Gemini
Someone
besides herself.
She never
did.
“What’s the
use? I’m probably the last living person on Earth. If I’m not, the other person
could be on the other side of the world. Or they could be sick and dying from
radiation poisoning.”
She looked
down at where her hands rested on top of the tome she’d been reading for the
twentieth time. Or was it the fiftieth? She’d lost count long ago. Worse, she’d
stop caring. It had gotten to where the words had become a mishmash in her
head. The story no longer had any meaning to her, other than it was what she
called a “comfort read.”
If there
was anything to be grateful for, it was that she was a Gemini. Without her
other self, she knew she would have gone stark raving mad long before now.
She checked
the makeshift calendar she’d begun keeping soon after she’d escaped down here.
According to it, she’d been cooped up for fifty-eight days, but those were
guesses. The sole clock was an old wind-up model, which she dutifully wound
every “morning” she awoke. But it was impossible to tell morning from night.
“Well, not
really,” she argued with herself. Whenever she left her body and the bunker,
she knew if it was day or night outside. What she couldn’t distinguish was when
one day ended and night began. For all she knew, going out one “day,” and going
out again after she thought she’d had a full night’s sleep to find it daylight,
she’d sometimes discover it was the same day. Sometimes it two days later.
“Face it,
Lucia. Trying to keep track of your days and nights is the last thing you
should be worrying about.”
She turned
to stare at the small kitchenette. The place was packed with food and water, as
the bunker had been supplied to sustain up to fifteen people for sixty days. If
she watched her intake and only ate just two meals a day, she’d figured she
might be able to survive three years. That is, if the batteries held out.
Without them, the lights wouldn’t work. Neither would the air circulation
system. Or the AC. No lights wouldn’t be so much a problem. She had several of
those wind-up handheld flashlights. But the need for fresh air was a whole different
and potentially dangerous problem. In short, if it failed, she’d suffocate
inside this three-room box.
Sighing,
she leaned back against the wall. She wanted to escape from here. But since
opening that hatchway and stepping out into a nuclear-torn landscape was
impossible, she found peace of mind by transposing into her other self, her
“psychic twin” as her father described their abilities. In that shape, she was
free to roam outside. In her corporal form, radiation wouldn’t harm her. Neither
would the air quality, as her other self supplied it from within the bunker. Plus,
she wasn’t bound by gravity or the laws of physics. She could view the
devastation, and when she couldn’t stomach any more, she retreated back to the
safety of her body lying asleep and almost comatose inside the sealed habitat
she now called home.
But the biggest reason why she
ventured out was to look for survivors. She prayed daily that she’d find
evidence of others because that would lead her to where they were secluded.
Slamming her book shut, she set it
to the side. “To hell with this. If I want to go out, I can go. Why am I
putting it off?”
She stretched out on the cot and
closed her eyes. Slowing her breathing, she settled into that gray area that
enabled her to release her alternate form.
She arose from her body and glanced
down at herself to make sure there wasn’t anything that might accidentally hurt
or disturb her while she was away. Once she was reassured, Lucia floated
upward, passing through the bunker’s steel outer shell and yards of concrete
until she emerged into the open.
The sun was on its way down. She
figured she had a couple of hours at the most before sunset. When that
happened, the planet would become like a ghost town. Empty, devoid of all life.
No animal or insect life, much less human.
She noticed the moon was already
out, but it was a sliver of light. It wouldn’t provide enough illumination for
her to see anything clearly. Not when electricity or any sort of power no
longer existed. And because she was corporeal, bringing a flashlight with her
was impossible.
Rising a bit higher, she spotted
Reed’s Furniture Store with it’s unique green roof. That was her point of
reference.
“I haven’t gone in that direction in
a while,” she reminded herself. “If I keep going, Plackerton is about thirty
miles or so. Since I haven’t seen anything here in the city, there might be
something in one of the outlying towns.” She shrugged. “It’s worth a look-see.”
She followed the main thoroughfares
but kept above the rooftops, keeping her eyes open for any kind of sign, movement,
or sound from below. There was little wind. The sky was cloudless. Although she
couldn’t feel it, she knew it was bitterly cold. Mounds of ash, ice, and snow
littered the landscape. No footprints marred their pristine surfaces.
Cursing softly, she rose higher. Keeping
to the city was a useless endeavor. It was time she expanded her search.
Something twinkled in the distance.
At first she thought it was caused by sunlight reflecting off a piece of glass
until it happened again.
Lucia stopped, hovering in mid-air
as the glimmer repeated itself. If she didn’t know any better, she’d swear it
was growing bigger.
“It’s almost like…” She was about
to say it looked like her father whenever he was in his Gemini self. “But
that’s impossible. Daddy died six years ago.”
What if it was…another Gemini?
As far as she knew, she was the
only one of her kind in the city. Daddy always told her they were becoming
fewer and fewer every decade. Fortunately, they could marry normal humans and
procreate, but any child born of the union wasn’t guaranteed to carry the
Gemini genes. Her father had been ecstatic when she’d begun showing tendencies
when she was four months old. Since then, he’d been both her parent and
teacher. They’d gone on many memorable adventures as he taught her how to use
her abilities. But in all that time, she’d never met another of their kind.
