Rescue Mission, Part 2

“Where the hell are they?” barked Lithuania, pacing incessantly back and forth where her sisters had disappeared.

Marco stared into the distance, where the bunker was supposed to be. “If they don’t come soon…” he said.

Lithuania nodded. “I know.” She turned to face Marco. “Marco, I’m worried. What if they teleported straight into a trap?”

Marco said nothing. The air around them was growing cooler, and as Marco looked up at the sky with its swirling black clouds, he sensed change in the air. “What do you think is going to happen?” he said.

Lithuania followed his eyes to the sky, noticed he wasn’t staring at anything in particular, and sat down on a fallen tree trunk. “To who?”

“The world, I guess,” said Marco, taking a seat next to Lithuania. “Did you ever dream you’d live through something like this? AssMachenstan returning… Us slipping into parallel worlds… You and your sisters having magical powers…”

Lithuania shook her head. “To think that when we came to LusciousLocks… we were soldiers. Nothing more. And now I’m finding out AssMachenstan wants us—us in particular. That LusciousLocks is teeming with magic… That mom is still alive, somewhere, contacting Latvia through that book…”

“A lot has happened to you and your sisters,” nodded Marco, looking back up at the sky.

Lithuania shivered. The temperature was dropping. Marco placed his hand on her back and rubbed, gently up and down. “Damn it I feel so useless right now,” said Lithuania, staring off into the distance. Marco grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her close. She rested her head on his shoulder, distractedly, letting the warmth of his body seep into hers. She couldn’t take her mind off her sisters.

“Give it five more minutes,” Marco said. “If they don’t show up, we head on in.”

Lithuania tried to clear her mind. Tried to take those five minutes and just exist, in the moment. But the preoccupation was just too high. She was the one trained for battle, not her sisters. She should be in there, not them. They were civilians. Mere civilians.

“Do you hear that?” said Marco, sitting straight.

Lithuania held her breath. Yes, she heard it. A dull droning sound, that seemed to be originating in the corners of her mind. “Where’s it coming from?”

Marco jumped to his feet, his rifle at the ready. “Everywhere.” The droning grew louder, shriller—like an enormous speaker about to blow. And then a giant cracking, splitting sound rent the air, and the world around Marco and Lithuania shifted. Behind them was the same forest they had just walked through, except everything was at odd angles, as if reflected off the surface of a broken mirror.

 And within one of those fractured angles was the mist lady.

“Marco, why hello,” said Delilah, almost sweetly. She was tilted at a 35 degree angle in relation to Marco and Lithuania, but didn’t seem to notice. “So we meet again.”

“What the hell is happening,” said Lithuania to Marco, trying not to let the warped reality around her make her dizzy.

Delilah snapped, and suddenly Lithuania felt Marco go rigid. She looked, frightened, into his eyes, and noticed they had glazed over with a dark sort of mist. “We are aligning now Marco. It’s time.”

Lithuania looked from Delilah, to Marco, and back to Delilah, confused. “Marco!” she yelled, shaking his shoulder. “Snap out of it!” He looked at her, blankly, raised his weapon, and slammed her head with the butt of his rifle. She collapsed to the floor, senseless.

“Excellent,” said Delilah, smiling. “Now take her to your Delilah. If your world is like half the others, then she’s been deceived into believing she’s already captured this Starr sister. Now go.”

Marco nodded, picked up Lithuania’s body and walked straight towards the AssMachenstani bunker.