by Matt Ryan
Poly wanted to slap him but settled for a sharp look. It was never supposed to go this far. Poly and Minter carried Joey to the stone circle and laid him on the floor. Already, weeds found their way through the soot and dirt accumulating in the exposed house. Poly knelt next to Joey and stared at his face.
“I got the code Marcus used, we can follow him,” Lucas said pacing near the stone.
“What’s wrong? Let’s go,” Poly said.
“Hank and Joey,” Lucas pointed to each of them. “They’re in a bad way and I don’t know this code he used. He went somewhere different.”
“Joey would rather die than let that man have her for one second longer than necessary. She could be right on the other side.”
Lucas took a deep breath and she saw the struggle in his eyes. Anger built in her as she watched the argument build in his expression. “This is the plan, Poly. You knew at some point, Marcus had a very good chance at besting us. Now we have the upper hand. He thinks we’re dead. Julie’s program worked and Alice sent the false information to Marcus. His guard will be down. If we jump right now with Hank and Joey like this . . .” his words dropped off and he shook his head.
Gazing at Joey, he looked back to Poly. “We can’t lose our only advantage and reveal ourselves. Not yet, anyway. We need to be a strong five here to stand any chance.”
The number five stung. Another reminder of the friend she lost not fifty feet away from the spot she stood.
“I’m fine,” Hank said and then collapsed to the ground.
“He’s crashing!” Gladius yelled and glared at Poly. “We need to get them help, now.”
“Fine,” Poly said and Lucas typed in the code.
The burnt house turned into a magnificent mansion, overlooking the ocean with spectacular views. Jack ran up to them.
“Get medical teams going,” Gladius ordered.
Jack jumped and typed into his screen.
Men and women in white shirts with oak trees on the chests flooded the room with their floating gurneys. They lifted Hank and Joey onto them and carried them off. Poly followed Joey down the elevator and to the medical wing under the house.
“Harris here?” she asked Jack.
“No, but I told him you were all here and he’s on his way.”
They pushed Joey into a small room with the makings machine. One nurse put a hand on Poly’s chest to stop her from entering. Poly grabbed the woman’s thumb, twisting it and sending her to the floor. The nurse grabbed her hand and yelped, but Poly didn’t care. She wanted to make sure Joey was going to live.
They slid his body off the gurney and into the machine. The doctor pulled the door down over him and stepped back. “We shouldn’t be in here while the machine’s running.”
Poly nodded and reluctantly stepped out of the room. “Sorry,” she mumbled to the nurse who was still rubbing her hand. Without waiting for a reply, Poly looked through the small window on the door. You’ve got to make it, Joey. I can’t do this without you.
The nurses left and the doctor studied the screen, rubbing his chin.
“What is it?” Poly asked.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. His injury . . . it’s as if he’s damaged every cell. But that’s impossible. He couldn’t be alive—” He stopped. “I’m sorry but I don’t know if this machine can fix this.”
“He’s different. Run the machine.”
“He may not handle what it does to him.”
“Run it!”
The doctor nodded and pressed a button on the screen. From behind the door, she heard the humming. She watched the window, staring at the small space between the two doors where she could see Joey’s arm.
“Hank’s going to be okay,” Julie announced, entering the room. “How’s Joey?”
“They don’t know,” Poly said, starting to sob.
Julie wrapped her up in a hug and she embraced her best friend. Feeling her baby bump pressing against her, she cried even harder. Julie brushed her hair back and kissed the side of her head. She wanted her mom there as well. She wanted to collect everyone she loved and stuff them away to some far off place to keep them safe. The worlds seemed determined to take from her with open abandon; and the more she fought, the more she lost.
Poly didn’t speak. She didn’t have words, and the grief over the possibility of Joey not being there… Not being able to see his face, feel his touch, their daughter wouldn’t know him. She leaned on Julie and Julie held her, not speaking but just being there.
“Thank you,” Poly said.
“For what?” Julie asked.
“Just being a friend. If something happens to Joey and Evelyn . . .”
“Don’t say it. We’re going to make it through this,” Julie said. “We’re going to win. We have to.”
Poly nodded her head and leaned back to see Julie’s face. Tears streamed down her cheeks as well. “No matter what, we will get her back. We will get her back.”
Joey screamed and Poly jerked away from Julie and Poly rushed to the window. His arms shook and he continued to shriek in pain. She pulled on the door handle, but it was locked.
“You can’t go in there,” the doctor warned.
“Julie, open the door.”
“You’ll be exposed,” the doctor said.
“Julie, help me. He’s dying in there.”
“The machine is attempting to repair him,” the doctor explained. “We’ve never had a—no one’s ever had an injury like this before. It’s going to be painful to repair the damage, if it can be repaired at all.”
Poly punched at the door and watched Joey convulse and scream. She heard him like this once before, back when those detectives tortured him. Even then, she was pinned to a chair and forced to listen from afar. “How long is this going to take?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
Poly glared at him and pulled a knife out.
“Maybe a couple of hours, possibly a lot longer.”
