Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy

by P. Anastasia

  “Gonna have to let it sit a while, though. It’s super hot.” She pried the lid off the top and scooped a dollop of whipped cream off with her tongue. Then she popped the lid back on and set the cup by her feet.

  “Yeah. Mine, too.” I set mine down beside hers. “Oh well. We’ve got some time before your mom gets home.”

  She leaned her head against my shoulder.

  “So, what do you want for Christmas, Alice?” I had to ask, seeing how I’d already screwed up the drink order.

  “Having you is more than enough,” she replied, tightening her arm around mine.

  Nice answer, but not helpful.

  “No, really. I don’t even know where to start this year. Any ideas at all would be great considering how short on time I already am. Sorry.”

  “A kitten!” She squealed and bit her lip.

  My eyes widened and my smile went flat.

  “Just kidding! But I would like a cat someday, so I hope you’re okay with that.”

  “Sure.” I shrugged. Cats. Kids. Dogs. Whatever. I didn’t care one way or another as long as it made her happy.

  “Yes!” She rubbed her hands together excitedly.

  “But really, Alice. Something I can actually get you this year?”

  “Oh, right.” She screwed her face up and squinted. “Hmm. Trying to think of something I haven’t already told Mom or Sam. Oh, I don’t know, Brian. I don’t need anything else.” She tangled her fingers around her dolphin pendant and shrugged. “I still love this, though. I can’t think of anything. Really.”

  Apparently, I’d never top the necklace I’d given her for her birthday…

  “Wait! I’ve got an idea! How about… oh, God.”

  I shuddered, feeling it, too.

  Emptiness. Silence. A tingling on my skin.

  The earth stopped.

  And then we fell.

  Chapter 13

  We landed with a thud on rough, hard ground. I scrambled to my feet and brushed dust from my jeans. Alice knelt beside me with her hand on her forearm, groaning in pain.

  “Are you alright?” I helped her to her feet. She had bashed her arm against the concrete when we’d hit down and a bloody smudge decorated her skin.

  “Yeah. Everything hurts.” She rubbed the back of her leg with her hand. “They didn’t have to drop us in the middle of…”

  “Goddamn it!” someone shrieked behind us.

  We both veered our heads.

  Kareena clenched her fists and pushed her lower lip out. “Where the hell are we?” she growled, stamping a high-heel on the pavement.

  A flash of light caught my attention and I looked away from it. An unmistakable landmark loomed in the distance.

  “Shit.” I released Alice’s hand unintentionally.

  Towering above a series of other buildings, the tip of the Eiffel Tower shimmered in white and gold lights. Behind that, a huge black glass pyramid beamed with a blazing spotlight shooting straight from its peak toward the stars.

  “We’re in Las Vegas,” I said, shaking my head. “Las-freaking-Vegas.”

  I pulled Alice closer and tangled my arm around hers.

  “Don’t take a step without me, please,” I whispered. “We can’t get separated here.”

  Kareena came up beside us. “How the hell did we get here?”

  “I don’t know, but… ugh.” I shivered, shocked by a brisk gust of wind that blew past, and pulled the collar of my shirt up around my throat. I reached into my pocket and took out my phone. It wouldn’t turn on.

  “Damn it!” I shoved it back into my pocket. “Alice, can you check yours?” She and Kareena had already taken theirs out.

  “Nothing,” Alice confirmed. “It’s like the battery’s dead.”

  “Piece of shit!” Kareena whacked her phone against her palm.

  “That’s not going to help,” I said, rolling my eyes. “The Saviors must have done something to them. Who knows? We need to get out of here. So let’s figure out what we’re here for so we can get it over with and hopefully be sent home. Fast. It’s late, and I sure as hell don’t want to be trapped in Las Vegas for the rest of the night. Or week, for that matter.”

  “Where is everyone? I’d pictured Vegas as a really busy place,” said Alice, peering down the empty street. “There’s no one here.”

  “The city that never sleeps, right?” I added.

  “That’s New York City, genius,” Kareena sneered, propping her hand on her hip. “This is Sin City.”

