Portals

by Johnson, Dustin

  Chris ran a finger along the outline of the road they were following, taking note of each building and any annotations on the map about its purpose. There were many cabins, the public works building they were in, a ticket office, a conference hall, several park ranger stations, and some general purpose warehouses for storage.

  “That's it!” Chris said, poking the map excitedly.

  “What did you find?” Mike asked, turning from a closet.

  “This map shows several park ranger stations. I'll bet they contain vehicles to get around the park. If we can reach one of the stations, I'd bet we could find some park ranger uniforms. If we were to wear those uniforms and drive one of the vehicles that were hopefully left behind, we should be able to move around freely. Not only would Steve not bother us if he saw us, I'd bet he'd even purposely try to avoid us. He wouldn't want to get into an altercation with park authorities. At least if I were in his place I'd want to lay low and not expose myself any more than necessary.”

  “Hmm,” Mike said, thinking over the proposal. “It's aggressive but not ridiculous. As long as he would believe it plausible that there are still park rangers out and about, it could work. It's pretty blatant that the park is abandoned, so he may just become suspicious. It's kind of a gamble.”

  “Yea, but I think it could work,” Chris insisted.

  “Let's give it a shot then,” Mike said. They spread the map fully across the desk, and together they looked it over. They found the nearest park ranger building, determined it was only a few roads over, and prepared to make their way there. They closed up the grounds maintenance building as best they could, pushing the door with the broken handle closed.

  The natural lighting had been limited in the office, which had caused their eyes to dilate and adjust to the low lighting, so stepping back out into the bright sun shocked them. They took a second to rub their eyes back to normal functionality and started on their way. They kept their path close to the woods, as had been their cautious habit up to this point, and crossed several intersections to reach the correct street.

  It was obvious which building on the street was the park ranger building. Not only was RANGER STATION painted in large white letters across the side of the building, standing out against the brown paint, but the building was also painted a darker brown than the others surrounding it. There were several matching brown SUVs parked in front of the building, each one topped with red and blue lights. Just like the building, each vehicle was marked for its reserved purpose. For the vehicles they had chosen to use yellow block letters instead of white, and each door read PARK RANGER.

  The park ranger building was located on the other side of the cul-de-sac they were currently in. They decided to avoid the open road, determining it was an unnecessarily risky shortcut, and instead took the long way around, keeping close to the woods and following the circle. The rear of the building was clear except for a small plastic table surrounded by plastic chairs. The furniture sat alone on a small concrete patio, onto which the rear door of the building opened.

  They had to break the handle on the door to this building as well, which Mike took care of. Satisfied nobody had witnessed their infraction, they made their way inside. The interior of the ranger station had the layout of a typical cabin, just like the one in which they had left C.J., only the contents were different. The bedroom on the main floor contained desks, supplies, maps, and first aid materials rather than a bed and dressers.

  Chris opened the closet in the bedroom and found several spare park ranger uniforms suspended from hangers. He pulled two of them from the closet and piled them on the desk. “I found some uniforms,” he said, patting them.

  Mike laid down the papers he was looking at and walked over. “Nice,” he said. He picked up a shirt and held it to his chest. “It's big, but it'll have to do. Hopefully we won't be close enough to have to worry about it.”

  Chris nodded in agreement. He took off his t-shirt, spread out the park ranger shirt, and slipped it on. He buttoned it up and looked down satisfied. Mike was right, the shirts were big, but it would definitely work. Once he'd switched out the pants and had tucked in the shirt, Chris thought that the ensemble could pass for a properly sized uniform in a pinch. The pants didn't bunch up too much at his shoes, so maybe the person the uniform was intended for had been a larger person in width, but normal height.

  “Now we just need to find some keys for the vehicles out front,” Chris said.

  “What if they kept the keys in the vehicles themselves, ready to go?”

