Yesterday's Gone (Season 5): Episodes 25-30 (6 page)

* * * *

CHAPTER 4 — EDWARD KEENAN

Ed woke handcuffed to a bed in a cold gray cell with instantly recognizable glass doors and walls.

Black Island. 

The air conditioner whistled through the ceiling and seemed to fuel the feeling that he was deep underground below tons of concrete and steel. 

He looked up at the ceiling’s many holes to where he knew the cameras were hidden. 

“Hey!” he yelled. “I want to speak to Director Bolton!”

The speakers, also on the ceiling, were silent.

He called out again, but still no response.

Ed wondered if he was being monitored, and what the agents had already done to Jade and his friends.

He pulled at his cuffs, but they only rattled against the metal bed frame — solid and soldered into the wall and floor. 

Shit.

He sat up and looked around. There were five other cells in the large room. He didn’t think he’d ever seen this part of the facility, either the Other Earth’s version, or this one’s. He wondered if it was new, or somewhere he’d never been. There was a sliding red door with a camera above it at the end of the hall, with a touch screen beside it. 

Ed stared at the door, waiting.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door slid open.

A man stepped through, alone, wearing jeans and a long navy shirt. Despite the simple denim and cotton, he looked like he’d just left his tailor’s, with everything hanging on his lean frame just so. The man’s slightly wavy brown hair was swept back from his forehead, and though he wore no glasses his face seemed almost naked without them. He seemed vaguely familiar, and Ed felt like he should know the man, but couldn’t remember ever having met him.

The man stopped in front of Ed’s door, pressed his palm against the pad on the outside. The glass door slid open, and the man entered with a smile.

“Who the fuck are you?” Ed asked.

The man’s smile didn’t even flicker. 

“My name is Desmond Armstrong, and I’m here to help. Let me assure you that your friends and family are fine. They are topside, in our housing, safer than anywhere else in the world.”

Desmond Armstrong.

The name flashed in his head. Ed had never met Desmond, but he’d dreamed of him after returning to Earth. 

“How do I know you?” Ed asked.

“All of us who vanished on October 15 share some collective memories. Perhaps you’ve seen me in your dreams?”

“Yes,” Ed said. “But from what I remember, things didn’t turn out so well for you.”

“I was killed. But the boy, Luca, returned in another form, like light, and brought me back.”

Ed looked the man up and down, trying to get a read on him. He wasn’t getting any vibes one way or another, save for the odd familiarity of having seen the man in his dreams.

“So why are you here?” Ed asked.

“I came back to save the world. That’s where you come in.”

“Me?” Ed held his hands out, palms up. “I’m done saving the world. I just want to rest. I don’t know how much you know, or how long you’ve been here, but the guy running this show, Bolton, wanted me to kill off all of the ten to fifteen survivors, so forgive me if I find it hard to believe that we’re sharing common goals.”

“Bolton has seen the error of his ways, we’ve had …
discussions,
” Desmond said with a twinkle in his eye that indicated that he’d likely dressed Bolton down. 

Who the hell is this guy? Military?

“Why would Bolton listen to you? You’re just a civilian, right?”

“I have The Light inside me, the part of the aliens that wants to save us, rather than murder or absorb us. But there’s a darker force out there, gathering strength, searching for vials that contain the alien in its raw form. If The Darkness finds the vials first, then we could have a repeat of what happened on the other world happen right here. But if we find them first, we can use it to destroy The Darkness once and for all. We can stop it.”

“
We?
How?”

“We, those who vanished on October 15, all have a bit of The Light inside us. When Luca brought us back over, some of him came, and stayed, with us. We can use it to find the vials. We can find the people who have the last vials and convince them to hand them over.”

“And what then? What are we going to do with the vials?”

“I don’t entirely know. But I’m confident that The Light will show us the way.”

“Sorry, pal, but I’m not buying the mumbo jumbo and pseudo-religious dark and light shit.” Ed meant to rattle the man for a response.

Surprisingly, Desmond held his calm.

He kneeled to Ed’s level.

