The sky was blackish blue with fleks of white. I could count off a few of the constellations form memory. Orions belt. The big dipper. The little dipper. It was so pretty from down here. My book was lying on my chest and I sighed as the grass tickled the back of my neck.
Suddenly I felt it, the sky rip open. My eyes were filled with the striking purple light as the meteor came. It eviscerated the stars, evaporated the clouds, and scarred the sky. But I remember not being here before. I hadn’t seen the meteor when it struck. Just the light of the aftermath.
Yet the memory felt real. I watched the space rock spiral through the sky and saw it clearly. A crystalline structure diving through space. It crackled with purple electricity, power that made my skin just crawl.
Suddenly I was being lifted off the ground and I wasn’t in my grass field. Buildings erupted from the ground sending dirt and debris skyward. The city manifested suddenly beneath me and the meteor sailed through it.
It tore chunks from the tower, crashing through the tops of buildings and sank below the skyline. It crashed into a bridge, plummeted into the river side and then water exploded into the air like a geyser. The water flew at me and the power raced along the edges. The meteor kept going, into the distance toward the airport. I tried to chase it, to fly or float or whatever after it but an electrified tsunami blocked my path. It hit me and suddenly I was awake.
My head slammed into the hard concrete with a stinging pain. I looked around panting and realized I wasn’t about to drown in the sky from alien charged water. I was on the second floor of an abandoned mall. In some kind of boutique with hangers and clothes.
Alice stirred beside me, turning to look at me through half open eyes. A hole in the sky let in the sun above us and it just barely kissed the scars that Duncan caused her. But after seeing them for the past few weeks they’d stopped being so jarring. In their own way they were beautiful because she was beautiful.
Our eyes met and she tried to smile but it was closer to a grimace. It was early even for her. I knew that Trey and Seth were somewhere nearby, probably asleep. I couldn’t know who’s turn it was to be on watch right now.
She stared at me with a hard frown and touched my face with just the tips of her fingers. I leaned into her touch, pressing my cheek against her palm. I hadn’t done that with someone in years. It felt good. “Don’t worry. It was just a bad dream.” I felt a dull ache in my head. “Got a headache to remember it by.”
She frowned at me but gave a short nod. I ran my fingers across her hand lightly and then stretched my arms above my head. Standing up slowly I found Trey who gave a halfhearted wave. So, he was on duty.
Standing up I started to walk toward him when an image flashed in my mind. The airport and the meteor again. My head ached hard and my eyes shut tightly. Shaking my head clear of it I groaned. Fucking weird dream.
I walked over to him and sat on the edge of the floor with him. The glass railing that stopped people from just walking over the edge was long gone. The ground below had grass sprouting up and giant rats squirming about. They preferred the darkness that welcomed below. They also liked playing with the old tiles at night.
The skylight above had shattered glass and the cloudless sky greeted us. He leaned back on his hands and sighed. Raising his hands he signed slowly, “It’s been quiet out here.”
“Good. I prefer quiet,” I signed back. I made a point to teach Trey and Seth how to read ASL and reading and speaking went hand in hand after a while. It helped in situations like now where being quieter was better.
Trey nodded. “We still trying to move or are we going to hang here?”
“I think we’ve cleared almost all of the food and clothes here. Just using up time and supplies if we hang around any longer.”
“And I was just starting to really personalize my corner at the Scalding Subject.”
“Thought this was an Always 22.”
“It all looks the same nowadays.”
Stretching my arms up again I turned toward the boutique. “Come on Trey. I’ve got a strong feeling on where to go next.”
“Oh boy. This ought to be good.”
He laughed and the two of us made our way back inside. Alice was sitting up, trying her bandana into place. I pouted at her and I knew she was smiling at me. Seth appeared with us and regarded me quietly. I still didn’t know what to make of him. He didn’t talk much but he always gave off this grumpy aura.
Trey made a loud obnoxious yawn as he walked in and waved at everyone. Hanging from me and Seth’s shoulders he smiled and said, “So what’s up Jenny?”
“Yes Trey. I had a dream. About the meteor. And when it hit the city.”
“I didn’t think it hit the city.” Trey said. “No way it would be standing if it had.”
