I hardly understood the time I spent in that vortex. Whenever I opened my eyes, all I could see was a uniform blue around me. It felt like I was in a perpetual freefall but utterly still at the same time. As if I were slowly descending within a space devoid of any matter, where the very concept of time was irrelevant.
I remember the color fading and the weightlessness lifting as my feet hit solid ground. Still in a daze, I swiveled my head around, taking in the alien scenery.
There were… stone islands around me, floating in near-darkness, illuminated only by an obscured sun above. I looked over the edge of my own island, seeing what appeared to be a vast ocean beneath.
What the hell is this?
“You made it. I was worried there.”
I turned around to see Joel, along with everybody else, sitting about 20 feet away from me. Harris – the kid, was passed out next to them.
“Made it…” I began to respond. “Where?”
Joel chuckled. “That’d be a long explanation. At least we’re away from the school, right?”
At that moment, I was stunned. The environment around us… the weightlessness… my injures… every impulse culminated into a wholly indescribable state of mind.
But one thing was for sure… I felt alive. More than I’d ever been before. It was a feeling comparable to the night I’d busted that car and rescued that girl, but just a tad more extreme.
“Well…” Dex began. “What now? How the hell are we getting back home?”
“Home?” Kaz smirked. “I’m sorry, but...” his eyes wandered over to Dex’s rifle arm, which was slowly regenerating.
“How’re you gonna explain that away? A simple brain-wipe won’t do the trick there. We’ve seen too much. We’ll never be able to rest if we go back.”
“Well then, what the hell are we supposed to do?”
Kaz shrugged, looking down at the water. “I was getting kinda fed-up with Earth anyway. Only got one heart left. Maybe I’ll try seeing something new before I kick the bucket.”
Cecile sighed. “So we’re just gonna go dimension-hopping or something for the rest of our lives?” she paused, seeming to consider it. Eventually, she smiled. “Fuck it. I’m down. Like an extended vacation.”
She held up her mechanical arm, looking at the stump that resulted from her shooting her hand at Soze.
“This sucks, though.”
“We can get you a new hand,” Joel said. “It won’t be a problem, especially once we get the bounty.”
“The bounty?” Cecile asked.
Joel nodded. “I think it’s been enough time.”
He took the device and shot it at the ground, creating another vortex before subsequently disappearing into it.
The bounty? I thought to myself. He can’t mean…
About three seconds later, he came back through, struggling to lug a bloodied, beaten and unconscious Trent.
“This is some lucky shit,” he exclaimed. “He’s still alive, which means we’re getting paid double.”
”He’s still alive?” We all shouted simultaneously.
“Relax…” Joel held out his hand. “I know where we can cash it in. Quick units. And then we can go and explore whatever the hell we want.”
“So… you came just to get the bounty?” I asked him.
He nodded.
“Well, where the hell are you from?”
“Earth, originally,” he responded. “Bounced around a bit here and there. Seen a lot of stuff. And I’m not ready to go back just yet.”
He walked over to the edge of the island, peering down.
“If you had the option, why would you ever choose to stay in one place?” he smirked. “Makes no sense to me. I’d like to see what’s out there during this little stint of consciousness I’ve been given. Not just desks and offices,” he pointed down, and we followed his finger. “Things like that.”
In the ocean below, an utterly colossal creature surfaced. A skyscraper-sized prehistoric-looking entity, trudging through the cosmic, watery expanse. I could see Joel’s eyes widening at the sight of it. An expression of pure marvel.
“I hardly see the same thing twice these days. It never ceases to amaze me. Anyway,” he said, getting up, “That’s what I’m after. And if any of you want to tag along… I’m not going to stop you. The company’s good sometimes.”
It was… a daunting proposition. I knew next to nothing about the guy. Nothing about what was to come, if I were to accept. I was tired, both physically and mentally. After seeing what I already had, did I really want more?
And yet… that feeling of adrenaline lingered. A spark in my veins confirming just how alive I truly was.
“I suppose there’s no choice for me here,” Dex said, looking at his arm. “Seeing something new doesn’t sound too bad anyway.”
“I’ve already made up my mind.” Kaz chimed in.
“Guess I’m in the same boat.” Cecile added.
All eyes then fell on me.
“I’m not… gonna survive out there,” I responded. “I’m still just a regular guy. If we go through something like that again…”
I paused for a moment, reflecting on the events that had transpired.
I’m still alive, aren’t I? Did that mean anything? Was I just lucky?
Joel smirked. “I knew a guy once…. human, just like you. But he didn’t hesitate to follow me into the unknown. Why were his ideals so different compared to yours?”
I shook my head. “Couldn’t tell you.”
