Chapter 2: A New Place
All of a sudden it felt as if they were starting to slow down a little bit. They couldn’t feel anything right now, both of them had their eyes closed not being able to predict, but wondering and anticipating what was going to happen next. Unfortunately, both of them were expecting the same thing when they hit something, death. Then out of nowhere they started to slow down. Where was this thing going to lead them to. They felt a little safer now that their speed had decreased but had no clue where they would end up. They were released on the ground safely in what appeared to be an alley. It looked just like an average alley with buildings around and a street appearing just ahead. Both of them got up off the hard floor and didn’t know what to say or do. They looked down at themselves in shock to see that they were still alive and weren’t injured by the trip besides having a small headache. The only thing that was wrong with them now was that their clothes were still a little dirty and they also had no idea where in the world they were at or if they would be safe. Now they had to try and find out just where they had landed. Both of them seemed to be a little skeptical.
“Are we dead, or what is going on here?” asked Tyler.
“I have no idea, it looks as if the portal led us somewhere but I am not really sure where, we should try and find out, answered Jason. That sure was some ride. I thought we were going to die for sure but then out of nowhere we slowed down and landed softly right here,” as he pointed to the place in the alley in which they had landed, lying on his back as if taking a nap in the alley, “that was totally strange.”
“Yeah, I was thinking that we were going to be dead for sure. We should probably try and figure out where we are so we can get back home, maybe it took us into the city.” said Tyler.
“Hey, our clothes are still a little bit dirty, but it seems as if the ride cleaned them off quite a bit,” said Jason laughing a little bit.
Jason laughed even harder as he looked at Tyler.
“What is so funny?” asked Tyler.
“Take a look at your shirt, the dirt that was on your shirt formed a smiley face,” said Jason as he continued laughing hysterically.
Tyler looked down to notice and even he had to crack a smile a little bit at the picture that had been formed on his shirt. “Okay, now it is time to be a little bit serious and try to see where we’re at,” as he knew that they had to try to find a way back home.
They both were now looking all around at the place where they had landed trying to find the portal so they could head back home. The spot on the ground was solid, there was no beaming light and when they looked up in the sky they couldn’t see any sign that they had gotten here by some portal. They tried figuring out where it had gone to but it was as if it just disappeared and they weren’t able to just turn around and go back home the way they came.
“I don’t know why we can’t go back home the way we came,” demanded a frustrated Jason.
“It looks as if the thing just went away as soon as we hit the ground. Who knows, maybe the portal will come back after awhile,” said Tyler in a hopeful voice.
The two of them started walking down the alley and towards the street. Wherever they were, it looked as if it had to be in the afternoon judging by the bright sun overhead. The temperate here seemed to be around seventy degrees which really felt better than the weather back at their house. As they looked down the alley and towards the street they couldn’t see any indication of where they were at.
“It looks as if it it’s the same time here in this place as back home so we might not be too far from out house, maybe a state over or something,” said an enthusiastic Jason.
“Yeah, but it is a little bit colder here, I guess we could be in a place like New York,” said Tyler. As he looked at the building next to him in the alley he made a guess that they were in New York or at least some large city. He had never been there nor had Jason but he knew that it was filled with tons of alleys and a lot of tall buildings, something that he saw as he looked towards the street. “If we are in New York, we don’t have any money so just how are we going to get back home?”
“I am not sure right now, but let’s just find out what city we are in first before we worry about things like that. If we are in Chicago, then it won’t be too far away from our house and we could probably ask to borrow a cell phone from someone to call our parents to pick us up,” said Jason as he knew that Chicago also had large buildings and the weather was usually a little bit colder in Chicago then it was back home.
Just the thought of having to tell their parents that they were in another city was going to be impossible. They would never believe the story of how they had gotten to where they were.
“This just keeps getting better and better. Now we are in some city on dad’s birthday, how are we ever going to make it back home before seven tonight?” asked Tyler.
“I don’t know, now lets just find out where we are first, okay!” said Jason as he was very upset by this whole thing. “I told you not to go anywhere near the portal in the first place, I told you we should just head back inside, but you just wouldn’t listen would you?!”
Tyler didn’t answer his brother back. He knew that what he did was foolish and that he should have listened and just went inside. All he was trying to do was impress his brother like he had the previous day and he really didn’t expect to land in another city when he ran through what they assumed to be some sort of portal.
