The longing and sadness for a better time worked its way from his stomach and lodged as a lump in his throat. He swallowed it back down and breathed deeply to curb the emotional waves. No time for that nonsense, he thought. This is a waste of time. There's nothing left here.
Carrying the picture, he stepped over the remaining wall from the kitchen to the side of the house, and something plastic buckled under his foot. He looked down and saw that a red, half melted, plastic gas can had wrapped itself around his shoe and ankle like a protective boot. Chris noticed several cigarette butts strewn about the can. His heart burned at the sight, and a hot rush of blood flooded his face. This wasn't an accident, he thought. Someone came and set our house on fire, probably just for the sake of doing it. Why would you do that to someone? I'm sure the police and firefighters noticed this, they would've had to, but it's not like they can do anything.
He turned and kicked the gas can into the portion of the wall that remained of the house, and he continued kicking long after the can had given in and lay warped and beaten in the burnt grass. Breathing hard from the effort, he sank to the ground and leaned his back against the wall. He covered his head with his hands and took a minute to just feel his heart slamming in his chest. Sometimes I hate people so much. I just don't understand this. This is not okay, there's no way to justify this. If I could find the person or people that did this, I'd rip them apart with my bare hands.
After several minutes, his heart resumed its casual, melodic beat. He wiped his face with his sleeve, removing any evidence of his emotions, and stood. When you're in hell, the quickest way out is through, he thought to himself, repeating the mantra. Let's just stick with the plan, find one of those portals, and move on. He walked back to Brent's house quicker than he had on both the night before and on walking from there just an hour before. Last night had been filled with fear, dread, exhaustion, and had the additional task of bringing the family. Coming from Brent's was much the same, minus the exhaustion and family, but now the walk back was filled with purpose. There was nothing left to cling to, everything was gone now. The hardest part will be telling Sarah, he thought. I think we both secretly hoped we'd find more left, and all I can bring her is a picture.
CHAPTER FIVE
They passed the evening playing board games by candlelight. It turned out that Brent was a gamer of many colors, and enjoyed all kinds: card games, video games, board games, riddles and jokes. He had a closet dedicated to storing his collection, and allowed the kids to pick out the ones they wanted to play.
When the kids had gone to bed, the adults sat around the table and talked. Topics ranged among baseball, favorite movies, television shows, relationships, and other trivial things. Each person had the same nagging issue teasing in the back of their mind, but none wanted to be the first to bring it up. They were all wondering how Mike was doing and whether they would succeed in finding a portal. Since each person was unwilling to bring it up, the conversation migrated to random topics.
Shortly after midnight, there was a rap at the front door and they all made their way from the living room to answer together. Brent opened the door, and they found Mike standing on the stoop with the laptop in his hands. Tammy stood next to him, and they both looked as if they had been caught taking the last cookie from the cookie jar.
"Are you okay?" Brent asked, noticing the strange look on their faces.
"I have good news and bad news," Mike sighed. "The good news is I think your stuff finished. When I picked up the laptop the screen said something along the lines of 'the analysis has completed'."
"The bad news?" Chris asked.
"The bad news," Mike started, and then took a step to the side. "Meet Steve," he said, extending his arm to present the man standing on the walkway below the stoop.
"Hi," Steve said, removing a hand from his jacket pocket and waving.
"Steve is an orderly at the hospital. He walked in as I was hiding the laptop in a basement janitorial closet. He demanded to be included in our plan, or he was going to rat me out," Mike continued.
"It's nothing personal," Steve said. "I just—. Well, you know. I'd like to find a portal just as much as the next man."
"Well, come on in," Brent said, holding open the storm door. Mike, Tammy, and Steve entered the house, took their coats off, and hung them from hooks mounted on the wall.
"Here's the laptop," Mike said, holding it out to Brent. The lid wasn't entirely closed, and the cord was wrapped messily in its own pile. "You didn't mention whether I could shut it off when it was done, so I just left it on."
"Let's go sit in the living room," Brent said, "and have a look at what it says." He led the way through the hall and down the two carpeted steps separating the entryway from the living room. The group followed with Steve at the rear, looking around the unfamiliar house.
Mike exchanged a glance with Chris as he passed which Chris assumed was meant as an apology.
They took seats around the coffee table, and Brent placed the laptop in the center. Silence hung awkwardly in the air. Sarah shifted nervously in her seat. Chris kept his eyes on Steve, who did not appear to be bothered by the obvious awkwardness.
After several clicks on the keyboard, a summary page appeared, denoting various results of the analysis. Brent cleared his throat and began, "As I'm sure you're all aware, portals open all over the world, often at the same time. In my old job I personally witnessed reports of up to twenty-six portals open at one time."
"It won't really help us if the portal is over in Europe though," Tammy noted.
"Correct. I've tweaked the application to consider only portals that will occur within a 600 mile radius of Aurora," Brent said. "That should give us a reasonable area to work with while not limiting ourselves too much. I can see the order they'll open in if I sort this list by time." Brent clicked on the trackpad, and all of the entries sorted themselves. "It appears our next opportunity would be located at latitude 42.5 degrees, and longitude -105 degrees. If I copy and paste that into a mapping program it brings up..." He clicked a few more times and typed on the keyboard.
