by Bryan Young
Looking satisfied, she slowly descended, bringing the platform down with her and touching down on the freshly made ground. Tye, Ashley, Dallas, and Kato looked on in awe as she started walking away as if nothing had happened.
Tye shouted after her and jogged in her direction, causing her to turn around. Despite the curly long, dark-brown hair obscuring most of her face, she still managed to give him a look that made him feel uneasy. He stopped when he was only a few feet from the girl and looked her over. She had light brown skin, thoughtful brown eyes, and wore a gray short-sleeved shirt with black jeans and skater shoes. She moved her thick hair behind her ears and then crossed her arms impatiently, waiting for Tye to speak.
“What?” she said sharply.
“I just, uh...” he stammered.
“If you don’t have anything to say, I’m going to leave,” she snapped.
“I wanted to say thank you. What’s your name?”
“Does it matter?”
“Um. Kinda? I want to address you properly. I’m Tye.”
She looked past Tye over to Ashley, Dallas, and Kato who were staring at them from a distance and then turned back to Tye. “Good to know,” she said.
“Uh, yeah,” Tye gave a nervous laugh. “So where are you headed?”
“Is there a point to this?”
Tye let his head fall slightly and sighed. “Just trying to make this as non-weird as possible. I saw what you did back there and we came across another spot that I’m assuming was you. What you did was... absolutely amazing. We could use your talents! So I was wondering if you wanted to join our little human resistance crew.”
“And what if I said no.”
“Why would you say no?”
“Maybe because I want to be left alone? I didn’t come here to make friends with other freaks.”
“Okay, then why did you save us?”
“Because!” she shouted, inadvertently causing rocks by her feet to shoot up in the air. “Because I wasn’t going to let random people die! Even if I don’t care to be around you, I still believe in right and wrong.”
“And we appreciate that you do. But maybe there’s something to be said about the trust between the few humans that exist here?”
“I wouldn’t say that. Why would I trust you?”
“Because we can help each other? Look, I get it. This place is scary. Your powers are scary. The random people asking you to trust them are scary. It’s a confusing strange time and it’s not easy to just accept that some people want to be decent and help you out of the blue. I feel that. But the fact of the matter is, this place is a death trap and there’s only a few of us fighting against it. We’re stronger together and if there’s to be any hope of getting out of here alive, we need to be willing to help each other and develop some trust. If we don’t, this place will pick us apart. We don’t know each other, true. But I believe that regardless of who you may be, we have a responsibility as human beings to take care of each other. And I promise you, we’re going to do that and get out of here safe.” He reached his hand out to her with a warm smile.
She looked at his hand, contemplating whether to take it. She then looked up at him. With an eyebrow raised, she moved her hand towards his, but then abruptly placed it on his forehead and held it there with her eyes closed. Tye felt an unexplainable sensation rush through him—all his memories, thoughts, and emotions were pulled to the forefront of his mind at once while he swam through a mental explosion of dopamine and neurons firing so powerfully that it made him tear up. The grand feeling enveloped his entire being. And just as soon as it had begun, it stopped.
“What was that?!” he asked, breathless. “That was incredible.”
“It’s hard to explain,” she replied. “It’s not something I usually do, but I felt like I needed to know I could trust you. So, I did some digging and after seeing you... all of you, I do.” She then extended her hand, “I’m Carmelita.”
Tye took it and flashed a toothy grin, “Welcome to the squad.” Walking her over to where the others stood, he introduced them one by one. Dallas took particular interest and gave her a cocky look that caused her to recoil a little and move closer to Tye.
“Now that we have the notorious tree-plucker here, what do we do guys?” Kato asked.
“I think we should go back to camp and regroup,” Tye suggested.
“Hold on a minute, Tye,” Ashley said. “Just in the past 24 hours, we’ve found three people. Is it possible that there’s more out there? Maybe we should be searching for them?”
“It’d be a waste of time,” Carmelita interjected. “We’re the only five humans out here.”
