A Step to Nowhere (22 page)

CHAPTER 25

“Sam, we’re here.”

Somebody gently shook me by the shoulder. I opened my eyes and saw blurry faces.
Where am I? Who are these people?

“Are you okay?”

The face became defined. Steve. So young and so caring. I wasn’t at home, I was in hell. So was my mom, looking for me.

“I think I’m okay.”

He helped me to get out of the car and, holding me under my arm, walked me to the small house that was separated from the others. I pulled my arm out of his grasp halfway there. I was capable of walking on my own. In the last few hours I had come to think that holding somebody under the arm meant trouble in most cases.

“Who’s house is it?” I asked, before we entered.

“Mine and welcome,” the man’s voice said behind my back. I turned to him. The bald giant raised his eyebrows and smiled. He didn’t look like a monster anymore, he looked like a nice (even though bald and huge) fellow.

We entered a gray hallway with shoes lined up on the floor and a couple of uniforms on the hangers, then a room that probably was supposed to be a living area. There we sat down on the brown furniture. A white cat jumped on my knees and I gasped from the unexpectedness.

“Marlin!” The bald man took the cat from me and dropped it on the floor. “He’s always like that with guests.”

“It’s okay. I just didn’t expect it. I like cats.” I picked up the pet, put it back on my knees, and scratched its soft fur. The cat purred, bringing a pleasant calmness into the un-tuned world of my mind. I glanced around and noticed a few bright things. There was a blue vase on the narrow table in the corner with orange specks. Two landscape paintings hung on opposite walls from each other. A frozen river was on one and bright summer on the other. A rug of blue, green, and orange lay on the floor.

“Is it from my planet?” I asked, tapping my foot on the carpet.

The bald man nodded.

“I have water from your planet,” he said as he rubbed his hands as if they had been freezing. He looked unconfident and it was strange considering his height and brutality. The last I’d witnessed not that long ago.

“I want to try water from this planet. I hope I’ll survive. What’s your name by the way? They mentioned it, but I don’t remember. My thoughts were occupied by something else.”

“Dan. Sorry I was rude to you … there, but she wouldn’t trust me otherwise,” the bald man said and left the room.

“What happened. How did you find me?” I asked Ronald who was sitting on the couch with me. Steve settled in the chair opposite from us. The guys looked at each other. They probably had been just as tired as I was. Ronald’s eyes were red.

“Dan called us.”

“He betrayed his owner,” I mumbled thoughtfully, scratching the cat behind the ear.

“I’m not a slave, I don’t have owners,” Dan roared over my head. I accepted a glass from his hand. “Looks like regular water.” I took a sip, swallowed, and managed to control my facial expression. “Interesting taste.”

“It’s because of the cleaning system. They add some pard there and it makes our water barely drinkable. We buy more drinks and they say it’s good for the economy. Bullshit, as you say.” Dan sat down on the free space near me. I was now between two guys of impressive size. “Do you want your water or something else?”

“Later, maybe. Thank you. It’s not too bad, just unusual for me.”

“Dan joined us a long time ago,” Ronald said. “He’s helped a lot of people.”

“Now my career has come to an end,” Dan said.

“Sooner or later it would happen anyway,” Steve said.

“I have to admit it wasn’t easy,” Dan leaned on the back of the couch. “It was harder and harder every day not to strangle her. She’s the worst person I’ve ever known. Really. Besides her daddy.”

“You broke the system because of me?” I didn’t really feel guilty, but also I didn’t want to become the reason for destroying an organized process.

“Sooner or later it would come to an end,” Dan said. “Max started to ask questions. We worked closely. He should have guessed something was up.”

Bloody ornament appeared in front of my eyes again.

“Did you have to kill him?” I asked.

“Yes,” Dan said sharply.

“Okay.”

“People from Planet Two shouldn’t end up here,” Dan said. “None of you should be here for Mar’s sake.”

“Bristow’s insane,” Steve said. “He’s getting worse. He wants to capture Planet Two now. Subdue it. Everyone now understands it. He thinks he’s Mar.”

“What’s Mar?” I asked. “God probably?”

“God,” Dan agreed. “She taught me a lot about your planet. Some words, too. She wanted me to go there with her. I’d never.”

“We wanted to tell you about her,” Ronald said. I turned to him. “We just needed more time to explain things. Sorry, it came out as a surprise. We didn’t know you two would meet.”

“How is it? Meeting your double?” Steve asked. Sparkles in his eyes. What should I tell him?

“Not just meet your double,” I said, “but realize that she is a monster … It’s strange and terrifying. And difficult to believe that people with the same DNA can be so different. On the other hand, who knows what I would have become growing up with a father. With this father.”

“He doesn’t know what’s coming,” Steve said as he stood up. “Dan, do you have
kel?
”

“Check the fridge. Bring me one, too. Sam, what about you?”

“What’s that?” I glanced at the water that I’d put on the coffee table. It was undrinkable.

