Yesterday's Gone: Season Three (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER)

ravine of pain. Will probably didn’t mean to shake his head slowly back and forth any more than he meant to retreat the three small steps that he did.
    Luca said, “Your Luca is in my world, with my family. When I got pulled over here, he took my place.”
    Will’s palm was suddenly over his mouth. “Oh my God,” he whispered. “That’s horrible.” He shook his head. “I’m so, so sorry.”
    “It’s okay,” Luca said, his voice hoarse. “I understand. I probably would have done the same thing. He didn’t bring me here. The Light did. It told me. It brought us all here.”
    “What are you talking about?” Will asked.
    Luca met his eyes. “I’ll tell you on the way, but first we have to get to your house and get the vial.” He choked and coughed, then caught his breath before he said, “By the way, thank you for taking care of me.”
    Will’s eyes were blank. “What do you mean?”
    “When the other Luca’s parents died,” he said. “You took care of him. And when I was lost, the other you took care of me here. You and the other Will were always there for us, and I never really had a chance to fully say thank you.”
    Will blushed. “Of course,” he said, then put his hand on old Luca’s shoulder.
    “Now,” Luca said. “You have to bring me to the vial. I am the only one who can open it. If anyone else opens it, bad things will happen.”
    “How do you know?” Will asked.
    “Dog Vader, the Indian, the Light,” Luca said. Then, he pointed to his head and said, “It’s okay, you can come inside. See for yourself.”
    Will looked baffled, but then Boricio watched his father’s face flicker with the same vacancy it always did when he entered another’s mind. A second later, Will’s face went white. “Oh my—”

    * * * *

CHAPTER 9 — Ed Keenan Part 1

    Black Island, New York
    April 2012
    SIX MONTHS AFTER THE EVENT…

    “They’d better be okay,” Ed said to Sullivan as they crossed the long hallway. “I did my job and brought Boricio back. You all had better of kept them safe.”
    “Yes, and as I think you will now see, we’re not the bad guys. We held our word.”
    Sullivan waved his hand on a panel outside the final door on the right, then stood back as it slid open to a small dorm-like room, similar to the one where he’d stayed before heading south to find Boricio, except this one had two beds. Jade was sitting on one, with Teagan beside her, holding a baby girl.
    Ed stepped inside, then Sullivan nodded and left them alone.
    Ed’s heart swelled the moment he saw them — not just Jade, but Teagan and her baby as well. It felt like an eternity since he last saw either one smile. Jade’s eyes widened in shock as she leapt from her bed, squealing with more enthusiasm than he’d seen from her in years.
    She hugged him tight while crying, “Dad! Oh God, I never thought I’d see you again!”
    As Ed lost himself in his daughter’s embrace, he felt the thousand pounds of the past six months slide from his shoulders.
    “Are you okay?” he asked, holding her tight, closing his eyes, and not wanting to let go. “Did they hurt you?”
    “No, I’m fine. We’re both fine. They took good care of us.”
    Ed opened his eyes to see Teagan, now standing and holding her baby girl up for Ed to see.
    “This is Becca,” Teagan said, beaming.
    “She’s beautiful,” Ed said, hugging Teagan and looking down at the baby.
    Seeing a fresh-faced innocent infant after seeing so much death and desolation in the world felt like a balm — a balm that promised that the world wasn’t thoroughly lost just yet. There was hope. There were babies to be born, and so long as he breathed, someone willing to protect them and their mothers.
    Jade and Ed sat on one bed, while Teagan sat on the other, holding Becca, catching one another up on the last several months. Ed toned down some of what he’d seen so as not to terrify the girls any more than he had to, particularly Teagan who was so young and had grown up so sheltered.
    Ed was happy to find their events relatively mundane. They spoke through many minutes of all the things the girls weren’t saying — all the things he could feel them wanting to say, but for some reason couldn’t. Once the awkward glances and silences grew too frequent to ignore, Ed had to chew on his bottom lip to keep himself from demanding answers. Whatever news they were hiding, he wouldn’t like it a bit.
    Did something happen to Jade?
    Did someone here knock