Anomaly

by Scott Prussing

  The information cements Dad’s decision to spend the night here, since Anomalies seldom happen twice in the same immediate area. No one knows why that is—it’s just the way things seem to be. Having a portal already opened so close by means one less danger we’ll need to worry about tonight.

  As usual, the inside of the market has been cleaned out of all its goods. The store isn’t big enough to house our entire company, but we Miracles are given priority, along with Dad, Lieutenant Gregerson and a dozen Marines. Jordy, of course, is among the Marines staying inside. He hasn’t been far from Radar’s side the entire journey, and no one sees any reason to change that. Though we’ve yet to experience an Anomaly anywhere on our journey, Radar’s Power still makes her on one of the most important members of our expedition. Anything that keeps her happy is just fine with everyone else. And having Jordy nearby keeps her very happy.

  She’s sitting on the floor next to me now, with Jordy on her other side. They’re holding hands, as they so often do. Across the aisle, Plush and Lights sit close beside each other, her hand resting on his thigh. Lights is busy practicing his Power, making balls of yellow light of varying intensity jump back and forth from one palm to the other. He’s the only Miracle who hasn’t had a chance to really use his Power on the journey so far. Him and me, of course, but since I still don’t have a clue about whether I even have a Power, that kind of goes without saying.

  The closeness of both couples makes me wish Kai was sitting here with me, but he’s outside somewhere, probably scouting the area. Maybe he’s even hunting for some fresh meat. That would be a nice treat—it’s been several days now since we had any.

  “I can’t wait for this whole thing to be over,” Radar says to me. “Maybe then you and Kai can come out on a double date with me and Jordy. Won’t that be fun?”

  I turn and look at her with narrowed eyes, wondering why she chose this particular moment to make such a comment. I don’t know if she can read my mind, but she can certainly read my expression.

  “What?” she says, her voice all innocent. “I could tell you were thinking about him. You had this dreamy look on your face.”

  I feel myself beginning to blush. “I did not,” I protest. “If you must know, I was thinking about fresh meat for dinner.”

  Radar barks out a loud laugh. “I’m sure you were—fresh, delicious beefcake, I bet.”

  My cheeks feel like they’re on fire now. I can’t think of any response that won’t dig me an even deeper hole, so I remain silent.

  It’s beginning to grow dim inside the store, so Lights extinguished his balls of light, not wanting to cause any kind of glow that could be visible from outside. We all dig into our packs to grab some food, so we can eat before it becomes too dark. After dinner, we all chat for awhile—thankfully avoiding the subject of Kai, who has not yet returned—and then turn in for what I hope will be a good night’s sleep.

  I awake feeling rested and refreshed. If I had any dreams, I don’t remember them. I look up and see Kai standing by the entrance, looking in. When my eyes catch his, he smiles. He makes no move to come inside, though. Instead, I push myself up to my feet and go join him by the door.

  I fold my arms across my chest against the morning chill. It’s not foggy this morning, but the air outside is damper than inside.

  “Did you have a good night?” I ask.

  He nods. “Very quiet and uneventful, just the way I like it. What about you? Any more nightmares?”

  I shake my head. “Nope. I slept right through the night, thankfully.”

  Sounds from behind me tell me the others have awakened.

  “I’d better go join everyone and have some breakfast,” I say. I smile and then add, “Unless you have some fresh meat out here somewhere.”

  Kai returns my smile. “No, not this morning, sorry. I’ll see what I can do later.”

  “I was just teasing,” I say. “We’ve got more than enough dried meat and stuff to last to San Francisco.” I don’t think we have enough for a return journey, but no one’s worried about that right now. First, we need to get to Alcatraz and do whatever it is we’re supposed to do up there, and then we can worry about making it back to San Diego.

  I head back inside and join my friends for a quick meal of energy bars, nuts and dried fruit. It’s actually pretty tasty, though a bit boring. It beats going hungry, that’s for sure.

  Less than half an hour after I opened my eyes, we’re on our way north again. The powder blue sky is striped with high, wispy cirrus clouds and the temperature is cool but pleasant. It’s another fine day for a long walk.