“How do you know?” Ashley asked.
Carmelita shrugged and said, “To put it mildly, I have pretty good sensory abilities. I would’ve picked up on them. I noticed you four as soon as I got here and to this point, I haven’t sensed anyone else.”
“I agree with the hot Latina!” Kato offered. “I’ve run all over this place and haven’t seen any other people.”
“Well, if we see anyone on the way, we’ll pick them up,” Tye stated. “In the meantime, let’s go back and draw up a plan. If this really is everyone that’s here, then we know what we’ve got to work with.” With that, he began to fly back towards the cave but stopped when he realized Dallas, Carmelita, and Kato had no idea where it was. Taking a moment to think, he asked for Ashley to grab Kato and for Carmelita to grab Dallas and fly with him there. They agreed and with that, they followed him back to the cave.
Back at camp, Ashley grabbed some firewood and quickly ignited it. Tye was the first to find his spot on one of the rocks and motioned for everyone to gather around the brightly burning flames. Everyone anxiously sat around the fire, waiting for Tye to speak as they all took him for the natural leader due to him bringing them all together. He cleared his throat and said, “So, this is home for now. But it won’t be for long. We’re going to get out of here tonight. But once we’re out, this thing doesn’t go away. We need to find a way to shut it down too. Oh! And Dallas, are you okay? You and Kato were screaming the whole time we flew.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Flying just isn’t my thing. You mentioned getting out of here tonight? How exactly do you propose we do that, great leader?” Dallas asked sarcastically.
“Great question! But also, this is a democracy. Not a dictatorship. So I’m not your leader. Anyway, as far as leaving is concerned, I suggest we walk out to the edge of this thing and blast our way through.”
“That’s the plan?” Ashley questioned. “I’ve tried that. I’m sure we’ve all tried that. Those walls are impenetrable.”
“Individually, yeah. But I’ve been thinking about it. If we use our abilities together, we might be able to make a singular dent in that thing and keep pushing. A dent is damage. And when you keep pushing a dent—”
“You create a hole,” Carmelita finished.
Tye snapped his fingers and pointed in her direction. “Exactly! When I first got here, I noticed that there was some give when I touched it. Sure, it was incredibly resilient, but when I pushed against it, I managed to create some ripples on the surface. Which means that just by pushing the thing I was able to create enough force to generate a wave across the surface.”
“And what does that mean?” Dallas asked.
“It means that it’s really good at absorbing energy and dispersing it,” Ashley answered. “Doesn’t that go against your plan ?”
“I don’t think so. Because the ripples mean that we can affect the surface. It’s just able to deal with it well because it can spread the force over a large surface area. My theory is that, like anything else, if we can exert enough force, we can still break it. The ripples mean that it’s resistant, not impenetrable. That’s huge.”
“Smart plan there, Chief,” Kato complimented. “But the odds of us doing that are what? Maybe this thing can distribute that energy throughout the entire dome, so the force we need wouldn’t have to just be strong enough to bre
ak through that one spot but enough to smash the entire mile-high forest-wide dome. And excuse me for undervaluing our abilities, but I find that highly unlikely.”
“Whoa!” Dallas exclaimed.
“Kato,” Ashley began. “Did you just say something smart?”
“YA KNOW!” Kato shouted, scratching his chin. “I did! I made a smart! My brain good! Wait... I don’t think that’s how you say that.”
“And he lost it,” Carmelita said, shaking her head.
“To answer your question, Kato,” Tye continued. “I’ve thought of that too. If that’s the case, then I think our next-best bet is trying to punch a hole through it. If it doesn’t respond to blunt force, then maybe it’ll work if we pierce it?”
“With what?” Carmelita asked.
“With some sharpened trees à la the mental minx or the boy lightning bolt running at damn near the speed of light, using his body to barrel through like a human-sized bullet,” Tye suggested.
“Wait!” Kato interjected. “I get to be a human bullet? I’m in!”
