Beyond Armageddon: Book 03 - Parallels (41 page)

            "A lot…
more?
What have we had in common so far?"

            Her deadpan stare served answer enough.

            Trevor got out of the car. The sedan pulled away.

            He surveyed the city without lights. The only illumination nearby came from a small band of soft bulbs outside the main entrance to the tall hostel. Johnny stood near that entrance, his eyes staring into the distance.

Trevor approached his friend and tried to paint on a big smile.

"Hey, yeah, there’s a party tonight, praise the Lord."

"A party? I shall pass, Trevor. I do not feel in the mood to celebrate."

            "Jesus Christ, Johnny, will you just let it go. Will you just give me a break?"

            "I love you, Trevor," Johnny said it frankly. "You gave my post-apocalyptic life direction and allowed me to contribute to mankind’s salvation, but that salvation is a world away. This place is not where we belong. I fear it is a world where you in particular do not belong."

            Trevor realized he could not be angry with Johnny. At least not for long.

He absently rubbed the penthouse key card between two fingers as he collected his thoughts. "There are answers here, Rev. I can almost…I can almost see them. Like images behind stained glass. They’re there. I just need more time to make them out."

"Are you sure of that, Trevor? Are you sure you think there are answers here? Or is that just another excuse to remain? Another excuse not to find a way home."

"These people are human beings like us. The same species. The same bodies. A different Earth but still,
their
Earth.
Their
home! You would have me leave them to die when I might be able to help?"

"Yes! You have responsibilities to your people back home, Trevor. To your son. To Shepherd and Stonewall and our Jon Brewer! What is happening without you back home? Maybe the lesson here is that you are an important symbol, even if you’re stuck behind that desk you hate so much."

            Trevor shook his head, "I might be able to find out why I failed here."

            "You can’t undo that failure! It’s not your fault that some other man that looked like you made choices different from the ones you made. This is one place—one Earth—where you are not responsible."

            Stone insisted, "I can make a difference here. I can feel it."

            Johnny paused, huffed, and with a sharp edge in his voice berated,             "Yes, it is so simple and easy for you here. Why, I think you prefer having your back against the wall. Just like it was for us in the early days, kill or be killed. So simple. Why, you can justify just about anything when you are fighting for your very survival. But Trevor, you are fooling yourself. Your responsibilities back home may not be as simple, but they are as real."

            Stone deflected, "I can’t leave these people. I can’t abandon them."

            The Reverend scolded, "I know why you can not leave them. You have everything you want right here. You can lead the battles from the front lines like Alexander the Great. And all the time you think you have the woman who was stolen from you. But, Trevor, she is not who you think she is. She is an echo of the Nina you knew."

            Trevor pinched his nose and bit his lip.

            Johnny pushed, "You know that, don’t you? That’s why you indulge your passions so intensely. You are hoping that the physical will take you to the places your heart cannot go with her, because you do not love this woman, you only wish you did."

"It’s been a rough day," Trevor jumped. "For both of us. Tomorrow morning…tomorrow I’m going to wake up and forget we had this conversation. In the mean time," Trevor wagged the key in the air. "I’ll be staying in the penthouse. You’ve got the room to yourself."

"Ah, I see. No doubt this world’s Emperor’s old room? Why Trevor, you’re just sliding right into his life very nicely. Must be a good fit."

            Stone refused to take the bait. He had had enough fighting for the day. Nina was right; it was time to blow off some steam.

"Good night, Johnny. I’ll see you tomorrow."

"I suppose so."

            Trevor walked inside the main entrance. Reverend Johnny waited behind. He craned his neck to stare at the sky. The stars blinked on and off as strands of clouds passed over head.

He waited for several long moments as if hoping the crisp February night breeze would cleanse away his foul mood.

            "Reverend?"

He looked to the shadows. He did not need to see her face to know it was Ashley.

            Johnny made sure no one watched and joined her in the darkness.

            "Ms. Trump."

            "Actually, it’s Corporal."

            Johnny answered, "I fear, Corporal, that I am not affording Trevor the protection I had assured you. This place has a grasp on him."

She did not seem surprised.

            "It’s not your fault. This is a cursed place. Thebes…" she glanced around at the tall, dark buildings. "…it feels more like a grave every day."

"Well perhaps it will bring you some solace to know that Trevor beat back an attack from the Chaktaw today and wiped out their entire force. It was, admittedly, a bold move that will alleviate some of the pressure on your city."

            "That’s why I’m here. Word of the victory is spreading through the ranks. The Committee is held up in the Operations Center trying to decide what to do."

"Do you fear for Trevor’s life?"

            "No. I don’t think they’re going to do anything. They sense that the officers are turning against them. It didn’t take much. I mean, it shouldn’t take much. I don’t know, I just don’t know," confusion chased away her words.

            "I’m sorry," Johnny put a consoling arm around her shoulder. "I forget how difficult this must be for you."

            She took a deep breath. "Now I’m going to show you how difficult it really is, Reverend. If they find out I’ve talked to you, I would be in trouble. But what I do now, well, when they find out they will kill me. But there are some of us who no longer believe in this great cause."

"The great cause? The war you mean?"

"When our Trevor died, there was a civil war."

            Johnny knew that. "Yes. From the power vacuum that ensued."

"It wasn’t only about leadership. It was about this war. It was about whether or not it should still be fought at all. Some of us have grown weary of this crusade. We want it ended."

