by Andy Briggs
This was it. All she had to do was make sure she didn't get shot.
“...Tw-eeeeekkk....”
The cop's voice turned into a wet gurgle over the loudspeaker. Then screams rose from outside followed by the rapid dull crack of automatic gunfire. With the diner lights off, Marlow's eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness beyond - just enough to see a huge slimy limb coiled around a police car and hoist it into the air, complete with a screaming cop inside.
Seconds later, a severed half of the car was hurled through the front of the building in a colossal shower of glass. People inside yelled as they darted aside. The vehicle crushed several empty booths. Diners fled in panic - some fled through the broken windows, while other shoved through the kitchen door.
Two people made it outside, Marlow recalled that they were a couple that had been giving her particularly surly looks. They were instantly set upon by a cat-like creature the size of a small family car. Where its head should be was a swirling mass of tentacles resembling a sea anemone. They scrambled away, out of sight as the beast pursued them.
Marlow realised that she still had her hands raised in surrender. Feeling foolish she looked at Dan, awestruck. The boy had intentionally opened the rift between Innerspace, allowing the creatures to come flooding through.
Creatures.
Marlow marvelled, now the kid was channelling more than one Infiltrator. The boy was safe but everybody around him, including Marlow, was at risk. Marlow was impressed by the kid's gutsy move while another part of her felt pure terror at the size and quantity of Infiltrators the boy was channelling.
Three cops charged past the diner taking potshots at something pursuing them. Nine stilt-like legs, covered in sharp thorns, scuttled past moments later. Marlow was grateful the beast's grotesque body remained out of sight.
Something exploded outside, kicking Marlow back to her own precarious situation. She could flee, leaving the boy here, knowing that he at least would be immune from the Infiltrators. She could probably build enough of a head start to avoid capture, at least for a few days.
She took several steps around the half-police car, which had landed on its roof trapping the cops inside, then looked back at Dan. The boy was sweating, although oblivious to the real-life nightmare, it looked as if he was suffering one himself. Normally an Infiltrator would feed pleasant dreams to the conduit to keep them asleep, but Marlow wondered if channelling this many creatures would taint the anaesthetic. From the looks of it, Dan was suffering terribly.
If she left, then what? The kid would be reunited to a fretful mother and despicable Grandpa only to unleash yet more Nightmares and death. Marlow took another step to the gaping window and experienced a very rare feeling: an epiphany.
She had promised to help the boy. Promised he wouldn't be taken home until his ‘problem’ had been cured.
“Dammit!”
Marlow's curse echoed through the now empty diner and was met by a chatter of automatic gunfire. Seconds later a police van was hurled across the car park. Something roared - it clearly didn't belong in this world, although it sounded happy to be here.
Marlow hurried back to Dan and hoisted him over her shoulder. Heat radiated from the limp boy as if he was enduring a terrible fever.
“Okay, kid, time to get you outta here. Keep it up just a little longer and pray you’re not getting people killed.”
She ran for the window. The boy was so light he wasn't a burden. She gingerly poked her head out and saw more cops across the car park cowering behind dumpsters as the cat-mare stood on top of a vehicle, powerful limbs crushing the metal. With dismay, Marlow recognised it was her beloved Beetle.
She ran across the car park with no real plan other than to put distance between them. A policeman, wearing full protective body armour suddenly blocked her path. Marlow froze - the game was up.
Then he saw the fear on the cop's face and, before a word could be uttered, something like a strand of green slime adhered to the cop’s back and he was violently plucked upwards into the air, arms and legs flailing.
Marlow changed direction. Ahead, a new BMW had its engine running. The side window was smashed and whoever had been in it had been extracted by force. Marlow didn't want to think about it too much. She threw Dan in the back. His head hit the padded seat with a bump that would wake anybody else, but he simply snorted and drooled as he continued experiencing his own private nightmare.
