Imaginary - Chapter 15 - The long walk home

I've had a rough couple days. Was kinda sick on the weekend, then woke up with a monstrous migraine. The advil helped me power through and get this chapter done, but as you can probably tell by the timestamp, I'm WAY behind. (And still feel like crap)

Dunno how I feel about the last two chapters, feel like there's been a lot of tonal whiplash, going from one emotion to the next. I planned to make Olivia kind of extreme, but this feels... IDK. Tell me what you think.

I'll still try and get TBoB out today, but it'll depend on how I feel. I plan on powering through, as long as my body holds out :)

I savoured the icey beverage as Olivia and I slowly made our way back down the network of nearly identical streets. Although we passed a couple people, I couldn’t help but notice that the streets were extremely quiet, even for a weekday afternoon. The few people that we did pass watched us with suspicion, either moving past us as quickly as possible or moving to the other side of the street to avoid us.

“I really hate that,” Olivia whispered between sips of her multicolored beverage. “They treat us like we have the fucking plague or something.”

“I get why they’re doing it… With so many Empowered people around, a rift could open at any moment, and without any powers to defend themselves most people can only steer clear, or run away, but still, you could have some fucking manners,” I grumbled, as I watched a woman literally turn around and start jogging away from us. I took a long draw from my slushy as I watched her disappear down the street. “How often does a rift form around here anyways? There have to be a couple thousand Empowered students, based upon the size of the campus. Have there been any incidents since you arrived?”

“Just one, and it occurred on the opposite side of campus,” Olivia replied. “According to the information package we can expect one every couple of weeks.”

“Well, I can only hope that if any rifts do manifest while we’re here, they do so far away from us. Just dealing with that one rift was more than enough for me,” I muttered. 

Olivia nodded slightly as she sipped her drink, her eyes downcast. 

“I know it might be rude for me to ask, but can you tell me what happened? What you experienced?” she asked quietly after a minute. “I’ve read a couple guidebooks, and first person accounts online, but I have no way to know if they’ve been blown out of proportion, or sanitized, so I really have no idea what to expect. The idea of getting caught in a rift terrifies me, and I’d really like to know what to expect.”

I glanced over. Olivia was a little pale, and her eyes were still locked on the ground. “You’re that scared of them?”

“Wouldn’t you be, if you knew that you could rip open a hole to another dimension, but didn’t have the power to defend yourself?” she muttered.

“I guess that’s fair,” I admitted. “I’m not sure if it’ll actually help, but I can tell you what I experienced. Doubt it’ll help you get over your fear though.”

“Better than not knowing at all," she replied.

I took another sip of my drink, which was slowly becoming more of a syruppy puddle than a slush, trying to gather my thoughts. 

“I went to get groceries at this little corner store by our old place,” I started. “A place I’d been to a thousand times before. While I was inside I ran into this guy, looked like a strung out junkie, but something about him felt… wrong. I tried to get away from him, but before I even got to the end of the aisle, reality ripped open. It’s hard to explain in words, but it was like this freestanding tear through which I could see another world. And through it, came the bugs.”

I shuddered for a moment, that moment so vivid in my mind that it was like I was right there again. It took me a minute to get my emotions under control and continue. “Scary things, they looked like decaying scarabs the size of a large dog. I ran for the front of the store, trying to get out, but they were closer to it than I was and they cut me off. Killed the store keeper too. I then ran to the back, to try and get out the emergency exit, but that asshole chained it shut, leaving me trapped in there. I knocked over a shelving unit to block one of the aisles, and ripped off one of the metal shelves to defend myself with, then fought with all my strength until the rift closed again.”

Wincing in pain, I realized that I’d been clenching my hands, digging my nails into my wounds. I slowly released them, then gently rubbed my wounds. They were bleeding, but not that badly. Hopefully I hadn’t ripped open any of my stitches.

“Honestly? It was one of the scariest experiences of my entire life, but if the emergency exit hadn’t been blocked I probably would have been able to escape without having to fight. From what I understand that man was relatively strong too, so the creatures that piled through were stronger than anything we’re likely to experience here at the school. The strength of the rift is relative to the strength of the Empowered after all. Plus, you can use your power to just warn us before we walk into a situation like that,” I told her. 

“And that’s all there was to it? Just Scarabs?” Olivia asked suspiciously.

“Well, that’s not absolutely everything, but that’s all the important parts,” I said, glancing towards where Angelica was floating nearby. The jellyfish waved.  “I’m still working through something… I may tell you more later.” 

Olivia looked at strangely. “And they couldn’t fry you with eye beams, or teleport to your shadow, or anything like that?” Olivia asked.

“Can the stronger invaders do shit like that?” I gasped in surprise, turning towards the other girl.

“I have no idea! Like I said, I’ve only been able to find stories and most of them are horrible. It actually makes me feel a little better knowing all that you faced was a bunch of bugs,” Olivia said, standing up a little straighter.

“That bunch of bugs still managed to kill a man, and strip him to the bone, before the rift closed again. I don’t care how minor it is, I never want to deal with something like that again,” I declared.

“Yeah, I understand… it definitely sounds like a terrifying ordeal, but compared to some of the shit I’ve read online? It’s not that bad,” Olivia explained. “I might actually have a chance to survive something like that.”

“Isn’t that the point of the safe rooms? To give us a way to survive shit like that?” I asked.

“That’s the thing, based upon a lot of the stories I’ve read I’d either be dead long before reaching a safe room, or the safe room wouldn’t really do much to protect me. That’s why I was so nervous.”

“If things were that bad, how could anyone survive long enough to give those testimonials?” I asked suspiciously.

“Well, as I understand it, once you become Empowered you’re stuck in a vicious cycle,” Olivia explained. She took a sip of her drink then grimaced, apparently she’d lost the taste for it after my story. She chucked it in a trash can next to the bus stop before continuing. “When a rift opens, whatever comes through is almost always looking for the nearest source of Prosch particles. Since they settle into every living thing, the invaders will eat pretty much anything, but as you know we Empowered people have a higher concentration of them in our brains than anyone else, so we become the primary targets.”

She paused for a moment, face scrunched up like she’d just eaten something unpleasant. 

“From what I’ve heard it’s not that hard to deal with, for those with offensive powers, the problem is what happens afterwards. You see the invaders are also full of Prosch particles, which are released when they die, settling in the nearby Empowered’s brains, which makes them stronger. The stronger the Empowered person, the bigger the rift they can cause, and the stronger the invaders are that can come through. Rinse and repeat a couple times and you have someone capable of leveling buildings, attracting invaders that can do the same,” she sighed. “I always thought the stories I was reading were from newly Empowered people, I’m just glad that’s not true.”

“Wait… how does that work in the Enclaves. There are thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of Empowered people with different strengths living together in those,” I said. “Surely the strong people still put the weak ones at risk.”

“I don’t know, but they must have ways to deal with it. Maybe they organize people based upon their strengths, have neighbourhood watch, or individual panic rooms,” Olivia replied. “I’m sure we’ll find out once we get into class.”

“Oh, right, class,” I grumbled. 

“Hey, it’s not that bad,” Olivia said, her tone brightening up a little. “Yes, now we’re at risk of being attacked by extradimensional horrors, but at least you have me, running away right beside you!”

I chuckled. “I know you meant that as a joke to lighten the mood, but really do appreciate it. It somehow feels good knowing I’m not the only one going through all this.”

“That it does,” she smiled, glancing at the horizon. “Come on, we should get home, it’s getting late.”

“Lead the way,” I laughed.