by Bryan Cohen
Ted knew he wouldn't have nearly enough time to go on a rescue mission while he tried to recruit an army to fight the General. If Jennifer didn't go after his best friend now, he might as well set up a gravestone.
"Don't do anything stupid."
Jennifer wrapped him in a hug. "I wouldn't dream of it. I'll let Dhiraj know you send your regards."
Ted hugged her back and looked over to Erica.
She gestured for Jennifer to come closer. "I don't like not knowing where you are."
Jennifer bit her lip. "And I thought I was the protective one. Don't worry, I'm going to be okay."
Erica nodded and wrapped her arm around Jennifer. Following the long hug and a few other goodbyes, Ted watched as Erica placed her hand on the book one more time.
While it had taken the power of four people to make a portal open up the first time Erica had used the book, now she had the ability to tap into that skill solo. Before he knew it, the portal to Virginia had opened and closed. Now the population of Treasure was just three.
Natalie looked to Erica. "You sure you don't want me to stay? Drag his sorry carcass back to the Realm of Souls with you?"
Ted felt a pang of nervousness. "Hey! Have more confidence in me than that."
"Ted, I pulled you across a desert because your unconscious butt couldn't handle things. I give you about a 30% chance of staying awake after you bring down the bubble."
Erica chimed in. "I'll take those odds."
Natalie laughed for what seemed like the first time in a month as Erica opened the portal once again, this time back to the Realm of Souls.
Natalie used her fingers like guns as she pointed them at Ted and Erica. "I'm not going to hug you, because I'm going to see you in two minutes. If you're not there in two minutes, I'm coming back."
Erica nodded. "We'll be right behind you."
Ted followed suit. "I'm going to stay conscious."
Natalie stepped up to the portal and turned back toward them, taking small steps backwards. "I like that you're keeping a positive attitude, Ted, but I hope you have the smelling salts ready."
She smiled as her backward steps took her through the portal and out of view.
And then there were two.
Ted circled and used his currently limited mind-reading abilities to see if anyone or anything was left in town. His scan came up empty.
"I can't believe I'm abandoning this place. As far as I know, the second I bring that bubble down, they're going to nuke us."
Erica clicked her tongue. "Only one way to find out. I can't keep this portal business up forever."
Ted sighed. "Are we making the right decision?"
She looked into his eyes. "Are you talking about Treasure? The search for the army? Or something else entirely?"
Ted had agreed that breaking up with Erica was the right decision for everyone involved. But after a month in close quarters, his second thoughts were having second thoughts.
"I don't know."
Erica took a step toward him and placed her hand on his shoulder. He could feel the power resonating through her.
"Ted, you're not abandoning anything. We can't hold this post and save the world at the same time. It's true that you can never go home again, but maybe after all this is over, we can rebuild it a second time."
He let out some air and took in the beautiful embodiment of his childhood crush one more time before taking action. "Okay, I'm ready."
She smiled her perfect grin and stepped back. Ted felt for the tethers that connected him to the impenetrable wall, and he began to use his mind to snip all of them. It started slowly, but grew faster and faster, the wall beginning to dissipate before their very eyes.
As the bubble began to completely evaporate, Ted looked into his protector's eyes and winked. "I feel fine. I feel completely—"
The barrier continued to break down into nothingness, but Ted could feel the darkness pinching at the corners of his eyes.
When he made the effort to speak, the bubble completely disappeared and Ted collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
2
Jennifer Norris looked back as the shiny blue portal closed behind her and her new team. Her stomach twisted a bit as she wondered if she'd made the right decision, but the thought of freeing Dhiraj from the worst dark soul of them all made her feel more at ease. She looked to the sheriff, who seemed to be surveying the area they'd landed in. Jennifer knew that the dark soul who inhabited her father's body after he'd been shot and killed wasn't really her dad. But he was also the closest thing she had to family, and with his superior strength and inside knowledge of the General's plans, he was an asset she couldn't afford to be without. It didn't hurt that the man had all the memories and emotions of her past with her real father.
Jennifer forced a smile. "They're going to be okay. They are going to be okay, right?"
Sheriff Norris continued to scout the area. "Ted has some strong women on his side. If he screws something up, Erica will rush in and save the day."
"Did you guys bring some food?" Winny patted her stomach, as if she was a toddler cuing the need for snack time. "I just didn't realize how hungry I was until I went through the portal."
Jennifer suppressed an eye roll as she looked to the sheriff. While Winny wasn't one for adventure, she'd actually been the person to propose the journey in the first place. She'd been the one who received the information that turned Jennifer's attitude from despair to hope.
"And you're sure these are the coordinates that she gave you?" Jennifer pulled a granola bar from her bag and unwrapped it for her friend. "We're probably not going to last long if they aren't right."
Winny nodded as she took a bite from the treat. "All I know is what she sent me. I know you want to find Mr. Moneybags, but I'm not going to rest until I see Beth again." Winny's eyes were surprisingly serious for someone with a cheek full of granola. "Am I understood?"
The sheriff's eyebrows danced. "If she's out here, we'll make sure you two soul mates are reunited."
