The Sands of Borrowed Time (18 page)

“Who?” Carla replied, also whispering, her eyes darting back and forth the plains, feeling his breath on her neck.

“My travelling friends from the north?”

“
The Others
?”

“Who else?”  Cain looked at her with a manic smile, caressing her chin.  She felt scared.

“And?” she demanded.

“And what?” Cain asked as he shifted the buggy into gear and floored the accelerator, sending a plume of sand skywards behind them.

“And!” she repeated hysterically, shaking her hands before her face.

“You want to meet them?  Is that what you’re asking?” he shouted back.  She tried to reply, attempting to regain some composure before Cain continued, “It’s a shame, I know.  I would so much love you to meet them, but time is short, and if we are to catch Kyla, we need to keep moving, I’m afraid.  Apologies.  Hope you can look deep within your heart to forgive me someday for this awful transgression.”  He looked across at her, a wide grin breaking out across his face and rubbed her knee.  Carla pulled her skirt forward, not amused.    Cain hit the accelerator harder, turning away from the direction of the horns.

“Maybe next time babe!” he cried out with a hideous laugh.  “Next time for sure!”

On Shaky Ground

“Steady on there!” Jeff shouted out as he leant over and tried to grab the wheel from Callee.  A gasp of panic could be heard from Laren behind them as she held on tightly to her seat, watching the van serve one way and then the other, crisscrossing the road.

“Shit, it’s not me,” Callee protested as the van violently shook. “What is this, the ground is shaking beneath us!”  Jeff looked in all directions as Callee screeched to a halt, seeing and feeling the ground tremble, the road ahead of them cracking, then lifting and disintegrating, leaving a large pit in the road.  The shaking got more violent, Laren now screaming with her hands to her cheeks as Callee held onto the steering wheel as it juddered, her bones feeling the strain until she let go with a cry, leaving her bouncing around in her seat.

“Fucking hell! Jeff screamed out as he grasped the door handle with one hand and wrapped an arm firmly around his seat as Laren held onto its top.  A blast of sand smashed into the windscreen before dispersing in the strong wind, more cracks in the road appearing and extending out into the desert until they were lost in the sandy fog.  The van began to lean as the road opened up beneath them, Callee falling into the door as she tried to grab onto the steering wheel again.

“Shit!” Callee cried.  Then suddenly there was only the howl of the wind and everything was still again.

Callee got back into her seat, panting from panic, looking to Jeff and Laren for answers.

“An earthquake, had to be an earthquake,” Jeff remarked as he struggled to open the van’s door as it fell back shut with the lean of the van.  He tried again, more careful to hold it open, this time.  He thrust upwards towards it, peering out to the ground below and seeing a broken slice of the road beneath them that had risen up during the quake. 

“The road is fucked,” Jeff said as he let go of the door, jumping back into his seat as it swung shut behind him. “Completely trashed.”  Callee looked through the windscreen, seeing a step in the road immediately before her several feet high.

“We’re stuck,” she said, pointing at it. “This van isn’t going anywhere.”

“Go around,” Laren said, peering through the passenger’s window. “Drive around, across there, look,” she said pointing out towards the desert.     There was a small shudder, everyone looking at each other until there was stillness again.

“Aftershocks,” Jeff remarked looking dazed, “let me get out and take a look around.”  He reopened the door and clambered out, jumping onto the uneven ground and into the stuffy, warm air.  Callee followed through the driver’s door, coughing as she breathed in the dust that was swirling in the breeze.  Jeff walked around to meet Callee, surveying the devastated road, its cracks and crevices revealing the dry brown earth below and the dead, brittle roots of trees long gone.

“What a mess,” Callee remarked, looking at Jeff, who simply nodded in stunned agreement.

“Sure is,” he replied. “This throws a spanner in the works,” he continued, looking around at the devastation.  He climbed up the broken piece of road in front of them, holding onto the broken edge, dragging himself up until he was onto the cracked tarmac kneeling.  He looked ahead as he got to his feet, out into the misty haze, looking at the twisted, cracked road ahead of him. 
Like someone has rolled a huge ball bearing down the road, smashing it up as it went along,
he thought.

