SHIFTER

“Are you sure we should be out here?” Neil asked nervously. Casey laughed, her hands stuffed lazily in the pockets of her skinny black jeans. “Of course not, these woods are restricted. If we’re discovered we’ll probably be shot at.”

“Shot at!? Wait, are you serious?” 

Casey laughed again, dislodging one hand from her pockets to brush back a strand of short blue hair behind her ear, “I’m only joking, silly.”

Neil rubbed the back of his neck, “Haha, yeah. I knew that.”

Casey smiled to herself. Neil was an awkward kid, despite his best efforts. Even outside of school he wore his uniform. Casey wondered if she had ever seen him wear anything other than a neatly tucked dress shirt and clumsily knotted tie. His tattered running shoes were the only comfortable thing he wore but he always dragged his feet when he walked and he always needed new ones. No one else ever noticed him, the new kid, when he first showed up. All Casey did was offer to be partners in Phys Ed once out of pity and he was latched to her for the rest of the year. Regardless, he was company, and Casey had no wealth of that.  

The tall dark spruce trees stretched upwards from both sides of the worn dirt path, cluttering the ground with old needles and pinecones. Casey breathed it in, the crisp autumn’s evening air, and let it out again slowly. 

“Nobody ever comes here,” she said, “I think some greedy old guy bought it up and then put up the signs. I used to walk here all the time when I was younger. There was this cool spot where someone had dumped a bunch of metal scraps and it made for a decent little playground until my mom found out about it.”

Neil seemed to relax. “You must know every inch of this town, you know… Since you grew up here.”

Casey let out a small sigh, “Seems that way.”

Without warning, Neil stopped in his tracks, fixated on something a ways off the path. 

“Woah, what’s that?” he said. Casey turned around to see him standing there, a curious look on his face. Following his gaze, Casey was met with a blinking red light in the gradually darkening distance. That’s funny, she thought. There shouldn’t be anything out there. Huh.

“Come on,” she said, breaking off from the path “Let’s go check it out!”

Neil stood fixed in place, “Are you sure that is a good idea?”

“Pshh, don’t be a baby!” Casey scoffed, “Would you rather be left behind?”

Neil rubbed his arms, watching as Casey disappeared further into the trees. In a moment of decision, he jolted forward, chasing after her.

“Wait for me!”

Casey smirked. Neil was predictable if anything. However, she was forced to admit that there was something eerie about the blinking light; something that put her on edge. She tried to swallow the creeping dread and put on a candid expression as Neil caught up.

The light got closer and closer, and soon they could make out hints of structure looming between the swaying branches. The wind began to pick up, scattering the dead needles across the ground with a sound like the pattering of rain. Both of them stopped dead in their tracks when they reached the clearing. 

A flickering red light hung lopsided from the bent, misshapen form of a tall wire fence, tangled in a broken string of barbed wire at the top. It was like a tank had smashed through and left a gaping hole in someone’s defences. Beyond it sat the form of a towering concrete facility, faceless and brutal, with no icon or signage of any kind.

“What was it you said about that old man?” Neil squeaked.

“This is impossible.” Casey breathed, “This has never been here. I’ve walked through this section before.”

“We should go,” Neil suggested. Casey grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

“Wait, look.” She pointed out at the building, “The parking lot is empty. There’s nobody here.”

“I really hope you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking.”

“Come on! Aren’t you even a little bit curious what this place is?” Fumbling with the pocket of the jacket that was tied around her waist, Casey retrieved her phone. 

“Sure, I’m curious,” Neil said. “But I also value my life.”

Casey flicked on her flashlight and stepped over what was left of the base of the fence, “Don’t worry. You won’t get shot at.”

Neil sighed and followed her reluctantly.

Sunlight was dwindling orange over the tops of the trees while the rest of the sky darkened. The light from Their flashlights scanned over large cracks and holes in the wide stretch of pavement leading to the building, deepening the shadows and narrowing their vision. When they reached the front entrance they found it in much the same state as the fence, with one door still barely holding on to one of its hinges. What little lights inside still functioned flickered dimly. Papers and shards of glass crinkled and cracked under their shoes, echoing closely in the narrow hallways. Gaping doors lead to dark, empty rooms and the rest were locked.

“Hello?” Neil called. Casey slapped her hand over his mouth, shushing him harshly.

“Are you nuts!” She whispered, removing her hand from his startled face. “What if someone is here?”

“You said there wasn’t!”

“Then why are you calling out to nobody?”

Neil rubbed the back of his neck, “Maybe we should leave. It doesn’t look like there’s anything here.”