“I don’t know if you have it,” Dan said. “It’s like weak alcohol. We make it ourselves. Secretly. Legally, alcohol has been banned for two years.”

“I’ll try some,” I said too quickly and the guys laughed.

“Me too.” Ronald lifted his arm. Steve went to another room.

“What’s coming for Bristow?” I asked. I felt uncomfortable saying my last name in that context. “Steve is the head of events,” Ronald said. “We are planning something like … a revolution. We can’t do it now, because we don’t have enough people. People are scared to join us, but it will happen.”

“Hlifian?” I asked and Ronald nodded.

Steve returned with four plastic bottles, filled with golden liquid. The guys started to drink, but I carefully smelled my bottle.

“It’s beer!” I screamed and took a few gulps. Light and chilled. I smiled. I’d never liked beer, but it was offered opportunely. “Thanks! Much better than your water.”

“Beer,” Steve mumbled. “You got it? Can you just like, buy it?”

“Sure! Buy as much as you want.”

“Fadie!” Steve said.

“Hey, speak English!”

Steve looked embarrassed, shrugged, and drank more beer. Kel. My vocabulary increased, but I hoped to have no need of it.

“You’re tired.” Dan leaned on his knees, studying me. His blue eyes were penetrating. I wanted to hide in the corner. He looked brutal without a smile. This person saved my life … and killed his friend. Or partner? What had they been to each other?

“I guess I am. I slept in the car on the way here though.”

“We can’t do anything today, so you can rest as much as you want,” Dan continued. “Tomorrow is going to be a long day. We’ll try to send you back home.”

“How?”

Dan and Ronald exchanged glances.

“We’re working on a plan,” Ronald said.

“Okay.” I ran my hand over the cat’s back. “Thank you.”

“There’s nothing to thank us for,” Dan said, and it sounded rude. “I put clean sheets on the bed. Catch up on your sleep.”

I felt uncomfortable.

“I can sleep here, on the couch.”

“No.” Dan smiled and this smile remolded his face. “That’s my place and Marlin’s.” The cat purred. “You can find clean toothbrush and toothpaste in the bathroom.”

“Wow. You took care of everything.”

“Yes, that’s me. A caring type of guy.”

“Some woman will be lucky to get you. But … How did you know I’d be here?”

“I wasn’t totally sure, but I wanted to be ready.”

“Thanks,” I said again.

“Let’s go. I’ll show you the bedroom.” Dan stood up and I followed him, leaving the cat on the couch. The cat jumped down and tagged along.”

“Good night, Sam,” Ronald and Steve said together.

I followed Dan to the hallway then to the small room with its lonely bed and a flat screen TV in front of it. They didn’t excel technically from us. The spread on the bed was black, the walls were white. I wasn’t sure I could fall asleep in this bachelor pad. It looked like a vampire haunt. The bed though, seemed soft and lured my tired bones.

“Is it okay?” Dan asked as he pushed his cat from the bed.

“Sure. Thanks a lot.”

“Stop thanking me. I’m going to feel uncomfortable soon. Like I’m some kind of hero. I’m not. The bathroom’s in the hallway, you’ll see it. The door is open. Your brush is red. I couldn’t find any clothes for you, but in the morning we’ll get something different.”

I wanted to thank him again, but remembered his warning and just nodded.

“Good night.” The giant left the room, closing the door after himself.

I almost jumped into bed, but if I went down I wouldn’t get up. So, I walked to the bathroom, washed my face, and brushed my teeth with toothpaste that was called, “Toothpaste”. I studied the dark circles under my eyes and my messy hair in the mirror. I was a beauty out of this world. Literally. The paste was salty and I didn’t look forward to sleeping with this taste in my mouth, but when I returned to the room I found two bottles of Evian on the floor by the bed. I lay down only after I almost finished one of the bottles. Finally I felt myself like a human and not a marionette that was pulled in all directions. One more time I’d avoided death.

“Thank you Dan. Even though you don’t want to hear it.”

I didn’t take my clothes off, just pulled off the boots and socks, and climbed under the black blanket in my uniform.

The bed wasn’t that soft, but also not too hard and I sprawled with pleasure. It was difficult to feel pleasure out of anything considering the situation, but I tried not to think about anything bad. Not to think about tomorrow. I wanted to watch TV and found a remote control on a wide table on one side of the bed. I figured out how it worked fast. The lottery commercial was showing on the very first channel. The main prize—a trip to my planet. To my planet, where at the moment spies followed dozens of people who didn’t suspect anything. They didn’t know that soon somebody would kidnap them, drag them into another dimension, and kill. Their families didn’t know that soon their kids or parents, siblings or friends, would be replaced by fakes. They didn’t know their life was a lottery prize.

“Don’t think, don’t think.”

I changed the channel to stumble upon the news. The woman on the screen was dressed in beige, her dark hair pulled back. She had gold earrings in her ears and a gold ring on her finger. So much liberty.

“Hunters continue keeping our streets clean of irnaners. Today another raid was conducted in the area of The City of Lost. A few irnaners that were hiding there had been arrested.”