  “I wouldn't think they'd do that, in case some random guest at the park thought it would be fun to go for a joy ride,” Chris said. “If you want to go check, though, I can look in here. If one of us finds the keys, then we'll just let the other person know.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Mike said, grabbing one of the park ranger hats hanging from a set of hooks on the wall. He placed the hat on his head and left the room.

  Chris searched the top drawer of the desk he was nearest, but didn't find much more than a couple cans of chewing tobacco, pens, and several notebooks. The other drawers of the desk proved just as useless, containing only spare supplies and various folders stuffed with papers such as invoices and reports. He moved over to the desk shoved against the other wall and opened its top drawer. On top of several sheets of paper were three keys, each adorned with a white plastic piece labeled with the vehicle it belonged to. Next to these three individual keys was another key chain which had three keys on it, as opposed to a single. He assumed this one must be a master set, or a backup, which had a key for each vehicle in case the standard key was misplaced or broken. The master set was attached to a key chain shaped in the form of a leprechaun chasing a pot of gold. Chris decided that set would be the best one to bring along. It should be able to start all three vehicles; besides, it never hurt to have a little luck on your side.

  He grabbed the keys and closed the drawer to the desk. He took one of the hats from the hooks on the wall as Mike had done and made his way back outside.

  “Found some,” Chris called, jangling the keys in the air once he reached Mike.

  “Oh, nice,” Mike said, tapping the leprechaun key chain with a finger.

  “Yea, it's pretty cool looking,” Chris said, smiling. “I'll take any luck we can get at this point. Let's see if they start one of these vehicles.” Chris couldn't help but feel nervous being out in the open, their outfits notwithstanding. If Steve saw their faces, Chris was sure that he'd still recognize them. They needed to make sure that if they were seen it was only from a distance. For the moment he suppressed the worry and focused on finding a vehicle which the keys would start.

  Chris handed the keys to Mike, and they decided to try the vehicle nearest the building first. Chris's heart fell when the first two keys couldn't even unlock its doors. He said a little internal prayer before Mike tried the third key. Luckily, the third key on the chain not only unlocked its doors without a hitch, but also started the engine. The SUV sputtered and shook at first, but after a few seconds the engine found its rhythm and grumbled regularly. The vehicle sure wasn't happy to be woken up, but at least it did.

  They shared a look of satisfaction and climbed into the vehicle. Mike took the driver's position, and Chris happily strode around the vehicle to climb into the passenger's side. They sat back, relieved and excited.

  “Okay,” Mike said. “That was easier than I expected. I'm surprised the battery wasn't dead. They must have been maintaining this park for a while after everything started going downhill. It must have been one of the last parks to close officially.”

  “You're probably right, or we could always thank the little leprechaun charm. I'm just happy it started.” Chris thought for a second and then continued. “I guess now we drive around the park, and try to scope out the situation, as discreetly as we can,.”

  Mike nodded and shifted the vehicle into forward motion. He made his way out of the cul-de-sac and onto the main road. He picked a
direction at random, since it didn't really matter; they had no idea where Steve was and would probably have to cover the whole park anyway.

  The vehicle rolled along at a solid fifteen miles per hour, attempting to appear as if they fully intended to be seen. They passed campgrounds, fields, horseshoe pits, and cabins. Anxiousness built up in Chris, and he shifted his legs back and forth in the passenger side to occupy himself and relieve the tension.

  After they had covered the whole park with no trace of Steve, Mike pulled the vehicle to a stop. The grumble of the engine changed its tone, and the vehicle vibrated lightly. “Well, that was uneventful,” Mike said.

  “He has to be here. Maybe he parked in one of the warehouses?” Chris added. “I'm not sure how we'd find out which one, but that's about the only idea I have.“

  “We could search each of them. Admittedly, we would lose our advantage if we did that; we would easily be spotted for who we are.”

  Chris really didn't like that idea. They'd be too exposed, and Steve had definitely proved he was dangerous. “The alternative is that if we don't find where Steve is, we'll have to wait until the portal opens. We could be anywhere in the park at that time, and we'd just have to hope that we noticed it. Then we'd also have to hope that we can pick up C.J. and reach it in time. That would leave a lot to chance.”