The shimmering disappeared.
“No! No, no!”
She dove, aiming for the location
where she’d last seen the light. The spot turned out to be a Rex-Great
Supermarket. Like most of the buildings, the front plate-glass windows had been
blown out, but there was no way the sun was reflecting off the slivers lying on
the pavement. This section was already in shadow, which meant the sparkling—
“Hey! Hey, you!”
She jerked around. A young man
stood—no, floated—in the broken doorway. Like herself, she could see through
him. Neither did he cast any sort of shadow or reflection.
He stared at her in disbelief.
“Please tell me you’re a Gemini. Tell me I’m not imagining you.”
She forced a smile on her face to
keep from screaming in joy. “Yes! Yes, I’m a Gemini! My name’s Lucia Wilkes. Sweet
heavens!” She made herself take several deep breaths to steady herself. Back in
the bunker, she knew her body would also be reacting. She needed to fight these
emotions so she didn’t get too overexcited, or else she might fall off the cot
and possibly hurt herself. There was also the off chance she’d end up on her
face and suffocate.
“I-I didn’t know there was another
one like me,” the man continued.
“I know what you mean. My father
told me our kind were becoming very scarce.”
“Your father?” The man looked
around. “Where is he?”
“He died several years ago.” She
pointed to him. “You haven’t told me your name.”
“Tolton. Tolton Zabrac.”
“It’s good to meet you. Hell, I’m
thrilled to learn someone else survived!” She narrowed her eyes. “How old are
you, Tolton.”
“Twenty-four. You?”
“Twenty-six.” Lucia mentally shook
her head. Something seemed a bit…off. His face was gaunt, his shimmering body
unusually thin.
“How’d you manage to survive?”
Tolton asked, breaking into her thoughts.
“Sheer happenstance. I was shopping
here in town when I heard the alarms go off, so I ran to find the nearest
shelter. But the one I got to, they wouldn’t let me in. I was running down
Bentley Avenue when the first bomb landed somewhere way out there.” She
gestured toward the city limits. “So I dove into the first building that was
nearby. That’s when I noticed the fallout shelter sign on the wall. I followed
it to a bunker.”
“How many more are down there with
you?”
“There’s just me. That’s why I’m so
glad to find you.” She chuckled. “And you’re a Gemini! How about you?”
“I was at work at Doppling Realty
when the alarms sounded. Actually, I was the only one in the office. Shirley
was out on maternity leave, and Dan was at lunch. There’s a small shelter in
the basement, and I took off for it.” He shook his head. “Stupid, stupid,
stupid. I stumbled and fell going down the stairs. I barely managed to drag
myself inside and seal the door when everything around me started shaking like
an earthquake had struck.”
Lucia nodded. It was making sense
now. “I remember the floor heaving underneath me. Tolton, how badly are you
hurt?”
He winced. “Pretty bad. The only
way I can get any relief is by soaring.”
“Soaring?”
“Yeah. You know. What we’re doing
now.” He gave her a lopsided grin. “What do you call it?”
She chuckled. “Flying. In my other
self.” The thought of him being in pain all this time came to the fore, and she
grew serious. “Tolton, how are you surviving?”
He turned away from her before
answering. “I drag myself over to the boxes and eat whatever I can get my hands
on.”
Drawing closer, she stared more
intently at him. This close, she could see the dried blood and other stains on
his jeans. It was clear he hadn’t been able to clean himself after all this
time, and her heart went out to him.
“Doppling Realty is over on Fourth
Street, right?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“My bunker’s on St. Martin’s.
That’s what? Four or five blocks away?”
“Yeah.” His eyes widened. “What are
you thinking?” He sounded both cautious and hopeful.
“I need to get over to where you
are. See if there’s anything I can do to help you.”
Tolton shook his head. “There’s
nothing you can do. My legs are already healing…sort of.” He glanced down at
himself, then back up at her. “Besides, I’m filthy. My place is an absolute
disaster because I…I can’t…” He seemed on the verge of breaking down.
She knew exactly what he was trying
to say. “It’s going to be okay. Show me where you are. Where your body is. I
know we don’t have any sort of physical ability when we’re in our twin form. We
can’t touch or anything like that, but once I know where you are, I’ll be able
to figure out how far I am from you.”
“Are you seriously thinking about
leaving your bunker? You can’t! It’s too dangerous!” he protested, although she
knew he’d give anything for it to happen.
Taking a deep breath, she nodded.
“I’m going to try. I’ll find a way. Trust me, Tolton. I’ll find a way. There
has to be. But until I do…” She drifted closer to him, a trembling smile on her
face. “Let’s go over to your place. I can tell you’re tired. We can talk after
you meld back with your body.”
He hesitated. “Are you sure?”
“More sure than I’ve ever been in
my life.”
Tolton stared at her for a few more
seconds, then nodded. “Come this way,” he invited and soared into the sky with
Lucia right behind him.
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