THE RED WAKE

Chapter 18-19

    CHAPTER 18

Bottoms, Illinois... 

     Gloria Dawn walked in a garden of indescribable beauty. Flowers that had never thrived beneath Earth’s single sun surrounded her in a blaze of color that struck wonder from her dying heart.

     A blue sky stretched overhead, but she could make out no sun, or any source for the pearlescent illumination that pervaded this place. There was a sound, like the hum of a million ethereal voices raised in celebration, in the air. On the ground near her feet stirred pools of something that looked like clear water. But the liquid, if liquid it was, seemed to vibrate with life and vitality, a lifeforce, that left Gloria Dawn dumbfounded. Looking at the pools evoked a deep sense of longing in her. She stooped to touch one of the pools, feel it’s coolness upon her skin, and the Voice stopped her.

     “Do not touch them, child. To do so would bring only woe to one such as you.  My kind have brought harm enough to your world.”  

     Startled, Gloria Dawn stood and turned to see the owner of the now familiar Voice. Coming toward her was a creature like none she’d ever seen or imagined in all her childhood dreams. It was a being seemingly made of light, tall, vaguely tree- like, yet mobile, aware. Moving nodes of bright luminescence spun lazily through the upper “branches” of the creature’s body glimmering motes  propelled by the gentlest of breezes.

     For a moment, the coldness of the cell in which her physical body lay exploded back into her awareness and with it, the face of the man who was murdering her body burst into being before her mind's eye. 

     Then the vision failed, swept away by the power she sensed emanating from the shining creature. Some distant remanant of Gloria Dawn's old self felt the urge to attack the being who stood before her, to rip and kick and tear at it until it lay bloody and dying, as she lay dying, back in her own world.

     “You would be correct to condemn me, my child. For I am the Cause, and the source of all your suffering. Nevertheless…”

     The tall creature leaned down, and gazed into Gloria Dawn’s eyes. Its eyes were many, and filled with the light from a thousand stars.

     “Your sacrifice will help us redeem worlds.” 

 *****

 CHAPTER 19

Chicago...

     “You moron," Lang snapped. “If the Circle were still in control, don’t you think that they would have found a way to contact us by now?” 

     They'd been arguing about the next move all day, shouting back and forth between their adjoined suites, until finally, Lang had reached the end of his patience. He needed to get out of this room,  out of the Downtown Hilton frickin' Hotel. He needed to get far away from the one man who continued to chap his hide till it bled: Harold Nathaniel Bendix; Super Agent and El Negro Supremo Grande. 

     An explosion from somewhere nearby snapped their focus to the large window in their suite. Grateful for the distraction, Lang went to see what was happening. 

     Outside their window, nine storey's below, the “El” was on fire. The section of the Elevated train tracks that penetrated the Loop from the rest of the city had broken in half. The first two cars of the train had plunged into the streets and exploded, igniting two stores and several abandoned cars.