As Jeffcott made his way north through the empty streets of South Phoenix, he began to find it increasingly difficult to tell reality from hallucination.

When he'd had companions it had been fairly easy. One person would ask the others whether they could see faces staring out at them from the windows of the buildings they were passing, and if they said no then it was probably a hallucination. Of course, it was always possible that he'd hallucinated the 'no' from his companion and that they really were being watched by the restless spirits of the dead. After everything they'd seen and experienced so far Jeffcott was no longer quite so ready to dismiss even something as obviously ridiculous an an afterlife, but his rigorous, scientific mind was still the loudest and clearest of all the facets of his personality and Occam's razor had the same power in the anomaly as it did outside it.

Now, though, alone and with no-one with which to compare his perception of the world, reality became a more and more slippery concept. Colours became bright and vivid all around him, as if someone had turned the colour setting of an old style television set all the way to maximum, and he kept seeing movement out of the corner of his eye. Enemies creeping up on him from all directions, but when he spun around to look they'd vanished. Ducking back out of sight. Not real, he kept telling himself. Just the anomaly, doing things to me. All I have to do is keep going. It surely can't be much further.

Then the long, straight road he'd been following, South 32nd street according to the road signs, came to an end, terminating at another road that led from east to west. He was unwilling to stop going north, but there was nothing in that direction but desert rising into a range of low hills. Surely he couldn't have reached the northern edge of the city already.

"You must have gotten turned around somewhere," said his companion from behind him. "We're heading south. Going back to Maricopa."

"Not according to the sun," Jeffcott replied, looking up at where it was blazing down out of a silvery blue sky. It was mid morning, so the sun should be to the south east of him. That meant that he had indeed been going north.

"Unless the sun's an illusion," said his companion. "It's not the real sun. The real sun's behind those palm trees. It has to be."

Jeffcott nodded and moved a few feet to the side to see the hidden part of the sky, but there was no sun there. "It has to be," said his companion. "And just because you can't see it doesn't mean you can't hurt your eyes staring at it. You have to turn around."

Jeffcott hesitated, though. How could he have gotten turned around? The road he'd been following had been perfectly straight, and if he'd taken a wrong turn back in the suburban maze he'd have been caught by the anomaly creatures. He stared down the long, straight road along which he'd come. Could he be sure it was straight? Perhaps it only looked straight. Perhaps it had made a long curve and had taken him back to the southern edge of Phoenix.

He stared at the road, trying to force himself to see it as it really was, but it continued to look straight. Also, he was thirsty. More thirsty than he'd ever been before. The day was getting hot again and he could feel the heat trying to bake the moisture out of him. There were houses all around him. They would have bottled water, and maybe maps of the city. He'd be able to work out exactly where he was.

He hesitated in temptation, but any delay could be disastrous. He had to have been going north, and he had to be close to the edge of the anomaly by now. It was expanding outwards at a hundred and fifty metres per hour, he remembered. The longer he delayed, the further he'd have to go. With a sigh of determination, therefore, he set off across the dusty desert and his unseen companion said nothing.

The land rose ahead of him until he was panting with effort, stones and gravel sliding under his feet. He reached the top where he found a shallow valley on the other side with another line of hills beyond. He scrambled down the slope past small shrubs and stunted trees and hauled himself up the other side, tensing himself up for what he would see there. Would it be more desert stretching all the way to the horizon? Would it be the familiar buildings of Maricopa?

"We didn't cross any hills on the way here," he told his companion. "So we can't be going back the way we came."

"That just means we're lost," his companion replied. "We've been going east or west. We could be anywhere."

"No, I don't believe that," said Jeffcott firmly. "We're going north. We've always been going north. The sun doesn't lie."

"We're inside the anomaly you idiot. You can't trust anything. Not even the sun."

Jeffcott ignored him and plodded on. He reached the top of the second line of hills and was relieved to see a line of houses ahead of him. "There, you see?" he told the other man. "We were just in an outlying district of the city, separated from the rest by an area too hilly to build on. We're still on track."

