by Simon Rose
Chapter Twenty
Return to Reality
“OH, MY GOD!”
Max was shocked at the sound of Julia’s voice. He gasped as he realized that he was in the van as he and Julia sped away from the shopping mall after being attacked by Kane’s associates. Max then saw Kane step into the road in front of them, blocking their exit from the parking lot.
“What do I do?” Julia exclaimed.
“Drive!” yelled Max, remembering what had happened the last time that he’d been in this situation.
“What?” she said, shaking her head. “Are you crazy?”
“Just do it!” Max snapped. “Trust me.”
Julia slammed her foot on the gas pedal and drove directly at Kane. Just as Max recalled, Kane furrowed his brow as he began focusing his power. Beside Max in the driver’s seat, Julia was struggling to retain control of the steering wheel as Kane fought to penetrate her brain. Kane was only a few feet ahead of the oncoming van when Max grabbed the steering wheel to wrench it to one side so that the van could swerve to avoid hitting Kane. Yet this time, to Max’s horror, he felt the familiar pressure inside his head as Kane directly attacked his mind. Max lost his grip on the wheel and Julia steered away from Kane, but instead of the van smashing into the parked cars as it had done before, Max’s side of the vehicle collided with a concrete post before the front of the van slammed into a nearby brick wall.
The impact wrecked the passenger door, and Max was thrown out of the van and onto the ground. As he sat up, he gasped when he saw Julia slumped over the steering wheel behind the shattered windshield, her face covered in blood. Kane approached the van, and as he opened the driver’s door, Max struggled to his feet, but could barely stand as pain shot down his left leg. He steadied himself on the adjacent wall, unsure whether his leg was broken but knew that he had to run as best he could. Breathing heavily, he turned and hurried away from the scene of the accident into the covered parking area, almost dragging his left leg behind him.
“Get him,” Kane yelled to his two accomplices, as they raced over to the wrecked van.
Max hadn’t got far when he stumbled, and the man with the ponytail and the tall slim woman caught up with him. As Max lay slumped against the wall, the man reached out and grabbed Max tightly by the throat.
“Not so tough now, are you,” he sneered.
Max choked and began to black out as the man tightened his grip.
“Leave him,” said the woman. “Kane needs him alive.”
The man cursed and spat on the ground as he let Max go.
“What . . . what are you going to do?” said Max.
“You’ll see soon enough,” said the woman.
She then smiled, furrowed her brow, and Max quickly lost consciousness.
WHEN MAX SLOWLY opened his eyes, he saw that he was in what appeared to be an empty warehouse. To his left was a large steel door. There were only four windows located high on the opposite wall and it was daylight outside. Max’s arms were tied behind his back by a length of rope that was attached to a rusty vertical steel pillar. The pain in his leg had subsided a little, but the right side of his head was throbbing and he could taste blood in his mouth. In this reality, he and Julia clearly hadn’t managed to escape. Kane had attacked them both and the van had crashed. But what had happened to Julia? She’d looked very badly hurt. Max frantically scanned his surroundings but Julia was nowhere to be seen.
“He’s awake.”
Max turned his head to see the man with the ponytail.
“You’re very lucky that Kane wants you alive,” the man snarled.
“Where’s Julia?” said Max. “What have you done with her?”
The man simply smiled and walked away as another figure approached. It was the woman with the short black hair.
“I hope you’re ready for this, kid,” she said, grinning.
Max began to experience an all too familiar uncomfortable sensation inside his head. He heard footsteps approaching from behind the pillar, and then suddenly Kane was standing in front of him. He was once again dressed in blue jeans and a white tee shirt. His dirty blonde hair was swept back from this face, revealing the trademark scar along the side of his face and neck.
“Glad to see you weren’t too damaged in the crash,” he said. “Your friend wasn’t so lucky when she swerved to avoid me and hit that wall, but you’re the one I want, aren’t you, Max?”
“Are you sure, Kane?” asked the man with the ponytail. “You said the girl seemed to be very powerful when you were controlling those people at the parking lot.”
Kane nodded.
“Yes, I did,” he replied. “But she’s dead now. There was definitely something about him that I noticed when I killed Evans and the others. I need to probe his mind to be sure. Max knows a lot more than he’s letting on, don’t you, Max?”
“So what?” said the woman. “Why aren’t we meeting up with the others? After what happened at the mall and that van crashing, the cops will be everywhere.”
“I’m sure you noticed what I was able to do with the cops,” said Kane, sneering. “We just need to stay here until it’s dark, and then we can connect with the others outside the city. This won’t take long.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Max, his voice trembling.
“I’m going to look into that brain of yours, Max,” Kane replied. “It’s very intriguing. You have knowledge of things that you shouldn’t have, things that I’ve been thinking about too and I’m not sure why.”
