Portals

by Johnson, Dustin

  “Yea,” Brent said. “Maybe it's better that they didn't though.” Chris realized what Brent was implying and knew he was right. If Steve and Mike had brought all four tires, Chris thought, they would have been at the gas station longer, and correspondingly they would have returned later. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Things turned out better than they could have.

  They continued in silence again and pulled up to the locked front gate of the park at 2:55 in the afternoon. Chains snaked around and through two metal barriers. The barriers were painted yellow and suspended from metal posts acting like large hinges, allowing them to swivel outward or inward. A large gray padlock locked the chains. Chris shook the chains and pulled at the padlock, which remained secured. “So, what now? We have five minutes. How far inside the park do we need to go?”

  “It looks like we're headed to the Whiskey Gulch camping area, which is about a half mile from the entrance. If we scaled the fence, and walked at a good pace, we could reach it in about seven and a half minutes,” Brent said.

  “Crap, we're not going to make it.”

  “Can we drive through the chain-link fence?” Mike asked, pointing to the black fence crawling around the park toward the horizon. He approached it, grabbed links with both hands, and shook. The fence wiggled back and forth. It was secure but willing to shift under the pressure.

  “I don't see why not,” Steve offered.

  “We don't have much choice if we want to have a shot at this,” Chris said. “Let's do it.” They loaded back into the cars, and Chris turned to face Sarah and the kids in the back seat. “Get your seat belts on, bend your heads down, and cover them with your hands. We're going to drive through the fence.” They quickly complied, and Brent powered the car forward.

  A net of chain-links wrapped the front of the vehicle, slowing their forward motion, and in whiplash fashion pulled free as the car continued its charge through the fence. The fence posts were pulled askew but remained in the ground. Mike pulled his car through the same section of fence, but at a slower pace, since the fence was already dislodged and loosely draped between the posts. The chain-link shrieked as it pulled across the second car, scratching the exterior paint like fingernails on a chalkboard.

  Brent pressed down the brakes, and Mike pulled alongside his car. “Ready to go?”

  “Yea, the car definitely didn't appreciate that, but let's make it worth it.”

  Brent pulled forward across the lawn and onto the road. Mike followed suit, and they continued down the park road, turning right at the first intersection they reached. Chris leaned over and looked at the speedometer, which announced a steady 50 mph. The speed limit signs requested 15 mph, but the roads were barren, and they didn't have to worry about pedestrians or fines.

  They passed a sign designating that the Mule Hill Area was located to the left, and the Whiskey Gulch Campground, the Whiskey Gulch Boat Ramp, and the Sagebrush Campground were further ahead on the road they traveled. “Straight ahead, Dad!” C.J. called, excitedly leaning forward and pointing to the sign.

  “Yep, sit back please,” Chris said. The car rolled around another turn and a large blue portal was revealed just as they passed a large storage building. The portal was located exactly at the land's edge, where the Glendo Reservoir met a large field. Water rippled nervously away from the edge of the portal, and the dirt on the shore kicked up into lazy twisters. “It doesn't look like anybody is at the portal, just as expected! But we need to hurry. We don't know when the sentinels will appear, it could be any second.”

  “Should I just drive straight into it?” Brent asked.

  “No,” Chris said. “I've never seen a car successfully pass through, and I told Sarah I'd try to enter just enough to look through and see if I can tell what's on the other side.” He unbuckled his seat belt and braced his hand against the dashboard as the car bumped over the rough terrain of the campground.

  “Seriously?” Brent asked.

  “Yes. Please park fifty feet away from it or so, and I'll run up there. You can go through whenever you want though, Brent, you've done all we could ask for. There's no reason for you to wait for us.” Chris extended his hand as the car pulled to a stop, and Brent shook it.

  “I'll wait. If you're going to look in, then I may as well see what happens. You may want to hurry though. I'm sure we're on borrowed time.” Sarah reached her hand over the seat and grabbed his shoulder.

  Chris reached his hand back and squeezed hers. “You guys get out of the car, too, and get ready to come running. When I say it's clear, you'll need to hurry. Sarah, will you carry Angie?”

