Chapter 1 - One Month Later

 

     Angry and determined, John picked himself up, turned his back to their attacker, and braced himself.  No surprise, the massive shock wave that kept knocking them down came again, but he was bracing himself for it this time and managed to remain on his feet…barely!  “You okay?” he yelled to Nina on the ground in front of him.

     “Yes!” she called back.

     Despite the massive waves of force being constantly sent at him, he reached down and picked her up, pulling her up so that her arms could reach over his shoulders.  “Kill that son of a bitch!” he yelled.

     “I’m trying,” she shouted back.  “I’m still too far.  Can you back up?  Get me closer?”

     “Hold on,” he shouted back.

     Despite the massive waves of force constantly being sent at them every second or so, he forced himself to move backwards, putting his back to them and using his entire body to protect her.  Step after step, he fought the deadly force, gradually moving closer and closer to the monster behind him.  The closer they got, the faster the shock waves hit him.  Instead of one every second or so, they were now hitting them twice as fast.  As they got closer to him, the shock waves were getting stronger as well.  It was more difficult than ever to remain on his feet.  The waves now felt like they were trying to rip him apart.  Still, with monstrous effort, he fought on, one backwards step after another.

     In his arms, he suddenly heard Nina scream, but it was a scream of rage.  He knew she was once again trying to use her power to stop that guy.  The shock waves stopped, and he didn’t miss the sound of a man screaming somewhere behind him.  He was about to turn around, when the waves started coming again, but now they were coming even harder, as if the man sending them was suddenly more desperate than ever.

     “Die!” he heard Nina yell angrily.  He had no doubt she was sending every ounce of her heat power at the man.  According to her, she could generate enough heat that it could melt metal.  He heard the man behind him screaming again, but the waves of power didn’t stop.  Instead, they suddenly changed to a warbling, screaming kind of thing that tore into him like shrapnel.  Nina, in his arms, screamed again, but it was a different kind of scream, desperate, scared, and full of pain.  Despite his body protecting her, she was feeling the same thing he was.

     The strange force waves made him dizzy beyond belief.  They tore into him making him nauseous.  There was no way to fight them.  They felt like they were tearing his very soul from his body.

     The next thing he knew, there was a strange voice in his ears.  “Nina!  Nina!  Are you alright?  What’s happening?  Nina!  Talk to me!”

     Nina?  What the hell?  He opened his eyes.  The enormous force waves were gone and everything around him was quiet.  Too quiet.  The only sound was the woman’s voice in his ear continually shouting for Nina.  He felt dizzy.  Nauseous.  Drained and weak beyond belief.  Gaining a brief moment of clarity, he softly said, “Greg,” trying to contact his friend.

     “Nina?” the voice in his ear replied.  He ignored it and turned over to look for the woman.  Instead, he saw…himself sitting up a few feet away.  What the hell?  And then he saw himself speaking…to him.

     “What the hell?  Am I dead?” his body said.

     He was shocked beyond belief.  “You mean, I’m dead too?” he replied.  His voice had come out totally strange.  Weird.  Not his voice at all.  The two of them stared at each other.  He watched as his body shook its head and yelled, “Greg, shut up!  We’ve got a problem here.”

     “A problem?” he said as he looked down at himself, not believing what he was seeing.  “What the hell happened?”

     “You tell me!” his body replied in the voice that should have been his.

     He shook his head at the constant female voice in his ear.  “Cheryl!  Shut up!  I can’t think with you shouting like that.”  Fortunately, the woman’s voice in his head went quiet.

     A wave of nauseousness hit him again and he leaned over and wretched, throwing up everything from his stomach.  He laid back on the ground, his head still terribly dizzy.  When he could, he looked back at…his real body.  His body was just then looking around.

     “Is he dead?” he asked, once again finding it strange to hear himself speaking in Nina’s voice.

     He watched as his body stood shakily up and looked around, then shook its head.  “I don’t see him…or his men.  So…probably not.”

     “Shit!” he replied.

     “But I know I hurt him,” his body said.  “Enough that he should be dead.  I don’t know why he isn’t.”

     “Shit!” he muttered again.  He watched as his body sank down to the ground, then laid on its back.  “Are you anywhere near as dizzy as I am?” he asked.

     “Probably more,” his real voice replied.

     “Ugh!” he grunted as he laid back and looked up at the night sky.  No stars.  Pity.  City streets were the worst!

     “Nina…” Cheryl’s hesitant voice came through the com link again.  “I don’t know what kind of problem you two have but you need to get out of there before more police arrive.”

     More police.  She was right.  “Can you move?” he asked…himself.

     “Yeah,” his body replied.  “I’ve got Greg in my head telling me more police are about two minutes out.”

     “Yeah.  Cheryl’s driving me crazy too.”

     He watched as his body stood up, came over to him, and reached down.  He grabbed…his own hand and felt the strength of his body pulling his…new body…up to his feet.  “What the hell happened?” he said again.

     “Not a clue,” Nina replied from his body.  “What I want to know is…how the hell do we fix it?”

     “Not a clue,” he replied as his own strong body wrapped an arm around him and the two of them helped each other to get away.  Down through the city streets, back towards…  Where should they go?

     “Greg!” he heard his body say.  “No separate act this time.  We’ve all got to meet up together when we get there.”

     He took the clue.  “Cheryl,” he said into whatever com link Nina used, “Can you get to the block on West forty-fourth street.  Just past Seventh Avenue?”

     “What for?”

     “Just do it!  Greg is there.  We’ll meet you there.”

     “Shit!” Cheryl replied in a very unladylike manner.  “On it,” she replied.

     He gave the directions to Nina in his body, and a few minutes later, the van he and Greg used came into sight.  Half a block away, Greg was out of the van and had the back door open for them.  A car drove up and double parked before they got there.  Cheryl jumped out and ran to him.  “Nina!” she exclaimed as she ran up and hugged his…new body.

     He didn’t bother telling her.  He pointed to Greg’s van.  “This one,” he said.  “Inside.  All of us.  Now!”

     A minute later, they were all in the interior of the van that was crammed full of electronic gear.  With only two seats in the back of the van, he and Greg had to stand.

     “Shit!” Cheryl said as she looked around at all the electronics.  “You never told us about all of this.”

     Greg ignored her and turned to who he thought was John.  “John, what the hell happened out there?”

     John and Nina briefly looked at each other before he spoke…from Nina’s body.  “First of all,” he said, “that’s no longer John, that’s Nina.  I’m in her body, and somehow, she’s in mine.”

​