Chapter 1 – Was it Worth It
It was early in the day and they were all on their computers, Sarah lying on the floor about to open up her computer, Bria was at the desk against the windows and Max was watching TV. There was a knock on the door and they looked up curiously. No one ever knocked unless it was maintenance usually.
"I wonder who that is," Max tilted his head curiously and got up. Bria and Sarah followed suit all of them going to the door and there stood two military officials wearing black uniforms insignias that almost looked like an arrowhead. "Who are you?"
"We work for the government and that is all you need to know. Sir, have you seen this man before?" The male officer pulled something from his jacket and held it up.
After studying it for a moment, Max nodded, "Yes...why do you need to know?"
"We need you to come with us," the man said firmly.
"Just why should I do that?" Max frowned.
"We need you to help catch the man because he stole something important and he might come to someone he knows," the female answered.
There was a long pause as Max contemplated this, "Is it dangerous?"
"There is a high probability you could be injured."
"If I agree will you tell me more? I refuse to fight and risk my life for something stupid," Max said bluntly.
There was a stare down before the male officer nodded, "We will."
"Alright. Let me get dressed and say goodbye," Max closed the door in their faces and turned around, heading to the bedroom.
"Are you sure this is a good idea? We don't even know who they are!" Bria was on his heels.
"It'll be okay, babe," Max assured, "That guy they showed me a picture of is more trouble than they are, trust me. If they can't capture him, then things are bad, very bad." He turned into the walk-in closet to go get dressed. When he emerged he brought Bria close to him, "I'll be back, babe, I promise."
"I hold you to it..." Bria murmured hesitantly, but knew with the fact he rarely thought about his own safety, things could go wrong very quickly. "Be safe..."
Max chuckled, "Nah I'm just gunna go in there guns blazing," he kissed her lovingly while she caressed his face.
Bria reluctantly let him go, watching as he hugged Sarah who was back on the couch, the laptop beside her.
"If you die I'll kill you," Sarah threatened.
Max laughed, "I doubt that'll happen," he patted her head and pulled away. Bria accompanied him to the door. Opening it, he huffed, "Let's go, already. The more time we give him the more damage he could do."
The male officer held the door open when Max tried to close it, and he stared at Bria. She was wearing a rather low-cut nightgown but nothing indecent. His eyes were not...lewd, or anything sexual as he looked at her chest. Was he looking at the mole there? He then motioned to her, and she hesitated, before moving forward while he pulled something from his jacket again.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" hissed his comrade.
"If he does what we think he will do, then this will protect them," the man looked at Bria, "Give me your hand."
Holding it up, he placed a small vial, and in it is a strange blue, glowing liquid. He lingered their touch before pulling away.
"What is this?"
"I think you know what to do." He nodded to her, "Farewell." He closed the door.
Bria stood there, staring at the door then at the liquid. Quickly locking he door, she popped the cork.
"What are you doing?" Sarah asked, confused, "I have no idea what's going on."
"That makes two of us, sis," Bria muttered as she pressed her index finger to the hole, tipped it, wetting her finger, and she drew the insignia of those two on the door. She quickly moved to the living room and painted the same thing on the wall behind the couch. Then she moved her computer to the side and climbed up on the desk. Painting one on the wall above the window, she jumped off and ran to the bedroom. On the far wall she poured the last of it on her finger and set it on her dresser.
"/How/ do you know what to do with that stuff? What if it like, gives you radiation poisoning? What if those guys work for the dude they showed to him and this is all a set up?" Sarah asked skeptically as she joined her sister in the bedroom after watching her flit around the apartment like a humming bird to flowers.
"I thought of all of that!" Bria cursed turning around and leaning against the wall, "I did all of this with my holy water a while back when we first got this place. That dude must've been a mind reader or something, it felt weird when his skin touched mind. Also, that's how I know we can trust them. They weren't evil, Sarah."
Jumping back in surprise, a blue glow started connecting all the points in a box that encompassed the entire apartment, "We shouldn't leave. Opening the door would disrupt it and I don't know if it'd go back up."
"What is /it/?!" Sarah demanded.
"I...think it's a shield."
"A liquid shield?"
"I know how absurd it sounds but if you don't trust them, do you trust me?!"
There was a long pause Sarah stared at her, "I don't like this, but…Yes."
Bria sighed, looking tired and panicked and upset, "Let's...just move our comps in here and curl on the bed."
"Okay."
~*~ a few hours later ~*~
However, they couldn't just sit there and go about whatever it was they were doing. They passed the time by just talking about random stuff, what could possibly happen and why they were there. They occasionally glanced outside and one second Bria saw bright, clear skies and then the next something drastic happened.