Kane grinned as his brow furrowed and intense pain began to fill Max’s head. There was no escape this time. Julia was dead and Kane was going to find out everything. Max did his utmost to resist but was helpless as Kane burrowed ever deeper inside his mind.
“Incredible,” Kane murmured. “How’s this even possible?”
His piercing pale blue eyes narrowed as he increased his focus. Max screamed in agony but then to his astonishment, the shimmering phenomena returned. This time it was swiftly followed by the dissolving effect that he’d experienced during his attempt to escape from Hammond’s clinic. Kane’s accomplices quickly became part of the increasingly bizarre surroundings as their shapes disintegrated but Kane remained fully intact. He broke off his probe of Max’s mind, taking a step back as he looked all around him in confusion.
“What the hell’s going on?” he demanded. “Are you doing this?”
He furrowed his brow again and resumed his mental assault. Max felt as if his head was going to explode before the warehouse vanished in a burst of brilliant white light.
MAX WAS BACK in the circular room, surrounded by the mosaic made up of fragments from thousands of realities. The pain in his leg and the throbbing at the side of his head had completely vanished.
“Max!”
He turned around to see Julia, who ran toward him, and they briefly embraced. Her hair was shorter, light brown, and she was still wearing her plain white tee shirt and black jeans.
“Thank God you’re safe,” she said, taking a step back.
“I was with Kane,” he replied, his hands shaking. “And those two people that were helping him at the mall. They’d captured me and you’d been killed when the van crashed. Kane seemed to be ready to carry out all the plans we stopped.”
Julia nodded.
“I sensed that you were with him, but I didn’t know all the details. I couldn’t risk going there myself. If I’d have gone to rescue you in person, Kane would surely have known all about us and God knows what effect that might have had. You’re safe here.”
Max was relieved but something about his new environment unnerved him. He then noticed that everything was moving within each of the multiple shards covering the walls, ceiling, and floor.
“The images in the glass,” he said. “It wasn’t like that here before. What’s going on?”
“The barriers between all the different realities are close to being totally broken. Things are changing so quickly now.”
&n
bsp; Julia explained what had happened in her most recent reality, where Kane seemed to be alive again too.
“So, you’re a different person there,” said Max. “Your hair, even your clothes. They’re not exactly your usual style.”
Julia smiled.
“I guess so,” she replied. “In the first world I went to, my birth mother was alive and I had a stepfather. I’d totally forgotten about you but I really felt as if I was happy there. It was almost like a perfect world, just like the one where I left you at your party.”
“Can we go back there, together?” Max asked.
Julia shook her head.
“I don’t exist there, Max. Kane died as a boy in that reality. We both have to go back to our own ideal realities, if that’s even possible anymore.”
“But won’t this keep happening?”
Julia nodded
“We, or rather I, released something that can’t be controlled. My powers are developing so fast that I’m not learning how to control them properly. I think I’ve been triggering all those effects, like the one in the park and the one that I experienced when I was talking to my mother, even the one that you just experienced before you were with Kane.”
“The shimmering in the corridor at the clinic was more intense than I’d seen it before,” said Max. “Everything seemed to be dissolving around me, too, then mixing together. It was really weird. The same thing happened when I was with Kane and the others in that warehouse.”
Julia nodded.
“Yes, and it’s getting worse. If Hammond gets his way so that he has his perfect world, I’m pretty sure that could cause all the other realities to continue randomly combining forever.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“No,” Julia admitted. “But it’s a pretty powerful hunch.”
Suddenly, the glass behind Julia shattered and Hammond stepped into the room.
“What’s this?” he said, looking all around him in bewilderment.
“Julia!” exclaimed Max.
Before Julia could react, Hammond plunged a needle deep into her neck and she collapsed to the floor. Max took a step forward but Hammond recovered his composure, brandishing the needle.
“Stay back,” he said. “There’s still enough left in here for you as well.”
“What did you do?” Max demanded.
“Relax,” said Hammond, grinning, as he stood over Julia. “She’s not dead, but she’ll not be waking up for a while. Then this will all be over, for good.”
“What are you going to do to her?”
“I’m going take all her brain fluid, Max. It contains everything I need to finally be with my family forever.”
He examined his surroundings again.
“I’m not sure where we are, but it’s time to go back to somewhere more familiar. I don’t really need you at all, but I think this little adventure of yours deserves some kind of appropriate closure, don’t you?”
“What do you mean?” said Max.
Hammond merely smiled.
“Oh, you’ll see.”
He lunged and grabbed Max’s wrist, and Max then suddenly reappeared in a familiar location.
Chapter Twenty-One
The Accused
MAX WAS BACK in the interview room at Hammond’s clinic. Sitting opposite him at the table was Officer Jensen and another police officer that Max didn’t recognize. His dad wasn’t with him in the interview room this time, and Bethany was also absent. Max glanced all around him, trying not to panic. The camera up on the wall looked to be undamaged. Which reality was he in now?
“Officer Jensen?” Max said, calmly.