The group leaned in, anticipating the result. "Glendo State Park, in Wyoming," Brent announced.
"How far away is that?" Tammy asked.
"A little over 200 miles," Brent answered. "It should take just under 4 hours to drive there, depending on how many stops we need to make."
"When does the portal open?" Sarah asked.
"According to this, three o'clock in the afternoon tomorrow. If that sounds like it would work for everyone, I'd like to be on the road by eight o'clock in the morning. That would give us plenty of lead time to deal with incidentals along the way, such as bathroom breaks.”
The room murmured in excitement, and Brent assumed that meant everyone was on board with the plan. “Steve, do you have a spouse, girlfriend, or children?" Brent asked.
"I don't mean to be rude," Steve said, curtly. "But I'm not here to chit-chat or make friends. I just want to find a portal."
Silence filled the room again, and Brent responded, "I'm asking because we need to know how many people to accommodate in vehicles. Not everyone has a vehicle, so we have to make sure we can fit everyone that is coming."
"It's just me."
"We don't have a car," Chris said. "Can we ride with someone?"
"You could ride with us," Mike said. "Our car seats five comfortably, but we can squeeze in six when we have to."
"I can fit five as well," Brent said. "Given the two kids, you should probably ride with me. You'd all have more room. Steve can ride with Mike and Tammy. Since there are only eight of us, the two cars should be plenty of room. Anything extra will be filled with supplies."
"So we leave at eight in the morning, reach the park about noon, and then hang out for a couple of hours?" Mike summarized.
"Yes," Brent said. "Does that sound good to everyone?" The room sounded its agreement.
"A portal will open at that time and place, for sure?" Steve asked.
"What if it doesn't open?" Steve prompted.
"Then we'll just have to try the next one on the list."
"Where and what time is that one?"
Brent consulted the laptop again. "We'd have to skip the next three in the list because they are too far south from where we'll be. There is one opening at another state park, Guernsey State Park to be exact, which is about an hour drive from Glendo. Unfortunately, the predicted opening time for that portal isn't until the next day. We'd have to either find a place to stay in Glendo or come back here for the night."
"Let's just worry about that if this one doesn't work out," Chris said. "We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. A seventy-eight percent chance isn't bad."
"I'll write down the locations and times of these first two," Brent said. He walked over to a shelf and retrieved a notebook and a pen. He scribbled down the geographic coordinates, names of the two parks, and the times. "We can't leave the laptop on, since we don't want to the battery to die. I'll bring it with just in case both portals happen to be a bust. The probability of that is extremely low, but you know what they say, 'chance favors the prepared mind'."
"I like that quote," Chris said. "Who said it?"
"Originally it was 'chance only favors the mind which is prepared', by Louis Pasteur," Brent said.
"Aren't you just a wealth of information," Mike joked.
"Well," Brent smiled. "I didn't have a lot of girlfriends, so I was a big reader."
"All right," Mike said, standing. "We're going to go home and get some rest. We'll be back in the morning. What should we bring?"
"I'd say several pairs of clothes, sleeping bags, blankets, some food, whatever you have," Chris said. "If we end up camping out in the park because the first portal doesn't work out, you'll be glad you brought it. If we actually find the portal and things go as planned, well, you won't even care."
"Good point. Steve, do you want me to drop you off at home?"
"Sure," Steve said, standing. "Thanks. I can walk here in the morning though, as I only live about a mile away."
They said their goodbyes at the front door. When Tammy and Steve had started for the car, Mike turned back briefly, shrugged his shoulders and mouthed the words "I'm sorry" to Brent and Chris. Then he turned, and continued to the driver's side.
"That was awkward," Chris said. "That guy gives me the creeps."
"Me too," Brent agreed. "He had quite the attitude for being the party crasher."
"Nothing we can do about it though. We wouldn't even have a plan if it wasn't for Mike; I'm sure he did everything he could to keep the computer hidden.” He turned to face Brent. “I'm going to join Sarah and the kids for some sleep. Thanks again Brent, it's really nice of you to let us stay here."
"It's a pleasure having you. You have some great kids," Brent said.
"Yea, I really do." Chris smiled, and tapped Brent on the arm. "Goodnight."
"Night."
Chris brushed his teeth and locked the bedroom door behind him as he had the night before. I like Brent, he thought. I'm even starting to trust him. Even so, I'm still going to lock every door I can, until I have a good reason not to. C.J. and Angie had laid out one sleeping bag unzipped on the floor, and used the second to cover themselves. Chris walked to the bed, pulled back the covers, and slid in next to his wife.
"I don't like Steve," she said, remaining facing away from him.
"I don't either." He wrapped his arm around her.
"This whole thing scares me enough, and now with him around it's just going to be worse."
"I know dear, but we can't do anything about it. We'll just have to be cautious and protect each other. Mike looks like a tough guy, and I'd die before I let anything bad happen to you guys. Brent, well, maybe he could hit Steve with the laptop or something if he gets out of line."
