by Platt, Sean
Boricio ignored the asshole’s anger and calmly said, “Ed, Brent, put your guns down. You all need to understand that we can’t take Charlie where we’re going. He’s infected, and if we bring an infected person into Level Eight right now, we will be jeopardizing everything. I never would have allowed that at Black Mountain, and I’m certainly not going to do it here. Besides, we head down there with an infected, and we’ll all get shot the minute those elevator doors open.”
Asshole Boricio kept his gun on Boricio. Ed and Brent looked at Boricio for instruction, but he simply kept his eyes on the asshole in front of him.
Boricio added, “We’ll leave him in this elevator bay, then lock it down. He’ll be safe until we get everything settled. Okay?”
Boricio stared down Asshole Boricio’s gun, figuring the odds of the asshole firing were about 50/50. Clearly the other Boricio wasn’t a guy who really thought through things like consequences of his actions. At the moment, Boricio almost didn’t care whether he lived or died. He did his job — he delivered the message. Let his father and the others save the world. He was tired.
Asshole Boricio must’ve seen the resignation in his eyes and lowered his gun, saying, “Fine,” then turned from Boricio as though he couldn’t be bothered to finish his sentence.
Boricio looked down at Charlie and then nodded at Ed and Brent, who dragged Charlie’s body to an open elevator and then closed the door. Brent placed his hand on the panel beside the door and said, “Lockdown Elevator Bay three.”
“Confirmed lockdown,” a computerized woman’s voice said.
Boricio was glad that his security was reinstated enough to lock the elevator down. If Charlie woke up and got loose, things could get ugly. Things could get ugly anyway, however, given how Charlie had broken at least one containment cell, perhaps more if he’d broken out of Black Mountain. Fortunately, the elevators were also equipped with sleeping gas which could be administered if Charlie woke and started causing a scene.
Boricio then opened the elevator two down from Charlie’s and the group stepped inside. As the doors closed and the elevator began its descent, Boricio’s stomach followed suit, imagining his reunion with Will. He wondered if Will believed him responsible for releasing the vial. Did he think him capable of such an act? He also wondered what Will would think about the old Luca and the other Boricio.
The elevator whirred, along with the subtle drop in his stomach, then chimed and settled as the doors opened to Will waiting on the other side.
Boricio expected Will to be angry, but thought that he’d at least hear a hello before the growling, “What in the hell have you done, Boricio?” slapping him in the face before the elevator doors were halfway open.
Boricio fell into immediate apology.
“I’m so sorry, Dad. I never meant for any of this to happen. I met a man, and I was foolish enough to let him steal the vial from me.” He shook his head, staring at the glossy white floor, trying not to let his guilty torment and undiluted rage push the welling tears from inside him. “I’m so, so sorry,” he kept shaking his head. “It’s all my fault. I wish I could take it all back.”
Boricio felt every eye burning his back with the many questions that no one dared ask. Of all the eyes, Boricio only cared about Will’s.
As angry as Will was, something about Boricio’s sorrow softened the old man. His eyes were nearly as wet as Boricio’s when he said, “It’s okay, Son. Everything will turn out okay.”
It was Will’s nature to say it, but Boricio knew the truth: Nothing was okay. He had helped “The Prophet” murder their world, whether the old fucker had meant to or not. So no, it wasn’t okay, and would never be again. At least now Boricio had a chance to do whatever he could to right the wrongs he’d invited into the world.
Boricio raised his gaze from the floor, then tried to index the thousand expressions etched into his father’s face. Will broke his son’s stare, then moved his eyes across the rest of the group. Most of Will’s reaction seemed stuck between horror and fascination when his eyes settled on the other Boricio.
Then he saw the other, significantly older, Luca.
Will gasped, struggling to stay standing. His eyes flashed to Boricio, before flying back to Luca where they held their study for another several seconds.
“This is Luca,” Boricio said, patting the old boy on the shoulder, then nudging him a step forward toward the old man.
