by Eddie Patin
Shit.
Pulling his leg free from a mess of wood and paracord, Jason slammed into one wall of the crook and looked down at the only source of light: the glowing embers of his fire.
Fear boiled up inside the man as he heard movement in the grass around his shelter. He looked up to see a clear and starry sky...
The shelter had fallen down.
When he looked down at the embers of the fire again, something reflected the glint of the red glow. Jason found himself looking at the face of a larger raptor standing on the other side of the fire—its coppery eyes gleaming in the light of the glowing coals...
"Shit!" Jason cried, stumbling backwards in the dark.
The creature grinned at him, its snout cracked open as it cocked its feathery head to one side, then sidestepped carefully around the coals to advance. Jason caught the light of the embers on its big claw—definitely long enough to eviscerate him. The man was cornered. He would have to—
Spreading out the clawed wings of its front legs, the raptor let out a hiss, lowered its head...
Jason bolted to get past it, his hiking boots bursting through the coals and scattering the glowing bits around on the ground!
Miraculously, Jason didn’t feel the sting of the claws slicing his skin or feel the creature’s mouth catch him as he ran by, but he did hear the thing reposition itself, and he knew that the beast would leap for him at any moment.
Jason sprinted away for the closest tree, not caring about the pain in his knee. He fumbling for his gun with his right hand as he ran...
Chapter 17
"This vehicle will go much faster than this, Ranaja," Gliath said, leaning over the center console and looking at the dials. He was in his human form—his 'pretender' form—dressed in heavy winter clothing that they’d stolen from a house near Jason’s.
"Yeah, I know, Gliath," Riley said. "But we have to ... you know ... blend in."
"The speed dial indicates that it can reach a speed of one hundred and thirty—"
"Well just because we can, doesn’t mean we should. Everyone else is going slow, so we will too, okay? Keep an eye shucked for a weapon merchant."
"Yes, Ranaja," Gliath replied, leaning back to sit straight in his seat, pulling his long, black hair out of the way of his eyes.
The wheels of the old car they stole from further down Kestrel Drive hissed and swished through the slushy road. Riley watched around their position intently, studying the other human drivers. He observed how they slowed down to almost stopping at the red, octagonal signs that said Stop. In fact, there were signs all over; signs telling him what he could or couldn’t do in his vehicle, signs for identifying streets and buildings, even signs telling him to eat ice cream at one particular building, or to get a Happy Meal from another. There were signs telling him to save money from doing a deal with a big, green lizard. Jason 934's world seemed just as focused on advertising as Riley's was, though here, the signs weren't all active, moving screens. On Riley's world, the ever-present adverts in the megacities lit up the night.
After Jason 934’s violent slip into Universe 312 in the early afternoon—the Wilderlands as Jason 113 had called it—Riley had expected that the strange siren-sounds were some sort of military or authority figures coming to investigate the gunfire. He was right. Following the small, white cat that seemed to share Jason 934’s house, Gliath had been able to unlock the back door from inside, then the two of them stood in Jason’s living room and watched a car with strobing red and blue lights slowly patrol the neighborhood. The government vehicle and the two lightly-armored men inside shined a spotlight around at the shadows within the various yards around Jason's house. Several minutes later, the black and white car labeled "POLICE" turned around and sped away.
The two Reality Rifters had spent the rest of the day setting up the portable gate in Jason 934's garage, nearly in the same place as where Jason 113 used to open rifts in their last base.
Riley had spent some time exploring the house, amazed and saddened to see its sameness compared to his boss's home on u113. He'd also spent a long time trying to interpret the data of the OCS to learn more about the Wilderlands.
When the sun went down yesterday, Riley and Gliath had settled into Jason 934's living room, more than a little disturbed about the similarities between this house and their old Reality Rifter base back on u113's Earth. Jason 113's place was definitely obliterated by now, torn up by crystallized light when universe 1240 followed the surviving Reality Rifters back home through Jason's rift. The way that two universes could have such totally different and incompatible laws of physics—enough to destroy an entire world—filled Riley with dread and stark fear.
