Paradigm Rift

Chapter Two - Defiance

I stopped at the grocery store before I left on my journey. Like Kai had mentioned, if I found a rift there was no way of knowing where it would take me so I had to be well prepared. I had already packed camping equipment; a knife for hunting, a first aid kit, and extra pairs of clothing among other things. I walked to the food aisle and grabbed as much canned food as would fit in my camping bag.

As I waited in the checkout line, a family walked into the small grocery store. The kids smiled as they looked at their pamphlets of the San Francisco zoo. I had been there a few times myself. My favorite exhibit was Eagle Island. The bald eagles fly in the sky, freely, surrounded by the beauty of nature, but there they were prisoners, slaves to a world they did not care about.

Seeing that family full of bliss brought a smile to my face. If I had any doubts about the journey I was about to embark on, they were completely gone. If my father was out there I would find him.

After I bought everything I needed, I drove onto the Golden Gate Bridge. I looked at the faint pinging on the locator before setting it down on my lap. The fog still rolling into the bay. Milky white, almost tangible yet not, the fog gave me a sense of flying through the clouds.

Kai always said I had such a vivid imagination, that I spent too much time living in a fantasy world when there was the real one to conquer. I didn't want to conquer it. It was quite the contrary, it was conquering me.

Mom pushed me into studying Quantum Mechanics. I was never even interested in science. She didn't care, however. She would lock me in the house if she had to, not allowing anyone to visit me, not even Kai, until I finished with all the lessons I received from school on top of her own lessons she had created.

There were times when the frustration was so great that I would defy her, only to have her use my father's memory against me, telling me he would be disappointed if I did not follow in his footsteps. How could I defy that?

Having crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, I drove into the woods. I went as far as the road took me before continuing on foot. I put on my jacket and made sure everything was in my camping bag before setting out.

I walked down a hill with my trusty rift locator in hand. As I walked deeper into the woods, I came across enormous bones which were once a living, breathing Tyrannosaurus Rex.

In the early days, dinosaurs ran rampant, destroying everything in their path. Eventually the army came in with tanks and fighter jets, taking down the ferocious beasts. Now, dinosaurs rarely came through. Perhaps they had a sort of sixth sense that allowed them to detect and avoid the rifts. Nobody really knew, but whatever the reason, it was a relief knowing we didn't have to go through that again.

I walked some more, always looking behind my shoulder. "Calm down, Adam. It's just a bird," I whispered. Mom always watched my every move and I had become somewhat paranoid. Had I been able to sneak away or was she hiding behind a tree waiting to pounce? Trust Kai, I thought. He will call if she comes looking for you.

I finally reached a construction site that seemed to have been abandoned long ago. The rift locator was detecting a clear signal indicating a strong rift was forming nearby. I walked around the site, searching for the strongest point. There were no distortions, no signs of a rift forming. I moved the locator around and finally found the rift. It was above me.

"Great. How am I going to get up there?" I said. In order to see if the rift was fully formed, I searched for a small rock and threw it into the air to see if it would travel through it. The rock went through where the rift was supposed to be only to come back down, almost falling on my head. This meant the rift was still forming.

Rifts were unpredictable, appearing at random, and no two stayed open for the same amount of time. So I decided to wait there until the rift fully formed, otherwise it could disappear and I'd have to go in search for another.

While I waited, I climbed on top a steel beam and looked out into the ocean. It was past noon and the fog had cleared. The wind had picked up and I watched as the ocean waves crashed violently into the rocks. It was such a peaceful place, away from the chaos of the city, and I wondered why hadn't I been here before.

I waited for hours, losing myself in my thoughts, until the rift locator started beeping. I quickly took it out and pointed it to where I had found the rift. The locator was beeping louder than ever. Something was happening. I put my camping bag on my back and jumped across several steel beams until I had the rift almost straight below me.

I took out a rock I had kept in my pocket and tossed it into the rift. Finally! It went through. I can't deny I was nervous. The only home I had ever known would be left behind and there was a chance I might never be able to return. Yet, I would follow through with my decision.

I strapped my bag on tightly and started to count, "One...two." Before I decided to make the jump, a woman came through, landing hard on her side. She moaned, clearly in a lot of pain. My only opportunity could be fading away, but I couldn't leave her there. I made my way down and pulled back her golden hair so I could see her better. She was bleeding. She had wounds that had clearly not been caused by the fall.

"Stay with me. I have to get you to a hospital," I said, panicking. We were so far out into the woods that I didn't know how I would be able to carry her back to my car. She could bleed out along the way.

I was caught by surprise when she thrust her hand at me, grabbing a hold of my shirt. I could see the fire in her emerald eyes as she stared into mine, "Help me. They're coming."