“Doesn’t that seem dangerous? What if it doesn’t work and he splatters against the wall?” Carmelita criticized.
Tye laughed and said, “Okay. I was partly joking about using Kato as a human bullet,” Kato responded with a loud groan of disappointment. “But we can do the same thing if we gave him a makeshift javelin. If he can poke a hole, then that’s a huge step in getting out of here.”
“Okay, that’s all fine,” Dallas added. “But like you said, even if we’re out, that doesn’t get rid of the thing, so what about that?”
“Ah.” Tye stood up and pointed outside the cave. “Follow me.” Once everyone was gathered outside, Tye pointed up to the sky and showed them the black object floating above them. “That! I think that thing is how we shut this place down.”
“Oh yeah, I’ve noticed that before,” Carmelita said. “What makes you think it’s the key to taking this place down though?”
As Tye was about to tell them about his journey to the hills and what they had seen in the crater, he stopped and realized something. If it was true that the black object was why the dome had come to exist in the first place, then everything that had happened to this point was his fault. It was he who had suggested they go to the hills. It was he who had pushed his friends to venture on further despite the warning signs. It was he who hadn’t been strong enough to ignore the influence of the buzz and the light. And it was he who had made contact and awakened the alien craft. He contemplated how he would be judged. Would they blame him? Would they resent him? Would the world see him as the anomaly who nearly brought on the apocalypse simply because he wanted to impress a girl?
Questions swirled in his head and before he could even begin to form answers, he felt Carmelita shake him.
“Tye!” she shouted.
“Wha...? What? What happened?” he stammered.
“Is everything okay? I just asked you how you knew that thing was connected to the dome and you spaced out.”
“Oh! Right! Um. I was climbing a tree earlier and I uh got a better look at it. It’s shooting a stream of energy up at the sky that connects it to this thing. Plus, Ashley was hiking when this thing was formed and she actually saw that drone fly over and create the dome from scratch. So, I’m pretty sure it’s important,” he responded nervously.
“Wait,” Dallas interjected. “Can’t like three of you fly? Why not just go up there and smash the thing?”
“I’ve tried to shoot it down,” Tye answered. “There’s a pretty strong energy barrier protecting it. And to be honest? I wouldn’t be surprised if there was more than one.”
“Yeah,” Ashley continued. “I’ve tried flying up to it. It’s protected pretty heavily. I couldn’t get anywhere near it without being stopped. What about you, Carmelita? Do you think there’s any chance that you could crush it from a distance?”
“I don’t think so,” Carmelita responded. “I’m not great with objects surrounded by energy. It’s the same reason I haven’t been able to force my way out of the dome itself. Grabbing things behind a strong field of energy gets... fuzzy.”
“Don’t worry about it, Carmelita,” Tye assured her. “The good thing is that we know where the heart of this thing lies, and once we’re out we can tell the world that.”
“Assuming we don’t all die horribly terrifying deaths on the way,” Kato added.
“Yeah. We just gotta avoid horribly terrifying deaths in an environment that was probably specially designed to kill every living thing. Shouldn’t be too hard. We got this,” Tye said, putting out his fist, looking at the others to do the same.
Ashley smiled and said, “Go team!” and put her fist out.
“It’s human bullet time!” Kato yelled, following suit.
“Better than dying alone,” Dallas said, with a wry smile.
The four of them looked at Carmelita who stared down at the cheesy display of comradery. Despite initially balking at their exhibition of teamwork, she relented at the prodding of her new-found friends and laid her hand down flat on the four fists.
Tye looked around at the now-smiling faces and said softly, “Good. We’re officially a team now. And we’re going to survive as a team.” They broke away one by one, heading back into the cave to talk out their plan once more. In the next few hours, they were going to attempt to make their way out of the dome.
Chapter 11: Way In, Way Out
They finalized the details of their plan and set out into the woods after completely packing up their campsite. Tye had suggested that they fly to cut the time but Kato and Dallas both refused in fear of being dropped so the group mutually agreed to walk and make a bee-line through the woods to the outer edge of the dome in any direction and try to escape from there.
