New Reality: Truth (6 page)

Bang!

The noise nipped at their ankles and was now accompanied by the skittering of a thousand spindly legs. It was like being chased by an army of giant spiders. Jake imagined a carpet of them coming over the hill, smothering him until he couldn't breathe. Gasping for air, Jake's knees weakened. The next rock he stood on slipped and threw him to the floor. He emptied his bladder where he lay.

Bang!

When Tom approached, Jake looked up from his crumpled position, paralyzed with fear and exhaustion. "What shall we do?"

Looking down at Jake, Tom shook his head and carried on up the hill.

Jake looked back in the direction of the sound.

Bang!

"Tom! Tom! Help me! Tom!"

Turning to look up the hill, Jake watched the tall man reach the top, stare back at him for a second, and then disappear over the brow.

***

Grinding her jaw, she watched on. The dust on the wind was particularly thick today, but she still saw everything. Why did Tom just leave him? His only friend left in the world. A friend that had given up the past few years of his life to search for his son, and he'd left him.

Shaking her head, she looked at Jake all alone on the floor, crumpled as he lay there, vulnerable to what was coming over the hill towards him.

Chapter Six

Staring at the space his friend had occupied seconds before and seeing only grit, Jake shouted, "Tom, help me!" How far away was he? Could he even hear him now?

Bang!

The ground shook again, and Jake grabbed onto a rock next to him. "Tom!"

The scuttling sound came forward in a wave. Any second and the things would burst through the dust cloud. Every atom of Jake's being wanted to run, but his impotent body wouldn't respond. Without Tom he was fucked. All he could do was wait. As he searched the storm, tiny pops of grit hit the lenses on his glasses. Holding onto his bottle of water as if it would offer him salvation, he remained alert and waited, his mouth dry, his body shaking.

The sound surrounded him, the wash of noise now in front and behind. Looking back up the hill, he shouted again. "Tom!" His heart sank. Tom was long gone.

There was still nothing to be seen, but the ground rumbled harder than before. Having ignored the thought up until now, Jake found it impossible to push it from his mind. They were beneath him. Was that even possible? How could they move so quickly through the rubble?

Using his good leg, Jake pushed himself up the hill. The ground slipped and he barely moved. Pushing harder made no difference, other than to shove the rocks and rubble away from him quicker. All his flapping did was remind the things chasing him that he was a warm meal in a world where everything was served cold.

When the ground rumbled again, Jake looked up the hill. His heart skipped. Stood on the brow, fogged by the clouds of dust, was the silhouette of his tall friend. His eyes burned and tears streamed down his face. "Tom!" The already fuzzy world became large splurges of watercolor. Jake stretched his arm up. "Help me, please."

The tall man descended the slippery landscape, his arms thrust out to the sides for balance as he skidded down it.

When a deep yawn groaned through their environment, he stopped. It sounded like a moaning whale. The rocks on the floor bounced with the vibrations.

Dust and dirt suddenly exploded from the ground between them. For the second time in as many minutes, Tom was lost to him. The deep yawning sounded again and the ground rocked.

When the dust settled, there was a crevice between them. It was at least three meters wide.

Gritting his teeth against the fractured pain crawling through his shin, Jake got to his feet. Hobbling towards his friend, he stopped at the edge and looked down into the fissure. It was too dark to see anything clearly. All he could make out was a river of perpetual black movement. He looked back at Tom. "Help me, man."

Shaking his head, tears standing in his eyes, Tom looked down at the undulating swarm in the ravine. His skin was transparent when he looked back up. Searching the floor around him, Tom shook his head again and took several steps back.

"Tom, where are you going?"

Pulling his hair away from his forehead, Tom then looked at his friend. Turning his attention to their surroundings, he picked up an electric flex and walked close to the edge of the gap. "Here, catch this."

Reaching out, Jake looked down and his head spun. The cable slipped through his grip, and Tom had to reel it in for a second throw.

Jake caught it this time. It was thin. Could it even hold his weight? "What are you going to do with this?"

Tom didn't reply. He simply stared.

"You don't know, do you?"

