Wasteland

Answers

The door closed and we unfroze, but I swear her green eyes shifted to mine at the last second. But if it did, she didn't come back.
My hands reached out to Nathan's shoulder like always. I hoped he wouldn't ask the question I dreaded to answer.

" Looks like we have 12 hours", I muttered as I glanced up at the clock, ignoring what I saw.

The office looked cleaner than before ( or after,I may add) with fresh sunlight drowsing the room with its heavenly glow. A messy bunk bed sat in the corner of the room. It was probably used by Dr Thorn on the nights when he stayed in his office for work, but it seemed to be used for something beyond that also.

" Hey get up, we-". I words died on the tip of my tongue when I found a shirtless Nathan staring back at me with the same surprise plastered on his face.

My arms automatically wrapped around my body which only was covered with my lingerie ( thankfully), my face heating up. But that wasn't the reason. He slowly pointed to my leg. I looked down at my legs.

"What?".

"Your le...leg", he stammered. Realization dawned over me. I wriggled the toes of the leg that seemed like mine.

I stood up , shaking a little; like a child walking its first steps. It was like that. It felt like that.

"I nev- I never expected this to happen!". I placed cautious stops around the office and then began pranced around the room. I didn't care if  I was half naked, I had got my frikin legs back!
Nathan caught me before I tripped again and pulled my face to his. His embrace was always comforting, it was like a barrier from whatever tried This time I realised there were no layers between us this time. I could feel his hard stomach under my palms. His hands on my bare back ticked my skin. My breathing increased and I started to shiver , the exact experience I felt when I saw Dr Mac get shredded.
I wanted to tell him to stop. But I was scared. Scared to admit I wasn't the brave girl I was. It wasn't like we never been intimate before, it just seemed so forgotten.
But I didn't want to show it.
His hand locked behind a spot on my back, and his lips trailed lower and lower.

"Wait".
I pushed him back slightly.

" Uh, I hate to say this ...but we don't have time", I gulped, glancing at the clock.

His grip slackened. My cheeks reddened so much that I think  would have looked like a big fat cherry. He stared at my face for a while trying to decipher the code behind it. After a peck on the nose he walked towards the closet on the other side of the room and grabbed a coat

"Here, don't want other guys staring at my girl", he said.

I grinned forcefully and covered my self in the snugly warm coat. This seemed like a weird thought but I hoped this awkwardness between us would disappear, well mostly for me, before it ends like a typical Disney movie. Happily Ever After. Funny that I already decided everything was over. Cadence don't get your hopes up high..

He pressed his lips on my forehead.

" Sorry, I thought that well- ", he said grabbing a coat and passing it to me.

"Shush". I said 

"We're a team okay? Now let's go and save the
world shall we?"

"In 24 hours? Is that even practically possible?", he said glancing at the timer that ticked silently away.

After tearing a bit of my long coat, I went over and covered the timer with the rag, so no one would get confused and call 911. The noise well...they hopefully would think it was part of the huge grandfather clock that took up most of the space in the room. But somehow..that clock looked too familiar for a second.

"Hey Cady, check this out, you might find this interesting ".

Still glancing at the clock, wondering why it's long repeating pendulum tickled my brain to remember a very fuzzy memory, I went over to Nathan, to find him studying some framed pictures.
I squinted to see the faces that stood near the sparkling waves , squinting themselves. A small version of Cadence stood holding her mother with her tiny curled fingers. They looked so happy. So content.This picture was taken a long time ago as the edges were moth eaten and it looked like someone had tried to burn the picture, because it was brown and uneven on one side.
The next picture also held two people, except it was taken in the hospital. In one corner was the date. 01-04-1996. My mother lay on the bed beside Dr Thorn, holding a small bundle, where only its calm little face was seen. But that wasn't me . I was born a year later, unless I was probably wrong, but how could could Dr Thorn be present during my birth? He was a scientist right? I was as helpless as I was in the past ( more like future).

" That doesn't look like you.. do you have a sibling?", Nathan said.

"No! I was always the only child."

" Nathan, you don't possibly think Dr Thorn is my father?" I said , my heart beating faster and faster as the suspense increased.

"But you said yours went away long back", he said

"Then who is that?", I said pointing to the baby.

Then I didn't hear what Nathan said, because
my brain actually started to work, fixing the gears in place , oiling it, and turning it, fitting all the peoples of the jigsaw puzzle. Since I was small and the man I called my father disappeared, my mother never got along with me. She used to go out with random men, on Fridays and Saturdays, leaving me locked all alone in the house. She would come back either very drunk or bad tempered. I usually ended up in my room those days, shutting my eyes tight, pretending to sleep. But I had never seen her with Thorn. Not once. Unless..she never bought him home. Maybe she stayed somewhere else during those days, with another husband and child. Another family.

"Caleb". I said, half noticing the name that slipped from my lips.

"What", Nathan asked. His voice was unusually high.

My half brother had just sacrificed his life to save me.