The skin on Luca’s face was so brittle; his smile looked like it came with a deep ravine of pain. Will probably didn’t mean to shake his head slowly back and forth any more than he meant to retreat the three small steps that he did.
Luca said, “Your Luca is in my world, with my family. When I got pulled over here, he took my place.”
Will’s palm was suddenly over his mouth. “Oh my God,” he whispered. “That’s horrible.” He shook his head. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Luca said, his voice hoarse. “I understand. I probably would have done the same thing. He didn’t bring me here. The Light did. It told me. It brought us all here.”
“What are you talking about?” Will asked.
Luca met his eyes. “I’ll tell you on the way, but first we have to get to your house and get the vial.” He choked and coughed, then caught his breath before he said, “By the way, thank you for taking care of me.”
Will’s eyes were blank. “What do you mean?”
“When the other Luca’s parents died,” he said. “You took care of him. And when I was lost, the other you took care of me here. You and the other Will were always there for us, and I never really had a chance to fully say thank you.”
Will blushed. “Of course,” he said, then put his hand on old Luca’s shoulder.
“Now,” Luca said. “You have to bring me to the vial. I am the only one who can open it. If anyone else opens it, bad things will happen.”
“How do you know?” Will asked.
“Dog Vader, the Indian, the Light,” Luca said. Then, he pointed to his head and said, “It’s okay, you can come inside. See for yourself.”
Will looked baffled, but then Boricio watched his father’s face flicker with the same vacancy it always did when he entered another’s mind. A second later, Will’s face went white. “Oh my—”
* * * *
CHAPTER 9 — Ed Keenan Part 1
Black Island, New York
April 2012
SIX MONTHS AFTER THE EVENT…
“They’d better be okay,” Ed said to Sullivan as they crossed the long hallway. “I did my job and brought Boricio back. You all had better of kept them safe.”
“Yes, and as I think you will now see, we’re not the bad guys. We held our word.”
Sullivan waved his hand on a panel outside the final door on the right, then stood back as it slid open to a small dorm-like room, similar to the one where he’d stayed before heading south to find Boricio, except this one had two beds. Jade was sitting on one, with Teagan beside her, holding a baby girl.
Ed stepped inside, then Sullivan nodded and left them alone.
Ed’s heart swelled the moment he saw them — not just Jade, but Teagan and her baby as well. It felt like an eternity since he last saw either one smile. Jade’s eyes widened in shock as she leapt from her bed, squealing with more enthusiasm than he’d seen from her in years.
She hugged him tight while crying, “Dad! Oh God, I never thought I’d see you again!”
As Ed lost himself in his daughter’s embrace, he felt the thousand pounds of the past six months slide from his shoulders.
“Are you okay?” he asked, holding her tight, closing his eyes, and not wanting to let go. “Did they hurt you?”
“No, I’m fine. We’re both fine. They took good care of us.”
Ed opened his eyes to see Teagan, now standing and holding her baby girl up for Ed to see.
“This is Becca,” Teagan said, beaming.
“She’s beautiful,” Ed said, hugging Teagan and looking do
wn at the baby.
Seeing a fresh-faced innocent infant after seeing so much death and desolation in the world, felt like a balm — a balm which promised that the world wasn’t thoroughly lost just yet. There was hope. There were babies to be born, and so long as he breathed, someone willing to protect them and their mothers.
Jade and Ed sat on one bed, while Teagan sat on the other, holding Becca, catching one another up on the last several months. Ed toned down some of what he’d seen so as not to terrify the girls any more than he had to, particularly Teagan who was so young and had grown up so sheltered.
Ed was happy to find their events relatively mundane. They spoke through many minutes of all the things the girls weren’t saying — all the things he could feel them wanting to say, but for some reason couldn’t. Once the awkward glances and silences grew too frequent to ignore, Ed had to chew on his bottom lip to keep himself from demanding answers. Whatever news they were hiding, he wouldn’t like it a bit.
