Portal

by Fred Alvrez

  “What’s up, Kev? Do you feel something?”

  “No. I’m still struggling to take all this in. It must be way harder for you, since you have family and a job and stuff.”

  “Yes and no. My family wasn’t really close and it’s not like I had a girlfriend or anything. And my job? You were right—it really sucked.”

  Kevin looked south.

  “So you are loving the new world, then?”

  “I wouldn’t say that, Kev. Too early to say. There are so many things I will miss, like watching movies on the big screen, seeing the new Star Wars movie, or even actually getting a girlfriend. Will you miss anything?”

  “Probably not. Not being penned up all day long is a major bonus for me.”

  “Fair call. Hey what about—”

  Kevin’s eyes opened wide. “Quiet, Nate. Listen!”

  A car was coming.

  Chapter Six

  Sitting on the gas station floor, Casey stared at her phone. Someone had replied to her Facebook post, and yet she still couldn’t believe it. So she wasn’t the only one left?

  Swiping the notification, she saw an old school friend in Melbourne had responded.

  Casey! I am still here and alive! Everyone else has gone. I got up this morning and checked Facebook and saw your message. I have no idea what to do. HELP! Amy.

  She couldn’t move. Someone else was alive, even if they were in another country. All was not lost.

  Seeing that Amy was currently online, she dialed her using Facebook. In a few seconds Amy answered.

  “Casey! I’m so happy that you put that message up. Can you help me? There’s no one left here!”

  “I’m not sure I can do anything, Amy. I haven’t seen another person at all. Has everyone disappeared there as well?”

  “Yes. I got up yesterday and my boyfriend’s pajamas were still in the bed but not him. And when I checked, the chain was still on the apartment door, so I know he couldn’t have gone anywhere. I’ve looked out in the streets but there’s no one. What if I get sick or something? What should we do? I don’t drive so have no idea where I should go or how I would get there.”

  Casey sat and thought about Amy’s situation. Amy seemed to be in a much worse position than her, but there was little she could do.

  “I’m heading to my dad’s place in the Far North. I don’t know if he’s even alive but I’ve got a gut feeling that’s where I need to head to. Sorry that’s not much use to you. Have you tried calling all your friends and family?”

  “Yes, and I don’t get any answer or I get their voice mail. Your Facebook post was the first sign of life I’ve seen. I’m really scared.”

  Casey could hear Amy’s voice starting to waver. If Amy started to cry then she would follow, she had no doubt about that. She was barely holding herself together as it was.

  “Hang in there. At least we know we have each other, so we aren’t alone. And that means there are probably more people in Melbourne who are still around. Hey, do you have a gas station nearby, especially a JET?”

  “There’s one down the road a few miles. Why?”

  Casey wondered if she should tell Amy about the thing she saw. Would it hurt Amy? It hadn’t hurt her, and she felt a need to know if there were more of them. “I’m in one right now, and I found this weird shimmering thing near the floor and I managed to stick my head into it, and saw what looked like our normal world through the shimmering thing. It was weird, and a little sad, too. I could see people walking around, but they couldn’t hear me.”

  “That’s incredible! But yeah, sad, too. That might mean we are stuck here, wherever here is. I’ll go for a walk to the JET right after this and take a look. Can we please talk again soon? I can’t cope not talking to someone again—I’ll go batshit crazy.”

  Casey looked at her watch. “How about three hours from now? I’m going to be driving and sometimes cell phone coverage is not the best, even on our main highway, but I’ll try.”

  “Three hours, done. Talk to you then.”

  “Hey, so your power is still on? I was at home and it went off, but it’s still on in this JET.”

  “Yes, no problems so far, but I didn’t think about it going off. I’ll get some candles and stuff ready just in case.”

  “Good idea. I’m going to hit the road. Let’s talk later.”

  “Bye, Casey. It’s been great talking to someone!”

  Casey hung the call up.

  Someone else was in her world. In another country, but it meant there might be others.

  Casey couldn’t move. She knew she had to, but this was getting all so overwhelming. She now knew someone else was alive in this world. While the shimmer showed other people in her normal world, she didn’t actually know if that was true at all. Maybe it was all fake—or her imagination.

  But she had her plan. Drive to the Far North and see her dad. Her gut was still telling her that was still the right thing to do.

  Another thought came to her. Marton wasn’t far off to the side of State Highway 1, and she had an aunt and uncle there. Why not stop in and see if they were there, just in case?

  Decision made and feeling better, Casey got up off the gas station floor and went to the restroom.

  She left the JET, and after climbing in her truck, still couldn’t believe this turn of events. She had simply stopped to use the restroom, but found some shimmering portal thing and then found someone else alive in this world.

  Hopefully that was the end of any nasty surprises.

  Cruising toward the small country town of Marton, she played some music to try and distract her from what had happened. Dodging a few crashed trucks and cars, Casey took the turn-off for the township. The town was like any other she had passed through—deserted.

  Crawling through the town, she glanced left and right. Nothing open, no people, no sign of life. No power either by the look of it.