Marlow slipped behind the wheel and mashed the accelerator. The BMW roared across the car park. She veered around fleeing diners, including the traitorous waitress who was being pursued by something that ran human-like on two legs. Marlow's initial schadenfreude was snuffed by remorse about what would happen if she was caught.
She jerked the wheel and ran the rat-human over with a sicken crunch. The Beamer’s front grill snapped and twisted, the bonnet crumpling as icy blue blood splattered across the windscreen.
“Wake up, kid!” she yelled. “You gotta stop this. It’s gone too far!”
Dan remained asleep. They bounced over a speed bump with such force the suspension creaked ominously. Marlow's head cracked against the roof but Dan remained asleep.
“WAKE UP!”
Marlow skidded the car a hard ninety-degrees. Dan slid across the rear seat and smashed his head against the door. He remained asleep. As they pulled out of the diner, Marlow wondered if channelling so many creatures had thrown him into a coma. The whole situation was unlike any she had experienced before. It was new and frightening, and she knew drastic action would be required.
She glanced in the mirror as they jounced onto the road; gunfire flickered in the darkness behind them. If Dan wouldn’t wake, then Marlow could only hope distance would severe the Conduit link before everybody was killed.
Chapter Eleven
Dan jolted awake with a cry as frigid water splashed over him. He thought he was drowning and all he could see were blurs as another cold jet of water splashed him between the eyes.
“Wow! Stop!”
“Sorry,” grunted Marlow's familiar drawl, “Didn't see you'd opened your eyes.”
Dan groped for his glasses and felt them thrust into his hand. He was feeling disoriented and a little sick. Marlow's face hove into view. Her usual surly expression replaced with concern.
“Where are we?”
Dan took stock of his surroundings. It was daylight. He was lying on the back seat of a rather expensive car that was now sopping wet. He sat up and the world swam around him. He gripped the back of the passenger seat for support.
Events from that morning flooded into his memory. The police had turned up thinking that Marlow had kidnapped him. He recalled his desperation at the thought of being returned home and the deal he’d made with Marlow. She had had little choice but to agree so Dan instantly allowed himself to be swallowed into the welcoming embrace of sleep that had been gnawing at him for hours.
“What happened?” He dreaded the answer.
“You're full of questions this afternoon,” grunted Marlow leaning through the window as she chucked a Mars bar at him. “You sorted the cops out, that's for sure.”
Dan smiled as he peeled open the bar. He bit into it and noticed Marlow didn't look like a woman that was thankful to have been saved.
“They're alright, aren't they?” asked Dan as he chewed. Marlow's expression made him hesitate. At the same time he recalled the unpleasant nightmare he’d experienced; the first he could ever remember having. In it, he was running through a dark unpleasant landscape unaccountably heading towards an ancient arena, a twisted obsidian structure that was home to a colossal creature that broadcast tangible malice. He could recall nothing more than a blob of flailing limbs with a hideous slit-like mouth running the length of its tower blocked sized body. Its skin constantly blistered and popped, spawning the creatures that Infiltrated people's dreams. Dan shivered at the thought.
“Well, let’s just say that they no longer think I'm just a kidnapper,” sighed Marlow.
<
br /> “Good,” Dan said automatically before he had chance to process the statement. “What do you mean 'just'?”
“A lot of people...” Marlow's voice trailed off. She coughed and couldn't meet Dan's eyes. “They think I, somehow, killed some of those people back there. Despite the evidence... they think I did it.” Marlow shook her head and Dan felt uncomfortable. “It's getting outta control, kid. You're like a nuclear meltdown, building ‘n’ building until pop.” She made an explosive gesture.
The chocolate in Dan’s mouth was suddenly tasteless but he swallowed it anyway. Marlow looked like somebody who had already been convicted and Dan knew that it was his fault. He had destroyed her life. He was responsible for the atrocities at the diner. Without him everything would have been all right.
“I promised to help you, kid,” she said slowly. “Truth is... I don't know how to.”
“You mean you'd be better off if I wasn't around?”