“I’m not going to bullshit you, Mr. Keenan. I don’t have all the answers. But I
do
know one thing. If we
don’t
get those vials, then you, me, and everyone we love will die at the hands of The Darkness. You and I have both seen what it did to the other Earth. You can be the grizzled cynical bastard that Bolton said you are, or you can do something to save your family.”

Ed chewed on the message, then said, “How do I know that The Darkness hasn’t already infiltrated Black Island? It got to Sullivan. Hell, how do I know
you’re
not infected?”

“Because we’ve got our very own sniffer, someone who can see The Light and The Darkness.”

“Who?” 

“Well, I can, for one. But there’s also Paola.”

“Mary’s girl?” 

“Yes, she is now The Light.”

“What do you mean
is
The Light?”

Desmond explained that Luca had been The Light, but was growing weaker after fighting off The Darkness and sending the other Luca to take his place on this world. He then found Paola in the hospital, in a coma. She needed saving; he needed a home. 

“Now she’s helping us find the other vials. But she’s a kid and helping from here. I need someone I can trust out there, boots on the ground following up on the leads Paola’s getting from her visions.”

Ed shook his head, trying to stop his world from sounding like bad sci-fi. He wanted to call it crazy, but couldn’t dismiss a syllable. He’d seen destruction caused by The Darkness, and how it had murdered a planet. 

He didn’t trust Black Island to save the world, especially when they couldn’t see an enemy in their own damned camp, but Ed felt like Desmond could be trusted. Especially if he’d managed to convince Bolton to let him head this operation.

“So, what do you need me to do?”

“What you do best,” Desmond said. “Find people and convince them to do something they might not want to do.”

“And my family, friends?”

“They can all stay here on Black Island. They’ll be safe.”

“OK,” Ed said. “I’m in.”

* * * *

CHAPTER 5 — MARY OLSON

Black Island

Mary sat on the couch, watching as Paola played with Teagan’s girl, Becca. Jade sat beside the young mother, looking guarded, and not unlike a gloomy college kid with her bright-blue hair. 

Mary couldn’t blame her for looking miserable. They’d been dragged here against their will, and she’d yet to see her father, Ed.

Mary wanted to say something to let Jade know things would be OK, that Desmond was there and wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her father.

Becca giggled, a deep and almost-hoarse guffaw when Paola tickled her.

Mary watched, feeling a sense of joy swell inside her. It was the most lively she’d seen Paola since she emerged from the coma after Desmond saved them and brought them to the other world before coming to Black Island. According to Desmond, Luca had created the portal to save them, not him. After Paola had woken from her coma, they headed immediately to the island.

Mary continued to watch Paola as the girl smiled at Becca. She even played peek-a-boo with the girl, which might be the most Paola had said since the coma. It seemed like having a younger child around drew Paola out from whatever shell she’d been in.

Dr. Morgan said these things take time.

As if the Black Island doctor could possibly have a clue. They didn’t know what had happened to Paola in the chamber or how Luca had come to bring The Light inside her. The Black Island medical staff was as much in the dark as any of them.

Desmond, however, had his theories, and seemed to believe that Paola’s recovery and her recent waking visions were all good signs.

Easy for him to say: she’s not his daughter.

But if anyone could understand what Paola was going through, it had to be Desmond. He had a bit of The Light inside him, too. He said everyone that Luca saved had The Light inside them, but he seemed more connected than anyone else.

Desmond could see, hear, and do things that Mary sure as hell couldn’t. Nothing as powerful as healing people like Luca, but he had made a coin float, and seemed to be excellent at convincing people that his needs were theirs, even more than before. He also seemed smarter. Desmond had always flirted with genius, but The Light seemed to tune his intelligence tighter, as if it took everything good and made it better.

The mere fact that Desmond managed entry into Black Island Research Facility and had convinced Director Bolton to let him (a civilian) head up a search for the vials spoke volumes for just how much The Light had improved Desmond’s verbal skills. Or it spoke volumes about how desperate Black Island was to get any sort of help in a war it was losing against an enemy it barely knew, let alone knew how to defeat.

