CHAPTER SIX( NO MAN'S LAND)

Sam arived the new reality as the president of the United States of America. He got set to leave for the oval office, when he thought of Peyton. He was wondering if this reality could compensate him with Peyton. One of the maids came in to the room to tidy it up. " Where is my wife?" He asked. " she's in the guest quarters sir, " she responded. "What's she doing there?" He asked. "You ordered the secret service to relocate her there and withdrew her details sir, " the maid said. Sam needed an assurance about who is wife was, but couldn't asked the maid her name directly, so he asked her "Do you know what my wife did to me?" "no sir," she responded. " Because of having little issues with her, she threatened to change her name, do you know how precious my name sounds with hers?" he asked. " yes sir," she responded. " I want to hear it, say her name with mine," he requested. The maid wasn't sure what was going on, but still had to oblige." Its Madam Peyton Whitmore sir" she responded. Sam was a bit happy to know that her name matched. "please get me a picture of hers," he instructed. The maid got him the picture, and it was really Peyton. He felt fulfilled and happy that he had finally succeeded, but wondered what could be wrong with his relationship with Peyton, to warrant relocating her and even withdrew her security details.

Sam heard a loud explosive blast, even his quarters was shaken. He asked from the room, "what's going on out there?". He expected a quick response, but nothing. He had hoped for the secret service drafted to his doors to be there to respond and should there be a bridge in security, he would have been moved. He asked again, but no response as well. He moved closer to the door and opened it, but the door was already deserted." How could this happen?" talking to himself. He headed for the oval office to know what's going on. Five secret service agents approached him, " Mr president, we need to move you into the bunker sir, " they said. "what's happening?" He asked. "We're under attack sir, " they responded. "We need to get you to the bunker sir." the agents repeated. They were on their way to the bunker when they heard gun shots behind them. The shooting took out the two secret service agents, while the other three engaged in a gun fight with the terrorists. After holding off the terrorists for a while, they lost grounds as they were overstretched. Another two agents were killed and the last agent radioed for back up. He attempted getting the president to the bunker. It was just a couple of meters to the bunker when the last agent was jumped and stabbed to death. Sam ran towards the bunker while the attackers chased. Sam doubted the possibility of him surviving this attack on the white house, so he decided to head for the roof instead of the bunker, to change the reality again by jumping from a height. The terrorists already overran the entire white house defense systems, they needed the president captured to publicly declare their victory. Every single one of the terrorists were on the search for him. Sam got to the roof, but the terrorists already took over the roof, he counted up to ten of them providing surveillance on the roof. Sam whisked towards the lesser manned section of the roof, but badged clumsily into a can dropped on the roof and was sighted. He ran towards the ledge and the terrorists pursued. He almost jumped but badged into by one of the terrorists. Since the fear of being caught obscured his thoughts, he couldn't picture any exact reality he would like to be dropped in, but one of the terrorists was attached to him, his thought was used and they varnished.

The terrorist that varnished with Sam and one of his partner stationed to the roof were earlier discussing the last place to be on the planet. They talked about how deadly and painful it would be if anyone crashed into the ocean without rescue or the knowledge of swimming. They talked about the Antarctica and lastly the deep desert with enormous sand dunes, deadly winds and venomous animals. He was ruminating on how he could survive if he unfortunately found himself there before Sam appeared and he thrust into him and were both absorbed into a new reality.

