“I guess that’s where I come in,” Cadmar said. “I designed the technologies to keep the subjects’ brains intact. I developed an advanced algorithm, which turned into a new project. The climate was changing. All of us in the community knew that. With the help of the government, I attempted to make a new world built on the neural pathways of our own leading scientists. As critters and humans alike managed to find a way in, this world soon began sprouting more life. Evolution came faster than expected. There was blood on our hands, but we celebrated with the finest champagne. That was when they turned the guns on us.”
Mag leaned out of the tent to check if Zane had somehow stayed close enough to hear all of this. My guess was he was already far off into the mountains nearby, searching for the power conductor to get us home. When he lowered his head back inside, he finished the story. “I stood guard, following orders to kill anyone who tried to escape. The leader, an older man who had been a prominent scientist for decades, hooked them to tubes. He placed the electromagnetic helmet around their foreheads, flicking on switches I didn’t know two fucks about. A humming noise started from the countless generators. Their screams filled the room. I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Thing is, I’ve always been a man who followed his gut. I’m loyal, but once I see too many wrongs and no rights, I start to plan things out. When I saw Donovan and Cadmar hooked up to that machine, I had to do something. I’m not just some fucking lapdog for the state. In the heat of the moment, I turned toward my own team, the soldiers hired by corrupt CEOs and maintainers of power. I gave them an out, but they opened fire first. I took two in the leg. Shot three in the head before I had to take cover,” he said. “The humming in the room intensified, and I rushed to unplug the technology. It’s difficult to recall everything that happened, but a bright flash filled the area. I felt my body disappear. My guns mangled, twisting until they imploded into nothing. When I woke up, I was trapped in this place.”
“Forced to adapt, he taught us all we know,” Cadmar added. “Never thought I’d celebrate a soldier, but Mag is one of the good guys.”
“I just...” Mag sighed and looked confused. “I just don’t understand any of it. How did I get here?”
Cadmar shrugged and heaved a sigh. “They opened fire in a highly dangerous zone.”
Cadmar’s answer didn’t seem to satisfy Mag, but he nodded anyway. Maybe, he’d never know how he passed through. Maybe it didn’t matter.
For some time, I remained quiet. I soaked in the information like a sponge, but it felt so real. Even though it happened before I was born, it was nearer than I ever expected. These men, somehow kept ageless due to the effects of this realm, were able to recall it in great detail.
I said, “There is one thing I can’t put together. Some of the locals are still alive. When I came, there weren’t many, but they led me here.” I remained hopeful.
Cadmar bowed his head and sighed. “Zane... well, shit. I’m not sure you want to hear this.”
But Mag knew I could take it. Anyway, it didn’t matter if I could or couldn’t. I was in this now. I was committed to their cause.
“Zane slaughtered them like innocent lambs. We’ve all seen it, Addie. I’m... sorry,” Mag said in a low and quiet tone.
Addie. Are you there? Come in. Addie...?
It was like being hit with a bullet straight into the fucking gut. Five years with someone. Five years of experiences, of fantasizing about weddings, babies, and the joy of growing older with someone. I felt like he wouldn’t ever leave me alone, that he would somehow betray me over and over again. The pain was deep and real, and it spread like a virus.
I looked at each of them, and all I could see was honesty. I asked them one more time. “Promise me you’re not lying to me, too.”
Donovan opened his mouth. “Addie, we—”
“Promise me!” I cried and rolled over to my side.
“Adeline, we’ve been waiting for you to come back for twenty years. I swear on everything that’s good and holy we’ll protect you,” Cadmar said as he laid his hand on my shoulder, taming the pain away.
And I believed them. Every part of my body told me not to do it. My heart was pounding, screaming, “Addie, you’ve been hurt one too many times.” I didn’t want to be weak anymore. I didn’t want to have to search the ends of the earth for some type of ultimate truth. The only truth was being close to people, but that meant being vulnerable. I had to lay down all of my tools, my comforts, the thought of my team and my past. I had to move forward with my life.
I took a deep breath and stared at the lining of the tent. I gazed at the team insignia for the second time and realized it was the crude sigil I had seen stitched into Mag’s blade. And even more curious, I started to remember where else I had seen it.
“The first time I stepped through, I didn’t enter through a portal in Guatemala. I came in through somewhere in the Southwest,” I said, trying harder to recall what highway it was that sprawled across the vast desert. “I remember the facilities. They were lined with armed guards, but no one seemed to think of a young girl like myself as a threat. I remember walking inside and wandering down a darkened hallway. There was a room at the end. Yes, a room! I remember it now...”
The men lowered their bodies around me to listen. They sat, holding their breath, giving me anticipatory glances. “Tell us more,” Donovan said.
I closed my eyes and saw that mirror again. This time, it was only a recollection, not a delusion. I saw the glowing crystal in the center of that facility room. I saw that little girl turning to run. I saw her father, my father, place his hands around her shoulders. “I touched something. I remember it being a rock, or a crystal. It was glowing. But it wasn’t what I thought it was. It was some type of manmade conductor that led me all the way to you. Duh. Of course, it was,” I muttered, finally putting together the pieces. “When I exited, my father pulled me away. I had to get disinfected, but—”
I stopped talking, and single drops of tears rolled from my eyes, trailing toward my open mouth.
Please... no. Don’t let this be true.
“My father was behind this,” I whispered, chest about to explode from so much tightness. My nerves. My body. Fuck...
My memory was coming back to me. I could see it all so much clearer. As I was being dragged away from the room, I saw another boy. He was sitting quietly, smiling to himself. He waved at me. I... I waved back.
I clenched my stomach and started to dry heave. ”Zane. I saw Zane,” I moaned. “He was in the facility. He was there with me.”
The camping trip. The relationship. The terrible sex, and the love that came from his encouragement and adoration. All of it was a lie. And my father had everything to do with it.
He left out the newspaper clippings, knowing I would see them. Aliens. Monsters. Beasts. I was so enthralled with the stories from my comic books. It was easy to coax me into going on a trip with him. And then, when I was told to stay put in the car, he knew there was no way I would listen.