by Grant Pies
“I could have helped,” Merit interrupted. “You just had to ask.”
“I shouldn’t have had to ask,” Ransom said. “No one asked me to do those things. I saw they needed to be done, and I knew if I didn’t do them then they wouldn’t get done at all. That’s the difference between how you grew up and how I did, Merit. I couldn’t count on you or anyone else to do what had to be done. You had me there, but I had no one.”
Merit looked down at the ground and rubbed his eyes. “You can’t expect everyone to be like you. You can’t expect a kid to grow up overnight just because you did. And you can’t expect people to just read your mind and know what you expect of them.”
“For once Merit, just once, I need to be able to count on you. I am asking you now. I need you to keep pushing forward. I am not out here to find some crazy technology to save Tannyn’s hand or travel through time. I just want to save Gray. No matter how we grew up, you are my brother. You’re Gray’s uncle for God’s sake!” Ransom pointed his finger back where the group of men came from, in the direction of their home where Gray lay in bed. “We are blood. Gray is blood. Tannyn is just some asshole that deserved a good beating. I need you on my side. I need you to promise that if something happens to me that you will keep going. Promise you will make it back to Gray if I can’t.” Ransom wrinkled his forehead and looked up at Merit. His chin quivered and he pressed his lips tightly together at the thought of his dying son.
Merit nodded, not in agreement to Ransom’s request, but in contemplation of what Ransom said. Behind Merit, Ash sat with Tannyn. He’d started a fire, and was slowly melting snow inside a hollowed out gourd. He held the gourd up to Tannyn’s mouth and let him drink. The flames of the fire stretched from left to right in the wind. They reached around like they were trying to escape and break free from the wood deep inside the flames. Beyond the small group of men was darkness that could have stretched on forever.
CHAPTER 26
5280
NEW ALCATRAZ
Aurora knelt at the side of Gray’s bed with the fire crackling behind her. She dipped a rag in a bowl of water and blotted the sweat from his forehead; still, Gray shivered. Red welts dotted his arms. Aurora covered him only halfway with a thick sheepskin blanket. She moved back from the bed and sat in a wooden chair near the fire. She leaned forward and sighed. Another woman standing behind her placed a hand on her back.
“You know,” Aurora said, “all these years I’ve ignored the thought of this underground vault. Other times, when the thought crept through and I had to guess as to whether it actually was real, I told myself it didn’t exist. I denied even the possibility that it at one time existed.” She shook her head and stared into the murky bowl of water on her lap. Gray shivered in the bed next to her. “Ransom hated the idea of the vault so much. It represented his father’s abandonment. It represented his loneliness. I wanted to support him. I didn’t want to even entertain the idea, because I knew it would upset him.” The single door that led to the outside rattled against the hut. The wind outside pushed and pulled at it, and the latch tugged against the doorframe.
“Ransom always stared at these bulbs scattered around our village.” Aurora pointed to the single flickering bulb on the ground. “They are the only thing that supports the stories we were all told as children. But for Ransom, they were a reminder that his father left him for a myth. The allure of an urban legend pulled at his father harder than his love for his family. He hated those bulbs. He hated his father. So he hated the thought of any underground vault. And I hated it with him.”
The woman behind Aurora squeezed her shoulder.
“This whole time, we thought that if we denied it enough, if we pushed the thought out of our minds, if we scoffed and laughed at those who believed in the vault, then we would somehow make it not exist. Make it so it never existed. Like we could change reality to conform to our thoughts, as long as those thoughts were stronger than those that opposed us.” Aurora squeezed her eyes closed and a tear dripped out of the corner of her eye. It ran down her face and dropped into the bowl of water in her lap.
“But now, I find myself trying to undo what Ransom and I have done. I am scared to death that we were successful. That we tried so hard that our thoughts became true. Now I am fighting the very thoughts I’ve had for so long. I am battling against them and praying that they aren’t true. I’ve never wanted so badly to be wrong.”
Gray rolled onto his side and held his stomach. His knees pulled up towards his chest, and he moaned and mumbled incoherently.
“You know it doesn’t work like that,” the other woman said to Aurora. “We can’t change reality just by thinking about it. Our minds aren’t that powerful. If that place was out there, then it still is. If it isn’t then your thoughts had nothing to do with it. You can’t think like that. You can’t blame yourself if the vault really isn’t out there.” The woman circled in front of Aurora and knelt down, placing her hands on Aurora’s knees and trying to look into her eyes.
“I want to think you are right, but if Ransom returns empty handed, I don’t know what I will do. I don’t think I will be able to forgive myself.” More tears fell from Aurora’s face. Her body shook up and down as she sobbed into her hands.
Gray continued to roll around in his bed and mumble. Eventually his moans and halted breaths turned into words. “No,” he said quietly over and over. “No.” His eyes were still closed and his head jerked back and forth. “Stop,” he stammered. Aurora looked up from her hands and wiped her tears away. Gray rolled from side to side and clenched his arms around his stomach. “Stay away,” he said, slightly louder. “Get away from me.” Aurora looked at him quizzically. A nightmare perhaps, she thought. Sweat beaded over his face, and the bed Gray lay on was moist. “Leave me alone, Tannyn. What are you doing? Tannyn, no.” The boy said.
