Hope (Other World Protection Agency Book 1) (13 page)

“The shield will have a big
reward, but you will not make it back. You understand right? It’s personal.”

“Of course it is. How, I wonder,
did you of all people end up finding us?”

“I know you. While everyone is
waiting for you at the triangle I knew you would try and help the world. You’re
such a bleeding heart. If you’re looking for your doppelganger she died a long
time ago.”

“Is that why this world was
overtaken with Demos because she was not here to fight?”

“Partially. Without hope the
humans began to give up.”

“Partially? What else happened?
What could explain this?” She swept her arm out to indicate what could almost
be a police state. This was the kind of thing that only happened in horror
films. Not in real life. Closing her eyes briefly she considered clicking her
heels three times, then remembered that only worked in movies.

“The will to fight seemed to
leave the humans. They offered no resistance. It was such an unexpected bonus.
No hope, no will to survive, they were all ours for the taking.” Raimel looked
detached, this bothered Tara more than the look of Joy she had seen earlier.

“If you have this timeline why do
you want mine?” Tara asked more to keep him talking than to hear anything he
had to say. She was running out of time and needed a plan.

Raimel pulled out a deadly
looking sword. Deadly, yet beautiful. One swing would remove her head from her
body. If he did it right, it might almost be painless.

“What glory is there in an
adversary that does not fight back? What tales of greatness to pass on if the
battle was never a real one? A people who will not defend what is there’s do
not deserve to live. We will destroy this timeline and then we will dominate
yours.”

The whole time he had been
talking, she had slowly been trying to move away. Putting space not only
between herself and the fence, but between her and him. Maybe she might make an
escape, even if it was limited before he swung.

“The glory is killing someone
like you who keeps fighting even when she thinks she has nothing left to fight
for.”

He swung his sword as she threw herself
to the ground. He stood and laughed as he watched her. Turning, he knocked Paul
out with a blast that sent him to the ground unable to move. Stalking her, he
made sure she was cornered and lifted the sword again.

“You won’t feel a thing.” Raising
the sword over his head he never heard the small being behind him. One minute
his sword was raising the next there was a knife jutting out of his back.
Instead of falling dead like a good Demos he disappeared.

Before Tara could say thank you,
someone slipped up beside her and knocked her out.

Tara woke trying to move, but
nothing she did allowed her to wiggle free. She was sitting in a chair
struggling to breathe. Opening her mouth, nothing came out. She looked over to
see Paul in a chair next to hers. Well they wouldn’t be making escape plans. Of
course this meant they couldn’t express their undying love either. They would have
to be in love for that to happen. She didn’t have time for that in her life
anyway.

“Who are you and what are you
doing here?”

Coming back to the present, she
looked into the darkness trying to see who was talking. Eventually they would
remember that they had gagged them. The voice continued to talk, but she
ignored it looking around the room. They had to be in a cellar. The type that
you would see in a house a hundred years old. It had a brick cellar that was
cold and creepy looking. Where had this house come from?  There had been none
close to where she had passed out. The area had been empty except for the fence
and the guard booth. There had been no sentry. It had stood tall like a silent
sentry, observing scenes of devastation that were no longer visible to the
naked eye.

She was ungagged from behind with
a rough voice in her ear telling her not to turn around.

“I will ask you one more time,
who are you and what are you doing here?” The voice was definitely female. She
almost wanted to smile it seemed they were always rescued by young females.

“I am Tara and that’s Paul next
to me. We are trying to get home.”

“You don’t live around here.”

“No.”

“You don’t live on this planet.”

“Now that can be argued.” Tara
gave a brief smile, maybe the whole universe was smaller than she had thought.

Had she jumped from the frying
pan into the fire? She was sure whoever was talking was human, but right now
that offered no comfort. This timeline was dead and she had no idea why.

“Why don’t we stop playing
games?”

Bless Paul, he really did like to
come to the point.

“Why are you here?” Their captor
asked again. Was there a hint of frustration in that voice? Maybe the sound of
youth growing inpatient?

“Well it’s simple. We were
attacked by demos, but somehow survived. Then we found out there was a plan to
invade our timeline. We came up with a counter plan. When we put the plan into
effect we were captured. Maybe to be held for huge amounts of money, but more
than likely to be held as a token to make our people fall into line. Anyway we
escaped and ended up here. Now all we want to do is return to our timeline, but
instead we are being held captive again.” Tara said this as if it was no big
deal to her.

