Gingerbread Man: A Marlow and Sage Mystery (A Nursery Rhyme Suspense Book 1)

by Lee Strauss

  “What experiment?” Jake asked.

  Blaine ignored him and responded to Zed. “Kind of. Except our Henry was supposed to go there.”

  The lines in Jake’s thick forehead buckled deeper. “I thought he went to check on his mother?”

  “He did,” Blaine said. He looked put out having to answer Jake the jock’s questions. By the measurable increase of tension, I gathered there was some bad blood between them. “At least, I think he did, right after our last effort.”

  “I watched him leave this morning with a bicycle and a gas mask,” Zed said.

  Jake stared hard at me, his mouth morphing into a smirk. “Sorry, dude. Bad deal for you.”

  I ignored Jake the jock, like I did in every realm. “Where is his mother?” I asked. My mother, sort of.

  “She’s in Indiana visiting her sister,” Blaine answered. “She should be fine.”

  I nodded, relieved, picturing her playing Scrabble with my Aunt May. I hated to think of her suffering anywhere.

  Teagan stepped closer, pulled up a chair and sat. “What’s it like over there?” She smiled softly. “Must be better than here.”

  I sucked in a breath. For most people it was a hundred percent better, but not for her. “Yeah,” I said simply.

  51

  

  Marlow

  The science wing had laundry facilities to wash lab coats and lab rags. The staff room had a small kitchen where I assumed Zed and Teagan went with the canned goods they’d brought back.

  Sage had disappeared, leaving me with Blaine.

  I was suddenly overcome by a wave of fatigue. “I don’t suppose there’s a place I could lie down?”

  “Sure. There’s a cot in the staff room, beyond the kitchen.”

  “Where do you guys sleep?”

  “We’ve pulled mattresses from nearby dorms into one of the labs. We needed to clean off the soot, but fortunately they weren’t poisoned. We’ll drag the cot in later tonight for you. It’s warmer if we all sleep in one room together.”

  The eyes of the others watched me as I shuffled by in my scrubs, and I let out a long, hard sigh when I was finally alone. My mind went crazy processing everything that had happened, jumping from my life experiences in all three realms. The first one, mine, I didn’t even know Sage. Teagan was a chatroom fling. Zed and I played video games in our free time. I was basically a slacker in all areas of my life, including my studies. Then Teagan was killed.

  In the next realm, the green one, I met Sage. We had one goal and that was to save Teagan who had gone missing. I started to fall for that version of Sage. Despite the dark circumstances, she was strong and at times funny. There were moments when I thought she saw me as something more than a friend, but then she’d turn it off, and I’d feel stupid for even thinking I had a chance with someone like her.

  Besides, she wasn’t from my world, so it was just stupid overall.

  Now in this world, Teagan was safe but millions of people were dead and the United States was on the brink of losing its democratic government, if it hadn’t actually happened already. Blaine and my counterpart were driven to build a contraption that would transport them out of this world and into another. I didn’t blame them.

  It was a wonder I fell asleep.

  What felt like seconds later, I awoke to a soft knock. Sage peeked in. “Supper’s ready if you’re hungry.”

  My stomach growled. I was starved.

  Supper was a humble affair of warmed-up canned spaghetti, canned creamed corn and stale crackers. We sat on tall stools around one of the stainless-steel lab tables: Blaine at one end, Sage, Teagan and Zed along one side with me, and Nora sitting across from them. Jake took the other end of the table opposite Blaine.

  Everyone was looking at me.

  After several bites of spaghetti and corn, I finally said, “Are we exactly alike?”

  “Well, your hair is shorter,” Teagan said. She’d mentioned the hair difference before. “Our Henry wears a long ponytail.”

  I offered a half-grin. So this version of me was a hippie. I guessed that was cool.

  “He doesn’t wear hipster clothes,” Sage added wryly.

  “For the record, those clothes weren’t mine. They belonged to a guy named Ryan.”

  “Why were you wearing some other guy’s clothes?” Sage asked.