  “Yes, we'll be ready.” They stepped out of the vehicle and closed the doors. The car with Mike, Tammy, and Steve pulled up behind Brent's and stopped.

  Chris ran toward the portal. That thing is huge, he thought. That's easily the largest I've seen or heard of. It has to be more than twice my height. An undeniable tug pulled at his body, and it grew stronger with each footstep. He had to hold himself back from running straight through. He felt as if he was running downhill and had to restrain himself from a dead sprint, though the ground remained nearly flat.

  He angled to the right, changing his course to approach from the side, as the attraction from the front was too strong. He slowed to a walk and leaned back to counteract the portal's pull. He looked up in an attempt to determine its width, but was surprised to find the portal was invisible from the side. Even if it was the thinnest material on the planet, he thought, it must have a thickness. Or does it have to have a thickness? I suppose the rules of physics don't necessarily have to be maintained when it comes to supernatural things.

  Chris reached the point where he presumed the portal must be, and moved back to the left to see it from the front. The large portal filled his vision once again, all at once. He played with moving between the left and the right, watching as it appeared and disappeared from his vision with the slightest movements. It fascinated him, but he knew he had to hurry, so he continued to the left and remained in front of it. He maintained his posture, leaning back aggressively, to alleviate some of the strength of its pull. It was stronger than ever when he was this close, and he felt as if invisible arms were tugging at every part of him.

  “Here goes nothing,” he told himself. “Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay.” He closed his eyes and slowly placed his hand, and then a second later his forearm, inside the swirling blue ether. A rush of warmth coursed through him, beginning at his fingers, working its way through his arm, and spread all the way to the tips of his toes, through his veins, and to the tips of his hair follicles. He felt wonderful but didn't quite know how to explain it. It was as if his soul had entered a wonderfully warm bath; he was physically, mentally, and spiritually at peace. He knew that his plan to look inside was impossible; if that wonderfully pleasant sensation were able to inject itself directly into his brain, then he wouldn't be able to come back out.

  It took all of the strength he had to retract his arm. He rubbed his right forearm with his left hand and made a fist several times with his right to ensure it was intact. He turned to yell at the group to approach, but before he could utter a word he noticed that they were frantically waving for him to come back. What do they want? he thought. They should be coming down here. Sarah was pointing above his head, so he looked up to see what they were talking about. A large, growing maroon swirl danced beautifully in the air. No! he thought. This can't happen! We did everything we could! A part of him wanted to continue into the portal, but he fought the temptation, and forced himself to turn and run back toward the group. He felt as if were fighting to swim upstream, and he just wanted to let go, allowing the current to sweep him away. He wanted to turn around and rush into the portal. The pull of the portal diminished with each step, as if he were shedding heavy weights, until finally it was all but non-existent.

  “I can't believe we missed the opportunity,” Mike said, when Chris had reached the group. Chris bent over and placed his hands on
his thighs, trying to catch his breath. His pulse thumped noisily in his head, and he tried to control his breathing to force his heart rate to lower. He stood back up and looked to the portal; three sentinels had fully formed by now. One was located at each side and a third stood directly in front. The two at the sides stalked around the portal, whereas the one located in the front remained unmoving, watching them.

  “Did you feel anything?” Brent asked. “When you were close, I mean.” The group turned, curious of the answer.

  “It was perfect,” Chris said. “It felt like everything was just perfect. I can't think of a better way to describe it.” He took a deep breath before continuing, still trying to recover from the hard run. “It was the most wonderful thing I've ever experienced. Seriously, I can't even describe how amazing it was.”

  “Maybe we can find a way to get the women and children in,” Mike proposed. “Distract the sentinels somehow? Get the sentinels to chase us, and then they can sneak around?”

  “If so, we have to hurry,” Brent said. “Who knows how much longer it will be open.”

  They quickly sketched out a plan. Chris would drive Brent's vehicle straight toward the sentinel staring at them, entice him to chase, and hopefully pull him away from the entrance. Then Mike would drive the second car, containing the women and kids, and approach from the right. They'd be dropped off just at the portal's edge, and Mike would drive the car back to Brent's location.