"You're dying," his companion replied, though. "Dehydration is keeping you from thinking clearly. You're going to die out here, and your body won't even rot because all the germs are dead. You'll just mummify like those Aztec priests they keep finding up in the Andes."

"Shouldn't you be trying to encourage me?" asked Jeffcott angrily. "I mean, if I die, then you die too."

"How'd you figure that?" asked the other man in amusement.

"Because you're not real. You're just a hallucination."

Jeffcott hadn't known he was going to say it until the words were coming out of his mouth, but he suddenly froze and spun around, looking all around him. There was no sign of another human being. Just dust and spiky shrubs and dry, shrivelling grass. He was alone. The sudden realisation of his aloneness crashed down on him like a heavy weight he hadn't known he was carrying and he almost fell to his knees in shock. Seabreeze and Dustu were dead. Vincent Duffy was dead. Cheryl Robinson, the woman he'd been thinking of making a pass at, was dead. All the experts and all the soldiers were dead. If he failed to make it out, no-one outside would ever know what had happened to them.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Twenty people would have gone into the anomaly and vanished without a trace. That would probably make the authorities wary about sending anyone else in. They would hesitate and the loss of time might be fatal to the whole planet. Duffy had to make it out. Not just for his own sake but to prove that it was possible to make it all the way to the centre and come back alive. He got a grip on himself, therefore, and kept on walking.

There was another man ahead of him. Someone wearing military uniform. Probably another citizen of Phoenix who'd refused to leave and was now dying from cell reversion. He'd seen a few of them since entering the city. Most of them had just ignored him, no doubt thinking he was another victim like them, but a couple of them had chased him with knives in their hands, driven to madness by what was happening to their bodies. Jeffcott had run away from them and the victims, their bodies ridden with living tumours, had been unable to keep up.

This one was different, though, and as he passed a copse of withered trees he saw another, then a third, spaced about a hundred metres apart from each other. A line of soldiers, he realised, like the one that had encircled the anomaly when he'd first seen it, and between him and them was a curtain of shimmering light. He cried out in surprise and delight. The edge of the anomaly!

He shouted as he ran forward, waving his arms to attract the attention of the soldier. He turned, saw him and aimed his rifle ar him. "Remain where you are," he commanded. "There are medical facilities nearby to help you."

Jeffcott froze, a nightmare image forming in his mind's eye of the last surviving member of the expedition being shot by a trigger-happy soldier. "My name is David Jeffcott," he said, raising his hands. "I am one of the people sent into the anomaly at dawn yesterday by Captain..." Dammit, what had his name been? He searched his memory. "Captain Philip Mase. Please tell your commanding officer I'm here. I have important information to give him."

"Stay where you are." The soldier lowered his gun and reached for the radio on his belt.

☆☆☆

It was Twenty four hours later.

Jeffcott had been taken to the Papago Park Military Reservation near the centre of Phoenix where a steady stream of uniformed military men and scary-looking men in civilian clothes had drilled him mercilessly on everything that has happened to him since leaving the mobile command post on Interstate Ten. The place was in the process of being evacuated as the anomaly drew close and the air was filled with the sounds of helicopters and trucks coming and going. Everyone, no matter how powerful and important, looked worried and there was a tension overhanging the base that Jeffcott felt even in his windowless room near the centre of the base's administration complex. The enemy was approaching and the most powerful military in the world was powerless to stop it.

Jeffcott had been allowed a few hours to sleep after the first few rounds of debriefing, but he was feeling tired again as the interrogations had continued, with one person after another demanding that he tell them the secret to stopping the anomaly. The impatience and hostility had grown as Jeffcott had been unable to give them the information they wanted, and there was a palpable suspicion that the physicist was holding back, perhaps waiting for a payout or to sell his story to the newspapers. "Your duty as a loyal citizen is to tell us everything you know," one man had said, with heavy emphasis on the word 'loyal' and the clear implication that disloyalty would be taken very seriously. Jeffcott had felt beads of fear-induced sweat breaking out on his forehead as he'd emphasised that he'd already told them everything he knew, suspecting that the fact that he was not an American citizen would count for very little if they thought otherwise.