  “My own were in the wash. You stole them for me, actually.”

  Sage’s mouth dropped open. “I did?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  She smirked. “I can’t wait to hear it.”

  “What did you do in the other world?” Nora asked.

  “In my world I’m a science student at Detroit University. Zed, uh, Zabinski, is my roommate.”

  “Is your world under threat?” Zabinski asked.

  “Yeah. There’s always some war going on, often more than one. Jerusalem and Palestine, Russia and Ukraine, extreme Islam in the Arab states.”

  “Much like here,” Sage said. “Are your towers down in New York?”

  I nodded. “Yes, but not in the world I was at before this one.”

  “Wild,” Jake said as he scraped the last of his spaghetti from his bowl and spooned it into his mouth.

  The conversation turned to the last looting raid. “We need to keep going out,” Sage said. “Before things deteriorate further. We need to go wider, away from the fallout path.”

  “What’s your plan?” I asked.

  Jake threw me look of superiority. “To survive.”

  “I gathered that. I mean, in the long run?”

  “We’re hoping to get rescued,” Sage said. “If we can survive long enough, the army will arrive. The emergency broadcasts say they’re out looking for survivors. It’s still too soon after the bombs. Their resources are stretched.”

  “We’d hoped for some help from Canada,” Teagan said, “but the border cities are dealing with fallout from Chicago as well.”

  “Why don’t you just drive out?” I asked. “There are plenty of abandoned cars. There must be a way to hot-wire them.”

  Blaine shook his head. “The bombs emitted damaging electromagnetic pulses that screwed with the digital systems.”

  “So, older cars then? Before digital?”

  Jake scoffed. “There aren’t any older cars. The federal government recalled all old vehicles in 2000, offered a rebate as an incentive, though no one really had a choice. Within five years everyone had a new or relatively new car and the American auto industry was rebooted.”

  “Ah,” I said. Germany in my world had a similar program and a thriving auto industry to go with it, though I didn’t think they forced anyone to do it.

  It didn’t take long before we’d eaten to the bottom of the pot, and since I considered myself a guest, I took a spot on the couch in the staff room while the others cleaned up.

  After about twenty minutes, Teagan wandered in. She sat in a chair across from me. “This must be so weird for you.”

  Understatement. “It is.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” I asked.

  “That Tucker and Henry did this to you. I’m sure you’d rather be back in your world.”

  Back in my world I’d been chatting online with this girl. Back in my world, she had died.

  “I’m trying to look at it like an adventure. An education if you will.”

  Her rosebud lips pulled up into a smile. “Great attitude.”

  “It does in a pinch.”

  Her gaze dropped to her folded hands. I couldn’t stop staring at her. If things were different, if a homicidal maniac hadn’t been let loose on campus, she and I could’ve been friends. Could’ve been more than friends, even. Her lashes flickered and she looked like her mind was racing for the next thing to say. I understood her social discomfort and wanted to relieve her of it.

  “Knock, knock.”

  Her head snapped up, and by her confused expression it occurred to me belatedly that Knock-knock jokes may not hav
e been my best option. Why didn’t I ask her what music she liked? Something normal?

  She drew out her answer. “Who’s there?”

  “Iva.”

  “Iva who?”

  “I’ve a sore hand from knocking.”

  She laughed. “You’re a geek.”

  “I know.”

  She placed her fingers over her mouth. “It almost seems sacrilegious to laugh. Things are just so unimaginatively terrible.”

  “It’s even more important to have a sense of humor then,” I said. “Sometimes it’s the only way to get through a day.”

  Sage walked in and I was sure I saw a hint of disapproval cross her face. “Ten minutes until lights out. We go to bed early around here to preserve energy. Marlow, since you’re new, you can use the lavatory first.”

  “Sage, you called me Marlow.”

  “That’s just to keep from confusing you with Henry. And the name’s still Farrell.” She motioned to Teagan. “Hey, Lake, let’s give the guy some space.”