Marlow laughed, humourlessly. “Right. Then what?” Her gaze turned as hard as steel. “You know... all my life I’ve been running from things. People... my dad, my ex... hell, even my own kids. Know what that makes me?”
Dan shrugged and once again his mouth worked faster than his ability to edit what he said. “A loser?” he instantly regretted saying it, and was surprised to see her nodding.
“You know kid, you're honest. Not many people are and without that... how can you trust people?”
Dan clamped his mouth shut, certain that silence was the best policy. He was certain, almost certain, that Marlow had just slipped him a compliment.
Marlow cracked her knuckles and continued with a bemused smile. “A loser. I never saw that coming. No matter how much I hated the family business I saw a way out. I had a goal, plans. I wasn't gonna get stuck like my old man. That's what I thought. Still did... drinking myself to death, avoiding my own family. No wonder they never want to see me. Look at me!” She slammed a fist on the roof.
Dan wasn't afraid, he knew she was simply venting anger and after all they had been through he couldn't blame her. He couldn't guess what emotions were violently cycling through her head. “All my life I have been running. I thought I was running to something, turns out I was running away. You think I'm gonna let you go and suffer through this on your own? Yesterday, sure, what the hell. Today, no. Different story. Different tune. Different me. It's time to grab life by the neck an’ grab back the bad hand we’ve been dealt!”
With each sentence her voice rose passionately. Dan felt inspired with each word until they were both smiling.
“How?” he asked, voice breaking with enthusiasm.
Marlow punched the sky, a wide grin cracking her face. “I ain’t got no idea!”
For the rest of the day they drove in thoughtful silence. Dan tried to concentrate on the passing landscape, which was nothing but snowy winter hills. With little of interest to see, he was constantly fighting fatigue, only the thought of what had happened at the diner chilled him enough to stay awake. Marlow had bought eight huge energy drinks, but they were starting to churn Dan's stomach to the point of inducing constant nausea. Each time he felt he was drifting into an unwelcome narcoleptic embrace he focused on his mother, forcing her image to appear in his minds-eye. An image of sadness and despair. He couldn’t even remember her smile. It was enough to keep him semi-alert, although he was fighting a losing battle.
Marlow occasionally turned the radio on to listen to the news. There was nothing further about the murdering kidnapper but it did little to sway her fears. Out in a country lane they had passed a lone police car and had both held their breath, more than aware they were in a stolen car… but it passed without incident.
They kept to winding country roads and Marlow hadn't spoken about their destination and Dan hadn't asked, although Marlow became increasingly grim with each mile they passed.
When Dan's head began to fog he did his usual trick of biting his tongue hard. The jolt was enough to wake him but he needed some sort of interaction to stay alert.
“Tell me about your kids.”
Marlow blinked as if Dan had just woken her.
“My kids... well, uh, I got two of them.”
“Wow. Sounds like you really got to know them.”
Marlow scowled but the look quickly changed thoughtful as she glanced at Dan.
“Molly and Jamie. Molly's the youngest. She's funny, always laughing, never sad. She had a cheeky sparkle in her eye the day she was born.” Marlow laughed at some private memory. As Dan watched, the clouds of gloomy frustration vaporised from her face and, for the first time, Dan saw a look of caring. “Every Sunday I'd take her horse riding. She loved that. I mean, really loved it. All week she’d get excited, read books about it, y’know. And she took to it like a... like a professional. She'd stop laughing. The concentration in her eyes... that was something beyond pure joy.”
Dan wanted to ask more questions but he was afraid of breaking the fragile mask of joy Marlow was exhibiting.
“Jamie's 'bout your age. He's a real dreamer too.” She shot a look at Dan, but there was something odd in the expression. It took Dan several moments to realise that the oddness was the lack of bitterness he'd become accustomed too. “He don't take after me.”
“Thank God for that!” said Dan before he could censor his words. To his surprise, Marlow laughed.
“Yep. Thank God. He's an explorer. Always getting where he shouldn't be. Always looking for something new. Fascinated by everything.”