  “The portal isn't visible if you approach it directly from the side,” Chris informed the group. “It's there, but you just can't see it. I think you can only enter through the front.” He turned to face Mike. “So when you're driving, just make sure that you can always see it.”

  “Okay,” Mike said, nodding.

  “How about I take the second car instead, and drive them into the portal?” Steve asked.

  “No,” Chris said. “We're not sure how the destroyed car affects the people going through the portal. We don't want to take any risks.”

  “The whole reason I came on this trip is for the portal,” Steve continued. “I'd like to go through as well, since we're here.”

  “We'll head to the other one that Brent talked about, but let's try to make use of this one for the women and kids, all right? They take priority right now. We have a whole list of portals in Brent's laptop,” Chris said. His tone specifically denoted that it wasn't really a conversation starter. Chris and Steve remained staring at each other for another second, neither wanting to lower their gaze, and finally Steve lowered his eyes in resignation.

  Chris helped Sarah get the kids secured in the back seat, and she climbed in next to them. Chris kissed her, and she clung to him, not wanting to let go. “I love you dear,” Sarah said. Tears rolled from her eyes. “I don't want to leave you. This can't be it, right? We're going to see each other again?”

  “I love you, too,” Chris said. “Of course we're going to see each other again. Get these kids in that portal. It's wonderful, trust me, it's perfect. No matter where it takes you, I will find you. I swear to you, I will find you again.”

  “I trust you,” she said, in a quivering voice.

  Chris stared deep into her tear-filled eyes, trying to reassure her as much as he could. She smiled lightly and seemed to accept the situation for what it was. He leaned into the backseat and tousled C.J.'s hair with a smile. Then he bent over and kissed Angie's forehead. “I'll see you later, kids, I love you,” he said. “Be good, and listen to your mom.”

  “We'll see you later,” C.J. said, smiling.

  Chris closed the rear door of the vehicle, rapped on the roof, and ran to the other car. He threw the gear shifter into drive and took off directly toward the sentinel posted in the front. The sentinel took several steps forward, intending to meet him in the middle.

  Come on, Chris thought. Stay focused on me. Ignore the man behind the curtain. When there was about twenty feet between the car and the sentinel, Chris turned the steering wheel hard to the left, and slammed on the brakes for just an instant, throwing the car into a quick fishtail. He slammed the gas pedal to the floor, and took off at a perpendicular angle from that of the sentinel. Dirt and small rocks kicked from the rear tires, and Chris saw the debris strike the sentinel in the rear-view mirror. He realized what that implied. It meant the sentinel was closer than he'd like, but it also meant that the sentinel was following him, according to the plan.

  He glanced in the rear-view mirror again, and saw Mike's vehicle pass far behind the sentinel, kicking up plumes of dust of its own. Relief washed through him, as the sentinel kept following him and never turned. As long as Mike didn't spook the sentinels on the sides, the plan should work.

  As the vehicle rocketed along the shore of the reservoir, Chris saw that the sentinel was gaining ground and its torso loomed ever closer in the rear-view mirror. I have to head further inland, he thought. He turned hard left again, and just as he did the sentinel swung its large taloned arm. The sentinel's hand caught part of the bumper near the taillight and a mangled piece of the car fell away.

  The sentinel slowed, eventually all the way to a walk. It was either exhausted or, more likely, it had reached the maximum distance at which it would journey from the portal. He brought the vehicle to a stop and watched the sentinel in the mirror. It had fully stopped now, too, and just remained standing in place. Finally it turned and began to jog back toward the portal. Chris reached up, turned the mirror, and saw Mike and Tammy helping Sarah from the rear of the car.

  Crap, he thought. They need more time. He slammed the pedal to the floor and turned the steering wheel hard. He floored it, once again, straight toward the sentinel. He held down the horn and beeped profusely, attempting to alert the others of the approaching threat and possibly distract the sentinel if they were capable of hearing.