“Exactly,” Casey countered, “Isn’t that a bit strange to you? This place has been completely abandoned.” She illuminated a puddle of spilled coffee in the nearest room, “Recently.”

Neil swallowed. Casey lifted an eyebrow, 

“Come on, Corneilius, You aren’t scared are you?”

Neil nodded, “Aren’t you?”

“Pshh, no.” Casey lied. She turned away from him and took a deep breath, brushing back that annoying strand of hair back behind her ear.

Countless corridors lead to countless rooms. Offices, labs, server rooms, break rooms. Put together, it seemed like some kind of scientific facility. But what happened here? Casey eyed a long deep scratch along the wall. It looked like something had trashed the place. She just hoped that whatever it was left a long time ago. Her gaze led Casey to notice a lonely elevator access at the end of the hall.

“Hey, check it out,” she said, “Do you think it still works?” 

With her dominant hand holding her phone she reached up and kicked the button with her heel of her boot and to her surprise, a resounding ding echoed in the hall and the doors slid open.

“No way,” Neil said. “There’s no way I’m getting in that.”

Casey stepped in, eyeing herself in the dusty mirror that spanned the back wall. 

“Look, there’s a basement,” She noted. “Everything seems to be functional.”

“I don’t care. I got trapped in an elevator when I was six. I’m not going to relive that.”

“Fine,” Casey said, “Take the stairs.” She gestured at an adjacent door with a sign labelled ‘Stairs’ next to it.

“I will.” Neil said, “Your loss.”

Casey ignored him and hit the bottom-most button on the console, watching as the metal doors glided shut in front of her. For a moment, nothing happened and she had a brief flash of panic before the elevator jolted to life and began to descend. It was only when she was on her way down that she looked up at the gaping roof of the elevator, the long dark shaft visible beyond it. She felt her heart rate quicken inside her chest as she watched the pully system above her struggle and squeal, straining as it held the elevator in place. A puff of air escaped her that she hadn’t realized she was holding in. Then the wire snapped. 

For an agonizing moment, Casey felt her stomach lurch upwards as the elevator went into free-fall. The emergency measures kicked in and the elevator squealed to a halt, sparks lighting up the shaft above as Casey fell flat against the wall, clinging desperately to the railing. Her breathing was beginning to slow as the doors cracked open an inch and Neil’s voice sounded from the other side.

“Casey! Are you okay?”

“I’m-” Casey swallowed her fear, “I’m fine. The elevator had brakes.”

Neil’s face appeared near the floor, peaking in through the door. 

“You didn’t make it all the way down, but if we can get this open a little more, you could probably crawl out.”

“Here, you pull, I’ll push.” Sitting against the wall, Casey placed her boot on the edge of the door and pushed with all of her strength. She could hear Neil straining from the other side as it began to scrape slowly open.

“Quick,” he cried, “Get out! I’ll hold it!”

Her limbs moved urgently as Casey laid flat on her stomach and pushed herself out of the elevator. She barely caught herself as she fell from a shoulder’s height towards the cracked tile floor.

“Phew.”

“I told you not to take the elevator.”

Casey ignored him as she got her bearings. It was another hallway with what could only be described as a metal vault door at the end of it.

“Oh yeah,” She smirked, “If there is anything here, this is the place.”

“It will probably be locked,” Neil said, eying the massive latch on its face. Casey flicked her flashlight back on and walked up to the vault door and pushed on it. Creaking loudly it swung open, having been left ajar. Casey raised an eyebrow at her companion and he rolled his eyes, but the quips on their tounges were quickly forgotten as the room was revealed. 

It was the size of a warehouse, and fully open, housing a machine the size of a small building. It lay curled up like a sleeping dragon, platforms and railings nestled up against it, focused around its round glowing ‘eye’. 

“Woah,” Neil said.

“Do you remember that power outage at school last month?” Casey said, her attention still glued to the behemoth.

“Yeah…” Neil snapped a photo without looking at his phone. Wasting no further time, Casey made her way up the steps to the viewing platform.

“There is no way the town council knows about this,” Neil breathed, lagging behind. 

Casey walked up to the eye, a circular window taller than her, swirling with shades of blue and purple. The flickering dance of the colours was mesmerizing and she got as close as she could, leaning over the railing to touch it.

Neil walked up a different set of steps leading to a platform lined with consoles and controls. Casey heard him scream as his flashlight passed over a crumpled object on the floor. It was the body of a man in a hazard suit, his figure burned and disfigured. Stumbling backwards Neil fell into a control console, his hand accidentally flicking a lever as he fought to catch himself. To his horror, the dragon woke. 

A deep, resounding, pulsing hum filled the room as the eye turned from blue to red. 

