Free The Pure: Book Three of the Oz Chronicles by R.W. Ridley

staggering. The leap across the room drained what little energy he had.
“Your world for the Source.”
    “My world?”
    Gordy stands. “Home, Oz. Home.”
    “You mean...”
    “Everything as you remember it. As I’ve
told you a thousand times before. Your world.”
    My mind tries to grab hold of the
concept, but I can’t. A lump forms in my throat, and I fight back a tear. “I
don’t remember.”
    “You do,” Gordy says. “Or you can
again.”
    “How?”
    He walks over to the nearest clay wall
and writes with his finger - Millie B. Story .
    I read the name over and over again.
    “Who...”
    “Shhhhh,” he says. “The next session is
about to start.”
    The light slowly begins to lose way to
the darkness. Within a matter of seconds, it is pitch black. I soon hear
muffled voices from overhead. I stand on my toes to see if I can hear the
voices more clearly.
    My eyes begin to acclimate to the
darkness. Slowly, I can make out shapes. A mop handle, a shelf with cleaning
supplies. I am back in the janitor’s closet.
    “Getting sleepy, now,” Dr. Graham’s
voice says traveling down from the vent. “Almost there. You’re feeling relaxed
and safe. Safe, Archie. We are back in the woods with your friends.”

 
      Scoop - face

 
  SEVEN
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    “We didn’t fair too well without Lou and
the others. Barely a week had passed when April squatted in a patch of poison
ivy. She was covered in red welts.
    “Tank caught a nasty cold shortly after
that. He was snorting, sniffing and basically leaking mucus from every hole in
his head.
    “We found a box of fruit cocktail behind
an abandoned backwoods convenience store. The cans were rusted and beat up, but
I was hungry so I took a chance none of the others would. I threw up for three
days.
    “Little Bobby was the only one who
seemed to be doing better. His bite was on the mend , and he was in general
good spirits. For most of the waking day, he sang the only song he knew, ‘I’ve
Got Friends In Low Places.’ And by the second hour of the first day he took to
singing, the rest of us hoped to the heavens above that Garth Brooks had
survived the end of the world so we could find him and give him the beating of
a lifetime for writing that damn song.
    “His choice of song did lead to an
interesting conversation though. April began to wonder out loud where all the
famous people were. The ones she used to read about in supermarket tabloids and
on the Internet.

     
  “‘Like Paris Hilton,’ she
said as she scratched her forearm raw. ‘You reckon she survived.’
    “‘Lord, I hope not,’ Tank said with a
nasally tone. ‘That girl wasted all her pretty in normal times. I can’t imagine
God would give her a second chance.’
    “I laughed. ‘What makes you so sure
God’s got a hand in what happened here?’
    “Tank gave me a perplexed look. ‘God’s
got a hand in everything.’
    “‘Those crab things we saw,’ I said.
‘And the purple... people and the Bashir.... You think God’s got a hand in
that, too?’
    “Tank spat a big gob of snot on a nearby
tree. ‘I ain’t a preacher. Don’t know nothing about the Bible. I just know what
my momma taught me. God is everywhere and has a hand in everything.’
    “‘What about Angelina?’ April said
ignoring our religious discussion. ‘You think she made it?’
    “Tank’s eyes lit up. ‘Now, that I
wouldn’t mind. She was pretty and smart and did stuff for poor people... or
something to that effect.’
    “‘Oh, and Brad, too,’ April said
excitedly. ‘I bet he made it.’ “‘Ahh, don’t nobody need him around,’ Tank moaned.
‘I’d like a crack at that Angelina without him interfering.’
    “April howled with laughter. ‘Angelina
wouldn’t have you if you were the last man on earth.’
    “‘Hell,’ Tank said. ‘I ain’t far off.’
    “‘What about Archie,’ April said. ‘He
might like to hook up with her.’
    “I shook my head. ‘Nah, Tank can