Earth 8

EARTH 8

CHAPTER 1

My body is dripping with sweat, exhausted and hungry, but the adrenaline is keeping me going. That...and saving humanity. So, I run faster, looking back at Calibx. "Speravi! Keep running! Don't stop! The 'Others' are catching up!" Calibx hollers, trying badly to keep up in his bloody state. It looks almost like someone put him in a meat grinder and hit the on-switch. How he is still able to move is a mystery to me. The air smelled of death and sulfur! Abandoned cars lined the street like matchbox cars. Buildings ravaged and void of life, mere shells of their previous stature, built. This has to be what hell is like!

The thought of things going back to normal draws a tear down my cheek. It almost seems hopeless. Hopeless, the opposite of the meaning of my name: Speravi: It means hope which is Latin for hope. Deriving from my Latin heritage on my mother's side. My father said I get my fighting spirit from the Irish on his side of the family. He told me our family had a mixture of cultures from, Moroccan, Israeli, Latin, Irish, and African American. As he put it, we were a bag of M & M's. He could always make me laugh. I was a combination of my two parents. Getting my height from my Dad, as my mom was barely 5'3. I was 3 1/2 inches taller than my mom, but took after her cocoa butter complexion, long wavy black hair and small, oval-shaped eyes. I remember when I was going through training, they all thought I was crazy to go through this. The first girl volunteer. I made it through training and the tests, something boys twice my size couldn't muscle through, but it was the only way. The only way to make things go back to normal. I was driven by the thought of having my family back. It gave me all I needed to fight through the intense training and psychological exercises we were put under to determine who was best fitted for the mission. I hear the sharp, piercing scream of The Others and shudder at the thought of being sucked dry and then eaten alive.

The 'Others' were what mythology would refer to as Vampires. A fast-moving virus known as the VB virus (Vagabond's disease) started in India, then spread to China, then Australia, and eventually made its way to the United States. Yes, this story has played in many movies and books. But what was just make-believe fantasy became reality almost overnight. The virus affected the blood. You would almost become comatose overnight to emerge as one of the Others 24 hours later. The only ones not affected were the ones with the rarest of blood types. AB, which is 1% Caucasians, 0.3% African American, 0.2% Hispanic, and 0.1% Asian. I fell into this category. A combination of my parent's blood type that saved me, but not them. So to say it bluntly, Earth's population was below 5%, leaving the remaining survivors mostly between the ages of 16 and 21.

I activated the Navis. A living computer embedded in my arm like elastic spandex. It was implanted inside my skin, so if you could imagine a tattoo that was alive, that would be how the Navis looked on my arm. The Navis was linked to my brain waves so I controlled it through my thoughts. I mentally thought of our coordinates to map our location. "We're about 3.219 kilometers from the launch spot. So roughly two miles! We have to find a spot to rest and hide!" I say, looking at old abandoned buildings for somewhere to hold up.

"Ok, how much time do we have before the beacon comes?" Calibx asks pulling his M16 from around his shoulder. "Approximately 43 minutes and 20 seconds!" Calibx grabs my arm and stops. His touch feels warm.

"There is a store not far from the hospital! You'll be safe there! It's still plenty of water and food there! I'm going to cause a distraction while you run for it!" Calibx says gasping for breath with every word.

"No! If something happens to you then the mission is a failure! You go! I'll cause a distraction and meet up with you at the hospital!"

"What? Is that all I am to you? A mission?" His words scarcely conceal the pain behind them. I can't allow myself to feel...to be derailed from the mission. If I have to die for my family, for the world to go back to normal, then so be it. His golden-brown eyes bore into mine. I have to turn away to stop myself from reaching out and feeling his full lips against mine, if for the first and last time.

"Get the hell out of here!" I hear myself scream at him. "This is not about you; this is not about me! Now go!" As he half runs, half limps away, we catch eyes one last time. My heart jumps. Will this be the last time I look into his face? I ignore whatever I am feeling for a man I barely know, but saved my life, and prepare for battle.

'The Others' are coming. I don't think I will ever be able to forget their smell or the horrible screech that catapults from their lips. I keep reminding myself that these deformed creatures used to be human. They could even be members of my family and friends, no longer recognizable beneath the yellowish skin complexion, protruding veins and ribs, and black eyes. Those who were left alive were picked off by The Others. Only the strong surviving. My parents...the thought of them turning into these...things...is too much. I remember coming home from school and still hearing the words that made my blood coil to this day come from my mother's lips, "Speravi, I have no feeling in my body"! The loss of feeling in the body was the first sign of the VB virus.

A new government led by the elders was put in place. They served as our mentors since we were the next generation. After all the Elders contracted the VB virus, a leader emerged out of the shadows, Head Madame, or her real name, Arantxa, was the oldest woman alive. She was 27 years old. Her blood type was O- negative. She is the only survivor with that blood type not affected by the virus. She had almost genius intellect with stunning beauty to match. How she survived is a miracle in itself. She led the construction of a safe-haven for the survivors and gave hope of a better tomorrow if we all worked together. But, even with all she did for us, for mankind, it was something familiar about her and at the same time.... something insidious.