“I know. But the dream showed the meteor flying toward the airport. And it was a really vivid dream. Like I felt the air and the heat and the rest. It was real.”
“So what, you had a vision?” Seth asked and I heard the color of sarcasm in his voice.
Alice looked at me, “You want to go check it out don’t you?” I looked at her sheepishly and nodded. “All because of a dream?”
I shrugged, “It’s not like we have a different head. This place is about empty and the airport’s not far.”
Trey glanced at Seth and Alice then to me, “Well I like stretching my legs. Any idea of which direction the airport is now?”
Seth vanished from sight and honestly I was used to this by now. Him just vanishing places instead of walking. A proper meal and sleep did wonders for how your powers worked. He’d even put on some weight.
Seth popped back into our area and stumbled slightly. “The airport is that way.” He turned and pointed away from us. Toward the back of the boutique and I nodded putting my hands on my hips. “For the record this seems like a waste of time.”
I looked over to Alice as we went to gather or bags and make sure they were in one piece. They were with supplies to keep us going for a few more days. “You alright with us going off my vision dream thing?”
She stared at me and finally said, “It’s a long shot.”
“I know. But any plan is better than no plan.” She gave a short nod of concession.
She maneuvered around me to grab her bag. I slung mine over my shoulders and pulled with my powers two huge metal disc. They’d been apart, of some giant thematic clock in the mall. Now I flew around on them with a possible passenger. The four us walked to the back of our boutique. We grabbed the racks and dragged them away, shoving them into corners or just knocking them over so we’d have the space to work with.
Trey flexed his fingers slowly and pointed at the wall. Narrowing his eyes his fingers and hands began to glow. Shoving both arms forward the air whistled and then exploded. The wall blew outward and smoke covered the boutique. We ended up coughing through it but at the very least it aired out fast.
Squinting through the smoke I saw the neighboring buildings. They weren’t that far away from us, maybe as wide as a four-lane street. Too far to jump but I was pretty sure that I could fly that no problem. Setting both disc down I glanced at the two of them. “See you on the other side.”
Seth clapped his hand on Trey’s shoulder and then they vanished together. I squinted and could just see them appearing on the other rooftop together. Stepping onto one of my discs I held out my hand as Alice stepped on the one beside me.
With a flexing of my fingers we floated up. I pushed us forward and we were flying. It was weird how easy I could finesse this stuff now. Turning on a dime with a flick of the wrist or a thought. Coasting on the air as we moved and it was great. I shivered a bit but smiled at her. Practice makes perfect and practicing flying the past few weeks had made this almost second nature.
The wind rushed through my hair as we came down nice and easy on the other side. I folded the disc in half once and then again before slipping them into my bag. With my powers folding them and unfolding them was an easy thing and I didn’t worry about breaking them.
Alice walked to the edge of the building and looked down. Pointing at the street and then going further she looked toward us. Seth vanished and joined her for a moment. They exchanged a few looks and signed quickly, faster than I was used to reading. At least Trey was a slow learned.
“It looks like there’s something down the street,” Seth said. “Might be a problem.”
“I can fly up above and get a look out. You guys stay on the street and I’ll let you know?”
“Sounds good.” Trey said and the two of them walked to Seth. Taking both his hands the trio vanished. So, I brought my disc back out, stepped on it and started flying.
Lowering my gaze, I aimed down toward the street. I passed one of the things Seth saw. It was a weird barricade of some sort. The cars had been dragged out to block the road. There were like trash cans, benches, signs and more. And it was piled high. Lowering to hover slightly I stared at just how high this thing went up. Way too high for us to get around or over.
Frowning I climbed into the air again from what I could see, there were a bunch of those going into the distance. Just randomly on the streets and I didn’t know who had been doing it. Someone didn’t want us going this way though, that was true.
Turning around I flew back toward the team. Stepping off before I landed I picked it up and pointed.
“Alright, so there’s a huge ass barricade down the street. At least ten feet high with cars, benches, and other shit. No way we’re climbing over that.” I said frowning.
“Someone doesn’t want us going forward.” Seth said folding his arms slowly.
“What do we do?” Trey asked shrugging his shoulders.
“No idea. I can’t fly that many people right now.”
Alice was walking forward slowly observing the streets around us. Looking for some side streets or something. I lost track of her as she moved around but I focused on Seth and Tray. “Are there any other ways to get to the airport from here?”