He tried not to think about it.
Riley went to sleep that night lying in the darkness with his enhanced vision deactivated as Gliath curled up under the front window in his primal form. The soldier stared for a long time at the spot where Jason 113 had died in the living room of the other universe. He closed his eyes in the cool darkness but couldn't remove the scene of his boss melting into the floor as the man's body was brutally transformed into colorful and brittle crystalline shapes...
Now, driving through this u934 town in this crude Earth vehicle, he and Gliath had a mission.
Morning had brought a new day.
They needed to find guns from this Earth—something substantial enough to deal with the large beasts of the Wilderlands—and they needed those weapons fast. The longer they waited to get to Jason, the less likely they’d find him still alive...
Riley still had his Blaster—he’d never run out of ammo for that—but a heat-based laser weapon would be of limited use against the massive, scale-armored predators there. The soldier's entire arsenal back home on u113 was now gone, probably converted into colorful glass by now. They wouldn’t have access to any worlds where they could resupply any time soon.
Pulling up to another one of those 'Stop' signs, Riley looked around the central hub of the quiet mountain town. He saw people driving back and forth on the roads, their cars filthy and sprayed with snow and ice. Some people walked the sidewalks, focused on their own business. Riley wondered if they were aware of rifting and travel between multiverses like his people were, or if these u934 humans thought that they were all alone on this Earth, floating through their own version of space, blind to the infinity folded into the Planck frames between each moment of their lives...
Someone honked a horn behind them suddenly, and Riley looked up into the rearview window to see a line of vehicles gathering behind their car.
He moved on, craning his neck to see the different buildings around this Downtown area—a region indicated by a big sign a few blocks back.
"There, Ranaja," Gliath said with his low, stoic voice. Riley saw him pointing at a large building a block ahead on the corner. "There is a picture of a slug rifle on the outside."
"Hey, you’re right!" Riley replied with a smile. He scratched his beard. "That looks like a weapon store, and it’s really big!" He read the sign. "Sports Warehouse..."
After a few uncertain minutes of figuring out how to properly park in this universe, Riley cut the power to the vehicle and allowed its engine to slow to a stop. He and Gliath climbed out onto the snowy street and stood before the two-story building bedecked in bright lights and bold-colored signs. Then they went inside.
The interior of the store was fascinating to the soldier, and Riley walked through its center aisle looking around in entertained wonder and the many heads of animals and beasts mounted on the walls. In the front of the building were several young humans engaging in commerce with customers—it appeared that shoppers were forced to bring what items they wanted to purchase to the front there, where they would pay the workers before leaving; not unlike commerce in Riley’s world.
The soldier wondered what sort of currency or credits they used here. All he and Gliath had was gold.
Walking through the store together, Riley and Gliath looked over large sections bri
mming with clothing, boots, and strange body coverings that Riley didn’t recognize. There was an area full of survival gear, and as Riley stared at the tents and kayaks and other items for a moment, he looked back at Gliath to find the leopardwere gleefully batting the tiny, decoy birds off of a shelf, one by one with one hand. The Krulax’s eyes were intense and sparkling with curiosity, following the movement of each tiny bird down to the floor.
Riley noticed a family standing nearby, watching the two of them.
"Gliath," Riley hissed. "Knock it off! Come on."
Eventually, they made their way to the slug guns and also found a clerk eager to help them and recommend all sorts of rifles and other weapons.
"So, which of these slug guns would you recommend for dangerous game?" Riley asked, his cybernetic eyes scanning over the many weapons, measuring their mass and length but not telling him much about their calibers or capacity. The soldier's world of Ebonexus mainly dealt with energy weapons.
"Going to Africa?" the man replied. "Alaska?"
"Something like that. I need a lot of power and the ability to make quick, short-range shots."
