World Again

Forward - -06

I don’t remember much of my life from before I came to be here. But what I do remember is a treasure I’ll try to always keep. When things are quiet and my mind has time to wonder without to many interruptions is when I see it best, and every now and then a new memory will come to me. Usually its not much, a type of soda I drank or a place I visited or something silly like that and to the next person it might not mean anything,. To me though it is a new world I can walk in for days after. What stands out in my mind the most is my father. I remember him best of all. I see an image in my head that is always fresh and never falters.

I’m sitting in a large room with huge windows that are wide open and blowing in the freshest breeze you can image. Just the smell of that breeze is so wonderful that it makes you want to cry. My father is sitting on a bench in front of a all white piano. As he plays his music his eyes are lit up and a smile is spread out on his face. The pure joy he gets out of being there is obvious. I’m not for sure exactly what it is that he is playing but it’s a very fast tune A woman and a young girl are dancing to it. I can not see their faces. Every time I picture this or dream about it there is a fog that prevents me seeing who they are or what they look like. It is ok though. I do not let that sadden me however for I cherish the rest of the memory even more.

After a few moments of my father playing, he gets up and ask the two ladies to leave the room. They give him a quick bow and head out the door. He stands there looking at the door for a second or two and then turns to me. The sun coming from the window falls on him, the black suit he has on is so well made and so well pressed that it looks like it has just come from the window of a shop. When he finally walks over to where I am he bends down to me and smiles. I smile back for I know that he loves me more than anything else in life. He tells me so. He also tells me that he must take a trip and will not be back for a few weeks. I’m not as sad as you might think for I know that he will be well looked after and taken care of. He has body guards and servants aplenty. Into my hand he pushes something. I can tell by the shape that it’s a large key but I never take my eyes of him. He tells me that I must protect it above all other things and I will know when to use it. He says he will see me again and that is a promise. He runs his hand through my hair gives me one last smile, almost sadly and then leaves through the same door the ladies left through. I look down at what is in my hand. Sure enough it’s an old key. I stuff it into my pocket and start walking to the door but a moment before my hand can reach the knob a solid wall of steel crashes down before my eyes and the door is gone. I turn to look at the windows as my next escape and as if on queue the same thing happens to them. Blocked. The room I am in is now a cage. I feel a longing to get to my father. I feel scared and angry. But most of all I feel a loneliness. I sit down on the bench that my father was sitting at only moments before and put my face in my hands and cry.









Chapter one 8-13-06


The wind was pushing hard against Zane’s battered face. His left eye was swollen shut and the blood running down his cheek from it was dry and cracking. The eye on the right was pushing tears forward in resistance to the wind. The blurred shape of a building was trying to form in front of him. He had been walking toward this unreachable image for what seemed like hours. The pain in his head kept him from any accurate time frame. Still he pushed on, knowing that shelter from the oncoming storm was a necessity. Death would be the only other alternative. For the second time the long flowing black cloak found a way to trip him spilling him to the earth. A fresh wave of pain tore through his head. He forced himself to his feet and tried to ignore the pain as best he could. Thoughts of tossing the cloak to the ground left just as fast as they arrived. It had served as a blanket more times than he cared to count. As a way of diverting his thoughts he dragged up the memories that had brought him on this rouge adventure in the first place.

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There was a struggle to find sleep for the past three hours for Zane. Something had been keeping him awake even though his body was protesting in every way. The Inn-keeper promised no interruptions and had up to this point kept his word. The “Three Moon Hideaway” (as the hotel was called) offered a good arrangement of bedrooms and even with a fully operating swimming pool. In this modern day world that was something to marvel at. But Zane didn’t have the time to enjoy it as he would normally like to have done. A little rest and he would be on his way. Of course rest wasn’t coming and time was running even shorter. His hand went to his chest and absently pulled out the key that dangled on the chain around his neck. He rubbed his fingers across it for a while feeling the well known paths. Every bump and crevice was familiar ground.
Suddenly the door exploded careening across the room. It crashed into the wall sending splinters of wood out everywhere. Some of the shards caught Zane on his right side as he flinched from the sudden interruption. Already he could feel warm blood on his shoulder and ribcage. His mind scramble for answers, trying to make since of everything that was happening and what the next coarse of action was. Rolling off the bed and onto the floor he saw his back pack lying close to the bathroom entrance. Knowing it was to late to grab the guns inside. He jumped to his feet and ran toward the gaping spot where the door should have been. Already two men were making their way in through the dust and debris. He lowered his undamaged shoulder and rammed into one of them, hearing ribs crack and break from the force of the impact. A groan escaped from him as he hit the wall outside the bedroom and slumped to the ground. The other character shot his hand around to his back, no doubt to get his iron out, but it was to late for him as well. Zane turned around just in time to see the dumbfounded look slip off his face and go into one of realization. Just as his hand was getting ready to seize the gun tucked in the back of his jeans Zane grabbed his arm and pushed it up behind his back hard enough that it snapped with a loud click. A scream was starting to come from him as he fell to his knees. Just as he landed Zane brought his knee up and landed it in the guys face. Blood came rushing out in a flood.
Sickish groans was coming from both guys, but Zane hardly noticed. He was already halfway across the room getting his Pack. He knew he had to get out of there. Others would surely be coming. Just as that thought crossed his mind, a voice called his name from outside the room.
“Zane” it called in a sickish tone. It was as if someone was talking through a mouth full of water. Zane knew that the owner of the voice would have soars and scabs all over him. That was one of the problems of this new world. “The Mark” as people called the disease was on a fifth of the people still alive. Maybe it was some kind of radiation poisoning or something else. No one new and there was no cure for it as of yet. The only thing that was for sure was that it was not contagious and it took years to kill a person, leaving them plenty of time to suffer from its agonizing stages. “Zane, we just want to talk to you.” the voice continued.
“You should have knocked if all you wanted to do was talk” Zane retaliated buying him some time to open his pack and bring out “The Twins.” They were two Ruger KP95s and well taken care of. Guns like these were unheard of anymore and a treasure without price. Quietly laying on the ground and raising a gun to the wall to left of the door he fired off a single shot. The response was immediate. Bullets starting flying through the wall leaving holes and puncturing the bed and the outside wall. The window there shattered and pieces of glass tumbled to the floor. The noise was almost as loud as when the door was blown across the room. This let Zane know a few things. First was that there was several people outside the room, and secondly they worked for “Jacob.” He was the only one that had such firepower and his followers were every where. “Well you didn’t want to talk over a cup of tea now did you” Zane said barley holding back a laugh. He felt almost insane. Here he was with God knew how many people outside his room wanting to kill him and he was popping off wise cracks and laughing.