Chapter 24

I jumped out of another gateway days later and landed on the ground. The ground was grass, and it was obvious, at least to me at this point, that the area was filled with life.

Honestly, it felt like it had been forever since I had left my nice cushy life with those I cared about just to follow some gut feeling, and now I was on the run from something terrible. What did I originally leave for? Well, if you haven’t been reading up until this point let me sum up everything for you. My name is Joshua Timothy Swartz. I had sex with my twin sister, Heather Mary Swartz on a hot summer night because we were a couple of horny kids. I don’t have an excuse beyond that. This then extended to my mother, a number of our friends, my older sisters, my younger half-sister, and one of my employees. Oh and let’s not forget people in different universes. I originally traveled to another universe to find my father, who as it turns out was stuck there. Also, it turned out my father was my uncle. Go figure right? During that time, I ran into another version of a girl who died when I was really young and brought her back. I had thought she was my one true love, but when I got her back, something was off, different, and she felt it too. So I started traveling through universes after realizing that. I sort of wished that I didn’t at this point. The only person that I remotely wanted to connect was a cop, and she found me annoying.

I looked around. The area seemed nice enough. A nice park with kids playing on a plastic jungle gym. It reminded me of my home world, but I knew it wasn’t. Things were off here. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do in this world, but I knew at least one thing. I needed a cup of coffee. Looking around, I finally spotted a road and began walking towards it. As I reached it, I spotted the center of the town not too far off and turned towards it.

“Hold it right there!” A familiar voice called out.

I recognized the voice. It was her. The cop from the other world I had visited a few jumps ago. Tessa.

“Fuck.” I said stopping in my tracks.

Yes, only one person would recognize me like this, and I recognized the voice as soon as I heard it. I turned around to see Officer Tessa Wright. She stood 5’5”, with long brown hair, brown eyes, and in full body armor. Her armor looked similar to swat gear that cops wear in modern times. She had a gun holstered under her arm, and a gateway device that reminded me of Nitty’s Psy-scan attached to her hip. She was between 20 and 25 in age, and stood with an attitude of absolute authority. I had met her when a murder had been committed by someone matching my description, and I had been arrested. Thankfully he murdered again, and then was arrested, so I was released and moved on my way, hoping those things that had been chasing me wouldn’t follow me again.

Those things, I called them Shadow Beasts. When I first encountered them, they didn’t interact with people in the dimension, just sort of wandered around, but I decided to investigate, and they attacked. They’d been chasing me ever since and nearest I had guessed that they were tracking me through the gateway manacle that they had damaged. I had been hoping from world to world, hoping to land in my own so that I could get some help from Nitty, since I found out I was on my own again but from my view, some time had passed, and I was out of luck.

“What do you want?” I asked. “I was cleared of the charges in your world.” I added as she jogged up to me.

“That doesn’t mean I won’t keep an eye on you.” She said. “You wouldn’t even tell us why you’re doing this, where you’re from or your name.” She added.

“Doing what?” I asked spinning back around and starting to walk again.

She did a quick sprint to catch up and walk next to me. She was untrusting, probably figured that I was some sort of murderer too based just on my looks. She wanted to know all this about me though? Why? Why would she go to these lengths to bother me? I had left her world.

“Traveling between worlds.” She said.

“Why are you following me?” I asked.

“I’m not. I am walking beside you.” She pointed out.

I rolled my eyes.

“You followed me to this world.” I said.

“Yes, I did.” She said.

“Why did you follow me to this world?” I asked.

“Because I find you interesting.” She stated.

“But why do you find me interesting, Tessa?” I asked looking at her.

“Because, I’ve been given leave to watch you as a person of interest to my world.” She said.

“I’m not that interesting.” I said as we got about halfway to the center of town.

The center of town was clearly busy, not the locale I wanted to deal with if there was another attack, but I needed some coffee to keep going. I had been up for 20 hours at this point, and I couldn’t risk falling asleep when an attack had just happened.

“Well, you’re interesting to me.” Tessa said.

She blushed. An Emotional response? From her? Such a response didn’t happen in her world. I stopped as did she. I turned towards her completely.

“Why?” I asked.

“You just are!” Tessa said to me.

“What are you hiding?” I asked.

“I have been tasked by the Overseer to watch you as a person of interest to my world and report back when I have ample information on you.” She said turning towards me.

“Not much to know about me. I’m trying to jump back to my world and trying to survive attacks from the shadow beasts, and avoid being arrested by cops who don’t even ask for my identification.” I said. “So you can cross me off your list of persons of interest.”

“Well, you are interesting to me.” Tessa said again.

“Why?” I asked again.

“You just are!” She said blushing brighter.

I looked at her and saw she was blushing harder.

“Are you ... infatuated with me?” I asked.

Her face turned as red as it could.

“No way, absolutely not!” She said, turning her head away. “Such a thing does not exist on my world.” She said softly.