  She pulled into the driveway of her aunt and uncle’s house and killed the engine. While she didn’t hold out any hope, a sense of duty told her she should check on them anyway.

  Casey got out and knocked on the front door.

  No more surprises, please. She was well over any more bewildering things happening.

  With no answer at the front door, she wandered around to check the back door. Unlocked.

  Typical New Zealand small town.

  Casey went into the house.

  “Aunty! Uncle! It’s Casey!”

  Going into their bedroom, she found her aunt’s nightclothes still under the comforter. Mystery solved, sort of.

  Casey went back out to the lounge and plonked herself down on the couch.

  Emotionally drained, she saw a black and white photo on the mantel of the couple on their wedding day. She rose and got closer to it as a sense of total loneliness came over her. Did this mean she would never be married and have kids? What if she was the last one left in New Zealand?

  Casey reached out and picked up the black and white photo. There was almost an audible pop and instantly her mind flashed back in time.

  She was at her aunt and uncle’s wedding day in the 1960s, watching in full color. She could hear every word being spoken by her uncle, and sense smells.

  She dropped the photo from her hand.

  “What the fuck?!”

  Casey stared at the photo on the floor as if it were possessed.

  What the hell was that?

  She stood there, shaking, unable to move. There was no way to comprehend what had just happened—was there? She was literally at her aunt and uncle’s wedding, which happened thirty years before she was born. How was that possible?

  She checked her limbs—all intact, no damage and nothing missing.

  This is fucking crazy.

  She bent down oh so slowly toward the magic photo. There was no way to avoid it—Casey picked it up again.

  Once again she heard a pop and was transported to the wedding. The priest was asking her uncle—who looked exactly as he did in the photo—
to repeat after him.

  Hearing her missing uncle say his vows sent shivers up her spine, and goosebumps rose on her arms. How was this happening? People were dressed in their best suits and dresses, and there she was in her jeans. She saw someone standing next to her who looked vaguely familiar—probably some long-forgotten relative.

  She looked down at her arms and could see them, so she wasn’t invisible, she thought.

  “Excuse me, ma’am—can you give me the time please?”

  The woman next to her did not respond and showed no recognition of her even talking. Casey moved closer and touched the woman’s face with her fingers. She could feel her skin, but made no indentation on the woman’s face at all, and the woman didn’t flinch in the slightest.

  Casey tried moving instead, and walked right up to the wedding party, hearing her aunt speak even more clearly. No one said a word to her, even when she waved her hand in front of her aunt’s face.

  Looking down at her other hand, she noticed she was still holding the photo in it, even in this world. Indecision tore at her. If she dropped the photo, she might be transported back to her own time, like it had a few minutes ago—or she might not. What if she ended up there permanently? It could happen. Anything could happen now, after experiencing this.

  There was little else she could do. Casey dropped the photo and was instantly taken back to the lounge. The photo was on the floor.

  She almost fell down. What else could happen that could tear at her emotional state like this?

  Best not to think about it, Casey. Maybe that really didn’t just happen. You’re hyper, that’s all. All a dream, girl.

  A familiar New Zealand saying flashed into her mind. Yeah, right.

  Casey ran from the house. Climbing into her truck, she looked back at the house. How did that happen? Did it happen? Would it happen again? Would it be the same with every photo she held from now on?

  She wished she was at home in her onesie watching CSI: Miami. That would be safer.

  She started her truck and drove away.

  That’s the last one. No more surprises!

  Casey looked at her truck’s clock. Three hours had already passed since she spoke to Amy. She pulled over, grabbed her phone, and went to call her on Facebook. No service.

  “Shit! Sorry, Amy. It will have to wait.” Continuing on, she kept an eye on her truck’s screen that showed her what signal she had on her cell phone. It never wavered from No Service. She wondered if the cell phone network was now down.

  Heading back to State Highway 1, she couldn’t help but think of what she had just witnessed. It was incredibly amazing to do, and incredibly scary at the same time. How on earth could she travel back in time like that?

  That’s it. No more stops, just driving. Plenty of diesel and plenty of miles to cover.

  The towns passed by in a blur. Sometimes it was dangerous—she’d be thinking about future possibilities with this new apparent power she had, and then would come around a corner to a crashed truck.

  She couldn’t stop thinking of the photo and going back in time. Would it work for any photo? Could she use a book as well as a photo?

  As she drove slowly through the farming town of Turangi, a yellow road sign appeared: Turangi Library.

  I shouldn’t do this.

  The appeal was too great. After thinking about the wedding photo so much, she couldn’t resist it anymore.

  She turned left toward the library.

  Pulling up outside it, she realized her first hurdle. The library would be locked. She got out of her truck and looked left and right, feeling like a total criminal and acting like one.

  She tried the door: locked.

  Right outside the library was a trash can with a metal cage, looking ripe for the picking. Casey removed the bin and put it down, and then yanked the cage from its wooden frame.

  Taking a small run up, she smashed the frame against the door as hard as she could. Too hard really, since she almost fell into the library as the glass door broke.

  “Argh!”

  Looking down, she saw she had cut her arm open on the broken glass.

