New Zion

Present Day

The wind sighed through the streets, carrying the sound of the coming rain. Buildings rose only a few stories above the figure standing over a moaning body in the street. Thunder rolled through the streets as the figure began walking away from the body, sheathing his baton as he made his way forward.

“Cole!” the figure raised his eyes to meet those of the man in front of him. He was older than Cole, silver growing from his temples, his suit black with a red tie.

“What is it, Ryan?” he asked. The man looked down at Cole.

“You’re going to be late to your own parent’s funeral?” he asked. Cole shook his head.

“Well, I had to deal with some trash on thirty third street,” he said. They continued on into a cemetery.

“It’s nice that you’re doing this for your parents,” Ryan said.

“I wouldn’t be able to call you dad if I didn’t,” Cole replied. Ryan gave a slight nod as Cole stepped forwards. A man approached and handed him a bundle of crimson roses. Cole laid them down at the stone, touched three fingers to his lips and pressed them against the names on the stone.

“I’m ready to go home,” Cole said. Ryan nodded, leading him away.

The world lurched to a halt, knocking Cole to the ground. The moon appeared in the in the middle of the day. People were scrambling about, screaming. He remembered screaming himself, crying out for his mother and father. Both were already running to him through the rush of the crowd. His mother put a grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the city park. His father ran ahead of them. A beast of a man with a long wispy beard had stumbled onto their path as they had continued running towards center of the park. He looked at Cole and his mother, eyes wide as he coughed out a maniacal laugh.

“Where are you running to?” he rasped.

“Cole, get to the light and go through it, ok?” Cole’s mother whispered to him as she pushed him to the side, slipping a chain, two rings and a small metal box in his backpack. The man grabbed Cole’s mother and Cole ran at the man.

“No!” Cole yelled. The man kicked Cole to the ground.

“Cole! I need you to listen to me. Go!” Cole blinked away tears and didn’t move. Cole’s mother fought against the man’s iron grip, but to no avail. The man punched Cole’s mother in the gut, doubling her over.

“Quit yer fighting!” he yelled. Cole’s mother slowly straightened. Her left arm was still free. She looked the man in the eye and nodded. Just as a smile began to spread across his lips she quickly reached up and gouged out the man’s eye.

“Cole, go!” Cole’s father yelled at him from behind. Cole couldn’t move as he watched the man pull out a knife and stab his mother in the chest.

“Stupid whore!” he screamed. Cole’s father leapt forward, trying to wrestle the knife out of the man’s hands. Someone grabbed Cole’s hand and started to pull him away. Cole screamed, and the person let go and knelt down next to his mother, her crimson hair falling around her. She came forward and knelt in front of him, looking straight into his eyes. Her lips moved, but Cole couldn’t hear her. She finally grabbed his hand again and pulled him along.

Cole finally looked at the girl. She was beautiful, with a canine tail and ears, her crimson hair flowing behind her as she pulled him along at a jog. They turned a corner and Cole could no longer see his father fighting the man. Making it to the park they found that there were too many people near the gate to get in. The soldiers were holding people back at the walls and gates that had been built up around the light. The girl started running side to side, frantically trying to find a way to get close. Looking up they could see a young man calling out orders to the other soldiers. The girl pulled Cole with her towards the man.

“Sir, please take this boy! Save him, please!” The man looked down at them.

“What about all the other people? I’m sure they want to get through the Rift. What makes you more special than them?” The girl raised her voice.

“And how many have you saved? How many have you let through?” the man opened his mouth to answer, but a quake shook the ground. He took one last look down at them before shaking his head.

“Fine, but only him. You can’t go with him,” The girl smiled. She crouched down, looking at Cole with intense eyes, the same color as her hair.

“Cole, when you reach the other side, find me. I’ll be mean at first, and I’ll be difficult, but please don’t give up on me, ok? You don’t know me yet, but you will someday. So please, don’t forget about me, and pursue me, no matter what,” Cole nodded. The girl smiled and kissed him.

“We don’t have time! Get him up here or else it’ll be too late!” she lifted Cole up to the Officer, who then pulled him up and over.

“Don’t forget me!” the girl yelled from the other side of the wall. The man quickly climbed down the ladder on their side, but another quake shook the ground, and he fell on his back, Cole landing on top of him. The man got up, dragging Cole to his feet, and limping, they made it to the light. The man pulled Cole through and then he disappeared.