As they trekked through the woods, they talked at length about everything. They discussed their backgrounds, what they wanted to do when they got home, and how the world would react to kids with superpowers. Tye gave a small rant about how despite the aggressive creatures, he was still slightly upset that he wouldn’t ever get to see such a splendid world of flora and fauna again and that his phone wouldn’t allow him to at least have the satisfaction of clicking memories of it.
As they walked, Dallas uneasily stared at Tye, causing him to look back curiously. “Um. You okay there, bud?” Tye asked.
“Yeah. It’s just. Before we’re out of here. Can I ask you something, Tye?” Dallas said.
“Sure, man. Anything.”
“Okay cool? What’s up with your hoodie? Does that symbol mean something or?”
Tye pondered this for a moment and said, “Now that I think about it. I’m not sure. I kinda made it online and thought the symbol looked cool.”
“Just looked cool?” Dallas asked earnestly. “I feel like there’s gotta be some deeper meaning behind it.”
“He’s right.” Carmelita commented. “Everything has to have meaning.”
Tye chuckled. “I philosophically disagree with that! But, I dunno. The infinity symbol so... Infinite and the lightning bolt so... power? Infinite power? That’s a cool meaning, right? Maybe it’s about dyson spheres?”
“Whatever you say, Tyrone.” Dallas said shrugging.
“Actually!” Tye pointed out. “My name isn’t short for Tyrone. It’s just Tye.”
“Tyrone actually sounds like a cool name,” Kato offered. “It has a ring to it.”
“True but I kinda like Tye,” Ashley remarked.
“You do?” Tye asked.
“Yeah! I dunno why, but it’s a cute name.”
“Maybe it’s just the face,” Tye responded, shrugging.
“Yeah, maybe it is,” Ashley blushed.
Here, Kato nudged Tye in the ribs and whispered, “Yo, man. I think blondie’s got a thing for you. If you didn’t know, Ashley is blondie!”
“I got it, Kato,” Tye said with his hands on his head. “But nah, I think we’re just friends. She’s just being nice.”
�
��Dude!” Kato whispered slightly louder. “I mean... Dude!”
Tye rolled his eyes and picked up his pace slightly to escape Kato’s rambling. For the next couple hours, they walked until they finally hit the edge of the dome. They looked up in awe at the wall looming over them. It was almost as if they had reached the end of the universe itself.
Tye walked over to it as the others stood watching. It was warm to the touch. His fingers tingled as the energy ran down them. Pushing once more, he saw the ripples again, confirming his earlier suspicions.
He turned back and gave the others a nod. He then raised his fist and looked at it for a moment. “Let’s go home,” he said softly to himself. He pulled his hand back and thrust it forward, causing a visible shock wave of energy to spread throughout the wall.
When he pulled his hand back, he saw a white spot marking where he had hit it and stepped back to show the others. “Is that good enough for you guys?”
“Looks good to me,” Dallas said, rubbing his hands.
“You wanna take a shot, Ashley? X marks the spot?” Tye said, motioning towards the mark he had made.
“Bet,” Ashley responded, smiling. She raised her hands before her, looked straight ahead, and with determination and fire in her eyes, launched bolts of energy at the spot before concentrating a powerful beam of energy that was so hot that it singed the dirt beneath their feet. As she began to relent, they saw that the white spot had grown, causing a wave of excitement to hit the teens.
“More!” Tye shouted. “Ashley, together!”
She nodded and the two stood next to each other. They raised their arms and with the sheer power of desire and will, they blasted the spot simultaneously with a stream of energy bolts and blasts, continuing their assault well beyond what they thought their limits were. Carmelita and Kato shielded themselves from the waves of pulsating energy emanating from the two. As they turned down their attack, they heard heavy stomping footsteps from behind them, shaking the ground. Dallas had transformed and was running at full speed at the now hippo-sized spot.
