Something wasn¡¯t right. A pain in her mind like the worst headache in history made her vomit. Jan lay prone on the floor in the middle of her stupid circle.??
¡°Fucking shit!¡±?
It hadn¡¯t worked. She looked around her large work room. The candles still blazed around her. The sulfur and blood line that encircled her place on the floor was unruffled. A silky haze floated in the near half-light. That was something different but not the going away gift she¡¯d planned.??
¡®What were you trying to do?¡¯ The dead thoughts of her deceased Mother rang like a chime to add misery to her wracked brain.?
¡°I¡¯m sorry, I wanted to...wanted to be with you.¡±?
As soon as she¡¯d spoken the words, she felt ashamed. How pathetic she¡¯d become in these last few months.?
Jan got shakily to her feet and wobbled over to the table that held an assortment of herbs and other magical components. Her communications display lay where she¡¯d sat it down as if it were some important token to her mad plan.??
Kill myself, or send myself. Had I gotten it all wrong??
The display flashed angrily. No connection, no feed, no anything. She looked at it blankly. She took it up in her hand, the small globe like a magical ball and examined the data array.??
Exactly ten minutes ago all communications were lost. That¡¯s when she had...well failed to embark on her final voyage. That¡¯s a fairly large coincidence.??
The old satellite data links weren¡¯t all that great but they never sent no information. Had a solar flare knocked them out? She dredged through her mind and felt the alien machine presence, a small chip implant near her left ear canal that made local communication possibly with innate protocols. She registered some local exchanges still functioning but they also couldn¡¯t connect with the Satellite array.??
Jan felt a sudden chill. She¡¯d never been out of contact. Not since the chip had been installed on her seventh birthday. Seven, such a significant year for young adults when they got the implant and a world beyond came funneling right into their little brains. Education, law, news everything you could think of and more was always handy. She had spoken over a hundred languages with the amazing technology. Now she knew, well one. Good old English. That wasn¡¯t completely true. Over the years she¡¯d learned subconsciously through the implant magnification dozens of languages. It wasn¡¯t the sort of learning everyone got. You had to have money and connections. Or the military. She¡¯d had all of the above.??
There was the language in her head it just wasn¡¯t as vibrant now. She could still converse in old Spanish with Maria who lived next door. It would be a poor imitation of what had been.?
What had happened to the array??
She toggled a news search and found nothing. Locally alarms were sounding but she ignored them. Troy wasn¡¯t exactly the bedrock of what was left of global communication. With nothing coming in she had no choice but to listen in on the local network.?
The squawking was immediate and weird. According to a few locals who had links to the hardwired web something had happened to the world. Most of the news was hearsay and jumbled superstition but a flash from a deputy enforcer shook her to her core.?
¡°We have no road to Montgomery. It just...ends. It¡¯s just woods.¡±?
What the hell??
Jan was out of her basement, up the stairs and standing on her porch in a bat of the eye. Outside seemed normal enough. The sun bled a scalding sting to her eyes. It was in the wrong place. She knew it almost instantly. The sun should be at forty degrees plus or minus. This sun was at fifty plus. Fall had just become, SPRING???
She fell back onto her porch swing. She felt dizzy. This sort of thing doesn¡¯t happen, ever.??
What had she done??
Next door, Maria waved to her in greeting apparently oblivious to recent events. She walked swiftly to her little trike at the curb, climbed in and moved off silently down the road. Maybe to go pick up her kids at school.?
Jan swung aimlessly on the swing thinking. It wasn¡¯t logical that her little invocation or summoning whatever could have caused all this. Her head cleared and most of the pain as her implant made adjustments to the pain center.??
That was better. It didn¡¯t leave her with anymore answers.??
Jan got up and hiked to the side of the house and opened a large garage. Inside was her Mother¡¯s old and dusty Chevy. The poor thing hadn¡¯t seen the light of day in months.?