Before the virus, the government had created a means of traveling to alternate dimensions. We discovered we were from Earth 4 and that many versions of our world existed. Our world was the closest in similarity to Earth 1, supposedly, where all other realities originated from. The main difference between our two worlds is that we are further along in technology and that we only have a single name, no middle or last name.

Forty-two-year-old Calibx of Earth 4, was the creator of the Cross Dimensional Sphere. It allowed us to use black holes that were invisible to the human eye, but laid dormant on all Earths, to cross-jump. Of course, the exact calculations of light, time, and quantum mechanics needed to be perfected for it to work. I remember reading all of this in training. Calibx was the first to cross travel. They say when he returned, he had changed. What was no more than an hour in our reality was 60 days for him. I had been here for 16 hours, meaning I had been gone for over 2 and 1/2 years back in my reality.

Within weeks of his return, a fast-acting virus had contaminated society. Thinking Calibx may have an answer to what was going on, they immediately began the search to find him. They found his lifeless body at his mansion with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head and a note laying beside it. It read: The old die young and the young die old. Life will never be the same.

After this, one man at a time was sent, as that is all that was allowed for travel in the Cross-Dimensional Sphere. This could happen only when enough negative energy density was collected and at a certain time when the negative energy in the black hole was stable enough to allow cross-dimensional travel. The government had only one mission at that time: travel to Earth 8 and rescue a 20-year-old Calibx. By doing this they felt they could search his mind for the cure that only the Calibx of our Earth knew. It is said that we retain the memories of all our alternate selves after death. Its where the saying De Ja VU came from. When you find yourself remembering something that you've never experienced, it's the memories of your alternate selves that have passed away.

There were years and years of failure after failure. So many deaths. No one ever returned from this mission alive. But I vow I will not fail! I can't! I set up the explosives as quickly as I can, knowing that The Others are coming quickly. My heart is beating with fear, but I can't succumb to it. I pull my M-16 across my shoulders and fire at the first hideous face I can see closest to me and catch it in the face. I can hear it scream and savagely thrash around on the ground. The only way to kill these things was with ultraviolet jacketed bullets or with blunt force to the head or eyes.

I'm almost done. Yes! Now all I have to do is set the switch. It's turned on and I run as fast as I can as the detonation is about to pop. Then, even though I expect it, the blast surprises me and blows me forward. I fall towards the ground and my head catches the pavement. I see stars while trying to focus and get up. Just as I prepare to use my M-16 as a crutch to get up, one of The Others greets me. It's a female. The only reason I know it's a female is because of her one remaining sagging, decayed breast. She jumps on me and holds me down, her smell hitting my nostrils hard. So hard I gasp for air. She's holding my arm down. I can't move. Her strength is unnatural. I know this is the end. I've failed! Unless Calibx has somehow survived and makes it to the Quantum pad on his own, it's over! At least this burden of carrying an entire world on my shoulders will be over and I will be at peace! I look into this thing's eyes and I no longer see any sign of humanity. These things are completely blind, relying on their superhuman sense of smell to find their prey. Her skin is without color and decaying. It seems as if the younger ones have the yellowish skin complexion. Her hair is missing in patches. Her nails are abnormally long, teeth razor sharp and her eyes...her eyes are black as night.

As I prepare to take my last breath, my last thought is of Calibx. He's probably the most attractive man I have ever seen. Leonine, tall, dark, lean, strong with high cheekbones and dark eyelashes, brilliant dark eyes and tousled, curly dark hair. Maybe we will meet in another life. Just then, out of nowhere, I hear a scream, followed by gunshots. It's Calibx! He's ignored my orders and come here, once again saving me. He seems to have this dashing knight rescues the damsel in distress thing down-pat. As he puts multiple bullets into The Other, it falls back. I roll to the side, get to my feet, and run to Calibx's side. We both start showering gunfire into the pack of what is left of The Others. The explosion takes out a bunch of them, but still, some remain. We finally get our chance to escape and run for the hospital. Surprisingly, the Navis is pointing in the same direction.

"We must be close to the launch pad. Let's keep going." Calibx nods his head. The closer we get, the angrier I become that Calibx came back to save me. I was one person, but he has the chance to save billions.

Once we reach the hospital and hide in the shadows to rest, my hand reacts on its own and reaches out and smacks Calibx, hard.

"What was that for?"

"You could have died! Just to save me! Do you know how important you are! In that brain of yours, lies the cure to this plague! You can save countless amounts of people! Do you understand that?" I am screaming at this point. Tears follow and I don't know why. I know we have to be quiet, but I just can't control my emotions.

"Speravi, I couldn't leave you there to die. The thought of me not being able to..."

"To do what Calibx? What? You barely know me!"

"I could." Without warning, he draws close to me and puts his lips on mine. We embrace, his lips full and warm against mine. It seems as if reality ceases to exist as I allow my guard to come down and enjoy the moment. I return his kiss with the same passion and emotion that I feel from him. For the first time in a long time, I feel...love. The moment of felicity is cut short by the sound of ruffling down the hall. We both look up, startled. Calibx peers around the corner. "The 'Others' are here! How far is the launch pad?"

