Epiworld (20 page)

No way can we survive this! We’re outnumbered, dead for sure!

Then the unthinkable happens. The excitement and the stress plunges me into a whirl. I see the strange light, I still hear the guns and the shouting – until at last there’s only silence.

Demi whispers my name as I open my eyes. The room is the same, except for the bullet holes, the broken table and chair, and the burnt dust on the ground.

‘Did we get them all?’ My voice is thick. I’ve bitten my tongue.

‘The portal!’ That’s Alexander’s voice. ‘It sucked them in, every last one of them.’

‘You saved us, Travis!’ Demi, her voice cracked with emotion, throws her arms around my neck. When she finally releases me I drag myself into a sitting position, worn out by the fit, and the excitement of the shoot-out.

‘We have to go now,’ says Alexander gruffly, while I’m trying to take in what the portal has done. ‘It’s time.’

‘We could’ve left well before now, through the other portals,’ I remind him.

‘Doc!’ says another voice weakly. It’s one I think I know well, but for now I can’t make the connection.

Alexander runs to the door. ‘Oh, God!’

‘What’s up?’

‘He’s been hit!’

There are feet sticking out from behind the door, and a pool of blood surrounding them. Alex drags the body into full view.

‘What the f...’

‘Bandages, Demi,’ he instructs, and she grabs the rags lying by her side. ‘He’s been shot in both legs. He’s losing a lot of blood.’

I need to see what’s going on. I’m on all fours now, bad leg and all, moving in on the scene.

‘Give us room, Travis,’ says Alex as he stoops down by the wounded leg. I look at the face I know so well. Hudson smiles weakly at me, raises a hand.

‘Hiya, mate!’

‘Hudson!’

I lock my hand with his. That smiling face, those bright white teeth; it really is Hudson!

‘Don’t tell me,’ I say, ‘you got here through a portal!’

‘Mate,’ gasps Hudson as Alex rips his trouser leg to get to the wound, ‘I had to come and find you! The doc told me Chase was looking for you, so I went into your room, read your thoughts with the cortexoscope...’

‘You’re mad!’ I’m laughing. I’m chuffed to see him. ‘I bet they zapped your probe when they realised what you were up to!’

‘They didn’t get a chance to catch me! I’d hardly finished reading your brain when a portal came. I didn’t stop to think, I just leapt through it –
argh
!’ He flinches as Demi holds up his leg for Alex to bandage.

‘Great!’ Alex growls. ‘Two casualties we’ve got now! What the hell are you doing here, Hudson? I told you not to follow me!’

‘I was going mad not knowing what was happening to you and Travis,’ says Hudson.

‘Ignore him, Hudson.’ I squeeze his hand. ‘I’m glad you’re here, but how come you knew exactly where to look for us?’

‘Your thoughts told me, didn’t they?’ He laughs despite his pain. ‘So I came, only I didn’t appear where I expected to, in this room. I came out in the middle of the road back there, just as three lorry-loads of soldiers were coming along. One had to swerve to avoid me. It hacked them off a bit, so they came after me.’

‘And you led them here,’ stated Alex, shaking his head.

‘I didn’t think, Doc, I just ran,’ says Hudson apologetically. ‘They were firing bullets at me. I wasn’t going to let them kill me, was I? I legged it down the road, then when I saw the farmhouse...’

‘If you hadn’t come here, they wouldn’t have been sucked through the portal,’ says Demi. ‘Hello, I’m Demi, Travis’s friend.’

‘I know.’ Hudson winks at me. ‘You’re in his thoughts all the time.’

‘They could’ve killed us all!’ snaps Alex, ‘and now you’re injured...’

‘The lorries!’ I interrupt.

‘What about them?’ Alex asks.

‘We can escape in one, unless you have any objection.’

‘We’ve been stuck here for weeks, Alex,’ says Demi, ‘and Travis hasn’t seen the light of day for ages. You said you’d help him go after Chas.’

‘That’s right; you did,’ I chip in, ‘unless you have a specific reason why you don’t want us to leave?’

‘Come on,’ he says to Demi, ‘let’s pack everything together. I’ll bring one of the lorries around to the door.’

‘Tell me what I want to know, Doc!’

Alex sighs. ‘I knew you’d forget everything I told you before you fell ill, so I’ll explain again; and put the gun down, Travis, it’s losing power.’

The indicator is pulsating. If I shoot Alex now I’ll be wasting acid, and he has a gun as well. He might shoot back, so I drop it. Demi lets out a frustrated noise, and grabs the blankets from the floor.

