He felt the eyes of the guards follow his every step. They stared at him. He sensed a combination of fear and awe emanating from those watching eyes. What did they see when they saw Trevor? Something. Something strange. Reverence? Fear?
Something.
Trevor found it unnerving. He found everything about this weird place and the strange humans unnerving.
The ramp swerved around one last bend and opened into a wide room somewhere in the top of the twisted cone. That room had a similarly tall ceiling but was dominated by a bank of controls of a type—massive controls—along one wall. He had never seen anything of the kind before. He did not see electronics or computers but gears, levers, pulleys, and spinning spheres all of which seemed to grow out of the wall.
People—maybe technicians--sat at portable folding chairs in front of those controls.
One person caught Trevor’s eyes immediately.
She stood with the technicians watching their work. He recognized her even though she stood with her back to him. He noticed she wore her blonde hair not in the usual solitary ponytail, but in two short tails dangling to her shoulder blades.
Nina turned away from the technicians. Trevor locked eyes with the woman he once loved—still loved—so dearly. The woman he came to rescue only to end up a prisoner.
Yet she lived! He barely suppressed a smile of relief.
To his surprise, Nina failed to suppress her own delight. She grew a huge, mischievous grin and sauntered across the large room, approaching like a spider relishing its entangled dinner.
Nina Forest stopped in front of Trevor Stone, merely inches away.
So…so close.
"Nina…Captain Forest…are you okay?"
She examined him; traced every line on his face with her blue eyes. Her head tilted side to side as if studying a puzzle.
Then Nina Forest leaned in…
Trevor stood mesmerize, unsure how to react, unsure if he could trust his eyes.
She leaned in…stopped as if considering the best approach…then put her lips to his.
Nina kissed Trevor. He could not help but kiss her back. His heart pounded as her lips moved against his, as her tongue found his. After a moment…a long moment…she pulled away.
"Sir?"
The voice came from his right. He turned his head to see. There stood the Dark Wolves commando team, shuffled into the room by more armor-clad guards.
Trevor knew the members of the team by name: Bly, Caesar, Maddock…and Forest.
Nina Forest. Standing over there with her fellow commandos.
Trevor's mind spun, his balance wavered as he faced forward again to see Nina there, too. Then back to the right. There she also stood on the far side of the room dressed in dirty black BDUs and surrounded by the other members of the missing unit.
Forward again.
The one—the Nina--who had kissed him, licked her lips as if savoring the flavor.
Like the spider enjoying an appetizer.
7. Parallels
"Dear God, my eyes are not to be believed," Reverend Johnny spoke inside the arcane control center of the twisted building. "There are two Ms. Forests."
One of those Ninas stood with the other Dark Wolves commandos. The second—the one who favored Trevor with a kiss—appeared amused at the predicament.
"No," Trevor regained enough of his senses to speak. "No, not two Nina Forests. One Nina, one imposter. What are you?"
The one standing in front of Stone feigned pain at the accusation. "What am I? Why Trevor, I’m a who, just like you. Just like her."
The Nina in command of the situation strolled over to the one herded with the Wolves. As she moved, Trevor took note of her clothing. She wore something looking one part rubber and one part leather; an outfit ribbed with protective bands along the mid section. Certainly some kind of battle armor and very different from the standard combat BDUs, worn by the other Nina.
Furthermore, the suspect one carried two pistols in dual shoulder harnesses as well as a scythe-like knife sheathed on her waistband.
The Nina in the strange battle suit approached her opposite. She gazed at her duplicate as if looking in a mirror. The new Nina brushed a curl off her brow as if expecting her reflection to do the same.
"So much…alike…" for a second the cocky confidence faded, replaced by a quietness revealing her own sense of awe for the enormity of the situation.
The suspect Nina changed directions. She walked toward Trevor, eyeing him suspiciously as she wagged a finger in the air.