She climbed in while subconsciously hooking into the vehicle's diagnostics with her hardwired implant. It wasn¡¯t green. Power showed a puke yellow but it would move. Outside in the sun it would power up quickly. Would it be able to navigate locally? She put in a destination and the Electro began to move.?
¡°Let¡¯s try to go to Montgomery,¡± she said cheerfully in a mocking tone. She didn¡¯t really feel it.?
?
?¡°The cell towers must be down, too,¡± Romonika said, observing her smartphone.? ¡°I¡¯m getting no signal.¡±
¡°That shouldn¡¯t be happening,¡± Julian said.? ¡°The towers have backup power independent of the grid.¡±
¡°Gimmie a sec,¡± Mayor Reeves said.? He ran off to a nearby police cruiser, spoke with the deputy, a few words were exchanged, and the cruiser was on its way before he came back.? ¡°The deputy¡¯s reporting a lot of static over the radio¡ªcan hardly hear anyone.¡±
¡°OY, JULIAN!¡±
The call came from someone dressed up in a circus acrobat¡¯s outfit.? His dreadlocks were short, and sweat was dripping off his mahogany skin.
¡°What¡¯s up, Louie?¡± Julian knew the guy.? He was a pack leader inside the Blood Nation.? He and his little group were a high wire act for the travelling carnival.? They also did work in other places that required being around heights.
¡°There¡¯s some columns of smoke, far to the west,¡± he said, catching his breath.? ¡°I saw it while I was up on the trapeze. Something else, though, and I don¡¯t know how to say it¡¡±
¡°What¡¯s the first thing that comes to mind,¡± Julian asked.
¡°Well it¡¯s weird,¡± Louie said.? ¡°I¡¯m looking that way, and¡something¡¯s wrong, ¡®cuz the land¡¯s changed.¡±
¡°Come again,¡± Reeves blinked.? ¡°Changed?¡±
¡°Yeah, the CHOOH2 fields end sharply at one point way out there,¡± he replied, ¡°and well¡it looks like forest, really dense forest!¡±
That made no sense at all.? For the past 40 years, PetroChem¡¯s been buying up land like crazy, in order plant more and more CHOOH2, the GMO wheat crop that was the basis of what had replaced fossil fuels.? Troy used to be surrounded by stands of woodland and prairies, but not anymore. If Louie was right, and he had no reason to doubt him¡then what was going on?
First thing¡¯s first, he thought.? There¡¯s a fire to deal with. Worry about the rest later.
¡°Get the word out,¡± Julian said.? ¡°Until we get power and communications back, we¡¯ll have to use runners.? I want to gather as many people as we can in the Home Depot parking lot in 30 minutes.? I¡¯ll need at least one med-wagon, and as many strong backs as I can get, especially anyone with firefighting experience.? Thirty minutes from now. Got it?¡±
¡°Got it!¡±? Louie was off like a shot, shouting to a knot of kids before moving on.
¡°If you think you¡¯ve got that, I¡¯ll try to get some more information here,¡± Mayor Reeves said.? ¡°I¡¯ll see if I can¡¯t restore basic services and try and keep the townsfolk from panicking. Ms. Shapiro¡I don¡¯t know if there¡¯s much for you, but¡ª¡°
¡°I¡¯ll go see to Zack,¡± she said.? ¡°You guys go do what you have to do.? So will I.¡±
Few people would argue that Romonika Shapiro was a difficult woman.
Thirty minutes later, A mix of motorcycles, VW Bugs, FAV¡¯s and a pair of Hummers modified to act as the requested med-wagons had gathered.? All in all, there was a small crowd of about 20 Nomads from the three Nations coming forward to listen to Julian. In that time, some amount of communication by radio had been re-established, but the static was bad.? On the other hand, Pike Power and Water was seeing about getting their supplementary generator online. All it required was overriding the normal software that kept it off until there was a demand.
Julian found that ironically amusing.
