Portals

by Johnson, Dustin

  “Did that seriously happen?” Mike asked. Chris tried to think of something to say in response, but nothing seemed fitting, so he left the question to hang in the air.

  “At least they let us go,” C.J. said. “I didn't think they were going to let us go, and—” His voice shivered, and he suddenly felt as if he'd throw up. “I thought I was going to die.”

  Chris glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw tears marking C.J.'s emotional state. ”Me too, C.J.,” Chris said. “I was terrified. There was nothing I could do.” It was an odd thing to say, but he couldn't think of any other way of justifying his helplessness. He'd wanted to do something, had to do something, but there was nothing that he could do. He felt that it had to have been something beyond himself, beyond all of them, that freed them. God, luck, or Gus's guilt were all likely candidates. Or maybe it was God working through Gus's guilt, Chris couldn't be sure. He did know that he didn't want to take it for granted, and he took a moment in the silence to say thank you in his mind to whomever or whatever was responsible.

  “So what is the plan?” Mike asked. “We need to get some sleep. Does anybody have any bright ideas?”

  Chris didn't. Nowhere seemed safe enough. Especially now, everything just seemed too dangerous and imperfect. They would need a place where they could lock themselves inside, preventing anyone else from reaching them. If they slept in the car, they were susceptible. There was no arguing the point though, they definitely needed to rest. Something would just have to suffice.

  “How far is Guernsey from here?” Mike asked.

  “About forty miles or so, roughly forty minutes. You're not proposing we go there right now, are you?”

  “No, but it'd be nice to get as close to it as possible, and perhaps we'd find somewhere appropriate on the way. I don't have any better ideas either, and the closer we are to it in the morning the less we'll have to travel. Kind of a 'kill two birds with one stone' idea. I'm up for something else if you have something, that was just the best I could come up with.”

  “We have the tent,” Chris said. “I really don't want to have to use it though; I definitely don't trust sleeping outside. We'd be unguarded. We could take turns standing watch, but I'd be pretty afraid that whoever was on watch would just fall asleep anyway, and we'd be left all the more vulnerable. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I'd be able to sit outside for several hours without sleeping.”

  “I agree. Sleeping in the tent sounds a little scary at this point.” Not even C.J. argued. It seemed that reality had taken another cheap shot at the poor boy's hopeful spirit.

  “You're right, I'm definitely too tired for that. What time is it, anyway?”

  “Eleven-thirty,” Chris said. He couldn't believe what a long day it had been. A lot had changed in that time. He just wanted to lie down, close his eyes, and sleep for a solid eight hours. It didn't seem like much to ask, but here they were, struggling for another place to spend the night.

  “It's getting really late. Okay, let's head to Guernsey then, and find a place to sleep along the way.”

  They drove for thirty minutes passing nothing but wilderness. Signs announced they were approaching Guernsey, and Chris pulled onto a nearby exit when a sign said they were within five miles. He pulled the car into a nearby park backed by a patch of woods and stopped the vehicle.

  “We're about five miles out and still don't have a place to stay. What should we do?” Chris sighed.

  “Well,” Mike said, taking in the surroundings. “These woods probably lead to Guernsey. We could take the tent and camp out in the woods. When we wake up in the morning, we can hike the rest of the way there and make sure to stay clear of Steve.”

  “It would be incredibly awkward to carry the tent out there,” Chris said.

  “We wouldn't have to carry it far. Just until we found a place secluded and hidden enough for our taste. As long as we're not camping out in the open, it's better than nothing. I can't imagine there will be people trolling the woods, but we obviously want to take as much precaution as we can.”

  “Yea, I suppose. We should take another look at C.J.'s stitches first though, and make sure none have torn.”

  Chris and Mike both turned and saw that C.J. had fallen asleep. He was drooling lightly onto the box of the tent, his head on his arms.

  “I hate to wake him,” Chris said. “He needs to sleep, too. His day just keeps getting tougher and tougher.”

