Sam Sawyer Chapter Sixteen

Sam Sawyer
Chapter Sixteen

     Odd how the sudden inexplicable absence of
something can be just as world changing as a sudden appearance of something unexplainable.
So far as Kathy’s parents were concerned their daughter’s inexplicable appearance
as what they called a ghost changed everything for them. The impossible
disappearance of Sam’s woods coupled with the instantaneous disappearance of
the land from which his forest grew, had knocked a hole in their world of reason
and logic. The rest of reality was seeping in filling the void.

Some of those
that lived in that unacknowledged part of reality, were suddenly emboldened,
while others, still clung to the shadows that had served them so well for so
long. Namely the Nordics, they did not love humanity in fact they considered
the emotion trite and quite disposable.

    Human potential, however, intrigued them.
They too sensed a deep spiritual presence in Earth’s inhabitants, that coupled
with their imagination, tenacity and creative bent, made the people of this
world an asset, maybe, after much growth, useful allies, but most certainly
valuable slaves. Time would reveal that.

  The
hasty hungry Oloran threatened that. They, and their pretensions of scientific
study, sickened them. The Oloran were, at their core, hedonists, ruled by their
lust for safe, remote, experience. To them the humans were merely toys,
emotionally charged puppets to be played with and eventually discarded. So
wasteful, so self -indulgent.

   However, some of the Nordics felt differently.
They saw the Oloran incursions as stimulants that would spur human beings
forward and reveal aspects of the human species previously unimagined. Sam
Sawyer was a shining example of that. He was now the impossible-their equal,
yet still human despite his Oloran origins. They had never seen such a thing on
any other planet. Did Earth have a God? No, more likely Sam was simply a
perfect picture of human potential fulfilled; Earth’s future and a powerful
ally. Incredibly, all this seemed to be born out of that most useless of emotions-
love, remarkable and worthy of further study. They were not about to let the
Oloran corrupt and destroy that for the sake of their sadistic blood lust…

   The Oloran’s plan was unfolding nicely. Sam
saw himself as a pawn but knew he was so much more. He would have to be.

     He
was to drive the Nordics away, if not destroy them. Any loss of human life or
suffering was simply collateral entertainment. Conflict, certain predatory
pursuits, and the like should prove quite satisfying to the Oloran. The loss of
hundreds of lives, thousands of lives, who knows maybe even millions of human
lives, would be quite inconsequential, but more importantly, great fun. Moreover,
the jewel of human spirituality would not be jeopardized by the pain and
violence to come, only polished to a high sheen. Everything was proceeding nicely,
at least for them, for others however, nightmares…

     Shortly after they ‘landed’ outside the ring
of government security they saw just how savage some of the others were. The circular
shoreline was muddy with blood. They assumed they would have cloak themselves
when they returned. There was no need. The soldiers were all dead, but not merely
dead, dismembered, disemboweled, gutted and strewn all around the lake with
heartless abandon. Their guns, tanks, training could not save them. Whatever
killed them was fast, powerful and brutal.

Kathy floating
at center of the sphere stepped down from it as it came to a gentle stop two
inches from the ground and thirty feet from the lake. Her eyes swelled in shock
as she looked down and saw a bloody degloved head that had clearly been ripped
from its body. Its’ lidless eyeballs appeared to glare up at her from the crimson
muck it was lodged in.

“This is my
fault.” She said aloud, not realizing Sam and Kit were standing by her and
heard every word.

Kit was
about to speak when she suddenly dropped to her knees and vomited all over a
pile of intestines she hadn’t even noticed until she opened her eyes and began
to wipe her mouth. Another torrent of yellowish stomach juice and slimly green
chunks erupted from her mouth, drenching the sleeve of her black leather jacket
with her own internal nastiness.

Sam kneeled
beside her gently trying to lead her away from the gruesome sight only lead her
to another. Frustrated he flung his right hand out palm up and instantly incinerated
several human pieces, creating a ten- foot patch of ‘clean’ earth for her to
stand in.

“I’m all
right Sam,” she said as they slowly picked their way through the gory maze of entrails,
body parts and blood. “We could have flown,” she managed to quip, as they
stepped on the warm steaming soil.

“Of course,
what was I thinking.”

“You weren’t
thinking Sam,” Kathy said as she glided down beside them. “You were reeling.”
She said as she buried her face in his chest. “We could have saved them Sam,”
she sobbed, “If I hadn’t been so selfish…”

“Ah you were
worried about your family Kate.” Kit offered, trying to comfort her. “Wish I
had a family to care …”

Kathy eyes
darted away, as they both remembered what had just happened at her parents’
house.

“I’m sorry
Kath…”

“Not now
Kit, not now.”

Suddenly the
deep rumbling of distant helicopters flying in from the north commandeered their
attention.

They turned
toward the mezzanine, which from the outside, appeared to them as a massive
glass sphere filled with swirling fog, only occasionally revealing its
contents; Sam’s great forest home. Something regular people could never hope to
see much less enter. But obviously a giant sore thumb to all the Oloran changelings
as well the Nordics. They after all, created the first mezzanine bubble realities,
which they scattered all over the world a long time ago.  

“We have to
leave,” Sam shouted, “there’s been enough carnage here today.” With that he
took Kit’s hand, enabling her to pass through the spheres’ otherwise impenetrable
barrier.

“Don’t worry
Kit I’ll change you once we get inside. It’ll be better for you, you’ll see.”

She looked
down the ground, hiding her fear, just before he snatched her hand and leaped through
the glass like barrier.

They landed
feet first on the path. Sam’s ‘leap’ was more teleportation than a simple jump
through the air.  

He took a
quick look around, broadcasting his superhuman senses like radar through the entirety
of the woods and happily touching nothing with his mind that should not be
there.

The cool greyness
of the forest settled over them. They were hidden, safe; removed.

Kit turned
from Sam and walked toward the ‘edge’ of the forest which only a few feet away.
When she got close enough, she reached out and flattened her right hand against
the slightly curved transparent wall, window, barrier.

Kathy and
Sam joined her, stepping up behind her as though they were parents showing
their daughter an aquarium for the first time. “They can’t see us.” She
whispered.

Sam detected
a bit of sadness in Kits’ voice. “That’s a good thing Kit.”

“Is it?”

“Yes, it is,”
Kathy replied. “I guess. Sure, it is.”  

“Will it
always be this way?” She asked. Kit suddenly sounded like a small child asking
a devastatingly simple question.

“You mean
will we always be safe here, inside the bubble?” Sam asked knowing full well
what Kit was really asking.

“Separated,”
Kit asked, “cut off from, from everything? Are we that different now?”

Kathy and
Sam looked at each then down at Kit. “I don’t know Kit.” He answered as
honestly as he could.

“And you
want to change me even more?” Kit question sounded like an accusation.

Sam laid his
hands on her shoulders, “Only if you want it. But Kit, you know things are only
going to get worse from here on out. I want you safe, being phased will make
you so much safer.”

“Safer or
deader?” Kit jerked away and ran off toward the tall pines and disappeared.