Timeless

Chapter Two

Chapter 2

            The breath left Ri in a whoosh as she landed hard on her back. Something landed on top of her, she recognized Austin’s groan, and she grabbed him and rolled, still thinking danger! She could have sworn she had felt an impact along the left side of her body, but all she felt now was a dull, tingling sensation. And what had happened to the car? Or noise, for that matter. Why was it suddenly so quiet?

            “Get off me!” Austin shrieked, his voice cracking sharply. Ri allowed him to shoulder her aside and he fell on her, punctuating each word with frenzied punching motions and attempts to pull her hair. “You! Don’t! Know! Me! You! Don’t! Touch! Me!”

            “Enough!” Ri swatted Austin’s hands aside, hooking their legs around each other and using the leverage to flip them over so that she was pinning the teen beneath her. Austin opened his mouth to scream some more. Ri clapped a hand over his mouth as she turned to shush Fi who was currently attempting to untangle herself, whimpering and moaning about her hair and nails. “Stop! Stop fighting and just listen!” Ri had to clamp both of Austin’s wrists in her free hand and hold them tightly to the ground before he stopped struggling. The ground, the soft, damp, spongey ground. Not the hard, coarse asphalt or concrete. And the smells, no more hot smog clinging to her throat and threatening to choke her with its mixture of bodily odor and rotting fast food. Now the smell of fresh grass and morning dew surrounded them, mixed with the faintest tang of the ocean.

            Austin glared up at Ri, mouth moving against her hand, even going so far as to try to bite and lick her palm.

            “It’s not going to work,” Ri scolded. “And if you would stop for five seconds and look around, you’d notice something strange. Look, listen, smell. This isn’t the city, and it definitely isn’t anywhere I’ve ever been before.” Austin gave a snarling grunt of protest, then allowed his eyes to flick around. Ri watched as they widened in panic.

            They were in a field, surrounded by towering trees cloaked in mist. The grass was emerald green covering soft loam which squelched beneath them. The sky was steel grey, darkened by fog.

            “Wh-where are we?” Fi squeaked. “What happened to the car?” She was shaking. Ri suddenly noticed how cold it was. “Or the road? Or the sun?”

            “Shh!” Ri shushed her once more. She had heard something in the distance. She hoped she was wrong. Ri looked between her siblings, giving Austin her own glare. “Don’t make a lot of noise. Nothing that will draw attention to you. Go over there,” she pointed a ways away, just behind her and to the right, “just behind the tree line, and stay.” Slowly, Ri peeled her hand back from Austin’s mouth. “Please,” She begged before he could say anything. “However we got here, wherever here is, we need to be cautious.”

            Austin’s expression twisted in disgust. “Who the hell died and left you in charge? And where the fuck are we? How did we fucking get here?”

            “It’s obvious isn’t it?” Fiona teared up. “We died. We were hit by that car and we died and it’s all your fault!” Fi’s voice began to rise. Ri quickly clamped her hand over her mouth.

            “Stop. We’re not dead, or we wouldn’t be anywhere. But we’re here and wherever here is, there are sounds of fighting coming from that way.” Ri nodded to the next hill over, barely within view through the mist. “Now, either stay behind the tree line where no one can see you, or hurt you, or go charging up that hill, making a lot of noise, and most likely get yourself killed. Frankly, I’m past the point of caring.” She let them both go and nodded once more to the tree line before climbing to her feet and moving quietly up the hill. She heard fierce whispers behind her, a few small slaps, and the crack and crunch of underbrush as they settled themselves inside the edge of the forest.