There it is, every word I’ve ever craved to hear from her, spilled right at my feet, and to think I have that wily Sector to thank for it.
“Thank you for that,” I whisper. Every other sentiment begs to come up with it, but the boulder building in my throat won’t allow for it at the moment. I can’t remember the last time I cried tears of joy, but they are here just beneath the surface.
A magnificent roar comes from the fireplace and I take Skyla by the hand and head that way.
Dudley leads us through a murky shadowland, filled with haunted cries and screams of terror.
“A haunted light drive? You’re really rolling out the red carpet today, aren’t you?” I smart as he leads us back onto dry encrusted ground, a dead forest, and a bleak purple sky. “Where are we?”
“Paragon.” He lifts a hand at the desolation and keeps us moving at a quickened pace. We speed down the main thoroughfare, nothing but cracked earth, dead sticks that rise in the stratosphere like skyscrapers where the evergreens once stood. Not a pine needle in sight, just bald branches, death and desolation everywhere you look.
“Logan.” Skyla points to our left and we see the remnants of West Paragon High, half of Cerberus is missing from the building, the paint chipped, the edges of the building crumbling. Gone are the rolling green lawns, replaced with an orange thatch, weeds as tall as men everywhere you look. Dudley leads us to the mainland, to the cities, where there are camps of people living in the streets, hungry, dirty, so very tired—the look of despair on every one of their faces. He takes us to different continents, our feet moving as time and space rearrange around us. There is death, a plague, a natural disaster everywhere you look. Cities under siege, countries in starvation, currencies as dry as the riverbeds.
“Marshall”—Skyla pants—“I’ve seen enough. What’s happened? Why are you showing us this?”
Marshall extends his hands in the midst of utter chaos, criminals stealing from the poor, requiring their lives when there is nothing left to take. Bodies in piles in the street as if they were refuse. “This is the future, Skyla. Every life is cheap in the eyes of evil. This is what the king of the Barricade brings to the world. This is what we will reap if we choose to lay down our arms. The climate, the financial institution of every government on earth, the food supply, the housing market, healthcare, pensions, financial securities of any sort, they are all gone.”
“Gage has done this?” Skyla’s voice is lower than a whisper. The clear look of shock on her face matches my own.
“He has and he must in an effort to secure Demetri’s true goals. One world order. No one thrives without him. But what the enemy doesn’t understand is the cost of human lives, the cost of the human condition, is far too high to achieve their goals. Only he and his own will thrive. Left with a desperate planet, desperate people who would rather burn him than offer their worship. This is the kingdom he fights so hard for.”
“We need to show him this.” Skyla is shaking, her face red with rage. “Gage would never want this to happen. This isn’t his vision. I’m sure of it.”
“He won’t hear of it.” Dudley shakes his head. “He will question it, and find it lacking. What he sees in his mind’s eye is idealistic, a thriving world, a working order that maintains and flourishes. He will no sooner believe this if he heard of it than if he witnessed it with his own two eyes. Smoke and mirrors he would insist. Sit back and watch him, and all of his good works. And I promise you this much—if you do just that, you will receive no other outcome. This is what he has to offer. This is the path that he is coercing all of humanity into. The Barricade will lead the way to death and destruction. And he is their willing king.”
Skyla and I take in the carnage, the death, the massacre of our people, our culture, our freedoms, and fill ourselves with this horrific visual so we may never forget.
“This is it.” Skyla gives my hand a squeeze. “This is what we’re fighting against.”
“We needed to see this.” My eyes soak in the terror, the disintegration of life as we know it. “And now we know what we need to do.”
Skyla nods. “We’re not just stopping Gage from eliminating the remaining Factions. We’re stopping him from hurting all mankind.”
“You’re right. Not just for his good or for our good, but for the greater good.” I look to Dudley. “I think we’ve seen enough.”
Dudley bears those blood-red eyes of his straight into Skyla’s. He’s speaking to her, saying something that I’m not privy to. Telling her something with certainty and she nods as if accepting his words.
He leads us away from the hell around us, into a portal of darkness much like the one that landed us there to begin with. Haunted voices whisper all around us, the screams of a woman, a man can be heard in the distance, laughter fills the air, the rushing of a violent wind, then no more than a few steps are taken before we’re right back in Marshall’s living room, only Skyla is no longer with us.
“Where is she?” I glance back as the fireplace buttons itself up, the stonewall in place as if it never altered.
“Home with the boys. I informed her I would be returning her to the Landon residence so I might have a word with you alone.” He glowers at me as if I were the one responsible for the malfeasance we just witnessed. “You do realize this little side trip into the potential future was more than what it seems.”
“I get it. Skyla and I are getting our act together. We have a clear focus now. We might have been a little too myopic in trying to save our people. The big picture cleared things up for us. I appreciate it. More than you know.”
He gives a slow blink. “Excellent, but you’ve missed a very important highlight of our rendezvous. I’ve repaired the bridge, Young Oliver. Skyla’s heart is opened to yours now. In the same way the two of you need to tend to humanity, you need to tend to each other. There is a plan, and it very much requires your cooperation.”
“Are you talking about Skyla and me?”
“Do not force me to refer to you as The Slow One.”
“Do it and I’ll find a way to silence you forever.” I’m only half-teasing. “You mean that whole tap dance when we got here, that was you pulling the puppet strings to—”
“Usher the two of you in the right direction.”
“I’m already moving in the right direction, buddy.”
“And now, she is, too.” He gives a slight bow. “You’re welcome.”