  Mike looked up, saw both the sentinel and Chris, quickly kissed Tammy, and jumped into the driver's seat of his car. The driver's side door hung open for a second while Mike's vehicle accelerated forward, and then it swung itself closed. The sentinel paused briefly, unsure of which vehicle to follow. It finally came to the conclusion to ignore both vehicles and headed for the cluster of people near the portal.

  Tammy held C.J.'s hand, Sarah carried Angie, and they ran for the portal. “Go, we'll be right behind you!” Tammy screamed. Sarah hesitated, not wanting to leave without C.J. She realized that she couldn't take both kids even if she wanted to and decided that she just had to trust Tammy. Sarah clutched Angie's head to her shoulder and sprinted for the swirling portal. Tammy and C.J. ran a few steps behind Sarah, their arms swinging wildly.

  Sarah and Angie reached the portal first. Sarah tried to turn, to make sure Tammy and C.J. were there too, but the portal's pull was too strong and it pulled her in before she had the chance.

  Tammy and C.J. were within five feet of the portal when the toe of C.J.'s right shoe caught on the edge of a large tree root jutting from the ground. He fell forward. His hand ripped from Tammy's grasp as he used it, along with its partner, to prevent landing on his face.

  Tammy tried to turn but succeeded only in tripping over her own feet as her momentum continued her forward trajectory. The portal's pull was too strong for her to stop, and her body fell awkwardly into the portal as she reached out for C.J.

  C.J. groaned as he lay in the dirt, and he rolled over onto his back. He opened his eyes to find the looming figure of a sentinel leaning over him, and his face contorted with dread.

  “Run, C.J.!” Chris called, jumping from the stopped vehicle. He picked up a nearby stone and threw it at the sentinel, but it was ignored. The sentinel raised an arm, its black talons gleaming in the sunlight, and swiped downward at C.J. C.J. rolled to his left, in an effort to avoid the falling blow.

  “Ow!” C.J. cried, as the tip of a talon tore through the sleeve of his shirt and the flesh beneath it.

  “No!” Chris ran toward the sentinel and his son. The sentinel turned, took a step in Chris's direction, and then in an ins
tant it was gone. The world was silent, save for the car engine humming behind Chris, and C.J.'s light whimpers. Chris ran to his son. The sleeve had turned dark purple, as the blood it soaked up mingled with the dirt from the ground.

  “Is he okay?” Mike asked, arriving out of breath.

  “I don't know yet.”

  Mike bent down and tore the shirt sleeve further, from the sight of the initial tear up to his shoulder. Then he used the shirt flaps to pat at the wound, gently removing the blood that had pooled. He observed the area, which quickly filled with blood again, and noted that it was not very long or wide, but it was deep. “It's going to need a few stitches, but it's not serious,” Mike said. “I have some medical supplies in the trunk of my car. We can fix this right up.”

  “Thank God,” Chris said and sighed with relief. He rubbed away the perspiration that had gathered on his forehead and tried to relax. He hadn't realized, until just now, how tense he was. He shook his arms in an effort to relieve the ache.

  “I'm sorry, Dad,” C.J. said, tears on his cheeks. “I tried to reach the portal but I tripped.”

  “It's not your fault little man. You did exactly what I told you to do. You were very brave.”

  Brent and Steve approached. “Is he okay?” Brent asked, his brow furrowed in concern.

  “Yea,” Mike answered, his head still buried in the trunk of his car. “A few stitches and he'll be right as rain.” He pulled out a small kit emblazoned with a large red plus sign against a white background. He closed the trunk and bent over C.J. “Can you sit up?”

  “I think so.” He tried to sit up, and Chris helped him stabilize himself.

  Mike prepared a needle with some local anesthetic. He pointed it up, flicked the side to raise any air bubbles, and pressed in the plunger until liquid squirted from the tip of the needle.

  “This is going to sting a bit, but it will stop you from feeling pain during the stitching. Quick pinch,” Mike said and stuck in the needle. He pressed down on the plunger, and the bit of fluid drained into C.J.'s arm. “There, that wasn't too bad, was it?”