“I’m not a spy,” I clarified. “In fact, I’m here to save the human race. Now, could you please put the knife down?”
Natalie tilted her head and bit her lip as she pondered whether or not to let me go. Finally, she let out a huff and lowered the blade.
“Go on.” She nodded. “But don’t even try to bullshit me. I’m the equivalent of a human lie detector.”
“You know those things are about as effective as a wooden shelter in a tornado, right?” I tried to joke, but Natalie simply tightened her grip on the knife in her hand. “Uh… Right. Probably not the best time for humor.”
“Spill it,” the blonde woman growled as she sat down on the cot in her tent.
Then Natalie reached underneath the tiny bed and came back up with a small pistol. She cocked it at me and motioned for me to sit down on the ground.
Are you alright? Karla’s voice cut through the silence. Your heart rate is still crazy through the roof.
“It’s alright,” I promised, “I’ve just got some explaining to do.”
Chapter 7
“My name really is Hunter,” I explained as I stared down the barrel of Natalie’s pistol. “And I do come from Minnesota or ‘The Tundra’ as you guys like to call it… Just not the Minnesota from your dimension.”
“My dimension?” Natalie scoffed. “What other dimension is there?”
“Trust me,” I chuckled, “I was literally in the same boat as you were not too long ago. I was just a humble Pest Control Technician who accidentally stumbled across a secret lab and got caught up in interdimensional travel.”
“I want to call bullshit,” the blonde woman said with a confused look, “but I don’t hear any irregularities in your voice or nervous ticks.”
“That’s because I’m not lying,” I assured her. “As bug-nuts crazy as it sounds, this is all real. I’m from Dimension One, and we are currently sitting in Dimension Nine-Fifty-One. Aka ‘The Nuclear Pandemic.’”
“And you’re here to ‘save us all?’” Natalie made a mocking motion as she spoke. “Well, hate to break it to you, Mr. Dimension Hopper… you’re too late.”
“No, I’m not.” I shook my head. “This world might be ravaged by a nuclear apocalypse and filled with Rubberfaces, but it’s far from gone. In fact, the reason I’m here is to kill off all those bastards who attacked us today.”
“Ha!” the blonde woman scoffed. “Now, I know you’re full of shit. Do you know how many Rubberfaces are in this area? Ninety percent of the old city’s population. Now, I don’t know if the population of your ‘Chicago’ is the same as here, but that’s a whole lot of Rubberfaces.”
“I know.” I hung my head and let out a deep sigh. “That’s why I need your help.”
I spent the next twenty minutes pouring my heart out to Natalie. I told her all about my previous life, how I accidentally stumbled across Dr. Nash’s machine, and the proposition Karla had made me. I told her about my special abilities, and how I was the only one who could jump across the dimensions and save the human race in each different apocalyptic scenario. I even told her about Karla, the little voice in my head.
“Has she been listening to everything we’ve been saying?” Natalie questioned.
“No.” I shook my head. “She can only hear me, and only when I want her to. Watch this… Karla? I’m telling Natalie everything right now. Don’t be mad.”
Are you sure that’s the best course of action? Karla’s voice retorted. That’s a lot of information to drop on somebody at once.
“Natalie’s seen some stuff,” I reassured her. “And she’s got a good head on her shoulders. I think she’s ready.”
If you say so, Karla dismissed. It’s your funeral if you mess things up, not mine.
“How do I know you’re not just talking to yourself?” Natalie demanded. “You could just be trying to kiss up to me so I don’t slit your throat right here and now.”
“You’re the human lie detector, remember?” I reminded her. “Does it sound like I’m lying?”
“No,” she admitted and narrowed her eyes, “but you could just be really good at it.”
“Come on, Natalie,” I chuckled. “A minute ago, out there, you could read me like a book. And now I’m suddenly a master of deception?”
The blonde woman bit her lip as she thought over my words, and then she shrugged and laid her pistol down on the cot beside her.
“It’s still here,” she warned, “don’t try to run.”
“I know better than that,” I mused. “You’d probably shoot me in the back of the head before I could even get to the closest tent.”
“Flattery isn’t getting you anywhere,” Natalie reminded me. “So, you’re here to save us all by killing every Rubberface in the Fallen Lands? How does that do us any good? Those things aren’t just here in the Smoulder. They’re supposedly everywhere around the world.”
“If I’m being completely honest with you,” I admitted, “I’m not sure. I’m just doing what Dr. Nash’s algorithm predicted.”
“Wait… ” Natalie scowled. “You’ve come here to my dimension so you could risk life and limb to maybe save humanity, based on a prediction by a machine?”
“The most advanced machine in my dimension,” I corrected.
“Why?”
“Well… because I wanted to do some good with my life.” I shrugged.
Natalie crossed her arms across her chest and shot me a look of skepticism.
“Really?” she chuckled. “Lie detector, remember?”
“I had to try.” I smiled weakly. “Fine. I’m in it because Dr. Nash and his daughter are paying me handsomely.”
“So, it’s all for money?” Natalie questioned as she arched an eyebrow. “You’re jumping through dimensions, risking life and limb, facing off against lord knows what… All for money?”
“To be fair, you don’t know what a Pest Control Technician makes in a year.” I shrugged. “This one little excursion to your dimension is enough to pay off all my debt and set me up for a long time.”
“So, you’re only doing one mission?”
Well, now might as well have been as good a time as any to break the news.
“Most likely.” I nodded. “Especially when I bring back this dimension’s Wayfarer, and they can take over for me. One mission, one payday, and then my successor takes over. It’s a pretty good plan, actually.”
Natalie now looked completely unamused.
“I hate to break it to you, Hunter,” she scoffed as she leaned forward, “but the odds are your Wayfarer here is dead.”
“No, she’s not.” I grinned. “Because I’m looking right at her.”
It took a moment for the revelation to sink in. Then Natalie’s eyes went wide, and her mouth fell open in shock. The blonde woman sat back up on her cot, wrapped her arms around herself, and began to shake her head back and forth.
“That’s impossible,” she argued. “I’m… I’m just a Scavenger.”
“That’s what I said at first, too,” I admitted, “but Dr. Nash assured me it’s genetic, and not something decided by your job or your self-worth.”
“But how do you know it’s me, exactly?” Natalie asked. “Did this computer guy tell you my name when he sent you here?”
“Nope,” I continued. “I was just lucky enough to come across you on this mission. Dr. Nash would probably argue that it was fate or something like that.”
“Fate?” Natalie rolled her eyes. “Pleaaaase.”
“It’s apparently actually a real thing,” I elaborated. “Something called the ‘two-way arrow’ or something like that. Anyways, that’s beyond the point. You’re the Wayfarer of Dimension Nine-Fifty-One, Natalie. You can help me save your world, and then come back and save dozens more.”