Shattered Remnants
Chapter 1: Leap of Faith
"We, the jury, find in favor for the plaintiff, Mr. Crownover and find the full damages to be sixty thousand dollars."
Zack couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was incompressible to him how he had reached this point.
"This is bullshit! How can he even sue me? He attacked me!"
"Mr. Skellington, one more outburst like that and I will hold you in contempt of court."
Zack turned to his lawyer. "Do something!" He hissed between clenched teeth.
"There's nothing more I can do right now."
Figures, Zack thought. Despite having paid his lawyer a total of five thousand dollars, Mr. Mackler was at the bottom of the barrel when it came to lawyers. But he was the best Zack could afford and now it had become crystal clear that the American justice system favored the wealthy.
Zack Skellington had just lost a civil suit that was guaranteed to ruin the rest of his life. A year ago the plaintiff, a man named Chet Crownover, and another named Gordon Buckler had pulled out pocketknives and tried to mug Zack in the middle of the street. Acting entirely on impulse, Zack had struck Crownover in the jaw (subsequently breaking it). After the surprising show of force Buckler had fled the scene and called the police, claiming Zack had attacked them.
What resulted was a yearlong court battle in which Zack had tried to prove his innocence with no success. Despite the fact that pedestrians on the other side of the street had witnesses the attack, none ever came forward or could be found to testify on Zack's defense. Nor were there any video cameras watching the streets. So much for Big Brother ever being helpful. It ended up being a he said/she said fiasco in which Zack was outnumbered two to one. And the fact that Crownover came from a wealthy family and hired a pricy lawyer didn't help. Though one had to wonder why Crownover was mugging people on the street if his family had so much money. One also might wonder why Crownover was so insistent on pressing charges when he knew he was the attacker. Zack had a theory that despite being a jackass, Crownover was also extremely butthurt about the whole situation since Zack only stood at five foot nine inches while Crownover was six feet four inches. Getting knocked out by someone so much shorter probably hurt his pride.
Zack just went through the motions. He was barely paying attention anymore. He didn't have sixty thousand dollars. The money wasn't even the worst part. His would-be mugger had successfully sued him! Zack doubted the law would have done anything for him had Crownover hurt or killed him and managed to steal his money. Zack thought it infuriating that the law always seemed to do everything it could to protect criminals at the expense of innocent people.
He had finally gotten out of that miserable courthouse and into the parking lot, his beat up old 1981 Volkswagen Passat waiting for him. It took him three tries but he finally managed to get the engine started.
Face twisted in a scour scowl, Zack thought about what he was going to do as he drove home. He didn't have an extra sixty thousand dollars lying around. He was living paycheck to paycheck. Hell, he still had ten thousand dollars in student loans he hadn't paid back yet. Between what he had paid his lawyer, what he now owed Crownover, and his student loans; Zack was in the pit for seventy-five thousand dollars. Looks like I'll be eating ramen for a good, long while…
He pulled up to the curb in front of his home. It was an old, dilapidated house in an old, dilapidated neighborhood. It was the kind of place the upper class would refer to as a 'low-growth area.'
Ever paranoid, Zack took stock of his surroundings as he got out of his car and walked up to his house. Never knew when someone would run up and try to mug him again. When he thought about that for a second longer, Zack realized if he ever were mugged again it would probably be cheaper just to let the thief take his wallet.
He locked to door behind him. Despite the fact that he shared this house with five housemates the house was lacking in furnishings and furniture. Zack went up the stairs to his room.
He didn't have a traditional bed, just a mattress on the floor. It suited him just fine; Zack didn't see what the big deal was about bed frames. To him they were just a bunch of expensive crap that was a pain in the ass to take apart when one moved to a new place. When one moved around bouncing from job to job it helped to keep the moving process simple. Zack had spent his childhood, teen years, and young adult years bouncing around the midwestern region of the United States, an area often referred to as the 'Rust Belt' of the United States. Zack's parents had moved around, taking whatever jobs they could get, and when Zack came of age he found he would be stuck doing the same, despite having gone to college to try and increase his chances of having a better life.
Better life. What a fucking joke. Zack flopped down on the mattress and switched on the television. At least he had a television, a Nintendo 64 and a desktop computer with an internet connection. Of course life could be a whole lot worse, as today had just proven. Zack had food, shelter, and access to TV, games and porn. He had all the essentials (or what he would consider essentials). Life could definitely be worse… still; it could be a whole lot better too.
Some sort of blue aura appeared in front of him. Zack thought all the stress was finally getting to him. He was finally losing it. The mass of blue looked like rippling water, except that is was hanging midair in his room. It was giving off some sort of weird humming noise.
Zack closed his eyes and opened them again. The wavy blue aura was still there. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Still there. Zack switched off his television with the remote.
He got up off his mattress and circled around the blue mass, his stomach slowly starting to tie itself in knots. There was nothing behind it and nothing holding it up in the air. There was no way this was a prank by his roommates. They didn't have holographic projects as far as he knew. Plus this thing looked too damn real.
"What is this thing?" There was no one to answer his question. Zack thought about calling the police but quickly decided against it. He imagined if he got the authorities involved that somehow they would manage to blame him for whatever this thing was and arrest him for it.
Curiosity got the better of him. What the hell do I have to lose anymore? He reached out a hand and touched the pulsating blue mystery mist. He didn't feel a thing, it was as if nothing was there… and he realized that was now partially true. His hand and forearm had disappeared into the blue! His hand hadn't gone through… more like gone into the shapeless aura.
He pulled his hand back out. It looked just fine. Nothing felt wrong. His hand hadn't melted off, it wasn't shedding skin or on fire or some other equally horrible outcome. Zack did remember that his hand felt warmer when it was in the blue… there was a clear change in temperature; that much he was sure of. The knots in his stomach started to unwind, despite the otherworldly experience. Zack's mind started to conquer up ideas as to what the thing might be.
Maybe it's some sort of portal to another dimension? That'd be great! I could get the fuck out of here and never return! The idea that the thing was a portal certainly held a certain appeal. There was little keeping Zack from caring about his world and current life. He had few friends, no girlfriend or wife, he had little contact with his family, and he was massively in debt. If this thing was a portal that could offer him an escape to a magical fantasy realm where he could break free of his boring life and crippling dept, why not take it?
Zack took a deep breath and jumped right into the wavy blue mass. And then the very fabric of the universe shattered and fell away.
Author's Note: This chapter has the same name as one of the multiplayer maps from Turok: Rage Wars.
Zack Skellington is one letter off from Jack Skellington, the protagonist of the film The Nightmare Before Christmas.
The portal at the end of the chapter is based off of the free-floating bonus level portals that appeared in Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.
