C h a p t e r I I

S t r a n g e N e w W o r l d

Trouble was coming.

The light continued to descend, and finally rested at eye level. The Gang was mesmerized, and had almost forgotten about their situation. The horn was still blasting in the distance, now with the addition of roaring warriors. They seemed to have turned around, for the noise was beginning to come closer, but no one paid any attention.

The light floated for a few more seconds, and then expanded. As it took shape, the light began to fade, allowing everyone’s eyes refocus. Now standing in the midst of the Gang was the translucent shape of Brian.

“Brian! You’re alive!” Kenzi said, pushing herself away from the tree trunk and running forward. She gasped, stopping short. She reached out to touch Brian, but her hand passed right through his arm. “What…what happened to you?” she asked in shock.

Brian pushed his translucent glasses up on his nose, shrugged, and said, "Does it look I know?!”

The rest of the group stepped forward and examined Brian closer. Richard reached out to touch Brian, and his right hand passed through his stomach. Richard could feel the bark of the tree Brian was standing in front of. Everything was the same about him, even his school clothes, except that he was translucent and had no color. He was just silvery white. Everything below his knee level appeared completely transparent, as though he was floating above the ground.

“He’s a ghost…” Jon stated loudly. “He’s a freakin’ ghost!”

Kaitlin gasped, and reached out to touch Brian. He raised his hand to give her a high five, and Kaitlin’s hand passed right through it. He held it up to his face, and examined it closely. He looked down at the rest of himself, and suddenly looked back up. A slow smile spread across his face; he cackled evilly and stuck his hand through Kaitlin’s head, waving at the rest of the gang.

“AWESOME!” He suddenly took off running, passing right through Jon, and into the jungle. Jon stared at the rest of the group for a moment before his eyes rolled back into his head and he crumpled to the ground. Everyone else turned quickly, and watched as Brian flew through the jungle foliage.

“Guys… What the heck!” Kenzi said, staring at Jon’s limp body.

*     *

Brian continued to float through the jungle, jumping straight through trees, and passing through the fauna as if it were nothing. He came out into a clearing abruptly, and looked around. There were thirteen to fourteen huts arranged in a circle around the small clearing, with thatched roofs coming to points fifteen feet in the air, the long leaves serving as the doors and window shades to each structure. In the center of the circle was a pit with some half-burnt wood, blue smoke curling slowly from the charred wood, red embers still glowing in the shadows.
A smirk appeared on his face as he began floating through the circle. A young farmer stepped out of one of the huts, and yawned. As he came around the corner, Brian raised his arms above his head and twisted his mouth into an evil grin.

“BOO!” he shouted, leering at the poor man.

The man fell backwards, only to quickly jump back up, screaming. “A DEMON FROM THE UNDERWORLD!”

The farmer took off running into the village, and several dark heads began popping out of the other huts. They all watched the farmer run past the fire-pit, and into the jungle.

Brian laughed, floating back into the dense jungle shadows.

*     *

“Come on guys…we’ve got to find Brian before he gets himself in trouble,” Richard said, looking off in the direction Brian had disappeared to. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that everyone was now sitting on the ground with their backs together, all huddled in a circle.
“Guys, come on! We have to keep moving!” he implored.

Kenzi pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her head on her folded arms. Kaitlin sat with her legs stretched out in front of her, making small piles of the powdery dust, and Jon, his legs crossed, glared up at Richard.

“Richard…we don’t know where we are, or what just happened!” He yelled. “And you want us to baby-sit Brian?! A dead Brian, no less! What else should we do! It’s like a freakin’ culture shock for all of us.” The girls sat in hopeless silence next to him as he took several deep breaths and sullenly leaned back against Kenzi.

Richard’s shoulders slumped, and he began walking back to the group, shuffling his feet in the soft dirt path. The loud snap of a twig sounded in the underbrush, and he froze on the spot. Kenzi jumped at the noise, Jon tensed, and Kaitlin gasped and slapped her hand over her mouth. Richard slowly turned to try to find the location of the noise. A dark figure moved slightly behind a large fern. He squinted to look closer, tried to duck, but never had a chance.

Five men dressed in what almost looked like Ninja robes jumped out, and surrounded the Gang. Richard slowly retreated back to the group, Kenzi and Kaitlin holding Jon like a human shield.

“What the heck?!” Jon said, eying the Ninjas in fascinated horror.

“Wh…who are you?” Richard said slowly.

“Be quiet, brother!” One said. His robes were gray as opposed to the stark black of the others; he appeared to be their leader. He suddenly turned and faced Jon. “But you! You son of a Lamanite! Bring him to me!”

They all came forward and grabbed Jon. The leader took him by the hair, and slammed him against a tree. Jon’s body swung like a rag doll as the leader’s hand pressed his head back against the trunk. The others bound his hands, tying them back behind the tree, the rough bark cutting into Jon’s skin. He uselessly grasped at the ropes; trying to work his hands loose, succeeding in doing more than creating rope burns on his wrists. Several spear tips came up to Jon’s jugular.

“Hey…what the heck are you doing!? Let go!” Jon squeaked in protest.

“Be quiet, you filth!” Another said, lunging forward slightly, the spear poking closer.

“Wait! What are you doing? Who are you?!” Kaitlin asked quickly.

“Silence!” he glared at Kaitlin, and then turned to face the Gang. “We are an elite band of Nephites. We patrol the border, looking for Lamanites; like this one!” He said jabbing a finger at Jon.

“I’m not a Lamanite! I swear!” Jon pleaded.

The lead Ninja turned back to face Jon. “I said silence!” He glared at him, his spear poised to follow through on severing Jon’s carotid.

“WAIT!” Richard yelled.