“Don’t you date in your world?” I asked.

“What is that?” She asked.

“Two people going out to explore their feelings?” I asked.

She looked blankly at me.

“How do you select your husbands or wives there?” I asked.

“Our what?” She asked.

“How do you have children?” I asked.

“Our genetic material is harvested and then selectively bred.” She said.

Holy shit, a world full of virgins. Maybe I should’ve stayed. I chuckled to myself as the idea would’ve been ridiculous.

“So, you are feeling something and have no idea what?” I asked.

Her face went redder than ever. I would say at this point I was really embarrassing her. I was making her access something she had no idea how to express.

“Well?” I asked.

Her face calmed down and she turned her head back towards me.

“No.” She said, obviously lying. “That would be against our societal rules.”

“Well I guess that’s good. Because with those things attacking, it’s not safe to be around me.” I said.

Her face calmed down.

“They are dangerous.” She pointed out. “And they do seem to be following you. That is why the overseer has deemed you as a person of interest.”

“So you can see them too?” I asked.

“We all could. Our eye sight is...” She started.

“Genetically manipulated.” I said rolling my eyes.

“Yes.” She said. “What are those things anyways?” She asked.

“Shadow Beasts. They’ve been trailing me since my gateway manacle got damaged. I can’t get back to my home world to get it repaired, so I figured I’d try and find someone like it’s inventor to fix it.” I said before turning back towards the shopping district I spotted a while back. “Problem is, they attack at random and I’m worried if they crash into the town.”

“Anyways, I’m heading to get some coffee. I’ve been awake for at least 20 hours, and I need to stay awake if I’m gonna find someone who can get me home.” I said.

“You’re an idiot.” She said shaking her head.

“I am?” I asked.

She pulled out her gateway generator and pressed a few buttons. She opened up a gateway and pulled me through.

We stepped into what looked like a tropical paradise.

“There are no civilians here.” She pointed out. “The beasts will have a harder time tracking you as we used my generator.”

“Because if they are tracking me by my generator, then I shouldn’t use it?” I asked. “Where are we?” I asked.

“You are correct.” She said.

“Fine.” I said reaching down and turning off my generator. “So, again, where are we?”

“As far as I can tell, this is a world where human life does not exist. Or at least to the level that I’m used to.” Tessa explained. “The overseer wants me to map out the worlds I find so that we may revisit them and study them after. I found this one while trying to track you. There are no signs of human manipulation no matter which part of the planet I go to.” She explained further.

She grabbed my hand and led me towards a stream.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked.

“Shut up.” She said as she stopped me, and forced me to take off my sword and jacket. “Here.” She said.

She rolled my jacket into a ball and put it on the ground then forced me to lay down on the ground, using my jacket as a pillow. She put my sword by my arm where I could reach it.

“Drink.” She said pointing at the stream. “It is easy to see you are dehydrated. The water here is pure.”

I did as she said, kneeling by the stream and taking a drink. While I did, she got things ready for me nearby and I was astonished to see a makeshift bed made out of leaves for me when I finished and looked around to find her. She had put my sword by the right hand side of the bed, and my jacket as a pillow.

“I apologize that it will not be a comfortable sleeping arrangement, but I suppose it will suffice.” She said.

“No, it’s nice. Thank you.” I said.

She blushed from the compliment. She brushed her hair out of the way of her face and stared at me for a moment like she was expecting something else. She then snapped out of it.

“Now get some sleep. I’ll watch your back.” She said.

“Why are you being so nice now?” I asked.

“You’re an idiot.” She responded. “My accommodation is irrelevant.” She said as I laid down. “You will be unable to continue if you are exhausted.”

I have to be honest. The sounds of the birds chirping, the stream flowing, and knowing she was trying to protect me, even if she didn’t want to show her emotions or just was unaware of how to do so, was very relaxing. When I finally laid down, I was out like a light. I awoke several hours later, finding her sleeping perpendicular to me, with the back of her head on my chest. She had removed her upper armor, revealing just a white athletic shirt, which was tight on her. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and I could easily make out every curve of her upper body. She was breath taking, and something told me that this was just right. Having her rest on me. Having her sleeping next to me. I wanted it. I wanted more of it. And that scared me. I barely knew her. Hell, she barely knew herself. She was emotionally detached from the world, and was only slowly starting to experience emotions by interacting with me. But having her near me now, reminded me of what I missed so much about my own world. The caring, the people around me, looking out for me, worrying about me. My thoughts drifted back to Heather and the others as I looked up towards the sky. How long had it actually been since I had left? There was no way to tell with the manacle being damaged after my second jump.