"How about a shotgun?" the man asked. "Or do you prefer a rifle?"
"Show me different options," Riley replied.
After a while, Riley had become loosely familiar with several different bolt-action rifles, lever action guide guns, and a few different hunting shotguns of varied lengths and amenities. All in all, he settled on three different weapons for them to bring with them during their attempt to rescue Jason 934. He was partial to a modern rendition of an old-fashioned Earth gun called a Marlin 1895SBL lever action rifle, equipped with wonderful iron peep sights and capable of holding six shots of an older but very powerful cartridge called the .45-70 Government. The rifle was light (to Riley), supremely maneuverable, and appeared to be a great overall slug gun for dealing with large dinosaurs. The clerk even showed Riley some special ammunition that was so powerful that it could supposedly punch through the body of an elephant from this world. Riley also put aside one of the shotguns they were shown; something called a Remington Versa Max twelve gauge in a tactical configuration. Since Riley still had his blaster, he had the clerk prepare a popular larger caliber handgun—something called a Glock 21—for Gliath to carry as a sidearm.
In the end, they stood at the counter with the salesman, who beamed from ear to ear, stacking up two boxes containing the rifle and shotgun, a small case with the Glock, several cases of ammunition, slings, and a holster for Gliath, and other sundries.
"Okay, Mr. Wyatt," the man said, approaching the counter with a small packet of papers. "Now I’ll let you just get started on the background check, and get you rung up when that’s all done. There's a $30 fee you'll have to pay upfront to run the CBI check, then you can check out up front with me when it comes back..."
Riley exchanged glances with Gliath, then looked back at the smiling human.
"Background check?"
Riley and Gliath stood in the snow, leaning up against the car stolen from Kestrel Drive, waiting.
"I am hungry," Gliath said suddenly, looking at Riley with his pale eyes full of intent.
"Yeah, me too." Riley kicked at a chunk of snow on the sidewalk in front of him. "We’ll see what Jason has when we get back, okay good buddy? He has food in that fridge, I reckon..."
Gliath nodded, and they both turned to watch the jeweler’s shop door nearby.
In time, the man they were waiting for stepped out, pulling his collar up against the cold, then returned to them.
Riley watched the man approach and could tell from his scans that the man’s heartbeat and breathing were higher than they should be, but there was nothing warning the soldier of danger. No tricks.
"Okay," he said gruffly. "So you’re right." Stopping in front of them with his hands in his jacket pockets, the soft, older human took out one hand and returned the golden nuggets to Riley. "These are real too."
"Of course they’re real," Riley said with a smirk. "So do we have a deal?"
"The first three upfront and the rest in the end?" he asked, eyes shifting around at the street and the cars passing by. "How do I know you’ll come through?"
Stupid, Riley thought. This man was just afraid.
"How do I know you’ll come through?" Riley countered. "You’ll be heading in there with some of our gold, and we’ll be out that gold until you come back with the goods. We're the ones taking the risk, man..."
The man grimaced then pressed his lips together under a thick moustache. "Because I said I would. And I always do what I say I’m going to do."
"Alright," Riley said. "Let’s go."
By lunchtime, Riley and Gliath were making their way to Jason’s back door, which they had left unlocked. They had to leave the stolen car several houses away and walked through the snow and chilly wind laden with boxes and heavy bags. Heading in through the back, the two of them walked straight to the living room, where they dropped off both long boxes and the several bags full of ammo and other things.
As soon as they were inside from the cold, Riley started unpacking their new weapons and ammunition while Gliath wandered into the kitchen to hunt down some food.
Riley carefully removed the new 1895SBL lever action rifle from its packaging, laying the lovely weapon down reverently onto Jason's old couch, smiling at its stainless steel and greenish-grey laminate form. There were so many different kinds of weapons across the multiverses, from energy-based to magical to a variety of projectile launchers. Slug guns like this one were fairly common. Most universes with laws of physics similar to Riley’s and Jason 934’s had developed combustion at some point, and many launched dense slugs of various materials with carefully-controlled explosions of propellant. But this gun was downright beautiful.