“Do you feel different?” she had asked Desmond one night. 

“Of course. I’ve been changed from The Light. You have too, Mary. We all have. It’s inside us all.” 

Mary did feel stronger, but chalked that up to her many months of training, not some alien DNA or whatever the hell she had coursing through her body. If pressed, Mary would have confessed that she felt nothing special at all. 

But that couldn’t have kept her from denying the changes in Paola, even before she’d entered the chamber. Her daughter had somehow become a healer, like Luca, and had aged just the same.

Mercifully, Paola had stopped gaining years since their return. Though she’d also healed no one. It was hard for Mary to find comfort in that. 

Mary watched Paola talk with Teagan, and thought the same thoughts she’d been threading together all morning: she’d settle for whatever she could when it came to Paola. Mary was just glad to have her daughter back, even if she wasn’t exactly the same.

Brent returned from the kitchen, holding a cold Diet Coke in each hand. He offered one to Mary.

“Thanks,” she said, taking the Coke as he sat down beside her.

They both looked at Brent’s son, Ben, lying on his belly, pushing two trains on the floor, lost in his own little world. Considering that his mother had been murdered in front of him three weeks ago, Mary was surprised that the five-year-old wasn’t an utter wreck.

Mary looked at Brent. “How are you holding up?”

“One day at a time.” He sipped his drink, eyes on his son. He dropped his voice to a whisper. “It all still feels so surreal. I think the worst is not knowing what will happen next. I mean, how do you tell your children that everything will be all right when you don’t know what the hell is going on?”

Mary didn’t know Brent that well — they hadn’t been together on the other Black Island, or here for long — but he seemed like a good man. And she could tell by the way he watched Ben that he was as fiercely protective of his son as she was of Paola. 

“Yeah, tell me about it.” 

Mary wasn’t sure how much he knew of their ordeal, or that Paola was now carrying The Light. She certainly wasn’t about to initiate a conversation, especially in front of the kids.

“What do you think’ll happen if Ed doesn’t play ball?” Brent asked.

Jade looked up, waiting to see what she’d say. Mary pretended not to notice Ed’s daughter watching. 

“I don’t know. But Desmond is a good man. He won’t let anyone harm him.”

Brent took another sip and said nothing.

The room’s air felt heavy, dragged down by Desmond being part of the Black Island Guardsmen. They were getting along, but their world felt temporary.

Brent was right — they didn’t know what might happen next. Mary trusted Desmond to keep the wolf far from their door, but knew she was the only person she could ever truly count on to put the wolf down.

* * * *

CHAPTER 6 — LUCA HARDING

Luca sat in the passenger seat as Rose drove along the highway on their way out of town before anyone found them. 

When he’d asked who was looking, Rose said there were people at Black Island searching, for both them and the vials. And while she didn’t think they knew the The Darkness was hiding in her, her shell had allowed a man to escape who
could
tell others: Boricio Wolfe,
the Earth version of the man who had once shared an adopted father with Luca
.
They’d have to be careful, the opposite of his time at the pool.

It was only a matter of time before agents came looking. They had to find somewhere to go — far away.

It was weird to feel like he was in trouble even though Rose hadn’t expressed the typical human emotions like anger or disappointment, nor had she scolded the boy. She was a puppet for The Darkness, and whatever was left of the old Rose had either left or gone silent. The Darkness felt
some
emotion, but it wasn’t the same as a person’s. It was primal, more instinctive, and didn’t seem to hold grudges or sulk.

Still, Luca felt horrible for what he’d done. He couldn’t get the images of all those dead people out of his head, especially the girl, Ashleigh. He felt like he’d lost a lifelong friend. She shouldn’t have died. None of them should have. He’d messed up and let his anger at the bullies consume him. In that way, he wished The Darkness would take over more and help him feel less. To simply do and be.

Rose, as if reading his thoughts, said, “Don’t feel bad about the people at the pool. They’re animals, really.”

“I like animals.”