CHAPTER 27
2075
GOLDEN DAWN HEADQUARTERS,
BLUE CANYON, ARIZONA
A large man held my bound wrists behind me, and escorted me through the labyrinth of carved tunnels. His bare feet slapped against the hard ground. He wasn’t as graceful as the other members of the Golden Dawn. The air grew colder as we descended deep underground; the narrow hall widened enough for two people to pass each other, or two people to walk side by side, though hhe man who escorted me continually nudged my back, and pushed me forward.
We passed by cells carved out of the rock walls, evenly spaced apart with arched, wooden doors. At eye level, the doors had small holes covered with mesh metal. Each door had a sturdy locking mechanism, keeping it closed. Quiet moans came from inside the cells I heard people rolling around on the hard ground. As I passed one cell. I heard the sound of fingernails and bare skin scraping against rough, hard stone. Once the prisoners knew someone was walking down the hall, they started to speak.
“Is it time?” one man asked. His voice was weak and I could hear him open and close his dry mouth.
“Please,” another man cried from his cell. “Please don’t send me back there. I can’t go anymore.” Other people in their cells simply mumbled incoherently. They moaned and shoved their bony fingers through the small openings on their doors. Each person who spoke must have awakened another person, until eventually a question, plea, or cry came from every cell.
“Tell him,” one man said. His face pressed so tightly against the mesh metal on his cell door that his skin pushed through, and the metal left grid lines on his face. “Tell him I am ready. Tell him I have seen the other side.” The man’s voice grew louder with each sentence. The other cries for food, water, and release served as background to this man’s requests. “Tell him I can do what he asks, and I am ready to serve him.” We passed this man’s cell, and I turned my head to see him. I looked at his scarred, scabbed face. It was smudged with dirt. His dark sunken eyes stared into mine, and he reached his fingers through the mesh window. “Tell the prophet that I can reach the beyond. I have travelled through space and time. I am ready to s
erve him. I am ready to die for him. Just let me above ground one last time.” The man behind me shoved his hand into my back and threw me forward down the hall.
“Keep moving,” he said. These were the first words I had heard him say.
But for a single bulb spaced every few meters, the prison area was without any other light. The pathway through the prison was wet, like a giant slug had crawled through the hallway and left a trail of mucus. My escort hurried me through the prison until we passed the last cell. My heart beat rapidly, and, even though it was cold, sweat rolled down my face. Visions of when I was led towards the time movement device underneath the Denver Airport raced through my mind.
We came upon a round room. Along the circular wall were doors that looked like the doors to the prison cells, but they were shorter, only shoulder height, and they didn’t have any opening in them. The man pushed my back again, and I stumbled over my own feet. His large palm pressed into my back and he held me against the cold, damp wall. He lifted a clean silver knife to my face, slowly spun it around in my periphery, and pressed his hand on my head. My face pushed into the rock wall until it felt like either my bones or the stone would have to give way.
The man lowered the knife, and quickly ran it through the restraints around my wrists. My hands flung apart. Focusing the full force of his body weight on my face, the man pushed his body away from mine. He backed away, holding the knife out between the two of us and nodding his head towards one of the short doors that lined the curved room. I unlatched the locking mechanism, and pulled the door open slowly. The hinges creaked, and the noise bounced away from me and rattled down the hall. Beyond the door was nothing, only solid darkness. No sound or movement. The air was warmer in the dark cell. The darkness yawned, pulling me in towards its center, daring me to come closer.
“Go ahead,” the man said, and pointed his knife into the room full of nothingness. With no other option, I inched my way forward. Just inside the room were two short steps down into a warm endless pool of water. My feet dipped in as I looked back to see the large man slam the wooden door in my face. I heard him place a large log across my door.
The water rippled away from me with each movement. I stepped deeper and deeper into the pool. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the complete darkness, but they never did. I closed my eyes and opened them, but I could see no difference. I ventured into the pool to see what was on the other side. To see if there was maybe another way out. By the time I was up to my chest in water, I realized my body was forced upwards. My feet were pushed from the floor. I touched a handful of water to my tongue. It was saltier than the ocean. My legs drifted upwards, and my arms drifted out from my body until I floated horizontally on the salt water. My body didn’t move—at least I couldn’t tell if it did.
My ears were part underwater and part above. The dark pool cradled me, and I felt nothing around me. It was as if I was floating in open space. Like I was nowhere, or on the verge of not existing. Like time was either rushing by or standing still. I wondered if this was what it would be like to fall into an actual black hole. My body floated through the open pool, and I felt as though I was both moving and frozen at the same time. Never drifting into a wall. Never feeling a current push against my body. I was lost within this place. Lost in this time.
I floated for what could have been ten minutes or three hours. I lay in the salt water and listened to my body. My senses hyper aware—I heard my eyelids slap together every time I blinked, like two wet suction cups pressing together and then pulling apart. I heard the breath rush through my nose rustling my miniscule nose hairs. My heartbeat clicked inside of me like some small creature lived in my chest tapping his foot. It kept a steady beat, vibrating outward and rippling through the water. I could hear the electrical impulses in my brain buzzing and working to make sense of things.
