“WAIT!” I’m hit with a sudden thought that shudders me – “How’d you get here before me?” The logistics of this situation arouse my suspicions and I step back from this person who I naively assume to be a bruised and broken Kade.
He doesn’t answer me; instead he holds my gaze and backs away, slowly disappearing around the side of the facility. I raise my voice, “Come back here, now! I swear – if you’re not Kade, I’ll kill you, right here, right now!” I shout, engaging three disabling devices. Even though I’m fearful, I’m energized with an inner strength I’ve never previously experienced.
My heart says: it is Kade, I recognize his sweet smell. Yet my head screams: they can replicate his smell on an imposter. Anything’s possible here.
All my faculty’s remain on high alert as I hear a soft hissing sound coming from the side of the facility, “Kade, please confirm it’s really you – don’t mess with my head!” I assert.
Then I hear the unmistakable sound of his gentle laughter, “This is how I got here before you.” I note his words are laced with a low level excitement.
“Kade, I can’t see you, I repeat – don’t play with my head.”
“Look up!” He says.
I raise my head, along with a Disabling Device, “You don’t need them, I’m your broken and bruised soul mate, trust me,” laughs Kade – who’s hovering above me.
My first thought is, “You’re freaking me out – are you possessed?”
He begins to descend until his feet hover by my head. Instinctively I grab his right leg and pull up his trouser to find the distinguishing feature that will identify my Kade.
YES! I see the perfectly round, purple dot above his ankle that is his birthmark. Kade laughs then says, “You got it, that’s the one and only Bob the dot, my birthmark, right there.” I rub it hard, to check it’s not been drawn on, “Hey, quit rubbing up Bob the dot. I sometimes think you love him more than me,” he says with a chuckle.
Relief floods me, this is Kade, the guy I know and: LOVE!
I pull on his leg, but it resists, “Kade, how’d you get up there?” I hear a whirring sound as he floats to the floor.
“Awesome, hey?” He says, as the almost silent propellers above his head slow and fold down behind him, “It’s one of mom’s designs, a fully functioning, backpack helicopter. I couldn’t drive those bumpy roads with a broken nose, so I came here on a test flight,” he says, pressing a button on his strap that causes the propellers to retreat into the backpack.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this flying thing before now?” I ask, slightly pissed.
He unclips the strap and takes off the pack, “Because I didn’t know about them.” He says, holding up the small pack, “So neat, isn’t it? There’s one waiting for you back home. Mom was gonna unveil them next week, but she brought it forward when she saw you loading up the hummer. They work like a dream and they're gonna help us discover The Zones.” He says, walking toward the side of the facility, "Come on Tan, let's talk on the drive home."
……
As I reverse the hummer into the entrance drive, I ask, “So, what are Kelly’s symptoms?” I stop in the floodlit car park; the light provides a sense of security – at least I hope it does.
Instinctively Kade shakes his head, then immediately winces from the pain. He recovers and says, “I wouldn’t call them symptoms, like she’s not sick, in the conventional sense.”
“But you said she’s got worse?”
“That’s right, she has.” He turns his bandaged head to engage with me. “Troy went to get her, and she was fine. Then he told her the good news that they weren’t brother and sister and she just exploded with this extreme verbal violence – I won’t even repeat some of the things she said.” He peers in close to the windshield, “What’s all this crap, it looks like you drove through a meat factory?” He asks.
