The Other Side

Once Bitten

"I know that at this point you probably still have some vague nagging idea that none of this is real. Which is normal, but please try not to freak out once we are actually inside of there." Cordelia said, motioning to the doors in front of them. It was the barrier that was keeping them from the upside down. After she had cleaned up, put on a new uniform, and armed herself she had met up with him outside of the conference room to take him to the portal.

"This doesn't look a thing like the portals in the show."

"That's because it's not open yet." She replied and looked at the two armed guards in the room. Giving them a nod one of them reached over and flipped a switch. An alarm sounded and the doors started to open slowly. "The doors will remain open unless there's some sort of catastrophic emergency."

"Such as?"

"Something from in there breaching the portal that we can't immediately dispose of or contain. More than likely it won't be a problem. Only two of us are going in and in my case I'm basically invisible as far as I know. You're the foreign object."

"Awesome." He muttered, the sarcasm in his voice very apparent. It seemed like a defense mechanism but it was one she knew well since she tended to use it herself. He ran a hand through his hair nervously and she held out a hair tie. He looked down at it.

"You might want this so nothing grabs it." She said. He nodded and took it from her, tying his hair back without saying anything. The doors pulled back fully and revealed a large portal. One with vines, tentacles, or whatever those things were supposed to be creeping out along the wall. They had grown more since she'd seen them last. From there, it was easy to see inside where they were going.

"This...I really need to do this?" He asked.

"I'm asking you to do it. We all are. For the sake of humanity." She replied and took his hand. He muttered something under his breath about how this was crazy but when she started to walk he came with her. She stepped through the portal first and he was behind. They had entered a dark, grayish blue forest. Illuminated slightly by a source that wasn't immediately apparent. From what little she'd seen of the show this was definitely the right place.

"You were right about the smell." He said and made a face.

"You'll get used to it, or just breathe through your mouth." She said and looked at her watch. "Come on, the faster we get to the designated coordinates the faster we can leave." He gave her a nod and they started to walk forward. As far as she knew, the location they were trying to reach that was exactly a kilometer from where they were standing was supposed to be some kind of trailer park so when they got there it would be pretty obvious they were in the right area. "Here's my phone, by the way. It's unlocked so you can access the playlist if you need to, it's just called favorites. Even if I don't know why you wanted it in the first place, or why you don't have one."

"You never gave me my phone back so that's part of it." He took the phone from her and started to look at the playlist. "Not bad, this is all pretty good music. Classic rock stuff. Country. I like it."

"You like country? No offense but-"

"I take it you never got enough intel to know I'm also a musician."

"Are you?" She said, "I'd like to hear some of that some time, is it country music? Is that why you said something about it?"

"It...is what it is." He laughed, "Maybe you can decide for yourself once we are out of here."

"Maybe you can sing something while we walk."

"Only if you join me, love."

"I was in a band in high school so you probably don't want that. Thought I was going to be a singer. Guess that didn't pan out." She sighed. They had gotten quite a few gigs and played a few opening acts but had never really gone beyond that. Then her mother had convinced her to get serious about her life and she kind of just went into the military. Even if she did enjoy her job as it was she had always wondered what may have happened if she'd tried a bit harder with her music. There were a few screeches as some bats flew over them, causing Jamie to wince and jump back as he looked up.