“Yes, that’s right, Max,” replied Jensen.
“What are you doing here?” Max asked. “Where’s my dad?”
Jensen turned to his colleague.
“You were right,” he said. “He blacked out again. Max, you know why Officer Riley and I are here. We brought you to Dr. Hammond’s clinic where you can be cared for and looked after. We’ve talked about this many times.”
“What’s going on?” said Max. “Where’s Hammond?”
Riley then spoke.
“Dr. Hammond’s on his way, Max,” she said. “Is there anything else you need to say to us?”
“Where’s Julia?” Max demanded. “What have you done with her?”
Riley sighed as she turned to address Jensen.
“He really doesn’t know, does he?”
Jensen shook his head, sadly.
“No, but he’s in the best place. The doctors here are very experienced with this kind of thing.”
They both stood up from their chairs.
“No!” Max exclaimed. “You have to tell me! Where is she?”
At that moment, the door opened, and Mark stepped inside, followed by Hammond.
“You!” said Max, getting to his feet and stepping back from the table. “What have you done?”
“Do you want us to stay, Dr. Hammond?” said Riley. “He could easily become violent again.”
“No,” Hammond replied. “Thank you, but that’ll be fine. We can always sedate him, if needed.”
Jensen nodded and Riley gave Max a sad smile before both officers turned and left the room. Max kept his distance, edging toward the second door that led to the other hallway.
“Do you want me to give him something, Doctor?” Mark asked.
“No,” said Hammond. “It’ll be fine. You can leave us.”
“Are you sure?” Mark asked. “What if he goes crazy, like he did last time?”
“I’ll call you if I need anything,” Hammond replied. “You’re the only one on duty tonight, aren’t you?”
“Yes, since he’s our only patient at the moment, but I have access to minimum security too,” said Mark. “You’re sure he doesn’t need anything?”
“It’s fine,” Hammond replied. “Max and I just need to have a talk, don’t we, Max?”
Mark nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him.
“Sit down, Max,” said Hammond.
Max hesitated but he knew that he wasn’t going anywhere. He sat back down at the table, still not entirely sure if this was a version of Hammond that knew who he was or was a different version of the doctor entirely.
“Yes, Max, it’s me,” said Hammond, remaining standing. “So, you can stop wondering. I’m still able to travel into the body of any of my other selves, which has proved to be very unfortunate for you.”
“Where is she?” said Max. “Where’s Julia?”
“Oh, she’s here, but I’m afraid she’s not able to talk to you right now.”
“What have you done to Julia?” Max demanded.
“I haven’t done anything, Max. That was all your doing, or at least that’s what the police think.”
“What are you talking about?”
Hammond grinned.
“She’s dead, Max, or at least as good as dead. And you did it.”
“What!” Max gasped.
“She was found in the woods at Castlegate Park,” said Hammond, as he paced the room. “Just like you probably remember. It’s so hard to keep track of everything, isn’t it? This reality is very similar to the one where we first met, except here Dr. Bethany doesn’t work with me. The old man with the dog also didn’t find your friend Julia. She was in much worse shape too. She’d been badly beaten and all the prints and DNA evidence led the police right to you.”
“You did this!” Max yelled.
Hammond stopped pacing and simply smiled as he looked at Max.
“Yes, I did. I’ve become an expert in any reality in covering things up. And of course, in falsifying death certificates.”
“She’s still alive?” said Max.
“She was when she first got here,” Hammond replied. “I needed her alive so that I could extract as much of her brain fluid as I need to finally leave all the other realities and be with my family again forever.”
“What do you mean leave the other realities?” said Max
. “Even if you don’t visit the other worlds anymore, other versions of you will always exist somewhere.”
Hammond shook his head.
“No, they won’t. This final dose will combine all my other selves into one so that I’ll always be in my ideal world. I’ll no longer exist here or in any of the other universes, so that there’ll never be any danger of my leaving my family ever again.”
“But those other worlds are already starting to merge at random,” said Max.
“Yes, that’s certainly a possibility,” Hammond agreed. “There does seem to be a lot of instability at the moment. After you escaped from the clinic in the other reality with your friend’s help, I thought I’d have to go back to where we all started, where Dr. Bethany’s still waiting patiently for me to return. Your friend Julia has given me her power, only temporarily of course, when I’m using the serum enhanced with her brain fluid. But Julia’s homing signal still worked, now that I’m so connected to her and her unusual abilities. She was using so much power on holding you both in that weird place with all the glass fragments that it was easy to find her. I’d decided to take enough sedative to capture you both if you resisted and was then able to come to this world, your final destination.”
“Julia said that everything would collapse into chaos if the barriers aren’t restored.”
“What do I care about all the other universes?” said Hammond, dismissively. “I’ll have what I want and anyone in the other realities who ever wronged me will suffer. And I’ve even got my revenge on you and Julia.”