“Casey!” Neil cried, but it was too late.

…

Casey stood in a void of black, the sensation of movement rushing across her body. She tried to scream but the wind took her voice away from her and as she blinked she could see three reflections of herself standing in front of her. All three with the same contortion of fear written on their faces, but they weren’t exactly the same. Each was dressed differently and had different colours of hair. Red. Green. Purple. The reflections merged in front of her before she crashed into something behind her. 

The room’s ceiling loomed above her as Neil shook her awake.

“Casey! Casey!”

Sitting up slowly, Casey let out a groan,

“What happened?”

Neil tried to get all of his words out a once, “There was this body by the controls and I tripped and there was this explosion and you went flying off the railing and I thought you were dead and-“

“Slow down Neil! I-” Casey froze, noticing the body stirring next to her. It was herself but with red hair and darker clothing. Red glowing markings pulsed across her face as her eyes slowly opened.

“What the- Where did she come from?” Casey said.

“What do you mean?” Neil asked. Casey turned to see the green one on the other side of her, wearing glasses and a ponytail. The purple one was already sitting up behind her.

“What was that?” She said, rubbing her head. Neil shook Casey to get her attention,

“What are you looking at?” he asked.

“You don’t see them?” 

“See who?”

“They’re… me. But different.”

Red jumped to her feet hastily, almost losing her balance as she did so. 

“Where am I? Wh-… Neil…” She froze in place, her eyes fixed on Neil, “You’re alive!” 

She charged at him with an embrace but to her surprise she phased right through him, tears glistening in her eyes.

Purple piped up again as Green was getting to her feet.

“Seriously. what is going on?” 

“Crap!” Green snapped, “I knew this would happen.”

Red held out her hand to an oblivious Neil and watched in confusion as it phased through his shoulder.

“You seriously don’t see them?” Casey asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Casey, I think you must have hit your head.”

Green dusted herself off, “Stupid Neil! I knew we shouldn’t have entered that building!”

“You can’t hear them either?” Casey asked. Neil shook his head, concern written on his face.

“Of course he can’t hear us,” Green said, “We’ve all merged consciousness.”

Purple pulled up the hood of her hoodie, “I don’t understand.”

“That machine is a universe collider,” Green continued, “We have all been ripped from our own timelines and fused with blue hair over here. By the way, blue is definitely not our colour.”

“Then he really is dead,” Red said a sullen look crossing her face. “This isn’t the same Neil.” 

“Of course not,” Purple chimed, “Neil’s a ginger.”

“EVERYBODY SHUT UP!” Casey screamed. “I don’t understand! You’re all from alternate dimensions?”

“Casey, nobody is talking…”

“Of course,” Green sneered, “But it looks like we all pulled the same stunt at the same time.”

“Oh no,” Red said. “Does that mean this universe also has the monster…”

Purple piped up, “Monster?”

“Blue, you didn’t happen to kill a monster on the way in did you?” Red asked, fear in her voice.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Casey said, her heart rate quickening as she remembered the scratches on the walls. Green was about to say something but she was cut off by a sudden chittering noise from up in the ceiling. Neil heard it too, his pale face cast up fearfully at the sound, watching as a dark shadow slithered down from the shadows. Countless legs, the size of pine trees clattered down on top of the universe collider, black, oozing, and quivering. Casey froze in place as the Machine’s glowing eye illuminated it from below, shuddering as she noticed the outlines of scientists and soldiers crumpled up and contorted against its body. 

“RUN!” Red screamed, holding her hand defensively in front of Neil. 

Neil didn’t need to be able to hear her, he booked it towards the vault door and the rest followed him. Casey chased the group at its tail as the monster lurched forward, its legs moving in an elegant sequence. Once they were inside the hallway Red tried to slam the vault door shut but her hands just phased through the handle.

“Blue! Close the door!”

Casey was already halfway across the hall when she stopped and spun around. 

“Blue! NOW!”

Without thinking, Casey threw herself at the door and heaved it towards her. The hulking slab of metal barely budged under her meagre strength.

“What is wrong with you?” Red screamed, “Just pull!”

Casey threw everything she had at it before it shut slowly. Locking the mechanism, on the other hand, was another problem entirely. The vault jolted in her hands as the beast scratched at it from the outside.

“I can’t hold it!” Casey screamed, her effort constricting her throat. Neil, having read the situation, threw himself at it too. But it did little to help. 

“Casey, if we die,” he said, “There’s something I have to tell you!”

Red ran her hands through her crimson hair, fury in her eyes.

“Enough of this!” 

In a blink, everything changed. Casey felt her consciousness float away, clinging desperately to her body. Wait a minute. Her clothes were different and in the vague brushed reflection of the metal door, she saw a blob of red where blue was a moment ago.

