skin. Its monstrous tentacles branched out like raised veins from the man’s shoulders to his spine. I was lucky it hadn’t done that to me.
The prisoner began to saw through the probe where it joined the device. Several unbearable minutes passed. The sawing sound of the knife went on and on until the probe snapped. Taking his time, the prisoner set the box down on the floor as if he was afraid it might explode. Veinlike tentacles under Antoine’s skin began to blacken where the probe had been severed.
Antoine rolled off the table and slapped the prisoner on the shoulder. “You did good, man. You did good. You got that thing off and you didn’t do any damage. Now it’s your turn. Give me the knife.”
* * *
I was back on the couch in the professor’s house. Reeling, I wrenched the probe from my wrist as the now familiar nausea rolled through me. I had to go back before Antoine’s knife ended the connection forever. I raced through the symbols, not even sure what I was touching.
Tingling pain spread through my skin. As soon as the living room walls dissolved into brilliant sunlight, I found myself alone on the beach. I couldn’t feel the water, but the waves foamed through my legs and rushed out to sea. I took a few steps. The incoming waves struck the sand and filled my footprints before the undertow smoothed the sand out again.
Footprints. For the first time here, my body had some substance. I’d travelled without the invisible wall that had always separated me from the experience. The waves were crashing on the shore without the strange distant sound they’d always had before. I was really here .
Several hundred yards ahead the white stucco compound that housed the portal stood in a forest of palms. Mist billowed over the red tiled roof. The prisoner was still in there. My heart raced. I was finally going to see his face and discover his name and stop it all right now.
I half floated, half ran over the sand. I had to hurry. Faster, faster, before it was too late, up the beach, through the dunes, over the portico, to the windows, toward the two men inside the house, one with the knife, the other face down on the table.
Antoine was still cutting the probe.
“ Who are you?” I shouted through the window.
A growl sounded behind me. The Weimaraner.
“ Who are you?” I shouted again.
The Weimaraner’s lips curled over its fangs. I got ready to kick it in the snout when the prisoner lifted his head. Black eyes, a broken jaw, bruised cheekbones, skin sunburned purple, split lips. A scream rose in my throat.
“ Be still before I cut you up,” Antoine told him.
The prisoner met my eyes.
“ Naaaaat,” he shouted.
“ Ben, no, no, no!”
The connection snapped.
A force ripped me from the island to the professor’s house. Silent walls and silent furniture. No sand, no wind, no sea; no Ben, no answers. Our whole lives before the accident washed away before me, his face, his voice, the loving touch of his hand on my skin, our promises to each other, and now this nightmare. I wept and screamed and pounded the couch until my screams filled every room and no more tears were left in my body.
Chapter 18
“ I want to buy a gun,” I told the man in the gun store. I put my Visa on the counter between a taxidermied squirrel and a box of dog licenses. The place was Dead Animal Kingdom: deer heads mounted on every wall, a furry deer butt mounted between two stags, a stiff red fox with a surprised look on its face and a “Made in America” baseball hat.
“ What you looking for?” The man put a case of ammo down beside a carousel of rifles.
“ Self-protection,” I said. Something to blow somebody’s balls to the wall.
“ Well, we have these.” He pulled out two pretty pink stun guns from below the counter. “Mini stun gun, 600,000 volts, or this one, 800,000 volts. You a college girl? Both of these’ll stop anybody coming at you in the parking lot.”
“ No, I
The prisoner began to saw through the probe where it joined the device. Several unbearable minutes passed. The sawing sound of the knife went on and on until the probe snapped. Taking his time, the prisoner set the box down on the floor as if he was afraid it might explode. Veinlike tentacles under Antoine’s skin began to blacken where the probe had been severed.
Antoine rolled off the table and slapped the prisoner on the shoulder. “You did good, man. You did good. You got that thing off and you didn’t do any damage. Now it’s your turn. Give me the knife.”
* * *
I was back on the couch in the professor’s house. Reeling, I wrenched the probe from my wrist as the now familiar nausea rolled through me. I had to go back before Antoine’s knife ended the connection forever. I raced through the symbols, not even sure what I was touching.
Tingling pain spread through my skin. As soon as the living room walls dissolved into brilliant sunlight, I found myself alone on the beach. I couldn’t feel the water, but the waves foamed through my legs and rushed out to sea. I took a few steps. The incoming waves struck the sand and filled my footprints before the undertow smoothed the sand out again.
Footprints. For the first time here, my body had some substance. I’d travelled without the invisible wall that had always separated me from the experience. The waves were crashing on the shore without the strange distant sound they’d always had before. I was really here .
Several hundred yards ahead the white stucco compound that housed the portal stood in a forest of palms. Mist billowed over the red tiled roof. The prisoner was still in there. My heart raced. I was finally going to see his face and discover his name and stop it all right now.
I half floated, half ran over the sand. I had to hurry. Faster, faster, before it was too late, up the beach, through the dunes, over the portico, to the windows, toward the two men inside the house, one with the knife, the other face down on the table.
Antoine was still cutting the probe.
“ Who are you?” I shouted through the window.
A growl sounded behind me. The Weimaraner.
“ Who are you?” I shouted again.
The Weimaraner’s lips curled over its fangs. I got ready to kick it in the snout when the prisoner lifted his head. Black eyes, a broken jaw, bruised cheekbones, skin sunburned purple, split lips. A scream rose in my throat.
“ Be still before I cut you up,” Antoine told him.
The prisoner met my eyes.
“ Naaaaat,” he shouted.
“ Ben, no, no, no!”
The connection snapped.
A force ripped me from the island to the professor’s house. Silent walls and silent furniture. No sand, no wind, no sea; no Ben, no answers. Our whole lives before the accident washed away before me, his face, his voice, the loving touch of his hand on my skin, our promises to each other, and now this nightmare. I wept and screamed and pounded the couch until my screams filled every room and no more tears were left in my body.
Chapter 18
“ I want to buy a gun,” I told the man in the gun store. I put my Visa on the counter between a taxidermied squirrel and a box of dog licenses. The place was Dead Animal Kingdom: deer heads mounted on every wall, a furry deer butt mounted between two stags, a stiff red fox with a surprised look on its face and a “Made in America” baseball hat.
“ What you looking for?” The man put a case of ammo down beside a carousel of rifles.
“ Self-protection,” I said. Something to blow somebody’s balls to the wall.
“ Well, we have these.” He pulled out two pretty pink stun guns from below the counter. “Mini stun gun, 600,000 volts, or this one, 800,000 volts. You a college girl? Both of these’ll stop anybody coming at you in the parking lot.”
“ No, I
Similar Books