Did something happen to Jade?
Did someone here knock her up?
What aren’t they saying?
Ed couldn’t take it any longer. He finally blurted, “What is it you girls aren’t telling me?”
Teagan and Jade traded a glance.
“Tell him,” Jade said.
“I can’t,” Teagan shook her head.
“Someone better tell me something,” Ed said.
“I met someone,” Teagan said, her face flushed, bright red like a schoolgirl admitting her first crush. And other than the guy who put the bun in her oven, this might have been her first crush.
“Ohhhhkay,” Ed said, shifting on the bed, waiting for the other shoe to hit the floor. “And?”
“This is so weird,” she said, looking toward the door instead of Ed’s eyes.
“Yeah, super weird,” Jade agreed, raising her eyebrows.
“Stop it,” Teagan said.
“I’m sorry, it’s just . . . well, you know,” she said.
Ed was getting frustrated with all the coded young girl chatter, “Will someone just say it?!”
Teagan turned to him, then blurted, “I’m seeing Ed Keenan. The other Ed Keenan,” then quickly looked away again.
Ed stood, feeling a flush of anger as if he were the girl’s father. “What?!” he tried not to roar, and mostly failed.
“I know, I know, I didn’t expect it to happen. Believe me,” she said in a way that made Ed feel as though he were the last old codger in the world a girl like her would find attractive.
“Yeah, right?” Jade said, smiling.
“But,” Teagan continued. “He took care of me and Becca, and he was so nice.”
“I’ll bet he did,” Ed said, about to storm from the room and go beat the shit out of the pervert who was old enough to be the girl’s father.
“No, Dad!” Jade cried, jumping from the bed and inserting herself between him and the door with her hands out. “It isn’t like that.”
“It’s not,” Teagan pleaded. “He is so sweet. He never even tried anything. It was just friendship for a long time.”
“He held you prisoner,” Ed said. “He kept you, both of you, hidden from me while he forced me to work for the Black Island Guard, to put my life on the line for them! I don’t know what you think you know about him, but he’s not a decent man. No decent man would take advantage of a gullible teenage girl like that.”
Teagan rested Becca on the bed, then stood, her face red and twisted with fury. “What? Do you think I’m some stupid hillbilly girl who got suckered by the first man she met? Maybe you think I have daddy issues or something, making me a ripe target for a pervy old guy? Is that it?”
Ed was exasperated, as he’d felt so many times with Jade. “It’s not an insult to say you’re young and inexperienced, is it? It’s the truth. It doesn’t reflect badly on you that an old guy took advantage of you. It’s on him. He should know better. I only know a little bit of what you told me about your dad, and I hate to use a cliché, but yes, you do have daddy issues. Hell, most people have daddy issues. Find someone whose father wasn’t an asshole, or busy, or somehow messed them up just a little, and I’ll show you the face of a certified liar. I’m sure I screwed Jade up, too. Fathers do dumb shit because, most times, they were too damned young or too damned stupid to know any better. And it messes up their kids — boys and girls both. It’s just when it comes to girls, it manifests in a way that makes them needy, and—”
“Just stop it, Dad,” Jade said. “She doesn’t need a lesson in family dynamics from you, of all people. It’s her life, and Ed, despite being another version of you, is a surprisingly sweet man. And, he’s emotionally available.”
Ed ignored the slight. He didn’t feel like arguing with the girls, particularly after just reconciling with his daughter.
He looked at Teagan, meeting her wounded eyes. He offended her, and as he took a moment to calm down, felt bad. He wasn’t wrong. Even if the other Ed was a perfectly nice guy, he was still too damned old for her. When it came down to it, who was he to question her choices, to say her love wasn’t real just because it may have been borne of circumstance?