  “Yea,” Mike agreed. “So either way we have to risk something. If we just wait until the portal is open, and essentially ignore this portal, we could grab the laptop and aim for another one. Granted that's if he still has it on him and didn't destroy or do something else with it. On the other hand, C.J. is still sick, and we want him through this portal.” Mike sighed and turned to look at Chris. “He's your son. I'm leaving this choice up to you. I can see the benefits and drawbacks to each option, but at the end of the day you're risking more than I am, and I'm just not comfortable making that kind of decision.”

  Chris looked at the clock on the dashboard. It was about two hours until the portal was supposed to open. They still had some time to waste, so it could be that Steve hadn't even arrived at the park yet. “Let's go check on C.J., and then do another pass around the park. If we still don't find anything, then I guess we'll start looking at the storage areas more closely.”

  “Okay,” Mike said.

  The vehicle changed gears and slowly rolled through the park toward the cabin in which they had left C.J. Chris was hopeful they'd notice something as they drove along, but nothing stood out. For once, he actually hoped for the silence and solemnity of the day to be broken. At least then they'd have an idea of where Steve was hiding.

  “Let's park at a neighboring cabin and walk along the woods to get back to C.J. It will be better to avoid having the vehicle parked in front of the actual cabin, just in case.” Mike glanced at Chris, who remained staring out the window, and he accepted the silence as agreement.

  Mike pulled the vehicle into the driveway of a cabin located in a neighboring cul-de-sac and drove through the lawn around the cabin to park it near the edge of the woods. The brakes squeaked as he applied pressure, and the vehicle came to a complete stop. He shifted into park and shut off the engine. They exited the vehicle, and Mike hit the lock switch on his door before closing it.

  They followed the path of the woods back to the cabin with C.J., following a similar path to the one they'd taken on the way from it. When they reached the rear door of the cabin, Chris performed the pattern of knocks he had told C.J. he would use, pausing dramatically between the second and third knocks. The rapping on the glass pane of the sliding door seemed obnoxious in the silence of the day and caused him a wave of self-consciousness.

  After several minutes, C.J.'s hand pulled back the blinds and his face appeared. The sliding glass door opened, and C.J. stepped back. Mike and Chris stepped inside, and Chris slid the door closed behind them. Chris took care to make sure the door locked again and pulled on the handle to make sure it was fully secured. Satisfied, he turned to face the room.

  “I told you not to come here,” Steve said, sitting on the couch nonchalantly, with a gun trained on them.

  Damn it, Chris thought. How did he get in here? He stepped further inside the cabin, cautiously, moving as slow as he could manage.

  “I'm sorry, Dad,” C.J. said. “He knew we were here, and he said I would never see you again if I didn't let him in. He said he'd kill you outside without you even knowing that he was there.”

  “It's okay, C.J. It's not your fault,” Chris said, raising a hand of consolation to his son.

  “We just want to find the portal, too,” Mike said. “We don't want to interfere with you. Look at C.J., he's sick and needs to get to a portal as soon as possible.”

  “What do you want me to do?” Steve said. “I told you not to come, but here you are. I warned you. Nobody can say that I didn't warn you.” He stood, walked to C.J., and grabbed him by the back of the neck. He shoved him forward and pressed the gun into the back of his head, pushing it forward into a nod. “I can't believe you're making me be the bad guy here.”

  Neither Chris nor Mike knew how to respond, given the irrationality of the entire situation. This had been their idea and their plan all along with Brent, and Steve had forced himself into their group. They hadn't crashed his party, he had crashed theirs. So there they stood, Mike and Chris with their hands in the air, neither able to respond to Steve nor to free C.J. from his grasp.

  “Nothing to say?” Steve said, acknowledging the silence. “Do you know how surprised I was to see you all come walking along, right where the portal was going to appear? I was waiting right next door. I heard a noise outside, looked out a window, and there you are. Exactly where I told you not to go!”