Sam opened his eyes when he felt heavy dusty wind blew over him. He rose to his feet and circled on a spot skimming the surroundings. But to his woebegone, it was a vast expanse of land saddled with harsh weather and sands. "Where is this again for God's sake?" Sam asked himself. "why am I being so unfortunate, why is the machine doing this to me, how did I even get here?" these questions transpierce his psyche. Three meters from him was the terrorist that brought him these quagmire. He approached him quietly hoping to seize his gun. The terrorist got on his feet confused. He looked around with great despair and fright." what am I doing here?"he asked. Sam paused his advance. He pointed his gun at Sam and asked him how they got to the desert." I could remember thrusting into you to avoid you dropping off the roof and we both fell, but how did we get here?, the terrorist asked." what have you done to me?" he asked again. Sam looking defeated already, just ignored him and his gun, thinking of what to do next. He did not budge about the gun pointed at him." Please pull the trigger and and end my misery, " Sam pleaded . "Pull the trigger i said, because I see no way out of this alive," he shouted. The man lowered his gun and looked around again at the wide empty space, with no signs of life. He dropped to the ground in frustration. Sam stared at him disgustingly. "How did we get here?" the man asked again. Sam decided to punish him by telling him the truth, so he told him everything. The man was so angry at what he just heard. " You mean we're in these predicaments because you're too stupid to properly ask a girl out?" he asked, "yes the same way your foolishness landed me in these God forsaken land, " Sam responded. He pointed the gun at him again, "you did this to me, " the man shouted repeatedly. Sam stood up to him in anger, "no you did this to me, not the other way round, " Sam said. "I wasn't supposed to be here, but you destroyed everything with your senseless and meaningless attack on the white house and the president," Sam complained in anger. "And you need to stop pointing that thing at me if you ain't gonna use it, " Sam warned about his gun. "You should know that I'm your fastest way out of here, we only need to get to a high land and jump again, "Sam added. The terrorist calmed his tension and sat down." I'm Madison, " the man said calmly. "I'm Sam, " he responded. "Madison, we can't remain here if we're to survive, let's walk around to find our way out," Sam advised. Then they started walking. They've been walking for close to four hours, but still couldn't find any signs of civilization, foods nor drinks. They became so exhausted and thirsty, so they both concluded taking a rest. Sam felt the urgent need for water to quench his thirst, but he was nowhere close to any water source. In his delirium, he wanted to urinate and drink, but no container whatsoever to collect it. "I may need to improvise now to collect this urine, I'll need to survive this at all cost, " he thought to himself. He placed his two palms interweavingly to form a bowl, he lowered it below his genitals and urinated into it. Madison was shocked and amazed as to how low a person could descend just to survive. Sam collected the urine and drank. Madison also thirsty just couldn't fathom drinking his own urine. Sam felt relieved a bit and they both sat on the plain of sand. Madison seeing the extent of Sam's relief couldn't continue without water, he decided to follow suit and drank his urine too. "Mr president, Please just take me off this God forsaken place, " Madison pleaded. Since there's no high land from where we could jump, then we're stuck in here for now. The wind was blowing so profusely that they'd been well washed with sand. They covered their noses and dozed off unknowingly.

Two hours later, Madison felt his chest getting heavy, he woke up and cleared the sand deposits off his chest. He heard a roar of sand dunes heading their way . Madison knew instantly if that could hit them, then they'll surely be buried alive. Madison hit Sam with his leg, he woke up and saw Madison standing over him. "We need to get out of here, " Madison said, pointing his right index finger in the direction of the coming sand dunes. Sam rushed to his feet and they started running. They kept looking back and the more they ran, the closer the sand dunes to them. They hoped to get some place to hide or an elevated ground to jump from. Their legs started failing them from fatigue. Madison tripped and fell, but instead of landing on the ground, he got sunk into a hole in the ground. Sam was already ahead of him, but unaware that Madison had fell into a hole. "We need to find a place to hide to avoid these sand dunes. And don't worry, once we found somewhere high the grounds or deep into the ground, we'll jump off and be rid of this place, " Sam said. "Do you attack people because they offended you or just to make money?, Were you hired to attack the white house by the jihadists or people in government?" Sam asked but got no response, but just kept talking. "Madison," he called but no response, he halted and looked back, but nothing like Madison within the reach of his sight. He saw a dark point on the ground not far from him and wondered if it was there just now he passed by, he decided to track back and check what it was. He saw the hole runs down the ground but unsure of its depth. He called on Madison but couldn't get any response. Sam looked up and realized the sand dunes was getting too close. He weighed his options, either to jump into the hole he wasn't sure what its inhabitants were or to be suffocated and buried by the sand dunes." If the hole is deep enough, i could even be able to escape this hell of a land, " he thought.

