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Hershey’s mouth invaded Beta’s ear’s personal space, speaking slowly. “Why are people staring at us?” the boy whispered, a drip of water landing on Beta’s shoulder from Hershey’s hair.

The Perna shrugged, an exaggeration in his shoulder’s movements. “I mean there’s a slight chance it’s because we’re carrying around space suits in the middle of Vung Tau, Vietnam, our eyes look maddening, and you have bloody horns.”

Sucking his teeth, Hershey leaned away. “I see your point.”

“Speaking of which, can’t you like…” Matrix made a motion with his hands like a fish hopping into a fish bowl. Hershey was confused at first, but soon caught his drift. “Oh! Right.” With a little, or a lot, of effort, Hershey’s bone-like horns made a quick popping sound before they sunk into his skull. Beta looked up at Hershey’s head, watching as the skin folded and then came back to cover up the insertion point.

Once they were all the way in and after a few Vietnamese in bikinis had run off, Hershey winced. “I have a wicked headache right now.”

“Ooh, wicked,” Beta emphasized the word. “You might’ve been spending a little too much time with me, mate.”

Matrix cracked a smile, feeling a joke arise. “GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!” he hollered, receiving many, many stares in return.

Beta cleared his throat. “That was inappropriate.”

They walked alongside the beach—their shoes off and their space suits spilling out of their bags—and avoided anyone and everyone that looked like they could arrest them. Despite the haul of summer tourists, the beachgoers weren’t so pleased to see them walking around, somehow able to sense they were off. Nevertheless, they enjoyed themselves, trying their best to ignore the odd ones out. Hershey had dropped dead in the sand to make a sand castle, and Beta at one point ran off because he saw a crab. Matrix had been asked to take numerous photos as he waited for the other two to stop messing around. He also watched a father and daughter throw around a frisbee, subtly wishing that having fun was the only reason he was back on Earth.

He knew it wasn’t.

Beta found it strange how they could live so peacefully knowing that they were sooner or later going to die, which was a new perspective he had gotten from his experience on Plato.

“How did they do it?”

Beta and Matrix looked over at Hershey who looked back at them. “How’d they get all of us to Plato without raising any concern from the humans?”

Matrix turned to Beta and Beta turned back, gesturing for him to explain. Matrix’s eyebrows rose. “What, you think they taught me that?”

As unbelievable as the Plato education appeared to be, the Perna made it his duty to teach them more. “The Extraction Point. It’s how the bodies get over to Plato. It wasn’t easy, know that much. Cremated or not, as long as there isn’t any acid involved they come over all right.” Beta paused and pondered. “…Sometimes.

“Basically, it takes the remains and replicates it the same way it was left. They take the original and leave the copy.” Beta hit Matrix gently on the shoulder. “That’s what Plato’s been sending up for you Staks to eat, just copies of real ones. The real body gets dematerialized and transfers to Plato, coated in a liquid that’s invisible to the human eye.” He paused. “But it doesn’t always work out. The body starts repairing itself once it leaves the exosphere, and I’m sure you know about the lasers.”

Hershey’s eyebrows scrunched as he looked at Beta. “I’ve been dead for like a year.”

“Right, sorry,” Beta tried to refocus. “The things the governments put up to destroy the big pieces of space junk from falling into orbit. They, um, sort of tend to fry up a lot of the dead bodies passing through. They just get re-thrown into transit, although it does disrupt the whole ‘blind to the human eye’ thing.”

“Like shooting stars,” Matrix noted, taking pride in what he considered a very clever statement. Beta turned to look at him and frowned. “Well we had to find some way to disguise the falling corpses.”

Hershey chuckled and looked off at the ocean. Beta continued. “But once they get to Plato, they literally just fall from the sky. It’s a painful process, not to mention traumatizing to everyone. Plato’s sort of worked out the most common falling places and built netting in that area to catch them.”

Matrix chuckled, knowing exactly what he was talking about. “It’s actually funny when the bodies plop in it, like they just pile up most days and some of the Plato people just watch…and I’m just now realizing how morbid that sounds.”

“Isn’t the whole thing kind of morbid?” Hershey added. Matrix shrugged, finding it a good point. “But…who does all this? The transporting, I mean.”

Beta shrugged. “I’d say Nature, but there’s really no way to know for sure.”

The three boys stayed silent, taking it in. Quickly though, they pushed it back. They had bigger things to worry about.

“We should get to America, it’s more familiar there,” Hershey said, and Matrix agreed.

“America? Not even like…somewhere in Europe? England perhaps?” Beta posed.