‘I kept you sedated to stop you from leaving nineteen forty-two,’ says Alex, ‘not the farm. We have to stay in this time period because Chase is close, and at some point you will both go through a portal at the same time, meeting on a beach. When he came with the soldiers that night I had to stop him from shooting you. He had an acid gun. I shot it out of his hand, and he dropped it before he escaped. I have it now. He is your quest, but you’re not going to kill him just because you hate him, or because he’s trying to kill you, you’re going to kill him to save your future.’ He pauses, looking at me for some recognition of what he’s telling me, but there’s nothing.

‘Well, tell me the rest!’

‘Everything else I told you will come back to you soon,’ he says patiently. ‘Demi is right, we’ve got no time for this.’

Before I know it his fist has made contact with my face. I come to in the back of the lorry with Hudson and Demi for company.

‘How’s the jaw, mate?’ asks Hudson.

I shrug, rubbing it, before lying back in a huff.

‘H
old on!’ cries Alexander as the lorry accelerates.

That’s the unmistakable sound of wood splintering. Something is forced through the cab window, narrowly missing Alex’s head. He swerves to avoid it. The lorry swerves as well, its screeching wheels mingling with Demi’s muffled cries as she buries her head in her lap to avoid the flying glass.

There’s blood trickling down my face; a small piece of glass has cut me. The lorry is moving in a zigzag, and we’re rolling around in the back. There’s gunfire behind us, and loud German accents. Alex picks up speed.

‘We’re being followed! Shoot at them! Here,’ he chucks the acid gun at me, ‘use this! It’s practically full.’

Demi flicks the safety catch on her rifle. I crawl to the back of the lorry, pull the canvas aside, and look out. Two soldiers on a motorbike are on our tail. Behind them I see a wooden hut, and the broken wood of the road block.

Zap
! My aim is true, but the acid narrowly misses them, and they duck to avoid its range.

‘I’ll aim for the tyres,’ says Demi, but the rider skilfully manoeuvres the bike so that her shots only hit the ground. His passenger draws a pistol. We crouch down as he shoots, having no idea where the bullet lands.

‘What’s happening back there?’ yells Alex. ‘They’re gaining on us.’

‘We missed,’ I yell back.

‘Help,’ mutters Hudson, who is now lying flat on his stomach.

‘So shoot them again!’

‘Drive in a straight line, then! I can hardly grip the rifle!’ shouts Demi.

I try again, aiming for the rider, but he’s too clever with the bike to allow me to get him. Instead the acid hits another target, his passenger’s arm. We cheer, expecting him to fizzle into dust like they always do, but instead...

‘
Urgh
!’ exclaims Demi. ‘Look at that!’

His pistol has fallen to the ground because his arm is oozing white matter.

‘We can’t kill them, Demi, not like we can kill life,’ I tell her. ‘They’re droids.’

‘What?’

‘Androids,’ clarifies Hudson, ‘synthetic life forms.’

‘OK,’ says Demi slowly. I can’t help being fascinated by how readily she believes everything she is told now, but like she keeps saying she’s seen so much recently she can’t deny the truth of it. ‘I’ve read about androids in sci-fi novels, and seen them in films. I suppose they came from your world?’

Alex has been listening. ‘They’ve come with Chase; they’re helping him to catch us. They’ve learnt the German language so they can blend in.’

‘Something else you know from my thoughts?’ I ask.

‘Yeah; although I was hoping you would change the course of events by destroying them!’

‘Why are they dressed like those soldiers, though?’ says Hudson.

‘So they don’t cause suspicion, and not be detained as spies. No one suspects a Nazi soldier in this world. Chase has done his homework. Am I right, Demi?’

‘I think so.’

‘Hold on to your hats!’ cries Alex. ‘It’s time we got out of here!’

We lurch forward as the lorry increases speed. Demi raises the rifle to her eye, but I put my hand on the barrel.

‘Don’t bother. They know how to dodge the bullets, and he can’t shoot at us now, anyway. Besides I don’t want to waste any more ammo. We might need it later! Our best chance is to lose them. Do we lose them, Alex?’

‘I don’t know,’ he replies. ‘Like I told you the images I read in your thoughts weren’t always so clear. Now shut up, and let me concentrate on my driving!’

We can’t shake them off. With each bend in the road they’re within our sight, and we’re within theirs. The only thing that could save us now is a portal, but as usual there isn’t one around when you need one! No sign of a seizure to bring one on, either.