Certain species of scorpions and spiders were also running to escape the sand dunes and wanted to hide in the hole. Sam didn't realize two scorpions had gotten on him, one on his leg and the other had gotten to his forehead unnoticed. He felt a very sharp and excruciating pain emanated from his left eye lid. He hit the spot and the scorpion dropped to the ground and quickly stepped on it, but not after stinging him. . The pains he experienced were so excruciating and out of this world. Sam wished for death, but it seemed death had other pressing matters to attend to on the day. His sight started getting blurry and eye balls unnaturally heavy while his eye lids and nose had become so swollen that even mountain everest would be jealous of their height. He began to stager and struggled to keep his balance on the ground. He had almost fell into the hole when another scorpion stung his leg and another his head. He could feel the venom traveling through his veins with tormenting aches. He lost his sense of reasoning immediately and just fell into the hole. He was about landing to the floor of the hole, when he felt a sudden cold breeze blew through him, he realized he'd been transported into another reality. He found himself floating on a cold surface. He couldn't see nor make any sense of his new reality. His face completely swollen And his legs has huge as that of a mammoth. He couldn't see, but the cold he felt led him to know his situation was from fry pan to fire. Sam managed to open his eyes faintly to know where he is and what the noises here and there were. People running for their lives to escape the unfortunate. Sam knew instantly his case had just gone from bad to worse. He could feel his bones aching. The venom from the stung had completely spread through his entire system. His heart beat began to slow down gradually. He tried opening his eyes more, but couldn't. He scampered off the floor and found a support to help him stood erect. He tried knowing what the commotion was about, only to see the ocean out of its dungeon, coming towards him. Sam already exhausted and stung had no escape rout or where else to run to. He noticed an already empty but opened car, a yard before him, so he struggled to get himself in and locked the doors. The thought passing through his mind at that moment was not to die being lacerated by the tsunamic flow of the oceans. "This will protect me to certain extent before getting drowned," Sam thought to himself. The water picked up the car and flowed with it and ice blasts flew here and there. Sam remembered his mom and how he left the house. The thought of never seeing her mom again dissolved his heart and moved him to another tears. Ice blast hit the roof of the car and froze the roof inside out. The car sunk in and Water began to gush into the car through every accessible spaces and it was soon flooded with water. The ocean water began to freeze from below and behind due to the ice blast and the nefarious drop in temperature. The car was about dropping on the ice below at the same time Ben's chopper was landing on the ice. The side Ben was in the chopper hit the windshield of Sam's car. That was all Sam could remember before losing consciousness. The two of them got released into the water, which could have been more devastating, but the sky brightened up with intense heat, the ice blasts stopped and the water flowed back to the oceans, the ice began to melt and rescue teams flooded every accessible areas. Fortunately for Sam, the venom in his system was killed due to the frozen waters, but his body still swollen and already in hypothermia. He was discovered by the rescue teams soon enough to try and revive him. He was placed on a strecher and wheeled into the emergency patrol van for proper attention. His hand and forearm was ramped with the hypothermia recovery machine " Thermo-STAT" and ventilator attached to his nose for respiration. In his unconscious state, he began to wonder if the heat he's beginning to feel circulating through his body was the effect of him being welcomed to the land of the dead. He was hoping to see Angels approach him for conversation, but was surprised to be left unattended to. "For me to be feeling heat around here means I'm not far from hell, am I still going to hell after all the unfortunate occurrences i was put through while alive. What a terrible way to die and a terrible reckoning. I can't allow myself to be subjected to another punishment besides the one that already killed me. How I wish I get my machine now, I could just change my destination from hell to paradise, or better still change from dead to living. Is that even possible?" those were Sams thoughts in his unconscious state. He thought he was deliberately abandoned till he saw the keepers of hell approached him." you tried to transform yourself to God while alive. You think you can just exclude yourself from the natural laws that governs the earth, by changing an already assigned realities into your own preferred ones, not minding the consequences. Your careless shtick had led the world into a state of turmoil and death. The poler vortex the world is experiencing was your doing because you tampered with existence ignorantly and the natural order needs to be restored by punishing you today, "the keepers said to him. Sam was lost for words, either to plead his case or reject the judgment. The keeper of hell ordered the release of giant venomous scorpions and snakes to bite and stung him." What, wait, wait, wait, " Sam shouted." What have I don to deserve such cruelty?" Sam asked. " You think these is cruelty, wait to experience the real cruelty when after being bitten and stung all over your body, you're being hanged upside-down in the fire to atone for your disastrous creation, " the keeper said. Thousands of giant scorpions and snakes advanced towards him. There's nowhere else to escape for Sam. The scorpions and snakes bombarded him and he kept shouting till he woke up in the hospital.