Cole felt like an eternity had passed when a light shimmered into existence in front of him. He remained completely still as a young man in a dark blue suit and fedora hat strode towards him, smiling. Cole looked at him, unsure. The man waved, beckoning him to come out. Cole moved towards the man at an agonizingly slow speed. He made it to the man, but stopped just short. The man extended his arm towards Cole, offering his hand. He looked down at it, his own hands twitching. Finally, he reached out and took it. C

ole looked up at the man in the suit, who then gently pulled him through. He hadn’t even taken a single step into this new world when he dropped to the ground, clutching at his ears. He let out a bestial roar as voices began screaming in his head. A dam had just broken, and the reservoir was flooding his brain with voices. Cole curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth. The suited man quickly dropped to his knees, but couldn’t do anything as the people in lab coats rushed forward with a stretcher and placed him on it.

“What hurts right now?” one of the doctors, a woman with mid-length, dark curly hair asked.

“My head!” Cole managed to gasp out through his clenched teeth and tears. The doctor directed them to a room with a hospital bed in it. Placing him on the bed, one of the doctors ran out and came back rolling some kind of cart with a computer and wand on it. The female doctor grabbed the wand, and began slowly moving it over top of his body. Once the computer beeped, she looked back at it. After a moment, her eyes went wide. Her eyes stayed locked on the screen as she beckoned one of the other doctors over.

“Look at this! The neuron and synapse levels are off the charts, and look like they are still growing!” She looked down and saw his arms changing shape. “Take off his shirt,” the third male doctor looked at her questioningly, and the one who had seen the computer nodded her head. Helping Cole out of his shirt, all the doctors watched in strange fascination as his body rapidly matured.

“Make it stop! Make the voices stop! They’re all crying out... It hurts!” The doctors looked at Cole, then tied him down to the table. After the first 24 hours, the muscles stopped. After 48 hours, Cole had passed out, and at the 72 hour mark, the computer stopped reading any increase in abnormal brain behavior. The second female doctor walked in as a machine went off.

“You know, we’ve been watching you for the last hundred years. Well, not me personally, but this organization. Mr. Avalon has been watching and waiting to talk to you ever since he saw you. The Rift was apparently an empty screen for the first year. That is, until you appeared. Mr. Avalon says that his great grandfather had escaped Earth with you, but you had disappeared in the rift… Why am I even talking to you? You’re unconscious,” Cole opened his eyes and looked at her. Her back was turned to him.

“I’m awake,” he managed to say. The doctor jumped, turning around.

“Oh! Well, um… Can you tell me your name?” Cole shook his head. The voices in his head weren’t as loud as they were before, but they were still there.

“Here, I’ll fill you in on what’s happened. You’ve been locked inside of the Rift for one hundred years,” Cole simply shrugged and turned to look at the ceiling. The woman was silent. “Would you please look at me?” Cole remained still. She sighed. “I need to check your eyes. You know, shine a light in them to make sure that they are reacting properly,” the woman lightly placed her hand beneath his jaw, pulling gently. Cole stiffened at first, but finally gave in. She moved his head so that she could see his eyes.

There was something off about this woman, but Cole couldn’t place it, as his world was still spinning, and everything was still a fuzzy blur to him. Tufts of the woman’s hair were sticking up like rabbit ears. Her hair shone silver, and she sounded young. The woman took a small light and shone it in Cole’s eyes. She nodded to herself, smiling.

“My name is Summer. You got to get some more rest, ok? If you need anything, just press this…” she held up a button, “and either I or one of the other doctors will come right away, ok?” Cole nodded as his mind sent him back to the void…

Cole slowly opened his eyes, an unfamiliar ceiling filling his vision.

Finally awake, my dear? a woman’s gentle voice spoke softly in his head.

“Wha...” Cole began, but the voice interrupted him.

Don’t speak aloud. Speak in your head. We are the remaining souls of our previous world, Cole’s eyes watered as the crying and screams of terror burst into his mind.

Why are you all here?! Tears welled up in Cole’s eyes.

I suppose that’s the million dollar question right now. Don’t worry though. I’m sure that the souls will eventually pass on to where they’re supposed to be’ the tears flowed freely down Cole’s cheeks as the collective feelings of fear, anger, despair and hopelessness clouded his thoughts.

Why can I feel all of them? Cole pleaded to the voice.

Because, we occupy the same space that your soul does. That’s enough questions for now. Right now, all you need to know is that I am here for you. You can call me Abra. I’ll stay with you for as long as I can. Now, go to sleep…

Opening his eyes for the second time, Cole turned his head to the right, seeing a beeping screen. Turning to the left, he saw the man in the suit sitting next to his bed. The man looked up as Cole began to shift around. His vision was now crystal clear, and he could look at the man more closely. He was tall, and well-built. His short black hair was covered by a fedora. His eyes were earthen brown. His strong jaw was clean shaven and had a chiseled nose. He was in his early thirties.

