by Carver Pike
“Vision? Vision okay, Vincent no.”
“Right. This is Vision. He’s okay.
Gabe leaned over Emma with Vision in his arms. As soon as the baby crossed her path, she went wild, flailing her arms again. Gabe held Vision up in front of her face. Suddenly her expression looked angry and she hissed. It was like throwing holy water on a vampire. She didn’t like Vision at all.
Gabe took his hand and touched Emma’s arm with it. The instant his finger touched her flesh, her body flew backwards as if it’d taken a full-on shotgun blast, taking Bronc with her. Bronc hit the brick wall behind him, his head bouncing off its hard surface.
Gabe handed Vision back to Lisa and slid closer to Emma. Her body shook softly in Bronc’s arms. It looked as if the black veins on her face were starting to lighten and retreat to somewhere deep inside. Her eyes were closed and her head was straight on her neck, like it had popped itself back into place. Bronc cupped Emma’s face in his hands. He prayed in the tongue of his people.
Emma’s eyes opened and they were no longer bloodshot. She glowed with warmth that she hadn’t had even before the incident. It was like Vision’s touch had given her a second chance, with all new energy. She gasped and it was a breath of fresh air, new life into her lungs.
“Bronc?” she asked. She had a look of confusion on her face. “I’m sorry I fell asleep. I had the strangest dream. Scary, really.”
Bronc laughed, hugged his wife, and buried his face in her neck.
The celebration didn’t last long before the sound of guns being cocked came from behind them. Twenty figures, all dressed in camouflage and wearing black ski masks, pointed weapons at them.
“What do we have here?” one of them asked.
Gabe raised his gun and pointed it at the man.
“You might want to back the fuck up,” Hawks warned as he too raised his gun.
“We’ve had one crazy ass day,” Gabe hissed. “And at this point I’ve had about enough of this insane world. You have guns? We have plenty too, and we know how to use ‘em. You and your pretty little party oughtta fuck off and find somewhere else to play.”
The soldier doing the talking lifted his mask so that it rolled up at his forehead, and snickered. His face was scarred.
“Why so hostile, friend?” he asked.
Gabe looked around and realized Jaundice and Slim Pickins weren’t with them. He figured they must’ve stayed back at the apartment. Probably for the best. There wasn’t any need for them to get involved in Gabe’s fight.
“We just want to see the little people. Those cutie patootie little munchkins you’ve got there,” the soldier added as he took a couple of steps towards Lisa, who was still holding Vision.
“One more step and your friends behind you will be wearing your brains,” Gabe warned.
“You really think you can take us all?” the soldier asked.
“Do you really think you can take us all?” Gabe replied.
“I tell you what, I’ll have my people point our guns at your people, and you can do the same. We can all fire and see who has the most survivors.”
“Doesn’t matter. You’ll be dead, I can promise you that,” Gabe answered. “And I’ll be dead too.”
“How about none of you fucks shoots anybody else since it’s past the time of sanitation!” thundered a voice from somewhere on one of the roofs of the buildings surrounding them. “What, you didn’t hear the sirens?”
“Shit!” the soldier cursed as he turned on his heels, waved his hand above his head in a circular motion, and whistled. “Fall back!”
Gabe scanned the rooftops and saw several figures with sniper rifles pointed at them. He looked back at the departing soldiers and was amazed at how quickly they’d scattered. If they hadn’t felt threatened by Gabe’s taunts, they were definitely afraid of whoever was calling out to them from the roofs.
A metal, tank-like vehicle turned the corner a block away and headed toward Gabe and his friends. Behind the tank came several other vehicles and a large group of men on foot, marching in perfect unison.
“Keep your weapons trained on them!” came the voice from the rooftops.
Two men repelled down the side of a building, cut themselves loose, and tactically made their way towards Gabe’s group, weapons trained and ready to fire. The lead tank halted in front of them and a door popped open on its side. A huge bear of a man, with ebony skin and a body that looked to have been involved with the World’s Strongest Man competition at some point in time, climbed out of the tank, smoothed down his black fatigues, and straightened the crimson beret atop his head. In the blink of an eye, soldiers had surrounded them, all wearing camouflage and black ski masks.
“Is this a good time to drop our weapons?” Gabe asked.
The man stood silent for a moment, eyeballing Gabe and the others around him. Then he let out a loud, jovial laugh.
“You aren’t from around here, are you, son?” he asked.
“No, sir. We’ve come a long way. And we don’t want any trouble.”
“Sorry ‘bout the troops harrassing you. That’s A-Game, they take on the brunt of the action out here during sanitation time. A freakin’ rowdy bunch. Hell, I’d get rid of ‘em if I didn’t value their work so damned much. I’ll speak to ‘em later. Shouldn’t be any of that goin’ on once the siren sounds.”
“General Falix?” Gabe asked.
“So you have heard of me.”