“I pretty much grew up in America,” Matrix said. “So did Hershey, not to mention that’s where your English-speaking alter ego probably is,” Matrix added. “Unless it had a British accent.”

Beta scratched his damp hair, realizing how dirty it was. “Well technically it did, but it was also taking the form of my mother who has a British accent so I’m not quite sure.”

All of a sudden, Matrix stopped in his tracks, staring out into the distance. He pointed just past the hillside and Hershey and Beta followed his hand. “That’s our way out of here.”

Hershey peaked over Beta’s shoulder. “The ocean?”

“No, not the ocean. The ship,” Matrix said, he pointed a little to the left and it became clear. The ports were close, just around the corner. A ship was a few yards away, being loaded as they spoke. “That one’s going to America,” Beta said.

“And you know that how?” Matrix asked.

“I speak, write, and understand all languages, I’m a Perna,” Beta started, finishing with, “Also I’m Vietnamese.”

Hershey’s eyes narrowed. “But the ship’s so far away, I don’t—”

“Forget it,” Matrix cut his friend off. He looked around one last time at the beach goers and got into a certain mood. “Okay, let’s go.”

The second Matrix took a step forward, his foot landed on a much softer surface than sand. Turning around, Matrix was submerged in darkness, only able to feel the plush surface he stood on, not to mention unstable. The second he tried to move, he fell backward onto the same plush surface, plastic wrinkling as he fell. He heard commotion outside of whatever hell he was in at that moment, like people moving things back and forth and giving directions in Vietnamese. “Did I just die and go to hell or is this actually heaven but like no one realized it would suck this much?” Matrix whispered to himself.

“Neither.” Beta’s voice startled Matrix into a sitting position, turning his head even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to see.

“Beta, what did you do?” Matrix asked.

Beta furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean? I thought you wanted on the ship?”

“Wait!” Hershey exclaimed from what felt like a couch in the corner. His silhouette was easily seen. “We’re on the ship!?”

“Yes, in one of the shipping containers.” When Beta saw their confusion, he added, “I mean yeah, sometimes my powers work.”

Matrix sighed, squeezing the bridge of his nose. “Beta you have to give us a heads up before shoving us into a small, dark space!”

“Apologies.”

“What the hell are we gonna do now?” Matrix said.

Beta looked up at the ceiling, thinking. “Nope, nothin’. I didn’t exactly think that far,” he admitted.

Matrix rolled his eyes. “So we get to America, hit up a few clubs, according to this one—” Matrix pointed at Beta. “—save the world, and then what?” He shrugged. “We can’t go back to Plato now can we? If not death, what honestly is there left to live for?”

“Shut up, Matrix,” Hershey strained, creating silence in the container. Beta turned around to look at him, provided with the small light coming from the bottom slit of the large, metal door. “You will never be okay with what you did unless you own up to it and accept that whatever comes next will come and you’ll just have to go with it.” Hershey paused. “I mean, isn’t that a better way to live your second chance?”

Matrix seemed taken aback by the vocal Hershey, something he had never noticed before Beta had arrived. It was like Beta’s outspokenness was rubbing off on him. “I didn’t realize you wanted a second chance,” he responded, seeming appalled almost.

Hershey’s head tilted to the side. “I don’t, but I know you do.”

Matrix rubbed his face tiredly, sighing. “I’m going to sleep,” he said, lying back onto what he had now gathered was a bed wrapped in plastic.

Beta just watched him go, wishing he himself could go to a peaceful sleep as well.

But he wasn’t so fortunate.

“You did great.” Beta was already awake by the time his mother appeared, and he got off the 2nd packaged couch quickly after, facing her full on. “I want to talk to you,” Beta requested, whispering as to not wake the others.

“You are,” it said. “This is a conversation we’re having.”

“In real life, not in my head.”

“We can’t, not yet I’m afraid.”

“And why not? I don’t belong here!” he hissed. “How the hell am I even supposed to stop this bloody revolution with the Syncs if I don’t even know who you are?”

Beta tried to move away but it was right in front of him, wrapping its arms around him. Beta was caught off guard and became unresponsive, standing like a statue. At a loss for words was what he was. If he had known who or what the shadow was, he would’ve been slightly repulsed, but knowingly not knowing sort of gave him a frozen chill. Not to mention wearing his mother’s face helps.

Beta melted into the hug, feeling guilty about it at the same time. “I wish it was really you,” he whispered, shutting his eyes.

It let go of Beta abruptly, looking him in the eye. “You need to understand, I’m trying to save the world here.” The stranger stuffed a piece of paper in Beta’s hand. Beta held onto it tightly.