  Oh, you stupid girl!

  Blood started to pour from the wound. Grabbing her arm where it was cut to stop the bleeding, she went back to her truck. She found the first aid kit, opened it with her good arm, and removed some bandage and tape. Awkwardly, she covered her cut with the bandage and taped it up. Some blood lost, but the pain was bearable.

  With a feeling that something was trying to stop her from doing it, she walked back to the door, felt inside, and undid the lock. Casey stepped into the library, full of both anxiety—what if this worked?—and trepidation—what if it didn’t work?.

  Hurdle number two appeared. What book would she pick? Could she start with something simple like Winnie the Pooh? Would a comic book work? Or should she go straight to some historical book, maybe something from one of the world wars?

  She walked over to some comfy chairs and plonked herself down. This wasn’t as easy as simply picking up a book at all.

  Come on, Casey. Likely it just won’t work anyway. Probably worn off or doesn’t work in books.

  She glanced down at the coffee table by the chair she was sitting in. A stack of magazines beckoned her.

  Cautiously, she spread the magazines out with the tip of her finger, treating each one as if it were dynamite.

  One caught her eye: House and Garden.

  Oh, this has got to be a safe start, surely.

  Avoiding touching any photos, she flicked each page until she got to the feature article: a beautiful garden in Dunedin.

  There were no people in the photo she had chosen, and it was a sunny blissful day—the perfect escape from the hell she was in right then.

  Casey picked the magazine up and moved her finger toward the photo.

  She touched it and…nothing. No pop, no flash, no time travel.

  Doesn’t work after all.

  Casey casually placed her palm on the photo, then there was a pop.

  In a split second, she was in Dunedin in a stunning garden. No photographer to be seen, no people. Glancing left, she spotted a garden bench. Time to sit and reflect.

  She walked over and sat down on the wrought-iron garden bench.

  Well, that worked after all. Now what?

  Looking down, she saw she was still holding the magazine, and her palm was still over the photo.

  She removed her palm and was instantly transported back to the library.

  Again, Casey put her palm over the photo and was taken to her original spot on the lawn. Once again, she walked over to the bench and sat, carrying the magazine.

  She could hear birds and even bees as they buzzed about this stunning landscape.

  Time to ramp this up.

  Casey removed her palm and was back in the chair in the library.

  She rose and walked over to the non-fiction section. Searching out the historical books, she browsed the titles, looking for any that would hit home.

  Three large letters on a book’s spine screamed out to her.

  MLK.

  Martin Luther King.

  Chapter Seven

  Like a possum in headlights, Nathan stood motionless.

  Kevin’s voice sounded a mile away. “Nathan! We need to do something!” Nathan! Snap out of it!”

  Kevin took a small nip at Nathan’s leg, which broke his trancelike state.

  Nathan shook himself mentally. What to do?

  “Sorry. Okay, sounds like we have a couple of minutes max. Remember there’s no other traffic noise so it’s carrying a long way. Do we stay here and flag them down, or hide?”

  “Don’t know, but I have a bad feeling.”

  “Me, too. Let’s be cautious and hide, then, but enough so we can see them go past. Assuming they go past.”

  The pair moved to the side of the café next to the gas station, at a point where they could see but not be seen.

  “Nate, what about the car? If
they see it on charge…”

  “Shit.”

  Nathan ran over and unplugged the charge cord. He jumped in the driver’s seat and tried to move the Tesla—it wouldn’t budge.

  “Come on, you freaking electric car. Let’s go!”

  Cursing, he closed the gull-wing door and this allowed the car to move. He drove it around the back of the gas station.

  Running back to where Kevin was, he could hear the approaching car, probably entering the township judging by the noise of the engine.

  Nathan’s heart was racing. What if they stopped at the same gas station and stumbled on him and Kev? What if they were bad and armed? Nathan kicked himself. He was already deciding there was more than one person, although it did sound like more than one car.

  Time seemed to take forever, but at last the cars drove through the township.

  Three army Land Rovers drove past in convoy, none of them slowing to look at the two figures hidden and watching.

  As the noise faded, the boys left the safety of their hiding place and stood on the road, looking north.

  “Well, we do know one thing now,” Nathan said. “It isn’t only us left in the world, by the look of it.”

  “But military?” Kevin said. “This doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

  “And you talking does make sense?”

  “Fair call. I only wish I knew what they had to do with all of this.”

  Nathan retrieved the Tesla and started the charger again. Thirty minutes before they could leave Waiouru.

  He wandered back into the gas station and found a North Island map. Allowing for Kevin’s height, he put it on the ground and opened it up.

  “We’re here.” Nathan pointed to Waiouru. “My brother’s place is here in Raglan, a little north of Hamilton. It’ll take us a while to get there, since we have to dodge crashed traffic, especially with all the trucks on this road that were doing overnight runs. I’m guessing six hours or more, depending on that. Probably more, really, if we keep checking out gas stations for portals.”

  Kevin sat intently, looking at the map.

  “So let’s say he’s not around. What’s our plan after Raglan?”