Sam regained consciousness the third day in the hospital. He shouted out of unconsciousness. He noticed the appearance he's seeing still resembles what it was on Earth, but doubted if hospitals are equally in hell. He saw on the news the U.S president delivering speech addressing the nation about the Polar Vortex and the need to battle global warming. "Climate change is our enemy, but first we created it through our activities. If we fail to address this Menace today, it will come back to hunt us tomorrow. It's time for green revolution. We have to regulate the incessant and indiscriminate cutting of trees in our forests. It's time to reduce the amount of fossil fuels we burn on daily basis. It's now compulsory that every building either big or small to have at least one tree planted. We've waited too long to face our demons, we failed to do the needful and today we've paid for it dearly. Now is the time to heal, a time to rebuild and a time to safe our ecosystems. Thanks and God bless us all and God bless the United States of America, " addressed, the president. He was still able to remember vividly who the president was in his original time line. A nurse rushed into the ward to check up on him after hearing the noise from his ward, "welcome back sir", the Nurse said after seeing him open his eyes. She checked her vitals and asked if any of his family members could be contacted for him. Sam was dumbfounded and in doubt, if that would be successful. "Could it be true that the machine we built almost end the world, "Sam ruminating on what the keeper of hell told him." If I should really die now, will I be returning to that wicked keeper in hell?"Sam asked himself. The Nurse was wondering what he could be thinking." May i borrow your phone?" Sam asked." Sure," the Nurse responded and handed him the phone. He checked himself and his friends online to be sure if he's back in the original reality, and all checked out. Sam returned the phone to the Nurse. He got off the bed, detached the machines attached to his arms and ran out of the ward. The Nurse shouted for him to stop and ran after him, but he wouldn't stop, he just kept running and headed for the roof again. Sam already lost his willingness to pursue Peyton and changing realities, he just wanted to go home. He wanted to jump to get home, but with the several misfortunes he'd suffered using the machine, he began to doubt himself, the machine and what he was told by the keeper. "But how do I get home now, I'm still two hundred miles away from home, " he asked himself. His legs slipped suddenly and almost fell, but he was able to hang on to a bar. His heart pounced faster as fears crept into his mind wondering what would have happened, or where he would have landed, had he fell." What if I suddenly found myself inside a burning sun, or found myself in the middle of the ocean and drowned or worse still, in the middle of a raging volcano," he thought to himself. Sam patiently withdrew from the ledge of the roof and went back down the stairs to the street to find his way home. He went to the train station and boarded a train heading to Los Angeles. While going, he was still thinking to himself that the existence of the machine remains a threat to his life, should he be tempted next time to mount the machine, that could be his end. After arriving L A, he went straight to his laboratory. There was no one at the lab, which made his mission at the lab an easy task. He picked up a hockey bat and stroke it on the machine repeatedly, till he saw it all broke apart. Sam ruined the machine completely. He sat in the lab and after some time, his colleagues arrived at the lab. "Who are you?" They asked. Sam was almost unrecognizable again. Quintin and Charles sighted the shattered machine and rushed to the spot. But it was a complete wreck, Sam made sure of that. Kimberly looked closer and realized it was Sam. "Hey guys, It's Sam, " Kim said. Quintin and Charles returned from the machine to also look at him better. He stared in to their faces. Charles and Quintin were reduced to a complete dumb, they knew nothing to ask nor say. Sam stood up and head out, also saying absolutely nothing as his colleagues watched his departing back.

Sam decided to drop by at Peyton's house and met her supervising the repair of his house after the polar vortex strike. Peyton sighted him first, but not sure if it's really Sam. She called his name and he responded instantly. " it's really you, what happened to your face?" she asked. "I was involved in an accident a couple of days ago, " Sam answered. Peyton took him to the back of the house and they engaged in conversations. " I've been aspiring to see you. You promised to take me out, but you didn't show up again, "Peyton said. Sam looked surprised hearing that from her." Do you still wish to take me out?" Peyton asked. Sam didn't know if to say Yes or no, but just nodded affirmatively. He was wondering why things were now falling in place after his deadly ordeals and almost ending the world. "What about your boyfriend, were you no longer together?" Sam asked. Peyton busted into laughter. " Do you meant Clark." she asked. Sam nodded "yes". "I am not in relationship with Clark that way, he was my childhood friend and we now sees each other as families, " Peyton explained. Sam became enfeebled hearing such confession after he had enfeoff his live in jeopardy and paid dearly for it. But he was able to mount a brazen rigor. He became so infuriated towards himself. He started to recollect how much warnings and adjuration of Kimberly he had disregarded. Sam gave Peyton a concealed smile and promised to be back in order to take her out. Sam went out the door and head for his mom's house. But the more he played how he'd suffered on his head, the more he wept to the futility of his stupidity.