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59 The other side

Neutral Dimension
0655 AM
Inter-Dimensional
Winter - post Christmas

[POV of Jason]

I awoke in a haze, the radio was playing 'Voices Carry' by 'til Tuesday. I put on some military boots and cargo pants with a chore coat. I had packed my 40 pound military pack with supplies. I put on my fadora and left my room, as I walked down the hall I came to the realization of how empty the rooms were. The Russian clerk called me over to his desk.

Russian Clerk: You gnow comrade, dis is not a great idea. Many from the rooms that surround you have also explored the evils, and you don't have to be a physicist to gnow what happened to them.
Me (Jason): I'll be careful...
Russian Clerk: I've heard that before....

I then exited the Inter-Dimensional and seen the mysterious man sitting on the steps, he was cleaning his rifle and checking his supplies. He saw me and flicked the tip of his worn out Stetson and revealed his greasy unwashed hair. He looked dirtier than when I last saw him, his beard was tangled and dirty, and his face had been wiped by a wet towel... but not very well. He put a loaded clip into his M1 Garand and let the slide send a round into the chamber, he slowly looked up at me and chewed on his stubby cigar.

Mysterious Man: so... we meet again.
Me (Jason): yeah, I was supposed to travel with you...
Mysterious man: *chuckles* you are a mad man, anyone who would walk into the face of death is...
Me (Jason): Brave...
Mysterious Man: the only difference between bravery and stupidity is whose tellin' the story.
Me (Jason): nether the less, I am ready.
Mysterious man: you know that I have a letter from RHB that says, in quote: "If this man falls behind or is dragging you down... Kill Him!" And more shit like that.
Me (Jason): I won't fall behind.
Mysterious man: most don't even make it over the bridge.
Me (Jason): I've made my choice.
Mysterious man: Then lets not wait. Here take this.

He grabbed a Sporterized Enfield and threw it at me, I grabbed it and examined it. The gun had once been heavily engraved but now had some pitted areas and heavy patina, the scope was a 20 power zeiss that had a bent tube and scratched glass. The stock had duck tape and carvings in it. He then handed me three boxes of Ammo and a bandoleer.

Mysterious man: leave the ammo loose and mix it in each bandoleer poutch, there are green-tip armour piercing, red-tip High Velocity, and hollow points. That Enfield had been converted to .308 and should offer enough protection against the... things.
Me (Jason): so, can you answer some questions.
Mysterious man: do so as we walk.

We got up and started walking the 4 miles North towards the cliff.

Me (Jason): so you said earlier that this was God's perfect world.
Mysterious Man: I did.
Me (Jason): how so... other than the techy stuff.
Mysterious man: he created peace, the world at peace with itself, he introduced every animal... parasites... bacteria. The ecosystem worked like clockwork, there was a time to live, a time to die, a time to build, and a time to destroy. Problem is he introduced humans, that unlike me, overindulged on whatever they could get their hands on. The those people shed blood, and god gave the people whom were innocent the idea to leave.
Me (Jason): why aren't you allowed to stay here?
Mysterious Man: this isn't my world, this side of the canyon, infact it doesn't really exist... even here.
Me (Jason): How so?
Mysterious man: look back...

I looked back to see nothing but forest and mountain, every building from Rocksville and the Inter-dimensional had disappeared.

Me (Jason): what happened?
Mysterious man: you entered the truth. You can always go back there, hell you can even stay there... But something will always nag at you to come back here. But none of that is the real reason. I murdered a man before the great Rapture.
Me (Jason): the great Rapture?
Mysterious Man: God gave the people the idea to build the "Ark" so they did, the rest of us were sentenced to wrath. For our crimes we were not allowed to age, but instead survive three years of horrific wild fires, a year of intense flooding and seven years of earthquakes, the last one made the canyon around this place. Most of the barely bad people died, then there are the ones like me. Look, there is the bridge.

The single metal beam connected to a fallen building showed, all around this beam was salt rocks and a tall barbed wire fence. The fence also had human scalps and dried blood all over it.

Me (Jason): what does this mean?
Mysterious man: RHB's way of telling the things to keep out.

As the Mysterious man opened the gate a harsh breeze hit me, the air was fresher than any I had ever breathed and smelled of flowers. The temperature was no longer freezing cold, but instead just a cool breeze. The snow had disappeared.

Me (Jason): why is this side of the gate so different from the other.
Mysterious Man: it is your mind telling you that this is paradise, but your heart says there is something wrong. Find a way to trust both and not be deceived by their thirsts. This place is not longer the heaven, Adam and Eve have taken their bite of the apple, we are in hell... a hell that even Lucifer is scared of.
Me (Jason): huh... huh... why?
Mysterious Man: This is what happens when the old testament meets the post modern world, people accepted sin, and God saw that his creation had turned to another Sodom and Gamorrah. What was left... Fallout, life after death. What we are walking through, catacombs....