The two of them started to walk down the alley and towards the street now. Both of them were very nervous as they didn’t know what to see or expect when they found out where they were. The anticipation was making their hearts race just as fast as it had when they were going down the portal. They were now only a few feet away from the street and could see things a little more clearly.
If they thought that seeing a portal in their very own backyard was the most remarkable thing that they were going to see today then they were going to have to guess again. What they saw now was the wildest thing that anyone had ever seen in their life.
“Where in the world are we?” asked Tyler. “Is that guy in the air over there flying?”
Jason took a look in the sky and now he saw what his brother had. It appeared to be somebody flying in the air, and then he looked around and saw some more people flying. He concentrated hard on one of them to see what was making them appear to be able to float through the sky like birds and he saw something on their backs.
“I think that these people have some sort of jet pack on their backs that are making them able to fly around in the air,” said Jason. “I know that neither one of us has been too far outside of Illinois but I am pretty sure that there is no such thing as a jet pack. This has to be some sort of dream or something, this is just totally insane! I’m really beginning to freak out right now.”
“Where do you think we are?” asked Tyler as he was now looking around in amazement at everything and starting to panic nervously by the thought of never seeing his parents again.
“I have got no clue where we are, but I have got a feeling it is going to be impossible to find our way back home and that is all I want to do right now,” answered Jason.
Both of them were just wishing that they were back at their house playing basketball or still fishing. Now they both had regretted going on the hike that eventually led them to this place. They were also wishing that the hypothesis of being in Chicago or New York had come true because they now had the feeling that they were really far away from home.
“Alright let’s start walking around and try to figure out just where we are located at. I have a feeling that we are in a place we aren’t supposed to be,” said Jason.
As they walked on the streets they saw a large sign appearing brightly and what seemed to be some sort of billboard that read “Garzon, your favorite planet for over thirty-five thousand years.”
“Planet!” Jason and Tyler said at the same time.
“How did we arrive on a different planet? Well that’s it were never going to make it back home and as soon as these people here know that we aren’t from around here they’re probably going to kill us,” said Jason as frightened as he had ever been in his life. “We are going to be on this planet Garzon for the rest of our lives!”
This planet that was known as Garzon was somewhat similar to a large city like New York except for some obvious differences. The similarities between the two were that the streets were pretty similar, except, instead of cars going by, there were people on either jetpacks or a weird looking bike u might say where everyone traveled at the exact same speed. It was as if u never had to worry about getting in a wreck because you would always be the same distance away as the car ahead of you with frequent stops every block. As they watched the people on jetpacks it seemed like some were able to fly and others only hovered off the ground a little bit. The people on jetpacks that hovered were on the streets and just like the people on bikes traveled at the same speeds with occasional stops. The people looked as if they were going around seventy miles an hour a foot or two above from where the road was and when they came to the end of a block they stopped on a dime so to speak and then went carrying on if that wasn’t their stop. It looked as if someone took one of the seats to a car out and turned it into something that can fly. Garzon was pretty crowded with people just like a large city except something a little different. When Jason and Tyler found out they were in another planet they expected the people here to look like aliens you would find on T.V., but these people didn’t look like that. The only difference was that most of these people were quite a bit taller and it looked like they were stretched more, meaning that their ears were pointier, as well as their noses, and these people all looked quite skinny since they were so tall. It was as if someone had took a normal person on Earth and just pulled on them so they would be stretched out and taller. They looked and saw some people their height, people who looked to be six or seven years old, but anyone over what looked to be the age of fifteen was around seven feet tall. The clothes that they were wearing appeared to be very flashy. Almost every shirt that people were wearing was something with the color silver on it or gold. Also the signs were able to change automatically. The sign they saw earlier now changed to “The Garzonian Pizzeria, the best pizza you will find in light-years.” If Jason and Tyler were going to have to spend the rest of their lives here then at least that sign and going to that place intrigued them since they loved to eat pizza. The buildings appeared to be somewhat similar to a large city except there were also buildings that were just hovering in the air that appeared to be ten thousand feet up in the sky.
“I bet those buildings way up there that are hovering are for the people who have got a jetpack that can fly,” said Jason.
“I feel so short being here, they’re going to know that we are from some other place when they can see how short we are and what our clothes look like, said Tyler. I always felt short back home on Earth but here I may be the shortest twelve year old on the planet.
They were still standing next to the alley which was occupied by no one. There were a few people hovering on a jetpack that might have noticed them, but no one had stopped to talk to them yet.