  “I know. But we have to make sure his wounds are healing as they should.”

  “C.J.,” Chris said, softly. “Can you wake up, son?”

  C.J. mumbled something incomprehensible but remained sleeping. Chris exited the vehicle, opened the rear door, and climbed into the back seat next to C.J. He placed his hand on C.J.'s back, making sure to keep his hand far away from the wound, and lightly shook. “Hey buddy, I need you to wake up, okay?”

  C.J. looked up briefly and something about his eyes caught Chris off guard. They looked strange and unnatural in some way, but it was hard to tell what it was in the darkness. Chris reached up and turned on the dome light, in order to take a better look. He placed his hand under C.J.'s chin and tilted his face up. Tendrils of black had splintered into the edges of C.J.'s eyes. “Mike, can you come look at this?”

  Mike turned in his seat and looked at C.J.'s eyes. “It looks like the infection is spreading. It must be passing through his blood. Let's get his shirt off and check him out.” Chris lifted C.J.'s shirt, and C.J. raised his arms in unconscious assistance. Chris pulled the shirt carefully over his head and arms, and laid it over the top of the driver's seat.

  “Oh man,” Chris said. “The black lines are all over his chest now. You can see that stuff in all of his veins.” Each vein surged with black fluid that contrasted sharply against his pale skin.

  Mike frowned. “I'm going to get the antibiotics from the trunk. I should have had him take some back at the house.” He leaned over the middle console, pulled the trunk release, and exited the vehicle. He walked to the rear, rummaged around in the trunk, and brought the medicine back to Chris. “Give these to him,” he said, extending two white pills and a bottle of water. “We'll have to make sure to give him more when we wake up in the morning.”

  C.J. was still half-asleep but accepted the pills without argument. Chris tilted the water bottle to dump a bit of the water into his mouth, and C.J. tilted his head back, swallowing. He grabbed the water bottle from Chris's hand and took several more drinks of his own volition.

  Mike opened the door on C.J.'s side of the back seat and leaned in to inspect the stitches on his arm. “These ones look good, they're still holding tight.” He leaned C.J.'s body forward and checked the ones on his back. He ran his fingers over the seam joining the skin, checking for loose or torn stitching. “Also good. Better than I expected after everything with Louise and Gus. Now, for the last set, let's check his leg. C.J., can you please pull your pants down. I know it's awkward, but I'd like to make sure they are holding up as good as the others.”

  C.J. tiredly leaned forward, gripped the front seat with one hand, and pulled his pants to his knees with the other. He sat back down, and Mike looked them over. “Looks good. Thanks, C.J.” C.J. pulled his pants back up and leaned back, closing his eyes.

  “So everything looks good?” Chris asked.

  “Yep, let's just hope the antibiotics fight off the infection a bit, and he should be good to go.”

  Chris signaled to the rear of the car with his head, and he and Mike both exited the vehicle, meeting at the trunk.

  “That black stuff in his veins really worries me,” Chris said. He shook his head and smiled at how ridiculous he knew he was about to sound. “I mean, it's not, it can't be... you know, what Sam was talking about, right?”

  “We're going to get to the portal in Guernsey, and it won't matter what it is.” Mike said. “Let's just focus on the task at hand.” He patted Chris on the arm. “But seriously, don't worry so much, I'm sure the medicine will clear that
up.”

  Chris took a deep breath, and plumes of steam rose in the cold air. “Yea, you're right. Let's get this tent all packed up with our stuff and figure out which way we have to head. Sure would be nice to have those hiking packs now, right?”

  “No kidding,” Mike agreed. “I thought we'd be driving until we set up the tent. I didn't figure we'd have to hike to a camp site. Oh well, we have to do what we have to do, I suppose.”

  They unpacked the items from the box and created a makeshift pack using the poles and tent material. They stuffed food, bottles of water, and the medical kit Mike had selected from the store into the middle of their bundle. They wrapped the waterproof tent material around the whole package and secured each end with medical wrapping and tape to keep the ensemble closed.