"This is interesting, very interesting. I mean, I figured you’d come running after me, I mean, her. Then after I met her," she nodded toward the other Nina. "Then I figured, like, this whole thing was a bust. I was trying to find a way to salvage all this before we had to go but then here you are, just like my original plan. This just gets more interesting all the time."
"Then that was it, was it?" Reverend Johnny spoke. "It wasn’t about Ms. Forest. It was about Trevor Stone. And we walked right into it."
"Let them go," Stone tried to ignore the Rev. "If it’s me you want, you don’t need them."
This 'other' Nina said, "That’s the idea. In fact, our time is kind of short so let’s get this show on the road. Take them out."
Trevor warned, "Whatever you are, you damned well better not hurt them."
The battle suit-wearing Nina stepped close to Trevor. For a moment he was afraid--afraid?—she might kiss him again.
"You still don’t believe your eyes, do you?" Then she turned to the Wolves' guards and said, "Take them, but watch; there’s still a couple of his men sneaking around out there."
None of Trevor’s people budged.
The duplicate Nina looked at them with admiration, then she addressed Trevor, "Now that’s just priceless. They don’t want to leave you. That’s loyalty. That’s just great. Hey, I’m not planning on hurting him. Trust me. But I don’t need anyone else. I mean, so either they walk out or we drag them out. Which is it?"
Stone stared across the room at his Nina. So many things he wished to say but to that woman with the lost memories she would not understand.
"Go. I’ll be okay."
She did not move. None of them did. Trevor saw the concern in her eyes, reverence for her leader. Long ago, there would have been more. Now he only held her loyalty.
"That’s an order."
The Dark Wolves allowed themselves to be led out of the room by the mysterious soldiers. Reverend Johnny remained.
"Hey, let’s go. Time is short, you know?" she said to Johnny.
"I shall not leave. It would take the hand of God to budge me from Mr. Stone’s side."
One of the soldiers aimed the wicked bayonet of his weapon toward Johnny’s neck.
"Do you really want to meet God right here? Right now?" This 'other' Nina sounded exasperated. Trevor sensed she worked on a tight schedule.
Johnny stood resolved. "I am prepared to meet my judgment. Are you?"
"He stays," Trevor said.
"He goes," Nina insisted.
Trevor glared at her and for a moment—just a split second of a moment—he saw retreat in her icy blue eyes.
"He stays. You say you mean me no harm? Prove it. He stays."
Nina curled her lip and narrowed her eyes but it was not a pout, more consternation.
"Fine. Whatever. Screw it."
She turned her back to them and strolled over to the control panel where she consulted with the dark haired, green eyed woman.
Trevor turned to Johnny and said, "Thanks."
"I’d just assume leave you to clean up this mess you have made but Master JB would certainly scold me if I abandoned you at this point."
While the reference confused Trevor he said, "I appreciate the vote of confidence."
Johnny sighed and conceded, "I suppose we all look before we leap on occasion. Particularly in affairs such as these."
While they waited for whatever they waited for, Trevor surveyed the room in
more detail.
Something akin to tree bark served as the basic building block with glowing crystals in the walls, a smooth floor, and those strange controls oversized to the point that the technicians working them seemed like children in comparison.
Trevor could not fathom the purpose of the place, but he felt certain that whoever this Nina may be, she and her people were as much interlopers as he.
A beep from Nina's utility belt grabbed her attention. She spoke into a small communications device, "All clear? Good. Seal things up, we’re going to jump."
Trevor and Johnny shared a look.
Nina spoke words to the technicians then returned to the two prisoners.
"Okay, we’re all set."
Johnny asked, "All set for what?"
Nina ignored his question and returned to the puzzle she contemplated prior to removing the other Nina. She raised her finger and wagged it at Trevor again.
"So anyway, what’s the story here, Trevor? I mean, I go out and grab Nina 'cause I figure you’re going to come to her rescue because, well, she’s your main squeeze. Right? Then I get here and she doesn’t know what the Hell I’m talking about. You should have seen the look on her face when I told her that you were going to come get her. Like, I think that shocked her more than seeing, well, seeing herself. Or me. I dunno. Shit, this is absolutely nuts. I can understand why she screamed."