“How are you feeling? I’m Ryan Avalon. Would you mind telling me your name?” the man asked. Cole looked at him, slowly blinking his eyes. Ryan shifted in his seat. A name flashed through his mind.

“Cole” he croaked. Ryan leaned in.

“You’re cold? Here, I’ll go get another blanket for you,” Cole shook his head. Ryan looked back at him, scrunching up his eyebrows.

“Cole,” Cole rasped a little louder than before. Ryan furrowed his brow, and then his face lit up. Cole imagined a light-bulb flash on above his head.

“So your name is Cole. Sorry, my bad,” Ryan said, scratching the back of his head. “My grandfather talked a lot about you. The one kid that he was able to save, but lost him in the end. It kind of tore him apart for the first few years, until he heard that you were visible in the rift. He watched you for a while, and so did my father, and well, me. I’ve wanted to meet you for quite a few years,” Ryan stared off into the distance, searching for the words he wanted. Letting out a long breath, he continued. “By the way, have you noticed anything, um… different about yourself in the last little while?” Cole looked at Ryan strangely.

“Like what?” Ryan took off his hat, and ran his hand through his hair.

“Like… do you feel, I don’t know, bigger?” Cole looked at him blankly. “Well, when you came out of the rift, you looked like you were a little ten year old boy,” Cole still didn’t understand. “Here, I’ll go get a mirror,” Ryan said, getting up and walking towards the door. Cole looked down at his arms, but he didn’t know what he was supposed to feel like. Although he did feel like he had thousands of voices clamoring inside of his head, but he attributed that to his headache.

Ryan came back as Cole was swinging his legs over the side of the bed as Ryan rolled the mirror in front of Cole. He looked closely at himself, taking it all in. His dark hair was long, and his eyes were deep green. He had a somewhat thin face, with a sharp nose. He looked rather muscular. “I don’t know what I looked like before, so I don’t feel any different,” Ryan furrowed his brow.

“You have grown a bit more than the average ten year old and your brain got over-loaded with… stuff,” Cole stared into his reflections eyes, but his hair was in the way. Pulling it to the side with his hand, he continued to stare for a while. The door opened and Summer walked in. Cole fixed his eyes on her. After she finished checking the machine monitors, she turned to Cole, who was staring just above her head.

“W-What is it? Is there something wrong with my hair?” She asked, shifting a bit. Cole shook his head.

“Bunny girl,” he stated. Her cheeks went bright red. “Why are you wearing bunny ears?” Cole asked, looking completely serious.

“I-I’m not wearing the ears. That’s kinda rude, you know,” She said. Cole furrowed his brow.

“Then what are those things on top of your head?” Cole asked, pointing.

“Bunny ears,” She stated in a defeated voice. Cole cocked his head. He wasn’t pleased with himself for making her uncomfortable. He was genuinely curious. “I’m a Lupine Terra. Means I have some rabbit DNA in me, and I have rabbit ears,” she explained. Cole smirked a little.

“Do you also have a bushy little tail?” Cole asked. Summer looked at him sharply. He still wasn’t trying to irritate her, but he was mildly amused.

“Yes, I do,” she said with a sigh. Cole blinked a couple of times, then looked to Ryan.

“I’m sorry. I said something I shouldn’t have,” Cole said in a quiet voice.

“No…” Summer began, but Cole interrupted her.

“I shouldn’t have said those things to you. Will you please forgive me?” Summer blinked, and just stood there.

“I forgive you,” Cole’s face instantly lit up and he jumped off the bed. As soon as he was on his feet, he started to fall over. Ryan was about to help hold him up, but Cole waved him off. After a moment, his head cleared, and he stood up straight. “I’m OK. Ryan, you still haven’t told me why you want to adopt me,” Ryan smirked.

“Well, my great grandfather’s initial intention was to adopt you after making it through the Rift but well, you know. You had disappeared for some unknown reason. My father had the same intention, and did everything in his power to try and get you out of the Rift. Now, I would like to adopt you. What do you say?” Cole cocked his head, thinking.

“Could I please see your left hand?” Cole requested. Ryan complied, and there on the finger next to the pinky was a ring. “Did you ask your wife?” Ryan smiled, and nodded his head at Summer. Cole looked at her as she held up her left hand. She had a ring as well. He dropped his eyes to his feet. “Why do you want me?” Summer looked to Ryan, who was unfazed by the question.

“Why don’t you want us?” Cole blinked.

