Paranormal, Extraterrestrial, and Interdimensional Phenomena

Chapter 2

"Good. Before we go, does anyone have any questions?"

"Do you know what COVID-19 is?" Joey asks, kind of worriedly, which contrasted his somewhat carefree demeanor from earlier, not that John blamed him. That virus was disastrous. John took Curt, Zazzalil, Jemilla, Draco, and Ron, and made them stay at the other side of the room while he took some precautions that would keep them safe.

"Oh, shi-shoot. Did you come from a universe with that virus?" John pulled a box of surgical masks, that had been modified by PEIP to keep out viruses like this one, out of a pocket somewhere, put one on, and passed them out to everyone, carefully putting one on Taylor. The poor kid had passed out from exhaustion, and was currently slumped up against a crate, which was probably for the better, seeing as they had just had a huge-ass panic episode, and needed time to rest.

"Yeah. I'm partially vaccinated, Robert and Jon are both fully, but Lo and Jeff aren't at all. Also, I'm pretty sure Taylor's from our universe, but there's no way that they're over 18, so they aren't vaccinated either." Joey explained.

"We at PEIP have a vaccine that's almost 99% effective, and you will all be given it when we get back to HQ, even those who don't have it in their universe. It's also okay for minors." John said, still tense from the knowledge of the virus that had ended the world in so many universes. But these people didn't know that. "Anyways, anything else?"

"Uh, where are we?" Lauren asked.

"Hatchetfield, Michigan."

"Uh, yeah, what's the time here? I'd like to synchronize my timepiece with yours, if you don't mind." Robert asked, smirking for some unknown reason, causing the other adults to burst into uncontrollable laughter, but making John like this man even more than before.

"It's currently 900 hours, or 9:00 am if you don't know military time." Curt answered before John could, causing the older man to glare at the confused teenager.

"I, uh, I like your watch, Rob. Can I call you Rob? I'm going to call you Rob." John stuttered. God, Xander and his nicknames were rubbing off on him.

"Yeah, Rob's fine, I guess." The tall Australian clarified, blushing.

"Oh, Wizard God, you two are gross." Draco muttered, causing Ron to smack him on the arm.

"You and Harry are no better, you know that, right?" The redhead teased, causing Draco to blush bright red. John decided to grill Draco about this Harry kid later in front of the rest of the people from the other dimensions, just to get back at him for teasing him about Rob. He wasn't usually one for revenge, but John was kind of curious anyways.

"Anywho, should we get going?" Curt asked, somewhat rhetorically.

"I hope you all heard that, and aren't going to be surprised or threatening when I walk in with ten people and a dog from other dimensions." John muttered into his communication device. He heard a crackly 'yes', but knew that there was going to be a shit load of armed soldiers when they got back to HQ. John sighed, shut off his comm, and turned to the group. "Do not be alarmed if you see armed soldiers back at HQ. I asked them to not, but I highly doubt they'll listen to me, seeing as Cynthia is a controlling badass." Lauren smirked.

"Good to see that I did well with her." She muttered to Joey, who grinned in agreement, which confused John. How did she know Cynthia? She didn't have any siblings, or friends, for that matter. Maybe it was another thing from their universe that was different here? John made a mental note to ask about it later.

"Uh, how're we going to get Taylor there? They don't look light." Zazzalil  points out. John thinks for a second, but Jeff answers before he has a chance to.