The Ninja stopped inches from Jon’s neck, and stared over his shoulder at Richard. His dark hair hung limb around his gaunt face, his eyes were wide and slightly bulging, shifting from each member of the Gang. His brows furrowed in a slight glare.

“You said that you were Nephites?” Richard asked, his voice cracking as he stared at the leader.

“Yes, yes, that is what I said. But you have caused our time to be wasted. After we dispose of this one, we will escort you to the city of Helam.”

Richard couldn’t believe his ears. Helam? It couldn’t be. It wasn’t true; completely impossible. That was the name of a city in Book of Mormon times. Was this just coincidental, or were there other cities with that name? That city had only existed during a time period a few thousand years in the past. But the Ninja had also said that they were Nephites…

The Ninja turned back, and raised the spear to Jon’s neck level again. Jon braced himself against the tree, the bark snagging his shirt. His eyes squeezed shut, and blood welled on his lip. Kaitlin screamed, Kenzi hiding her face against her friends shoulder as the Ninja thrust the spear forward. Suddenly, a ghostly visage appeared in front of Jon’s face.

“BOO!”

“Holy one of Israel!” The Ninja jumped backwards, dropping his weapon abruptly.

The other Ninjas all pulled out their bows and aimed them at Brian’s disembodied head. Jon once again braced himself, but was spared as Brian stepped forward into the center of the group.

“This land is filled with holy spirits…we apologize,” the Ninja said.

Upon saying this, the others quickly lowered their bows, and untied Jon. He sank to his knees with relief. The lead Ninja turned, bowed down onto one knee, and held out his spear towards the Gang peacefully. “We will give you any assistance you need.”

The Gang’s eyes went wide, but Kenzi was the first to speak. “Wait, I have to know something. What year do you guys think it is?”

The Ninja stood up straight and turned to face Kenzi, who now looked much shorter in comparison. “We have been in the wilderness for many years now…but by our reckoning, it is four hundred and sixty years from the coming of Lehi out of Jerusalem.”

“Wait, let me think for a second…” Richard said.

Assuming that they were in Nephite times, he did some quick math. He had said four hundred and sixty years. If you took into account that Christ was born six hundred years after Lehi left Jerusalem, then that meant it was…

“Holy crap…” Richard whispered silently. Kenzi suddenly put the numbers together in her head and realized it too.

“It’s one hundred forty B.C.!” Richard shouted. “We’re over two thousand years in the past!”

“What?!” Brian said in his usual tone.

“HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND…” Jon paused and saw that everyone was looking at him. “…something,” he mumbled.

“How could this have happened?!” Kaitlin suddenly asked.

Kenzi pressed a hand to her mouth, and looked down at the ground. Richard crouched down on the ground, slowly massaging his temples, shaking his head slowly in disbelief.

“How do we get back?” Jon finally asked. “What do we do?”

“I…I don’t know…this is impossible! It’s against the law of physics…” Richard mumbled to himself.

Jon stood up and said, “Well we need to do something and we need to do it now.” With that he went into the jungle, but everyone was still in shock and didn’t bother to ask just where he was going or what he was going to do. Richard stood slowly, brushing off his pants, and turned to face the lead Ninja, who seemed quite confused by this strange behavior.

“Look…we have been through some of the weirdest things…ever… Are there any nearby cities or towns?”

“Of course. As I mentioned before; Helam is a short journey from here on foot.”

Richard nodded and turned to Brian. “Where did Jon run off to?”

*     *

In the middle of the thick jungle surrounded by foliage and flying bugs, Jon was kneeling in the dust, his hands clasped in prayer. Brian slowly floated through a tree behind him, and Jon instantly stopped, sensing his presence.
“Jon, the others are looking for you…we’re getting ready to leave.”

Jon pushed at the ground to get up, and turned to face Brian, who was waving his hand back and forth through his stomach. “Brian…why the heck did you come back as a ghost?”

Brian threw his arms up. “Why!? What do you want to hear? I’ve already told you what happened. I don’t know! We went back in time, an arrow hit me, and I was floating over you guys. Maybe this stupid…space-time…thingy…messed me up. I don’t know what it was…but it sure is cool!”

Brian quickly stuck his hand through Jon in illustration. Jon watched as he did this, and then slowly looked back up Brian. His face began turning red.

“You really aren’t stressed about this, are you?”

“…No, not really,” Brian said casually.

“BRIAN! YOU’RE-A-FREAKIN’-GHOST! And on top of that, we’ve defied all common sense and jumped back in time! We may never see indoor plumbing again!”

Brian just floated there, staring at Jon. “…Well, it’s not like I’ll be needing indoor plumbing again.”

In that moment, Jon lost it and jumped at Brian. “For the love of all things porcelain and flushable!”

Brian began laughing, because each time Jon flew straight through thin air. As this folly of attacks continued, Jon began to grow short of breath, and eventually fell to the ground in exhaustion.

“Damn it all! I hate this! What are we supposed to do, Brian?! We can’t get home…! And what are you going to do?! Stay as a ghost your whole life? And what? Wait for time to play its self out and watch your Mom being born? And if you do wait that long, what will you tell her? That, I’m your undead son?! And when she doesn’t believe you, then what?! Wait till time itself stops…?”

Kaitlin, Kenzi, Richard, and the Ninjas slowly made their way through the dense jungle. Jon was on his knees, his arms raised in fury, still glaring at Brian.

“Jon, are you okay?” Kenzi asked, looking down at Jon.

He shook himself, pulling himself back to reality. Turning to the others he said,

“Guys…I don’t know how…or how we got sent here…but we’ve got to get back…one way or another…we’re getting back home.”


fin

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