“OK. But, can I call you mom and dad?” Ryan and Summer looked at each other, both smiling.

“Of course you can, sweetie,” Summer said. Cole grinned, jumping forwards and wrapping his arms around Ryan. Ryan hugged him back, and placed him back on his feet. Cole felt Abra stir in his head.

Well, isn’t that nice of them? You should try to properly thank them, Abra smiled. Cole nodded.

“Thank you for being my mom and dad. I don’t know what happened to my real mom and dad, but now I’m not alone. Thank you!” a new voice stirred.

Bow, boy. Be proper about it! Cole blinked in confusion, then instantly complied.

Who are you? he asked. The voice sighed.

One of the few who are holding back the many. We’re keeping you from going mad. Just call me Alfred. It’ll make it easier to remember. I used to be the Count, Tutor and head of an Archdukes Household. I will show you how to be a proper young man, don’t you worry, Cole grimaced.

How many of you are holding back the rest of the voices? Another voice spoke up, this one elderly.

Oh, about a dozen. But don’t worry, only a few of us will be interacting with you. In exchange for us protecting you, you must learn all that we have to teach, Cole cocked his head.

Teach me? Why do you need to teach me? Another voice spoke up, this one with a heavy, lilting accent.

Cuz, lad. We been told ta help ya by someone higher than us, and he won’t let us leave till it’s done, Cole was about to respond when Ryan interrupted his thoughts.

“Hey, there’s no need to bow,” Cole looked up, and slowly straightened.

What a wretched bow. We’ll be working on that in the future, Cole winced at Alfred’s tone.

“Well, let’s get going then,” Ryan said, picking up his coat off of the chair and putting it over his shoulders. Cole looked at him curiously.

“Aren’t there supposed to be some kind of tests or something? Isn’t that what doctors are supposed to do?” Ryan and Summer looked at each other.

“I’ll talk to you about that along the way, OK?” Cole nodded. Taking one step forward he began to fall again. Ryan quickly caught him.

“I’m fine,” Cole protested, pushing Ryan away. He let go, and gave Cole some room. After taking another few tentative steps, he began to walk naturally. Ryan and Summer followed him through the door and Cole began walking down the hallway confidently. Halfway to the end, Ryan spoke up.

“Where are you going?” Cole stopped and looked back at them. “First of all, you need to put on some real clothes,” Cole looked down at himself. All he was wearing was the hospital pajama pants, of which he had no recollection receiving. Some of the voices snickered. “And Secondly, that leads to the Rift site. The exit is in the opposite direction,” Ryan seemed to be enjoying himself, and so did the voices as they burst out laughing.

Cole hung his head and began walking back to the room. Summer left for a while, coming back with a pair of dark blue pants, and a white t-shirt. Summer and Ryan left the room as he got changed. Cole put the pants on, and found that they fit perfectly. Pulling the shirt over his head, he felt like something was missing. He began searching around the room, accidentally knocking over the fold up chair that Ryan had been sitting on.

“You OK in there, Cole?” Ryan called from the other side of the door.

“I think I’m missing something!” Cole replied. Ryan opened the door and walked in, holding out his hand to Cole. In his palm was a chain, along with the two rings. Cole walked over and looked at it, curious. “Why do you have it?”

“It was in the pocket of your pants. They had me hold on to it so that it wouldn’t get lost,” Cole stared into Ryan’s eyes, and Ryan didn’t blink as he stared right back.

“I guess these belonged to my real parent’s,” Cole said. Ryan shrugged.

“I know you don’t remember them now, but you might one day. You should keep these,” he said, “Also, you had this backpack with you,” Ryan said, producing a black backpack with his other hand.

“Ok,” Cole nodded to himself. He and Ryan exited the room and all three started down the hall towards the exit. Ryan placed his hand on Cole’s shoulder before he could open the door.

“There are a lot of people out there who have been waiting for you to wake up, and they’ll want a story,” Summer said.

“All I gotta do is answer the questions that I wanna, and don’t answer the questions that I don’t wanna, right?” Summer looked to Ryan. Ryan smiled, and nodded at Cole.

“That’s right.” They opened the doors, and the reporters practically leapt at Cole, like dogs to a bone. Cole pointed to one of the reporters and waited for the question.

“What is your name?” Cole smiled at the man.

“Cole,” he responded, still smiling. He then pointed to a woman.

“Cole, do you have a last name?” Cole thought for a moment, then grabbed Ryan and Summers hands. He looked up at Ryan.

“What’s our last name again?” he asked. Ryan knelt down.

“It’s Avalon,” he said.

“I don’t know my old last name, but it’s now Avalon,” he nodded to another man.

