An Inch Of Infinity (Short Version)

CHAPTER 47~Surprise and Supplies

Even though the candle was old, it had a lovely glow. Yet, something wasn't right about it.

I didn't realize until in the total darkness what was different. This candle changed colors as it burned. A deep purple, then a light blue. A bold teel and a soft orange, ending with the classic, light yellow light, then it went out. He lit another candle, and in the darkness we could see the light as it changed. It started yellow, then darkened to orange, which then transitioned to red. From red, it went dark, then burst into a beautiful blue, which transitioned into purple, and so on.

On the third candle, I looked away. They were all the same and even though wonderful, they burnt out fast. There was a small group of maybe twenty people, all watching the candle eagerly. I felt like it was a trap. When he went to light a fourth candle, I stepped in.

"You don't have to do that, we have flashlights. Why waste one of those wonderful candles if we can't even look at it. After all, we should be looking for food and supplies, right?" I say sweetly, challenging him with my eyes. A surprised look flashed across his face, but was quickly diminished.

"Indeed." He says coldly. And puts it away, in a bag. We walked forward, took a left, then took a left , and took a left. Nobody else seemed to notice this, but we were heading back the way we came. I looked for Coral,but then remembered that she stayed back with the others.

We walked to a flight of stairs, but instead of going up them, he walked through them! The side of the staircase was some sort of gel that could be passed through. He popped his head out, and gave a bellowing laugh.

"You all should've seen your faces right then! Oh, you don't have penetration gel? Do ya? Well come on!" he grabbed at my hand, and I stepped back. A different person was grabbed and was pulled through. The wall looked solid, but it was glowing, because inside was a person with a flashlight. Then the light faded. Scared, I lay my hand on the surface of the so-called wall.

It was cold and smooth. It vibrated when I touched it, but made no sound. I pressed gently with my hand and the whole wall rippled. The wall bent in around my hand, but it didn't cover my hand. I pushed harder and the wall ripped. My hand went through and the whole wall went back into its shape. When that happened, I pulled my hand out with haste. There was no hole in the wall, it seemed to heal itself. I inspected my hand. There wasn't anything on it, nor was it hurt. It was the same as my other hand, considering the thumb and little fingers were switched, of course, but nothing else was different. After a few more trials, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and stepped against the non existent wall. For a split second the wall bent, then I went through into a world of darkness and grey.

I couldn't breath, I could barely move. Frantically, I tried to escape, to scream, to cry out for help, but if I opened my mouth, nothing came in or out. I forced my eyes to open. To one side, there was a faint light, far off. The other three sides were dark.

If I had been thinking clearly, I would've gone away from the light, to the closest side, the way I came in. Instead, I walked to the farthest side away, towards the light. My lungs screamed for air, and were scratching at my throat for air. My eyes started to see pink and yellow bursts of light across my peripheral vision, and black around the edges. My legs dragged through like they were weighed down by heavy cement blocks. I lost the feeling in my feet and hands. Soon my arms and legs lost feeling, I had to order them to move. I started making motions with my hands Kadek did while swimming, which helped, but I still needed my legs. I reached the end after what seemed like hours. I pressed against the wall exhausted, but it didn't break. I panicked and almost lost consciousness, when a hand reached through and pulled me through.

I hit the floor gasping and wheezing. Slowly my thoughts came back, with my common sense. I was in a small room, around 8 square feet with wood walls, and as my vision focused I realized that the walls weren't walls, but crates. Standing over me was the survivor who brought us here. A few feet away, the person who was pulled through was looking through boxes.

"We haven't been properly introduced, I'm Maiki, and you are?" he says, as if I hadn't just been pulled through a thick wall, made of some sort of gel.

"I'm Akari" I say dazed. I can't believe that I went through that wall!

     "Akari, Ingret and Emma, it seems everyone of you are girls with names that start with a vowel!" he laughs. I raise an eyebrow at him. WAIT, Emma? I think to myself. I snap my head to see the person looking through craits. A beautiful young girl with long black hair, in grass stained pants and dirt stuck under her fingernails.

"Emma?" I say confused, the recognition hit me "I'm so sorry I let him grab you,"

"It's ok Kari, It turned out to be a good thing. They have lots of native seeds here." she says mellowly. I sigh in relief. I turn on my flashlight and look through the craits as soon as I get up. The craits all were organised so the seeds were on one side, the food against one wall, and bottled freshwater against the other solid wall. All of the crates were on pallets, about 6 inches off the ground.

As if reading my thoughts, Maiki pointed to the pallets.

"We have had a problem with flooding in here, and the seeds are all dried, and we didn't want them to rot. The food is all dehydrated, so we didn't want to make it all activate. Not to mention the craits wood get moldy. This is why we can't have nice things!" he laughed, but his eyes remained hard. We started to load the crates onto a wheeled cart. Soon it was full, mostly of food. We pushed it through the wall with a note attached.

Please empty the crates and

push the cart back so

we can reload it.

The note read, we waited a few minutes, then the cart rolled back through. It reminded me of magic, the way the entire wall wiggled, then let the cart through without a mark on the wall, nor on the cart. I touched the wall, like last time, it was cold and smooth, with the slightest vibrations, tickling my finger tips. I went back to loading. After about three hours, we loaded the last few boxes onto the cart. Behind the seeds had been supplies, including but not limited to;

ROPE

CORDS

WIRES

TOOLS

HOUR GLASSES

CLOCKS

WOOD PLANKS

CLAY TILES

PAINT BUCKETS

WOVEN BASKETS

POTS

PANS

CLOTHING

CAMERAS

SHOES

FABRIC

THREAD

AND SEWING NEEDLES

To name a few. We opened the last crate and used the rope inside to tie us together and to the cart. We piled on all of the rest of the crates, and pushed the cart into the wall. Soon we were pulled in after the cart. We all held onto the ropes and we soon came out the other end. Outside the wall everyone was waiting for us.