“Not that I know of. Unless you want to go from the rooftops and even then, if it’s all four of us, it’ll be difficult.”
I frowned at the thought and glanced toward Trey. “Can you blast them down?”
“I could. How many are there?” He asked.
“A bunch. More than five.”
“Nah. I mean I could but I’d be useless if we run into anything.” He said shaking out his wrist. “Though push come, to shove I could do it.”
A whistle and I immediately turned toward Alice. She was hanging from a post. Clinging tightly and leaning outward. She pointed again as she looked at us and I immediately ran toward her. “What is it?”
She placed a finger to her mouth area and pointed again. I didn’t understand it but I dropped my disc and flew toward her. I got to where she was and my eyes widened. She hadn’t been pointing at the path, she was pointing into the sky. There was a flash of purple in the distance, a bright point like a star.
“Holy shit. Holy shit it’s a meteor. The one from my dream!” I shouted jumping up and down slightly but turned to the others. “It’s going to land at the airport. Come on guys. We need to get over there.”
“We haven’t settled the way we’re going to get over there.” Seth said.
“We do both things.” I said. “I fly me and Alice over a few of them, you and Seth either teleport around them or blow them down. We’ll make sure it’s clear from our path. We need to get to that meteor.”
“Why?” Seth asked staring at me.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Just. Just trust me alright.”
“This is insane,” Seth rolled his eyes.
Trey made a face but laced his fingers together and flexed them above his head. “This is crazy but I’m in. Let’s do it.”
He jumped backwards and cocked his arm. Narrowing his eyes, he took a deep breath and I immediately floated backwards as Alice slid down the broken lamp post. I floated back and Alice hopped onto my disc. “Hold on, he’s gonna do a Trey.”
Trey thrust his fist forward and the first mountain of cars exploded. Heat, light, and smoke surrounding around us. The noise was deafening but something about big ass explosions still made me smile. Chunks of flaming metal rained from the sky and I swerved to avoid the majority of them.
The path was clear and both of them went running forward. I tossed out my other disc and Alice stepped onto it. Once she was balanced we took off together. The distance between us and the next barricade shrinking fast. The pair of us got there first and I landed on the street.
“Alright Alice, watch my back for a bit.” Stepping forward I raise both hands and picked through the metal. I felt all of the cars and went to the top first. I raised my hands slowly lifting them away. I couldn’t push them far away though. I could feel it on my shoulders.
By the time Trey and Seth caught up I had lifted and dropped about three cars. I got the fourth and rather than lift, I just shoved it off with a grunt. Huffing for a second, I waved at them. “Let’s go. Just give me a second.”
Trey laughed clapping me on the back and I grunted glaring at him. He grinned and ran to the car. Climbing on top using the door as a foothold he vaulted over it. Seth did the same and after I got my breath under control I climbed over with Alice on my heels.
We came down together and I dropped my disc before making us fly. We were off the ground zooming forward again and going over the cars. Seth and Trey vanished on top of the pile and then vanished back down.
I looked toward the sky and it was still trailing up there but there was smoke behind it. Dark black smoke. Never seen a meteor do that but then again, I’d never seen a meteor do any of this stuff before. It was closer to the ground though. We kept running and Trey got ready to fire at the next barricade.
Me and Alice flew past it and my eyes went wide. Just beyond this last barricade was the broken bridge and the river itself. At least what was left of it. There was barely any water left in it and the very bottom was a trickle of some yellow color. It was like a stream of piss. But it was beyond that that scared me.
On the other side of the river was just a swarm of super mutants. Growling, bleeding, boney super mutants. I’d never seen so many. These things were huge and made loud and angry sounds. Some were looking at us, others were fighting each other. I looked back into the river and I could make out a few bodies that that had ether jumped or been pushed into the crevice. I watched them trying to figure out what to do when a massive spike of pain hit my head.
I let out a cry as I slipped off my disc, the world I saw fading away. Instead I was staring at the inside of something. It was like a car or a ship. A ship that belonged in a Sci-Fi movie. I felt the metal under my feet, feel the cold air. I could see a blue skinned woman and a multi armed cloaked figure. It felt like woman was looking directly at me.
