Abby and I looked at the shadow man, he suddenly grunted in pain as he got pushed aside, and his head hit the sink. A woman jumped on top of him and stabbed him several times with a red sword, the shadow man shot some kind of black beam out his back, and the woman flew through the air. She hit the ceiling before falling down with a loud thud. The shadow man, just, vanished.

Abby looked at me, “What the fuck just happened?”

“We got saved by her.” Slowly, I got up, and I walked over to the woman in red scrubs and helped her up.

She looked at me, “Hello there, Steve.”

“Alice?” Red, wavy hair slightly reveals a long, frowning face. Shining silver eyes, set charmingly within her sockets.

Abby limped over while blood dripped to the ground, “Is that the woman from your vision?”

I put both of my hands on my claw wounds while sitting down, I nodded towards Abby, “How did you know where to find us, Alice?”

She smiled, “I took a break from work, I just, had this gut feeling.”

I nodded slowly while wincing in pain, “Do you mind patching me up, or Abby?”

Alice chuckled, “Sure, come with me to my ambulance.”

Abby laughed, “You are joking, right?”

“No, I work as a paramedic, I just took the ambulance, I thought I would need it.”

Alice looked at Abby, “Can you walk?”

She shook her head, “Limping is possible, I really hope you won’t be doing a drug test.”

I chortled, “Me neither.”

Alice sighed, “You guys are hopeless.” Alice lifted Abby with ease, “Can you follow me, Steve?”

“Sure.”

Alice walked out of the bathroom, Paul stood at the counter and looked at me, I waved, “Hey!”

He started following us, Alice had indeed parked an ambulance outside. She put Abby on the stretcher and I sat down in the chair.

Paul looked into the ambulance, “Does anyone mind telling me what the fuck is going on?”

I looked at him, “You will not even believe us if we will tell you.”

Paul sighed and looked at Alice, “Are they going to be fine?”

She smiled at him, “Yes they will be fine, but he is right, if you value your life, you better stay clear of us.” Paul nodded and left.

Abby looked at me, then I looked at Alice and I spoke up, “What is going on?”

Alice exhaled deeply, “We are being hunted down by a shadow man, I thought that much was clear.”

Abby sighed, “But what does he want, what do we need to do to get rid of him?”

Alice looked at me, “There is this woman, I don’t know her name, or who she exactly is. What I do know, is that we need to travel to another world, actually, another reality. The reality next door.”

Abby started laughing, “Yeah, like I would fucking believe that, I think I have more chance at becoming richer than Steve here.”

Alice looked at Abby, “Hold still, I am trying to stitch you up, I am not kidding here. I come from there, this woman brought me here when I was little, she told me, that I needed to bring Steve to that reality when the time was right.”

I stared at Alice intently, “Your eyes, why do you have silver eyes?”

Abby looked at me, then at Alice. “Yeah, what is up with that?”

Alice sighed, “You guys are looking at me, as if I have all the answers. I don’t, I doubt that we are family if that is what you are asking; However, I do think, we are not human.”

Abby started laughing again, I put my hand on Abby’s shoulder and spoke gently to her. “She might have a point.”

Abby looked at me, “Are you serious?”

“Yes I am, I have always felt different.”

“Alice?”

“Yes?”

“Do you struggle with your rage too?”

She shrugged, “Every so often, why do you ask?”

“Because, I usually have trouble containing it. If you are right, then it might be race related.”

Alice sighed, “Abby is patched up, come here Steve, you are bleeding in my ambulance.”

Silence had fallen in the ambulance, Abby and I were processing what had happened, and everything about Alice. She looked like a woman who was keeping a secret or two, after she patched me up, she smiled, “There, you should be fine in no time, now, we are heading to my home.”

I looked at her, “Why?”

“Because, we need to get some gear before we go to the portal, or do you want to get busted up even more?”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Abby looked at me, “Are we seriously considering this?”