Her heart sank and she dropped the knife. Hours? Not only did her husband have to be under torture for hours, but every minute that passed meant she was just that much further away from Evelyn.
She slumped down, leaning her head against the door, listening to each of his tormented noises. She felt numb and the whole world seemed distant to her.
The hours moved by, people she loved came and went and she might have responded or might not have, nothing mattered until Joey was better and they could get their girl back.
Some of the time she spent standing and staring at the arm. It gyrated with his screams and went limp in his silence. After more time passed, he stopped screaming and his limp arm became stationary. She pressed her face against the glass, wanting a scream from him. Something to acknowledge his life.
The beep from the monitor gave her the only reprieve from not tearing down the door and checking him herself.
She didn’t notice the doctor touching her arm at first and when she did finally acknowledge him, she shook her head and he seemed concerned.
“Is it done?” Her face felt saggy and she wasn’t sure if she was ready for the answer. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to enter that room and see what kind of husband she had left.
The doctor took back his hand and closed his eyes for a second before looking at her. “After sixteen hours, it’s done all it can do.”
“Open the door,” she demanded.
“We don’t know what the machine did to him. Maybe I should go in first,” the doctor suggested.
Poly glared him down and he opened the door. She rushed in, not sure of what to expect as she lifted the door on the machine. “Joey.” She touched the sides of his face. Sweat covered his body and soaked his clothes. She wiped her hand on her shirt and touched the side of his face again. “Joey?”
He opened his eyes and she laughed and cried at the same time. He blinked. “Poly?”
His voice made her smile while tears streamed down her face. It might have been her name or anything else in exi
stence, but the light in his eyes and the fact that he still knew her meant she still had him. She didn’t have to face the next phase alone.
“Yes, it’s me,” Poly said and held his hand.
“Did we get Evelyn back?”
“No.”
He squeezed her hand and closed his eyes. Tears dripped down his temples and into his already soaked hair. Wiping his face, he looked at her again. “What are we waiting for then?”
With Poly’s help, he got off the bed and up into a standing position outside of the machine. She took a lot of his weight on her shoulder and walked him out of the room.
They all cheered and applauded as Joey and Poly appeared in the waiting room. Poly was taken aback from the large group of the people she loved looking back at her with smiles and tears. She hadn’t even realized her mom, Julie’s mom and the rest of the parents were there. Joey received a hug from Karen and Minter. Then Hank walked up.
“You okay, Hank?” Joey asked.
“Yeah, how you doing?”
“Better. I thought I broke myself back there.”
“Tough to break a kid like you,” Harris said as he made it through the crowd.
“Harris,” Joey said, hugging him. “They got her.”
“I know and we are on the brink of getting her back and ending this all.” He hugged Poly and then stepped back and addressed everyone in the room. “We have planned this out for over a year, and for some of us, our entire lives . . . and just now, we are at the precipice of the end. This was the part we all knew would test our resolve, push our faith to the limits, and the next step may be more than some can handle. But together, we will finish this and put an end to Marcus. Soon, we’ll honor those who have fallen in our quest.”
They cheered again and Poly watched Joey raise his hands and join in. Happy to see him with a functioning body didn’t assuage the thoughts racing through her mind. Thoughts of Evelyn with that man. They had to make their move now.
“We need to prepare,” Harris continued. “Restock the guns and arrows. I doubt silk steel will work again. We have a few other materials we hope can get through.”
“I’m not going to throw knives at him next time,” Poly announced. “I’m going to walk straight up to him and choke the life from his body with my bare hands.”
Harris turned to a grim expression, and the corners of his mouth pulled back in a sick smile. “I hope we can deliver that outcome to you, but can you give us one day to resupply before you go on attack?”
“Eight hours.”
“That’s enough time,” Harris said. “You heard the lady. Bring your weapons and follow me to the armory.”
Poly sighed and watched everyone file out, many saying goodbyes. She hung back with Joey until the last person left the room. “You doing okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, a bit stiff but,” he wiggled his fingers, “These are working again.”
“The doctor said if you do it again, the machine won’t put you back together. There is no wiggle room. If you do it again, you die.” She pursed her lips and stared at him. It was hard to put into words the way she felt for him and how much he meant to her. Tears flooded her eyes for the umpteenth time that day.
“Don’t cry,” Joey said, hugging her.
He felt sweaty and smelled like burnt hair, but she relished in his touch, embracing his body and losing herself in his chest. He wiped a tear from her face and pulled her chin up, kissing her on the lips and then again on the forehead.
“Whatever happens next, we can make it through it if we have each other,” Poly’s voice wavered.
“We’ll get Evelyn back.”
“I know,” she said, but wasn’t convinced. After so many attempts to get to Marcus, they had only managed to wound him.
“We should go help prepare,” Joey said and sagged against her.
She pushed him back upright and he stumbled back. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just feeling tired.” He gave her a don’t-you-worry look that made her do exactly that.
“Should I get the doctor?”
“No. How long was I in there for?”
“Sixteen hours.”
He gripped his chest and squeezed his eyes shut. “He has had her for sixteen hours?”