"That does not sound possible, my dear. I’m afraid the invaders did not come seeking peace, they came only to bring destruction."

            She hesitated. His words obviously struck a cord.

"Reverend Johnny, I’m going to tell you something. You’re not going to believe it, so I’m going to show you. Then you’ll believe. Maybe it’s the only way you can save your friend. Maybe it’s the only way I can keep the same mistakes of cruelty and inhumanity from happening again. Maybe it’s…maybe it’s the only way I can help the Ashley of
your
world; and her son."

She produced a handful of items from her jacket pocket.

"This is the ignition key to a small ground vehicle. You’ll find it parked around the corner. As far as any one is concerned it was requisitioned by the Second Logistics regiment. Take it. When you’re done, park it where you found it and lock the keys inside."

"I can not fathom why I should need a car."

            She held up a combination security badge and key card. The photo was of another black man but with a beard, perhaps a slight resemblance to Johnny but by no means his doppelganger.

            "This key opens a maintenance entrance on the south side of Building One Dash One in the industrial sector. It looks like a big cathedral. You’ll find a map inside the car that will get you there. I’m guessing you can be sneaky. Take a look around."

"Please tell, Ms. Ashley. What am I looking for?"

            Her eyes glazed and she spoke with a sense of doomed resolve.

"You are looking for the truth. The truth about the legacy of our Trevor Stone."

---

            Trevor found the penthouse in good order and recently cleaned. Before rifling through his twin's belongings, he took a hot—warm—shower, finally scrubbing away the blood of his enemies. Away it went in a whirlpool down the drain.

            After drying off and slipping into a robe, he let his curiosity guide him from room to room. However, he found almost no personal belongings. In fact, he did not find any signs of his old self until he found a box of photographs. The pictures showed him—that is, the other Trevor—posing with soldiers on the battlefield during better days.

            The other Trevor was identical. Same hair, same build. Looking at the photos gave him the weirdest feeling. The feeling of seeing things he should remember, but did not.

            As he dug deeper, he found other photos hidden at the bottom of the collection. They were pictures of Trevor and Nina.

           
Explicit
pictures.

            Had it not been his face on the body of the man in the pictures, Trevor would have felt himself a peeping Tom. Instead, he found himself intrigued by the lengths to which his other self and the Nina of this world had gone to…well…to get to the physical places they wanted to be.

            With the penthouse so orderly and thoroughly cleaned, he found it hard to believe these photographs had been left behind by accident. He wondered if Nina wanted him to find them.

            Regardless, he turned his attention to the closet, flipping through the clothes inside. Eventually he found slacks and a shirt that straddled the line between casual and formal.

            He put them on, grabbed his recently requisitioned winter jacket, and rode the elevator to the main floor. As promised, a car waited at the curb, driven by an anonymous chauffeur who explained his instructions to take Trevor to "a club" on the west side of the city.

             A few minutes later, Trevor stood outside a short but wide building in what might have once been a commercial district. While the blackout remained in force, he spied a dim red neon and heard muffled music trying to escape through the front doors.

            A guard eyed him suspiciously but did not intervene as he walked inside. He found something he had not seen since before Armageddon: a dance club, packed with people wearing civilian clothes similar to what he would have expected in similar clubs in the old days back on his Earth.

            Ironically, the place felt like an alien environment to him. Flashing lights, beating music, short skirts, and colorful drinks…it all seemed out of place and, given the doom pervading the city, rather macabre. He would have felt more comfortable walking into a Devilbat den.

            He paused inside the main entrance to allow his eyes and ears to adjust, and then moved forward, stopping first at a coat and weapons check before entering the main hall.

When they had been a new, young couple, he and Ashley visited the local clubs on occasion. Loud music, hard drinks, shouted conversations, and an over abundance of flirting. This one appeared no different, except for being on a parallel universe.

Along one wall stretched a vast bar showcasing a rack of liquor bottles and mixers. In front of the bar, stools occupied by the younger survivors of this world’s humanity.

            Normally soldiers, technicians, and maintenance workers, they had traded in their battle suits and overalls for skirts and slacks, jewelry and high heels.

            Tables lined the other walls and he saw some sort of booth, most likely home to the club's DJ.

Blue, green, yellow, and red strobe lights flashed across the dance floor where a few people moved to music that might have qualified as 'grunge' to Trevor's ear.

He looked around for Nina. She had to be—well there she was but it was only her pony tails that gave her away. She sat on a stool with her back to the bar holding a drink and wearing a white outfit highlighted by a very short skirt and black stockings. The Nina of this world did not leave much to the imagination.

            She spoke with a green-eyed, brunette woman standing next to her wearing some kind of suede dress. They chattered, smiled, and laughed.

            This other woman looked familiar, but he could not quite remember.

Nina’s hand touched the girl’s shoulder as they shared a thought, the brunette's hand casually—or deliberately?—brushed Nina’s crossed legs.

            He watched.

           
Who was she?

            The green-eyed brunette saw Trevor looking at them. Nina followed her friend’s gaze and when she saw him she smiled. A shark’s smile.

            Nina said something to her companion, stood, and walked to Trevor while the green-eyed girl stayed behind and sipped from a frozen drink.

            "Hey, glad you could make it," Nina said as the music pumped and the lights flashed red and green over her face.  "His clothes fit you, I see," she felt the shirt. "Guess you two are alike in a lot of ways."