  We’ve been walking for several uneventful hours when Radar suddenly stops. From the look on her face, I know what’s coming.

  “Anomaly!” she shouts, pointing to a spot just to the right of the road.

  There’s no need for her to wave her orange cap here. The Marines are well-trained for this. Dealing with Anomalies—and the things that come through them—is their primary responsibility back in San Diego. Two dozen of them quickly form a semi-circle in front of the spot Radar indicated. The two guys carrying flamethrowers take up stations at either end of the curved line of soldiers.

  The rest of the Marines usher my friends and I back away from the danger and form a protective barrier in front of us. We Miracles all have our blades out and ready, just in case. We all know that if we need to use them, though, it means things are going very, very badly.

  Dad commands the soldiers about to confront the Anomaly, while Lieutenant Gregerson is in charge of the detail guarding us. Kai stands protectively next to me, an arrow already notched to his bow.

  Time seems to have slowed and the morning has become deathly quiet while we wait for the portal to appear. Nobody doubts that one will—Radar is never wrong. It’s just a question of when. Sometimes it’s barely a minute; other times it can be as long as ten. But one always comes.

  This time, the wait is two or three minutes before the air begins to shimmer in the all too familiar horizontal waves, followed almost immediately by the soft, high-pitched whine that always accompanies this phenomenon. The branches of a small tree at the edge of the area begin to twist and bend, caught up in the powerful forces. A black hole the size of a grapefruit suddenly appears in the air about five or six feet above the soil, and some of the thicker branches begin to snap. The dark disk expands rapidly, until it’s at least a dozen feet in diameter.

  The bottom of the portal is only inches off the ground. It looks like a hole has been ripped into the very fabric of the universe, but we can see nothing inside, nothing of the world beyond the opening. It’s as if the Anomaly has swallowed all light, leaving only empty blackness.

  My heart is pounding. I find myself holding my breath, waiting to see what—if anything—is going to come through. Except for the low whine of the Anomaly, everything and everyone has fallen silent.

  The wait seems interminable, but in reality is probably no more than ten or fifteen seconds. A tall form explodes out of the blackness, almost as if shoved forward by the forces inside the portal. The thing halts for a split second. It’s human in shape, at least eight feet tall, and unmistakably female. Her slender, full-breasted body is covered in dark green scales. What catches my attention most, though, are the dozens of slimy green snakes writhing from her head, hissing loudly as their tongues flick in and out of gaping mouths. I recognize this dangerous creature from mythology books—it’s a medusa.

  Twin beams of bright green light streak from her eyes, striking into the center of the line of soldiers even as they let loose with a deafening fusillade of automatic weapon fire. Kai unleashes his arrow, which buries itself into the medusa’s right eye, extinguishing one of the green beams. A moment later, one of the flamethrowers erupts, covering the medusa in a stream of liquid yellow fire. The creature lets out an ear-splitting howl as she is consumed by the flames and falls lifeless to the ground.

  When the flames subside, I can see that three of the Marines have be
en turned into stone by the medusa’s magical beams. My jaw falls open in horror when I recognize that the one in the middle is my dad!

  Anguish and despair threaten to swallow me as an agonized scream erupts from my throat.

  “NOOOOO!!!”

  CHAPTER 31

  KAI REACTS INSTANTLY. He drops his bow and leaps forward, pulling his sword from its sheathe and raising it above his head with two hands even as he’s soaring through the air. He lands just behind the statue that was once my dad and delivers a powerful blow with the edge of his blade directly across its back. The clang of the steel against stone rings through the air.

  Again and again Kai slams his sword against Dad’s stone figure. Recovered from my surprise, I race forward, wondering if Kai has suddenly gone mad, raining blows down against the statue the way he is. What does he hope to accomplish, besides dulling the edge of his blade?

  Kai rears back and delivers a mighty horizontal slash, putting all the great strength of his arms and shoulders behind the blow. The way he’s swinging his sword, I dare not get close enough to grab his arm.

