Where It Began

by potterfan36041

Kimberly returns to the place where it all began for her and awaits an unknown fate. The rangers must face something they never expected to face- a world where they may not longer exist. Is there a way to stop it? Or will it all end where it began?

2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

She stood there in front of me. Silent. Tears streaming down her face. And I knew that she realized the full magnitude of what had happened. I had known that it was bad when I made the call to the others- four months ago. There had been a ranger incident here or there. One ranger death that was completely explainable by natural causes. I had no idea that it would get to be this bad back then. I had no idea that I would find myself standing in a room with the lone other ranger still alive on planet Earth. Andros and Billy- well- I assumed they were alive, but it was too risky to try to communicate with them now.

Four months ago- there was a rash of ranger deaths. It would not have been on anyone else's radar. It didn't even make the news in their states. It was only on mine because I had invested time to create algorithms to monitor the previous rangers. Good, bad, indifferent. If there was a piece of news that covered any ranger- I would know about it. And I did know about it. And I sounded the alarm.

Some rangers had taken it seriously. Other rangers had said that they would welcome a fight- the world had gotten a bit too boring for them. Every one of them had died. Just two weeks ago- I told the originals to go in to hiding- all of them, but Kimberly. It wasn't because Kimberly was not in danger. It was because I could keep a much better eye on Kimberly than the rest of the rangers. She was in the public eye. She was my best chance to find out if this threat was human, monster, or otherwise. She had been my hope to save the others. By the time they went in to hiding- we all knew that it was a serious threat. We all knew that something was killing the rangers. We knew that we were next.

Four days ago- Jason missed his check in and so did Zack. I knew what that meant, but I had to check. I had to see with my own eyes what had happened to them. I had to know that they were really gone. I had to know that it was just Kimberly and me were still alive. Why was it just the two of us? Why not come after us first?

The cabin Jason had holed up in was destroyed. Zack's hotel room- not much better. They both had set up video surveillance. Covert video surveillance. The files had been backed up to the Command Center, but I had not been anywhere near the Command Center when this happened. I was following my own advice and laying low until I knew what we were up against. This was not the way that I had imagined finding out what we were up against. Through surveillance footage. In the Command Center. With Kimberly. With Kimberly.

That call had been the hardest and easiest call to make. She had to get to a safe place. She had to get to the Command Center. It was the only place that could possibly keep the two of us safe. It was the place that I had suggested to every other ranger and they had all chosen different places to shelter through the storm. Even I had chosen to not hunker down at the Command Center at first. If only I had made the others come here. I was not going to give Kimberly that option. She would go to the Command Center and I would meet here there. I would tell her what had really happened and hope that she had the courage to face whatever was out there- because it was just us now.

I must have gone silent as the last couple of days hurtled through my mind. Kimberly was staring up at me, having grabbed my hand and laced her fingers with mine. She looked good. She looked healthy and happy. She looked like someone that had not been living with one foot in and one foot out of the ranger world for the better part of two decades. I know that I looked exactly like someone who had been straddling the line between worlds for years. As much as I wanted to hold that against her- it was no use. She had taken the chance that she had to leave and I could not blame her for that. It was something I wished I could have done or had the foresight to do all those years ago. But I hadn't, instead I had become a perpetual Power Ranger. The Power Ranger that got called back in to action over, and over, and over again.

"It's just us now?" she asked, hoping that I would contradict my last statement. I could lie to her, but lying would not help either of us. Lying was much more likely to get her killed than the hard truth.

"I was too late," I whispered and I felt the flood gates open. I felt the pain surge through me. My body ceased to be in my control and I felt myself start to crumple to the ground. But she caught me. She caught me and lowered the both of us to the ground in a rather inelegant pile. Then the sobs started. The raw sobs that I had choked back over the months as I had worked to save every ranger. As I had discovered how and where every one of them had died. As I heard over and over again that another friend, confidant, mentee, or colleague had been taken out of this world by some being that I could not name. This was not how it was supposed to end for rangers. This was not how it was supposed to end of me. And I hoped I could keep this from happening to her.