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m not sure I’m wrong about this, but I am sorry I shot my mouth off before waiting to see for myself. It’s just that I—” He stopped himself before he went on to say that he was all too familiar with how guys like this operate, because that would only reinforce all the things he’d already said. And he was trying to make things right — for a bit anyway, until he grabbed a hold of the other Ed and got a feel for his take on the relationship.
Ed continued, “It’s just that I kind of got attached to you . . . even though you were a massive pain in my ass.”
He grinned and Teagan smiled back through her watery eyes.
“You’re like a daughter to me, Teagan, and I just want to make sure you’re okay. If you say he treats you right, and he’s helped you, that’s all that matters right now. Things could’ve been so much worse. I thought I might never see either of you again. But here we are, and for a moment anyway, let’s just be happy with that.”
He held his arms out, inviting them both to hug him.
He felt weird and uncharacteristically affectionate, and a bit like a phony, but he forced himself to do it anyway, because he knew it was the right thing to do. It’s what a loving, happy father — surely, there must be some in the world — would do.
They embraced, and to Ed’s surprise, the hug felt right.
**
The door slid open, with the other Keenan and Sullivan on the other side, standing beside Boricio Bishop.
Ed looked at Other Keenan, giving him a glare to let him know he knew. Other Keenan met his gaze without defense, offering only a subtle nod. He said, “We’re rounding up a few people to go and get the vial. I don’t know if it’s gonna do anything, but Will, Luca, and Boricio seem to think it’s our only hope of defeating the aliens.”
“How?” Ed asked.
“I’m not going to pretend to know,” Keenan said, “but I think we’ve all seen enough weird stuff that it’s justifiable to go on faith here, and trust in something beyond what we know. Will, the other Luca, and Boricio all say that if Luca can get the vial, it could counteract the spreading infection and possibly return you all to your homes.”
Ed wasn’t sure if their faith was good enough, but it wasn’t like they could make the situation much worse if their attempt failed.
“What about you all?” Ed asked. “If it returns us to our world, what will it do to you, the few natives?”
“I have no idea,” Other Keenan said. “But there’s so few of us, versus so many people from your world, that I must act in the interest of the greater good.”
Ed looked back at Teagan, uncertain if she were doing the same mental math as he — and figuring that if they were returned home, she and her new guy could be split up. If so, she wasn’t reacting yet.
“OK,” Ed said. “Let me get to the armory and I�
�ll—”
“No,” Other Keenan shook his head and put a hand to Ed’s chest. “I need you to stay.”
“Like hell,” Ed took a step back, shrugging Other Keenan’s hand from his body. “I’m not sitting here hiding away while you all go out there. It’s too dangerous.”
“That’s exactly why I want you here,” Other Keenan said, calmly. “If something happens to us, or, God forbid, the vial turns us into more of these mutants, then I need someone here who can defend the Facility. Who can help rebuild things.”
“What do you mean, rebuild?”
Sullivan stepped forward and held up a glass sphere with an orange swirling light inside.
“What the hell is that?” Ed asked.
Sullivan answered, “This is our Hard Reset Protocol. The island is built on top of a machine which emits a powerful blast of energy that will disrupt the life of any living thing on the island. Plants, animals, people, aliens, all of it wiped out within seconds of activating the sphere.”
“A Doomsday device?” Ed’s eyes were wide, his voice almost hoarse. “What about everyone in here?”
Sullivan continued, “The Facility’s seventh and eighth levels are lined with lead and a counter energy field which starts up once the Hard Reset Protocol is initiated. Everyone inside will be safe.”
“What about you?” Teagan said, looking at her lover.
“If we use this, then that means we were already lost,” Other Keenan said.
Teagan cried out, “You’re not going out there, are you?”
Other Keenan nodded. “I have to,” he said. “It’s my island. My duty.”
Ed shook his head. “Let me go in your place,” he said.
“No, Daddy,” Jade now argued. “You just got back. You said you almost died. Do you really want to be away from me so much that you’re gonna run out again and throw yourself into yet more danger?”