  “Oh, right. Well, excuse me.”

  A creepy crawly sensation swept over me. My stomach tightened and Alice squeezed my arm. I sucked a quick breath through my teeth just before the earth disappeared from beneath my feet again.

  We touched down on solid ground a second later and I shielded my eyes with the back of my hand. A million lights glistened. I eased my eyes open and looked around. Vivid colors. LEDs. Giant overhead speakers blasting music. Animated screens bombarding us with advertisements. Sights and sounds came from every corner.

  I took a deep breath and smelled nothing. Surreal, eerie emptiness. Like a dream.

  A glowing green sign hung above the entrance of the strip.

  Fremont Street.

  The wide, covered, street-like strip mall of windows and storefronts went on for as far as I could see on both sides. Even the curved ceiling brandished an enormous fitted screen that made it into a massive moving advertisement. Casinos and bars everywhere. An oversized block of red and yellow lights electrified the word Mermaids!. Something I didn’t even attempt to fathom.

  “Hey!” Kareena stumbled forward and let out an angry huff, swerving around as if someone had shoved her from behind. “Who the…”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. It felt like someone pushed me.”

  I held my breath.

  Smoky, faded silhouettes began to materialize. Hundreds of them. Surrounding us. Moving. Pushing past each other. I dodged the nearest one I saw and quickly jerked Alice out of the way of another.

  The silhouettes manifested into definable human shapes but remained a little boxy and blurred, like video streamed at low bandwidth. Identifiable if you looked hard enough, but distorted from a distance.

  “Well, that answers your question about the people,” I said. “Come on, Alice. Kareena. Let’s be careful not to bump into anyone. Seeing how you got slammed by someone earlier, it’s safe to assume they can feel us even if they can’t see us. Watch where you’re going, okay?” I clutched Alice’s arm tightly and we walked through the street, avoiding the crowd and dodging street performers and vendors who were scurrying around like frenzied ants.

  A buzzing noise sounded overhead and we cut glances toward the ceiling. Someone zoomed by, dangling from an indoor zip line. Then a massive LED screen flashed just off to our side above an entryway. The ad featured a blond in a bikini pretending to strip behind a huge censor box. A gentlemen’s club.

  “Ew.” Alice huddled closer. “I hope we don’t have to go in there.”

  “I doubt it,” I reassured her, looking into her eyes. Her pupils were so big and anxious, they nearly blocked out the blue. “Why would we need to?” I hooked an arm around her back and cupped her shoulder. “I doubt the Saviors have a sense of humor.” I tried to laugh, but it came out as an awkward chuckle. “Anyway. Don’t worry about that right now.”

  “What are we supposed to do here?” she asked, fixating on a giant cowboy-shaped sign in the distance. “This place is soooo crowded and… loud.” She slumped over and cupped her face in her hands. “Ohhhh, my ears hurt.”

  Kareena stared off into the distance, her eyes wide and her focus darting from side to side.

  “Kareena?” I reached to touch her arm and she jolted. “Do you see something?”

  She whispered her response so quietly that I was forced to read her lips: “Yes.”

  “Well?”

  A
high-pitched whine reverberated in her throat. “There are so many of them. Oh my God.” She turned and looked me in the eye. “There are so many infected people here.”

  Infected people?

  She meant people with white light inside them—sleepers, she called them—people who had dormant Savior DNA. Like the boy at school Alice had shocked a while back. And Peter. These people had a passive form—uncolored fluorescence—as Kareena described it to us.

  “So, Alice is supposed to start these people?” I asked. “How many are there, really?” I gasped. “Hey, Alice!” I yanked her out of the way of another street performer she hadn’t even noticed dancing toward her—a woman dressed as Marilyn Monroe. Quite a pretty one at that. So many beautiful girls strutting around.

  Stay focused.

  “There are dozens,” Kareena replied, shaking her head. “Like… a hundred or more. I don’t know. I just see white lights everywhere. Bouncing around the street. Going in and out of buildings. They’re everywhere. And I mean freaking everywhere.”