The hunt continues along the winding roads, sometimes darkened by thick wood on either side, sometimes brightened by open fields and sun. Alex is driving flat out, but it’s not enough.

‘Go faster!’ cries Demi. ‘They’re catching up!’

‘I going full pelt as it is!’ snaps Alex; then, ‘Uh-oh!’

‘What?’

‘We’re nearly out of gas, and – er – the clutch feels a bit loose! Ah!’

‘What now?’

‘The gear stick’s come off in my hand!’

Demi shrieks, ‘Look!’

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! It’s not only the droids we have to worry about now!

The droids see it, too. The bike slows, and pulls over to the side of the road, letting the guard continue the chase. It doesn’t say anything, doesn’t tell us to stop. It just shoots its lasers at us.

Screech
! Alexander puts his foot hard on the brake, but he can’t stop the lorry from swerving off the road, and ending up in a ditch. We roll around in the back for what seems like an eternity, and when we finally do stop, I’m lying on my front on top of Hudson, and Demi is lying on top of me. The engine is still running. Alex is groaning.

‘Are you OK, Doc?’ asks Hudson.

‘Yeah,’ he replies faintly.

He drags himself out of the smashed driver’s window. The noise has stopped; the guard must be very close, probably standing over us. I force back the canvas, but all I see is crushed metal, glass and earth. I crawl into the cab, and see Alex lying rigidly on the grass, looking up with wide, terrified eyes. The guard is looking down at him. I swallow the lump rising in my throat.

‘Did you see this in the cortexoscope?’ I whisper.

A pause before he answers. ‘Not this part.’

‘What’s happening, Travis?’ asks Demi.

I ignore her. ‘It doesn’t kill us, right? We meet Chase on the beach...’

You
meet Chase on the beach.’

‘But – you, Demi, Hudson...’

‘I didn’t see us there.’

‘How can I face him like this? Look at me, I can’t walk properly, I can’t run! I might not get through the portal without my injuries. Hudson’s injured, too. Demi – I can’t leave her!’

‘We’re doomed, Travis,’ he snaps. ‘There must be...’

He goes no further. There’s the sound of grinding metal, and he looks up again. He opens his mouth to say something else, but I don’t hear what it is, because his face, and everything around him, suddenly begins to swirl, merging into one jumbled vision. My teeth bite into my tongue. The golden light appears, confused with sharp, bright red flashes.

Round and round goes my world. I’m falling, deeper and deeper into a familiar blackness, until at last my eyes focus on a horizon, a clear blue sky, and a baking hot sun burning my skin.

I stare up at the sky, savouring the coolness of the water as it laps against my body. My tongue is sore and crinkled. At last I sit up, stretch my tired limbs, trying to get some feeling back into them. The splint has gone from my leg, and the bandage from my neck. My wounds have completely disappeared. It’s strange how that happens when I want it to.

Demi, Alex, and Hudson aren’t here. My heart sinks, because I have no idea if they’re dead or alive, but I have no time to mourn. I have other priorities. Chase is sitting on a rock, thoughtfully looking out to sea. We’re completely alone on the beach.

‘So you made it, then,’ he says, smiling at me. ‘That’s a marvellous gift you have, Travis. Again you escaped the guard in the nick of time! I must congratulate you; but then I saw this moment coming, didn’t I? Brilliant invention, the cortexoscope.’

His laughter makes me angry. I lunge at him, but he dodges out of the way. I’m left clutching the rock, swallowing my fury.

‘Stand up.’

Since he’s holding an acid gun I don’t argue.

‘What are you going to do?’ I ask, trying not to sound nervous. ‘Make me run? Shoot me in the back? Or will it be a slow, painful death?’

‘You know I like to make things interesting, Travis,’ he sneers. ‘I won’t put you out of your misery too soon!’

‘I bet you won’t.’

I switch off when he starts talking about the institution. I’m not nostalgic for that place! Soon we come to some more rocks jutting out from the headland which block our path. The rocks are slippery, but I manage to keep my footing as I climb over. I can’t believe my eyes when I see the large, black gaping hole cut into the cliff edge. I recognise it instantly.

‘The cave!’ I exclaim. ‘This – this is Barrasay!’

‘That’s right,’ says Chase. ‘You were happiest here, weren’t you?’

The cave is the same, except there’s no sign of my makeshift bed, the pebble fire, or my bags of rubbish for burning. In fact although it’s a warm day, there are no holidaymakers around. I wonder if the Frasers’ farm is still close by.