THE MOMENT
"AAAAAAAAAAAAUUGGHHH!!"
The sunlight was sudden and blinding enough to stop Marvin's screams. He shut his eyes from the instant brightness, and with the adrenaline coursing through him, he was able to feel the cool breeze everywhere on his skin, the warm sand under his toes, and hear the waves. It was far removed from the dark tunnel he'd been fleeing through moments ago. There was only one explanation.
"Am I dead?" he didn't know if anyone was nearby, but he heard a friendly giggle as frigid water lapped his bare feet.
"No, you're at the beach," a woman's voice replied with an audible smile. "I hope that's okay," she added. She had a bit of a Southern accent, and he delicately opened his eyes to let them adjust.
"What the..?" He was not prepared to see half a blue man floating in front of him with his lower body dissolved into a stream of smoke. He followed the smoke to an old oil lamp held by the person he did expect. She was a rotund young woman with stringy, straw-blonde hair wearing a green-and-white flannel shirt, overalls, and a broad grin.
"Hi, I'm Barley," she said. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," he answered verbally while his head shook side to side. He was confused, but glad to be alive. "How did I get here?"
"I sense this will take time," the genie said as his smoke flowed back into the lamp. "Please summon me when you are ready for your second wish, Master Barley." Marvin was still recovering, but his mind was working fast.
"Second wish.. You wished me here? Why?"
"I didn't wish YOU here," Barley replied. "I made a wish, and it looks like you got chosen." Marvin had a major problem with her word choice. It was 'being chosen' that had him running for his life in the first place.
"Chosen for what?" he asked, instantly on edge again.
"To be here, I guess?" she shrugged. "Wishes don't work well if you're too specific, so I was kinda vague."
"What do you mean? What were you trying to get? What did you actually wish for?"
"Nothin'," she shook her head. "Don't need anything; I just wished for someone somewhere to get the help they need. Now, here you are. Did you need help?" Marvin actually laughed, and Barley was jovial enough to laugh along with him even without knowing why.
"Did I need help?" he asked. "I was being chased by zombies through a tunnel system I'd never been in before, and I reached a dead end." Barley's face flashed with worry.
"Oh no," she said. "Did I ruin your game? I'm sorry, I can send you back! Probably." She moved her hand to the lamp, but Marvin interrupted her.
"NO!" he put his palms out, and she froze. "No, sorry," he said. "I'd much rather be here. It wasn't a game; they were real and really about to tear me apart."
"Oh, good," Barley said. Then, she reached forward to offer him a clear glass card. It glinted in the sunlight as he took it.
"What's this?" The card lit up with a vibrant display unlike any he'd seen. It was clear moments ago, but when he touched it, a solid white screen with a red scissor logo appeared, bright enough to compete with the clear, sunny day.
"It's called a node; it's like a smartphone. If you learn how to use it, you'll be able to get any help you need." He flipped it over to look through the other side, but the display flipped with his motion, and he was still looking at the front instead of the reverse. He tested it a few more times and found it impossible to see the back.
"What's a smartphone?" he asked.
"Oh boy, the genie was right," she giggled. "C'mon, I'll show you around," she started walking up the beach. He hadn't been able to fully take in the scenery until that point, and he was awed.
The tunnels he came from were as dark as the city was bleak. A strange virus created zombies who easily overran the world in a few months. He was the last of a small band of survivors seeking shelter in the underground because the zombies seemed to need sunlight. They would huddle in groups during the day to stare up at the sky. They were thought to be vulnerable, but citizens quickly learned they were easy to wake up. Unfortunately, they were also intelligent enough to follow one of the survivors in Marvin's group to their base. He was chosen to be the decoy.
But in the distance beyond the shore, he saw a gleaming, towering white city with flying traffic and lots of visible green spaces. It was like a future he'd been promised and never hoped to see.
"Are you sure I'm not dead?" It was only half a joke. The destination she was leading him to could have easily been Heaven.
"Pretty sure," Barley giggled as she kept her eyes forward. "If you were dead, the afterlife would've probably put some clothes on you."