Her eyes were glowing and her mouth open but no words coming out. I stared at her reaching out to me with her hands. Suddenly I was launched out of it and I shook. I saw the broken sky and Alice’s face. I could vaguely hear Trey near me. Rolling onto my side I groaned trying to get it back together.
Leaning forward slowly I got to my hands and knees and wheezed hard. “Alright. That wasn’t fun. Not fun at all.”
“Yeah no shit.” Trey said helping me to my feet.
Alice wrapped her arm around me, keeping me up and I wrapped an arm around her waist for balance. “What the hell happened?” she signed.
“I saw something. A woman and an alien? I don’t know. They were in a space ship. I think. It was weird but I saw it. I felt it.”
“So you had a vision as you saw a Space War movie. That feels fucking great.” Seth said shaking his head. “Look at that!” He pointed at the line of riled up super mutants.
“Yeah I did. And that,” I pointed to the purple speck in the sky that was getting even closer to the ground. “That’s where we need to go. I need to go there.” I said shuddering and standing upright again.
“Okay I like you Jenny but do you see that?” Trey pointed over the bridge. “You see all that shit? Do you see all of that nope? We’re not going over there.”
“I’m going over there!” I said sharply. “I have to go over there!”
Alice stared at me and signed, “It’s a bad idea Jenny. We need to get out of here.”
I knew it was dumb, I knew it was dangerous. But in my head and my heart I felt the need to go. I had to go to that meteor. Twice now seeing this vision and then it was there. Right there in real life.
I took a step forward, away from Alice and glared at Trey and Seth. “I’m going. If you don’t want to come, then stay here.”
I felt Alice’s hand on my shoulder and I didn’t look at her. I didn’t want to look at her and face her rejecting me. She made me look at her and met her eyes. She signed slowly, “Okay. Let’s go.”
I wasn’t going to get emotional. I wasn’t going to keep it together. Sniffling I nodded at her.
Trey looked at us and then stared at the super mutants and then swore. He threw a hand down and cause a small explosion. “I swear to God if this ends up being nothing and we get killed.”
I walked over to him and hugged him hard and he rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah.” He pat, my back a few times and then stared at them. “Jesus that’s a lot. You have a plan, right? We can’t just fly over them.”
“You’re all insane,” Seth said looking at all of us. “And I must be insane as well.”
I smiled, staring at them. “I guess so. And yeah, we’re going to need a distraction and a lot of coordination.”
We stood together huddled on top of a car. There was another car nearby but this was one was entirely stripped down of doors, wheels and even the top. However, it did have enough of what I wanted which was an engine that had a bit of fire to it. Just barely enough space for us four.
“You sure you can hit a moving target?” I asked looking at Trey.
He rolled his eyes. “If you can lift both these cars I can hit a moving target.”
“Both of you focus,” Seth glared at both us. “If either of you mess up we’re dead.”
Yeah yeah Seth. I knew all this. Staring at the purple speck in the sky I knew time was running out. Lifting our car was simple on paper. Just like lifting the disc except heavier, with more people, and bigger stakes. With Alice’s hand around me, I lifted us steadily not thinking of the what could have gone wrong. Picking up the empty car, that was easy enough to do. Didn’t care if this one fell down.
Twisting my fingers slowly I pushed both cars forward and over the river. If I screwed this up.
No.
I was gonna get it right.
“Get ready Trey!” Closing my fist slowly I punched it forward and the empty car surged forward.
And there was the whistle. Trey had his arm in the air and before the thing could land the car exploded and it was spectacular. The super mutants exploded in roars as they moved toward it. The explosion didn’t destroy it but it crashed into the ground even louder.
“Hold on!” With that I thrust both hands forward and we rocketed into the sky going straight over the them. I felt the strain, my eyes nearly rolling back and I shut them tightly. “Seth! Do the thing please!”
I had my eyes shut tight so I had no idea if Seth was doing the thing or not. I just really hoped he could do the thing. I felt my self being yanked backwards suddenly and my eyes opening wide. Turning around I realized that we were on a rooftop.
I could hear tearing metal a little way away and my eyes opened. The strain was gone and I saw Trey, Seth, and Alice around me. Seth was on his hands and knees panting and I did the same, falling onto my back huffing. We coughed, huffed and shook but we were here.