“Casey?” Neil stared at her dumbfounded. 

Casey’s body moved without her input and with near-unprecedented strength, she grabbed ahold of the latch and slammed the lock shut. With another swift movement, she kicked at the latch, leaving a dent in the door as she jammed it closed.

 How did I do that? Casey thought. Words came out of her mouth.

“This puny door? Pshh, easy!”

Purple looked on with a similar expression as Neil, but there was a fire of excitement in Green’s eyes. 

“Of course! Red just switched places with Blue! Theoretically, I knew it was possible, but to see it in person is unprecedented!” 

The monster beat at the door with a sound that shook the dust from the ceiling. Purple didn’t wait for the rest of them, “Let’s keep moving please.”

Casey felt her legs moving in a perfect rhythm, her muscles working in peak condition, as she ran down the hall and up the narrow zig-zagging staircase.

 How did you do that? Casey asked in her head.

“Everyone can do it, least where I’m from,” Red answered. 

There was a reverberating crash as the vault door burst open a few flights below them.

“I knew that wouldn’t hold it!” Green snapped. 

“At least it slowed it down!” Red countered. 

Neil started to lag behind so Casey picked him up off his feet and climbed the steps three at a time. Somehow the rest kept up, but something told her they couldn’t be left behind. They were bound to her. 

The lights in the staircase flickered out as the creature forced its way up after them. Neil screamed in Casey’s arms as he watched it gain on them from behind. She could feel it’s dark presence growing behind her as she reached the final step and fled into the main floor hallway. 

With an ear-splitting squeal, it burst out into the hallway behind them hitting the other side in its momentum. It was followed by a cacophony of groans and otherworldly voices, the forms of corpses appearing briefly in the flickering lights. They weren’t going to be fast enough to reach the front door. 

In a flash moment of decision, Casey ducked into one of the open rooms and the monster barreled over where she had just been, legs clamouring and scattering to stop and turn around. Casey caught a brief glimpse of the cubicles that occupied the room before diving underneath one of the desks. Purple appeared next to her,

“My turn now.”

Casey felt her consciousness drift for a moment again as Red took Purple’s place next to her. Neil cowered next to her when she set him down but she put out her arm to touch his shoulder and, to Casey’s bewilderment, both of them vanished from sight.

 You can turn invisible?

“You can’t? Purple whispered from her mouth. 

Both of them were shocked into silence as the monster crashed through the door frame and slowed to a halt. Casey could hear its simultaneous ragged breaths passing in and out like hundred saws as it crawled gingerly through the room. Its heat overwhelmed her as she pulled her feet closer. Neil was shaking. 

Red stepped out from under the table and approached the beast, much to Casey’s anxiety. But it took no notice of the girl waving her arms before it.

“It’s can’t see me,” Red noted. 

“Only, Blue can see us,” Green said, speaking as if it were obvious, “She was the only one affected by the machine.”

 What is that thing?

 “It’s the consequence.” Green said, “It’s what happens when idiots think they can mess with the multiverse.”

Casey’s heart finally began to slow as the creature shuffled back into the hallway. 

“Good,” Red said, “Let me have the body. I’ll smash this wall. I’m pretty sure it leads to the outside.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Green sneered, “It will hear us. We need to use stealth!”

“I agree,” Casey’s mouth whispered.

Neil shivered under her touch,

“Casey, I’m scared. What do we do?”

 I’m so sorry. Casey thought, I never meant for this to happen. Guilt took ahold of her mind. What was she trying to prove by taking him into the building? How could I have been so stupid?

“Casey is sorry that she brought you into this,” Purple spoke through her.

“What?” Neil asked, his voice coming from the empty space beside her.

“Also she has a crush on you.”

 HEY.

“We need to move,” Green said, “I think it has lost interest. Just keep your invisibility going and, hopefully, it won’t notice us.”

“You don’t happen to have any fancy powers you can use to get us out of here, do you, Green?” Red said.

“I’m the only one who has any sense!”

Casey picked herself up slowly from under the desk, keeping her hand on Neil’s shoulder. Careful not to step on any broken glass, she lead him into the hallway where the beast was nowhere to be found. Purple let go of the invisibility.

“It’s gone,” she said. Casey felt her mind funnel back into a comfortable state and when she looked down she saw that she had changed back to normal. 

“Where did it go?” Red asked. They walked tentatively forward, approaching the gaping entrance of the building. Police Sirens called out mournfully from the distance as they stepped out of the front door, accompanied only by the cries of the creature as it escaped into the night.

“What have we done?” Casey said.