Callee walked across to the verge to look at the same sight, holding her hand above her eyes to shield them from the sandy air blowing ferociously around her.  She shook her head, looking back up at Jeff.  Again the Earth trembled, Jeff getting back onto his knees as Callee ran back to hold onto the van’s side.  Laren quickly slumped herself down on the back seat, face down, covering the side of her eyes as if to block out the world from view.  Jeff could see more cracks opening up in the road before him as the ground shook violently back and forth below him.  Then as suddenly as the tremor began a comforting stillness fell upon them, the wind continuing to wail around them.

Jeff jumped back down to Callee, “This isn’t good, there are cracks in the road and surrounding desert as far as the eye can see,” he remarked.

“Shit!” Callee replied, thumping the bonnet of the van. “Shit, shit, shit!”  She looked up at Jeff again with frightened eyes, searching his face for hope, but there was none, he was as terrified as she.  They were stuck with nowhere to go.

“Let’s get back in the van and think about this carefully,” he finally said, making his way to the passenger door.  As they got back in they looked immediately behind them as they heard Laren sob.  She was still lying face down on the back seats. 

Callee reached out to her, and shrugged her shoulders, “We’ll be fine, don’t worry,” she said in a panicky voice.

“Will we, you don’t sound too confident?” Laren replied, looking up at her with tearful eyes.

“Of course we will.  We just need to work a few things out first,” Callee replied, wiping the tears from Laren’s face with her finger, leaving trails of wet sand down her cheeks.

“Ok, guys,” Jeff began.  “We can’t be too far away from the north.  We’ve been traveling non-stop for days.  We have plenty of food and water, so I guess we could walk the rest of the way?”  There was silence as Jeff looked at Laren and Callee, both not looking too convinced as terror spread across their faces.

“No way,” Laren protested, “it’s not possible, we’ll die out there.”

“If we stay, we’ll surely die here anyway, eventually, when the food and water runs out,” Jeff replied.

“And how are we supposed to take all that with us,” Laren replied, pointing back at their supplies.  Jeff took a deep nervous breath knowing his plan was a desperate one with little hope.

“We all carry a little bit each, enough to get us to the north.  When we’re there, there should be more,” he replied.

“Should be?” You don’t sound too certain,” Laren remarked worriedly.

Callee looked reluctant to go, “Why don’t we stay here for a few days, have a think, see if anything crops up?”

“Putting off the inevitable,” Jeff quickly replied, folding his arms.

“What if the tremors continue, what then?” he continued in a gruff voice.  “What then hey, the Earth will surely swallow us alive?  Look, we have no choice.  Let’s sleep on it and see how we feel in the morning.”

“Sleep on it!  We will get swallowed alive out there too!” Laren hastily replied with anger in her face.  “I don’t think I'll be getting much sleep anytime soon.”  There was a long strained silence as all three looked out into the swirling dusty air, knowing their fates were uncertain at best, if not already sealed.

Bag your Man

“Now!” Kyla shouted from the ridge, the man suddenly looking up in shock to see a large, black net fall over his head and body.  Kyla jumped down onto his back, pulling a piece of rope tight around his neck.  She could hear his mouth squelch as she pulled the rope even tighter, forcing him to stumble to his knees.

“Stay down my stinky, little bandit or I will pull this rope so fucking hard your neck will snap!” Kyla shouted with brutal conviction as he struggled and whined in the net underneath her.  Then, quickly, Demelza came from behind him as Hayley scuttled from the front.  Kyla held the guys neck firm in the rope, arms outstretched, one holding his skull while the other holding the rope firmly stretched behind him.  She pulled back hard, with one knee pointing into his back.  The man was on the verge of choking as Hayley tied his arms together and Demelza likewise his legs.

“Fucking job well done, girls!” Kyla shouted as she released the rope from around the man’s neck, rolling away almost breathless herself, looking across to their new captive struggling frantically on the ground as he attempted to free his bound limbs, coughing up blood all over himself.

“Yes, we did it!” Hayley exclaimed, giving Demelza a high five, then hopping down to kiss Kyla. 

“What the fuck?” the man uttered as blood frothed around his mouth.  “What the fuck is this?” he asked as he desperately squirmed beneath the net, looking across at the girls bewildered.