“What is it?” Beta said, but to no avail. His mom was already gone. A voice echoed through the open air still, like a weary ghost. “You’ll find out soon enough, it’ll help.” But it wasn’t done. “Oh, and if it truly pains you, let me tell you my true name.”

“Which is?” Beta exhaled.

“…Elias.”

And that was that.

With that thought plaguing his mind, Beta checked his hand but the paper was gone. Yet somehow, without having looked at it, he knew every word.

Beta walked over and woke Matrix on the bed. Matrix groaned and rubbed his eyes, hitting Hershey to wake him up as well, sleeping next to him. “What?”

“The apparition, it gave me a piece of paper, but it wasn’t a real piece of paper. But I still remember it.”

“Okay,” Matrix said, sighing. “Let me smell your breath. Have you been drinking again?”

“No, wait,” Beta interrupted. “Just listen.” Beta recited what was being played on repeat in his mind.

Matrix and Hershey stared at him, blinking once and then not again for ten seconds.

“What…” Matrix began. “…did you just say.”

“Sorry,” Beta said, decoding the words. He was flustered. “It’s Vietnamese. ’Willow Baines; a specialist in 600 Lorree Lane, Lake in the Hills, Illinois.” Beta paused and rolled his eyes. “And Willow would be who?” he muttered to himself as if he was talking to the voice.

Matrix snickered. “Willow wood.” Hershey and Beta turned to Matrix, pursing their lips in disappointment. “Get it?” Matrix said, still laughing. “Because it’s—”

“Because it’s a tree…Willow tree,” Hershey finished, nodding at the joke.

“Yeah! Yeah!” Matrix went on. Beta rubbed his forehead as the Stak kept talking. “Like I don’t know why my brain thought of that first because I mean of course it’s a name—”

“Matrix!” Beta exclaimed, interrupting their conversation. “Can we please just get back to the point.”

“The point is there’s no way we’re going there,” Matrix said, his smile lines fading.

“Why not?” Beta said.

“You said it yourself, we don’t know who this person is, if it’s even a person.”

“But what else is there to do?” Hershey commented. “I mean we came down here for that voice in Beta’s head to guide us on where to go, so what’s the point in ignoring it now?”

“Thank you, and Elias said it would help me, so—”

“Wait wait wait…what did you just say?” Matrix interjected, holding his hand out.

Beta blinked and stammered, trying to remember word for word what he had indeed said. “And Elias—”

“Yeah, Elias is…is that the name of the voice you’ve been hearing?” Matrix asked, his gaze shifting back and forth from one of Beta’s eyes to the other.

Beta nodded. “Yes, it i—”

“And Elias is going to be at this specialist’s place if we go there?” Matrix’s butt was off the bed now and he was half standing in anticipation.

Beta glanced at Hershey as if he knew what was going on, but he could tell Hershey was just as surprised. “It’s likely but I don’t understand why this is—”

Beta was about to go on when they heard a banging outside their shipment container, startling them all. The banger called out, “Ai ở đó!?”

“Dammit,” Matrix cursed, walking over to the door.

“Wait, what’re you doing?!” Beta hissed.

Matrix turned back to them as the shipment container began to unlock from the outside. “I’m gonna knock ’em out when they open the door, what else is there to do!?” As the container creaked open, Beta and Hershey both got up and rushed to the door to stop him.

However, when the door opened, a huge mass knocked the wind out of both Beta and Matrix, leaving them with only the floor as comfort.

Beta looked up, his vision hazy. His eyes widened, fear and remembrance striking him. He crawled away quickly as feet advanced. “No, no way you’re here.”

The Sync smiled cynically. “Surprise!”

Beta felt horrified. It wasn’t just any Sync, it was the same Sync that killed him that rainy night. The reason everything that had happened to him happened. One could surely say the cause of much of his pain, or at least Beta felt that way.

She was tall, her midnight green scales shimmering in the dim light. She smiled, showing her rather sharp teeth. Never had Beta ever seen a creature so terrifying, yet so…domesticated. The one that had attacked him that night; her hair was blonde and long, hanging as low as to her hip. Her genitals and breasts were covered with a makeshift bra and underwear. If that wasn’t human-like, he didn’t know what was. A whip-like tail snapped the air, moving back and forth in a hypnotizing manner.

Her nose was exceptionally flat to the point of an intense amount of focus needed to see the nostrils, and her ears bent and sharpened just enough to appear threatening. And then there came the case of her eyes; inverted was the word Beta would use to describe them. Her iris’ and pupils were white and her sclera was black; there was no hint of other colors in her eye. None.