“I always wanted to be an explorer. Loved looking at maps of the world. My dad used to get me encyclopaedias...” His voice cracked at the mention of his father. That was something he never thought about, other than in a cloud of sadness. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Marlow give him an inquisitive look. Dan cleared his throat and continued. “I used to love looking through them. See what the world was really like. Then he left. Grandpa told me the world's already been explored. That there's nothing new left to discover and that I should stay home and focus on something real.”
To Dan's surprise, Marlow slapped the rim of the steering wheel and scoffed derisively. “Your Grandpa's a dolt! There's so much left to explore. You know only about 5% of the oceans have been explored? Who knows what's lurking in there? Y’know, they still find animals unknown to science every year. Space... that's a whole universe waiting to be investigated. Then there's Innerspace,” she tapped his head. “Your dreams allow you to pass multiple dimensions. Peek into dimensions that no one else can.” Marlow shook her head and looked genuinely angry. “Boris doesn't know what he's talking about. Never let anyone tell ya there's nothing left to discover. They’re the ignorant ones.”
Dan regarded Marlow with surprise. He would never have pegged her to have a caring bone in her body, yet here she was defending him.
“My Jamie's gonna do exactly what he wants to do. Nobody'll be able to stand in his way, you'll see. He'll make epic discoveries.” Marlow lapsed into thoughtful silence, only speaking up when they reached a sharp junction and she turned the wheel around a tight arc. “Just wish I could be there to see it,” she mumbled under her breath.
“Why don't you give them a call? I bet they'd love to hear from you.”
“Huh. My Tree won't let me near them. He thinks I'm a bad influence.”
Dan fished his mobile phone from his pocket. It was still switched off in case his family tried to make contact. He waved it so close to Marlow's face that she swatted at it.
“Why don't you call them now?”
“Don't be stupid.”
“I bet they'd love to hear from you.” He saw a flicker of temptation as Marlow glanced at the phone. “I could call and ask for them, if you’re worried your ex will answer.” Again he danced the phone tantalisingly.
Marlow gripped the wheel harder. “Forget it.”
“You’re not making the effort,” Dan said indignantly. “They don't have a choice if you're around or not. That choice is yours and I think that's unfa
ir.”
“You don't think I try?” there was a trace of astonishment to Marlow's voice. “I try...”
“Like when? Sorry, but if you were my mum and came to the house looking like that I'd run a mile!” He tried to suppress a yawn as he met Marlow's gaze. She was forced to turn away to focus on the road. “You smell,” he clarified.
“I don't...”
“You smell like a wet dog threw up in a brewery, then peed on itself!”
Marlow opened her mouth to disagree but Dan continued.
“No wonder the police are after you, you look like the kind of psychopath a psycho would stay away from!”
“I ain’t had no opportunity for a pamper since you crawled into my life,” snapped Marlow.
Dan suddenly felt the car swim and he yawned. “Sometimes life's unfair...”
Then he slipped into a sudden deep sleep.
It was dark when Dan awoke. The first thing he noticed was that they were still driving. The second was that the car had grown a sunroof through which he could see stars gleaming between the patchwork of snow-heavy clouds. Odd, he didn’t recall the car having one.
Wake up, focus, he told himself.
He could feel the cool breeze through the sunroof, which meant it wasn't glass. Then he finally got it. The front half of the roof had been removed. He could see the jagged scars from where it had been torn off. The windshield was heavily cracked and poked by blossoms of white spider-webbed cracks. The dashboard in front of Dan had fractured and, alarmingly, melted in places. Only the pine cone air freshener dangling from the mirror assured him it was the same vehicle.
He could see Marlow's silhouette as she drove in the darkness, and only when a car passed and cast its headlights across them, did he see a cherry-red new scar on her cheek.
“You're bleeding!”
Marlow glanced at him. “Awake at last? Boy, you were deep. Couldn't do nothing to wake ya.”