Gabe nodded. Something about this man bothered Gabe, a lot. Maybe it was the fact that his goons killed an unarmed man in the middle of the street. He wasn’t sure, but he knew the smart play was to be courteous.
“Yes, sir. You’ve got a hell of a reputation. We stayed indoors until we heard the siren. Now we’re just trying to get to the Observatory of Oddity.”
General Falix raised an eyebrow.
“And what business do you have with Oddity?”
“Ours.” Gabe knew as soon as the short answer departed his lips that he could’ve chosen a better response.
“No such thing as “ours” in this town. All news is my news.”
Before Gabe could get a word out, Vision cooed in Lisa’s arms, and General Falix’s head whipped around to find the source of the strange sound. When he saw the baby, his face wrinkled up in confusion.
“Is that? Is that a baby?” he asked.
Lisa held back, with Vision in her arms, and Hawks did the same with Vincent. Gabe reached out and took Vincent from his friend, knowing it was too late. General Falix had already seen them and looked delighted, his grin raised nearly as high as his eybrows.
“These are my sons, Vision and Vincent,” he explained.
General Falix smiled and stepped closer to Lisa.
“Unbelievable,” he said. “I haven’t seen a baby in…well, in a very long time.”
“You’ve seen a baby before?” Gabe asked. “So you’ve been to the other side of the mirror?”
“Been to the other side?” the general laughed. “Son, I’m from the other side. Why do you think I’ve built a big ass army to keep me safe? This place is like the Wild West hopped up on some serious shit. Are you folks from the other side, too?”
“I am, and my wife, Lisa. Oh, and Hawks, too.”
Hawks held up a hand to wave hello.
“Can I touch him?” the general asked as he took a step closer to Lisa and Vision.
Lisa withdrew, hiding Vision in her arms.
“Now…now…,” the general said, followed by sucking on his teeth, making a sound Gabe’s grandfather used to make, and something about it didn’t sit well with him. “I’m sure your group done been through a lot, but look around you, sweetie. If I wanted to take your child, I would just take him. The good general don’t mean him no harm.”
He’d just take him? That was a hell of a threat and Gabe didn’t like it one bit. This was definitely a fragile situation.
Lisa held Vision out a little so the man could get a closer peek. The general carefully touch
ed Vision’s arm, running his finger along the smoothness of his skin.
“Oh, man,” the general said, backing up a step. His eyes were misty. “I had a son, a newborn when I first crossed over. That was a long time ago. By now I could be a grandfather.”
“I’m sorry,” Gabe offered. “I can imagine how tough that would be.”
“Yes,” the big man said as he nodded his head and kept his eyes glued on Vision. “What are you folks doing here, really? This is no place for people from the other side, especially people toting around newborns.”
“Just trying to keep them safe,” Gabe replied.
General Falix looked over the twins as if admiring his own newborn grandchildren. He seemed to be daydreaming, and something about his strange smile gave Gabe an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. This was the same man who got pleasure out of using the Ferris wheel of torture out there on the pier.
Gabe began to wonder if this whole mellow, good-natured guy from the other side thing was just an act. What he’d want with them, and his reasons for tricking them, were foreign to Gabe, but he had an itch that everything wasn’t as it seemed.
“How long have you been over here? On this side of the mirror?” Lisa asked.
Gabe glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and wished he could yank the words back into her mouth. He felt as if by seeping out, and drifting over to the hardcore extremist, it could taint her sweet voice.
That’s what bothered Gabe. The man was too raw and tough. His skin was like rough leather and his stare was cold. Scars marked his skin, nearly every inch of it, it seemed, and his eyes showed fatigue that had moved into them long ago and had settled in for the long haul. Bags drooped under his eyes.
“A long, long time, sweetie,” the military leader replied.
“You look to be doing pretty well for yourself,” Hawks said as held his hand out, gesturing at the armed men surrounding them.
With his attention still focused on Vision, General Falix nodded his head and smiled.
“Wasn’t always so.”
“Umm, shouldn’t we get off the street?” Lisa suggested. “They say this place isn’t all that safe.”
“Who says?” General Falix hissed, twisting his head to the side to stare Lisa in her eyes.
She jumped back and gasped. Gabe slide in front of her, blocking her from the general.
“Nobody, I’m sorry, I just…” Lisa began, but then stopped and stood silent.
“There’s nowhere safer on the dark side of the mirror than right next to General Falix,” the general replied, talking about himself as if he were a fanatical fan. “The General is the most feared man in these parts. No one makes a move when he’s on the street.”
Gabe backed up a couple steps when he noticed the general’s glare fix on Vincent in his arms.
“Thanks so much for your help with, well with your soldiers,” Gabe said. “We appreciate it. We really should get going.”
The sound of all the soldiers’ weapons going up to the ready position echoed off the brick walls around them. Gabe held Vincent in his left hand and raised his right up to the air.
