Read The Desolate Guardians for Free Online Page A

There's nobody coming, is
there?"
    She hesitated. "You… never know."
    "Ah, sure."
    Wait, did he say radio? What did I have
access to here? Quickly running through the systems at my disposal,
I searched for any sort of radio apparatus. He did say the
equipment was still working. Could I transfer audio to that
reality, and then have it broadcast by a radio tower there?
    As he began tying himself up, and she stood
up to leave, I quickly put together my little scheme. "Hello?"
    I saw them both jump as static came from a
radio somewhere on his person.
    Testing my unused voice, and trying to clear
up the signal, I spoke again. "Hello, can you hear me?"
    He immediately lifted the radio in sight,
close to his mouth. "Command?!"
    "No, sorry," I replied, electrified at
actually making contact. "I'm… actually, it's probably best if I
don't say who I am. I don't know who might be listening. But I
think I can help. I've got a lot of information here… I could
probably try to find the flames' world."
    I saw my mistake in their reactions.
    "I'm watching through a camera in your eye!"
I explained quickly. "I noticed her showing up in logs and
messages, and I set a search trigger to try to find her in real
time."
    "Me?" she asked, looking him in the eye with
a curious glare.
    "I know we don't know each other," I said,
choosing my words carefully despite my fear and excitement. "But
you seem like a good person, and something terrible is clearly
going on, and I'd like to help."
    "You don't know me at all," she said
quietly.
    "Where are you, man?" my camera-bearer
asked.
    "I'm - well, again, I don't think I should
say. But I'm not in your reality. This network spans dozens of
Earths."
    The woman nodded. For the first time, this
close to the camera, I noticed that her eyes were light brown. She
seemed lost in thought. "I suspected that something like that might
exist. If nightmares can cross dimensions, it makes sense that
people can, too, and it's the nature of bureaucracy to spread."
    Bureaucracy… she'd chosen the right word, and
guessed well. I was nobody important, but I had the ability to
help, because nobody knew who I was or what I had access to in the
vast structure of my organization. It was a running joke online
that nobody knew what I.T. really did… and that joke, being true,
was the sole reason I'd learned any of this.
    "Do you know what happened to Command?" he
asked.
    "I can try to look it up. Do you know which
reality it's in?" I almost laughed. I would never have believed I'd
be asking that question if I'd told myself about it two weeks
ago.
    He closed his eyes, and the camera, for a
long moment. "Damn. I don't. All I know is, the comm girl was named
Sarah."
    " That's what you know?" the woman
teased.
    "Eh, get off," he protested, looking away and
probably blushing.
    Stepping closer to his eye view, she
addressed me directly. "I'd appreciate your help finding -"
    "Shit!" His cry interrupted her. "Purple
slice! The crazy!"
    Her eyes went wide, and she took off running
without a second's hesitation. He fumbled with his ropes, either
trying to tie them in time or get out of them and run, but I could
see his hands begin to shake. The view began misting over as he
started whispering to himself. "Oh God, oh God…"
    I watched in horror, helpless. Would my
interruption get this young man killed? No - there had to be a way!
"What's your name?" I asked, trying to keep him focused while I
desperately sorted through files and specs.
    "Jonathan," he answered, his voice trembling
and straining. "Jonathan Cortin. I'm dead, man. Goddamnit, not the
crazy, not like this… any of the others would have been better… go
out firing at that goddamn Preacher…"
    "Don't lose it just yet," I insisted,
examining the specs for his internal eye camera. "Jonathan… I can
knock you out."
    "What? How? Do it!" he screamed, bending over
and staring at his hands as he resisted curling them into claws.
Tears dropped down to the wet grey earth beneath as