CHAPTER TWELVE

SHADOW ZONE

The white light dissipates.

Yui finds herself lying naked on a sandy beach amid a lone palm tree.

She gazes up at the Sun. The Sun gazes back at her, bright and warm.

Too bright. Too warm.

Yui snuggles under the lone palm tree to escape the heat. The shade feels good on her skin.

She looks at the endless ocean surrounding her; listens to its wave.

Embraced by placidity, her eyelids turn heavy.

Yui closes them.

But the Sun is hot. Too hot.

Yui wakes up covered in sweat.

She takes a deep breath and submerges herself in the water.

It's been a long time since she last went swimming.

When was the last time, Yui wonders trying to reminiscence?

She can't remember.

Yui opens her eyes. It's hard to see underwater; the image is blurry like an abstract oil painting. She watches the azure and emerald melt into one another. Then, a pearly shine appears somewhere in the distance. She turns to it trying to get a better look. In an instant, the white explodes covering everything. Yui turns to swim toward the surface but the surface escapes her. Every time she swims up the more she sinks.

Like falling in an endless abyss. The oxygen in her lungs quickly depletes. Yui tries to hold her breath in as much as possible until finally, she lets go.

Air, Yui thinks surprised that she can breathe inside the white abyss?

She looks around as more and more colors paint the abyss.

Like strokes of a painter's brush: lines of red, dots of green, drips of blue, circles of purple, and so on until fully covering the psychotropic canvas.

Yui smells something.

But what is there to smell, she wonders? She looks at the colors.

It's them. They smell like roses and dandelions. But how?

The colors stop. She hears a soft sound in the distance.

A violin, Yui thinks.

The sweet strings play around her; she can see music.

It looks like rain.

The more intense the music the brighter the raindrops. And the softer the tune the darker they are.

She tries to grab the music but it's too far. Just a little bit too far.

It falls close to her but not close to "touch".

I don't understand, Yui says within herself as the stampede of emotions overwhelms her. One violin turns to two, two turn to four then drums... so many drums.

"STOP!" Yui screams from the top of her lungs but the surrounding noise and colors drown her voice.

She grabs her head, wanting it all to stop. Hoping it would stop.

Please stop.

PLEASE!

Just let me sleep.

Then it all stops.

Her senses return to her.

Yui looks around; she is back in her room in Odette.

She runs to the window to look outside. It's a clear sunny day.

A sunny day, Yui thinks as she pauses for a moment?

She looks up. The Sun is up in the sky behind the clouds.

Sun? Sky? Clouds?

She takes another look. It's the same as the first time.

The giant sphere that once covered their little settlement is not here.

"SARA!" Yui happily blurts out.

She runs around the house trying to find her sister; screaming her name.

No one responds.

Dejected, she goes back to her room.

She sits on her bed; picks up the guitar, turns on the amp, and gently strums a B minor chord.

"Hello, hello, hello. Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me, is there anybody home?"

Yui pauses for a moment waiting for a reply. Hoping for it.

She continues to play the song to pass the time as she waits.

One song after another until finally, she puts down the guitar.

No one is coming.

Yui abruptly stands holding the guitar by its neck with both hands high over her head, ready to break it.

Sara isn't coming back!

She smashes the guitar on the floor.

Sara's never coming back!

Yui smashes it again.

Everyone left me!

She grips it harder and slams it hard.

They're all gone!

A string breaks as it hits the floor. It cuts her hand like a whip, drawing blood.

THEY'RE ALL GONE!

Yui squeezes the neck with her bloodied hands. With the fifth swing, the neck of the guitar separates from the body. As the instrument shatters she loses balance and hits the window.

She stands leaning on the window, panting heavily.

Blood drips from her hands to the carpet.

"Where are you, Sis?" Yui desperately asks as a tear drop mixes with the drop of blood.

Snowflakes fall outside the room window. She looks outside.

It's snowing heavily just like the first time she came here with Sara.

Yui turns to the sky.

It's so pretty, she whispers within herself in the moment of calm as she watches the snowflake's journey from heaven to earth.

Then, it drops.

Behind the snowflake, is a figure of a woman walking away.

