WHAT IS THIS PLACE?

ISAAC DIDN'T PUT THE STONE DOWN FOR THE REST OF THE NIGHT. HE continued to hold on to it, spin it around in his hand. Five years. He and Doris had been on the run for five years, moving from place to place, evading the soldiers of the One World Nation and Alten Labs, hunting the Dragon Balls. No matter where they went, the soldiers were never too far behind, and the Dragon Balls could never be found.

It was a miracle that they had been here for as long as they had and not seen a single soldier. Nearly two months had gone by since they first made camp in this little shack outside of what was once a major metropolis. Going into the town for supplies was a risk; soldiers and loyalists to the One World Nation could be anywhere. But it had to be done, they needed the supplies.

Isaac also noticed that he and Doris were starting to get complacent. Everywhere they had gone before, they always took turns keeping watch, looking out for signs of danger during the night. But for the past few days they hadn't done that. Isaac was starting to worry that their complacency might get them both killed.

If that happens, I'll never find the rest of the Dragon Balls, and I won't be able to set things right again. I'll have let my father down.

He tightened his grip on the orb. After five years of seaching, he wasn't about to give up now. He had promised his father that he wouldn't let him down, promised him that he would go wherever he needed to if that was what it took to find all seven wishing stones.

Find the stones, make my wish, and fix everything. I must make everything right again. I must.

He heard Doris stir on her cot. She slowly sat up.

"Isaac? How long have you been awake?"

"I don't know," Isaac replied. "The hours all seem to blend together anymore. It doesn't even seem like it's been five years since we started running."

"Yeah, I know," Doris said. She slipped out of her sleeping bag. Isaac turned away after seeing that she was just in her underwear. "It's nothing you haven't seen before, Isaac."

"Yeah, maybe. But it just doesn't seem right, you know?"

"It's okay. You can look now. I'm dressed."

Isaac turned back to Doris. He was glad that she was with him, glad that she had stuck with him for all these years. She was his best friend; she was his only friend. Even before all this started happening, Doris was the only person besides his father to show him any kindness. And now, with everything happening in the world, he felt he needed her now more than ever.

Doris sat down next to him. "Isaac, it's been five years since we started this. I'm starting to think we won't find the other Dragon Balls."

"So you've said last year," Isaac replied. "But I believe we will. We can set things right with that one wish."

"How do you even know that it will work?"

"I don't. But I believe that it will. I'm not one to belive in sorcery or superstition or all that other hocus pocus shit, but if there's even the slightest chance that it can return the world back to the way it was before the merger, I think we should take it. It's what my father would want."

Doris put an arm around Isaac's shoulder. "You miss him, don't you?"

"Besides you, he was my only friend."

"And a good man. I miss him too. Believe me, if there was any way to bring him back-"

"Wait a second. There just might be." He held the Dragon Ball up. "He said there are seven of these things."

"Yes, I know."

"And he said that if I get all seven together, I can have one wish granted."

"I know, I was there."

"But, now I don't know which wish I should make. Should I wish for everything to be set right again, or should I wish for my father to come back from the dead?" He buried his head in his hands. "I just don't know anymore."

"Don't worry. If you think we will, then I believe in you. I have faith in you, Isaac."

Isaac turned to face Doris. "Thanks. For everything." He looked at the clock on the wall. "Seven AM. How are we on supplies?"

"Let's see." Doris walked over to the cooler on the far wall and opened it. "Enough water to last for two more days."

Isaac rummaged through his backpack. "Not much food left either. I think we'd better make a supply run."

"Are you sure? There's been a lot of activity in town lately. It's worrying me."

"We don't have much of a choice," Isaac said. "We can't just starve and go thirsty. We need to make this run. Who knows, we might stumble upon a Dragon Ball this time."

He threw on his jacket and stuffed the Dragon Ball into a pocket, then tossed his backpack over his shoulder. "Come on, Doris. We'd better get going while we still can."