I thought back to that momentarily. I had arrived in a world much like my own, except everything had been perfect there. No deaths, no world hopping. It was perfect. But something was off, those things were there. The shadow beasts and I was the only one who could see them. Who knew why? Maybe it was my time jumping across worlds. Maybe it was the odd feeling I had when Tabitha and I had sex in her world. In the end, when I got curious, and it took a swipe at me, that’s when everything changed. I jumped to the next world to try to get away and protect myself, and each jump took time, like Nitty had originally told us. I had no idea how long it had been before I landed in the next world, or the one after that, but I needed to protect myself,.

When I was in questioning in Tessa’s world, they had scanned my gear, gotten schematics for my gun, my sword, and the manacle. They made her generator using mine as a base, and that’s how she was able to come after me. But why still eluded me. Why would the overseer order her after me? What was the gain? Why would she go see this overseer about me? Was it that she was unknowingly wanting to be near me? She did say she was interested in me. I laid there for a moment, just feeling her breathing. It was soothing, like ... her body was telling me that everything would be alright.

But again, why? Why did she follow me, knowing the danger? Was it a sense of duty? It was a fool’s errand to be sure. I mean, if these shadow beasts could injure my body with it being able to use the original manacle, how would she fair when they attacked. She couldn’t! It would be suicide. She must have known that. The overseer must have known that. But still she came. Did she ... love me? Did she love me and maybe not realize? Wait ... what was I thinking? Did I love her? Did I love her enough to let her take that risk? Sure, I felt something with her while she was questioning me ... I wanted her near me ... I didn’t even know her and I wanted her near me.

I closed my eyes again, and began to drift back.

I awoke again, in the forest with her still sleeping next to me, but instead of Tessa just using me as a pillow, she was now snuggled up to me. She had her head on my chest, her arm over me as if hugging me, and her leg across mine as if she were ready to get up and ride me. This was an interesting turn of events. I felt that maybe it was just she didn’t understand her emotions and I wondered if this was the strange form of breeding or their upbringing. It seemed in her sleep that she was admitting she was either attracted to me, or just really needed someone she felt safe with. I couldn’t decide which as the rain began to fall and gently woke her.

“Hmm? What?” She asked not realizing, or caring that she was snuggling me.

“It’s starting to rain, we should find some cover.” I said softly.

“I was ... dreaming ... I apologize, I left you while you were sleeping and talked with the overseer.” She said as she got up.

“A dream of me?” I asked.

This snapped her back to reality.

“What the hell?” She asked sitting up, completely embarrassed.

“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything.” I said with a smirk. “Who would believe me anyways? A cop from a world that has better technology than ours decided to snuggle me in a forest world while we slept?” I laughed as she straightened out her clothing.

“Right! Like I could ever, or would ever willingly snuggle a...” She started, then tried to think of a name to call me, “ ... renegade like you, anyways!” Tessa protested, still flushed.

She stood up as I sat up.

“Renegade, right ... Oh sure, princess. Not much better off, not knowing emotions.” I said rolling my eyes. “So why are you still following me?” I asked.

“I have my orders!” She shouted as we started to move north.

“And what are your orders?” I asked.

“We will discuss them after we find shelter.” She said.

We started jogging north. The rain really started pouring down now as she led us to a cave. Once we got inside, she turned to me.

“Fuck!” She cursed noticing that her remaining clothing was completely soaked through and no longer hiding her upper body. “Can you start a fire? Please tell me you have a fire pill or something.”

“Not sure what a fire pill is, but my gun can start one. Problem is, I only have four cartridges left.” I said as I purposefully looked away.

“A fire pill would be a kind of ammo my gun uses. And what’s wrong with you only having four cartridges?” She asked.

“The fire will take up one and the gun is the only thing that kills those beasts.” I said.

“And?” She asked.

“I can’t make more or get more.” I said.

“Why not?” She asked.

“Because they didn’t come from my world, and I, sort of, stole the gun.” I explained. “Stole is a harsh word ... I picked it up off a dead alien.”

I heard an audible slap of her forehead.

“Why am I not surprised?” She asked.

“Well, you would have too if you were running from those things!” I yelled spinning back seeing her topless. “What about your weapons? Can’t you start a fire?” I asked.

“They don’t work when wet, and I would need a fire pill.” She stated.

I couldn’t really make out any of the shapes of her breasts in the darkness of the cave. I blushed immensely and spun back.

“Sorry.” I said.

“It’s...” She started then paused. “ ... Okay. I doubt you saw anything in all this darkness anyways.” She sighed. “Not that I’d mind with you.” She muttered softly. “We don’t tend to have issues with nudity on my world.” She added in a normal tone.

“Something you’re not telling me?” I asked.

“It’s nothing. We require to get warm and dry to avoid becoming ill. You will use a cartridge and in the morning, we will move out. I was warned by Overseer that the Shadow Beasts may be able to trace us here.” She said.

“So you’re useless in the rain?” I asked softly.

“Only until I dry off.” She said as I looked around and began to gather up brush.