The answer seemed to satisfy Jennifer's cousin. As Winny munched on her grains and chocolate, Jennifer began to take in the starting point of their new quest. The trees were tall and full of life above her. She noticed a dirt trail a few feet to their left, where she supposed DC travelers used for bikes and walking. Though there didn't seem to be anybody taking a casual stroll just then. Leisure didn't have much of a place in the General's world.
Jennifer pulled out Winny's phone. On the front screen, she looked once again at the Facebook message her friend had sent. It was a screen capture of the communication, seeing as the General had disconnected every social media and messaging application in the world.
Beth's message read as follows:
"I'm safe with VH. We just heard that Dhiraj is still alive too. I miss you, and I don't know if I'll ever see you again. Stay safe. Love you forever."
Jennifer was thankful that Treasure had kept some of its connectivity before weeks underneath the dome cut them off from everybody and everything. The message not only gave them hope, it also gave them Beth's location.
Jennifer handed the phone to the sheriff, who plugged the coordinates into a GPS. When the directions popped up, they learned a five-mile walk was in their future.
Despite their suggestions to keep quiet, Winny couldn't help but fill the silence with chatter.
"I'm not really sure how the situation with the General taking over the world is going to change our plans, but I still think it's entirely possible that me and Beth can live out our lifelong dream of opening an Instagram bed and breakfast together. Do you think they're still going to have Zagat-rated restaurants if Ted's plan doesn't work?"
Jennifer responded quietly and politely, but the hairs were beginning to stick up on the back of her neck. There was no way to know how many people in the Virginia forest were dark souls and how many were humans.
The sound of a tree branch snapping caused Jennifer's arms to instinctively snap up and stop her two traveling companio
ns. "I heard something. No more talking."
Winny went from speaking to shaking as Jennifer and the sheriff looked in every direction. The next noise they heard wasn't a tree branch: it was the sound of a gun clicking into place.
Winny was the first to put up her hands when they spied two women and a man who looked straight out of a zombie comic. They were dirty and there was a deep hunger in their eyes.
The man and the larger of the two women each had a weapon pointed in Jennifer's direction.
The armed woman spoke up. "I don't know who you are and I don't care. We just want your supplies. We'll leave you with your lives."
The sheriff's voice was calm and collected. "We can't do that. We're on a mission to turn all of this around. But maybe you could help us—"
The gun moved its aim directly into the sheriff's walking path.
The man shook his head. "We have used these guns to kill people who didn't listen to us. I don't care what you're doing in this forest, but the next thing you've got to do is give us your supplies."
Jennifer looked to Winny, who was actually speechless. She was making movements with her mouth as if sound was going to come out, but it never did.
Jennifer put up a hand to the sheriff. "It's okay." She looked over at the starving scavengers. "It's okay. We'll give you our stuff."
The skinnier unarmed woman nodded ravenously.
When was the last time all of you ate?
Jennifer removed the backpack from her shoulders and prepared to toss it. She looked up at a low-hanging branch.
"Okay, here are our supplies. Including snacks."
Jennifer heard Winny whimper as she tossed the bag with incredible precision. While it looked like the pack was headed in the scavengers' direction, one of the straps landed perfectly atop the branch. The bag caught and was far too high for the armed trio to reach.
The man threw up his hands, temporarily taking Jennifer's troop out of the line of fire. "What the hell are you doing? You think this is a game?"
Before they could answer, the sheriff drew a gun of his own and fired it twice in quick succession. Expert marksmanship was on display as bullets slammed hard into both the scavengers' weapons. As they dropped the guns, Jennifer, lightened of her pack, could easily sprint toward them. She went for the man first, landing an unexpected low blow. As he bent over in pain, she slammed his head down into her bounding knee. He let out a deafening groan as he collapsed to the ground. The woman who'd been relieved of her firearm dove to the dirt to retrieve it, but Jennifer was there first. She kicked the weapon to the side, and it landed in a thick patch of grass. She leapt up before the scavenger could grab a hold of her leg and stomped hard on the back of the woman's neck. Jennifer knew the fight was over when the woman began crying and the skinnier forest dweller went down to her knees.
Jennifer grabbed the extra firearms and went back to the sheriff's side. He took one more shot, which landed a direct hit into the branch above. Jennifer caught her bag with ease.
Winny finally put down her hands. "Yeah, that's right. And there's more where that came from."
Jennifer's heart sank when she saw that she'd caused the man a bloody nose.
He wiped the crimson from his face. "I knew you three were dark souls. You take our country, you take our guns, and you leave us here to die."
Jennifer wanted to say that he was wrong. But, they did have a dark soul with them. And she had been involved in the General's takeover of their shared homeland.
"If we have our way, we'll all get our country back." She grabbed a handful of granola bars and tossed them at the feet of the skinniest scavenger. "Good luck out there."
Jennifer remained shaken for the next hour of mostly silent walking. They'd spied some wildlife along the way, but she was thankful the scavengers were the only conflict they'd met during their journey. The sheriff stopped in his tracks and looked down at his device.
Jennifer raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
The sheriff looked up at her and then at Winny. "It says we're here. This is where Beth was when she sent the message."