To their utter /horror/ they entire world crumbled and changed, turning grey and dismal, the identical building across the street looked like it had been demolished by a tornado. The skies were no longer blue, but grey and it looked about to rain.
"What the hell just happened?!" They both screamed. Quickly looking around the room they noticed how everything still remained the same. Outside looked horrid, though. "That's why he gave me the liquid shield, it's protecting us from whatever is happening," Bria concluded.
"Must be," Sarah's eyes were wide, "What about our families, sis? What's going to happen to them?"
"I don't know, but look!" Bria pointed, the world seemed to...glitch, like a game would on the computer, and it went back to normal, "Something fucked up is going on. Maybe...that guy Max is trying to capture has some sort of time/dimension warp thingy that's doing this."
"Oh my god, Bria!" Sarah gasped. In the parking lot had arrived Max and he was fighting someone. They seemed to pop from a weird...blurry spot somewhere behind them. They were wresting over some sort of grey cube. Max managed to knock it from the guy's hand and kick him back into the blurry area, and he scrambled for the cube, only the guy came back and /slashed/ at Max's side.
"Shit! No!" Bria darted from the bed, having changed into a pair of pants and a tank top a long time ago, "I kept telling him he always has his stomach unguarded!"
"Bria, wait! Stop! You said not to leave!" Sarah ran after her.
"Please stay here, then, Sarah. I have to do something!" Bria threw on her sandals and grabbed her keys which she hooked on a belt hoop, ripped open the door, darting outside into the corridor.
Reaching the street she tried not to scream. Not only in that span had the world gone back to the scary grey look, Max looked pale compared to his normal lively apricot tone, there was so much blood where he was /still/ fighting the asshole. She had her pocket knife. Taking it out she flicked the blade open, balanced it on her fingertips, and threw as hard as she could.
Unfortunately, her aim /sucked/ and it only nicked his arm, falling to the ground. /Thankfully/ this allowed Max to throw him off and grab the knife, and he managed to give his assailant a matching stomach wound. The guy still had a hold of the cube when Max kicked him back through the blurry spot. Running closer through the blur she saw...if her sci-fi movies served her right, that looked like the inside of a ship! "Max!"
"GET BACK!" he shouted angrily, and through the blur on the ship she saw the guy punch someone and take what appeared to be a gun, and he aimed it at Max, but instead of a bullet, it was a...laser! It hit Max square in the chest, and he collapsed limply against the ground.
"NOOO!" Bria screamed, and she ran forward. Her knife was still in his hand, and she pried it from his grip. Angry, terrified, she looked up at the guy and this time she aimed high, for his head. At close range she could negate her own weakness. The knife ended up flying low, and hit him in the chest, in the heart, and he dropped his weapon through the portal...since that's what it looked like to her. Grabbing it, while the blur faded, she fired, hitting him several more times in the chest, just to make /sure/ he was dead. He had the cube, but she wasn't about to jump through to grab it and risk leaving Sarah here alone.
Crying, she dropped to her knees and shuffled around, looking at Max. His eyes were closed, and his chest was slowly rising and falling. The world around her mirrored her feelings. If /anything/ worked, she would have to find something to find out what was going on. Honestly, this reminded her a little of Dante's Peek, the volcano movie. There was...ash on the buildings, but thankfully the air was clear. Sooty smelling, but clear. She leaned over Max and touched his cheek, "Babe? Can you hear me?"
He slowly opened his eyes and he looked at her, his brown eyes dull. Reaching his hand up he touched his blood covered hand to her cheek, "Why...you crying? You got him...didn't you? 'Course you...wouldn't stay away."
"I'm...stubborn, just like you, ass," Bria sniffled, leaning into his touch, "I got him, yes...and...I'm crying because you're dying and there's nothing I can do."
"Shhhh..." Max hushed and wiped away her tears with a gentle hand. He was...always so gentle...always holding back his ridiculous strength so he wouldn't hurt her. She was like glass to him. "It'll...be okay, love. You're not dumb...you can survive without me."
A choked sob left her, "But I need you...I love you. Don't leave me..." she curled up against his side and sobbed into his shirt, "Don't go..." She listened as he chuckled and his heartbeat started to slow. Had she been the one bleeding he wouldn't had stopped it by now and she would be back inside, and he would be treating her wounds and saving her life. She couldn't...do anything. She didn't know /how/ to do first aid, at least not like he did.
Was...all of this...her heartache, the changed world, the loss of the love of her life, possibly the loss of her family and Sarah's family...was it all worth it? Just to kill the guy and save the cube? Was the cube /even/ safe in the other world? On that ship?
Was it worth /this/?