Epiworld (14 page)

‘All right; tell me how come you’re so much younger.’

‘I injected myself with Deprovine. It took immediate effect as I stepped through the portal.’

The age reduction drug, given to the old ones at the institution to keep them alive longer so they can keep on working, also used illegally by rich women to try to stay young.

‘You went a bit mad with it, didn’t you?’

‘I didn’t want you to recognise me, but of course you did; and when I met Demi...’

‘Mr Fraser’s murder,’ I interrupt, ‘what did you do to make the police think I might’ve killed him?’

‘During our fight at the café I tore off a piece of your shirt. I took it with me back to the farm, and, er, persuaded the policeman there that he found it, and that it belonged to you.’

I think back to the fight. I’m almost impressed by his ingenuity. ‘You sly, cunning little git!’

He doesn’t answer. His thoughts are very weak now, and almost immediately he’s unconscious.

‘To hell with you!’ I kick his foot. ‘Why don’t I just kill you now?’

O
nly I’m not ready to kill him just yet. I want to know a bit more about the portals.

I throw the last stick onto the pile, and light the match. I’m not entirely sure I believe what he’s just told me, truth drug or not. My seizures producing enough electricity to induce portals! It’s too fantastic! Still, I can’t help daydreaming, as I watch the sticks catch light, that a portal would come in handy right now, so I can escape the police.

No matter how I get away the hardest part will be leaving Demi, especially since I’ve just found her again. I’m still pondering on this when I spill the bag of food onto the ground.

‘Chase,’ I prod him with my foot, ‘wake up.’

No answer. He’s fast asleep, so I shake him, and drag him into a sitting position.

‘Chase, I’ve got food.’

I hold a biscuit to his lips; still no response. I turn away with a shrug. ‘Suit yourself; all the more for me.’

Suddenly I feel the full weight of his body on mine, and his arms tighten around my neck. I notice the broken cord at my feet. The crafty swine’s been faking it, loosening the cord around his wrists somehow, and probably scraping it on a jagged rock. I swing around, trying to shake him off. My leg is burning; I’ve fallen onto the fire. I can’t cry out, because his hands are squeezing my throat. Now he’s sitting on top of me, his cold grey eyes burning into mine. My lids start to droop; I’m fading away.

The colours are strong: orange, red, purple, yellow – and then black. Dr Alexander and Hudson appear in my mind’s eye, smiling at me. I also see a woman in her forties or thereabouts, standing on tiptoe. She kisses me on the cheek. She calls me by my name. She looks vaguely familiar, but I don’t know who she is.

I hear Demi’s voice. I try to speak, but the words don’t come.

The colours have gone, the cave is back. Chase has fallen from the cavern ledge onto the stones below. I hear the sea swishing around; the tide is coming in. My leg hurts like hell. Demi is standing over me, shaking with fright, one of Dr Mac’s golf clubs in her hand.

I stare down at Chase. He’s unconscious again, with blood trickling down his face.

‘He’s still breathing,’ whispers Demi. ‘I didn’t hit him hard enough to kill him.’

‘You shouldn’t have followed us, Dem.’ Bloody hell; my throat hurts, too!

‘It’s a good job I did! It wasn’t hard to work out where you were. I came to warn you; the police are on their way!’ She bends down next to me. ‘Oh, God, Travis, look at your leg!’

‘I fell in the fire,’ I croak.

‘I must get you back to Dr Mac’s, then.’

‘I can’t go back there. There’s the little matter of the police.’

‘But, like I said, Chas can tell them the truth now.’

‘He’ll deny it, Demi,’ I say irritably, ‘and they might think I tried to force him to say he killed your dad.’

‘You have me as a witness. I’ll tell them what he did to me. If he has any more drugs on him you can show them to the police.’

‘That wouldn’t help. They might say I planted them, and persuaded you to speak up for me.’ I struggle to my feet. ‘Come on; the sea’s coming in fast; I don’t want him to drown!’

The pain in my leg is now so bad I’m worried I might collapse, but Demi helps me to climb down to the lower chamber of the cave, where Chase is lying, apparently lifeless, the sea lapping around his face. I manage to stagger along the rocks. Chase’s pulse is strong; his heart is still beating, but his face is white.

Demi is scared, but not of the sea.

‘Travis, he doesn’t look well!’ she says worriedly.

‘He’s still alive,’ I assure her, ‘but we have to revive him. I want him to tell me more about the portals.’

