The Man From Taured (18 page)

There was a loud, piercing noise. It was a high pitched sound and he looked around the lab, wondering if someone, or something –such as an animal - had sneaked into the room and thought the foolish scientist had severed his own limb. The machines were all still humming like they should have been, and there were no wild animals to be seen or excess humans in the room.

Shaw slowly turned his attention back to the dimensional portal. The noise was coming from there.

There was someone in the street now, staring at his hand. It was a woman, blond-haired, blue-eyed, pretty. She had her hands to her face, the rain streaming down her hair and shoulders, soaking her. She stared in horror at Shaw's hand, which must have looked like a severed hand floating in mid-air waving at her.

She was screaming.

"No, no, no!" Shaw said, and then realized that if she could hear him at all it would just be a disembodied voice coming from a severed hand. "Wait! No!"

The screaming got louder. Now there were more people rushing through the puddles and coming around a corner and filling the street. Shaw panicked and yanked his arm back. There was a more intense feeling of cold and electricity and then he staggered back from the portal.

He looked at his hand. The skin still glistened with rain. The end of his lab coat sleeve was soaked. Shaw looked on in wonder for several seconds and then remembered that there were still people in another world freaking out thanks to him.

The people on the street were yelling and talking over each other. The rain still pounded down on them. The woman who had been screaming in horror was surrounded by men looked at the spot where it had been. The woman had her hands up, looking ready to faint. Shaw felt his heart squeezed, he felt horrible. What had he done?

Then, suddenly, the image began to fade, just as the rain took on a strange coloring. Shaw got closer, begging his machines to keep the portal open a bit more. The people in the other dimension stared up into the rain and Shaw could see that the rain was now black, as if it were raining oil. Where the black rain hit them in the face it left large red welts and the people began to scream and tried to cover their heads. Then, beneath the spots where the red welts formed Shaw could see their skulls, then just air. In fact the blackness was now puddling up and filling the portal, consuming everything. Shaw saw the streets, the houses, the people, all being consumed by the black substance and when it was done eating, there was nothing left, just more blackness.

"No," Shaw whispered. "Oh no. No. NO!"

He reached his hand out towards the shimmering circle. Within the other dimension the sound of thousands upon thousands of people screaming could be heard. Just as Shaw reached his hands toward the portal there was that familiar smell of ozone, followed by a flash and sparks. A moment later the dimensional portal was gone. There was just the lab and the smell of something burning somewhere.

Shaw collapsed to the floor, his entire shaking. What had happened? What was that that was consuming everyone and everything in that world?

"Do you see now?"

The voice startled him, but he did not get up from the floor. He knew whose voice it was and was not entirely surprised to hear it.

"I thought you couldn't get in here, Ezekiel," Shaw said.

"Whitten is an idiot. It's difficult, yes, but not impossible," Ezekiel replied. "Do you see what happens? Do you see what happens when you deal with Void and his minions? Do you see what happens when you open a rift like that? It doesn’t matter if the dimension is next door to the Void dimension or not, he has grown powerful enough to beam himself, as it were, into any dimension into which there is an opening. He can use the spaces between dimensions to travel just like we can, except that he does it faster and does it better. Only the technology and protection we have in place prevents him from entering our own world. You just opened a hole into an unprotected dimension and allowed the Void to march right in and consume it. Now the Void is bigger, more powerful, more deadly than before."

Shaw got to his feet very slowly. The world was doing that thing that it had done to him before where it felt like it was trying to throw him off of the planet. He reached out to steady himself by putting a hand on one of the lab tables. He turned to see Ezekiel standing in the far corner, wearing his shadow outfit.

"So, I have to ask," Shaw said, "was that one guy I hit that had an insect face from another dimension?"

"Indeed," Ezekiel replied. "A dimension that was ultimately destroyed by Void. From what we just saw through that portal, he's gotten much faster and more powerful since he's destroyed a world. He must be building his powers, growing somehow. Perhaps Whitten has found a way to feed him energy. He can almost appear anywhere. There are limits. The machines we have in place in our world still limit his abilities, but he tries and tries and with each turn, with each dimension that falls, he learns something new and comes back stronger.”

"I just wanted to see other dimensions," Shaw said, feeling as if he might start crying at any moment. "I just wanted to see other worlds."

"I know that, Dr. Shaw, but there are ways that can happen without causing the damage you just did," Ezekiel said and then he looked down at his body and the long coat and outfit that he wore. "There are methods that I can show you."

"I don't even know if I believe you yet, Ezekiel," Shaw said. "What's the proof that what I saw there was Void? How do I know you aren't lying to me, too? And what about Whitten? What happens if he finds out that I'm not doing what they want me to do anymore?"

Ezekiel nodded as he stepped forward. "There are a lot of questions. And I don't expect you to trust me or anyone with IDEA. We have to prove ourselves. I think, however, that Void and Whitten have proven themselves with what you just saw. I can show you things that I have collected over the years. I can show you other worlds that Void has wiped out. I can show you what he looks like. He is evil, Dr. Shaw. There is true evil in the world and he is the very personification of it. You will have to trust me for now. We can try to protect you."

"What about my lab? My work?"

Ezekiel sighed. "You are going to have to leave it here. I'm sorry, but the experiments have to end now."

Yes, that was what he thought Ezekiel was going to say. It sort of made sense.

"How did you survive?" Shaw asked. "I saw Whitten fling you across the room and into a wall. How did you survive?"

"I'm tougher than I look," Ezekiel said. "Plus, this outfit offers some protection. So, enough of the questions for now. Are you coming?"

