by Al K. Line
Cats everywhere. Black ones, white ones, ginger ones and everything in-between.
Dale and Amanda stared at the decaying city in silence, the knowledge of where they were hitting them suddenly once they had their senses back. They'd been to Venice for a short stay, just a few nights, before catching the train that got them to Rome in under three hours. They'd loved it, and had often talked about coming back, just never expecting it to be under such strange circumstances.
"Dale?"
"Yeah?"
She's gonna say what I'm thinking. Don't let her know.
"You don't think cats have taken over the world do you? I mean, you know, eaten everyone, grown intelligent or something?" Amanda was watching the cats nervously, thousands of pairs of eyes staring back at them from rooftops, out of windows, heads peeking from behind refuse or just wandering past and giving them that stare that only cats can manage — the one that tells you that you are nothing, a mere human, and that they are oh-so-superior.
"Haha," gulped Dale, "don't be silly. Cats wouldn't do that, would you, nice moggy?"
Dale bent and spoke to a jet black cat that was wandering past, its tail high in the air, pointedly ignoring him as he bent to say hello. He put out a hand to give it a stroke.
"Ow! Bloody thing." Dale stood and lifted his hand; the damn cat had scagged him good with claws as sharp as razors.
"Serves you right. And don't try to fool me Dale, I know you were thinking the same thing."
"Um, maybe just for a minute. But no, there were always loads of cats. I suppose they've just bred without anyone to control them."
It seemed like a logical explanation, but would they really be able to breed to reach such numbers? What did that say about the lack of people? It must mean that nobody had been able to control them for a long time, that there was nobody in Venice to maintain the cat population for decades. Or maybe they really had taken over the world. Were they right now watching and planning something awful?
Dale shook his head to get rid of the thought — his imagination was getting wild, the lack of people doing funny things to him. Or maybe it was the jumping? It still didn't seem possible that everything stayed where it should be.
Amanda spun slowly in a circle, taking in the incredible buildings that were still standing, frowning at the cats that stared so intensely. "Where are the people?"
Good question.
"Dunno. Come on, let's move in case mister hairy comes after us."
~~~
They made their way through the eerie streets of Venice, over small bridges, skirting around sections that were impassable, watching empty gondolas bob about on fetid, litter-filled water as if waiting for their gondolier to return. The silence was about the spookiest thing Dale thought he had ever experienced — it was worse than a lump of mangled human landing on your kitchen table. Well, almost.
Many of the narrow alleys were impassable or too dangerous to risk. Most of the buildings that were still standing were leaning at dangerous angles, the sky obliterated where they rested on their neighbors opposite. Others were piled high with rubble, the red brick of the buildings crumbling in the warm, humid air. Some of the most amazing buildings ever constructed by man were little more than towering piles of once perfectly cut stone, incredible carvings poking out from amid the ruins as if looking for salvation from the desecration.
There wasn't a single person, alive or dead, just cats.
Why no dogs? thought Dale. What about other animals?
The more they walked the more cats they encountered. They peered out from hides in the ruins, sat atop gargoyles on buildings still standing, watching, almost as if they were waiting for something.
Most of the canals were completely gone, filled in by the buildings that had fallen, bridges shattered as they fell into the water. The only sounds were the cries of fighting felines, birds twittering in the sky, or the occasional distant crash of yet another incredible piece of architecture finally losing its glory as it collapsed.
The Rialto bridge was still intact, so they walked to the middle, peering over into the green water, watching pieces of timber and junk slowly move past and under the ancient stone structure.
Dale pulled the note, the second of the day, out of his satchel, along with the newest Hexad, the 0 still blinking its warning.
"Do you think you can recharge them?"
"No idea, but maybe. Let's see the note."
Dale handed it to Amanda and she read it, then studied it as if it would offer up more information.
"It's my handwriting again."
"I can see. Let's just not get into a discussion about why you don't give more information, or whether we should go and send ourselves any messages, okay?"
Dale just nodded, forcing himself not to think about any of it. He pulled their original Hexad out and checked it. It now had a 3 on the top, as expected.
"What are we going to do? Who are all these people coming after us? And more importantly, where the hell is everyone?"
Dale stared along the empty bridge, shaking his head. He had no answer. Pigeons were flying around noisily, not many though, and it was obvious why. Cats.
"Ah, maybe they've just evacuated Venice, you know, as it got unstable. It was like that for years wasn't it? They kept threatening that it would just sink one day. Well, maybe that's what happened."
It was a real possibility, Venice was constantly at risk of sinking, or the canals flooding and washing away the whole man-made city, reclaiming it back to the lagoon it once was.
Amanda visibly brightened. "Do you think so? Really? Yes, of course. Haha. Gosh, I was getting worried it was the end of the world or something. Oh." Suddenly she looked crestfallen, like the hope had been dashed on the rocks of despair.
"What? What's wrong?"
"What Tellan said. That we had to save the world. Well, maybe this is what happens. This is the future, there's no people. And there aren't any bodies either. If people died there would be bodies."
"Calm down, there won't be bodies if they've evacuated. Don't jump to conclusions."
