MirrorWorld

I swerve hard to the right as the road bends left, shouting in surprise and fright as I nearly cross over the lines and plow into a car. I cut hard back to the left, narrowly avoiding a tree. The driver lays on the horn, flipping me off as he speeds past. My heart beats hard. I slow the ATV. I was so wrapped up worrying about death that I nearly brought it about.

Moving at just twenty miles per hour, I catch my breath. I’m not sure why I’m winded. I’m sitting. The ATV is doing all the work, but I feel like I’m running a marathon.

Tires screech behind me. The high-pitched sound is followed by a sharp crash, the sound of metal striking wood.

It’s coming.

It’s still coming!

I gun the engine, speeding up the road, fear of what’s behind me overpowering my fear of crashing.

I see the police car up ahead. The officer is just now climbing out of the vehicle. He sees me. Goes for his gun. But he’s still dazed. Has trouble unclipping the weapon. As I zoom past, I shout, “Run!” But the officer just stands there, fighting for his weapon.

I’m just two hundred feet beyond the man when a shrill scream tears from his mouth. I glance back. The man convulses in the street, struck down by some unseen force.

It’s right there.

I can’t see it. I refuse to see it. But I know it’s there. The giant Dread. Closing in on me, ready to unleash a fear powerful enough to destroy a man’s mind.

I increase the ATV’s speed. I have no choice now. Driving like a maniac—like I used to be—is my only option.

Be Crazy, I tell myself.

I’m still that guy. I can still do the things he did. My skills, my knowledge—none of that has changed. I’m just afraid.

Despite the summertime warmth, a chill spreads over my body. It’s close. With a mile of road left to go and the long Neuro driveway, I’m not going to make it. Make it to what? If the Dread are inside the building, where can I hide?

Hide?

Dammit, I hate being afraid. The emotion is intolerable.

The short hairs on my head stand a little taller. All over my body, hair attempts to stand on end. A chill shakes through my core and nearly sends me off the road. I have just seconds.

With a scream wrought by the nearness of the Dread and the action I’m about to take, I cut hard to the left, cross the yellow lines, and launch into the woods. If it wants to reach me, it’s going to be in the world between, where the trees will obscure me. And if it wants to enter this world and kill me physically, the forest will slow it down.

In theory. I’m basing all this on a day’s worth of experience and secondhand, untested knowledge provided by my previous self.

I swerve in and out of trees, making myself a hard target. There’s no sign that anything is behind me, and while the chill gripping my body has faded some, it’s still there. It’s just harder to notice since I require nearly all my attention to keep from slamming into a tree.

The trees thin ahead. I can see the sky. I’m approaching a clearing. Almost there …

A tree cracks behind me.

I glance back. Bark has been shredded from a pine.

The air shakes.

The giant Dread is pushing itself into our world. It doesn’t want to scare me to death, it wants to smear me on the forest floor.

A blur of motion pulls my attention to the right. A tree explodes, bark peppering my face. The tall evergreen topples over, falling diagonally toward me. I hunker down and speed onward, determined to beat the tree’s descent. The splintering wood and loud whoosh are hard to hear over the ATV’s whining engine, but I can feel the thing coming, just as surely as I can feel the Dread.

Pine needles slap my head. A small branch whips my scalp, opening a wound, but I manage to escape being struck by the tree’s girth.

I look back again, expecting to see the Dread or another falling tree, but the woods appear empty, save for the dust kicked up by the felled pine.

When I look forward, I scream.

Adrenaline surges again. I move faster than I have before, turning the ATV hard to the right. The crackle of the electrified fence tickles my ears as I narrowly avoid slamming straight into it. I hadn’t seen it up close before, but I now recognize the black, weaved metal for what it is. Oscillium. No matter which world the Dread is in, it’s going to hit that fence.

And then it does.

The fence rattles as it’s lifted out of the earth by an unseen force. Electricity cracks over its surface, surging into the Dread.

I slow and look back, peering into the mirror world.

My eyes widen. The Dread is there, still alive but tangled in the fence, shrieking in pain. It’s a blur of movement, giving me no clear view of itself beyond giant limbs. I shift my vision back to a more comfortable frequency without getting a good look at the thing. All I really know is that it’s the size of a monster-truck 18-wheeler, with wide, squat legs; really long, hooked claws; and streaks of glowing purple veins.