Chapter 8 - On The Run

Rick’s whole world was spinning, his head ringing. Glass covered his clothes, and his body ached in a dozen places.

“Are you okay?” Taylor came into his vision, cupping his face in her hands. She looked him over, but he seemed alright. “Come on, let’s get out of here,” Her hair was a mess, her clothes disheveled, her sweater was torn at the shoulder, scratches on the exposed skin. Her eyes were still so bright, though.

“I thought I said last time that I do NOT like the Alexandria Parking Maneuver,” Dust grumbled as he crawled out through this broken window.

“Desperate times my friend,” David grunted as he crawled out after him. The two helped pull Taylor and Rick out of the car, and it wasn’t until Rick stumbled away that he realized how totaled the car actually was.

His attention was pulled away by pedestrians and other drivers. They were exiting their cars, taking pictures and videos of the crash. They were looking at the bakiri, trapped beneath the vehicle, its long tail snaking out.

Word was going to get out. The bakiri had returned, and they were making themselves known. Then people screamed. Rick had almost forgotten that there were two more on chasing them.

“I know where we are,” Taylor said, grabbing Rick’s hand and jerking him into an alley way. “The garage is two blocks across, we can hide out there.”

They raced past dumpsters and fire escapes and murky puddles in the dark shadow of the buildings. His heart pounded in his chest. If those bakiri saw them, there was no way they could outrun them. They had barely escaped in a speeding car.

Overhead the sound of propellers whirred, and spotlights crossed the alley before scanning the streets.

“The Explorers,” Rick breathed. They crossed a street, weaving between cars caught in traffic, and raced down another dark path.

The closer they got the more Rick began to realize where they were. The garage was just ahead, its neon sign flickering. They took a turn, following the sidewalk, until he saw the familiar garage doors. All the lights were dim and dark, no one was there.

Taylor leaned against the door, her hands shaking, fumbling with the keys before the door opened. Everyone rushed inside and she slammed the door shut behind them, the world going dark and quiet. All that could be heard was the sound of breathing.

A small clink of a chain and the click of a lamp brought light back into the world. It was the small lobby of the Handson garage. The front desk was worn wood, a medley of mechanical parts spread across the surface like paper weights for the occasional stack of papers or receipts.

“Did we lose them?” Rick asked.

“Not sure,” David shook his head. “Probably not a good idea to stay here for too long, those lizard dudes are like reptilian bloodhounds. Once they catch a scent then they’re on it. Let’s just hope we ran past enough dumpsters to buy us some time.”

“We’re not going anywhere else until I get some answers.” Taylor spoke. She pulled off her ripped sweater and was wearing one of her green tank tops underneath. Her loose hair was scooped up in her hands as she began to put it back into a ponytail.

She turned to face David, who looked away. Dustbunny’s ears drooped.

“You still haven’t told them?” The little Gormaden asked.

“I tried, alright, things… happened.” David mumbled.

“Try harder,” Rick said. “You lied to me. Those tickets you gave me were a setup. You were trying to get to Taylor. This whole time it’s been about her.”

“Okay, first of all, I did not lie,” David said. Dustbunny smacked him in the leg. “Okay, I did lie, but I was trying to make things easier. I was hoping that if I could get you to the museum then you would start to remember on your own. Maybe then you’d be a little more open to what I had to say. If I just walked up and explained everything out of nowhere you’d think I was crazy.”

“Well, that much you accomplished,” Taylor said, crossing her arms and leaning back against the front desk. “When I touched the crystal,” she fingered the locket. “I started seeing things… visions.”

“I think they might be more than visions.” David said. “I think they’re memories.”

“Oh yeah? Well, they’re terrible memories.” Taylor replied. “Every time I close my eyes I see smoke, and death.”

“That’s Alkania,” David nodded. “You saw it, the battle. Saw quite a lot of it.”

“And how do you know this?” She asked.

“Because I was there,” David said. “I saw it too.”

“Wow…” Rick threw his hands up. “Yeah, David, that makes sense. We have not one, not two, but three people who were in Alkania what… over a hundred years ago? Hundred and fifty? Oh, and Taylor is the princess? Can’t believe I didn’t see it all before. I’m so stupid.”

