The Enforcers: Continued

We had been walking for so long my legs became heavier with every step. The sun was just passing over, finally freeing us from its heat. As we walked, Cooper continued to chat at Jim, silent only at the times he needed to stop for a breath. 

I was focusing on the dome around us. I kept a good ten feet between us to avoid getting thrown back from its force. As I walked along, I put my hand out and let it float in the air beside me, like I was dragging it alongside the clear electricity of the dome, feeding off of its energy. I imagined it turning to a clear shell of glass that with the lightest of pressure, the whole dome would shatter around me. The only sign of it once being here would be the small glass fragments that littered the ground. 

Coopers voice pulled me out of my reverie. 

“What?” I said.

“I said that one of these days, I’m going to challenge you to a race. Then we’ll see who’s the fastest runner.” He said this with a huge grin that stretched across his entire face. 

I laughed and shook my head in response, a little annoyed that he interrupted my daydreaming. 

“That cocky, huh?” he teased. 

A low rumbling sound came from my left, away from the edge of the dome. When I turned my head towards it, there was nothing but the familiar view of trees filling my vision. Jim continued to walk along the dome, unaware of the noise while Cooper was still rambling on about the race. 

“Alright, if you really want to prove you’re the best, we can do it right now,” he said as he took off his khaki jacket and tied it around his waist. Something fell out of his jacket pocket as he did this. When I bent down to pick it up, I saw it was an old photograph of a little boy. He had Cooper’s toothy smile and dimpled cheeks. 

The photo was snatched from my hands. I looked up and met Cooper’s wary gaze as he tucked the picture into his back pocket.

“Is that you?”

“Uh yeah,” he said as his eyes darted quickly to where Jim stood, observing the dome. “I mean, I think so. It was in my pocket when I woke up.” 

The bloody knife grew heavy in my pocket as I debated whether or not to tell him the truth about where I found it. My hand flinched in its direction when I heard the noise again. It was louder this time, as if it was getting closer. 

“Can you hear that?” I asked Cooper.

“Hear what?” 

“There’s a noise coming from over there.”  

I looked at Jim as he stared deep into the forest. His face and body were as still as stone. 

Cooper looked around, confused as his stare darted between Jim and me. Just as he was about to question further about the noise, the ground started to shake violently beneath us. 

“Run!” Jim yelled as he ran towards me and grabbed my arm, pulling me along with him while Cooper ran alongside us.

The rumble followed behind, right on our heels.  It was difficult to find my footing as I tried to outrun the noise and the trembles. All I focused on was the ground in front of me, as the noise started to fall behind, not quite fast enough to keep pace with me.  I continued along the edge of the dome as the others ran behind me.  

I continued this stride until Jim wrapped his large hand around my arm, jolting me to a stop.  

“Come on,” he yelled over the noise, pointing into the forest. 

“No, we should keep along here.” I argued, as I tried to free myself from his grip. 

“Trust me, Micah,” he said. 

“But…” 

“Trust me.”

I looked between the dome and the forest, as the sound grew louder and the ground continued to shudder. I had a strong impulse in my stomach telling me to stay out of the forest. But as my eyes shifted between Jim and Cooper, I forced myself to ignore it. I nodded my head as I allowed Jim to pull me towards the trees as the heavy feeling in my stomach grew stronger. 

We ran deep into the forest. The shakes became more severe as they moved beneath us and the rumble sounded angrier with every step. 

As I looked ahead, I noticed an opaqueness in the air that was growing closer. I started to slow down as I approached it, Jim and Cooper slowed down with me.  When I looked back, I saw that the same weird filter was approaching us from the other direction as well. 

“Why are you stopping?” Jim asked.

“Look over there. Do you see that?” 

Jim’s eyes followed where I pointed. 

“I don’t see anything. Come on let’s keep going.”

Just as Jim tried to continue, a blood-curdling screech ripped through the air, halting him in his place. The sound echoed in my ears as I frantically looked around for the source. We all covered our ears with our hands as the screech continued. 

“Let’s go,” Jim yelled over the noise. 

As he started to run, I realized the opaque air had completely surrounded us. My hand lifted beside me as I ran it through the air, feeling the electricity once again. That’s when it hit me. The dome had shrunken around us. We were trapped. 

“Jim, stop!” I exclaimed as he ran right towards the side of the force field. 

He was thrown back into the air, straight into Cooper, who was running behind him. I ran towards the two of them where they lay on the ground, crouching down to see if they were okay. 

Cooper sat up right away, completely unharmed. I looked to Jim but he was passed out from the electric shock. 

“Jim, Jim,” I pleaded as I shook his shoulder. 

“What happened?” Cooper asked, looking between me and Jim. 

“The dome, it shrunk around us. I tried to warn him but he didn’t see it.” I said, as I tried to keep calm. 

“That can happen?” Cooper asked, stunned and still in shock. 

I looked up and met his gaze, his eyes looked scared, probably not unlike my own. 

“We’re trapped,” I said as the earth continued to shake and rumble. 

“Micah, I…” he started. “About the photo…” 

His face looked sick as he looked down at Jim. 

“What?” I asked.

He was about to continue when the ground beneath us began to split into two.  I fell back from the shudder, away from Cooper and Jim, who was still passed out. 

The ground started to separate beneath Jim’s unconscious body and he started to fall into the crevice. I scrambled to my knees to grab him, while Cooper pushed Jim’s body towards me.

“Come on, push him harder,” I said to Cooper, as I tried to drag him away from the growing hole in the ground.

“I’m trying,” Cooper said as he struggled to push Jim away from the crack.

We managed to roll Jim onto my side of the crevice, and I quickly dragged him away from the hole. The crack continued to grow, putting great distance between me and Cooper within seconds. It spanned past the length of the dome and grew wider with every second.

I stood up and looked over the hole, trying to gage how far of a jump was between Cooper and me. 

“It’s too far to jump,” I yelled. 

“No, I can do it,” he assured me as he took five steps back, readying himself for the leap. “Stand back.”

The hole continued to stretch the distance between us. “Cooper, no! You won’t make it.”

“Stand back!” His eyes met mine when he said with all the conviction he could muster, “I can do it.”

I looked at him for only a quick second before I followed his orders and stepped away from the hole. 

He rolled back on his heels, took a deep breath and ran as fast as he could before he sprung off the edge of the crevice. His body catapulted through the air while his legs tried to propel him across the ten-foot gap. 

His knees landed on the edge of the hole, his hands grasped the earth while he pulled himself up. I grabbed his arms and pulled him towards me. His breathing was heavy as he lay back on the grass, his hands covering his face as he smiled a small grin of relief. 

“I told you I could do it,” he said as he winked up at me. 

“Barely,” I said as I sighed with relief. 

Cooper was still smiling when a pale, boney hand wrapped around his ankle and started to drag him into the crevice.