Eventually, I couldn’t even tell if my eyes were closed or open. At some point a pinpoint of light blinked far off in the distance. It flickered until it stayed lit. The light either shone from the ceiling above me or from the back of my eyelids. It grew as if it was coming closer to me, stretching and surrounding me. It wrapped around me, and more shapes came into view. My body was pulled upward and hovered over the water.
The light changed from an all-encompassing light to a light with a definitive source. Shadows cast around me. Structures formed and stretched upward. Trees sprouted around me, and shrubs littered the ground. The warmth from the sun fell upon me as I tried to look around and orient myself. I still couldn’t. My body was gone, or I at least didn’t have control of it. I could not touch my face, or look at my hands.
I drifted through a forest until I reached a clearing. Occupied by a dilapidated trading post. My childhood home. The windows shattered and boarded up. A large hole rotted through the middle of the exterior wall. The wood had crumbled and splintered, and a light breeze pushed its way through Buford. I approached my old home. I heard voices inside, and saw two figures moving about. The sun shone on the trading post. Never had such a dilapidated structure looked so welcoming.
CHAPTER 28
2036
BUFORD, WYOMING
“So how did you learn about this place again?” Emery asked Ellis.
“What? Buford? Someone in New Alcatraz mentioned it. I don’t know why. It was like he wanted me to come here for some reason. Or that he knew this is where I would go,” Ellis replied.
His voice hoarser than I remembered. I stood outside the trading post and listened, not knowing how I was here. My body felt different. I was hungry and fatigued. My right hand was covered in dirt, my fingernails almost black. My other hand was red with blood. Somewhere an open wound spilled crimson blood down my arm, dripping down my fingers and splattering onto the dusty ground.
A strong pulse ran through my arm with each heartbeat. I felt my arm and found the source of the blood. My shoulder was cut open. I instinctively ripped my sleeve and pulled a strip of cloth off of the clothing I wore. Did I injure myself in the cave? I wondered. Did I black out? Do the Golden Dawn have a time machine of their own?
“But it’s perfect, right?” my dad said.
“I wouldn’t say ‘perfect,’” Emery said. “But at least it’s isolated.”
I stepped toward the trading post. My feet were sore, and my shoes were worn down. I opened and closed my right hand; my knuckles popping and snapping with each movement. I glanced around at the tall grass surrounding the house. The wind rustled through the leaves and grass, creating a soothing, constant white noise. The sky was so expansive compared to the cramped room I was in before. The quick tappings of a woodpecker drifted from some far off tree.
“Isolated is perfect,” Ellis said. “We don’t need a society. We don’t need others. They only create wars, factions, fights, and theft. We don’t need that. We only need each other. Nothing more. No technology or money. We can sustain ourselves here. We’ll fix this up, plant a garden over by the old church. By winter this place will be fixed and heated.”
I stepped closer and closer to the trading post, but I moved slowly. My legs were tired and my body was weak. It was a feeling I had felt before, but I couldn’t remember when. My mind was clouded. The light that shone through the trees was hazy. My vision was blurred.
“Ellis, you know I can’t stay here. They’ll test me to see how long I was gone. If I stay away from our present, and especially if I stay away for nine months, I will be arrested and questioned. They will test me for any ‘dark time,’ and then they’ll come for you. And they’ll come for our child. You paint a wonderful picture, but it can’t happen. And I worry about you here all by yourself. Everyone needs a companion. Even you.”
I peeked through the dirty window. Emery placed a hand on Ellis’ arm. My father looked down at the floor and clenched his jaw. He wrapped his hand over Emery’s and squeezed.
“I know. I know. Let’s just enjoy the short time we do have together.” Ellis walked away from Emery and picked up a rusted hammer.
My arm throbbed and the blood ran down my arm, only at a slower pace than before. The thought of seeing my parents again fueled my body enough to get me to the door of the broken structure. My eyelids clamped down. They were heavy. Once I was within a few steps of the building, I saw two of everything in front of me. Two doors, and two rusted doorknobs. I swiped at one with my good arm, but there was nothing to grab. I tried the knob next to the phantom one, and felt the solid rusted metal in my hand. I closed my eyes, twisted the knob, and pushed the door open.
Emery jumped back at the sight of me, and let out a startled scream. I raised my bloody hand in the air towards her, my eyes more closed than opened. My dad still gripped the hammer in his hand. He reached his arm around Emery and pulled her back behind him. I braced myself against the wall with my bloodied hand. A streak of blood dragged across the crumbling interior as my hand slid. My dad stood in front of me and raised the hammer in the air.
“It’s me,” I managed to say.
I doubled over. Both hands now on my knees. My voice was different. I fell to my knees and looked up at my father’s face. He was confused and worried. The hammer still hung in the air. He didn’t have to hit me. Even if I was not his son, I had no energy to harm him or my mom. My eyelids fell. I tried to keep them open, but failed over and over again. Just as the light appeared before me in the sealed room filled with water, now the darkness blinked before my eyes, gradually closing around my periphery. Soon the light faded completely.