“We should find a place to hide in the alley so no one can see us until we can try and think of something,” said Jason.
“That isn’t really going to work that well because what if someone on a flying jetpack can see us? We can’t wait around in an alley for the rest of our lives,” answered Tyler.
“Well do you have any better suggestions? You are the one who got us into this mess so how are you going to get us out of here?” asked Jason who was now beginning to get very upset. “Because of you we are never going to make it back home. I am pretty sure you don’t have some amazing plan to help us get back and I don’t see any sign of that portal!”
It was true. Tyler had no idea how they were going to get back home and he realized it was all his fault of why they were here in the first place.
The two of them went back into the alley and out of sight from anyone as they hid behind a dumpster. As they sat behind it, they were just trying to find any plan to help them get out of the situation. Tyler even thought about trying to get a jetpack and making it back home, but as soon as he thought about the idea he realized how stupid it was. First off, they had no clue where home was at and it would probably take years even if they did know maybe even centuries, and second they both doubted that the jetpack could fly for that long of a time. While they were sitting there they also looked at the spot they had landed hoping to see the portal magically open back up and then they would be able to make it back home but nothing happened. They were still wondering why the portal led them here and it didn’t allow them to go back to the woods near their house.
“Man it really smells back here,” said Tyler.
“It’s probably just you that smells.” Jason said in a joking tone. It sure does beat someone seeing us though.
The two of them knew that they couldn’t just sit down behind a dumpster for the rest of their lives, they had to figure out something. As they continued to sit there every idea they came up with wouldn’t be successful. Now both of them were starting to get quite hungry as they had been sitting down by the dumpster for a good hour and a half or so. The temperature was still the same as what it had been and the sun looked to be in about the same location as it was when they arrived here which was a good two hours ago.
“Maybe we should just go ahead and walk around this place and someone might help us,” said a very wishful Tyler.
“I guess you’re right, sitting around here all our life isn’t going to do us any good, but I highly doubt that there will be anyone who will actually want to help us though,” said Jason. “There isn’t anything else we can do so lets just go for it I guess.”
Jason thought in his mind that it would be a little bit better if they could somehow find an abandoned building to at least stay for a little while but he knew that even if they did find a place like that they still probably wouldn’t have any food or anything to drink there. He also knew the chances of finding one before someone found them were very slim.
Tyler began to think about the great day he had at home yesterday. He was thinking about how he had finally beaten his brother in a game of basketball and how he was able to shoot the BB gun so much better than him. In fact, it was just a few hours ago that he was having such a great time fishing with his brother and his dad. Now just a few hours later everything had changed and was looking downhill.
So the guys decided to step up from behind the dumpster and were now just going to have to hope for the best. Neither one had really come up with a good enough plan so they were just going to walk around looking for a good place to go into. A place like a mall would be okay, but they weren’t even sure if this place had a mall and they knew that it would be crowded with these people. When they thought hard about it they didn’t want to go to a place like the mall where they would be so easily noticed. They also realized that as soon as they stepped too far out from the alley that someone was probably going to see them right away.
It was go time now. Both of them started walking towards the street hoping that nothing bad would happen, although that is what they were expecting from doing this. They took one step out of the alley, looked across the street and turned to the right as they started walking down what was a sidewalk that was colored green. They almost had mistaken this sidewalk for grass. It almost looked like turf only it was as solid as concrete.
“The colors here are kind of cool,” admitted Jason.
They continued to walk a few more feet up ahead when they noticed someone walking towards them on the sidewalk. It was a tall man who appeared to be about seven feet tall wearing a flashy silver shirt and what almost looked like khaki shorts. They could feel their hearts beating very fast, which wasn’t the first time that had happened today as they thought back to the tunnel they ran through and going through the portal. They were still very worried about seeing someone so they turned around and started walking the other way. As soon as they did so they heard somebody’s voice.
“Hey, come back here!” said the guy that they had just seen walking down the sidewalk.
Jason and Tyler had no clue where to go or what to do so they headed towards the only place they knew on this planet, back to the alley. As they ran towards the alley the guy started running after them. Both of them were out of breath, not just from running, but by the fact that they were very thirsty and by how scared and nervous they were right now. They whipped around the corner to the alley and so did the guy. They went as far back as the alley would go hoping for some sort of miracle. It was no use now though as they had nowhere else to go and this guy was now appearing right over them, trapping them from trying to escape.