  Satisfied the pack would hold, Chris closed the trunk and locked the car. He and Mike shared a shrug and they all headed into the woods.

  The tent wrap was carried at waist level, and they walked in single file. Mike led the group, C.J. in the middle, and Chris pulled up the rear. Fallen leaves littered the woods, hiding loose rocks which threatened to twist their ankles at each step and sticks that snapped eagerly, announcing their presence and causing the woodland creatures to flee. The cold night had lowered the saturation point, and a layer of moisture had dampened everything, adding to the already precarious environment by making each handhold and footstep all the more slippery.

  “Are you sure we're heading in the right direction?” Chris asked.

  “When we were in the store I'd grabbed a compass, and I used it to orient our direction while you were packing the food. I can keep it out and make sure we continue heading west.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small hand-held compass. He paused, held it out, reoriented the group slightly to the right, and continued walking again.

  They marched along in silence forced from the sheer exhaustion, the somber environment, and the strain of continuing forward. Suddenly Mike stopped, but the group following him was unprepared and continued moving forward from the momentum, pushing Mike forward a few more steps.

  “What's up?” Chris said.

  “Do you see that?” Mike pointed. Chris tried to follow his finger, but the darkness prevented him from noticing much.

  “Not really, it's too dark. What's there?”

  “I'm not sure, but it looks like there could be a tower over there. I can only make out an outline, but it's definitely something. If it's a building, we could check it out. Of course, we haven't had much luck checking out unfamiliar buildings, so we could avoid it and just go around, if you'd prefer. What do you think?”

  “I'm not sure. I'm not feeling up to taking chances. On the other hand, the last thing I want to do is to get set up somewhere and have people sneaking up on us in the woods. Let's get a little closer and check things out, we can always decide to go around if it doesn't look safe,” Chris said.

  “Okay,” Mike agreed. They walked on for several more minutes, and the shape that Mike had been talking about began to solidify in Chris's vision. It stood out a little darker than the surrounding night, and its shape was clarified further with each step as they approached.

  Eventually they were close enough for the starlight to provide enough luminescence to see that it was actually a park ranger tower, standing alone in the forest. “I don't see any reason not to check it out. It doesn't look like anyone is up there. At least, there are no lights making it apparent that someone is there,” Chris said, acknowledging the chance that someone could be up there in the darkness.

  “Yea, we can at least check it out. If it doesn't look safe enough, we can always continue on. I'd say we are still about two miles from Guernsey, guessing by how long we've been walking.” They approached cautiously, as slowly and silently as possible. The tower remained shrouded in darkness and the night remained quiet. For all intents and purposes, they looked to be the only occupants of the forest save for the local fauna.

  When they reached the base of the tower, they laid the tent down gently and observed the full height of the tower. Stairs zigzagged to the top, adorned with handrails, fully enclosed within the legs of the tower base. This eased Chris's mind a little, for he was so exhausted that he could easily envision missing a step and come tumbling back down to the base like Jack with his pail of water. In his tired state, the mental image of it seemed funny and he smiled.

  “Okay, we have two primary options here. We can bring the tent with us, potentially preventing having to come back down and get it if we decide to stay. Or, we can leave the tent here and potentially avoid bringing it back down when we realize we don't want to stay. I vote for the former, since it looks pretty desolate out here. Thoughts?” Mike asked.

  “What about just hiding it down here, under some leaves or in some fallen trees or something?”

  “We'd still have to get out some food and water though, if we're going to want some before sleeping.”

  That's true, Chris thought. We'd have to unwrap the bundle, get stuff out, and rewrap it. “I say let's just drag it up there then. It would be safer with us, anyway. C.J., what do you think?”

  “That's fine,” C.J. said, too tired to really care.

  They lifted the tent again and headed up the stairs. Landings were spaced evenly at each turn of the stairs, and it felt like an eternity passed between each one. The tent was too long to turn directly on the landing, so they were forced to raise it vertically at each one and maneuver around the corners.