“Geez, antsy, aren’t they?” he joked.
General Falix looked up from Vincent with a snarl. It was like he’d been transformed into an evil beast.
“Gabe?” Lisa asked from somewhere outside of his immediate view.
He could hear that she was scared, but his attention was focused on the nut job in front of him, still staring at his infant son. The general turned his attention to Gabe, staring him down for what seemed like an eternity, and then suddenly rolled his shoulders and laughed. His face transformed again, to a lighter, softer and more jovial one.
“What?” he asked. “You thought I was gonna hurt the little fella or something?”
Gabe chuckled, but it was forced, and he secretly wished Vincent would reach out and touch the general the same way he’d touched Emma. Wouldn’t that be a slap in the bastard’s face? The old bully had no idea who he was messing with. Vincent didn’t spew forth with any dark magic this time and Gabe knew it would definitely be best if they hightailed it out of the area and got as far away from this madman as possible.
“Look, I’m the law and order in these streets,” the general informed them. “Right now is free time, so you got some time to get to the observatory, but you best get off the street before the next siren blows. We might be all smiles right now, but anyone caught on my streets during sanitation hours is considered disrespectful to the cause, and will be shot on sight. That or put into the mazes. Made myself clear?”
It was definitely a threat. Gabe looked over at Hawks and Tact and wished he could read their thoughts. He didn’t have to.
“We can take care of ourselves,” Hawks said, and again, Gabe wished he could reach out, catch his words in midair and sling them back into Hawks’ mouth.
“Is that so?” the general asked with a swivel of his head, whipping it around to glare at Hawks. “Sounds like a bit of a challenge to me.”
“No, not a challenge,” Gabe assured him. “We’re peaceful folk. We just need to finish up our business and we’ll be out of your hair.”
“You know what would be a challenge?” the general called out to his soldiers, who all started laughing and then randomly shouted out the answer. “The Maze!”
“Yes, the maze,” he agreed.
“I must be missing something here,” Gabe said, his aggravation finally showing through. “I thought you were a good guy, here to make sure the streets are safe.”
The general laughed.
“A nice guy!” he hollered.
The soldiers joined in the laughter.
“Yeah, you got that right,” the strange dictator said as he waved a hand through the air, signaling for his men to fall back. “I’m a good guy at this time of the day. Once that siren blows, you want to stay far away from me. Keep them kids safe. Ain’t no others like ‘em. You never know who might wanna take ‘em from ya.”
As quickly as the soldiers had appeared, they disappeared, leaving Gabe and his group alone.
Emma was now standing, looking healthier and more exuberant than Gabe had ever seen her look. Bronc held her hand. He wrapped his arm around her gently, as if a stronger touch might make the miracle vanish.
Chapter 10 - Payback is a Bitch
The sun was setting as Haylay tilted his head back and swigged from the bottle of whiskey clutched in his hand. He sat in a raggedy recliner with torn upholstery and a few broken springs, yet it was one of the most comfortable chairs he’d ever enjoyed.
Heather sat next to him on a car seat that hadn’t belonged to any vehicle in a long time. They were in a junkyard of sorts, a place Heather claimed they’d visited often growing up. The real Hollis had introduced her to this hideaway when they were kids. Somehow, tucked safely within the security walls of the large beautiful homes of their neighborhood, it was a forgotten land, a place none of the rich folks would visit and the poor folks had abandoned long ago.
Haylay was buzzing, not drunk but strangely at ease with everything that had happened lately. His head swirled a bit, but he was in control. Heather’s eyes looked heavy as she took another pull from the wine cooler clutched in her fist. She smiled lazily.
“This place is nice, Heather,” Haylay said, surprising himself by the kind tone of his voice.
Heather giggled.
“Why, thank you, Miss Haylay.”
“You come here a lot, don’t you?” he asked.
She only shrugged her shoulders and took another sip.
Haylay thought back to what she’d said when he first entered her world, about not fitting in at school. He felt for the girl, but he wanted so badly to make her see how much better things were on this side of the mirror. It wouldn’t take much to send her world into a downward spiral.
“Baby doll,” he said.
She didn’t answer, but she did turn to look at him.
“Remember that world I told you abo
ut, on the other side of the mirror?”
She nodded and swigged from the wine cooler.
“You don’t ever wanna go there. You understand?”
She laughed.
“Why? You’re from there. And you’re pretty cool.”
“No, you listen to me, darlin’. That other side of the mirror ain’t no place for a pretty little thing like you to be prancin’ around in. This is a good life here. I know I was mean to your daddy, and God knows that Mama C. might have a few screws loose, but at least they care about you. No matter how bad things get in school, and no matter how bad things get at home, you have to promise me you won’t ever get angry enough to wish anybody dead or hurt. And don’t be starin’ too long into any mirrors, aight?”