"Yes, but I need to stop by my apartment," he said. "I need more clothes."

"Your clothing and furniture were tossed out of your apartment months ago," Ezekiel said, turning around, his back to Shaw. "We can stop somewhere and get you clothes."

Shaw nodded again, unable to muster the strength to speak, feeling defeated, feeling exhausted. Feeling as if his entire purpose had now been taken away from him.

"What time is it?" Shaw asked.

"Ten at night," Ezekiel said.

"Great," Shaw said. "I've always wanted to go clothes shopping in the middle of the night. So many things crossed off my bucket list in so short a time."

***

The night was intensely dark and there was no moon. To Shaw it felt as if the Void were already here, in this dimension. He wondered why Void had not yet taken over the world that he knew. Perhaps there was something special about this place. He was going to ask Ezekiel, but then decided that he didn't care.

Ezekiel's vehicle was actually a pretty beat up white van. Shaw was not surprised, but he was also a tad disappointed. He was maybe hoping for the DeLorean car from Back to the Future or something like that. Instead, the van was loaded with equipment that looked cobbled together from parts rummaged at garage sales and junkyards.

Shaw got into the passenger side and lay his head back. He felt sick.

What have I gotten myself into? He thought.

***

Soon they were pulling up in front of a storefront that Shaw did not recognize. Somehow he had dozed a bit and he couldn't even tell where he was. It had a small town feel to it, so it was probably one of the suburbs. The store was small, most likely independently owned, and it looked very closed.

"This place looks closed," Shaw said.

"One thing you should know by now is that looks are deceiving," Ezekiel replied, stepping out of the van. "Come on, let's get this over with. We have so much more to do and I have much to show you and we are running out of time."

For the first time since he had spoken to the man, Shaw saw that Ezekiel was worried and a bit frightened. The feeling was contagious and Shaw felt himself moving faster, wanting to get this done more rapidly. There was nothing going on around them. The streets were empty and there were no people looking at them from windows. It was eerily quiet.

Ezekiel had vanished. Shaw felt a moment of total panic that the man had lured him into a trap. He stood on the sidewalk spinning in a circle, feeling like an idiot. Something told him not to call out for Ezekiel, as if someone (or something) might hear his voice and appear. His heart was pounding like a trip-hammer inside his chest. He felt like running, just finding a direction and sprinting as fast and as far as he could.

Then there was a noise from behind Shaw and he whirled around.

Ezekiel was inside the store and opening the front door.

"Come on," he said.

Shaw felt relief wash over him and he nearly sprinted into the store. The place smelled musty, but it was crammed from floor to ceiling and wall to wall with clothing. There were men's clothes and women's. Most of it was jeans and T-shirts, and most of it looked old. Vintage, he guessed was how most people would have described it.

Shaw wasted no time. He dove into the clothing. Ezekiel took up a spot by the front door. The old man had locked the door as soon as Shaw was inside.

There was no one else inside the store. Shaw wondered, for a moment, who owned the store and how he was supposed to pay for the clothing. Then the thought left and that feeling of urgency returned.

"Hurry up, doctor!" Ezekiel said. "Things are developing fast."

He found pants and several shirts. In the corner he found packages of boxer briefs and grabbed about a dozen pairs. He found a leather jacket, then socks. Once his shopping rampage was over he stood there, out of breath, in the middle of the store holding the clothes piled up over his head.

Frantically he looked for something to stuff the clothing into. There was a cashier's counter near the back of the store. Shaw knocked over one shelf of clothing and paused to study it and then ran on. He dove around the counter and threw the clothing down. Under the counter he found several plastic bags and he found the biggest ones and began stuffing the clothing into it. By the time he
was done Shaw was sweating like he had been working out.

How much time had he taken?

"Dr. Shaw!" Ezekiel called from the front of the store. "We have to go now!"

The edge in the man's voice spurred Shaw on. Shaw grabbed the bags and ran for the front of the store.

"Who do I pay for these?" Shaw called.

"Don't worry about it," Ezekiel replied. "I own this store. You'll pay me back. We have to move, now!"

Shaw ran and skidded to a stop in front of the glass door. He was looking down at his feet, trying to make sure he had a grip on the bags in his hands. When he looked up he felt all of his blood turn to ice.

There were dozens of them.

Children.

Dozens of children standing in the street and on the sidewalk. Girls and boys. None of them looked older than twelve. All of them were staring at the shop windows.

Their eyes were completely black. It was like life-sized dolls were standing in the street.

"Jesus," Shaw whispered.

"Void's minions," Ezekiel said. "The black-eyed children are his creations. They see for him. They can also send the people that they touch into his void dimension."

Ezekiel turned his face away from the scene on the street and stared into Shaw. His face was somber.

"You have been discovered, Dr. Shaw," Ezekiel said. "Void knows that you are with me and that you saw what he did. Your life is in danger."

Shaw realized that he stood there with his mouth open. He closed it with a click. He couldn't swallow. He was barely able to breathe.

"What do we do?" Shaw asked. "Do you have some kind of device that can take care of these things?"

Ezekiel nodded and reached into one of the voluminous pockets inside his coat. A moment later he removed a very large and intimidating-looking revolver.

"What are you going to do?" Shaw asked. "They're children!"

"No, they are not," Ezekiel said and pushed through the door.

"Let us in!" The children said in unison. "We're lost and we need to use your phone."

The children all moved at once walking slowly toward the open door. Then they all raised their hands into the air and held out their palms toward Ezekiel. It was like the world’s creepiest dance routine.