Through Space and Time

Eight

"Run!" Raegan yelled, and to be honest Miguel was glad. Killing one had been one thing but that many...hundreds...no way, he didn't stand a chance.

"Can you run?" he asked. "With your leg?"

"We're about to find out!"

Raegan took off and Miguel followed. He wasn't actually that surprised to see that somehow, she was still so much faster than him, even with the injury. Of course she was. That girl was wonderful, inhuman in her crazy abilities.

If he had met her under any other circumstances, he would be falling in love right now. It wouldn't even matter that they barely knew much about one another.

But this wasn't a different situation, and he had to keep his emotions in check.

"What's that?" Raegan yelled behind her. Her breaths were ragged and her voice a little stilted, but Miguel could sense the excitement reverberating off her tongue. "Is that the exit hole?"

He had no idea what she was talking about, he couldn't see it, but he didn't have the same phenomenal senses that she did. He might have killed an enemy but he didn't yet have her mad skills.

"I freaking hope so."

Surviving the zombie apocalypse for the few minutes that they'd been here was enough. Playing it as a game was okay but the reality was horrible. The stench of the undead blood and gore all over him was nearly enough for him to vomit everywhere.

Once upon a time, he was just a boy existing. On the outskirts of the group, doing as little as possible and surviving well. Now, with Raegan, he had the potential to be so much more.

"Yes, it is, look."

Raegan reached her hand out behind her and Miguel grabbed it eagerly. He was going to always look forward towards this moment if it meant he could have this human connection, and with someone he thought so highly of as well.

Just as they were about to fall, Raegan span and she gave him the most adorable smile, almost tearing his heart right from his body.

Then they tumbled into the abyss. They fell together, hard and fast. Both of them were consumed by the relief that they were escaping that nightmare, an actual scene from a horror movie, but they feared where they would end up next.

The possibilities were endless.

"Oof," Raegan cried out as she slammed against the floor. Grass tickled her skin and for a brief moment she was transported back to a simpler time. A time when it was her and her father, hanging out, having a picnic, just living a simple life on Earth.

"Earth!" Miguel cried out as if he could read her mind. "Look, we're here!"

Her eyes snapped up, hope almost consumed her, she nearly vomited with excitement. This was Earth, the edge of Central Park to be exact, they had made it back home...

But was it home?

It was hard to believe that it was home with all the people racing around them. There couldn't be this many people around after the nuclear war, not that many who survived. And even if there were how did they all end up back on Earth? How did they all find the exit hole? That made absolutely no sense. Also, why did life seem so busy? Surely there would be a lot of rebuilding needed fist.

Raegan probably wouldn't have moved from where she lay on the ground if a man with his face glued to his cell phone didn't almost trip right over her. While he cursed her, she jumped up with Miguel not far behind.

They didn't fit in here with the humans. This was what they had so desperately been looking for but now that they had it, it was all wrong. They were all dirty, feral, survivalists, but the people around were clean and in suits, ready for their day.

"Two thousand fifteen?" Miguel cried out. "But how is that possible? That's in the past."

Raegan wasn't sure either, but with everything that she'd seen she would believe anything. "Maybe this is an alternative version of Earth. Or the nuclear bomb ripped a hole in everything so we have gone back in time."

"We could... stay here?" Miguel enquired. "It's home, isn't it?"

"We could but then we would be just waiting for the war. Wouldn't we?"

"We could see our families again." Miguel got a far away look in his eyes. "We could warn people, stop the nuclear war from happening, we could save humanity before it gets torn apart."

Actually, that was a little bit tempting. Raegan was tired of the fighting, of the surviving, maybe it was time for something new.

But before she could get too lost in this new fantasy of hers, a sound from behind gripped her and wouldn't let her go. She span slowly, her heart in her mouth, icy fear clinging to her.

"Oh no." She shook her head rapidly. "This cannot be happening."

But it was. The stench of the undead filled the air, the sounds of screams, of bites, of the world she had just left behind. It had tumbled through the exit hole with her and found here.

"What the...?" Miguel demanded, just as struck as she was. "What do we do now?"

The busy, metropolis city became chaos. It completely surrounded them. Screams, blood, carnage...whatever version of Earth this was, whether it was the past or an alternate timeline, it was gone now. Lost to the undead. This seemed to be the sort of virus that a planet couldn't escape from.

"I guess we can't stay here anymore," Raegan declared as they saw the hoard growing. "Our hunt continues. And right now, we need to run again. Do you have it in you?"

"We don't have a choice," Miguel replied. "We have to get out of here."

Panic transformed into action and both of them took off, each individually wondering if this cycle of fear was ever going to end.