Dimension Travelers

Chapter 9

I hear Chloe's voice echoing in my head: You have to come quick! Please be careful. Hurry, Seth! I need your help! Then I hear: Seth, I need you!

I'm fully awake now. I see a river of fire. There is no way we can swim across that. We will be burned alive. I'm many things, but I'm not fireproof.

I shake Rick awake. "Rick! Rick, wake up!"

He groans. "What?"

"We have to go, now! Chloe's in trouble."

"No freakin' duh. That's why we're here."

"No, I mean she sent me a thought that she was in trouble."

Rick sits up and stares at me as if I'm crazy. "She what?"

I explain the telepathy thing.

"Ok then. But how in the world do you plan to do that? Did you not see the fiery river?" Rick says.

"Well, yeah. We'll hafta cross it the hard way."

"You're right. If we could find a town or something, then maybe they could help us."

"But you saw how they'd react to me. They'll think I'm some sort of god or something. Or they'd try to kill me."

"Just put soot in your hair."

Is he crazy? "You're kidding, right?"

"No. How else would you get by without being seen? We don't have time to dye it."

I sigh reluctantly. "Fine, fine."

So I cover my hair with soot. Now I look more "normal" in these people's standards.

"Here. So they don't see your hazel eyes." Rick says and hands me a pair of aviators.

"Ok, are we gonna go now or what?"

"Well, first, we need to get out of these bloody clothes."

I take out my backpack. "Well, I don't know about you, but I brought clothes."

"So did I. I knew that I'd need some."

So we change into clean clothes. I put on some slightly baggy black pants with a black shirt and put on my leather jacket. Despite the fire, it's not that hot here. Still, I would not want to live here.

We find a fire and burn the bloody clothes. I put my aviators on. It helps a lot considering the light source here is extremely bright. Rick has a separate pair of sunglasses for himself.

So far, all we see are people working in the black fields. What were they doing? Could anything possibly grow in this kind of soil? People stare at us then continue working. We are just walking--no clue where to go. We are looking all around for a sign of a village or something. So far, nothing significant pops up except "farms," fire pits, mines, and people just milling around. I'm about to give up when the little girl from earlier comes up to us.

"I remember you!" She says happily.

"Are you sure?" Rick asks.

I know what he's trying to do. But I say nothing.

"Yeah." She says. "You're the one who gave me water."

"Do you know if there's a village around here?" I ask her.

Her face becomes slightly downcast. "There is one not too far from here. I'll show you. Come."

So we follow her for the longest time. Now it's getting really hot out here. I slowly, painfully take off my jacket and put it up. The bandage on my arm is almost completely soaked with blood. It hurts but there is nothing I can do. I also have to limp slightly because of my leg. Rick seems a bit paranoid about this place, but we just follow the little girl to a "village." But it does not look like one at all.