The woman waves without turning back.

"Sara?" Yui blurts out as she rushes outside, jumping over the steps.

She opens the door but the desolate streets instantly fill with hundreds of faceless humans.

Yui stops for a moment.

"It's okay, they are not real," Yui says as she steps outside, heading toward Sara's direction.

A hand grabs her by the shoulder.

Yui gasps.

No, I can't stop! Sara is just over there.

Another hand grabs her as the faceless swarm her.

"NOOOO!" Yui screams as her body trembles; she quickly runs back to the house and slams the door shut.

"No, no, no, no, no, no..." the quivering woman repeats almost like chanting.

Regaining little composure Yui opens a scours through a little cupboard next to the door; she finds a pill bottle.

Just as she is about to take a pill she sees a small picture of her and her sister on top of the cupboard.

She picks up the picture and looks at it for a moment. In the moment it seems like all her worries wisp away. Her sister was always there for her. Always there when she needed her. Will she allow somethng as paltry as fear to stop her from seeing her sister? Yui takes a deep breath and calms herself.

"I'm okay, Sara," Yui says as she puts down the pill bottle and puts on her headphones.

She browses through the song list.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Perfect!" Yui hits play.

She opens the door.

The faceless turn towards her.

Yui makes her way forth, not stopping.

Hands appear in front of her, hands appear behind her, hands grab her, hold her, pull her back but Yui doesn't stop.

Whoa, thought it was a nightmare

Lord it was so true

They told me don't go walking slow

The devil's on the loose

Better run through the jungle

Better run through the jungle

Better run through the jungle

Whoa, don't look back to see

More faceless beings appear but Yui doesn't stop only cranks up the volume of Run through the jungle by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

She runs through!

The back of her sister is closer and closer. She can see it through the hordes.

"Sara!" Yui yells as she grabs her.

Everything around them vanishes leaving the two reunited sisters, staring face to face.

"Hey, sis. How you doing?" Sara happily asks doing a bit like before.

"I've missed you," Yui says as she hugs her sister.

The hug takes her by surprise; she hugs her back.

"You hugging? No wonder it's the end of the world," Sara jests, "Listen to me, Yui, I'm not sure how much time we have," she says.

"What do you mean"? Yui asks, teary-eyed.

"We've discovered something inside the lake; something otherworldly. An organism unlike any we thought possible. The research opened possibilities you wouldn't believe! Things that could elevate humanity to an almost godlike status. We could cure all diseases, stop aging, develop technologies exceeding any we have now... the possibilities are endless. Some of us began developing abilities bordering on, for lack of a better term, magic. It was good. Too good. They called it a gift of God. But we soon realized it wasn't a gift. It was a trap," Sara explains.

"A trap?" Yui asks, unsure.

"Listen to me, sis. There are beings beyond our dimension. Some kind of cosmic lifeforms waging war against each other and we are just bystanders caught in the crossfire. The difference between them is that the one outside was losing and in desperation, it began using us to help it win the war. But you can't trust it. It absorbs everything. It is like a wolf with an insatiable appetite, and we are the sheep. The more we use its gifts the more “appetizing” we become," Sara explains.

"I don't care for any of that. I just care about you," Yui yells, slightly shivering.

Sara pauses for a moment. She smiles.

"I guess I just needed the end of the world to happen for you to open up to me." Sara jests, "I really wanted to see you one last time. I'm glad I got my wish but it's time for you to go," she says as her form starts dissipating.

"What do you mean you have to go?" Yui asks.

Sara steps away.

Yui tries to grab her but her hands go through as if she tried to grab air.

"SARA! What should I do?" Yui yells.

"I'm sorry but I don't know. You'll think of something you're smart. Sorry. Goodbye, sis," Sara says as she vanishes.

Yui opens her eyes.

She lies on the ground under a giant black tree covered by vines.

A withered and thin tree. Too withered. Too thin.

Crimson lightning travels through the dark clouds above, roaring.

Looking around she sees Davenport, Big George, Rayne, and Olivia.

"Hello?" Davenport? Olivia?" Yui yells but her sleeping comrades do not respond.

