POV: Drake

  He had pulled back his arm to throw the cross over a cliff and gravity disappeared. He was hovering over the Earth; it looked about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length. He floated in shock, staring at the planet below, his brain scrambling to make sense of what he was seeing.

  It was eerie. He wasn’t choking or breathing. His fists balled up as they did on the yard when some asshole walked behind him. He tried to demand, “Send me back” to whatever force was doing this to him, but no words came out. He inhaled to scream, but no air entered his lungs. Was he dy-

  His body felt like it was compressing and expanding at the same time.

  -ing?

  Disoriented, he saw something bright to his left. He turned his head and saw the planet Jupiter. What happened to Earth? Who was doing this to him? Had they given him drugs in prison? Was he still in there?

  He needed to go home. His heartbeat pounded faster. How was he supposed to get back to his kids? He tried to yell their names, Ethan and Lily. Nothing. He couldn’t hear anything other than his own panic. His ears popped against nothing and his body lurched.

  He was hovering over the Milky Way galaxy. He remembered it from Ethan’s 5th-grade science project. Only this galaxy was the size of his thumbnail. Even Lily’s thumb might eclipse the small double spiral of stars. Too small! Too far! He needed it to stop. The kids would think he had gone into the woods and run away. They would think he abandoned them on Christmas. This was supposed to have been his last chance and it was gone. His only company was lost hopes and past failures.

  His body staggered. He was still adrift in a black void. Around him were several tiny groupings, pinpoints of light. Was he looking at clusters of galaxies? Drake’s heart clenched up. He was ‘breathing’ faster and his heart felt like it would explode out of his body. He could almost see himself struggling, flopping around like a dying fish on an infinitely large black plate. Drake needed to get back to his kids. Drake never felt fear; this was terror. Hell.

  He shifted into a deeper void. There were some glowing wisps of thread. He didn't know what that meant. He was losing rationality. There was no hint of Earth anywhere. Silent screaming never stopped. Lily’s warm “Daddy” and Ethan’s cold “Kai” were his only anchors to sanity.

  He burst into a new void. This one had very low light. He couldn’t tell where it was coming from and he clawed desperately to where he thought the Earth was, towards his children. His lungs clenched, vomiting vacuum.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  A memory from prison. A phone call from Lily.

  Oh, no, Lily.

  There is some light.

  And that meant Drake was near the edge.

  A sudden lurch, bright light behind him. He didn’t turn around, only desperately reaching back into the darkness, where his universe was. He cried out for his children in terror. He was being pulled into light, a rainbow, passing through it left a ‘wake’ of color as he was sent out past the membrane of the universe’s infinite edge.

  He thrust into a void of white light, dragging a small contrail of the rainbow edge with him. There were endless universes. They were stacked on top of each other, impossibly thin membranes. He had no idea which one was his. Death would have been better than this.

  Ripples of thunder were in the white void, each one larger than dozens of the universes, audible to him.

  He could hear everything now, more than just his heartbeat. The sound of his breath, fabric brushing up against itself, these were at least familiar. His cross drifted in front of him. Reflexively, he grabbed it and put it back on.

  “Ethan,” he said, calmly this time. “Lily.” His voice turned into a thundering wave of something beyond his own perception.

  He was going somewhere, not drifting without purpose. There were visible milestones, membranes were colliding, passing through each other, he passed by them, and found new ones. He was moving parallel, if that concept existed, to the stack of universes.

  That pissed the living shit out of him. Was he wanted somewhere? They could fuck themselves. He had kids to pick up and an ex-wife to flip off.

  He descended to a different universe. Were these the shitheads that wanted him? Bastards.

  He dove in headfirst. His hand outstretched. This time not to hold on to what he was ripped from, but to crush where he was headed.

  This time passing through the empty void wasn’t terrifying. It was a slow-ass waste of his time. He clenched his teeth. How dare they? Out of all the people in the world, why him? It was infuriating. Insulting! Drake spat into the void beyond galactic clusters. He was getting closer.

  When he saw a single galaxy, the destination, he put one hand on the Glock. His face contorted into disgust and rage.

  When he floated above the Earth, he recognized the continents, but someone had really fucked them up. America looked like shit.

  The East Coast was gone past the Appalachians, and someone had ripped open Montana and Wyoming. There were no cities. A haze covered everything evenly, including the oceans. There weren’t any lights on the nightside part either. What were these assholes doing? He swept over the Pacific, towards East Asia. Fine.

  “You want me?!” Drake roared. “Here I come!”

  Drake flicked off the restraining strap on the Glock and drew it from the holster. Someone’s ass was about to get ventilated.