  “So, I assume they want Alice to deal with all of them?”

  “I’m guessing yes.” Kareena shrugged. “Why else would we have been dropped right in the middle of a place with so many sleepers?”

  I heaved a sigh. “Fine! Come on. Let’s get this over with so we can get home. Kareena, can you tell her who she needs to touch?”

  “I’m on it. Just give me a sec. Crap. There are a lot of them.”

  We set out walking.

  “Him.” Kareena pointed at blurry man with bright yellow shirt. “The one wearing the ugly shirt.”

  Alice clammed up.

  “Alice, touch him.” I nudged her. “Please? It won’t hurt you.”

  “It’s not me I’m worried about,” she muttered. “We have no idea what we’re doing to these people.”

  The man pushed by and passed us.

  “I’m more concerned with what the Saviors will do to us if we don’t go through with this.” I tugged her arm gently. “Alice. Just do it. Go on!” I followed him and pulled her alongside me.

  Finally, she reached out a shaky hand and squeezed her eyes shut. Her fingers brushed against his and he slowed on contact, his movement seemingly missing frames as his walk turned sluggish and jerky, like a sloppy flipbook animation.

  Then, as if he had just been rendered into HD, his outline sharpened and he became crystal clear. Now we could easily differentiate him from all the other infected and non-infected who remained out of focus.

  “So that worked?” I asked, watching Alice nervously clutch her hand close to her chest.

  “Yeah.” Kareena nodded. “It’s definitely active. The light is a lot brighter inside him now.”

  “Then let’s keep moving,” I said. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go home. Don’t be so frightened, Alice.” I took her hands into mine. “I’m here with you. I won’t let… watch it!” I stepped to the side and pulled her with me, narrowly avoiding a collision with a trio of ‘20s style gangsters marching by. Black and white suits, fake Tommy guns and all. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Okay?”

  “I don’t want to be here.” She hunched over. “It’s so bright. Loud. I don’t like being around so many people. It’s like the place is closing in on me and…”

  “I don’t want to be here either. But I don’t think we can leave until we finish what they put us here for. Alice, please. You don’t have to feel like you’re alone. You have me, and I’ll protect you any way I can.”

  “Oh my God, you guys!” Kareena groaned. “Alice, stop being a little bitch and let’s get this over with.”

  I glared at Kareena, a nasty threat on the tip of my tongue, wrinkling my lips.

  She rolled her eyes at me.

  “Sorry, Brian. But seriously, who knows how long we’ll be stuck here if we don’t get moving?”

  I couldn’t deny her rationale.

  “She’s kind of right, Alice. Let’s get through this so we can go home. Together.”

  Kareena gagged.

  “Quit it,” I snapped, shooting her another dirty look.

  “How many people do they need?” Alice asked. “This place is packed.”

  “I don’t know. But we can’t think about that right now. Let’s just do whatever the hell it is they want and hopefully they’ll get us out of here.”

  Along the street, contortionists folded themselves up, squeezing into tiny boxes. Girls did tricks with hula hoops. Drag queens paraded around in six-inch glittering heels between Elvis impersonators big and small. Camera flashes went off left and right. An oversized LED-encrusted Aladdin’s lamp sparkled in the distance.

  Scantily clad women danced on top of a long bar along the side of the street, pushing some type of alcoholic slush drinks. Music thumped from speakers perched overhead. I couldn’t hear myself think anymore.

  We made our way through the crowds, single file, as swiftly as we could, dodging people who hadn’t been infected and honing in on those who had. Couples, singles, groups of college-age girls and guys. Party-goers. A never-ending stream of people.

  “I don’t like this at all,” Alice said, folding her arms. “I don’t know any of these people. I hate touching strangers.”

  “It might be the only choice we have right now,” I replied, shrugging. “If I could take the responsibility from you I would, but I—”

  “Watch out!” Kareena shouted.

  I veered around just in time to sidestep a man stumbling toward me.

  “Him, too, by the way.” Kareena pointed. “He’s totally smashed, though. Sorry, Alice.”

