It was four hours later that the four of us went to Rebecca's apartment. Tyrell and I barricaded the front door and boarded the windows shut. Mr. Williams was actually maintaining some weapons and some of mine as well. As for Rebecca she was doing her own thing with her volumes of survival guides.
Later on noon came with me and Tyrell finishing with the heavy work. The four of us sat at the table and gathered around for a meal. They were a few steaks from our from our fridge. But nobody was talking at all. We sat there silently there as we did nothing. Rebecca and Tyrell didn't have the guts to eat but Mr. Williams ate and tried to ignore the setting. But with people being quiet he rang his canteen with a spoon. "Before we can eat… I believe there's no use to ignore the two elephants in the room." He said.
Tyrell and Rebecca snapped out of their sense of absence and looked sharp. I guess conversation was what we needed. "Before we can say anything on the outside, first we talk about the one inside." Mr. Williams mentioned. Everybody then started to look at me. I then gave a big sigh as I had some explaining to do. There I mentioned the issue of my five past lives till the point where I met Tsukuyomi. It took some understanding at first but eventually they were able to take it in. But with no surprise, it was taken pessimistically. "I don't know Rin...a god turning you into a demon sounds far-fetched." Mr. Williams insisted. "Yeah, Rin. How the hell can you explain that then? We most likely be abducted rather being by some divine plan of the gods." Rebecca added.
I scratched my head, hoping to give a point. This whole thing was confusing. But there was one point that was clear; there was no way that those things were fought were aliens. "Didn't you know those things?" Tyrell asked me. Rebecca and Mr. Williams looked at Tyrell in disbelief. "What do you mean by that?" Rebecca asked Tyrell. "Well Rin told me the name of one of those monsters. I think it was... Manticore or something. The one that looked like a lion with a face of a person." Tyrell put out. Rebecca and Mr. Williams' gaze shifted towards me again. "How do you know about that?" She asked me.
I scratched the back of my head, not knowing the answer for this. But deep down I knew, no matter how vague it was. "I guess from my mythology and some videos games." I told her. "Hard to agree with that." She said.
"Well it kinda fits. The small green guys must have been goblins, the one that smashed my window could be a griffin, and the one Rebecca shot must have been an troll."
"That kinda sounds far fetched."
But as Rebecca disagreed with me. Mr. Williams gave it a bit of thought. He took out a flask of alcohol from his pocket and started drinking. "To be honest… I think I saw that lion thing too." He says, "But those little green creatures did remind me of those times when my mother would tell me stories about fairy tale creatures. Maybe a goblin would fit the description of those things." With most of us in agreement, Rebecca shrugs her disagreement aside and accepts this. "So what do we do now with Tim Burton and Stephen King's version of an apocalypse?" Rebecca asked. "I guess for now…we see if we have any contact with somebody on the situation and see if we can be rescued. But I think my Ham radio was destroyed by one of those goblin things." Mr. Williams said.
Well that was one option that was out. I looked at my phone but no signal. Rebecca then noticed my phone and had an idea. She then rushes around her stuff. As it turns out Rebecca had a satellite phone on her. "Does it work?" Mr. Williams asked. "Don't know… I just bought this a week ago." Rebecca replied.
"I guess we can try it for now. You have anybody you can contact?"
"My mom and dad aren't the best ones to call."
"Neither mine. My ex-wife's dead and my kids are at some other country."
The two of us then looked at me and Tyrell. Tyrell then waves his hands and declines. "My mom and dad are at South Africa visiting a few folks." Tyrell told them. There's nothing to go to after that. I the looked at my contacts. The only thing certain was my Uncle Ryuji. There I took the phone and dialed my uncle's number. "You sure about that? He might be with us around here." Mr. Williams implied. "He's the only contact I got so it's worth a shot." I told him.
I input the number in the phone and gave to a try. To my surprise it started ringing. Somebody picks up the phone and with no surprise it was my uncle. "Hello...who is this?" He asked. "It's Rin. How's it going?" I asked. There a brief silence came followed by a reaction based on a scream. "This better not be some sick joke!" He shouted in Japanese. "Like hell it is! I'm calling on Rebecca's satellite phone. What's going on?" I asked in the same language. My uncle then demands to be put on live speaker. "So who's with you now?" He asked. "Tyrell, Rebecca, and Mr. Williams." I replied.
"The four of you are alright? How did you manage to last so long?"
"It's only been four hours."
The phone goes silent. We were wondering if the phone even had some power left but the call was still ongoing. "Everything going alright there?" I asked. "Rin… I don't know how to say this to you but you've been missing for four year." He said. The four of us didn't know how to react to this. We were all shocked by the words uttered by his mouth. "How is that even possible. How did this happen?" Tyrell asked. "I think the proper way to start is, 'where and when did this happen'." My uncle implied.