"No, I do. I was thinking--" The ground shook again, and Tom's eyes spread wide. Looking down, his feet not even a meter from the edge, Tom winced. "I'm sorry, Jake. I'm so sorry."

Standing with the limp cable in his hands, Jake watched Tom's back as he ascended the hill again. "Tom! Wait up, Tom. Help me, man. Tom!"

The ground shook. Swallowing the grit in his dry mouth, dizzy from the thick pulse crushing his skull, Jake searched the floor for something of use. Anything.

Unless he was going to throw rubble at whatever was beneath them, he was shit out of luck.

Thoom!

Behind, a hole as deep as the one he was staring into but twenty times wider opened up. A mushroom cloud of dirt filled the sky. As the hole stretched, the debris in the surrounding area was drawn towards it and sucked into the abyss. A whirlpool of rubble and masonry. The entire landscape was changing before his eyes.

Turning in quick circles, hoping that his second look would reveal something that would help him, he then caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

The first he saw was a long scaffolding board wobbling in the strong wind. A couple of seconds later, Tom, red-faced and sweating, appeared over the hill. Sliding down the slippery slope again, he let the board fall across the gap, the end of it crashing to the ground centimeters from Jake's toes.

When Jake looked down at it, Tom shouted, "Hurry up! You don't have the time to think about it."

Glancing behind, the black hole continued to suck the landscape into it. Putting his attention on the narrow board, Jake watched it hop and jump with the wobbling landscape. As he stepped forwards, another quake shook the ground.

The kneecap on his good leg took the brunt of the impact when he fell onto a jagged brick. Before the rest of his body had hit the floor, the searing pain had already crippled his thigh.

Looking up at Tom, his bottom lip buckled and he shook his head. "I can't do it, man! I can't fucking do it!"

***

What could Tom really do to help? He was useless at best. All he'd done was drag Jake down and kept him in the ruined city. He was just prolonging the agony. There was no way Jake could cross the gap. He could barely stand, let alone walk that plank.

Chapter Seven

Staring at Tom on the other side of the gorge, Jake waved him away. "Go without me. I can't walk."

Looking at Jake for a moment, his eyes pinching at the sides, Tom nodded and turned his back. After one step, he stamped on the floor and spun around again. "Fuck it!"

"Just go. There's nothing you can do to save me."

"Fuck it!"

"Go!"

"Fuck it!"

"Stop saying that!"

Walking up to the edge of the plank, Tom briefly looked down. Snapping his eyes back up again, his cheeks puffed as he exhaled.

"What are you doing, Tom? Just bloody go already."

Closing his eyes and taking several deep breaths, Tom then reopened them and placed a shaking foot on the plank.

Gulping dusty air, Jake put his hand on his chest, his heart kicking against it. "What are you doing?"

Staring at Jake, Tom said, "Will you please shut up? I'm concentrating."

Biting down on his bottom lip, Jake watched on in silence.

When Tom fully stepped onto the plank, it was hard to tell if the wobble was coming from the plank, the wind, or Tom's trembling body. Whatever the cause, the effect was horrific. There was no way Tom would make it across without falling to his death. Why was he even coming over? What did he plan to do once he'd crossed the gap?

As he reached the middle of the plank, Tom swayed in the strong wind. Burying his mouth and nose into praying hands, he closed his eyes and remained statue still.

Watching his friend, panic stole Jake's breath.

The wind had picked up to the point where the tendrils of Tom's clothes were being blown horizontally away from him.

The grit stung as it sandblasted the side of Jake's face. Rubbing his kneecap to soothe the burn, Jake gasped as Tom stepped forwards again, the board looking more unstable than ever.

Two quick strides and Tom jumped clear of the plank. The long lump of wood hopped several times, and Jake expected it to fall into the hole.

Landing on the rubble, Tom rested his hands on his knees and expelled a long breath. "Fuck."

After a moment's silence, Jake said, "So what are we going to do now?"

"We're going to cross back over."

Shaking his head, Jake pointed at the bridge. "There's no way I'm crossing over that. No fucking way."

Looking at the dry whirlpool behind them as it chewed up the land like a giant waste disposal unit, Tom said, "It's getting bigger. If we don't cross this plank, we'll die. That's all there is to it."