Gravel and shattered glass crunched beneath their feet as they walked. They did their best to stick to the shadows of the alleyways, only going out onto the streets when it was absolutely necessary. Signs of the One World Nation were all over the place-banners, old videos that were somehow still playing, flags, and the soldiers.

Seeing the soldiers was nothing new to them. It was common occurrance, had been for the past five years. Isaac resisted the urge to go out there and attack them, knowing that they would kill him before he even got close. And if that happened, all of this would be for nothing.

They waited in the alley, their backs pressed against the wall, until the last of the soldiers had gone by. Isaac peeked out into the street, looking left and right.

"It's clear. Let's go." He and Doris slowly ran out of the alley and onto the street. They stopped in another alley. Isaac reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He pressed a button, and a holographic map of the city appeared. "We're about two blocks away from the store. We should be there in a few minutes if all goes well."

"Hold on," Doris said. She pointed to a spot on the map. "What's that?"

"One of the old Alten Labs buildings. I don't think it's been used in years. Why?"

"I was thinking, what if we find a Dragon Ball in there?"

Isaac turned the phone off and put it back into his pocket. "You know, you're right. Who's to say they weren't studying one? We'll check it out on the way back from the store."

They stepped out of the alley and sprinted the last two blocks to the grocery store. There didn't appear to be any soldiers around; the only sounds being Isaac and Doris's heavy breathing. Isaac brought his breath and heart rate back to normal and looked into the store through a window. Most of the shelves were barren, the result of weeks of supply runs and whatever happened before they got here. The fruits and vegetables were still on their shelves, but they were now so rotten that there weren't even flies buzzing around them.

"Okay, what are we after?" Doris asked.

"Water, more food, anything else we can grab," Isaac replied.

"And let me guess, that means more corned beef cans, right?"

"It's the only non-perishable in there. Besides that bag of animal crackers we found last week."

"That went bad in two days. And yet, you still at them."

"And regretted it for a week afterwards."

Doris chuckled, but Isaac's face remained stern. She hadn't seen him so much as crack a smile since the night his father died. It was like he was hiding his emotions from the world, and more importantly, from Doris. It saddened her to know that her best friend was always shut out from the rest of the world, acting as though he didn't want to let anybody in.

Isaac took a quick glance around, and pushed the door open. Doris follwoed him inside.

The scent of the rotting produce filled their nostrils. Even after five years, they still weren't used to this scent. It was disgusting, made them want to gag. They'd learned to muscle past the gag reflex, but nothing could quell the stench of rotting fruit. It was the worst thing they'd ever smelled, even worse than a week-old dead body roasting in the sun.

"Let's jsut grab what we need and get out of here," Doris said.

Isaac opened his backpack. "Okay. Let's split up, grab some supplies, and meet back here once we're done. This shouldn't take too long."

Isaac took one end of the store, Doris took the other. As he walked down the aisles, Isaac made a mental list of all the things he needed to get. He grabbed several cans of soup, several cans of beans, several cans of vegetables, several cans of powdered milk, and stuffed them into his backpack. He was already feeling the weight of all the cans pulling down on the bag.

The next aisle was full of bread, which had no doubt gone stale over time. Most of the bread was far too moldy to even look at, the green texture filling his throat with bile. The bags the loaves were in had begun to disintegrate months ago, and most of them were already gone.

He rounded the corner and stepped into the cereal aisle. Cereal, fortunately, didn't get moldy like bread, but it could still go stale. No doubt this ceral had already gone bad. The same with the other whole grain foodstuffs in this aisle-granola bars, toaster pastries, wheat chips. None of it was edible.

Water. Gotta find the water. And maybe some drink mix. So long as there are no bugs in it.

He made his way to the liquid aisle. There were juices and sodas and teas on all the shelves, most of them having gone bad by this point. He found a small case of water, six bottles, each about twelve fluid ounces.