‘Portals?’ Demi is clutching her head. ‘Travis, we’ve no time for any more of your crazy science fiction stories, the police are looking for you!’

‘Help me to sit him up!’ I slap Chase’s face hard. ‘Wake up, you git!’

This time I’m ready for any fast ones he might try to pull.

His eyes flicker. He looks straight at me, then at Demi. The sea is whirling in fast, around his body, around my backside, around Demi’s ankles. The salt is stinging my leg.

‘Demi,’ Chase whispers pleadingly. She looks away in disgust.

‘Never mind her, stupid! Sit up!’ I command.

‘My head!’ he groans.

‘Don’t worry; it’s still attached to your neck!’

‘Travis,’ says Demi in a hushed voice, ‘the sea! It’s – it’s getting deeper...’

‘Go back up to the cavern, then!’

She sloshes through the rising tide back towards the rocks leading up to the cavern. I hear a squeal, then a splash, and turn around quickly; she’s fallen in the water.

‘I slipped!’ she whines. ‘I told you I would!’ She drags herself out, grumbling about her wet clothes. ‘Don’t bother to help me, will you?’

‘Don’t be such a wuss!’ I snap. I’m sitting on Chase to keep him still. ‘Sort yourself out, I’m not leaving him.’

She ambles back to the rocks. For a moment I stare out to sea, but I’m aware of what’s going on. My vision is blurred, and my head is hot; I’m having an absence seizure. There’s the familiar light, right on cue. I can’t seem to move my eyes from it, even though it’s burning into my brain.

In the distance Demi’s voice is calling to me. ‘Travis!’

I turn to look at her. She’s gripping the wall of the cave; but there’s something else; I’m looking right through her! She’s transparent! The light is encircling her body, shuddering around her like ripples from a whirlpool. I splash towards her. She’s mouthing for help, but disappearing fast.

‘
Demi
!
No
!’

‘Anyone who comes into contact with a portal can be taken by it,’ gabbles Chase. ‘We could tell it where we want to go, but she won’t know what’s happening to her. She could end up anywhere. ’

‘Demi! Don’t worry; I’ll bring you back!’

I dive towards her, but I’m too late; she’s vanished! And so has the portal!

––––––––

I
’m banging my fists against the cave wall like a lunatic, blood streaming from my hands as they cut into the rock. Try as I might I can’t find any sort of gap leading back to Demi.

‘She’s gone,’ says Chase.

He says it like she’s just popped out for a walk along the beach. The blood from my hands is dripping into the sea, but I don’t feel the pain as I wade back to him, and grip his arm.

‘You’ll never find her,’ he yelps. ‘You don’t know where she is.’

‘I have to try!’

‘You’re pissing in the wind! You can’t just guess where she is! The only way she can come back is to tell the portal where she wants to go herself, and she won’t know she can do that.’

The cave starts to spin; this feels like a big one. A seizure now could give Chase the upper hand, or cause me to drown. Then I see the light, covering the mouth of the cave. I stumble towards it, not having much idea in my mind whether I’m going to take myself back to twenty ninety-nine, or guess a time where Demi might be, and try to find her.

The blow on the back of my head is skull-shattering, and I collapse into the water. I suffer the full weight of Chase’s body on my shoulders as he holds me under. No! I can’t die now, not like this, not at Chase’s hands!

My feet are dragging against loose stones.
Do something...

I’m clawing at the water until my hand grasps something long and thin. Guessing that it’s Demi’s weapon, the golf club, I grip it tightly, and with all the strength I can muster I ram it hard between Chase’s legs. His roars are confused with the bubbling of the water in my ears, and soon I’m fighting for air, looking down at him as he clutches his nuts, howling in agony.

‘Now,’ I pant with rage, ‘it’s your turn to die!’

––––––––

I
let the golf club fall from my hands, watching as our blood mingles to form a dark, deep red pool on the surface of the water. I’ve never killed anyone before, but I’ve seen enough blood, beatings and death not to be afraid of the consequences. Well, it’s done; he’s dead.

And yet a strange, overwhelming feeling of sadness sweeps over me as I look down at his body. At last I’m free of him! He’s gone, meaning that when I return to our future, he won’t exist. I should be happy, but for some weird reason I’m not.

I have to dispose of the body before the portal disappears.