Finally, though, the interrogations had come to an end and, after a couple of hours in which he'd been able to get a brief nap on the long couch and get a few snacks from a vending machine, another man had come. This one was different. A politician, by the smart suit he was wearing, although there was a look to him that suggested a history of military service. He entered with a smile of compassion and understanding on his face.

"David Jeffcott," he said as Jeffcott rose to his feet to greet him. He offered his hand to be shaken, something none of the others had done. "I'm Malcolm Starr, from the Governor's office. I'd like to start by apologising for the intense debriefing process."

"No need," said Jeffcott magnanimously. "I understand the need for haste."

"Thank you for your understanding," said Starr with a genuine smile. "We need to find a way to deal with this phenomenon while we've still got a United States left. Every hour might be precious. Also, despite the sceptical tone some of your interviewers might have taken, I can assure you that every word you've spoken was believed right from the start and we are making our plans on that basis."

"That's a relief to know," Jeffcott admitted with a nervous smile.

"I'm sure. Anyway, a meeting is being convened to discuss our next move and we would be grateful if you would agree to attend as an advisor. You are the only person so far to have gone all the way to the centre of the anomaly and return alive which, as you can imagine, makes your advice priceless. Can I count on your attendance?"

"After that, my part in this is finished," said Jeffcott firmly. "Right?"

"You have already done more than could ever have been asked of you. This country is, and will always be, grateful to you. All we're asking right now is that you attend the meeting and give your advice and recommendations. You have my word."

"I'd just like to be assured that, after that, I'll have nothing more to do with the anomaly. Not in any way, shape or form. All I want is to go home and get on with my life."

"If the anomaly can't be stopped, no-one on the planet will be just getting on with their lives," said Starr however. "This phenomenon represents an existential threat to the whole human race. Even you guys over in England. If we can't stop it, it will cross the Atlantic and you Brits will be just as screwed as the rest of us."

"You're saying you're not going to let me go?" said Jeffcott with a sick feeling of certainty."

"We're sending more people in," said Starr. "A full scale invasion this time, and yes. I'm afraid, we will be asking you to go with them."

"I'm British," Jeffcott protested. He heard his voice rising with fear but there was nothing he could do to stop it. "You have no authority over me. I've committed no crime. You can't make me go back in there."

"I'm sorry," said Starr, and he did sound genuinely sorry. "But as someone who's been inside, you represent a resource we can't afford to lose. Then there are your qualifications in the field of physics. You can advise us on what actions to take when we take control of the device at the centre of the phemomenon. The Furnace. I can assure you that we will be very grateful for your help and that you will be very handsomely rewarded when you return."

"If I survive," said Jeffcott flatly.

"Very generously rewarded," Starr added. "I'm sorry, Mister Jeffcott, but you will be going back in. With the fate of the world literally at stake we can't afford to be handicapped by our usual civilised standards. You will be going back in, and the best way to ensure your survival is to give us your fullest, most honest help. Do you understand, Mister Jeffcott?"

"Yes," said Jeffcott, and he did understand. He hated it, but he understood. He only had to remember the nightmare of the anomaly to know that it absolutely had to be stopped, and he knew that his knowledge and experiences might be vital to that effort. If someone else had made it back out, that would be different. The other person could be their guide and he could go home. There was no other person, though. The other people had given their lives so that he could get home. So that the world would have a better chance of survival.

He nodded, therefore. "Okay," he said. "I'll go back in. I'll help you any way that I can."

Starr smiled broadly. "I knew you would," he said. "So, if you'll come with me, I'll take you to the meeting."

He went back to the door and waited there for Jeffcott to follow him. Then they stepped out into the corridor.