  Sweaty and frustrated, they reached the top and found an opening similar to an attic entrance that allowed access onto the floor of the tower. The silence of the night remained unbroken save for themselves, so they decided to climb through. Chris let the tent pack stand on one end and held it in place while Mike climbed through the opening.

  After a minute, Mike leaned back through and spoke, “Looks okay, go ahead and lift the top of the tent through.” Chris lifted the tent, and Mike gripped the top of it. Chris took the opportunity to climb through himself with one hand while he kept a firm grip on the tent with the other. Once they were both on the floor of the tower, they laid the tent against one wall and came back to the hole in the floor.

  “Come on through, C.J.,” Chris said, though C.J. was already in the process of ascending the ladder. Once C.J. had cleared the entrance, Mike lifted the hinged portion of the floor, and closed it over the opening. Chris examined the contents of the tower and found unopened packs of bottled water in the corner, along with several maps and notebooks on a table in another.

  “Crap,” Mike said. “You know what we forgot?”

  “What?”

  “We didn't bring sleeping bags. We have the tent, food, and water, but no sleeping bags.”

  “Oh man, you're right,” Chris said, chuckling and shaking his head. They had brought everything but the one thing they actually needed at the moment. The other two joined in the frustrated laughter, and they all took a seat on the floor. “I suppose we can use the tent cover as a blanket and just cover up under that. It'll be better than nothing, and I'm darn sure not walking back to the car.”

  “That'll work. I just want to get some shut-eye, no matter how I have to get it,” Mike agreed.

  They spent some time unrolling the tent, placing the stakes and poles against one wall, and organizing the food and water into their respective piles. Mike laid down on one edge of the door, covering the opening into the tower, and Chris laid down on the other. C.J. lay between them, and they pulled the tent cover over their bodies. It wasn't a blanket, that was for sure, but it would have to do for the night. At a minimum, the covering allowed for their body heat to be shared, and they were warmer than they would have been without it.

  The night was quiet except for an occasional rustle of wind through the trees and the crunch of leaves and sticks under the feet of nocturnal animals. At first Chris was paranoid at each sound of the forest, but eventually he relaxed and allowed the wave of exhaustion that had been threatening
to consume him take over. He allowed his eyes to close, and his mind was swept away into the peacefulness of sleep.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  They woke in the morning to the sound of birds chirping. The sun was shining brightly, and a gentle morning breeze shook the tops of the trees that lay just below the top of the tower. Chris's entire body ached from head to toe, and he knew that moving was going to be rough today. He rolled over and shook C.J. lightly. “Hey kiddo, time to get up. Let's get some breakfast.”

  “Ugggh,” came the groggy reply. “Okay, but I'm so tired.”

  “I know, but we have a big day ahead of us.” C.J. rolled over and sat up on his knees. He rubbed his eyes with both hands and ran a hand through his hair. His eyes still had the black vein look, but as far as Chris could tell they didn't appear to have worsened during the night.

  “Mike, can we get some more of those antibiotics?”

  “Yea, he should eat something pretty quick after taking them though. We don't want him to get an upset stomach,” Mike said. Mike walked to where they had stacked the food and dug out some breakfast bars. He tossed a couple to Chris, along with some water bottles. “Eat and drink these, let's make sure we have some energy.” He dug two pills from the bottle of medicine in his pocket and passed them to Chris, who in turn gave them to C.J.

  “Down the hatch,” Chris said. C.J. nodded, tossed the pills in his mouth, took a drink of water, and swallowed. Good, Chris thought. Hopefully that will keep preventing whatever that garbage is from spreading.

  Chris grabbed another bottle of water, and then he walked to the edge of the park tower. He leaned over the railing, pouring the bottle of water over his head. He cupped his other hand, caught some, and rubbed it on his face, neck, and the backs of his ears. The cool wind mingled with the water, forcing him to shiver, but the coolness also helped to chase away the lingering tiredness.

  “So, what's the plan?” he asked, turning back to Mike and C.J.