  Teagan released a small sigh, like she was used to taking orders from Sage, and left me alone.

  52

  

  Marlow

  It was back to finger-brushing my teeth. Someone had filled a petri dish with baking soda and I shook a little on my index finger. I grimaced at the sharp taste, rinsed my mouth and ran my tongue over my teeth. Better. My face was still tender from my involuntary power wash, so I decided to leave it alone for a day. My flesh had a rosy hue to it from the ordeal, like I’d spent one too many hours in the sun without sunscreen.

  True to his word, Blaine pulled the cot from the small nursing station into the lab room next door to the one we ate in. This one was freezing cold, since it hadn’t any heat or lights. An emergency candle burned on a counter that ran against the wall, shedding enough light for everyone to find their own beds, but not so much that you felt completely exposed to your neighbor.

  The mattresses were tucked pretty close together, to make the most of body heat, I assumed, and I felt like the odd man out with my elevated cot. Let me be truthful. I was even more of the odd man out. How much odder could you be than the guy who arrived from not one but two other universes?

  Sage and Teagan’s mattresses were pressed together, as were Jake’s and Nora’s. I was shoved against Zed and Blaine. It wasn’t a big lab room.

  When we were all tucked in like schoolchildren, Sage blew out the light. No one said anything. Not good night, no prayers, no nothing. Soon the room filled with light snoring and heavy breathing. Before long, I joined in.

  The early light of dawn streamed through the high windows, and I was pulled out of sleep. It took me a few seconds to remember where I was. This was the second time in three days I’d awoken in a bed that wasn’t my own, and the second time I awoke in a new realm. The mattresses on the floor around me were already empty, blankets straightened and pillows arranged like we were in an army camp rather than on college grounds.

  This world had raised military-minded students, more so than the others. They might not realize it, may think they were oblivious to the dangers that had loomed outside their walls, but on a subconscious level, they were more disciplined, more capable than their counterparts. I suspected their childhood may have been similar to those who’d grown up in the fifties in my world, subjected to the ever-present fear of a nuclear Soviet attack. All those drills in school and at home, all those backyard bunkers. It had to have an effect on a kid.

  Teagan gave me a sympathetic glance when I shuffled into the staff room kitchen. “We only have toast, but at least there’s lots of peanut butter.” She motioned to the jar next to the open bag of bread next to the toaster.

  I made my toast and carried it to the other room, not wanting to miss the plans for the day. Everyone was already dressed and putting on scrubs over their winter coats. They each chose a gun, checked the magazine and made sure they were loaded up before strapping the weapons on.

  “Who are you afraid of?” I asked. “I thought you expected the Army to arrive?”

  “That’s who were hoping will arrive,” Jake said. “But the terrorists have infiltrated. There are a lot of desperate people out there. We don’t know who will show up. Could be friend, could be foe.”

  “What are you going to do?” My question was directed at everyone, but Sage answered. “Tucker will stay with you. Maybe figure out a way to send you home. We take turns guarding the lab.” She nodded at Zed. “Zabinski’s up for that. The rest of us scout. Food, supplies, whatever.”

  I liked the idea of getting sent home. But really, I wanted to go back to the green realm. Teagan’s life was still in danger there. It was easy to forget that when another Teagan stood only feet away from me, safe and sound.

  They blew out of the lab leaving Blaine and me standing there in awkward silence. The way he watched me—I’d noticed his eyes on me often though I tried to ignore him—made me nervous. I felt like I was nothing more to him than an oversized lab rat, or a hairless chimpanzee.

  “Even though I’d like to go home,” I said, “I need to go back to the world I came from for a little while first.”

  “Oh?” Blaine said. “Why?”

  “Got unfinished business. Can you program your experiment to do that?”

  “I can try. No promises. Remember, I didn’t even know we’d brought you here in the first place.”

  I had to be content with the effort. “Okay, but I don’t suppose you have something else I can wear? I tugged on my loose pants. “I’d rather not arrive to wherever I end up in this.”