¡°I¡¯m not exactly sure what we¡¯re going to find out there,¡± Juian said.? ¡°All we should be seeing is miles and miles of CHOOH2, but the drone passes confirm it:? We¡¯ve got forest¡ªwe¡¯re literally surrounded by forest. At the moment I have no idea why, but I¡¯m leaving orders with our People to coordinate with Mayer Reeves and the Sheriff in helping to keep order.? The rest of us here are going to scout out what¡¯s going on¡and see about those smoke plumes.¡±
He could see that some of them had questions, but equally they all knew that if had answers, he wouldn¡¯t have mentioned the word ¡°scout¡±.
¡°Okay, children.? Vamanos!¡±
231 north out of Troy was a nice four-land roadway that had fallen on hard times and now was a patchwork of gutted pavement. As Jan headed out of town. She ran the dial on her radio and picked up the University Station.??
?
¡°...wrong, it¡¯s just wrong. I¡¯m stuck here looking at a wall of trees. The roadway is just gone.¡±?
?
Jan¡¯s attention was redirected at traffic coming south into Troy. Several four-wheeled supply trucks rumbled south. She dodged another pot hole and slowed down. The airport to her left showed unusual activity. An emergency vehicle sat near one runway. A plane was down on its side a plume of smoke from its engines.?
On the horizon she caught a glimpse of flashing lights. She pulled to the side of the road moments later her mind not accepting what her eyes told her. A mighty forest rose like a wall in the distance. She was still a mile off but the trees seemed to tower like some kind of rainforest.??
The radio droned on... ¡°...the rest of the world is just gone...¡±? ¡°...That call from Joyce Ambers from...¡±?
She switched off the radio.???
Jan drove to the end of 231 and pulled over.? Several vehicles mostly supply types were turning around as a Deputy pointed back towards Troy.??
¡°Ma¡¯am,¡± the Deputy put his hand up as Jan approached. ¡°You need to turn around.¡±?
¡°I¡¯m a scientist from the University,¡± she lied. ¡°I was sent to investigate.¡±?
She read his badge, ¡°Officer Clifford, I must look at this.¡±?
He nodded reluctantly.? This woman looked like she¡¯d just fallen out of bed but he let it go. She was very attractive.?
Jan gingerly walked to the end of the road.? The pavement was cleaved as if by a super intense laser. Beyond only inches away stood a giant tree. She reached out to touch the bark. Jan wondered idly if her hand would vanish but it only came in contact with the rough surface of the tree.??
She stepped down from the pavement into the woods and looked back. The road was solidly on the ground. She could see nothing that looked to be displaced underneath.??
She froze at a sound or movement or something.?
The back of her neck tingled. Before she could even grasp the significance, a strange sensation grew from within her core and poured out. A shimmering shield of invisible force surrounded her.??
Then she heard a noise up above her. Something in the trees. She backed away from the forest and climbed back onto the pavement.??
Clifford stared at her with a look of incomprehension. ¡°What the hell?¡±?
¡°I¡¯ve seen everything I need for now,¡± Jan said quickly. She ran back to her ElectroChevy. At some point the strange shield dismissed itself.??
Jan sat in the seat staring at the new forest for a long time. Something had moved that here or we moved there, she thought. Whatever had happened it had made her change as well. Somehow. Had she done the shield thing, made it subconsciously?¡±??
Intrigued about the strange world that had popped in Jan was equally conflicted about her own mental state.? She had just tried to end her own life. Did it really matter what happened now? Not really but something exciting was happening and she was more than willing to throw herself right at the mystery.?
She concentrated on driving the short distance back to Troy. As she ventured through town a hubbub of sorts made her break. A large group of vehicles were pulling away from townhall and heading west. She followed behind meekly in her tiny Chevy. ¡®Where were this mixture of Nomads going?¡¯?