  “Kai, what are you…?” My cry is interrupted when I see a web of thin, dark cracks appear in the stone of my dad’s back.

  Kai drops his sword and presses his fingertips into the center of the cracks, seemingly trying to pry them open. Suddenly, the rock splits into hundreds of small chunks and crumbles to the ground. For a moment, my dad is standing there, his back bloodied and bruised from the blows of Kai’s sword, then he collapses face forward to the dirt.

  “Doc, quickly!” Kai shouts. “There’s no time to lose.”

  Doc rushes forward as Kai picks up his sword and begins hacking at a second stone soldier. One of the Marines follows his lead, using a machete upon the third victim of the medusa.

  My eyes are fixed on Doc, though, as she kneels beside my dad’s inert form and places both hands gently upon his bloody back. She closes her eyes as the yellow healing glow spreads from her fingers out across Dad’s body. Slowly, the cuts and gashes begin to close and the bruises fade under her healing touch. A minute or so later, Dad lets out a long groan and rolls slowly over onto his side. My heart feels like it’s going to burst with joy. I drop to one knee and place my hand tenderly on his shoulder.

  “Doc, over here,” I hear Kai shout.

  The stone encasing the second soldier has crumbled to the ground, as has the man. Doc stands up and hurries over to start his healing.

  Unfortunately, the third Marine is not so lucky as his comrade. The stone was too thick and hard to break without the supernatural strength of Kai’s muscles. The panting soldier stands with the machete hanging at his side, looking hopefully at Kai.

  Kai shakes his head slowly. “It’s too late,” he says. “I’m sorry, but too much time has passed. The spell cannot be undone. His fate is sealed.”

  The man who couldn’t be saved is named Ramsey. I didn’t know him very well, but I know he didn’t have a wife or children, which is something, at least.

  “What happened?” Dad asks me as he pushes himself up into a sitting position. He still looks groggy, but I’ll gladly take groggy over dead or turned to stone anytime.

  “A medusa came through,” I reply. “You were turning to stone, but Kai saved you. He broke the stone apart with his sword before it got too thick.”

  Dad looks around, his eyes stopping on the statue of the third Marine.

  “It’s too late for him,” I say. “Kai saved two of you, but that’s all he could do. There wasn’t enough time.”

  Dad glances toward Kai, who’s standing a few yards away, his arms folded across his chest. He’s staring off into the distance. What might be going through his mind, I have no idea.

  “Once again,” Dad says, “I’m glad he’s with us.”

  “Me, too, Dad.” I give him a soft kiss on the cheek. “Me, too.”

  Lieutenant Gregerson comes over and squats down beside us. “How are you feeling, Sir?”

  Dad rubs the back of his hand across his eyes. “I’m fine. Any other casualties?”

  The lieutenant shakes his head. “No, Sir.” He turns to the left, looking at the stone soldier. “Just Corporal Ramsey.”

  “Help me up,” Dad says, extending his arm toward Lieutenant Gregerson.

  The lieutenant grabs Dad’s wrist and forearm with two hands and helps pull him to his feet. Dad takes a moment to be sure of his balance before moving toward Corporal Ramsey, where he snaps a crisp salute to the statue. He turns back to his gathered men.

  “We could bury Corporal Ramsey here along the road,” he says, “but I think his statue is a far more fitting memorial, one that’s as fine as any Marine could ask for.”

  Dad is right. The medusa’s magic beam froze Corporal Ramsey in a fighting stance, a determined look on his face and his rifle aimed out if front of him. It’s a sculpture that could easily adorn any war memorial or park, and one that I think Corporal Ramsey would be proud of. I can tell from the expressions on the faces of the nearest Marines that they agree. Several of them are nodding their heads as well.

  “Hoo-rah!” Dad shouts.

  The men respond with a thunderous chorus of Hoo-rahs.

  And with that final tribute to their fallen comrade, we’re on our way north again.

  CHAPTER 32

  WE REACH THE SOUTHERN OUTSKIRTS of Santa Cruz shortly before noon the following day. It’s a pretty big town—at least it was back before The Incident. Not San Diego or San Francisco big, but a decent sized place nonetheless. I know from our cram course about the California coast that Santa Cruz was home to a large university and was considered a very progressive city.

