Through Space and Time

Six

The night should have been a peaceful one. Both Raegan and Miguel knew that here, in this all white dimension, there was nothing that could hurt them. There were no threatening beasts in the shadows, no beings who wanted to tear them limb from limb, nothing to disturb them all night long. It should have been a wonderful night. Yet both of them struggled with intense relentlessness.

There was something clinging in the air, a real sizzling sensation between them. Raegan felt it deeply, right in the pit of her core, but she didn't know what to do about it. Her hands itched to reach across, to touch Miguel, almost as if she wanted to check that he was real and not a crazy figment of her imagination, but she resisted.

Once she overstepped that boundary, there would be no going back.

Raegan had only stayed alive this long by playing it safe. She couldn't change that plan now. Even if the emptiness of this place made it feel like she could.

The emptiness and the safety could only last so long. Soon, reality would come back once more and she couldn't risk any kind of emotional attachments.

Bonds were always destroyed by death, she would not forget that.

Raegan eventually gave up the pretense. She stretched her arms high and acted like she was just waking up, just to give her something else to do other than lie around.

"Well, I don't know if it's morning or not," she croaked. "But I think we should find a way out of here."

She half expected Miguel to argue with her, but he couldn't stand the tension either. It made him feel like he should be far braver than he was, so he agreed.

"Sure, sounds good to me. The more we move on, the closer we get to Earth."

They both took some time gathering themselves up, procrastinating for reasons they didn't want to admit, but soon the only thing they could do was start looking.

"This shouldn't take us long," Raegan said. "In a place like this."

"Yeah, you're right. We will see it quickly."

Raegan hoped so. She didn't want to be stuck in a place so barren it demanded awkward conversations to be had. While there was so much hanging in the air, each second felt like an hour.

"Is that it?" Raegan felt the presence of the exit hole before she saw it. "Yeah look, there!"

She raced to reach the hole, relief flooding her, with Miguel not far behind.

"Time to go then, I suppose," he declared in a false happy tone.

They both stared into each other's eyes for a few moments, knowing that if they made this leap and left this safe environment, then they were putting all of this on the back burner. Whatever it was between them. If anything were ever to happen, it would be in a place like this where there was no danger...a hard thing to come across in this existence!

It was the right decision to make, of course. They didn't even really know each other and emotional attachment was bad. But it wasn't an easy choice all the same.

"Yep, let's do it."

"Okay." Miguel sounded sad, defeated. He couldn't keep his emotions hidden.

"Yeah." In this word, Raegan said all she could without actually saying any words. She hoped it made sense.

They fell together, this time purposely reaching out for each other's hands. Raegan knew this was dangerous territory. Whatever these feelings were for Miguel, they were something and that was already too much. If he were to go missing or die now, she'd be undeniably gutted. He hadn't been around long, but it was already too long.

But she wanted to hold him all the same. She wanted that comfort.

How could she switch her feelings off now? Was that even possible? She needed to distance herself, prepare herself for losing him. It was the only way she could protect herself in the long run. As they tumbled, she decided to pull her hand away and begin distancing herself. She kept telling herself to do it. Over and over, but her body wouldn't obey her mind.

"Urngh," she cried out as her body hit the ground hard, probably causing bruises.

She was so distracted by her dilemma with Miguel that she didn't do her usual trick of jumping up and hunting for danger. Not until she heard an awful moaning and groaning sound that absolutely terrified her.

She lifted the top half of her body and span her head around to see what the noise was. She found herself faced with a load of shambling, dead eyed, hungry looking humanoids.

"Zombies!" She heard Miguel cry out before she could put a name to what she was seeing. Zombies seemed to fit perfectly. They looked exactly like reanimated corpses, hungry for human flesh just like she had once seen in a comic book back on Earth, before all this happened. "Run, Raegan! Don't let them bite you."

Blood trickled from Raegan's wound, making her overly afraid that it might attract them towards her more. As she stood, she noticed a massive hoard of the beasts heading her way.

She took off after Miguel, deciding to put her trust into wherever he was going. It was an uncomfortable feeling, placing her life in his hands—even if it was only temporary—but she was fresh out of other options.

"Quick, we need to find somewhere to..." Miguel stopped dead in the middle of a road, causing Raegan to body slam into the back of him.

She could feel those zombified monsters descending on them and her panic levels rose.

"What the hell are you doing, Miguel?" She couldn't keep the tremble from her voice. Too much had happened too quickly. "Keep going."

Miguel shook his head slowly, before he moved again. This time, his actions felt slower and more deliberate. Whatever had caused him to stop like that, was obviously playing on his mind. Raegan wanted to ask him what was wrong, but the need to get somewhere safe—or even off this nightmare planet if at all possible—was more pressing.

"High up," he muttered, almost to himself. "We need to get high up and out the way."

"How...?" Raegan started to ask, but he carried on chattering.

"Walls. We need walls. We need..." His voice trailed off as he continued to run.

Raegan was already growing tired, which had much more to do with the wound than her. She was much tougher than this and as soon as her body was back to normal, she'd be able to keep up. Trailing behind Miguel—who was clearly not a tough person—was not much fun for her. It hurt her pride, more than she cared to admit.

"Okay, here!" Miguel yelled, please. "This is it!"