Julian led a small convoy of nomad rides onto Interstate 29, Westbound.? Behind the wheel of his FAV, his mind was raced through the information that he had.? A forest? What happened to Alabama?
Maybe that¡¯s not the right question, he thought.? Maybe I should be wondering what happened to Troy.
¡°±á±ð²â, jefe,¡± said his backseat passenger.? ¡°We¡¯ve picked up a tail.¡±
¡°A tail?¡± Julian asked.? ¡°What kind of tail?¡±
¡°It¡¯s one of those Crowder cars¡ªa Chevy by the look of it.¡±
A Crowder car was a catch-all term for the little electric cars that a lot of urban dwellers used.? Where it often cost $60+ to fill up a typical CHOOH2 car, the typical Crowder cost only $15 to charge.? If you didn¡¯t travel beyond a hundred miles, it was the perfect car. As something trying to leave Troy any distance, it was terrible.
Well as long as the Townie doesn¡¯t get in the way, I¡¯m not going to give a shit, he thought.? On a list of ¡°WTF¡± issues, a Chevy Crowder eating their exhaust fumes barely registered.
Almost 10 miles out, Julian brought his ride to a halt, and the rest of the impromptu pack stopped with him.? He stepped out to examine the highway¡because it had just abruptly ended. Not in the usual way where it becomes a surface road, but because 20 feet in front of him, it ceased to exist.? It was as if a blade had come down and cut it, and on the other side of the cut was uneven ground¡and forest¡the type he hadn¡¯t seen since he had been in Canada years back.
Trees¡coniferous trees.? They towered upward in sheer majesty, branches proudly spread.? No signs of blight brought on by air pollution, and on the ground, no sign that people had been through the area on the ground, just dense underbrush, dominated by moss and ferns.
¡°Julian¡this ain¡¯t normal.¡±
The comment came from Clarence McCoy, one of the Jodes.? He and his clan had come to get ready for the CHOOH2 harvest.? All they were waiting for were the combine drones in order to get started.? He wondered if they were coming at all, now.
¡°No, this isn¡¯t normal,¡± he replied, ¡°but it¡¯s here anyway.? Lucia, can you get some eyes above us?¡±
Lucia Cortez:? Aldecaldo and gadget nerd.? She had built her own recombinant motorcycle when she was 14, and built her first drone earlier than that.? Now she reached into one of her saddlebags, and drew out something little bigger than a smartphone, where she yanked out four branching arms, each with a miniature turbofan on the end.
A few seconds later, it was climbing in the air, getting above the trees.
¡°I¡¯m still getting some interference, jefe,¡± she said.? ¡°A lot of static over the link, but that forest goes on well ahead of us.? I¡¯m gonna guess about a half-mile before we reach whatever¡¯s causing that smoke plume.¡±
¡°Got it,¡± he said.? ¡°Okay boys and girls, looks like we¡¯re hoofing it to¡ª¡°
It was the sound of rustling brush that turned his attention.? That was all the time he got before a girl burst forth from the foliage and ran into him, sending them both to the ground.? He barely got a look at her. She was dirty, wild-eyed and clearly scared of something. Maybe it was him, or maybe he just added to the girl¡¯s fear.
She quickly scrabbled to her feet, darted looks around her.? Her face was a mirror of terror. No one tried to approach her, and a few of his number backed off slowly.? Her clothes were odd, both in the fact that the style reminded Julian of old Amish styling, but also because it was torn and ripped.? And not from running through the woods¡
¡°Nobody move,¡± he said.? ¡°Just let her calm down¡ª¡°
There was the sound of more movement in the forest¡¯s underbrush.? Julian got to his feet and backed away. The girl didn¡¯t wait any more.? She darted off to the left¡ªoff the road and into the wheat fields. In front of him, the underbrush parted to reveal a group of six men, but unlike any men he had ever seen before!
Julian Ramirez had been around.? As a Nomad, that was easy for him to say.? The cities he had been to were full of people, and there were groups and gangs of all sorts.? There was even one known as the Society.