She tries to free herself but the black vines hold her in a tight grip.

A knife levitates above her; she uses it to cut the vines.

With a few of them gone Yui manages to free herself.

She grabs the floating knife and goes to Davenport.

"Wake up!" Yui yells as she cuts the vines, "WAKE UP!" she screams and slaps him.

Davenport wakes up.

"What's happening? I was back at my house but couldn't go anywhere cos' there were snakes outside," he blurts out as Yui helps him get up.

"Help me wake up the others," Yui says.

Davenport looks at her hand holding his.

"Hey, you can touch people now?" Davenport blurts out, surprised by the new turn of events.

"Oh yeah. Should we discuss this? I'm sure the others can wait," Yui says sparing no sarcasm as she glances at the others covered by the vines.

Davenport turns to them; thinks for a moment.

"I mean they aren't going anywhere," Davenport jokes.

Yui and Davenport cut the vines and free their comrades.

It takes a moment for them to come to their senses.

"Was that a dream?" Olivia blurts out trying to make sense of it all.

"More like a nightmare. The worst nightmare possible," Big George says.

"I second that," Davenport adds.

Rayne turns and looks at the black tree.

We were stuck in a nightmare, Rayne theorizes?

My comrades were dying and I couldn't leave them.

But who managed to break free from that? I couldn't do it.

"Who was the first to wake up?" Rayne asks, curious.

"It was Yui, Captain," Davenport says.

Rayne turns to her with wide-open eyes.

"Is something the matter?" Yui asks, unsure why the Captain of the Fang Two unit is staring at her like that.

"Miss Yui I have to say you are quite impressive," Rayne adds.

Yui blushes. Compliments are a little embarrassing.

"Hey, Captain, I saw her first," Davenport adds. Yui looks at him with a skeptical look.

"Oh, did you now?" Yui asks.

"I mean... if that is okay?" Davenport awkwardly adds.

"Maybe," Yui says as she turns away.

All across them is an endless field of arid earth.

And the roaring sky.

"It's there. The thing we have to kill," Rayne says, pointing at nothing.

"I don't see anything there," Big George says as he tries to get a better look. He squints his eyes but there is still nothing there.

"There is something there. I can feel it. Look," Rayne points his finger at the nothingness.

Then, the air flutters as if distorted. Only a bit.

George attentively looks; vapor congregates to itself as it implodes into nothingness. He rubs his eyes, for fear of going mad.

Losing my mind, George thinks? That would probably be for the best.

"You know what, never mind," Big George adds, shrugging off the question.

"Let's go," Rayne orders.

"Wait! I have to tell you something," Yui says as the others turn to her.

She explains what happened in the "dreamworld" and what Sara told her.

The more she talks the more desperation slips in.

Some try asking additional questions in hopes of finding out something. Anything? But the words they hear are hard to ignore.

"So, basically what you are saying is that we are fucked?" Davenport says as he turns away shaking his head, laughing from the irritation.

"To be fair, we kinda knew we were screwed but it was a nice little pipe dream we had going on," Big George shrugs.

The hopes of everyone gathered amid the abyssal field slowly unknit like a cat taking apart a yarn of wool. But then someone grabs the string.

"This may not be bad news," Rayne says as the others turn to him, puzzled.

How can this not be bad news?

However they look at it they can't see anything positive.

Is there?

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend?" Olivia blurts out.

The others turn to her.

"What? You plan of asking whatever is here if it wants to team up?" Davenport jokingly asks as he and Big George laugh at the ridiculous notion.

"That's right," Rayne answers as the laughter stops.

"We don't have any guarantee that we can talk to it. And even if we could that it would listen. And if it does that it can help us in any way. It's ridiculous," Olivia concludes.

Rayne looks at everyone.

It is more than ridiculous, Rayne concludes as he smiles. If only it was just ridiculous.

The others wait for Rayne to give them a counterargument.

They hope for a counterargument.

"You are right. But hope is all we have. Hold on to that hope no matter how small or insignificant it is," Rayne says as he turns and heads forward.

Davenport, Big George, Yui, and Olivia look at each other.

Hold on to hope? What else is there to do?

They follow.