“Cole, what was it like inside of the Rift?” Summer lightly squeezed Cole’s hand.

“It was… empty, and lonely. There was absolutely nothing. No darkness, no light,” Cole’s voice trailed off with a hint of sadness, but he kept smiling.

“Do you know what happened to your birth parents?” another man blurted out without being called upon. Cole’s shoulders dropped, and he started to tremble as he grabbed Ryan’s hand more tightly.

“I… I don’t remember. I don’t remember anything,” a lone tear ran down Cole’s cheek, and the reporters fell silent. Ryan stepped forward, putting himself between Cole and the reporters.

“He’s tired, and has been through quite a bit. You have gotten everything that you need for now. The Rift has collapsed, and this encampment is being removed. Most of it is already packed up and gone. That is all that you need to know. We’re leaving,” The reporters erupted as they began to walk forward, and men carrying medieval weapons materialized, clearing a path for them through the crowd to a line of large vehicles. Making it to them, Cole, Ryan and Summer entered the middle vehicle, and the armed men got into the vehicles both in front and behind them. Summer cradled Cole and ran her hand through his hair. Summer spoke up, trying to change the subject.

“So, about the tests… We tried to perform them, but they wouldn’t work. The Rift has… Done something to you,” Cole gave her a flat look. “I mean more scrambling your brain, and the normal physical changes,” Cole raised an eyebrow. “When I say normal physical changes, I am saying changes that can easily happen over time. The changes I want to talk about are more…” Summer seemed to be searching for a word.

“Complicated?” Ryan offered.

“Yes, complicated. You can’t be permanently hurt. It’s as though your body is a magnet to what’s supposed to be there, and will heal itself seemingly seamlessly. We took a blood sample, and the blood shattered the syringe, dropped to the floor and, just flowed back into your body. After the blood was back in, you healed fairly quickly. So, we tried again, but only this time we just used the needle to make a hole. You bled, but then the blood went back in, and the new wound did the same thing. So we tried needling you in multiple spots at once, yielding the same results.

“We didn’t want to try anything more drastic than that due to the fact that human rights still exist. Anyways, because of this, we could not perform proper tests on you, so we gave up on trying to. There may not have been too much that we know about the Rift, but your well-being is a higher priority than that,” Cole didn’t move.

“I lied,” Cole whispered into Summer’s shoulder. He remained silent for most of the ride to the airport.

Ryan noticed Cole stirring when the truck stopped. They were at a long flat slab of sandstone with a tower and a couple of hangars. There was a large military looking plane on the runway, and they had stopped at a set of stairs leading into the plane. It two rows of windows lined the side, the cockpit resting between them. Getting out of the truck, they began to climb the stairs with Cole at the end. They were halfway up when it happened. Cole’s foot slipped.

He fell back, flailing his arms, trying to grab hold of anything solid. He fell down the stairs, and blacked out when his head smacked on the concrete. Ryan rushed down the stairs with Summer at his heels. Cole had snapped his neck. He was no longer breathing, and they couldn’t find his heartbeat.

After a few seconds wet snapping sounds came from Cole. His neck was re-aligning itself, and within moments he was normal again. Ryan watched just as wide-eyed as Summer as Cole suddenly bolted up, breathing heavily. He put one hand on the back of his head.

“Ouch, that hurt!” He began to stand up. Seeing Ryan and Summer, he spoke up. “What’s wrong?” Summers eyes had begun to mist with tears, and Ryan looked like he needed to see a doctor. “Shouldn’t I be the one crying?”

“Y-You died!” Ryan blurted out. Cole moved his arms around, flexed his muscles, curled and uncurled his fingers.

“I feel pretty alive right now. I just took a bad fall, and everything went dark for a small time,” Cole responded. “There’s no reason to cry, right mom? I’m perfectly fine,” Summer swiped at her eyes.

“You stopped breathing, we couldn’t find a pulse, and your neck was twisted in such a way that you put owls to shame,” Cole looked at Ryan.

“Just because you couldn’t find my pulse doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. Also, does this mean I’m part owl?” Ryan laughed.

“I guess it just means that we won’t have to tell you to be careful whenever you go out,” After finding their seats on the plain, Ryan looked at Cole. His head was on Summers lap, eyes closed and breathing shallow. “Do you know what he meant when he said that he had lied?” Summer shook her head, brushing some of Cole’s hair off of his cheek.

Cole sat up in bed, cold sweat clinging like a second skin. He looked around his sparse room, the moonlight dripping through the skylight. He took his a deep breath and laid back down, the world fading…

©2017