“I know.”
“And you agreed to another eight?”
“Joey, you can barely stand. I can barely stand. We need to regroup and be ready for Marcus with our best.”
He took a deep breath and looked at the door. “I can rest when we have Evelyn back.”
Poly saw the look building in his eyes and knew he was about to get stubborn on her. She only had one card to play. “I need the rest. I’ve been staring at your body in that machine for nearly a day. I haven’t slept or ate in I don’t know how long.”
He walked back and hugged her. “I’m sorry. I just can’t stand thinking of him having her.”
“We need to be somewhat rested if we are going to have any chance of besting Marcus.”
“We’ll sleep for a few hours, then we go.”
“Okay.”
Her and Joey found a room and slept for the next eight hours. Poly made sure to not set the alarm clock and it was Lucas who woke them when it was time to go.
One by one, they gathered near the circle in the house, some sporting new weapons. Minter held a large rifle with a scope and Harris hand delivered Joey his guns.
“These are loaded with a deadly party pack,” he said.
“Thanks.” Joey put the guns back in their holsters.
Poly looked over her man. He looked better, a lot of the shakes he tried to hide were missing and some of the color was back in his face.
Lucas walked into the circle alone and stood next to the stone. As discussed, he was going to jump ahead of the group to find the path Marcus took, and then jump back to get the rest.
“I’m going with you,” Joey said, stepping away from Poly. “You’ll need a second person to cover you, giving you time to portal back out if needed.”
“If it’s a master stone,” Lucas said. “It’d be good for someone to have my back.”
“It’ll be a master stone,” Harris said. “You’ve got the specialized Panavice Julie made for you, correct?”
Lucas tapped his pocket. “Yep.”
Poly moved forward to touch Joey’s arm. She didn’t want him going with Lucas, but she knew he had to. As horrible as it sounded, they couldn’t allow all of them to be in a single place they didn’t know. If Marcus set up a trap, Lucas and Joey should be able to handle it well enough and get out of there.
He turned and kissed her on the lips. It shocked her for a second because he never showed much affection in public, especially in a room full of people, but she got lost in his embrace and kissed him back. It felt as if they hadn’t had a moment together in a long time and now she wanted to get away from it all and take her husband somewhere private.
He took a step back and she tugged on his sleeve.
“I’ll be right back,” Joey assured her.
“You better.”
Not to be outdone, Lucas got up from the stone and grabbed Julie, dipping her into a long kiss that Poly couldn’t stop staring at. Once finished, he nodded to Joey and returned to the stone. “You ready?”
“Yes.”
“Julie knows the code as well, but if we don’t return in a week, you’ll know our fate. Here we go.”
“A week!” Poly ran to the circle, but they were already gone.
TREE’S LIKE HE’D NEVER SEEN before towered over them. The jungle canopy blocked so much of the sun it felt as if they were in the twilight of the day. Joey took a few steps and fell to his knees, unable to keep the charade going.
“Joey?” Lucas ran to him. “What’s wrong?”
He grabbed his stomach with his shaking hand and threw up on the jungle floor. Sweat dripped from his face as he heaved again and again.
Lucas paced next to him. “We should go back, man. You’re sick.”
“No.” Joey held out a hand. “I was just holding it back for too long.”
“You faker! I knew you looked off.”
“I can’t let Poly see me like this. She has enough to worry about.”
“That machine didn’t fix you all the way, did it?”
“I feel better. I do.” Joey pushed up to his knees and got to his feet. On his way to the edge of the circle, he wondered if Lucas got the code right. Marcus wouldn’t bring Evelyn to a world like this. Just getting over the enormous roots spreading over much of the forest floor would have been an obstacle too large for a person carrying a baby.
The Panavice confirmed his suspicion. “She’s not here.”
“This is a master stone, he probably jumped, thinking he’d lose any trackers.”
Joey took a deep breath and knew Julie had sent Marcus the report through Alice that they were dead. Did Marcus always cover his tracks this efficiently, or did he know they we’re still alive?
Lucas held his Panavice close to the stone and scanned the top of it. “I got the next code.”
“Let’s go.”
“We should get you back to the doctor.”
“No.”
“You should be resting.”
“Lucas, you better never tell any of them about me. Let me deal with it. It passes over time. Besides, they know what we are doing and until we find her, there’s no reason to go back.”
“I don’t like this, Joey, not one bit.”
“If your baby was taken, I’d do whatever it took to get it back.”
“Him,” Lucas corrected.
“Him?” Joey smiled. “You’re having a boy?”
“Yeah, Julie got a scan while you were . . . healing.”
“I’m so happy for you. Why didn’t you tell us?”
Lucas walked to the stone. “Julie didn’t want to take anything away from what you guys were going through. The pregnancy was kind of a shock for us in the first place. Guess my boys can’t be stopped by mere modern day protection.” Lucas laughed. “You ready?”
Joey nodded and stuffed his shaky hand in his pocket.
“Here we go.”
The stone hummed and Joey glanced at his shield, making sure to capture enough clean air in it before the jump.