Being held captive was right up
there with passing out and waking up someplace new. When this was over, if it
was over, she would have to write a memoir of what not to do if you wake up a
gateway.

“Now.” Paul said, pulling her out
of her thoughts. “You know who we are and why we are here. It’s time to tell us
who you are.”

“I am Ariel.” The voice said
slowly leaving the shadows. “I know she should not exist.” The extended finger
was pointing at Tara.

Of course I shouldn’t exist. I
was told that I was dead on this world. Of course I was hoping dead meant I had
simply not been born? Yeah I knew better, but a girl can hope.

“Why shouldn’t I exist?”

“Because you’re dead.”

She said it so naturally, as if
there were no doubt about it that I had to stop and consider it. Yeah, it was
the other me not the real me, but this was one of those times I wondered if
that was just splitting hairs?

“As you can see I am here. Very
much alive.” Well at least for the minute. The way things were going my death
did seem to be imminent. “I am obviously alive and not some sort of ghost or
zombie.” As if we needed one more scary thing to come to life. “So why didn’t
you just kill me and go on with your life?” There had to be a reason I was
here.

“Because of my cousins.”

She had finally stepped out of
the shadows. She had straight black hair that looked like it had never seen a
chemical. Now that made me envious. Skin that was beautiful. It was not too
light and not too dark, but truly sun kissed. In my timeline, she would be a
model. She was lovely. In the end though, it was her eyes.

She lifted her face and her
shocking green eyes staked me. I could barely breathe around my astonishment.
They were not a natural green. They were other worldly green. Where could she
have gotten eyes like that? Heck how many humans would kill to have eyes like
that? Or kill to make sure no one with eyes like that ever looked at them
again? It was like she could read your soul, your very essence. I am betting
her life was hell.

She slipped a big pair of
oversized shades on. The kind that had gone out of style many years ago for me.
It left me wondering how long the Demos had been here.

“Do I know your cousins?”

“Maybe not, but the one who
looked like you did. She loved my cousins and they loved her. They would tell
me about her and as I got older they would take me around her. She was always
nice to me.”

“Of course she was. You were a
baby and she would have loved holding and playing with you.”

“Maybe. Whatever the reason, she
was good to my family. Because she is dead, but I will repay her kindness with
you.”

“You return all your favors by
tying your guests up?”

 I smiled when I said it. I
really couldn’t help myself. First thing, I liked her. She had to be between
nineteen and twenty-three. Living here in this time line couldn’t be easy, but
it was more than that. Both she and I knew she had saved my life. Yet she had
not mentioned it or puffed up in pride about it. She was very mature for one so
young. She was also the girl in the hologram, so I was in the right place to do
whatever. So yeah I smiled, because maybe just this once everything would turn
out in my favor.

She nodded her head to the
shadows. “Untie them.”

The ropes binding my hands and
feet were cut and blood began to surge through my joints. Yep, life was looking
up. I looked over to see Paul rubbing his wrists helping. Now what?

“Do you remember me?”

Yeah I did. In my time line she
would be a little younger? Maybe not. I remember holding her and making her
laugh. More importantly, I remembered her cousins were my friends. They could
make me laugh. I missed them something fierce when I ran, but I needed to go.
Also my not being around made sure that their lives were safe.

“I remember you. I am surprised
you remember me. John my oldest cousin made sure I would always remember you.
Now we will find out if his death was worth it. Follow me.” Ariel’s voice was
laced with grief.

She led us out a door into what
looked like a maze of halls. There were two young men guarding the door. They
were brawnier than I would have thought given the state of this time line. Each
nodded respectfully to her and then took up positons of security as we followed
her.

“I tell them all the time I do
not need a protector, but they seem to never hear what I have to say.” She
laughed, then sighed good naturedly. “It is nice to have them around. This is
our city. It’s an underground city, but it is ours. Here there are no demos.
Here we can live freely.”

We had walked for quite some time
before coming to what looked like a large open community space. There were
people all around with artificial light everywhere. There were those that
looked like street vendors hawking their wares. It was like a scene from a
renaissance fair. The more I looked, the more I smiled. It was a different life,
but in the end that didn’t matter. They had found a way to survive.