I look at the Navis. "Directly above us on the roof!"

"I have one more pack of explosives left." Calibx looks deep into my eyes. "We're not going to die after making it this far!"

"Light 'em up!" Within seconds we attach the last of the explosives to the wall and step out of the shadows. I whistle as loud as I can. It looks like over a hundred of those things have followed our scent here. We run the opposite way as fast as we can. The explosion rocks the hospital. I lose my footing and fall to the floor. I look up and most of The Others have fallen through the floor or burned up. Calibx gets to his feet and walks towards me holding out his hand when the floor around him collapses and I watch as he loses his footing and gradually begins to fall. I don't even think, I just act and reach out just in time to grab him. I pull Calibx up, not an easy task for a 130-pound girl, standing at 5 feet 6 inches, but I was a lot stronger then I looked. We both sit for a minute to collect ourselves amongst the chaos that enveloped us. "It looks like I saved your life this time," I said smiling.

"I'm still up by one." Calibx teases, and I'm nearly derailed by the sexy crooked smile he gives me in return.

"We only have 15 minutes to get to the top." The flames have engulfed most of The Others. It looks like we're going to make it! We head toward the staircase, slowly jogging our way to our destination. We're pretty far down the hall when out of the flames we see a hand pulling itself up from what used to be the floor. Then we see the all too familiar terror that has stalked me since my arrival to Earth 8. We can hear more of them coming and we start jogging faster.

Out of nowhere one of The Others leap out of one of the rooms and slams Calibx against the wall, taking a bite out of his shoulder. It seemed as if everything is moving in slow motion. Calibx screams while trying to wrestle his much stronger opponent off of him. I can hear the wails of the group of Others quickly approaching. I'm thinking of a strategy to make it out of here alive. "Move your head and cover your ears"! I command Calibx. The Other was so focused on Calibx that he didn't notice me slip behind him and upload a bullet in his skull. He still has Calibx pressed against the wall so I fire three more times. Finally, his grip loosens, his eyes roll over, and he falls to the ground dead. "Now we're even! Let's get the hell out of here!" We run up the stairs as fast as we can. Calibx is in desperate need of medical attention. When we are halfway to the top, his body gives out on him and I have to help him the rest of the way.

I secure the door with Calibx's assault rifle and then tend to Calibx, who at this point is lying motionless on the ground. I look ahead and see the lights that indicate that the launch pad is activating. Funny how all these black holes lay dormant throughout the universe, invisible to the human eye.

My back and legs ache from the strain of helping Calibx up those stairs and carrying the equipment. I look down at him as he lies there and I begin to think the worst. "Don't die on me! We've made it too far!" I don't realize I am shaking him so hard until I feel his hand steady me, letting me know he is still alive. He lifts his head and I can see a slight smile on his face. Those deep, dark green eyes that remind me of how I felt at this lake I use to go to with my parents every 4th of July. If this was a different time and place, I would drown in those eyes and blanket myself in his warmth.

"I was just taking a nap and dreaming of you, beautiful."

I blush slightly, not allowing myself to fully let go until we are out of harm's way. "You'll have plenty of time to flirt cowboy, but this isn't the time." I help him up and we head to the middle of the launchpad. I hear a loud beating at the door that sounds like multiple hands jabbing in unison. The door is solid, but with their strength, it won't last much longer. "How much longer 'till we get beamed up?"

"This isn't Star Trek!" I joke in the face of danger. I look at the Navis and then toward the door coming undone. "In five minutes." "We don't have five minutes"! Calibx is right. We don't have 5 minutes. 'The Others' will be having us for dinner within seconds. I have to buy Calibx time. I knew it may come down to this. They told me that there was a chance that I may not be able to return. As a safeguard, they developed a form of nanotechnology which they injected into my bloodstream, linking me with the Navis. They hoped to give me a sliver of a chance to return through the Cross- Dimensional Sphere with Calibx. I was the first volunteer that this technology was used on. As Derrick looks towards the door, I take the M-16 and hit him across the back of the head. I step from the launch pad with both M-16s in hand and start firing.

The Others rush in, looking like rabid dogs with no trace of humanity in their eyes. They surround me, but I keep them at bay. I turn my head and watch as Calibx disappears into the Cross-dimensional Sphere. I've completed the mission. They will find a cure and save billions upon billions of people. Now it's my time to die. I drop the M-16s and pull out a Glock 17 that I intend to use on myself as an alternative to being eaten alive. I look to the sky, void of life, close my eyes, and prepare to die. Then, as if I'm connected to a bungee cord, my body flies backward towards the launchpad and then everything goes black.

When I wake up, I'm in bed, totally oblivious to my surroundings. Bean, my old friend, and the head engineer saved me. Like Calibx, they were both geniuses. The Navis was interfaced with my body so he was able to pull me in and rescue me. He informs me that Calibx is in custody. They have condemned him for the crimes of his alternate self. They are going to probe his brain in a way that will make him brain dead afterward. I was lied to by The Authority. Now, will I risk everything to save this man that my heart yearns for? Or will I trust in The Authority and The Head Madame to cure my parents and resurrect humanity as we once knew it?