The Society was what used to be called the Society for Creative Anachronism, or SCA.? They romanticized the medieval period, and gathered into ¡°Houses¡± and ¡°Kingdoms¡±, and often dressed in expensive reproductions of old garb, and even sets of armor and weapons.
These folks¡they looked the part.? They were wearing body armor, but not the type he was familiar with.? This was metal¡ªwas that a cuirass they were wearing? They wore almost identical metal helmets on their heads.? At their hips were¡swords? Were they for real?
What really caught his attention though were the rifles they were carrying.? They were MASSIVE things. He had never seen the like before¡and were they smoldering?
Whatever they were, they looked like they were ready for business, so Julian and his pack returned the gesture.? As nomads, one didn¡¯t go anywhere unarmed, and he yanked out his trusty Mustang Arms ¡°Mark II¡± even as others drew pistols and rifles.? If these bastards were looking for trouble, they had just found it, outnumbered 20 to 6, so¡
Of course they began pointing their massive rifle-like objects.
¡°First and last warning,¡± he barked, recalling his days as a sergeant.? ¡°DROP ¡®EM!¡±
¡°Halj meg pog¨¢nyok!¡± was their response before they¡pulled a lever?
The strange rifles boomed, but not like rifles should.? Julian was struck in the shoulder and taken down. An instant later, nineteen guns answered back, pelting the six newcomers in a hail of automatic and semi-automatic fire.? Julian watched as the bullets tore through their armor and tore them apart. He was a little embarrassed, but he was grateful he was wearing his armored coat. What self-respecting individual went outside unarmored?
A few seconds later, and it was over.? There were six very dead¡soldiers? And what was he shot with?? He was mildly surprised when he turned to see a deformed chunk of lead on the pavement near him.? Apparently it had bounced off his armor no problem¡but the size! It must¡¯ve been at least .80 calibre!
¡°Jefe, you alright?¡± came Lucia¡¯s voice.
¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Julian said, pulling himself up.? ¡°What were those assholes thinking?¡±
¡°Hey Julian!? Check this out!¡±
The cry came from McCoy.? He went over to one of the fallen bodies after the short-lived firefight, and now he was picking up one of the fallen soldier¡¯s (?) weapons.
¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Julian asked.
¡°This crazy thing,¡± McCoy said, gesturing at the odd weapon.? ¡°If I¡¯m not mistaken, this thing¡¯s a matchlock arquebus!¡±
¡°A what?!?¡± Julian was a little dumbfounded.? ¡°Are you serious??¡±
¡°As serious as can be,¡± McCoy nodded.? ¡°It¡¯s a fucking black powder weapon. No wonder it didn¡¯t penetrate your armor coat.? Hell, I¡¯m surprised you even got hit!¡±
¡°Jefe¡why would anyone be using such antiques?¡± came the obvious question from one of the pack.? ¡°Where did they come from?¡±
¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± Julian said.? ¡°And I¡¯m wondering if we¡¯re asking the wrong question.¡±
¡°²Ï³Ü±ð?¡±
¡°I¡¯m wondering if we¡¯re what¡¯s out of place.¡±
What was more plausible, he wondered.? The world getting replaced by temperate rainforest, or Troy appearing somewhere else?? Oy¡just the fact that I¡¯m asking that question makes me wonder if I need to have my head examined.
¡°Regardless,¡± he continued before the questions erupted.? ¡°There¡¯s a fire to investigate. Lucia, I want you to take your sisters and find that girl who ran off.? I¡¯m hoping that being approached by women will calm her down. You¡ª¡°
He pointed to the woman who had arrived in the Chevy behind them, recalling now that she was with them.
¡°Unless you¡¯re packing or you¡¯re a counselor, get back to town.? There¡¯s too much weird shit going on, and I can¡¯t babysit.¡±
