Meap Me in St. Louis

Chapter 15: Worlds Collide

UNIVERSE 524

BRIELLE

It has been a miserable hour for us. After Mitch escaped, we helped the Sides' clean up the mess that was left behind, then had Sam fly us back to St. Louis. The ride was bumpy because it had to use a weaker backup jet to maintain any level of steady flight. We've chosen to rest in, of all places, the middle of a large, mostly empty storage unit, mainly because we stashed the Universe-Traveler-inator in a shed and haven't wanted to do anything since.

The mood is dull. All twelve of us are sitting in a circle in the middle of some storage sheds, and nobody's said a word since we arrived. Skylar has a bandage wrapped around her hand to help heal the wound from Mitch's spiked cleats. Several people have ice packs on their heads. Everyone is covered in bruises and cuts. Our clothes are badly wrinkled and torn up. The hovercraft is off to the side, repairing itself. Most of the group has their gaze plastered to the ground, a couple have their eyes shut, and the rest are staring straight ahead. The time for feeling sad and guilty has long passed. Now, all any of us feel is emptiness. Numbness. We have no plan, no other allies to call (or, at least, anyone worth calling), and everyone's in pretty rough shape, both physically and emotionally.

And to make matters worse, the world around us seems to be mocking us and our pain. It's a very nice day outside; mildly warm with a soft, chilly breeze, a beautiful-looking sky, and the sounds of people walking by, cars driving, and other everyday city noises. There is no one to understand what we're going through. The only silver lining I can think of is that our battle didn't receive any public attention, but even that may not matter for much longer now that Mitch has Shanna.

Suddenly, we see a helicopter flying over the facility. I don't think anything of it at first until Avery looks up and appears to recognize it. It descends in an open area outside the facility, and a few minutes after we hear the blades stop spinning, three figures approach us.

"Hey, y'all," Rachel says, pitifully waving. The three of them are in slightly better condition than we are, but look to be just as distraught.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asks them.

"Well, Mitch may have destroyed our computer, but a good genius always remembers to back up their work," Austin chuckles. He hands a small, blue, velvet bag to Mackenzie, from which she retrieves an even smaller syringe-looking device. "Plus, Heinz made sure to hide the conversion device in his lab coat when Mitch broke in."

"We finished the vaccine," Benny explains to us. "We even added a booster enhancement, so its effects should take place immediately upon injection. We know it's probably too little, too late now, but we just thought we'd give it to you, y'know, in case you do end up needing it."

"We're sorry we couldn't do enough to help you," Rachel murmurs, unable to make eye contact with us.

Avery gives her a warm smile. "Don't be sorry, you guys. You did all that you could."

The triplets reciprocate with less sincere smiles. "Well... good luck," Benny mutters. They walk away, and the rest of us go back to our silent mourning. Mackenzie sets the bag down between her and Sean. It was a nice gesture from them, but chances are it won't help us now.

Jack's the first to say something after they leave. "So... what happens now?"

Mackenzie shakes her head, continuing to stare at the floor. "There's no telling, Jack."

"What happened to that pharmacist and his pets?" Brea asks.

Skylar corrects her, sighing, "He wasn't a pharmacist, and they weren't his pets."

"They went back to their own universe," I answer. "Dr. D said something about laying claim to the Tri-State Area while he still had time."

As I say that, the idea seems to pop into both mine and Avalon's heads at the same time. "Oh my Lord, how have we not thought about this yet?" Avalon sighs.