Yup, the black Sedan is definitely on my ass. How many fucking people are chasing me at this point? I couldn’t find any spare revolver ammo in the truck and I don’t think buying a gun is feasible right now. Not like my shooting was any good, regardless.
The Sedan just made its seventh trip past my window. Are they just taunting me at this point? Certainly feels like it. Also, I’ve been experiencing some weird shit. Not like more headaches or anything, but sometimes I’ll blink and the lights to my room will suddenly become darker, or a window will move over a few inches. What do they call these? Glitches in the matrix? Well, add them to my laundry list of problems.
I’ve been forcing myself not to sleep, since I reckon these guys could probably just break in and shoot me in the head at any time. They know I’m in here, so I honestly don’t know what they’re waiting for. I’ve considered running off, but where am I going to go? They’re obviously tracking me somehow, so that seems fruitless.
I never remembered falling asleep at any point, but I must have, given the fact that I was jarred awake by gunshots. I rushed over to my window and looked outside, seeing the Sedan now riddled with bullet holes. And guess who’d done it?
It was my copy.
I’m not sure if he thought it was me inside the vehicle. Maybe he had multiple targets. Whatever. He was certainly after me now. I could feel another headache coming on. Not only that, but the room around me seemingly started to shrink. Still in a reasonably cogent state of mind, I told myself that it wasn’t real. I knew that it wasn’t real. It all came to a head when I saw a shadow passing by the curtains. In a rather irrational move, I fired a shot at it.
Not really sure what I was thinking there. Probably just pent-up frustration. I simultaneously missed and gave away my position. Still reeling from the headaches, I ran into the bathroom as I heard my door being knocked down. He was in.
I hid in tense silence as I heard him walk around the bedroom. This wasn’t going to work. I thought to myself. There weren’t many rooms that he had to go through before finding me.
Two bullets left. I grasped the revolver as he approached the bathroom door. The last room that he hadn’t checked. The door suddenly flung open and I took my last two shots. Both misses.
I was now cornered, and my headache was reaching near-unbearable heights. In a last-ditch effort, I tried tackling him. Thankfully, it took him by surprise and we went tumbling back into the bedroom. But that was about the extent of the fight I put up. I didn’t have any combat experience, after all. Either on foot nor on the ground. He delivered a few blows to my stomach and I was suddenly laid out on the carpet, with him standing over me, aiming a pistol point blank at my temple.
“Wait.” I asked him, trying to come to terms with my obscure loss. “Look, you won. But could you do me a small favor and please explain to me what the fuck’s been going on?”
He lowered his gun slightly, before smirking. “Yeah, sure. Least I could do.”
I got my answer, but I’m still not entirely sure if I fully understand it. He is me. Not a clone. We were one in the same. Just… from different realities.
He explained how the universe that he’d come from was considerably further ahead technology-wise than mine. Far enough to the point where they’d nearly perfected a form of dimension hopping. But in his world, he was also a criminal. A large scale-thief. His most recent endeavor? Stealing one of the devices that would allow somebody to traverse to different realities. Things went messy during his plan, and he was forced to use the device in order to orchestrate an extremely convoluted escape. Ultimately, he ended up here.
But the problem with entering different realities lies in the fact that there will likely be another version of you. And that directly goes against the laws of the natural universe. You see, him and I are identical. But at the same time… we’re not. There are subtle differences that set the realities apart, and when they start bleeding together, even in the slightest… the universe just can’t accept it.
At first, the problems are marginal. But the longer that two different versions of the same entity exist in one reality, the worse it gets. Not just for the two involved, but for the reality that they’re in as a whole.
“That’s why killing you was top priority for me.” He said to me. “Nothing personal, that’s a given. But I can’t evade the fuckers that are trying to chase me if this reality begins falling apart. You’ve felt the headaches, haven’t you? Seen the visions. That’s the universe saying that one of us has gotta go. I can deal with everything else later. But for now…” He raised his gun once again “This needs to end.”
“For fuck's sake.” I put my arms up in a defensive gesture. He hadn't explained everything yet. Like why there were more than 1 copies of us in this reality. Like the one he killed when I first stumbled upon the security footage. But we never had a chance to get to that.
“DROP THE GUN!” A booming voice suddenly came out of nowhere.
At first, I thought it was the police. But I threw that idea aside as I caught glimpses of who it was. Four large men wearing what looked like expensive militarized suits of armor were pointing massive armaments at us. Across their chest were white letters – “NC”.
My copy sighed. “Oh, shit.” Before looking at me, eyes filled with annoyance. “Look what you’ve fucking done.”
The armored men talked amongst themselves before one of them approached us. He took out some kind of device with a holographic screen. “Look into this.” He said to me.
Without much of another option, I obliged, staring into the center of the screen as the thing seemingly scanned my face. After a few seconds, it was over.
“He’s the correct version. Take the other one away.” He said, before putting the device away. The rest of the men restrained and lead my copy out the door.
I could barely react as all of this was happening, simply standing dead-still until the sun came up. When everything was said and done, I finally went back to my apartment, still in an extreme state of shock. I haven’t made any contact with the police, nor have the police attempted any contact with me, so I’m not really sure where that’s going.
I suppose I should be glad that this whole ordeal seems to have concluded. But there’s one thing that still disturbs me.
The last I saw of my copy... he was smiling.
---
Credits
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