  “Sure, follow me.” Blaine led me to the room where all the lab coats and rags were washed. I knew my way there, since I’d had reason to wash a lab coat or two in my own world. I was happy to see a stack of clean, folded clothes sitting on a counter.

  “Pick out whatever you like,” Blaine said. “Let me know when you’re ready.”

  I found a pair of jeans whose previous owner shared my long legs and slender torso. Knowing I was likely slipping into the clothes of a dead man, probably a former student, someone I might even know in my world, was slightly macabre. There was a T-shirt that had “resident insomniac” printed on the front, and a dark green zip-up hoodie. I put on both of them.

  Blaine had donned lab glasses and a long lab coat. I didn’t know how necessary either item was, but some things were just habit, especially when it came to the lab.

  “I’ve had the privilege of meeting two other Blaine Tuckers,” I said. “Both are in the science track, but neither of them are as driven as you.”

  Blaine shot me a look. “I guess you could say the same thing about you and our Henry.”

  “True. What’s different here?”

  “Besides World War Three?”

  “You didn’t know this was going to happen. Or maybe you did, but you didn’t know it would happen now. Is that why? Were you just trying to find a way to escape?”

  “At first? No. At first it was just the rush of breaking through. And I thought it might be cool to see if my dad were alive another world. He died when I was three.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “I barely remember him. And I’d tossed out that possibility because I’d wrongly concluded that if he were dead here, he must be dead everywhere. But your story about Farrell’s brother proves I was wrong. It excites me that Dad could be alive somewhere.”

  “But then the bombs?”

  “That changed everything as you can imagine. Henry and I were really stoked about the possibility of escaping this world. That’s why he left to see his mother. He decided he needed to say good-bye. When he gets back, we’re going to work on our experiment until we’re both the hell out of here.”

  “What about the other yous? The ones in those other worlds? No worries about splitting the universe and all that?”

  “We’d have to leave Detroit. Start over. Get new names. Just make sure we never meet. I mean, I don’t really know what would happen if we met. Bu
t as a precaution, I’d make every effort not to.”

  The addition of Blaine Tucker and Marlow Henry into another world had to effect the cosmos somehow, even if they didn’t meet their counterparts, and probably not in a good way, especially if it was permanent. But for right now, I couldn’t worry about that. I just had to work with Blaine to get out of here myself.

  The experiment took place in a converted storage room. Blaine instructed me to stand on a circular pad. An identical pad hung overhead. Blaine fiddled with knobs and numbers. “We’re creating an energy field. You’ll feel electricity, like a shock, as the photons and electrons are scrambled.”

  “Dude,” I said, “just fyi. When I jump, it feels like I’m being struck by lightning.”

  Blaine flashed a crooked grin. “Good to know.”

  Time ticked by. My legs and back grew sore from standing. My nerves were taut with the anticipation of bone-rattling shock waves. I threw Blaine a look of frustration.

  He scratched his head. “I don’t know why it’s not working.”

  “Let’s take a break,” I said. “My legs are tired and I’m getting a tension headache.”

  Blaine checked the time. “The others will be back soon anyway. They never stay out for more than two hours.”

  “Because of the radiation?”

  “It’s dying down, thankfully, but it’s still better to be safe than sorry. What we need is a good rain.”

  Or a good storm. “The weather was always wonky, each time I jumped,” I said. “Well, the first time I made contact through another realm was through the Internet.”

  Blaine stilled. “What do you mean?”

  “I’d made contact with Teagan, actually. My realm to hers, but only through a chat room online. It wasn’t until the second freak storm that I physically jumped to Teagan’s world. And it hurt like hell. Like I said, I thought I’d been struck by lightning.

  “Interesting. We’ve had unsettled weather the last couple days. Sheet lightning. Maybe something is happening on a molecular level in the atmosphere. Maybe the effect of our experimentation isn’t limited to what we’re doing in the storage room. Maybe the recent injection of radiation has something to do with it.” He scratched his head again. “Let me think about this.”