"It is Dale, it's the end of the world." Amanda started crying.
"Hang on, let's find out." Dale fiddled with the Hexad and then took Amanda's hand after wiping away the tears. He pressed down on the number 3 and saw it flash to 2 in an instant.
Amanda and Dale disappeared. A cat watched them from the stone handrail on the bridge, green eyes blinking with boredom before it lifted a leg and began to lick its foot.
A huge man appeared a few steps away from where they had just been a moment ago, took a quick look around and stared menacingly at the cat until it jumped down and sauntered off. He disappeared as quickly as he had arrived, muttering something unintelligible through a thick curly beard.
Bad News
47 Years Future
"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit. Ugh."
"Dale you moron, stop doing that!" Amanda clambered off him, managing to stick a Converse in his eye as she did so.
"Sorry." Dale sat on the floor for a moment, legs out in front of him, trying to calm his nerves, then slowly got to his feet, checking the Hexad was all right, then putting it away and buckling up his satchel. Sweat was staining his short-sleeved shirt through the blue and his jeans were making him feel really uncomfortable.
He felt like somebody had poured a bucket of warm water over his head, so he knew he'd definitely got the location right: Thailand. More specifically, Koh Tao, a place they had visited seven years ago — at least it would be if you counted from what he thought of as their present. They'd stayed a month, lazing about on the beach, eating way too much Pad Thai and drinking incredible amounts of rice whiskey that was as strong as the sun was hot.
He sat down again on the boiling hot sand and rolled up his faded jeans, wishing he'd not worn his leather boots but had on a pair of flip-flops instead. Gosh, when had he last worn fli—
"Ow!"
"Will you stop daydreaming. What is wrong with you?"
; "Sorry. But do you remember the time that guy came over and asked if you were for sale and you smacked him across the head with your beach mat. Haha, good times."
"So we're in Thailand then?" asked Amanda crossly, arms folded across her chest, staring at him like he'd ended the world personally.
"Yes," said Dale warily. "Forty seven years in the future. That's okay, isn't it?"
"Dale you muppet, I'm seriously wondering if this isn't frying your brain? How do we know that whatever happened has even happened yet? And why the hell would you bring us somewhere where there were hardly any people anyway? It should have been a busy city, not the middle of bloody nowhere. And god, it's bloody boiling." Amanda took off a thin pink cardigan and dropped it onto the sand. She sat down next to him with a bump.
"Um, sorry. I didn't really think it through."
"No, you didn't."
Splash.
They looked into the shallows down the white sand, out into perfect turquoise water — there was nothing but the ripples where something had hit the water, or maybe it had simply been a fish. A second later a very wet, and very angry, large man appeared above the surface and shook his head like a dog that had been thrown in unexpectedly. He waded easily through the water, no match for his bulk and power.
He was huge, bigger than Dale had thought. He must have been seven feet at least, and it was all muscle. His black shoulder length hair was plastered to the sides of his face and the bushy beard dripped beads of water onto his chest, the man's shirt unbuttoned enough to reveal a mat of short, curly hair. His arms were even hairier, with muscles like bunches of ripe grapes bulging on forearms thick with writhing veins.
Now that is one hairy guy. Hairy and scary.
"Nice one," said Amanda accusingly.
"What? That's not my fault. Come on."
They scrambled to their feet and ran up the deserted beach, no time for Dale to open his satchel and retrieve the Hexad. Dale turned and the hairy giant was already out of the water and sprinting up the beach, water dripping from him like it too wanted to get away from his anger. He stumbled on a loose lace, and shouted as he fell onto his knees.
Dale took the opportunity and unbuckled his bag with nervous fingers, pulled out the Hexad and set it for another jump, trying to focus on the location and to land on solid ground. As he grabbed hold of Amanda, he panicked and wondered what would happen if they jumped and landed not above the ground but a little beneath it. There was a lot more to time travel than he'd ever considered, and he got the feeling that maybe it was best not to think about it too much. Heck, what happened if there was a passing cat right where you jumped to, would you end up with it inside you?
Dale's hand paused above the flashing dome of the Hexad, nerves getting the better of him.
"What are you waiting for? Press it," said Amanda, eyes wide with fright as the giant came thundering towards them again, brow creased in anger, jaw muscles clenching like he was grinding his teeth to dust just like he wanted to do to them.
Dale pressed down on the dome with his thumb; it blinked to 1 as they disappeared.
Really Bad News
75 Years Future
"Happy?"
"No," replied Amanda, running beside him.
At least we landed on our feet and started running right away; we're learning.
They sprinted down the steep hill, a stationary cable car halfway down, seemingly just abandoned. Dale knew they'd landed in the right location: San Francisco.
Stupid. Should have picked somewhere less hilly.
"No cats," offered Dale, hoping maybe that would cheer Amanda up.
She looked around, panting hard, almost tripping before Dale grabbed her at the elbow and then held her hand. They kept running.
"No cats, no people either. What year this time?"
"I set it for seventy five, just so we would know if it was like Venice. That all right?"
"Better, yes, but San Francisco?"