I decide to bury him under a mound of stones up in the cavern. No one will ever find him there, and if they do, I’ll be safely on the other side of time, out of the way of suspicion. Only I can’t heave him up the steps. He’s too heavy for me to drag that far, and my burnt leg is weighing me down. I could wait until the sea rises a bit further, but it only finds its level halfway to the cavern once the tide is fully in, and I’ll still have to get him over the ledge somehow. While I’m debating what to do Chase is face down in the water, floating purposelessly.

The portal! I could get him through that, go back to twenty ninety-nine, to Corrugated City. I know a place where no one will find him. Then I’ll find another portal, try to find Demi, bring her back here, say goodbye properly, and go back home.

I’m excited about going home, finding my mates, Jenna in particular. I’ll tell them everything, and ask them to help me find Demi. I can’t wait to tell them about my adventures; but would they believe me? I smile; maybe not.

There’ll be no epilepsy medication on the streets in twenty ninety-nine, but maybe I’ll find a way of getting in touch with Dr Alexander, ask him to supply me with tablets to keep the seizures at bay, at least until I have no more need for portals. There’s still the problem of the probe deep inside my neck, though. When I get back it’ll start to work again. Maybe Alexander can do something about that as well. All I know is I’d sooner be in my own time where I can hide, than in a time and place I don’t know well, where I may easily be found.

I’m about to push Chase’s body through the portal when a figure suddenly appears, just missing my head as it leaps past me, making an almighty splash in the water. For a moment it’s submerged, but then it struggles back to the surface, choking for breath. Demi’s eyes are wide with shock.

‘You’re back!’ I shriek, wading towards her, and clasping her to me. ‘Where did you go?’

‘I – don’t...’ she coughs and pants as I help her to stand up. Her breathing slows to a point where she can speak. ‘I don’t know! I was leaning against the wall...’

‘You don’t know where you ended up?’

‘No! I’m freezing, Travis!’

‘You’re soaked through, that’s why! You’d better get back to Dr Mac’s.’

‘Travis! What – the light...’

‘It’s the portal. You went through it, but it brought you back.’

‘Oh, Travis; this is all dead spooky! Oh!’

Her eyes fall on Chase’s floating corpse. Quickly she turns away, hiding her face in my shoulder.

‘It was self-defence, Dem, he tried to drown me.’ I tell her everything. ‘I was just about to get rid of him when you came back. We’re going through the portal, back to my own time. I know a good place to bury him there. I have to go now,’ as she clings to me, ‘because it’s about to close. I don’t know how long it’ll be before another one appears, and I don’t want to be here when the police come.’

‘I’m coming with you,’ she says impulsively.

‘No, Demi. You can’t. You must stay in your own time.’

‘Why?’ Demi cries. ‘There’s nothing left for me here. Dad’s gone. Chas – well, he – he’s gone, too, and means nothing to me now, anyway. I only have you. I might as well come along.’

‘But you don’t know what my life’s like in twenty ninety-nine! It’s a totally different world to this one; harsh and violent.’

‘I’ll take my chances,’ replies Demi stubbornly.

I don’t have time to argue with her. The portal is rapidly fading...

Chase’s body! Where is it?

T
here’s his foot; he’s going through the portal!

‘Quick!’ I grab Demi’s hand, and drag her towards the light.

‘How do you know he isn’t just floating out to sea?’ she gasps as we splash through the waves.

‘The portal’s in the way. Nowhere else he
can
go! Come
on
!’

We must hurry. Chase is dead; he can’t give the portal instructions. It will take him where it wants to if we don’t catch up.

‘
Jump
!’ I yell.

It isn’t easy to jump in deep water, but we both leap as best we can, reaching the portal just before it closes, our bodies stretching as it sucks us into its light. After a few seconds we land on hard ground. I’m lying on my back, rolling on my side just as the portal disappears from view. I can’t help feeling a sense of panic as I watch it go.

‘Are you OK?’ I ask Demi. That’s peculiar; we’re bone dry, my hands aren’t bleeding any more, and the burn on my leg has gone!

‘Yeah; I think so.’ Demi sits up slowly. She stares around, bewildered. ‘Where – where are we?’

I don’t answer, because I don’t know. Demi, laughing nervously, runs her hand through her hair.

‘Oh, God, this is so
strange
! Me, travelling through time! Tell me I’m dreaming, Travis! Tell me this isn’t real, that I’m drunk, and that I’m hallucinating!’