I looked back at her, “Do you have a different plan? If Alice wanted us dead, she would not have saved us.”

Alice chuckled, “I heard that.”

Abby called out, “Fine, take us to your home, Alice started the ambulance and began driving.”

Abby looked at me, “What did you get me into, Steve?”

I shrugged, “An adventure, I suppose.”

It did not take long before we stopped and Alice opened the door for us, “Now come with me.”

I stepped out of the ambulance and looked at the house. I had a lot of knowledge about wood, stone and what kinds there were. Next to gaming, I also read plenty of books.

Abby looked at me, “What kind of wood is it?”

“From the outside, this house looks posh and extravagant, it has been built with poplar wood, and it has red brick decorations, tall, rectangular windows add to the overall look of the house and have been added to the house in a mostly symmetric way.”

Abby sighed, “Why did I even ask? Remind me, to never ask you such things again.”

I smiled at her, “Why?”

“Because, you read too much about wood, I like morning wood better.”

Alice cleared her throat, “If you two are done fucking around, we should go on.”

Abby looked at me, “She has quite the vocabulary.”

I sighed, “Let’s follow her.”

We started to follow Alice to her garage, she opened the door and let us in, she had some shelving units set up with many tools, I also saw a freezer, She pushed it aside to reveal a secret passage.

Abby and I looked at each other, She spoke up, “We might have been lured into a trap, perhaps, we are going to end up in that freezer.”

Alice grunted and sounded very irritated, “You can trust me.”

Abby glanced at me, “That is precisely what a serial killer would say after luring us to her garage.”

Alice opened a hatch under the freezer. “Follow me.”

Abby looked at me, “Do you have a secret hatch in your garage as well?”

“No, otherwise we would have also done something there too.”

Alice pointed at the hole, “Come on and stop lollygagging, we don’t have all day.”

I walked over to Alice and climbed down the hole, it was very dark in this room, but Alice turned on a light, that is when I got the shock of my life.

There were many armor sets stalled out neatly, from Japanese armor, to medieval armor and everything in between, there were also all kinds of weapons, scythes, swords, broadswords, katana’s, training swords, and even hanzo swords.

Abby looked around, “Oh my fucking god, she is a secret warrior in disguise.”

Alice chuckled, “I am just a collector.”

I shook my head and spoke up, “Is that why there is a shooting range under your garage, Alice?”

Abby walked over to a ranged section, “Where are your guns? There are only crossbows here.”

Alice pointed at some bows.

Abby shrugged, “Still no guns.”

While Abby was browsing the bows, I decided to check the swords, the smaller blades attracted me, mostly the dual blades. I have never wielded swords in my life, nor have I ever thought about picking one up. If I were to get violent, I'd rather use my fists. I sighed, and quickly let the thoughts exit my mind, before things got dark. Alice seemed to be preparing some things, I shook my head, why do I feel so connected to Alice? She does look nice, but she is small, my ex-wife was also small, even if I am taller, Alice intimidates me with just the way she is standing.

Maybe, just maybe, my type is small women and their petite curves? I looked at Abby, she is just like me, not very tall, but also not small, Regular would be the word I am looking for.

Alice called out, “Come with me to the shooting range, both of you because you guys look like you found a Walmart for the first time.”

Alice walked over to the shooting range. “Before we leave, I need to tell you something.”

I walked over to her, “Yes?”

“In this other reality, power comes from within you, all of us have a different kind of life force, however, humans do not have it, Alice looked around, then she stretched her hand out, she closed her eyes. After a few deep sighs, A little of her energy started to manifest, Then she shot a small red beam at one of the targets, Abby and I gasped.”

Alice smiled, “As you can see, my inner power is not strong, just fighting will make you stronger, or unlock your inner strength, Let’s see if you guys can fire an energy beam.”

Alice looked at Abby, “Come on Abby, let me see if you can use energy, I am curious to see what you can do.”