But other than that Beta thought she was utterly human. Matrix got up but the creature pushed him down again, hitting his head once more.

“Let him go!” Beta croaked out, watching as two more Syncs came in and grabbed Hershey, who was cowering and frozen in fear a few feet away.

Beta turned to Matrix desperately, but his head was bleeding and he was already out cold. His powers weren’t working well at that moment, and he blamed it on the man upstairs. A foot landed on Beta’s back just when he was starting to heal.

“Where do you think you’re going?” one of them said.

Beta spat on the floor, the substance was a mixture of saliva and blood from when he bit his tongue. He realized that their being unnaturally tall only added to the terror. “Why are you targeting us? We’ve done nothing to you.”

“You mean other than you all collaborating with Elias to kill us? Other than that?” The blonde Sync chuckled. “Well, I obviously made a big mistake killing you. I’m just here to fix that mistake. We wouldn’t want more war, now would we?”

“Didn’t realize you had started one before,” Beta muttered, balling his fists. “How’d you find us?” He cringed when the creature pressed harder onto his back. He felt his own spine break and repair itself.

“Considering you crashed a spaceship a few miles from here and there were reports about three men—ish—being dragged to shore by a killer whale, I’d say you weren’t very well hidden. Not to mention the whole plane crash thing when your ship knocked into it. Boy, what a mess. You preach about saving people yet, so far, you’ve only hurt them more. Also…” The creation reached down and swiped a finger through Beta’s blood. She brought it to her mouth and sucked on it. “…I’ve heard your flesh tastes like heaven. Well I mean, your dead flesh anyway.” The two holding down Hershey ripped open his mouth and pressed their fingers into his gums. Blood ran down the corners of his mouth and Hershey tried not to scream, but failed miserably. “Not that we’re savages or anything,” she added with a smile.

“Stop it!” Beta yelled and tensed. He wanted to fight back, and he knew he could, but something was holding him back.

“Get the unconscious one.” She pointed to Matrix and Beta stared at him, eyes wide.

And that’s when they opened.

Matrix looked up at Beta, his mouth ajar like he was still out cold, and winked. Matrix rose up and as he did, so did all of the Syncs. The force Matrix used was beyond the newcomers, helpless as they were all lifted into the air and slammed so hard against the container’s walls they would slump there for minutes, unaware. Matrix, out of sheer spite, got another hold on the ones who were on Hershey and rose them up into the air, slamming them into the floor repeatedly.

Matrix took that time to go to Beta, but Beta got up by himself before Matrix could help him. “I’m fine, get Hershey,” Beta said, but that wasn’t why Matrix was walking toward him. However, when Beta mentioned his friend, Matrix pivoted to the situation at hand, saving his spite for later.

They walked over to Hershey and helped him up. Other than a little blood oozing from his mouth, Hershey appeared to be fine. “Let’s get out of here,” he muttered through the swelling in his gums.

“And where the hell are we gonna g—” Before Matrix could finish, a pipe connected with the back of his head. He fell dramatically and they turned around to see two of the creatures already up, clearly not unconscious. Hershey pushed Beta behind him, which through Beta off balance both physically and mentally. Still basking in the pain of the blow to the head, Matrix yelled angrily to Hershey. “Hershey—!”

“Wait!” Hershey exclaimed back, a worried look in his eye.

Matrix didn’t wait, making a quick grab for the Sync’s flashlight and shining it on Hershey. “Now!” Large amounts of fire emerged from Hershey’s fingers in a sudden burst, nearly blinding Matrix and Beta. They looked away as the fire surrounded them in a perfect circle. Matrix held the flashlight tight, glancing up to make sure it was still shining right into Hershey’s eyes. Beta could see the way the light and fire reflected off of his already gold eyes, making them seem almost a pure white. Beta could see the shadows burning through the fire’s ring as they attempted infiltration. Once Hershey was sure, he doused the fire, shaking his hands violently to make it go away as if it were a bug. Even when the fire was out and the two looked down at the burnt corpses, Hershey was still shaking like he was on fire.

And he was.

Beta’s eyes widened and he backed away from Hershey as his whole body sizzled and turned a reddish orange. “Matrix!” Hershey called, his voice deep and threatening. Matrix looked away from the bodies and quickly shut the light off, allowing Hershey to cool off and crumple to the floor. He let in deep breaths, smoke coming off of him like there was a house fire. “Sorry,” Matrix said, getting back to his feet and rubbing his bruised skull. The metal was not hot under their feet, making Beta sweat.