  “Really? Ugh.” Alice growled. “Fine. Whatever.” She went marching after him. He weaved through the crowd, clumsily bumping into others.

  Alice crept up from behind and shimmied her way between people. I kept my eyes on her the entire time. Just as she came within a few feet of him, the man suddenly changed direction, veering around so quickly he lost his footing and toppled toward her.

  She lifted both hands into an offensive stance and slammed him in the chest with her palms, pushing him away. He fell back in creepy slow-motion, jittery and staggered like all the others she’d started before him. Then his image burst to life in crisp, vivid color.

  “That… worked?” Alice shuddered, her hands shaking.

  “Sure did,” Kareena confirmed, watching with a smirk as the disorientated man righted himself just in time to be escorted off by a pair of security guards. “Hey, at least now you know you don’t have to get all touchy-feely with them all.”

  “Great.” Alice exhaled. “That makes things a little easier.”

  A few dozen sleepers later, I started to feel pretty useless. There I was, following two girls around some parallel plane on the Vegas strip, watching them do some kind of job, while I dragged behind like baggage. I had healed Alice when she’d hit down, but now I felt like a third wheel. There was nothing for me to do. No way for me to help make this easier.

  “Hey!” Kareena stopped cold in her tracks and pointed. “You guys can’t see that, can you?”

  I looked, but only saw more of the same—out-of-focus people coming and going in all directions.

  “No,” I answered. “Unless you mean people. Lots of them, obviously.”

  “Come with me.” She gestured for Alice to follow. I tagged along behind them. “See that chick there? She has, like, black stuff in her and her outline is all dark and jagged. It’s totally not like the others. I mean, I think she definitely needs to be started, but it just looks different.”

  Alice jogged over to the woman and brushed her fingers against her forearm.

  Nothing happened. No clarity. No color change.

  She looked back at me and shook her head.

  “Try again?” I mouthed the words. The noise level would have drowned them out anyway.

  She briefly tapped the woman’s hand.

  Still, nothing.

  “Y
ou didn’t start her,” Kareena said, narrowing her eyes at the woman as she came walking past.

  “What do I do?” Alice began to panic. “What if we have to get all of them? What if they don’t let us go home? What if—”

  “Alice, calm down!” I held up my hands. “You’re sure about that one, Kareena?”

  “Totally.” She nodded.

  I returned my attention to Alice.

  “Just take a breath,” I said. “Let’s try it again.” I walked beside her toward the woman with the strange aura neither of us could see.

  As we approached, heat flushed through my fingertips and the hairs on the back of my neck perked up.

  “Brian!” Alice’s eyes widened. “You’re glowing!”

  I looked down.

  My left hand sparkled with hot blue light. A strange twinging sensation flushed through me and the heat in my arm intensified. The warmth flowed in my veins, pulsing and throbbing deeper and stronger.

  I reached a hand out and touched the woman’s shoulder.

  She froze in place.

  Blue light flickered through her, flashing like an explosion of tiny fireworks and then dissipating without a trace. She became a blur again.

  “That’s it!” Kareena rushed up beside me with a triumphant grin on her face. “That’s totally freaking it! Try again, Alice! I think it will work this time.”

  Alice stretched her fingers out and lifted her arm toward the woman. A quick tap and she recoiled.

  “It worked! I felt it.” She shook out her hand. “It shocked me a little more than usual, but it worked.”

  “It did,” Kareena confirmed.

  So, the Saviors had a plan for me, after all.

  There weren’t many sick ones in Vegas, but there were a good dozen or so, which made me feel useful enough.

  Of course, a few stragglers had popped into the strip clubs—where Alice refused to go—so we had no choice but to wait for them to leave before we could finish our job. They all wandered back out eventually, and within a few hours, Alice had been able to start them all.

  Hunger pains were making me sick to my stomach. Far past midnight and the three of us remained trapped in the middle of a busy Las Vegas strip. Starting sleepers had taken a lot of energy out of Alice and the fatigue was starting to slow her down.