“Time travel,” David shrugged. “It’s always a pain in the butt which is why I typically don’t like doing it.”

“Time travel… how do you even…?” Rick shook his head unable to comprehend. David was being so casual, but also didn’t seem to be joking.

“Come on, Rick, magic exists,” David muttered. “You can basically do anything.”

“That is NOT how magic works,” Rick rubbed at his temples. “That’s how it works in stories, in movies, and stuff. This is real David.” He looked at Taylor. “She’s real…”

“Yes,” David said. “She’s really the princess of Alkania, I should know, because I was there.”

“I think…” Taylor swallowed, oasis eyes looking at Rick. “I think he’s telling the truth. I’ve seen him in my visions… my memories.”

“Yes, but…” Rick struggled to find the words. He was stammering again. “How do you know these visions are real? Maybe they’re just bad dreams or something. They have to be.”

“No,” she shook her head. “When I have one of those moments, I’m there. I can feel everything. It started happening as soon as I touched the crystal.”

“And that crystal is a piece of the Oasis.” David explained. “Which I stole from Rayne. That’s why she’s mad at me.”

“And the Oasis is the magical power source of Alkania.” Rick remembered all those stupid classes about it. Thinking that knowing about ancient cities and magical accumulators wouldn’t have any real-world application in his life. “I just… I don’t…”

“It’s kind of a lot…” Dustbunny chirped in. He gave Rick a sympathetic look. “I’m really sorry, we shouldn’t have lied to you, but this might have been the only way.”

Rick closed his eyes. It was hard to argue with Dustbunny.

“I don’t like it,” he said finally. “I don’t like any of it.”

“Fair enough,” David acknowledged. “But I still need your help.” He looked at Taylor. “I have to bring Alkania back. When it disappeared, it was in the middle of a full-blown war. Those people, your people are still there, if we can get you, with the Oasis Spark, to the Valley of Wyte, then we can bring them right here, right now. It would be like picking up right where they left off. If we can do that, we might be able to save what’s left of Alkania.”

“Why don’t we take this to the Explorers?” Taylor asked. “They have the means to do this and do it the right way. Safely.”

“They get that spark,” David pointed. “It gets locked in a vault, and never sees the light of day. If Alkania is stuck in limbo, then surely it can wait there a little bit longer. It will forever be too dangerous a mission to embark on.”

“What if that’s the right thing to do?” Rick swallowed nervously even as he asked the question.

“Maybe,” David said, “but it isn’t.” He took a deep, almost calming breath. “Think about it. There’s an entire city of people trapped out…” he waved his hand in the air. “There, somewhere.”

“Yes, but what about the army, what about the bakiri?” Rick objected, “what would we even—?”

“Hey!” David raised his voice, catching Rick off guard. Even Taylor and Dustbunny both flinched in surprise. “I don’t know all the answers, okay? But I do know what’s right, and that’s what I’m gonna do.”

The room fell silent. No one quite sure what to say.

Outside, the sound of a trashcan crashing to the ground rang out. A window was shattered, and cars alarms began going off, one after the other. Their minds were quickly drawn from the conversation and back to their present danger.

“The light,” Rick breathed. “The lamp, get the lamp!” Taylor reacted quick, turning off the lamp and everything went dark again. Rick felt around blindly, searching with his hands till he felt Taylor, and held on tight.

The bakiri outside barked and snorted. Rick could hear as they almost seemed to pace about, using their claws to scratch and poke at things. All of a sudden, the frail wooden door between them and the city didn’t feel like safety.

“I smell them…” one of the creatures barked. “Here, here, the scent… it lingers.”

Rick could almost feel the presence of the monster as it approached the door. Mere feet away. A clawed finger tapped the door, and there was a deep nasally inhale.

“I…” the creature said gleefully a chuckle in its words. “Can smell your fear…”

The door tore apart with a wooden crunch as one of the creatures tore it off the frame with barely a thought.

“Can’t catch a break, can we?” David grumbled and charged toward the creatures. “Get out of here!”