“How’d you—?” Beta started but Matrix cut his sentence short.

“That was awesome!” Matrix said to Hershey, and Hershey just glared at him. “I’m fairly sure I’ve got a concussion,” he added, rubbing his skull again.

Once Hershey was put out, he got a good look at the scorched corpses and immediately knew that something was off. They weren’t very scorched. “Hey guys—?” But he didn’t get a chance to speak before Matrix was shoving Beta into the hot wall.

“What the hell Beta?” he hissed, stepping forward to shove him again. “Why didn’t you do anything?”

Beta shoved him back. “What’re you on about?” he said.

“Beta I’ve seen the things you can do, I saw it the first day we met. I know you were fully conscious, so why didn’t you make a move on them?” Beta said nothing, which was exactly what Matrix was afraid of. “Dammit Beta, you can’t do this—”

“I know—”

“No, I mean it! I don’t care how innocent the Syncs might have been before, it’s obvious that they’re not that way anymore. You’re gonna have to learn that lesson one way or another or I’m sorry but I can’t follow you into a fight if you’re not gonna fight back—!”

“I said I bloody know!” Beta shouted, breathing heavily. “Trust me when I say I draw the line at hurting people for no reason…they drew that line tonight, not me.” Beta paused for a moment, and Hershey took that as an opening.

“How do Syncs…die?” he asked, sitting on the floor and staring at the figures surrounding him.

Now they were all looking at the bodies, healing at a surprising rate. Beta backed away until he was on the edge of the container, flinching as the wall burned him.

“Something tells me not so easy.”

Matrix, Beta, and Hershey looked down at the rest of the ship, a breeze washing over them in the midst of night.

Bodies.

Below them was a ship deck full of dead individuals.

Beta gasped involuntarily, turning over his shoulder and nearly vomiting. All of the innocent crew were brutally murdered. The stench of blood was toxic and it stung Hershey’s nose as he looked away. Guts were spilled and littered the deck. No one was left breathing. The sky was dark, a thunderstorm was brewing, and their ship wasn’t going anywhere.

They heard a loud noise and turned to the ocean. “Is that…?” Matrix questioned, squinting.

“Only one way to find out,” Hershey said, taking a few steps back and running forward. Hershey pushed past the two and leaped.

“Hershey!” Matrix called, leaning over the unit as he plummeted into the waters.

Once Hershey resurfaced, he held up a shimmering thumb. “Good enough for me.” Beta took a few steps back and ran, leaping over toward the water.

Beta could feel the wind pushing him down and sideways, awaiting the hard hit of the water. Once it hit, the cold washed over him like ice, much like he was buried in it. It was Hershey who pulled him back up.

Matrix sighed and looked behind him at the Syncs, twitching and moaning. He took a few steps back, getting ready to run forward when a hand caught his foot. Matrix looked back at the burnt Sync and his heart raced.

It wouldn’t stop racing.

“Where’s Matrix?” Hershey asked, looking up.

Before Beta could give a solid ‘I don’t know’, another screech was heard, startling the two of them. Turns out, their inquiries were right.

It was the Killer Whale, back again to save their hides. “There’s no way this is just a coincidence, right?” Hershey spoke, he and Beta shook his head. With Hershey’s help, him and Beta got back on the beast, this time in front of the fin so they could get more room. The last thing they needed was to slip into the water and catch even worse hypothermia than they already had.

A boom sounded and the boys flinched, turning their heads upward to see Matrix leaping into the water. They heard bullet shots coming from the container, and a Sync leaning over to aim at them.

“Go! Go! Go!” Matrix urged, sloppily getting on the whale’s back.

As the whale swam along, it momentarily went under water, stopping the damaging effect of the bullets. They swam that way until they were a way’s away, and the whale resurfaced. Beta, Hershey, and Matrix took a gasp of air, breathing heavily.

“I’m already not a fan of having to breathe again,” Beta said in between gasps.

“The whale!” Hershey exclaimed, pointing. Matrix and Beta look down to see a trail of watery blood in their path, a trail they could only see with a lot of focus and the moonlight. The whale was grazed with the bullet. Beta steadied himself and tried to rip off part of his shirt sleeve. Seeing him fail, Matrix grabbed his arm and ripped it off for him. Beta immediately started covering the exposed area with it and holding it there.

“How is this thing still going?” Matrix muttered, seeing as it didn’t slow down a wink. In fact, it was moving faster than it had the last time.

“I think the more important question is,” Beta added. “Where is this thing still going?”