“Hi,” Kyla said as she got back to her feet, waving at the bandit, Demelza and Hayley smirking.

“Who the fuck are you lot!” the man angrily asked as he kneeled helplessly under the net.  The girls stared at his confused, bloody face silently for a while, and then Kyla spoke, her face quivering with joyful ticks in the hot, dusty air.

“We’re just like you, just getting along, day by day.”

“What?” the man asked perplexed.

“Just out making a damned living, our God born right,” she continued, her eyes looking excited from the exhilaration of it all.

“What do you want?” the man asked, looking more focused.  “You haven’t done this to keep me as your little pet, I guess?” he continued, licking blood from around his lips.

“You guessed right my friend,” Kyla replied, walking closer to him as a show of confidence.

“Really!  That doesn’t surprise me, girl,” he snapped, looking at all three in turn.  “Who you calling bandit anyway?  You think I’m like those daft cunts out there; those drunken pricks,” he continued frowning.  The three girls looked at each other bemused.

Hayley said, “You look like a bandit.”

“Oh really, and what does that mean,” he said in a derisive tone.  “’Cause I’m a man wearing a leather jacket.  Oh fuck off, come on.” 

Demelza cut to the chase, “What’s in the van?” picking at her broken tooth. 

“In the van?  In the fucking van!  You bagged me so that you can ask me what’s in the van.” 

Demelza shrugged, “Well, yes, we did, so what’s in there my big friend.”

“What?  Who the fuck are you girls; the three fucking musketeers.  There’s fuck all in the van, that’s why I’m out here, as you rightly say, exercising my God born right to make a fucking living, for what it’s worth.”  Hayley ran up to the van to check. 

The man shouted to her, “If you find anything, let me know, could do with some little trinkets to make myself a little prettier!”  Hayley opened the rear doors and jumped inside.  “Watch out, there’s a horde of evil maggot bandits in there, ha!”  He began to laugh, looking across at Demelza’s and Kyla’s confused faces as Hayley pottered around in the back of his van.  “What you expecting to find; gold, money, drugs?  he continued.  “I don’t even have a stupid fucking gun!  Nothing is worth nicking anymore you dumb fuck girls unless you can fucking eat it.”

“Were not fucking dumb ‘cause we’re girls,” Demelza said.

“Well, you don’t impress me much, that’s for sure.”  Hayley walked back despondently, shaking her head. “He has less than us.”

“What about the van?”  We can take the van,” Kyla said.  “It would be easier to travel in than the land ship?”

“Sure would,” Demelza added. 

Hayley nodded, “And him?”

“Him?  What about him?”  Demelza asked, shrugging her shoulders. 

“Where there are winners there are losers,” Kyla said. 

“Obviously, I don’t have a fucking say in this, in my van?” the man protested.

“Well no, you’re our prisoner, are you not?” Kyla said.  “The van is now ours.”

“Ha!  Oh really, and how you going to start the fucking thing?”

“With your keys,” Kyla said.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that, girl!”

“How complicated?”

“Well, you’re smart girls, as she fucking said, the blonde one over there, looking all confused and dippy.  I will let you work it out.  I’m starting to like living under this net, all tied up anyway!”  The three girls looked at each other, unsure what to do.  “Do you know why I’m out here, how long that van has been sitting there?”

“We know how long you’ve been here, we watched you drive up the ridge,” Hayley replied, starting to feel unsure where this was leading.

“Yes, and fucking when?”

“A few days ago?”

“Yes, a few days ago, and have you seen me leave, use the van in the meantime.”  The girls shook their heads, looking worried.

“For fuck sake, young Einstein’s, work it out, come on!”  The man looked at the ground out of breath, then looked across at the three girls, shaking his head before continuing, “The van is fucked!  Buggered!  There’s no gas for starters, and then the engine’s knackered!”  He looked across at Kyla, pulling a strained smile, “Job well done, turquoise!”

“You think he’s bluffing?” Kyla whispered embarrassed.

“Don’t think so,” Demelza whispered back, Hayley rolling her eyes and sighing.

“For fuck sake!” Kyla snorted under her breath. “What a fucking waste of time, and such a perfect catch too!” 