“Well,” Joel said, grasping the device in his hands. “I can see it on you. Something that tells me you’d appreciate unfamiliarity. Let me show you around a bit first. If you still wanna go back to Earth and deal with the aftermath of everything that’s happened, then more power to you. I’ll take you.”
I didn’t know what to say. Was I just supposed to agree to something like this? To go off with some seemingly crazy stranger into the great unknown?
A voice in the back of my head prodded me towards a simple revelation.
Why not?
Was I really being fulfilled by everyday life? It’d be hard to argue that I was. I looked over at the kid, who was still passed out.
“What about him?” I asked.
“Damn. Guess he’s our responsibility now,” Joel responded. “We’ll just drag him along till he wakes up.”
I didn’t what to expect from Joel’s little interdimensional tour. More hostile creatures? More insanely powerful beings with god complexes? Anything seemed to be on the table.
And anything was exactly what I got.
We went to an assortment of varying worlds/realities, all immeasurably different than the last. We visited a tropical-like series of cliffs where stone statues the size of mountains casually sauntered about. We went to a world comprised entirely of a molten ocean, where giant ships would fight off robotic squids. Unending tundras with towns made out of ice. A giant arena where people in armor riding atop grotesque beasts would fight to the death. A sprawling, cyberpunk-esque megacity. This is also where Joel dropped Trent’s body off. In return, he was given a neon stamp on his index finger that quickly faded into his skin. Anytime he wanted to purchase something, he’d simply pass the finger through a holographic screen presented by the seller.
“Yeah, Earth’s lacking behind,” he said to us. “This is what you call high technology.”
At some point during all of this, the kid woke up, presumably nursing a nasty headache. At the exact moment he did so, we were paddling across an underground lake surrounded by subterranean settlements populated by mole-like humanoids.
He looked absolutely horrified as he took in the scenery.
“Where the fuck are we?” He asked, his voice cracking in the midst of the sentence.
After explaining the situation (more or less), he could only sit and stare at the boat floor.
“Just… let me go back. Go home.” He said, addressing nobody in particular.
“I’m sorry kid, but… that’s a bad idea.”
As Kaz went on to explain, his absence from the evacuated crowd was a problem. If the government presumed him to be dead, and his body was never found, it’d be a simple matter. However… if he were to suddenly come back, hours after the incident, things would become exponentially more complicated.
“They won’t only keep pestering you,” Kaz told him. “They’ll also be bothering the people closest to you. Like your family. And trust me… maintaining confidentiality is something that they don’t take chances on.”
“But… it’s unfair…” the kid whimpered.
“Yeah, well-” Kaz began to respond, before being cut off by Cecile.
“Everything’s unfair,” she said to him. “You need to remember that you can’t control everything that happens to you. When shit goes south, you just have to be strong. Don’t expect a savior. Become your own.”
That little “pep-talk” rendered the kid speechless as he stared back at the floor. Seeing this, she patted his back for a brief moment.
“But for now…” she continued. “We’ll help you through it.”
Eventually, Joel transported us to a more peaceful location.
It was a seemingly perpetual field of tall grass and magnificently-colored flowers, bathed in the light of multiple suns shining above.
“I come here when I need to relax. You gotta let your adrenaline shoot down every once in a while. Makes it feel even better when it spikes back up,” Joel said. He turned towards both the kid and I. “So… you’ve got a decision to make. I won’t try convincing you to come more than I already have. It’s up to you, really.”
A decision.
I weighed my options carefully. If I went back, my best outcome would be getting brain-wiped and then shoved back into my SWAT unit. But Kaz had explained the wiping procedure, and it did not sound fun. Apparently, the more “classified” information you were aware of, the more wipes it took, each one being a more dreadful experience than the last. On top of that… there was no guarantee that the procedure would work 100%. In that case, they’d just hit you with a lethal injection. No chances on confidentiality, after all.
On the other hand, if I were to go off with Joel and do who-the-hell-knows-what in who-the-hell-knows-where, my future was an absolute mystery. Maybe I’d have decades of fantastic stories to tell. Maybe I’d die in a week.
But… Joel sure seemed fulfilled with what he’s been doing. A sensation I hadn’t felt much in years. I looked down at the kid, whose face was still sullen. It was funny. I used to fantasize about being in his position when I was younger. To be put into extraordinary circumstances, escaping the mundanity of school life.
Maybe that fantasy was better off as just that. Make-believe.
But then again... we were already here. And going back didn’t seem to be an option.
“You know what, Joel?” I smiled at him. “Let’s go see what’s out there.”
He smirked back. “Good choice.”
He threw the device onto a small clearing in the grass. “Let’s get something to eat first. I’m starving here.”
Before he summoned the portal, he turned back to face all of us.
“By the way… my friends call me Rust.”
---
Credits
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