Jenny tried to dig her heels into the parched grass lawn he was now dragging her across, but the speed he moved was such that she couldn’t get a foothold. She couldn’t scream, couldn’t bite, couldn’t fight at all…the irony wasn’t lost on her. This morning she’d survived attacks from countless hordes of toxic mutants, and now here she was, about to come unstuck at the hands of some random deviant surfer nobody. She felt angry more than scared. How fucking dare he!
They were in an alleyway now; a dark maintenance corridor between two parts of the same building, out of earshot and view of everything and everybody else. He relaxed his grip slightly and she took full advantage. She shoved him away then kicked him in the balls and tried to break free. She only managed a couple of steps before he shot out his leg and tripped her over. Then, lying flat on her belly on the cold ceramic floor tiles, she felt his full weight drop on her. “You’re going nowhere, Jenny from London,” he sneered, his hot breath tickling her ear. She recoiled at his booze-tinged stink.
“Fuck you,” she said. “You kill me and the whole planet’s dead.”
“Looks to me like it’s pretty much dead already.”
“You don’t have to do this. I can help. If you let me I can—”
“Do me a favor and shut the fuck up,” he hissed. “We ain’t got long left. Least you can do is give me a few minutes to remember you by.”
She could feel him fumbling with his shorts. Dirty bastard. She’d rather he’d kill her than make her suffer whatever foul indignities he had planned.
She kicked and writhed under his sinewy body.
“Get off me!”
“Still got plenty of fight in you, you traitorous little bitch.”
“Do you really want to do this?” another voice asked, and Jenny, still pressed flat against the ground, barely able to breathe, looked up and saw someone’s dusty boots directly in front of her.
“Who the fuck are you?” the surfer dude asked.
Jenny put her head down again as something long and heavy sliced through the air above her. It hit her attacker with a nauseating thud. His body went limp on top of her and she dragged herself out from under his deadweight.
It was Maddie.
She was holding a wooden fencepost like she was the designated hitter, bases loaded and ready to swing again if Jenny’s attacker moved. There didn’t seem much chance of that happening. Blood was dribbling from his upturned ear.
“Shit, you killed him,” Jenny said.
“I thought that was for the best, given the circumstances.”
“Jesus.”
“You could try thanking me for saving your skin.”
“And you could try apologizing for punching me in the face then running out on me.”
“Unbelievable,” Maddie said, as she threw the bloodied fence post to one side and stormed away.
Jenny went to check the body but thought better of it. She was in enough trouble as it was and didn’t want to incriminate herself further. She left the corpse in a pool of his own blood and went after Maddie. She hadn’t gone far. She was on the beach. She stormed to the edge of the surf and sat down. She pulled her knees up to her chest and stared up at the moon hanging proud in the clear evening sky.
Jenny positioned herself directly in her eye line. “I’m sorry.”
“Whatever.”
She sat down next to Maddie. “Shows how fucked up things really are, doesn’t it? You just killed a man and neither of us are freaking out.”
“He was attacking you. And if everything you’re telling me is true, he’d have been dead soon anyway.”
“Fair point. Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“You kind of told me to, back there.”
Maddie almost managed half a smile. For a few precious seconds the only noises were the crashing of the waves on the sand and occasional voices as people wandered by.
“Anyway, who says I’m not freaking out?”
Jenny looked across. Maddie was shaking. Was it nerves? Adrenalin? Were the impossible events of this impossible day catching up with her?
“We should get out of here. We don’t want to be around when someone finds him.”
“What difference will it make? No one gave a shit when he was dragging you there. Might as well kick back and enjoy the time we’ve got left.”
“Enjoy it?”
“I don’t think you realize, it’s been a hell of a long time since I’ve sat on a beach. A good portion of my life I’ve been on the moon, looking back at the earth, not down here looking up. This is a big deal for me.”
“I get that, but we have to do something. We can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
“You sure about that?”
“I have to try. We have to.”
“We? When did we come into it?”
“We have to work together, Maddie. We were both brought here for a reason, I think. We just have to work out why.”
“Easier said than done.”
“It might be your only chance of getting home.”
“I guess. But there’s only two of us, and we’re miles from anywhere. You really think two people can make any difference? You really think you can influence the fate of the whole damn world?”
“Yes. I know we can.”
“You’re either naïve or crazy, I’m not sure which.”
“Neither am I. We have to try, though. We got off on the wrong foot. We’re both disorientated, and neither of us really knows where we fit into all of this. We need to stop fighting and try and help each other.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Maddie thought for a moment longer. “So, if I did agree to help, what exactly are you proposing?”
“Go back to that clockwork room and try and figure out how it works, take it from there. I’m sorry, that’s about as far as I’ve got in terms of making a plan.”
Maddie shook her head, disconsolate. Jenny noticed that she was still staring intently at the moon. It seemed impossible to think that was where she’d come from, but stranger things had
