Christine

The Device

The Device 

I’m not sure if this was some crazy death wish or some rush of adrenaline, but I was excited and pumped to be a part of something big; in a way, I was happy to leave my small, boring life for this new adventurous one. I was somewhere on the border of either making my father extremely happy, or making him turn in his grave from worry. Whatever my father felt by my actions, I wasn’t going to stop just yet.

I was introduced to Mikey and Pluto, both with intense athletic ability and heavy martial arts training. When I first met them they immediately called me four-eyes, due to me wearing my glasses at the time, and refused to call me anything else. Mikey was a tall and lanky man standing at seven feet, while Pluto stood at six. Both of them were quite average in looks, black hair and blue eyes, both had a military style cut and I had a suspicion they were a couple.

We were each given a black suit and rations for a week, we had communication devices and were sent out immediately. It took us four days to reach the mountain by train, we rode on the top so that it would be easier to jump off, “Tuck and roll” Pluto yelled next to me and she propelled herself off of the train. 

We rolled off into the grass and came upon a vast mountain face. “You ready to be our eyes and ears four-eyes?” Pluto laughed gently, her voice like bells with a hint of power. 

I groaned and glanced around me, “so what do you want me to do?” I asked sceptically. 

“There is a small entrance in the side of the mountain, as you’ve probably guessed, this is a fake land-mark. The passage is small, and we can’t fit through, however you can. The passage branches off into vents and possibly hallways, find the Exes and ease-drop on anything they say.” We were running frantically to the side of the mountain hidden from the train tracks and streets. 

We found a very obvious fake rock and slid it away from the mountain. The entrance under the rock was about 3 feet by 3 feet, a tight squeeze but not entirely impossible for me. I slithered in and they closed the entrance behind me, planning to guard it from somewhere. I crawled through the small passage for quite some time, it was warm with all this sneaking around, my heart was pounding and my hands were sweating, I was nervous. I began to hear voices, ranging anywhere from anger to complete content. And one particularly gravelly voice said “finally we found it.” The voice was male, and filled with elation.  

I had no way to see what was going on but I heard everything the voices were saying, we were too late, they had already found the device and was planning on using it. I back-tracked my way to the entrance and pushed the rock aside, I was immediately yanked up and held with my arms behind my back. We had been caught

I struggled for a moment but hey hadn’t budged, what could I do in a situation like this? I complied. I went along, allowed them to drag me back into the mountain, a much bigger entrance this time, and into the main lair where I heard the voices coming from. We were thrown into cages, they were actually quite ordinary, I was expecting some elaborate thing but these cells looked more like olden-time prison cells, which means easier to break out of.

Luckily they didn’t account for my size either so after some working and squeezing I was able to push myself through the bars slightly and reach the button on the wall next to my cell. Once the button was pressed the cells made a groaning sound and slowly creaked open and let us free. Pluto quickly dashed out of the room, most likely to find out where our weapons were, Mikey had a few stashed on him in places guards wouldn’t dare to look, he handed over a few explosives and guns. “Destroy it” he said harshly, his thick accent wafting over me. Was I really ready? No, the answer was no, I was far from ready but completely in the game now. 

I snatched up the weapons and dashed the opposite direction of Pluto; my job was to find the device, destroy it, and try not to die in the process. 

I saw a very large man run towards me, he shot out something, hitting my arm and sending me flying into the wall. I had a searing pain shoot up my arm and I lay back against the wall, feigning death. When the man was close enough for me to see clearly through my half-shut eyes I took slow aim and fired my weapon. I hit him square in the chest with a grey ball of fire. He dropped to the ground with no sound at all, no cry or pain or help, just immediate death.

I continued on my way, glancing fearfully at the corpse, completely expecting it to get up and kill me just as I had done. I reached a small room with a giant glass tube that ranged from the ceiling to the floor. In the tube there was some kind of blue smoke struggling to find its way out. The way this stuffed moved was quick and sporadic, as if alive and frightened. I glanced to the side to see a small glass dome attached to the tube, and inside that dome was a small stone, no bigger than a human eye.

This stone was leaking this strange blue energy, and instantly I knew that this was the device that could change the future. I reached out to release the stone when a hand suddenly lashed out and gripped my wrist fiercely; I shriek in fear before slamming my free hand into his nose, I hear a sickening crunch and his hold on me is broken. 

I use the butt of my gun to smash the glass of the dome, I snatch up the stone and run down the hall. Footsteps follow closely behind, he’s fast but his body is heavy which makes me faster. I am able to get three turns in before I slip into a low vent and begin shimmying my way through the vent systems. I fall out into a different hallway and glance around me quickly.

Another man comes running down the hall. Still holding the stone in my fist, I raise my first explosive and toss it to the roof before taking off in the opposite direction. I’m hit in the back with the same blast from earlier but this time I slam into a conference table. 

I groan in pain, rolling off the table and swinging out my arm, it connects with the man’s face but he still hasn’t budged. I swings my fists and dodge his as I frantically try to knock him out. I land a good punch to the side of his jaw and as he faces the other way I plant another explosive. 

I hear Pluto scream my name and my head jerks up in her direction. I see her running down a hall and quickly follow after, Mikey shows up once we get closer to the exit, he’s wheezing and pretty messed up but he keeps a steady pace. I hear a shot behind me and see Mikey drop, I see a rather large man, much large than the others, I assume he’s the leader and take no chances. I lift up my weapon and shoot just as he shoots me, I turn quickly to continue our escape. 

I dare not look back at the second man I killed, and I dare not slowdown in case more follow. We make it outside and Pluto fishes out her detonator and in half a heartbeat she sets the place ablaze, each and every member of the Exes are surely burnt to a crisp. The stone sits heavy in my pocket.

We call Fior to have him send a pick-up team and while we sit and wait, I take a moment to calm myself and to relax, to assure myself we won and we survived. 

I suddenly wrench forward, my chest hurts and my vision is getting blurry. The adrenaline has finally wore off and I look down to see my shirt soaked in blood, when the leader shot me, he didn’t miss, the bullet passed straight through my chest, thankfully on the right side, missing my heart. 

I don’t remember much after that, everything became a haze of rushing figures and panicked voices, I was dying and I wasn’t afraid. I was ready to let go of life when suddenly I heard my father. “You’re not dying yet, we have to get you to the world of the living first!” he sounded completely terrified, like any father watching his child die. I close my eyes for just a moment

Fior quickly rushes Christine into a bright room and begins opening a portal to the world of the living. He finds where her car has crashed and sees the ambulance and cop cruisers rushing to her vehicle. He quickly places her inside the car, allowing her a chance to die in the realm and to either become part of the Other again, or to pass on and find peace.

The ambulance pulls her body from the wreckage and rushes her to the hospital, they can’t figure out why there is a whole in her chest so they assume a branch has impaled her. 

She’s losing blood.

Her heart won’t start!

Emergency surgery!

Her eyes open.

“Don’t waste your time” I whisper before slipping unconscious again.