beauty of the Good Line, extending forever through the sea of stars. “I love you, Ferdie. I could not tell you that before, because it would not have been right, but now… well, there is nothing more to say. You are my son, you always have been. No, I did not birth you, but we are connected just the same, and we will be for all eternity. I feel the pull, Ferdie. The line is pulling on me and I cannot resist it any longer. We will forever be linked, Ferdie. Remember…”

  And in less than a flash she was gone, streaking out to take her place in the Good Line.

  I looked at Marsh-dog, and even he had a little tear in his eye. His voice was shaky as he said, “I’m getting pretty good at talking the Time Flies into helping me out. I saw what was happening, and I knew she was heading for the wrong line, so… I don’t know, I just did my thing. I don’t think I’ll be able to talk them into anything else for a while, though.”

  After a few moments of gathering myself again, I said, “Thanks, Marsh. I… I don’t…”

  “Ah, forget it. You got a lot to take care of now, so you better get back there and get to it, Batman.”

  Despite everything, that almost made me laugh. “Dude, you are something, you know that?”

  Marsh-dog grinned just for a moment, and said, “I’m not something, I’m something else.”

  “You got that right, Mr. Glowy. I’ll see you later.”

  I faded out of the in-between to find that Arnie had cooled down to normal temperature, and was doing his best to put out the various burning bushes and trees in the area. He looked up for a moment, and said, “We better get out of here; people will be coming to check on the smoke soon. Was… did she…”

  “Yeah, Good Line. Marsh-d… ah, Marshall made it happen. Convinced the Time Flies.”

  Arnie gazed at the sky again, grimacing mightily. “Aah, thank goodness for Marshall. Don’t ever…”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t tell him you said that. What about these dead demons?”

  “I say we leave them. It’s not like it will make much of a difference at this point. People will just make up some kind of crazy story to explain their presence, like the other one in Canada.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Let’s get back and see what we’ve got with our captive.”

  “Ferdie, the rest of the group, they don’t know what happened here yet… they don’t know about Gabriella.”

  “Yeah, that’s going to be tough. I’ll… I’ll tell them when we get back.”

  Arnie smiled sadly, and I thought I saw a little water in his eye. “You’re growing up, Ferdie.”

  “Yeah, but not for much longer. Let’s get going.”

  We faded into the desert, and the rest of the group was waiting anxiously in the Mojave Desert dusk, standing around the door of the RV. Seated in a folding chair in the middle of them was Aida Fernandez, tied and gagged and looking a little worse for wear. Her long dark hair was now pulled back by the kerchief over her mouth. All eyes were on Arnie and me, and of course the waterworks started, although I quickly recovered. Keep it under control… you can let loose later, but right now they need you…

  After several deep breaths, I told them exactly what happened. As I spoke, there was lots of crying, hands went to mouths in shock, but there simply was no way to soften the blow.

  When I was finished, I noted that, while everyone was upset, Rafael seemed totally distraught. I think he thought of Gabriella as his closest friend… he’s really hurting…

  Suddenly, Rafael slammed his hand down on the little white folding table set up in the middle of the outside seating area, and shouted, “The whole thing was a set up. They sent her first, this person, as both a decoy and sacrifice, and then set the ambush upon Ms. Gabriella after all of you were en route to my location. They knew our plans, Mr. Ferdie. Whether purposely or inadvertently, someone has tipped off The Others, and that has led to our current circumstances. But why Ms. Gabriella? Why couldn’t they have taken me? She did not deserve this fate. It is her, Ms. Aida Fernandez… she must die for what has happened, and I must do it!”

  Rafael rose menacingly, and Arnie and Denise quickly moved between him and Aida. You have to intercede here, Ferdie… speak with authority… “Hold on, Raffy. You said it yourself; she was a decoy and sacrifice, which probably means that it wasn’t her idea. I understand your anger. We’re all angry. But killing her will not help our situation. In fact, it’ll do the opposite of help. With her alive, we have the chance to learn a lot. It could even change everything in our favor. You can see that, can’t you? I need you to take some deep breaths, take a long walk, whatever you need to get your head straight.”