"But I can't walk."

"Crawl then."

Staring at his friend, Jake didn't move.

"Hurry up, Jake. I didn't just risk my life for you to bottle it."

"But I can't do it."

Shaking his fist at him, Tom clenched his jaw and shoved Jake forwards with his foot. "You have to! I've just risked my fucking life for you!"

When Jake didn't move, Tom shoved him again, his entire body shifting closer to the edge. "Now! Get moving, you stupid bastard!"

Kneeling on his damaged knee, Jake's stomach contorted and he had to fight to stop himself vomiting. It felt like the patella had fractured in several places and every ounce of applied pressure crushed it like an eggshell. Turning around to look up at Tom, he was met with a stony glare.

Shuffling forwards, Jake placed his water in front of him before gripping either side of the rough wooden plank.

"Hurry up, Jake."

Feeling Tom's nudging foot against his bottom, Jake moved forwards, placed his bottle farther ahead, and then moved forwards again. Every time he put pressure on his knee, it sent electric pain through his groin and kidneys.

With each shuffle forwards, Jake became more aware of his surroundings, and more specifically, the height of the drop. With each shuffle forwards, the wobble in the board became more exaggerated. With each shuffle forwards, Jake was accepting that he couldn't turn back even if he wanted to.

Once he was halfway across, Jake froze as the wind battered his right side, threatening to capsize the plank. Gripping onto the board, he remained still and watched his water get blown over the edge. The full bottle spun into the darkness below, bouncing off the moving carpet of black beneath them. "Fuck it!"

What sounded like a thousand high-pitched whistling screams shot out of the chasm. Had they mistaken the bottle for fresh meat? The mass below churned and twisted. Eventually, the sound died down.

When Jake felt Tom step onto the plank behind him, he looked around. "What are you doing, man?"

"Crossing. What does it look like?"

Another quake ran through the ground. The board slipped down. Debris fell into the abyss. Another shake like that, and the plank was following it. Jake sped up.

The long board sagged and bounced with both of them on it, and Jake's heart beat in his neck. Despite swallowing, he couldn't relieve his dry mouth, and he had no water left.

With less than a meter to go, the ground shook again. The end they were heading for slipped farther. Ignoring the pain in both of his legs, Jake pushed on. Gritting his teeth and grunting through the discomfort, he reached out to the rough rubble on the other side. Seconds later he was off the board and scrambling up the hill. Tom was still crossing.

Another heavy rumble ran through the floor. For the slightest moment, Tom froze, so Jake called, "Come on, man! Keep moving!"

Putting his next foot forward, the ground shook again. At first, the board stayed in place. Then Jake noticed the brick it was resting on. Dirt and debris was slipping past it, flowing like water around a rock. It didn't look like it would hold for long.

Glancing up at Tom, he saw the tall man's eyes focus on it. Looking back down at the brick, Jake held his breath as it started to shift.

Everything happened in slow motion. The brick moved again. Then again.

Jake's mouth hung open and he gasped.

The brick slipped free.

***

Watching the plank slip, she held her breath. If Tom fell, then Jake would be rid of him. The tall man held him back, and if Jake had any chance of avoiding his fate, Tom would have to go.

As long as he was friends with Tom, Jake would stay in this godforsaken city. As long as he stayed in the city, he was her responsibility. The longer he was her responsibility, the more likely it would be that she'd have to kill him.

Staring on with unblinking eyes, she watched the plank slip farther. There was no way Tom was walking away from this.

Chapter Eight

Watching the plank slide, Jake reached towards his friend. "No!"

Like he had on the way over, Tom took two long strides and leaped. The second he jumped, the long plank slipped into the chasm.

At first, Jake thought the gap was too wide to jump, but with the wind at his back, Tom seemed to fly. Rolling over to the side, the jagged landscape jabbing his body, Jake scrambled out of the way as Tom landed on the rubble beside him.

Remaining crouched, Tom panted for a few seconds before standing up and looking behind. "That was fucking close."

Swallowing a dry gulp, Jake nodded. "Are you okay, man?"

"I think so." He patted himself down. "I think–"