The people of this timeline had not
just laid down and died. They had adapted in such a way that the Demos above
had no idea of what was under their noses. Suddenly, I was happier than I had
been in a long time. They still had hope and the will to fight. I felt like we
had a chance no matter what happened to me.

“This is where you come to sell
your goods? Is there a hospital around here?” Leave it to Paul to ask about the
medical facilities.

“Yes to both questions. We have a
large underground system here. Not just here, but all over the country.” Tara
had to smile at the pride she heard in Ariel’s voice.

“That’s amazing. Why do the demos
think that you have given up?” Tara wanted to try and reconcile what she was
seeing with what she had seen on the surface.

“There are still those who choose
to live above. Some of them are spies. They keep us informed of what the Demos
are up to. Others are older and they feel they cannot adjust to life
underground, so they say if they have to die so we can live, so be it. Still
others simply choose to live above ground and no one knows their reasons.
Either way, enough stayed to make the Demos think they have won.”

“But you haven’t given up.” Paul
looked around wishing he could see a hospital. “You’re just waiting for
something or someone.” Tara knew the last was a shot in the dark, but once said
it really made sense.

“Yes we are waiting. Shall we continue
our tour?”

Tara hung back to trade looks
with Paul. They were waiting on her of course. That was the easy part to figure
out. The why was so much harder? From the looks of it the other Tara had died
many years ago. Why would Ariel be expecting her to come then? How did a young
girl her age become the leader of this rag tag group in Pittsburgh? What was it
about her eyes that was trying to jog a memory loose?

They took a trip through the
local infirmary as they called it. Paul was impressed despite himself. The
physicians had managed to salvage many of the modern day machines, those that
weren’t too heavy, and even make them work underground. They had both natural
and man-made medicines they were using. In some ways, it was like the Demos had
never invaded. That is if you could ignore the living underground part.

They had schools to teach not
only the children, but those who wished to specialize in a field of interest
like medicine. They also had a communication system that kept them abreast of
the news happening across the world. There was only one thing missing.
Soldiers.

“What you have done here is mind
boggling. To be able to move a whole society underground and keep it running.
How was this managed?”

Ariel smiled at Paul. His praise
for what they had been able to do was radiating as joy from the smile on her
face. “Everyone pulled together when I was still young. Doctors, lawyers,
scientists you name them, they helped. My cousins were part of that number. They
called it the new world order. There was so much chaos during that time.”

                                       
********

Ariel thought about what it had
been like to see what looked like people with wings on their backs, black
wings. The devout had thought that Satan had been unleashed on them. Even now
she could see how they would think that. There had been those who thought they
truly were demons and tried to worship them. That had not ended well. More than
anything, there had been panic in the streets. The looting had been
overwhelming. People just taking what they wanted or thought they needed.

There had been many deaths simply
because someone had been trampled or tried to take something away from someone
bigger. The children had been kept inside because it had become a danger to be
out. The Demos had bathed in the chaos. It seemed to feed their sick desires.

All would have been lost if not
for the plan. The plan the other Tara had put in place and died to protect. Now
she was back and it was now or never. If this last part did not succeed, then
they were all dead. Ariel would make sure their planning wouldn’t be for
nothing.

“Surviving was not easy. We
should have died and probably would have if not for the plan. The underground
cities were already under construction when the Demos arrived. We already had a
place to retreat to. Not just here, but all over the world. We survived because
of foresight and people putting their lives on the line.”

“That person is to be commended.”

Ariel gave Paul a weak smile.
“Yes she is.”

“Where are all the doctors,
lawyers, scientists and let’s not forget the government officials?”

“They are dead, Tara. The Demos
wasted no time. They went for the heads of every government first. They felt
that any resistance would come from them. They had no idea that your doppelganger
started much lower on the totem pole. We were able to rescue some of the children
of the government and military, but that was all. We moved people down here. Since
there had been so much senseless death, no one including the Demos, had any
idea of the death toll. That sad truth worked in our favor.”

“So you have schools and
teachers. You have businesses and vendors. We have walked by many places that I
assume are housing. You even have an infirmary and physicians and nurses to run
it. I have seen laughing children and smiling parents. I have seen teens and
happiness in the midst of bad times. What I haven’t seen besides your two
protectors is a military facility. Some place you train your men and women to
fight.”