  Over the course of a few seconds, Rafael’s expression softened from pure rage to something closer to chagrin. Finally, he spoke, his voice nearly a whisper. “How is it that you see things so clearly at such a young age, Mr. Ferdie? Putting aside your amazing, unprecedented abilities, your insight, your ability to find the right thing to say, those are your real super powers. I will do as you suggest, and take deep, calming breaths while taking a long walk. And thank you, Mr. Arnie, Ms. Denise, for being at the ready to stop me if it became necessary. There was no hesitation. I am lucky to be in the company of all of you. My apologies, everyone. Even you, Ms. Aida Fernandez.”

  This dude is something else… maybe it’s not flattery, maybe that’s how he really feels… Aida has quite a look on her face, like this is all totally confusing, or maybe way outside of her prior experiences… I bet we’re going to learn tons from her…

  Rafael turned to go, and I caught Ling’s eye. After a moment, she understood my meaning, and said, “Excuse me, Rafael, I too am hoping for a walk. Would walking with you be a good thing to do?”

  Thank you Ling… you’re the best…

  Rafael bowed low at the waist, and seemed almost back to his normal self. “It would be my great pleasure, Ms. Ling. In fact, who better to share this evening stroll with? I am your angel, after all. Shall we?”

  He offered her his arm, and after a moment of confusion, she realized what he was doing, took his arm, and they sauntered off into the desert sunset.

  After they were out of sight I motioned for the rest of the group to sit in a semicircle facing Aida. When everyone was seated in the plastic folding chairs, I asked, “Do we really need to keep the gag on her? I know she’s one of The Seven, but she doesn’t have power over anyone here. I can block her from Pasquale and Aunt Martha, and they’re the only ones she could have any control over.”

  “Well, we decided to put a gag on her while we waited for you because she kept jabbering on about how her Master was going to do this or that to us. It got annoying. Plus, it was kind of hard to understand her. I think she may have had a stroke or maybe some other kind of brain damage,” Aunt Martha offered.

  Denis
e perked up and responded, “She was badly damaged in an ambush The Others pulled on Ferdie, Arnie, Ling, and Marsh-dog. I’m surprised she’s still alive, to tell the truth. Why don’t you tell the story, Ferdie? You obviously know it better than me.”

  Just the mention of it made me tap my head, and I had to force my hand away. “I… I don’t know if I can right now, especially right after losing another one… oh crap.” Then I really broke down. I was working hard to hold it back, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. The rest of the group gathered around and tried to comfort me a little, and as I recovered I noticed a puzzled look on Aida Fernandez’ still-gagged face. I think we might be able to make a little headway with her if I can pull it together and tell the story in just the right way… Come on, Ferdie, you can do it… this will help us all…

  Chapter Eight

  “Ok, thanks everyone. I’m sorry, I keep trying but it’s hard to control my emotions. Anyway, I’ll tell the story… Arnie knows this story, of course, since he was there, and the rest of you have heard bits and pieces. Marsh-dog, Ling, and I were with Arnie when a call came in. Oh, you might remember that Arnie was a police officer, actually a detective. Anyway, we knew from the description that it was probably The Others. We knew of The Master and the one I call The Coward, but we didn’t know how many more there were. To make a long story short, we were in pursuit, and we had planned a trap. I was going to go into the mind of the killer we were following, and I expected to find The Coward there. Ling was going to follow me in thirty seconds later for a surprise double-team, and we figured we might be able to… well, I hate to think of it now, but we thought if we double-teamed him we might be able to kill him. Somehow The Others knew of our plan, and before we could set our trap they sent Aida in to attack Ling. She wasn’t ready for it, and she was getting blasted so bad that she was blinded in one eye.