There was a scramble, and the sound of fighting as Rick and Taylor ran down the hall and into the open garage. He didn’t look back. David would be fine, right? David was always fine. He heard a yelp, and it sounded like David getting thrown through a wall.

Yeah, he was fine.

All of a sudden, Rick felt something like a tree log hit him in the side. He felt his feet come off the floor as he went flying across the room. He landed on Taylor’s motorcycle, breaking his fall, and crashed into a heap.

His knees, his side, his elbow, and his wrists all flared with pain as he tried to get back on his feet. He was under the motorcycle, it had fallen over on top of him. He struggled with the weight of it and pushed it away just in time to see the bakiri standing before Taylor.

She looked so small compared to their monstrous forms. Knowing how fast they could move, that the short distance across the room might as well have been miles only made her look smaller too.

She raised a fist to fight, but it batted her arm away like a stray twig. With one of its bulky, muscular arms, it scooped Taylor up and threw her over its shoulder. Her ponytail whipped around, and her blue eyes locked on to Rick, her face contorting into an expression of fear as the bakiri took their prize. They crashed through one of the metal garage doors and out into the street.

“Rick!” It was Dustbunny. He was pulling a limping David into the bay. “What happened?”

“They took her,” Rick gritted his teeth. Those monsters had taken Taylor. There was nothing he could do. He’d never be fast enough to catch up unless… He looked down at the motorcycle at his feet. “Help me get this upright.”

Dustbunny rushed over and helped him get the bike upright, then Rick hopped on, desperately trying to remember what Taylor had taught him.

“You work the pedals,” Dustbunny said, hopping into Rick’s lap and grabbing the handles. “I’ll help steer.” It was fast, and frantic, and Rick fumbled with the key already in the ignition. Finally, he got it.

The bike roared to life, and David hopped on, back-to-back with Rick. Rick kicked it into gear as Dustbunny revved it up, and they went shooting out through the broken garage door and onto the street. For a second as Dust turned around a car, Rick thought the three of them would fall, but they didn’t, they kept going, picking up speed.

“Do you see them?” David asked from behind.

“There!” Dust yelled, pointing. The bakiri had just taken a right around the buildings. The bike’s engine growled as they went faster and faster, whipping past cars, and dodging pedestrians. They were going so fast the city lights were starting to blur.

But they were catching up. They weren’t counted out just yet. The bakiri were still fast. So incredibly fast. They took another turn, this time headed towards an old train station.

“How much you wanna bet they’re gonna try and hop the train?” David asked. “Those freighters are the fastest way out of the city.”

“I’ll take the shortcut then!” Dust jerked the handlebars and Rick yelped as they cut in front of a taxi and drove through a narrow alley way. They came out the other side, still tailing the bakiri, but this time they were closer. They’d almost closed the gap by half.

Rick’s heart surged. They could do it. They could rescue Taylor. They could bring her home.

Just one brave thing, Rick thought. That’s all he needed to do.

Then Rick heard it. The loud horn of a freight train that cut even through the hustle and bustle of Old York. The train station was in sight, and the bakiri were headed straight for it. As the train rushed by, they hopped on with ease and climbed atop the rusty train cars.

“Crap,” David hissed behind him. “Get me alongside!”

Rick realized that David was going to try and hop onto the train from the back of a speeding motorcycle. Yep, sounded about right.

“David…” Rick said. “I’m really tired of trusting you. But I have no other choice.” He sighed, clenching his teeth. “I need you to get Taylor. Bring her back.”

Dust cut the handlebars again and they narrowly avoided crashing into the train. It was so loud that it deafened almost everything. Rick couldn’t hear David’s response if he had one. Instead, he felt a hand on his shoulder, then another as David maneuvered into a crouched position on the back of the motorcycle.

Up ahead, Rick could see they were running out of road. He felt a pressure on his shoulders, and then release as David used him for balance and then hopped onto the train. He caught one of the small metal ladders along the side, his legs swinging.

Rick shifted gears, and Dust pulled the break hard, the tires screeching to a halt. Ahead of them, David turned back, saluted, and began climbing atop the train before he disappeared from view.

Rick was left behind, breathing hard, his hands shaking, his heart pounding in his ears.