“We did it.”
“I’ll be honest. I’ve never teleported a moving object twice like this before.” Seth said and I stared right at him.
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me that before we did this?”
He looked at me and a smirk quirked the edges of his lips. “We did it didn’t we?”
We took a few minutes to take a breather but after that we were on our feet again. The streets were filled with super mutants that just roaming about. None of them seemed to be aware of us up above. Too interested in the two cars that had crashed down near them.
We looked around us and there were nearby buildings to get by but they were getting lower to the ground. “Alright, we’re close.”
Standing up I dusted off my hands and brought both my discs out. Dropping them to the ground I stepped onto one and Alice got on directly behind me. Seth and Trey got onto the other one and I lifted my hands. This was in my wheel house and it was so much easier than a big ass fucking car. We floated and Trey and Seth wobbled but not because of me. They didn’t have their flying legs yet but they’d learn in the long run.
I felt a dull ache in my head as we flew but I kept my hand in Alice’s to keep me grounded here. No more visions. No more headaches right now. The street opened up to the winding streets of the landing strip. Air planes were still there, some were still in one piece but more than a couple were in exploded parts.
And there in the middle of all of this was a glowing purple ship floating over the ground. I stared at it from the air and we floated around in circles. The meteor hadn’t been a meteor. It was a space ship. It was there. Like a wide missile with wings, and a spoiler on the back. And a glowing blue strip on the back that was hummed with energy. The thing was huge. Something straight out of a movie. This was real. This was really happening.
I looked at Alice, Trey and Seth who were spazzing out just as bad as I was. I lowered my hands slowly and brought us down from the sky. The four of was walked toward the ship and it hovered above the ground. There were two landing leg things that were as long as the ship itself, keeping it above the ground.
A ramp lowered from the ship hitting the ground with a loud clang. A light glowed from within and my heart raced faster. I could hear a dull buzzing in my ears and my fingers tingled. I didn’t know what to do next. What if they were dangerous aliens and tried to kill us? I held my fingers over one of my arrows and my hand tightened almost against the bow.
A shadow appeared and then a shape stumbled off the ship. It was the blue woman that I’d seen in the vision. She looked tall and I noticed the spines across her head and hands. Her eyes were glowing but then settled down.
She looked at each of us and there was a glowing crystal in her free hand. She slowed, looking unsure of us. Sizing us up. But she saw me, our eyes met, and something clicked between us. I knew she wasn’t dangerous. I couldn’t explain it at all. I just had a feeling.
I raised my free hand and suddenly the crystal flew from her hand into mine. Power coursed through me so sharply I let out a cry and dropped it immediately, recoiling away from the thing. Falling to my knee I stared at it and my hand was raw, like I’d burned it.
Trey and Seth moved forward immediately while Alice had drawn her machete, keeping an eye on me. But I knew it wasn’t her fault. Something else had kicked in. Getting to my feet again I reached toward the crystal with my powers. And it worked. It reacted to my magnetism. Instead of touching it, it floated near me.
With it floating around me I walked forward. I stopped at the edge of the ramp and stared at her. Another shape came onto the ramp. The multi armed one with the cloak. They were thin, each arm bandaged underneath the cloak. From within the hood were several eyes that moved independently, taking in all the surroundings.
She said something and it was in a language I didn’t understand. Sounds that I couldn’t make if I tried. I glanced back at everyone else and none of them looked like they understood it. I shook my head and she turned to the cloaked one and they got to talking.
It raised one of its arms and snapped a few fingers. I thought I heard a soft static in the back of my head and then a voice faded in for me to hear. “-you understand me?”
“Yeah?” I was confused and looked between the two of them. The way her voice came out, it sounded hollow. And how she spoke there was an accent. Like mixing Spanish, Japanese and Canadian together.
“Cool. Thanks Rizier.” She pointed at herself. “I’m Ya’Cahin. You gonna hold onto that or can I have it back?”
I glanced at the crystal surprised but nodded. I tossed my hand forward and it flew toward her. She caught it and it began to glow again. It was softer and her eyes lit with the same glow.
“I’m Jenny. How can I understand you suddenly?”