"Not enough in one bottle to last us a whole day. We'll just have to make due with it." He pulled the bottles out of the packaging and stuffed them into his backpack. "That should be enough." He zipped the bag closed and slung it over his shoulder. "This place is starting to run out of usable items. I guess it was only a matter of time."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Dragon Ball again. It was shining a little bit brighter than before. Isaac figured it was due to the lights in the grocery store, but he and Doris had been in here numerous times before and it had never done this.

Could it mean...?

"Isaac? Hey, Isaac!"

Doris's voice snapped Isaac back to reality. He looked to the end of the aisle, saw Doris standing there, her own backpack slung over her shoulder.

"Get what you needed?"

Isaac stuffed the Dragon Ball back into his pocket. "Yeah. Let's get out of here." He walked towards the front door, stopping just at the doorway. He pressed his back against the wall and peered outside. "Looks like the soldiers are gone."

"Still, we shouldn't take any chances," Doris said.

"Yeah, you're right. And I think you were right about there being a Dragon Ball in the old Alten Labs building."

"Excuse me?"

"You said earlier that we might find a Dragon Ball in there. Well, my Dragon Ball was glowing brighter than usual. It must mean that there's a Dragon Ball nearby."

"Well, do you speak magic stone language?"

"It's just this feeling I've got. Won't hurt to check it out. It's just right around the corner. We'll go on three. One. Two. Three."

They bolted out the door and ran towards a nearby alley, quickly ducking into it. Isaac took out his phone and brought up the holo-map. Their destination was right across the street and to the north.

"Almost there," he said. He put the phone back into his pocket. "Let's go."

They sprinted out into the street and turned north, stopping only once they reached their destination. Isaac took a look around; he and Doris were the only signs of life anywhere.

At least until the soldiers make their rounds again, which will be anytime soon. Gotta act fast.

He tried the door; it was locked.

"Shit."

Doris pulled on his jacket sleeve. "Isaac, I hear something."

Isaac stopped and listened. After a few seconds he heard what sounded like footsteps.

Footsteps? Oh, crap!

He kicked at the door-once, twice, three times-until it finally swung open. He grabbed Doris's arm and pushed her inside, following her and closing the door behind him. They waited and listened, holding their breath, until the last sounds of the footsteps had gone by.

Slowly, they let out the breaths they'd been holding, and took a moment to look around. They were in the lobby, which looked like it hadn't been used in ages. There was mold growing on some of the walls; fungus growing in the corners. The lights were out, the only light being the sunlight filtering in between the boards on the windows. The scent of mildew filled their nostrils. There were old papers littering the floor, as though their previous owners had just dropped them where they were. They could hear rats squealing somewhere in the dark, heard the skittering of small rodent feet on the linoleum floor.

Isaac unslung his backpack and reached inside. He pulled out a flashlight and turned it on, illuminating the room better.

"How long do you think this place has been abandoned?" Doris asked.

"Who knows," Isaac replied. "Could have been anytime between now and the merger. Let's just find that Dragon Ball and get the hell out of here."

"Where should we start looking?"

"Well, if I remember correctly, these buildings were always built the same-lobby on the first floor, medical wards from the second floor to the tenth floor, break and recreation areas on the eleventh floor, and from there to the seventeenth floor, nothing but science and research. If that's the case, then the Dragon Ball's somewhere between the twelfth and seventeenth floor, if it's even in this place at all."

"Well, let's get looking," Doris said. She made her way over to the elevator.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Isaac asked. "This place hasn't had power in ages. The elevators won't work."

"Oh, right. Duh. What was I thinking?" Doris smacked her forehead. "I'm an idiot."

"No, you're not. Believe me, I'd do anything to ride an elevator again, watch television, play video games. But I guess such things only exist in the realm of dreams. Come on; we gotta take the stairs."