  Now, however, it looks deserted. A long section of the highway we’re following is elevated, allowing us to see a good distance in all directions. To our right, green hills covered with houses rise to a height of several hundred feet, while to our left the downtown section of the city stretches off to the ocean. From our raised vantage point, I can see a large number of destroyed buildings—far more than would be found in a similar-sized section of San Diego. I guess that comes from being so much closer to where The Incident occurred. Some of the destruction looks like it resulted from battles being fought, but a big proportion is clearly damage caused by Anomalies. A road sign confirms the proximity, telling us San Francisco is just seventy-six miles away.

  The elevated roadway is a mixed blessing. The height makes us more exposed to searching eyes, but it also leaves no places from which enemies could spring upon us from concealment. At one point, the highway has been destroyed by a portal, forcing us to backtrack half a mile to an exit ramp. We leave the highway and travel along a city street for a mile or so until we’ve bypassed the ruined section, then we climb an entrance ramp back onto the highway.

  Despite the extensive damage around us, we see no sign of any dangerous enemies, human or otherwise. I’m guessing the city has long been deserted, or, if any people do remain, they’re small in number and have grown adept at hiding.

  Our shadows are beginning to lengthen as we near the northern edge of the city. The highway returned to ground level some distance back, so now we can only see the areas adjacent to the road. Off to our right, a huge L.A. Fitness building rises up out of a large asphalt parking lot. Dad decides that the spacious interior might be a perfect spot to spend the night, so he sends Lieutenant Gregerson in with a patrol to check the place out. The rest of us sit down on a grassy area beside the highway. Kai is nowhere to be seen, but he’ll find us easily enough when he returns.

  It seems like the men are inside the place longer than usual, but we don’t hear any sounds of trouble. Finally, they emerge from the store. The squad remains by the entrance while the lieutenant heads back across the lot. He has a big smile on his face as he reports to my dad.

  “He’s certainly all smiles,” I say to my friends as we watch Lieutenant Gregerson and my dad talk. “I wonder what that’s all about?”

  “Maybe there’s some junk fo
od left in the vending machines,” Radar says. “Wouldn’t that be a treat!”

  “Mmmmm,” Doc sighs. “I would love some chocolate. Just one bite would be awesome.”

  “I want chips,” Sneak says. “Or cookies!”

  “Could be that’s why they were inside so long,” Lights suggests. “Maybe they were scarfing down some snacks.”

  Dad comes over to where we’re sitting.

  “We’ll spend the night in there,” he tells us, nodding toward the fitness center. “I think you kids are going to be very happy.”

  “Snacks?” Sneak asks hopefully.

  “Chocolate?” Doc adds.

  I can tell by the puzzled look on Dad’s face that he’s wondering where all that came from. I decide to explain.

  “We were thinking maybe there were some vending machines inside that hadn’t been raided,” I say. “So we all started drooling about junk food.”

  Dad grins. “No, sorry. There’s no food in there—junk or otherwise—as far as I know. But I think you’ll enjoy what IS in there even better.”

  “What?” all seven of ask, almost in unison.

  Dad shakes his head. “I don’t want to spoil the surprise. But if you’ll follow Lieutenant Gregerson, you’ll find out soon enough.”

  We get to our feet with more enthusiasm than normal and follow the lieutenant across the lot to the entrance. One of the glass doors is busted open, but the other is still intact. The unbroken door seems to be a sign that whatever scavenging was done inside was carried out in a controlled manner. I wonder what could have been left behind that Dad thinks we’re going to enjoy so much.

  We pass through a small lobby and check-in area into a large open space filled with rows of treadmills and elliptical machines. In the center of all the equipment is a big gap that looks like a bomb might have exploded there. The treadmills around the edges of the empty space are bent and twisted, showing that an Anomaly occurred here, probably triggered by the electrical system of one of the machines. The evidence of a portal having opened is comforting—it means we won’t have to worry about another one happening while we spend the night in here.