My uncle then explains the situation. The best way to start was when the four of us disappeared. At the time an HAP disturbance occurred at several locations around the Los Angeles area. This may have not been the first time HAPs were in multiple locations but large scale ones rarely happen. The HAP that I was in happened to hit around a five mile radius around my neighborhood. But with all those locations suddenly disappearing it made scientist wonder where all those locations were going. That happened to be answered eight months later. A piece of land was found to be levitating on top of the coast of the South China Sea. Apparently the place happened to be the location of the first HAP: London, United Kingdom. How did they know London happened to be eight-thousand feet up in the air? Big Ben happened to fall with some parts of the island and land on a cathedral once it was on top of Singapore. But overtime the island started to become larger in size. At present day the island is now the size of Canada. From an island it soon was called a continent by the name of Laputa, from the fictional island from Gulliver's Travels.
This was a lot to take in. None of us had the guts to say anything. We were missing for about three years and now given this kind of reality. "So...is there going to be any rescue?" Tyrell asked. There was brief silence. We thought the phone lost power but there was a bit of static coming from the speaker. "I'm afraid there's nobody coming. It is forbidden for people to go in or out of Laputa." My uncle replied.
"What do you mean forbidden?" Mr. Williams asked.
"That's the problem...airspace all around Laputa are considering restricted."
"How? How is that possible?"
"Rescue missions of refugees were considered impossible due to the weird weather anomalies and recent monster attacks against aircraft approaching the island."
"Then what about the military? Where are they now?"
"DMZs are located within the continent but it's impossible for the troops to head out. The military barely has the defenses for establishing a proper airspace."
"So in other words troops assigned here are already considered dead once stepping foot in here?"
"I'm afraid so…"
"Then we're all good as dead! We might as well dip our butts in oil and hand our Kentucky fried asses out the window!"
Mr. Williams then smashes a vase and curses. But to our surprise, the conversation didn't finish there. My uncle gave a little cough and called our attention. "However the military were given a green light to do airdrops." My uncle says, "A couple of military supply planes drop a few relief goods." I then stand up and look at a boarded up window. "When do these airdrops come?" I asked. "It's hard to tell. The UN does these drops randomly, depending where the continent is at." He replied. But that's where it hit me. The continent wasn't just floating, it was moving around the world. "So where is Laputa now?" I asked. "I'll check it out." My uncle replied. He puts down the phone. I can hear the sound of keyboard typing from the computer. The sound then stops and again silence. My uncle picks up the phone hesitantly and speaks up at the mouth piece. "Laputa is above the Pacific Ocean and is about to head to US territory." He says with a dead tone, "I have to hang up now."
There I was lost and confused. What was going on. Before I was going to ask any more questions, a siren goes off. "What was that?" I asked. "That's an emergency siren. Sometimes when Laputa comes above land and drops land like meteors, then the HAPs start to occur in small scales. Sometimes it happens in reverse and monsters start to appear." He told me. That was a startling truth. Not only that and my companions are trapped in no man's land but another threat occurs in the process. I then put the phone back where it was and went back to the conversation with others. "So what happens now?" I asked. "We are given an hour to head to the nearest underground bunker and wait it out." He says, "However by the time Laputa reached here all comms and emergency services will be shut down until the continent is away from the state by a fifty mile radius…."
"Will you be alright?"
"I'll be fine. I got that old fallout shelter under my house cleaned up and ready. I'll be able to call you next time."
"When will that be?"
"I don't know."
"Stay safe then."
"I intend to. Try to last as long as you can in your apartment and get the relief goods only when necessary. However if you do get one, look for an orange book. You might get something out of it. And meditate...meditate as much as you can…your memories are the key to your..."
But before I can get any more information we lost the signal. Laputa had finally approached the United States. I picked up the phone and called again. Again there was no answer. It was clear from here on the four of us were on our own. I gave it back to Rebecca but she declined. "You need it more than I do." She implied. But as she handed the phone back to me we felt a sudden tremor in the ground. The tremors kept on feeling stronger. "Earthquake..?" Tyrell suggested. "No... footsteps." Mr. Williams corrected my friend. As the shaking got stronger the four of us were drawn towards the window. Outside we couldn't believe our eyes. It was a brown creature much like a dinosaur. It had the body and head of a T-Rex but longer arms and with two bull-like horns. "What the hell is that?" Rebecca asked. "I don't know but somebody give it back to Universal Studios." Tyrell responded. We didn't know how to take this. The news about this new world was a mind blower but this was already insult to injury. But whatever it was...it was hard to keep us calm. A messed up greeting to this messed up new world.