Through Space and Time

Five

The sensation of moving between dimensions was weird. It felt like all Raegan's insides were being torn from her body. When she first experienced this, she'd been convinced she was dying, but over time she became more adjusted to the feeling. Not that she'd ever fully get used to it. What she wasn't expecting was the warmth that came from the strange hand slipping into hers.

She'd not had any human physical contact since all of this began and she didn't know what to do. It made her cringe and clam up, yet it ignited something brand new from the depth of her at the same time. She wanted to shake Miguel off, but at the same time, she couldn't. She didn't know why.

She knew she should when she felt them ending their journey, but she clutched tighter to him instead. It wasn't until their bodies hit the ground with a thump, that their hands fell apart leaving Raegan cold and alone.

Miguel lay spread across the ground, calmly relaxing for a few seconds, but Raegan instantly jumped up to scout the area. She didn't want to be caught out unaware. She liked to know as much as she could right away, as soon as she landed. It was the only way she could assure safety.

Exit and entrance holes tended to be avoided by the inhabitants of the planet, but she couldn't cope without utter certainty.

"It's so...white!" she muttered to herself. Never had she been anywhere that was so one dimensional before. Normally she was faced with all kinds of weird and wonderful sights. This was just all...plain.

"What the...?" Miguel also looked shocked as he rose to his feet. This showed Raegan he'd never been anywhere like this either. "This is just blank. It's nuts."

"Okay," Raegan breathed decidedly. "Let's find the exit hole."

"Can we just...rest for a moment?" Miguel asked, looking guilty. He just wanted a second to take stock and this seemed like a safe enough place to make that happen. Strange, but with no immediate danger.

"Erm..." This notion was odd to Raegan. She'd spent her entire existence on the move, but to be honest, she could see no reason why not. "Sure."

They both lowered their bodies onto the white ground, looking around them.

"It's weird isn't it?" asked Miguel. "When I was a kid, this is how I used to imagine the end of the universe would look. All nothingness."

"Curious...and now you're actually living in that."

"With only one difference. I always imagined each person suffering through the end of the universe alone."

He grinned at Raegan, again glad to be next to her. She halfheartedly smiled back, his warmth radiating off of him, making it impossible not to feel a little happiness.

"I never thought about anything like that," she replied, opening up just a tiny crack. More than she ever had done before. With everyone else she'd met along the way, she'd barely even given her name. "I didn't ever think of anything past Earth. That was it for me." She snorted out a little laugh. "How naïve I was."

The sat in silence for a moment, before Miguel spoke out again. "I'm sorry I was weak back there. I know that's a terrible thing for a man to admit, but I've spent the last decade relying on the help of others. I wanted to be brave so badly, that I totally messed up."

Raegan beamed. She'd never been one to believe men should be the protectors, even before all of this. She was always the child wondering why the princess didn't save herself rather than waiting for some dumb prince. It didn't bother her that Miguel wasn't as equipped for this world as her.

"It's okay..." she started, but a warm, wet sensation trickling under her bottom, stopped her in her tracks.

Blood.

She looked down to see it pooling beneath her. All the adrenaline had caused her to forget she'd had a chunk torn from her, that she was injured. It was a good job they'd stopped. Continuing wouldn't have gone down too well!

"Oh no," she groaned.

"Don't worry I have stuff in my backpack." This was the one area Miguel was actually equipped for. He'd seen plenty of injuries and he knew just how to deal with them.

As he patched her up, preventing the wound from getting infected, he talked to keep her distracted.

"I'm sorry you got separated from your dad. That must have been hard." She nodded as a reply. He hadn't really expected her to say much, she clearly wasn't ready yet. "He's a good man though. I've always thought he'll be the savior of the human race."

"What if we don't ever find him?" Raegan blurted out, completely shocking Miguel. He never expected an admission of that magnitude. Not this early on. He decided to put it down to the blood loss.

"Well will." He sounded confident, more than he felt anyway. They would find him. They had to.

"Yeah." She was shrinking back inside herself, he could see it.

"He's going to be so damn proud of you. He knows you're doing well, but I don't think he knows you have been alone so..." he trailed off, just thinking how Alan was going to feel to know his daughter had been by herself since a very young age.

He also wondered what he'd think about the woman she'd become.

"That hurts." She changed the subject rapidly.

"It will, but it'll feel okay after a while." He leaned in, examining his work, but as he glanced upwards and caught Raegan's eye, all sorts of emotions flooded through him.

Including an unexpected overwhelming desire to kiss her.

Miguel bit down on his lip hard. He couldn't have those feelings. He just...couldn't. Firstly, they were inappropriate in this world. Secondly, she would never feel that way about him. In a million years. Thirdly, her dad would kill him. Literally kill him. There was no way he'd be okay with this however much he liked him. To Alan, Raegan was still too young for dating and probably always would be.

No, they needed each other to survive—him more than her admittedly—but that was it.

Raegan caught the expression on his face. What was it? Was it...lust? No, she shouldn't be so big-headed. It wasn't like she had any idea about the opposite sex, nor did she have any interest in them, not when all the human race was living such a complex life. But the feelings that were inexplicably running through her, seemed to be mirrored in him too.

What should she do?

"Shall we get some sleep?" Miguel asked quickly, totally shattering the mood.

Raegan gulped, trying to swallow her pounding heart. "Er...yeah that makes sense."