Akio led the group back into the store.  After finding some food, the canned goods were still edible, even if there was no way to heat them up, he sat down, the katana across his lap, and launched into his explanation.

"A short time ago, an experiment being performed by my government in dimensional energy sources revealed a startling fact.  Although they were seeking alternate dimensions, what they found could be better termed alternate realities.  Within these alternate realities, the very rules we live by and take for granted were different."  As he continued, he waved his hand around.  "In one reality, technology might not function properly.  The very rules of reality are altered so things we take for granted just don't work properly.

Akio raised his lap top slightly and turned slowly.  "This way," he said.  He led the team down a small alley, the usual trash and vomit was somewhat obscured by the pounding rain.  As they exited the other end of the alley, they saw Elias next to an attractive young woman who seemed to be cleaning his face.  Nearby a man held a second man in some kind of armlock. The younger, cleaner man seemed to be talking, while the other man howled and twisted, trying to escape.

Akio stopped and stared for a moment, looking at his laptop.  He muttered something in Japanese that Michiko could barely make out as, "More of them?  How can this be?"

As the five stood, catching their breath, a calm seemed to almost fall over the area, despite the raging storm.  All five of them were arranged in a ragged half-circle surrounded by the bodies and unconscious forms of the edeinos.

Jeff looked at Akio.  "What is..." he started to ask the man fiddling with a package wrapped in a purple stained blanket.  He trailed off.  "What?" he asked roughly, gesturing at the ruined city, the edinos, the fallen spears... everything.

Although it was the middle of the day, the dark clouds made it nearly as dark as night outside.  Occasional flashes of lightning illuminated the sky briefly, soon followed by deep, powerful rumbles of thunder that seemed to roll across the sky.  Across the city of New York, animals paced and howled, uneasy with the change they could feel in the air.  It was the opening day of baseball, a day full of the possibilities of a new season.  Not that anyone expected more than a few innings before the storm overhead broke.