"Sounds like you don’t have it all figured out, do you?"
Nina went on, "So I’m thinking that things are just, well, different over here. Or, at least, more different then we thought. I’m just about ready to scrap the whole idea and—shit—you come walking on in. So everything works out the way I planned."
Nina strolled to Trevor and looked into his eyes as if there might be an answer there. "So either, like, she’s a great actress and lied her panties right off or…" She peered even closer. "Or there’s a really good story here."
The dark haired woman—Jolene—interrupted the conversation. "We’re ready."
Nina nodded and told the men, "This’ll just take a sec. There’ll be a flash; no biggy. But you’ll feel a little, well, dizzy after."
"After what?" Trevor questioned.
Nina may have answered, he did not know because he could not hear. A loud roar filled the complex. The air seemed to shake. Next came the flash Nina warned of, as if a thousand cameras snapped a picture at once. Yet Trevor could not discern the source of the flash. It came from nowhere, yet everywhere.
As the spots in front of his eyes faded, Trevor felt a warm sensation across his body, almost like wind burn.
That immensely loud noise stopped.
"What in the Lord’s name was that all about?"
Trevor tried to answer his friend but, instead, fell to the ground on his hands and knees.
"I told…I told you," Nina stuttered as she too struggled with balance. "It’s like a really good buzz for a second or two. It’ll fade…whoa…I think."
"Y-you think?"
Trevor felt queasiness in his stomach from the loss of equilibrium. He was not the only one. He heard the unmistakable sound of someone vomiting.
"Good God, what did you do? What was that flash?" Johnny asked.
Nina ignored Reverend Johnny yet again. "We…we have to get going."
Trevor staggered to a stand as his stability slowly returned. He saw the technicians hastily gather cases and pouches as well as jackets and weapons with an obvious sense of urgency. Despite fighting dizziness themselves, the members of Nina's 'crew' hurried to leave.
Reverend Johnny grabbed her arm. "I asked you a question, woman!"
Nina eyed the hand holding her, mildly shocked at the strength of his grip. But the anxiety Trevor saw in her eyes did not come from any threat posed by Johnny.
Before they could exchange words, Nina’s communicator beeped. Trevor and the rest heard the panicked voice on the other end. "Team One, this is Perimeter. You need to haul ass because we’re out of time!"
Trevor touched Johnny’s shoulder but looked to Nina as he said, "We’ll get our answers, but we have to get going first. Isn’t that right?"
"Yeah. That’s right," she yanked her arm from Johnny’s grasp. "But we got to get going right now. I mean, right now."
Johnny put aside his anger.
Nina pulled the communicator from her belt and made a general announcement: "All units evacuate. Proceed to extraction zone for immediate egress." She holstered the radio again. "Now you two come with us. Trust me; you don’t want to do anything stupid. If you want to be stupid later, fine. But not now."
Trevor agreed and said more to Johnny than her, "I’ve filled my quota on stupid today."
"The day is young, Mr. Stone," Johnny shook his head. "The day is young."
Green eyed Jolene joined them. Nina led the group down the wide ramp. She set the pace first walking, then walking fast. They overheard radio chatter along the way.
"Command, I got movement at—" static enveloped the transmission.
"This is Kartright; I’ve lost contact with my outer ring."
"Kartright, this is Command, fall back to—"
"Oh shit it’s RIGHT HERE—!"
Static.
Nina’s pace changed from a fast walk to a jog.
Johnny spoke to anyone who would listen, "What in the devil’s name is going on here? Why are we in such a hurry?"
Trevor answered for their hosts, "Take a look around, Rev. This place doesn’t belong to our friend here. I think she stole it."
Nina spoke as they came to the lower level where a large open archway offered a glow of sunlight from outside. "More like, well, borrowed it."
"And now whoever you borrowed it from is coming to get it back, right?"