  “Come on,” Mike said. “You can't really care if we try for the portal, too. What is the big deal?”

  “The big deal is that you screwed this up once before. I don't want to give you a chance to do it again. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

  “We didn't screw anything up,” Chris said. “We reached a portal, and even though we missed the clear opportunity, we still managed to get some of us through it.”

  “They probably wouldn't have even been alive, if it wasn't for me,” Steve said. “What were you doing when the cops were having their way with them? You were lying on the ground, flopping like a fish. Seriously, that was the best you could do?” Steve shook his head slowly. “You're ridiculous, you ungrateful prick.”

  Blood rushed to Chris's face and his heart raced. He felt helpless all over again. He hated that feeling, it was important to him that he be strong and effective for his family. Steve was right though, he had been trying to do something useful when the ladies were in a bad sort, but he hadn't been accomplishing much by the time Steve and Mike had returned. This time, he was helpless again. Helpless in front of another threat. It was just one thing after another. Vandals burning down their house, sentinels guarding the portals, flat tires, police officers abusing their position, cannibals, and now someone waving a gun around. Chris was done with all of this.

  “Put the gun down, Steve,” Chris said, lowering his hands. “That is the only time I'm going to tell you. Otherwise I'm going to come over there and take it from you.” Mike looked over at him, and Chris caught just a glimpse of the curious and worried gaze from the corner of his eye.

  “What?” Steve said, though the tone didn't really denote a question. It seemed more or less a statement acknowledging the ridiculousness of the demand, from someone without a gun to someone with a gun. “You do realize that I'm the one in control here, right?” Steve waved the gun in emphasis. “You'd do best to not to be making demands of me, and just do what I say.”

  Chris shook his head. “I'm done. We're going to that portal, and you're more than welcome to come with us. First things first, you need to get that gun away from my son.”

  Steve lowered the gun. “All right, I guess we have to do things the hard way.” He raised the gun again, moved his arm to p
oint it at Mike, and fired.

  “AHHH!” Mike yelled, gripping his right leg with both hands. Blood pooled out from beneath his fingers, staining them red. “What the hell, why did you shoot me?”

  “Would you rather it had been the boy?” Steve asked, smiling. He tilted the gun and pointed it at C.J. “I'm not kidding. The next one goes into C.J. Now do what I said.” Chris stood awkwardly, unsure of what to do. He was so frustrated, but he didn't want to endanger C.J.'s life, or Mike's for that matter.

  Mike placed a bloodied hand on the counter, steadying himself. Blood kept trickling from his wound, and his pants changed color as the blood soaked into the fabric from the inside. To his credit he wasn't panicking, he just stood there silently, taking in the situation.

  Steve reached inside a gray duffel bag placed next to the couch, without lowering his gaze, and retrieved a roll of duct tape. He tossed it to the floor at Chris's feet. “Tape up your gimp leg buddy there, hands behind his back, and feet together,” Steve said. He waved the gun in emphasis toward Mike, as if it could have been unclear who the gimp leg friend could be.

  Chris reached down, picked up the tape, and looked at Mike. “Do it,” Mike said. “We don't really have a choice.” Mike sat down on the floor and used both hands to move his right leg carefully next to his left leg. Chris knelt and wrapped layers of tape around Mike's ankles. He wrapped the bare minimum of tape he figured he'd have to in order to placate Steve. Then he crawled around behind Mike, who willingly placed his hands behind his back to be wrapped. After several wraps, Chris stood back up, holding the roll of duct tape in his hand.

  “Get up, turn around, and let me check the handiwork,” Steve said. Chris placed his hands in Mike's armpits and helped him return to a standing position. After Mike was back on his feet, Chris steadied him with one hand on his upper arm. Mike hopped, turning himself around, and Steve nodded in acceptance of the wrapping job. “Now we're getting somewhere,” Steve said.