Their legs felt like rubber by the time they reached the twelfth floor. Isaac pushed the door open and shone his flashlight around, illuminating everything. Just like the rest of this place, it was deserted, the only signs of life being the stray animals that called the building home.

He took his first slow steps into the hallway, keeping his senses open. Not only were these abandoned buildings home to stray animals, but they were also home to the few people who had escaped the One World Nation death squads, and not everyone was friendly. Some of them saw all other people as soldiers come to take them, and were willing to defend themselves-violently.

Not even all my martial arts and ki enhancing training can help me then, Isaac thought.

He shone his flashlight up and down the hallway. Each wall was lined with ten doors-most were labs, some were restrooms, and at least one was a janitor's closet.

"So, what's the plan?" Doris asked.

"We'll have to split up again," Isaac replied. "Check every room thoroughly. If we don't find it on this floor, we keep going, doing the same thing until we either find the thing or come up empty. I'll take the left side, you take the right."

"You got it."

Isaac watched Doris go down the right side of the hall, waited for her to enter the first door, at the very end of the hall, before he began his search. He started at the very end, with room 1201. Slowly, he pushed the door open and shone his flashlight around. Rust was beginning to form on the filing cabinets and metal desks. The scent of animal feces was fresh in the air, as was the scent of at least one dead creature. He slowly stepped into the room, careful where he stepped. He tried every desk drawer, every cabinet door. Most were locked, but the locks were so rusty that a good tug was enough to open them. All he found was a bunch of old memos, some pens and pencils, and one very frightened mouse.

Convinced that there was nothing in this room, he went back into the hallway and tried the room directly across from it. Again, the search was fruitless. The same was true for the next two rooms Isaac searched. He was starting to get frustrated.

There was one more room to check, but it was just the restroom. He opened the door and was instantly met with the eye-watering stench of feces and urin. He quickly closed the door and tried to catch his breath.

"God, that was the worst thing I'd ever smelled." He coughed. "Okay, dipshit move."

He felt a gentle hand on his back. "Isaac, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Doris. Just...Let's check the next floor."

They went up floor by floor, following the same plan, and still coming up empty handed. Isaac was growing more and more frustrated. He took the Dragon Ball out of his pocket. It was still shining brightly, just like it was in the grocery store, only its shine was much brighter.

"If we're getting close to a Dragon Ball, you'd think we'd have found it by now," Isaac said. He put the stone back into his jacket pocket. "This is really starting to irritate me."

"Calm dow, Isaac," Doris said. "There's still one more floor to check."

"Yeah, you're right."

They went up the last flight of stairs and into the hallway of the seventeenth floor. They separated, going in their respective directions.

Isaac went to the first door at the very end of the hallway and slowly pushed it open. It looked like some sort of autopsy room, but the machinery seemed much more sinister than he expected to see in a room like this.

Hold on. This looks familiar.

The memories came flooding back to him-the scientists, the soldiers, his father, all of it came back at once. He rememberd running down a corridor just like this one, hiding in a janitor's closet, finding his father dying on a table in a room just like this one, remembered his father handing him the Dragon Ball, telling him to find the other six and make a wish to set all of this right, remembered his father trying to tell him something else.

But you died before you could tell me what you wanted to. I know it was something about my heritage, but what?

Though he didn't show it, that question had bothered him since that fateful night five years ago. Just who was he? Where did he come from? Was Gerald his true father? Is this why he was training Isaac? All those questions flooded his mind at once.

He walked over to the table and put a hand on it. The table was covered in dust, yet to Isaac, it felt clean, like it should be. He imagined seeing his father lying there, breathing his last breaths, speaking his last words, handing Isaac the Dragon Ball.

I wonder.

He brushed some dust away with his hand, revealing a small splatter of blood.

Oh my God. This-this was...It was...

This is the room where my father died.

We've come back. Back to where it all began.

He slowly walked around the room, remembering the events of that fateful night, all those years ago.