Hayley bit her lip, looking across at the man tied under the net, “What shall we do with him?”

“Well, untie me for starters, for Christ’s sake!  I have no weapons and nothing for you to take!”  The three girls stared at each other before Kyla walked across, knife in hand, cutting the ropes binding the man’s arms and legs.

“Thank you so very much, you’re so fucking kind,” he said as he lifted the net off himself.  The three girls stepped back a little, unsure what he would do.  Demelza gave Kyla a stern look as if to ask was releasing him a good idea.

“Don’t you three little chickens look a bit cuckoo,” the man said, and smiled.  “Daniel, my name is Daniel,” he continued as he took a swig of water from his hip flask, offering it to the girls.  All three shook their heads as they watched his blood drenched mouth paint the lip of his flask a dark red.

“And your names?” he asked.  “Everyone has gone shy all of a sudden after the initial introductions,” holding up his hip flask as if to say cheers.  Hayley looked nervously across at the guy and was just about to utter something when he pointed at Kyla.

“You, the vicious blonde one, your name please?”

“Kyla,” she responded timidly, hiding her face towards the ground aware of her nerves, “and these are my friends, Demelza and Hayley,” pointing to each in turn.

“Cool, now that the introductions are out of the way, what was that all about?  What were you hoping to gain?”

“We heard the bandits talking one night,” Kyla said.  “They spoke of a place; a place where it rains and snows, where the grass is green, where there’s life, as it was before.”

“The bandits talk shit; they drink, and then talk bollocks.”

“We know,” Hayley said, “but this was different.  They were making plans, careful plans, writing things, making drawings.  This wasn’t drunken talk.”

“And me, my van?  What have I and the van got to do with their careful plans?”

“As we said earlier, you, looking like a bandit...”

“…might have those plans stashed away somewhere.” Daniel broke in, finishing Hayley’s sentence.

“Not just plans, but maps, the location of this wonderful place,” Kyla added, waving her hands in frustration.  “A place, like it was before.  We caught you not for gold, nor silver, not even for food and water, but for life, a chance for life.”

“At the cost of my life, it seems?” Daniel offered to their plight.  The three girls looked around with guilty faces.

“Its tough out there.  How do we know the good from the bad?” Kyla asked tearfully. “We’re at our wits ends.  I don’t want to turn into a demon.  I just want a decent life.  I don’t want to fight it every day.”

Daniel looked across at the girls, “You all look like you’ve been dragged through the sand by your hair.  You actually believe this place exists?”

“Yes, it has to! Otherwise, we're fucked!” Kyla exclaimed, her lips quivering.  “I can’t take much more.  This isn’t fun anymore,” she trailed off as she sat on the floor looking defeated, her eyes sullen as she ran her fingers through the hot sand.  Daniel looked sad.  He shrugged his shoulders.

“Life is life, wherever it is,” he muttered.  “This place, if it exists, how far away, do you have an idea?”

“Several days by car,” Demelza said, Kyla looking up hopefully towards Daniel.

“That’s it, Kyla, never give up hope, he responded to her glance.  This place must be far up north,” Daniel pondered aloud.

“Why North?” Kyla asked, her eyes brightening.

“Because the Sun causes the hot winds to blow from the South.  No one in their right minds would go south.  And the mention of snow, must mean the North, surely?”

“All we need is a car?” Kyla said. “We have a land ship, but it’s so slow.  I fear we will never make it.”

“These bandits you talk of, they have vehicles as you mention, would it be too daring to try again, what you did today.  Think of me, today, as your trial run, which may I say was a resounding success.”  Kyla smiled shyly with pride, her face lighting up at the idea.

“I guess you have all the details planned out, as you did today.  All you need to do is get the right man, this time, a motor vehicle that actually works, and everyone is fit to go,” Daniel advised with a positive smile.  The three girls laughed nervously.

“The only problem being, getting one alone,” Hayley said, “more often than not they roam in gangs.  We saw you as an opportunity, rather than something we planned.”

“Then we will bide our time,” Daniel said, “watch their movements and wait for the right moment.”  They all looked at each other as if in agreement, except for Kyla.

“Time,” Kyla said, “is something we don't have.  We have to keep moving.”