He felt his wife's body rise and fall with a chuckle, and he could sense that she was smiling. "You're an idiot," she said.
"Probably, but you're the wife of an idiot,” he joked. “I love you."
"I love you too.” They lay for several minutes in silence, and he was just starting to doze off, when Sarah spoke again. “Can you believe at this time tomorrow we could be somewhere ... else? It seems weird and a little crazy to say it, but it really could be Heaven, or something, right?"
"To be honest, I don't have a clue,” he admitted. “I'm willing to try though. Like I said before, I'll go first to make sure it's safe. Let's get some sleep though, tomorrow is going to be a long day. Goodnight."
"Goodnight," she said, and rubbed his arm.
CHAPTER SIX
They were already awake when a knock came at the bedroom door. Brent called, "Hey guys, time to get up. It's about an hour and a half until it's time to leave. I don't know how much time you'll need to get showers, eat, and pack. It'll be cold breakfast today, the power is out."
"Thanks, Brent," Chris called, and he hated how groggy his voice sounded. "We're just getting up." He turned to the kids, who were lying awake on the sleeping bags. "Roll those up, as tight as you can, so we can bring them with. C.J., please help your sister. Make sure you get all of the air out of them, okay?"
"Yes, Dad," he replied and immediately got to work.
"I'm going to go take a cold shower," he told Sarah. He lowered his voice, so only she could hear, and said, "I sure need one after sleeping next to you all night."
She smiled and slapped his arm. "Get out of here.”
He made his way to the bathroom and took off his clothes. He stood in the shower, looking at the cold stream of water, and mentally prepared himself. One, he thought. Two. Three. He stepped under the stream. His breath caught in his throat as he doused every crevice with water and ran his hands through his hair. Once everything was wet, he stepped back out of the stream and shivered. "Brr," he said. "That never gets any easier." He lathered his body and hair with soap, performing the shiver dance once again to remove it. He turned off the water and snatched a towel from the rack on the wall. He dried himself and wrapped the towel around his waist.
When he'd returned to the bedroom the bed had been made, the sleeping bags were stacked in preparation to leave, and the family was already off to the kitchen. He dressed and walked the towel back to the bathroom, hanging it on its rack. He made his way to the kitchen and found everyone eating apple slices with peanut butter bread. "Looks good, where's mine?"
"I'll get you some," Sarah said, grabbing a piece of bread and lathering a generous portion of peanut butter over it. "How many slices would you like, two or three?"
"Three please."
"There's some leftover coffee from yesterday, if you'd like a cup," Brent said. “It's cold, of course, but it's still caffeine.”
"No thanks. I'll just get some water."
He finished breakfast quickly and helped with the packing. They placed the sleeping bags, blankets, extra clothes for the kids, food, water in thermoses, and Brent's laptop bag into the trunk of the vehicle.
"How's the gas?" Chris asked.
"Full tank," Brent said. "I don't drive it much, just emergencies, really. It was my Mom's car, and I inherited it when she passed. I've just let it sit in the garage. I took the bus to work, and then I lost my job, so I haven't needed even that. Now I just walk anywhere I have to go."
"Good to know we won't have to stop for a while, at least."
"We should be good for the whole trip."
"Knock, knock," Mike called, appearing in the doorway leading from the house to the garage. "Sarah let us in. Are you guys about ready?"
"Yea," Chris said. "I was just asking Brent about gas, how's yours?"
"Topped off on the way here. Can you believe it's up to $9.79
per gallon?"
"Wow, ridiculous."
"Supply and demand," Brent said. "Prices increase when people want more of an item than is available."
"All I know is I'm working myself to the bone, and most of what I get goes right back into the system to pay for gas. By the way, Steve and Tammy are waiting in the car, so I just wanted to apologize again for having to bring Steve along. I didn't have much choice, you know what I mean?"
"We know," Chris said. "You did what you had to do. Nobody blames you."
Brent nodded in agreement. “Well, should we head out?" Brent asked.
"I'll get the family. Mike, we'll meet you out front, okay?"
"Yep, you guys lead. We'll be right behind you. Just in case we lose each other somehow, what's the route?"
"It's a straight shot north on I-25," Brent said. “Since there isn't any traffic nowadays, we shouldn't have any issues.”
"Easy enough. We'll be waiting for you out front," Mike said, slapping the door jamb. He turned and walked out.
Brent and Chris took the front two seats, and Sarah climbed in the back with the kids. They looked uncomfortably cramped in the rear-view mirror, but Sarah smiled when he caught her eye. He winked, and they both laughed. They pulled out of the garage, and Brent hopped out to close the garage door. It made a loud rumble and clicked as the locking tumbler engaged. Brent returned to the vehicle, pulled out of the driveway, and Mike's car joined in behind them.
They made their way through the quiet neighborhoods and onto a main road. Brent had been right, driving was simple since there wasn't any traffic. Jobs were sparse, making the exorbitant price of gasoline all the more unreasonable for the average person. People typically walked and traveling was a rarity.
Portals Page 5
