D. MacHale - The Reality Bug

It was the nicest thing Aja Killian had ever said to me.

“We’re gonna fix this, Aja,” I said, trying to sound as confident as she was.

“We don’t have a choice,” she replied.

She was right. If we were to have any hope of rescuing Veelox from itself, and from Saint Dane, we had to purge the Reality Bug. I walked back to the jump tubes and looked down at Loor.

“What do I do, Pendragon?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I answered. “Just relax. You’ll slide inside, it’ll be dark for a few seconds and then we’ll be together in the jump.” I called out to Aja, “Right?”

“Exactly,” Aja called back. “I’ll be watching it all on the monitor.”

I hopped up onto my table and settled in. My heart started to beat faster. It was game time.

“Hobey-ho, let’s go!” I called out.

Loor called out, “Aja? What should I be ready for?” I could sense the slight tension in her voice. Loor was the single most fearless person I had ever met. But this was scary, even for her.

Aja answered with one, simple word. “Everything.” Funny. That was exactly what I was afraid of. Everything.

I was hit with a blinding flash of light and threw my hand up to cover my eyes. My first thought was that something had gone haywire and I was floating in Umbo. But a second later I realized what had happened.

I was staring up at the sun.

I quickly looked down to see I was standing on hard-packed dirt. I didn’t think there was a sun or dirt in limbo, so everything was cool. A few seconds later my eyes adjusted, and I got the first look at my surroundings. I was standing in the center of a rocky canyon. The walls rose steeply on either side of me. In the distance, the canyon made a few gentle turns, and emptied out into a green meadow. Beyond that in the far distance were snow-capped mountains. Not bad. Dr. Zetlin’s fantasy took place on a warm, sunny day in the great outdoors.

“Where are we, Pendragon?” Loor asked.

Oh, right. Loor. I almost forgot. I spun around to see her standing behind me. I smiled and said, “Howdy there, buckaroo.”

Loor gave me a strange look that said, “What the heck are you talking about?”

I didn’t blame her, but I couldn’t resist, because Loor was now dressed like a cowboy. Or cowgirl. Or cow-Traveler. Whatever. She had on blue jeans, a deep red shirt, and black cowboy boots. Her long black hair was tied back in a tight ponytail that reached down to the small of her back. Tied around her forehead was a rolled black bandana. She looked great.

I was pretty much dressed the same way: blue jeans, a deep green shirt, and the same kind of black boots. I even had a bandana around my neck. Dr. Zetlin’s fantasy was something right out of the Old West, which raised a weird question. Was there an Old West on Veelox? I guess there had to be, because we were in it.

Loor knelt down and picked up a handful of dirt, then let it spill through her fingers.

“It is real,” she said. “How can that be?”

“It’s real because our minds are telling us it is,” I answered. “Or Zetlin’s mind is telling us it is.”

Loor stood up and gazed around at the canyon. “This is what the man Zetlin is thinking?”

“Yeah,” I said. “He must have wanted to be a cowboy when he grew up.”

“What is a cowboy?” Loor asked.

Before I could answer, I heard a sound. It was a rumble, like far-off thunder.

“You hear that?” I asked.

The curious look on her face told me she did. We both stood there, listening, as the rumbling grew louder.

“It is coming from that direction,” Loor said and pointed deeper into the canyon.

Behind us the canyon walls made a sharp turn. There was no way to know what lay beyond. But Loor was right. Whatever was making that sound was around the bend, and getting louder. That meant it was coming closer. I took a quick look in the other direction. The mouth of the canyon had to be at least a half mile away.

“Look,” Loor said.

I looked back the other way to see a huge, brown cloud of dirt drifting out from around the bend in the canyon. What was coming? A storm? A rock slide? Godzilla? The thunder grew louder. The sound bounced off the walls of the canyon. Whatever was making that sound, it didn’t seem happy. I took another quick look around to see if there was a place we could hide. But the rock walls to either side of us were steep and unforgiving. No way we could climb up. If we were in trouble, the only safe place would be out of this canyon… a half mile away.

I kept my eyes on the bend in the canyon, but started to back toward the mouth.

“I think we’d better get outta here,” I said.

“If this is happening in Zetlin’s head, are we in danger?” Loor asked.

“That depends,” I answered.

“On what?”

“On what’s coming around that corner.”

A second later we had our answer. Charging around the bend of the canyon, running full throttle, was a herd of cattle. There must have been a thousand of them, headed right for us.

“Stampede!” I shouted. “Run!”

Loor and I turned and sprinted away from the charging mass of animals. I took a quick look back and saw that the swarm of beasts was packed nearly wall-to-wall in the canyon, all snorting and grunting with wild eyes. I’ll bet the animals in front of the herd were just as scared as we were. If one of them went down, they’d be trampled by the others charging up from behind. No way they were going to stop. They were running for their lives. Just like us.

“What are they?” asked Loor breathlessly. “Do they eat meat?”

“No, but if they catch us there won’t be anything left to eat anyway!”

There was no place to go for protection. We had to get out of that canyon. But it was too far away. No way could we outrun this charging herd. I looked back again and saw that they were catching up, fast. It was like racing against an avalanche and we were losing. I started to feel the prickle of grit on my neck from the cloud of dirt they were stirring up. In seconds we’d be roadkill. Or canyonkill.

“There!” shouted Loor.

She pointed to the canyon wall ahead of us, where I saw a single, brown vine that snaked down from somewhere above.

“Follow me!” Loor ordered, and ran for it.

There was only one vine. Even if it was strong enough, which I wasn’t sure about, there was barely time for one of us to climb. The herd would be on us in seconds.

“Jump on my back!” Loor commanded.

What? Was she crazy?

“Now!” she demanded, and grabbed the vine.

I wasn’t about to argue. I could feel the ground rumble with the thumping of oncoming hooves. Loor grabbed the vine and I grabbed Loor, wrapping my arms around her neck. She climbed, hand over hand, with her boots on the wall, walking up. I dangled from her neck, hoping she had the strength to do this and hoping the vine was strong enough to hold us both.

The cattle were on us. But we were high enough to be out of harm’s way. They charged past as if we weren’t even there. The mass of animals thundered by only inches below us. I could feel the heat coming up from their bodies. Or maybe it was my own sweat.

“You okay?” I asked Loor.

Loor gave a quick nod. No problem. I could feel the strength in her shoulders and arms. I shouldn’t have doubted her. This was cake for her. Now all we had to worry about was whether the vine would hold until the herd was past.

The cattle kept coming. I couldn’t believe how many there were. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, the herd started to thin, so they weren’t close to the canyon wall anymore.

And the vine snapped. Loor and I tumbled to the dirt. Luckily I broke Loor’s fall. Lucky for her, that is. It wasn’t so hot for me. She landed on me full force and knocked the wind out of my lungs. Ooof! It took me about a minute to catch my breath, but I didn’t care. We had survived. I glanced up and saw a few straggling cattle trotting after the herd. The rumbling sound of hooves grew faint. I glanced to the end of the canyon and saw the herd spreading out over the green meadow.