"I know. Next time no hills."
"Hmm."
Dale steered Amanda left at a junction and they ran down the middle of the road, no traffic at all, not a single vehicle moving. Cars were just parked, like nobody had bothered to go out to work or run errands, just staying at home and relaxing. Dale very much doubted that was the case though. The cars were strange too, designs he'd never seen before, with registrations that made no sense, so at least it meant that the world didn't end straight away back in their own time. Hopefully.
Where are all the people?
The street leveled out so they settled into a steady jog, both turning repeatedly to see if they were being chased yet — so far so good, they were alone. But too alone. Dale had a horrible feeling that the city's occupants were all watching from inside their homes, just observing the strange scene, no interest in participating. It was like a warped movie where people were viewing them as if on a TV screen, entertainment for the masses, nothing to do but stare.
It gave him the creeps, as if he wasn't in the real world, just a stage set on an epic scale, spanning the globe, empty. Just them, running, scared, lost in time, far from home. As they pounded the asphalt Dale looked off to the right, smiling despite himself as the stunning Golden Gate Bridge came into view. It was an incredible feat of engineering, and something they had marveled at when they visited a few years ago, jostling with the tourists and exploring the sights of the incredible city. Now the restaurants were empty, the streets deserted, nobody taking pictures, no traffic crawling over the bridge.
Dale sniffed, suddenly realizing what else was playing on his mind. The air was pure, cleaner than he'd ever known it in a city — no traffic fumes.
Keeping up their steady pace, Dale steered Amanda away from the open edge of the city, thinking it would be better to get somewhere they couldn't be seen so easily, but not knowing the city well enough to have much of an idea of where to actually go.
They picked streets at random, weaving into the city, losing themselves and hopefully stopping the giant from finding them. Would it work? Did it make a difference? He had no idea. If the man had somehow locked onto their locations so far then surely he would do the same again? Or was it that he only knew where they jumped to, and after that everything else would be guesswork? That sounded more likely, but he had no idea how any of it worked, all he knew was that it would be very bad if they did go head to head with the huge guy — the one thing Dale was not was a fighter, especially against huge bearded guys that appeared to be made out of solid muscle.
"Dale, we have to stop. I'm shattered. What are we doing anyway?" Amanda stopped, refusing to run any further. She was panting heavily, just like Dale, and with no real idea of what to do Dale stopped too.
"Okay, let's just walk. I don't know where we're going anyway. What's the plan?" Dale looked at Amanda hopefully, eager to hear of anything she had in mind.
"I don't know. What makes you think I have one?"
"Well, you're the practical one, I just thought you might be making more sense of this than I am."
"Fat chance. None of it makes any bloody sense, does it? What the hell is going on? Why are we being chased? What's this all about?"
Amanda was close to tears again, and he didn't blame her one bit: he felt like crying too. Dale gave her a hug and didn't want to let go — he could lose himself in her warmth forever, just them, close and together, comforting each other in the emptiness. They parted eventually, both calmer after the closeness.
"Let's just walk a little bit, try to make sense of this a little. We'll have a look around, see if we can get an idea of what's happened. If everyone really is gone then we should at least be able to go where we want, check on things."
"Okay, sounds good. You're right, there must be signs of what happened. When it happened. What about a convenience store? We can check the papers, see what food there is. Right?"
"Yeah, good idea. At least we'll maybe find some clues that could help explain where everyone went to."
They walked, taki
ng everything in for the first time. This was the first chance they'd had to actually look at the future rather than just run through it, or appear momentarily in strange places. If this was the end of the world then they sure as hell needed to at least see for themselves. Obviously whatever happened wasn't over for them — Tellan had said they had a part to play, a huge part if they were to save the world, whatever that meant. Dale tried to focus, to really look at things, but with a million thoughts crowding his head at the same time it was difficult — he also realized just how thirsty and hungry he was.
How long had they been jumping about? When did they last eat? Was it just a few hours ago or did none of that mean anything anymore?
See, there I go again. Stop thinking about it all, you'll make your brain explode. Just stay focused on the here and now.
Dale looked, truly looked at the situation he found himself in.
Empty. Everything gone.
Cars were just parked up, meaning vehicles weren't abandoned, so it wasn't as if some major catastrophe had hit and humanity was wiped out in an instant. Everything was orderly, but now that he really looked it was evident that everything was tarnished, covered in a layer of dirt and dust, like whatever had led to the emptiness hadn't only just happened — it could have been many, many years ago.
Dale wondered if power worked. Were sewers still working? What about running water? What about anything? What about people?
The streets weren't exactly piled high with trash either. The place was messy, sure, but it wasn't like the streets were overflowing. It was all just abandoned, that was it, like everyone had simply decided to wink out of existence, tidying up before they left. Gone off to better things, better times maybe?
"Ugh," said Dale, shuddering.
"What? What is it?" asked Amanda nervously, looking for danger.
"Nothing, just feeling weird."
"Me too, very weird."
~~~
"Stand back," said Dale, lifting the trash can above his head, aiming at the plate glass of the 7-11.