"Something like that," she admitted as the exit neared.
"Team One, this is Perimeter, the line has been breached at—oh SHIT! RUN! R—"
No further transmissions came from the radio.
Nina and her group of escorts and escorted took the advice of the last transmission: they bolted out into the cold afternoon and joined a mob of running people, some having come from inside the complex, others obviously the troops from outside.
Trevor stumbled as his surroundings came in to focus. They were in the woods but not the same woods. The trees here were of a similar hardwood variety, but scorched white and warped into horrid shapes. This was a forest after a fire or some terrible tree disease.
Reverend Johnny mumbled, "Tears of Jesus, what has happened?"
"Save the questions!" Nina hollered as the two men fell behind. "Your answers are ahead but you won’t live to see them if you don’t run!"
Two technicians scrambled around the slower-moving Trevor and Johnny, dropping papers from the bundles of notes and books they struggled to carry. Trevor wondered if those notes and books contained the instructions to operate the building Nina had 'borrowed'.
Despite the fleeing crowd to either side, Trevor heard something. Or did he feel it? Either way, he glanced over to Johnny and saw him staring back with the same question in his eyes.
What was that?
A low, droning hum growing louder…approaching from behind.
Thousands of sunbeams sliced through the canopy of twisted, lifeless branches casting sharp lines of bright and dark. Yet the sun could not chase away a feeling of emptiness, like death. Trevor felt a cold that came from more than the temperature.
The hum grew into a buzz, growing louder; closing on the mob running like forest animals from a spreading fire.
"Run!" Nina shouted and her blond ponytails waved behind her like miniature wings.
Trevor hastened his pace as best he could, jumping over fallen limbs and crashing through piles of dead brush but the physical obstacles were not nearly as overwhelming as the mental ones. From the sorry sight of the decayed forest to the buzzing danger pursuing from behind to this Nina Forest doppelganger and her band of strangely-clothed mercenaries, it felt as if he entered some warped wonderland
.
A soldier with a badly injured leg ran—hopped at a sprint—forward. Every bound he made elicited a cry of pain yet he did not slow. Something—terror—compelled him to flight despite blood loss that would certainly kill him soon enough.
A woman in a white lab coat stumbled and fell. Another technician literally stepped on her back as he continued on without a thought for his comrade, ignoring her cries before he tripped over a tree root and landed face-first in a pile of dried leaves.
Trevor did not stop to help either of them. He followed Nina and the rest of the fleeing pack pushing through sharp barren branches.
"I will pour out my terrible fury on this place. Its people, animals, trees, and crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger…"
Johnny slowed as he spoke. Trevor turned and saw why; his friend dared a glimpse behind.
The humming noise bounced off the dead trees and filled the air like a demonic shriek.
Trevor followed Reverend Johnny's eyes to the forest behind them, behind another wave of running people, back into the sea of sunbeams slicing down from above.
Like lights in a dark hall switching off, those sunbeams flickered and disappeared one after another as the blackness came. Literally a flood of dark. A thick cloud oozing through the woods like a wall of black water running down a river bed.
A hand grasped his shoulder and spun him around. Nina screamed, "Haul your ass!"
Johnny mumbled, "Surely an agent of the serpent himself…"
Trevor did not allow the sight to clutter his already chaotic mind any further. Instead, he grabbed on to fear and let it guide him, shouting to his friend, "Let’s move, Rev. Let’s MOVE!"
Although his legs trembled, Trevor found more speed than he had ever known, easily keeping pace with Nina.
The ground shook. The hum seemed more a scream and it seeped into his mind; invaded.
Trevor…Johnny…the others…they stampeded, pushing through the horrid forest, flattening the withered foliage and weaving through the corpse-like hardwoods.
Screams from behind; those not fast enough.
Trevor dared a look over his shoulder after he jumped a fallen tree. The wave of black gained; fifty yards back and billowing forth.
Beyond Armageddon: Book 03 - Parallels Page 8
