The Portal Effect

Chapter 6

I could not see the man's face, but he was tall and muscular. His clothing was ripped, and he had no shoes on.

"Now." the man snapped. Nick sounded like he was about to retort, so I elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"John? It's Sarge." said the leader of the other group. The man with his gun pointed at us grunted.

"The last person to try and identify as an ally tried to shoot me in the back." John said stiffly.

"Did they by chance have glowing purple eyes?" I asked.

"Yes. But they were green instead of purple." he replied, and some sense of calm seemed to have reached his voice.

"We don't have glowing eyes." James added.

"How do you know they haven't figured out a way to stop the glow? Adapted?"

"Because likely they are still adapting physically, as well as the fact they haven't had any survivors with which to figure out further mind control." Leo informed us all. He was the tech and science geek of the group.

That seemed to convince the man, and he lowered his weapon, clicking on the safety. We all lowered ours as well. The five remaining soldier and Sarge walked to John and greeted him before we went over.

"Sorry." he gave a small smile. "Been a long few days."

Up close, I saw John had dark brown hair, minimal facial hair, and brown eyes. His face showed signs of fatigue and age.

"No problem." Leo said, inspecting what seemed to be a chunk of metal a few feet from the group.

"What's this?" he asked curiously. John looked over and chuckled.

"That's a drone. It's scrapped though, so be careful. They tend to shoot little bursts of..." John started, but Leo jumped back with a cry as a spark flew out of the drone.

"...electricity." John finished with a chuckle. For having survived an explosion and more, he seemed quite at peace.

"You don't say." Leo commented, rubbing his fingers gingerly.

"For having been through some shit, you seem pretty chill." Nick said skeptically.

"Yeah, well when you invented new drone technology, found out the group you were working with inadvertently created a portal to another dimension, and said portal explodes, you kinda get over it quickly to survive." John said with a shrug. I couldn't argue with that.

As I scanned the area, I noticed movement near the tunnel entrance. It was quick, but the silhouette was small enough to be a human. I frowned and was about to investigate when Jessie groaned.

She was clutching her head like she had a headache. "You good?" Nick asked warily. "Got your girl time or something?"

"No, just a headache. Migraine maybe." she muttered.

I opened my bag and drew out a small pill bottle with migraine pills. Handing her two, I made sure she swallowed them. Jessie never liked pills and would often spit them out when she thought no one was looking.

"Come now, they'll help it go away quicker." I scolded her when she tried to turn away. She sighed and put them in her mouth, taking a swig of water from her canteen.

"Did you swallow them?" I asked. No wonder Karen didn't like being a mother. It was difficult even with my groupmates.

She nodded and opened her mouth to show the pills were gone. I nodded.

"Girl, you should be a medic or something." James joked. We all laughed.

"Someone's gotta take care of you." Sarge commented. His men groaned as if reminded of something.