He also removed the Versa Max shotgun from its packaging, unpacked Gliath’s Glock 21, and began organizing the many boxes of .45-70 and .45 ammo, 12 gauge shotgun shells, and other accessories. By the time Gliath was finished eating whatever the hell he found in the kitchen, the leopardwere had shifted down to his primal form, slipping out of his harness and slinking darkly into the living room to lounge around while Riley worked with the weapons.
Using a kit he purchased, Riley made sure that all of the weapons were clean and ready to use, then he started loading the tubes and magazines, eventually tossing an empty box of .45’s to Gliath, who played with it happily like a gigantic black cat.
In time, Riley had moved all of the packaging into a corner and had their new weapons lined out and ready to rock. He hooked the Glock’s holster onto Gliath’s harness and added slings to both long guns, which also held extra ammo. Loading up one of his belt pouches with two boxes of 'Xtreme Penetrator' .45-70 rounds and setting up a big dump pouch on Riley’s harness for extra 12 gauge shells, the soldier started to feel the urgency of time passing by.
Jason was in danger. He knew it. The man was soft, and no doubt had no idea what the fruk was going on...
If Jason Leaper 934 ended up becoming dinosaur shet, it would be Riley's fault.
Fruk—he shouldn't have played around with the infinity crystal like he did. He should have listened to Jason 113...
It was still early afternoon here, but who knows what time it was in the Wilderlands. Across the ninth dimension like it was, there was no way to tell how time would pass there. For all Riley knew, Jason could still be there saying, "Where the fruk am I?!" after the last day Riley had been there on u934's Earth. Or, conversely, time could be like the other way around. Jason 934 might have been there for a week already, trying to survive a wild world full of carnivores with nothing more than the strange Earth gear he had on his back when he rifted...
As Riley stood to check the kitchen he stumbled on something on the carpet near the hall. Reaching down, the soldier picked up a soft slipper that was jury-rigged and attached to an array of LED lights connected with wires to a battery pack. The wires running along the inside of the slipper were covered with du
ct tape.
He held the slipper up to Gliath, who stopped playing with the empty ammo box and raised his head. The leopardwere’s yellowish-green eyes gleamed.
"Definitely a Jason Leaper," Riley said, tossing the slipper back to the floor. "This one might be a young, soft Jason without the use of his powers, but he’s still a Jason Leaper."
Pausing in the hall, Riley considered a painting on a wall of something that looked a lot like a Tyrannosaurus Rex with feathers locked in battle with a rolled-up monster—maybe a great, animated snake made of carpet. The vicious beast was tearing the carpet-creature apart with huge talons on its muscular legs.
The guns were ready.
"Shet," Riley said, shaking his head and scratching his beard. He turned back to his Krulax friend. "Get your gear on, Gliath. We’ve gotta open the portable gate and get to him."
Chapter 18
Pain lanced through Jason’s shoulder. His sliced skin seared in the humid darkness while the pops of his Glock slammed at his ears like a ballpeen hammer. He struggled with the large raptor—God, it was almost as big he was—and as they crashed backwards into crunching and stabbing tree branches, he watched the beast’s head dart back and forth. Jason heard the quiet hissing at the back of the predator's throat as it reared back to lunge at him again, and he knew that the creature had him with its front claws—the hooks pulled painfully at his left arm!
Pressing the muzzle of his pistol against the creature’s feathery chest, Jason fired once more. The sharp pop was muffled by the dinosaur’s fluffy coat.
The raptor let out a grunt that sounded a bit like the call of a vulture Jason remembered from visiting the zoo, and the creature pitched to one side in the darkness, slipping down to the wet ground. Its claws, caught in Jason’s shoulder, tried to pull him down with it, and the man cried out into the night as the sharp hooks tugged at his skin, stinging like hell.