NO! Don't think about that; you've got a Dragon Ball to find.

He tore open every drawer and door in the room, but still no Dragon Ball. Damn it. He just wanted to scream, to let out all of the rage and anger he felt building up inside of him; he felt like he was about to explode, to yell out at the top of his lungs.

Something caught his eye, something in the far back of the room. Forgetting his anger, he walked towards it. It was covered in a large tarp. Removing the tarp, he saw that it was some sort of computer, but not like any computer he had ever seen. The main console was massive, and judging by all the instruments, it was specially designed that way. The keyboard was covered in a fine layer of dust, nothing a quick brush of the hand couldn't take care of. The only keys were numbers and symbols, but no letters, which was odd. Following the cable from the keyboard, he found himself looking at two large antennae, each one about eight feet tall and ten feet apart. What was it all for? Was it some sort of weapon that never got finished?

The sound of footsteps coming from the hall interrupted his train of thought. He turned around to face the door, raising his fists and bending his knees as his father had taught him. Whoever it was, if they wanted to take Isaac, he was going to make sure they didn't walk away without a few bruises.

Doris ran into the room and sprinted to join him. "We've got a problem."

"What sort of problem?"

"You two! Hold it!"

Shit. That kind of problem.

A squad of soldiers stood in front of them, their weapons raised. Isaac tightened his fists as he stared at the five men.

"I'm sorry, Isaac. I got scared, so I ran."

"Don't worry about it. Everything's going to be fine."

"The two of you are coming with us," the lead soldier said. "By order of the One World Nation."

"Why, just so you can kill us anyway?" Isaac spat. "I don't think so." He reached behind him and started pressing random buttons on the keyboard. "If Doris and I are going down, we're going down fighting."

"Step away from the machine, son," the soldier said. "You don't know what it will do."

"You're right, I don't know," Isaac replied. "But anything's better than going anywhere with you bastards." He kept pressing buttons until he heard the machine start up.

Huh. Surprised this thing still works. I was only bluffing them.

Something appeared between the two antennae, some sort of blue vortex.

"Isaac, what's that?" Doris asked.

"Our ticket out of here," Isaac replied. He grabbed Doris's hand. "Come on!"

They ran for the vortex, just as the soldiers opened fire. Without a second thought, they jumped into the vortex.

Isaac slowly opened his eyes. He was staring at the lush green canopy of a forest. Sunlight filtered in through the leaves. He heard birds singing and insects buzzing, the first signs of life that weren't trying to kill him.

Hold on. How did I end up in the forest? The last thing I remember is those soldiers cornering us, and me and Doris jumping into that vortex thing, and then-wait, what if that computer thing wasn't a computer at all. What if it was one of those otherworld transport things that was being constructed before the merger?

He slowly sat up and looked around. He was in the middle of a forest, all right. But there was something...different about it. He didn't recognize most of the trees, and visibility became poor after a few meters. And while he recognized the sounds of the birds, there were a few sounds mixed in with them that he didn't recognize at all.

Just where the hell did that thing dump us off at?

He kept looking around and spotted Doris nearby, face down in the dirt. He hurried over to her and started shaking her shoulder.

"Doris. Doris, wake up." Doris slowly lifted her head and looked around. "Good. You're okay."

She got up on her knees and continued to observe their new surroundings. "What happened? Where are we?"

"You got me," Isaac said. He helped Doris to her feet. "It doesn't look familiar." He took his phone out of his pocket and turned on the holo-map. "It's not showing up on the map, either."

"Maybe this place is uncharted?" Doris suggested.

"No, it can't be," Isaac replied. He put his phone back into his pocket. "The last corners of the world were charted just before the merger. This is someplace...new. Almost alien."

"Well, we won't find out by just standing around here," Doris said. She started walking through the brush. "We've got to get to civilization and figure out where to go from there."

Doris was right, the only thing to do now was to find some people.

I just hope that they're friendly.