She pointed to the one called Rizier. “They’re a telepath. Translating everything we’re saying. I doubt you guys speak any of the galactic languages so this is the next best thing.”
“So you guys are aliens?” I asked suddenly.
“I mean to me, you guys are aliens.”
That was a weird true point. I pointed to the ship then back at them. “Why’d you come here. I mean. Aliens. On our planet. And after it’s been destroyed. I don’t get it. This is a huge fucking day.”
She laughed coming down the ramp. “We didn’t come here to invade or anything like that. We’re just bounty hunters. Unfortunately, we had to do a fast escape and that brought us here. But we’ll be on our merry way soon.”
Raising my hands, I gave a breath trying to process all of this. Turning around I looked at my group and they were just as speechless. Who saw this coming? I really didn’t. Aliens that were this chill and had telepathy and abilities. And a space ship. A breeze could knock me over right now.
Shaking my head, I turned back to her and she was still just looking at us curiously. “That crystal. What is it?”
She grinned holding it up for a moment. “This is a souvenir of my home planet. I really shouldn’t just have it out like this to be honest.” She shrugged her shoulders but pointed to me with a knowing smile. “But it liked you.”
“It likes me? Like a dog?”
“It means that it could interact with you. Reacted to you and whatever powers you have. That makes you special kid.”
I really wasn’t sure how I felt about her calling me kid like that. Then again maybe she was some hundreds of years old psychic alien thing. I couldn’t be sure. “What do you mean it makes me special?”
“The crystal reacts to psykiks. And you’re a psykik if I’ve ever met one.”
I frowned looking at my hands. “I guess. I can only really mess with metal.”
“That’s close enough. Trust me, there’s a lot of metal out there.” She pointed up, holding the crystal up and letting the sunlight channel through it. It colored her face brightly. “You wanna come along?”
My mind went blank. Taking a step back I felt a hand on my shoulder and it was Alice looking at me, her eyes confused. “What’s going on?” she asked. “What’s she saying?”
“What? We’ve been talking can’t you hear?” I asked genuinely confused at her. I looked at Trey and Seth.
Trey shook his head, “Yeah but you’re speaking English. She’s speaking some weird gibberish.”
I stared at them and then her and she shrugged her shoulders. “Can you understand what he just said?”
“Nope. Just you. Rizier’s a lazy one sometimes.”
I rubbed my temples slowly, a headache mounting. “Alright. So, they’re aliens. Obviously. Bounty hunters. They came here by accident. And they’re going to be leaving pretty soon from the way she’s talking. But then at the end she asked if I wanted to go with them.”
“Seriously?” Trey laughed but he stared at me and his eyes went wide. “Like in space? Up there?”
“We followed you and you found us aliens. And I thought we’d seen it all,” Seth said folding his arms in thought. “But does that offer extend to us or is it just for you?”
That was a good question. Seth always thinking way ahead of the curve. “Can my friends go with me?” I asked looking at the woman who was sitting on the edge of the ramp playing with the crystal and then back at them. “I mean if you guys really want to do this.”
“You kidding? And stay here with the guys like Duncan and the super mutants. Hell no.” Trey shook his head. “Sign me. Astro Trey.”
“Space is better than this place.” Seth agreed.
Alice signed, “I’d rather be with you up there, then stuck here by myself.”
She blinked looking at me and thought for a long period of time. She spun it around on her palm for a moment and it balanced there perfectly. She spoke to herself, like she was counting or doing the numbers in her head. “Is it just the four of you?”
“Yeah.”
“Hm. Why not then? We’d have to upgrade the ship but having a bigger crew isn’t a bad idea. Plus, a bigger ship might be necessary.” She said more so to herself this time. Standing quickly she walked back into the ship and things were silent.
We stood there waiting for whatever the heck was supposed to happen next. I turned around and stared at the airport that was there but then my city in the distance. It was destroyed, broken and in shambles but it was still home. And now we were going to leave not just the city, or the country but the whole planet. This couldn’t be real.
“Jenny you coming or what?” Trey asked already half way up the ramp. They had all gone to start walking without me and I scowled. Running to the ramp I slowed and gave the city one last look.
The sun was setting, the sky was clear, and the skyline glowed. “Bye Thera.” I finally said as I boarded and the ramp closed behind me.
The Harlequin Library 