In what looked like a show of instinct, Winny cupped her hands around her mouth. "Beth! Beth! I'm here!"
Jennifer nearly had to tackle her friend to get her to stop screaming in the middle of the forest. "Do you want us to get attacked again?"
"Beth isn't going to attack us."
Jennifer noticed the sheriff putting his hands into the air. "You two should take a look at this."
Jennifer removed her arm from Winny's face and met the sheriff's line of sight. She put her hands into the air as well.
Instead of a trio of scavengers, Jennifer saw a half-dozen men with futuristic weapons. They all wore masks to conceal their faces, and they were being joined by even more weapon-wielding folks on all sides. Within a minute, their little party was surrounded.
Several of the masked foes walked forward.
Winny's eyes darted between them. "Are they dark souls? Are they here to kill us?"
Jennifer took a deep breath. "It looks like we're about to find out."
3
Erica marveled at seeing the bubble that had protected them for over 30 days dissipate above her. It was almost beautiful in a way, seeing the glass-like structure shatter without noise. As the bubble evaporated, she saw the life go out of Ted Finley's eyes.
"Damn!"
Her superhuman speed allowed her to easily make it behind the living soul in time. She caught him before he reached the ground, making sure to keep one hand on the book at all times. As she prevented Ted's skull from bouncing off the ground, her portal to the Realm of Souls remained open.
Ted looked almost peaceful in her arms. He seemed as though he'd just released an incredible burden, and his body had reacted by sending him straight to sleep. But this was a terrible time to take a nap.
"Ted! We need to go through this portal now. Ted!"
Erica stared lasers toward Ted's face. It was a face she'd kissed hundreds of times between when she and the teenager were dating or when she was engaged hundreds of years ago to his doppelganger. The momentary confusion still hit her sometimes when she looked upon his countenance.
She laid him gently upon the ground before winding up her free hand and slapping him across the face.
Ted sat up with a jolt and instinctively reached for his reddening cheek. "Ow!"
She sighed. "I'm so glad you're up. Now can we please go through the portal before our friends drop a bomb on us?"
Ted shifted his jaw around. "You know, just because you have incredible strength doesn't mean you need to use it at all times. Couldn't you have just shaken me a little bit?"
Erica hoisted Ted up to standing. She could tell his legs were wobbling beneath him.
"Let's save the etiquette lesson for later. Let's just get to safe—"
A shockwave of sound hit Erica by surprise. A deafening blast of air and noise threw her off her feet and sent her flying. She could feel her grip on the book loosen before slamming hard against a tackling dummy on the high school's football field. Her shoulder hit the object dead-on, sending pain radiating down her arm and back. Her teeth clenched as her eyes opened to see the ground torn up all around them.
Still alive. Guess it wasn't a nuke.
Ted lay only a few feet from her, and she was thankful he remained conscious for once. Erica ignored the pain in her shoulder and ran for Ted. She'd reached him and pulled him behind the row of football equipment when the hail of gunfire began.
She covered her ears and tucked Ted underneath her body. The improvised bullet shield did its job, but she knew the structure wouldn't last forever.
Ted struggled to prop himself up. "Looks like they were ready for us."
As the attackers ceased for a moment, Erica took a look around the battered dummies. She could see the book lying open between the two of them and a sure death by bullets.
"Can you make a portal? It's kind of important."
Ted reached up
one hand as Erica watched a few blue sparks form before them. They fizzled out just as quickly as they'd come.
Ted bit his lip. "I'm still zapped. I think the book is your best bet."
As another wave of gunfire approached, Erica ducked below and hoped the equipment would hold up just a little longer. "I need you to find that book with your mind and float it to me." She grabbed Ted by the back of his neck and looked into his eyes. "Can you do that?"
"I hope so."
"I need a little more confidence out of you today."
He nodded and when the next assault stopped for the attackers to reload, Ted reached out with his hand and the book unsteadily floated toward them. The process was slow and Erica wondered which would hit them first, the book or a bullet.
She grabbed Ted by the shoulders and hoisted him up once again. "Forget it. New plan."
Ted cocked his head to the side. "What's the plan?"
"Run!"
Just as the next set of attacks started up, Erica pulled Ted with her as they sprinted away from the high school. After weeks of being protected by the bubble, not only were they out in the open, but so was every building in Treasure. Erica wasn't sure where all the attacks were coming from, but she could feel the heat from the explosions rattling around. As they left the high school parking lot and ran down Main Street, buildings her former inhabitant had known since birth erupted around her. The bombs were dropping on Treasure.
Erica and Ted did their best to ignore the war zone as they reached plan B: the lair.
She ushered Ted in first as she turned back to see two-dozen soldiers headed for them. She entered in a passcode to slam the lair door shut. They made it to the main control panel before all the lights had turned on. Weapons slammed hard into the bomb-shelter-like structure of the building. They'd be safe for just a few minutes inside.
Ted collapsed into an executive chair beside the video display. On the monitor, Erica could see soldiers coming toward them from all possible directions.
She kicked Ted in the chest, which sent the living soul's chair straight to the ground. "I need you up and heroic right now."