The Other Side of the Portal

Chapter 3

 I awoke the next morning by a buzzing sound to my right. I checked my watch, 3:37 in the morning, I had to do a double take, three-thirty-seven, in the morning? I groaned and sat up on my elbows. My back still wasn't used to sleeping on a hard wood table and it ached badly.

 Luka was standing by the control panel of the machine, examining closely. I got up and walked towards him.

 "Good morning Russet." He greeted me, turning in my direction. "So, do you understand what this machine is?" He eyed me suspiciously.

 "Of course not, I told you that yesterday. Or may I say, Four hours ago?" I gave him a pointed look, and crossed my arms over my chest, waiting for his reply.

 He was silent for a few minutes before answering. "I'm not stupid, as you know, and to have stayed this long without being taken over-" He stopped, realization covering his features. "Of course! This machine must have been the one that those idiotic scientists used to bring the ghosts here, and by being exposed to it, the ghosts won't go after you because they don't want to be sent back!" I flinched at his idiotic remark, but I had to give it to him. He was a very smart kid for his age.

 I didn't know exactly what to say, in case I gave myself away, so I stood there, nodding thoughtfully. I walked over to where the slight buzzing was coming from, and hit it hard with my fist. "I'd rather not hear that this time of day."

 "Whatever you say. We should get ready to leave, before the sun comes up and we can camp out in an old shop or something." He said, changing the subject. He lifted an old paper from one of the tables set up near the machine, he examined it for a moment, then set it down.

 "Sure, sure." I said, walking over to grab my pack underneath one of the tables. I walked back over to him, my pack slung over my shoulder, and asked him if he was ready to go.

 "Yeah, one second, I'm going to bring at least one pillow and blanket." He stuffed them both into the already full backpack. "Iv'e been without these for a some time now, five weeks is longer than I thought it'd seem." After he got them both in, we walked together to the hard metal doors.

 "Do you have any idea where your family might be?" I asked him. The sooner we found his family, the sooner I could find Toupe, Kai and Heather. He didn't answer for a few minutes, and we had gotten outside, in the cold morning air, the wind whipped our faces and caused paper and other debris to flow all around us.

 "Last I heard from them, they were making their way to Laguna Niguel, to meet up with other populations that aren't, well..." I wondered silently if anyone I knew had taken refuge in Laguna, it was afully weird knowing this had all happened in such a short ammount of time, it seemed like decades had already passed.

 "How many are in your family, Luka?" I asked him, wondering how long it would have taken them to travel that far.

 "Four, including me. My Dad, Mom, and older brother, he's twenty." With a familly that size, they should have gotten there four days ago. That is, assuming they made it that far.

 "Okay, well if we want to reach them quickly, then we're going to need a car." I tried to remember if the ghosts used cars.

 We found an old Toyota 4Runner, it had dents all along it's sides and the front bumper was missing. It had it's keys still in the ignition, so it would have to do. I turned the key a few times before it started up. "Put your seatbealt on," I told Luka when he got into the car.

 "Does it really matter?" He asked looking at me like I was an idiot.

 "It is the law."

 "Why do you still follow the laws? We're all almost extinct! What the hell does it matter?" He asked again.

 "Fine, don't. I didn't know you would act so childish." He was about eighteen, why did I have to get stuck with a stubborn teenager? I swear if he keeps this up I'll put him in a box and lay him out for the ghosts.

 "I'm not acting childish whatsoever." He said, crossing his arms over his chest. Oh really, now? I thought to myself looking at his defiant facial expression.

Luka

 Childish? Russet had no idea what he was talking about.

  I had been on vacation for school when this all happened. The sun was blistering, the pool water was cool to my sunburnt skin, and the hotdogs and hamburgers were to die for. I was spending the weekend with my friend Brock Samuels, and I didn't think anything could ever go wrong. My family had agreed to let me stay only because Brock's parents were going to be present, they were all waiting back home for me in Cathedral city.

 Coachella Valley was amazing, and after four months of working at this bookstore down the street from my house, I had enough to purchase Coachella Fest concert tickets. A bunch of my favorite bands were playing there this year and I had to see them, I guess before all of this happened you would call me music obssessed.

 But on our way to the concert, listening to music the bands would surely play onstage, we saw something I simply couldn't forget.

 We saw a tsunami. Not your regular run-of-the-mill-tsunami, it didn't consist of water at all. It was the start of the paranormal appocolypse. Thousands, upon thousands flooded their way into the quiet streets. They would be solid and then fade when they reached a body. All of the humans would thrash violently, then after a short while, they're thrashing would cease. And when they looked up, they weren't the same.

 The expressions on their faces weren't happiness, or joy, not even sadness. No, it was evil, and power-hunger. One goal that they lived by. After they had assumed all of the bodies they could manage, I began to notice a slight shift in their behavior. They began to try and eat. It was actually funny to see, because they didn't know how. They couldn't figure out how to get the nourishments inside of their new bodies.

We were driving on the 5 south, in the direction of Aliso Viejo, which was a city close to Laguna. Having been on the road for more that an hour and thirty minutes, I asked Russet if we could pull over.

 "Why?" He replied.

 "Well, some normal people can't go very long without," I paused giving him a pointed look. But he just stared back at me blankly. "You know."

 "Oh... Of course. I will take you to the nearest restroom." He looked away awkwardly. "Sorry I just didn't understand what you meant." What kind of idiot did I get stuck with? I looked at his button-down shirt and black seamless pants. They looked expensive, so he must have either been rich before this, or he stole them from Armani. It disgusted me that I knew about different clothes brands.

 I saw a flash of dark brown hair as we pulled into an all-night gas station, it looked abandoned, so we had both decided to stop here. Walking around the car, I consulted with Russet about what I had seen.

 "Let me take a look first." He whispered to me as quietly as he could. Walking silently towards the body that was lying in a fetal position, he poked it.

 He poked it.Wow, that sure helps. Poke it why don't you? That surely won't get it angry in any way.

 "Hello?" He asked it cautiously.

 It whimpered in response.

"Please don't take me over." She said quietly.

 I knew that voice.

Valerie Thomas, my girlfriend, was right here in front of us.