The Future is Ours

Two

"How long until the comet arrives, Ern?" Frankie asked.

"8 minutes?" He replied, rubbing Holly's back as she gripped his thigh in pain.

"What?" Frankie looked at him in panic - they still hadn't found the last sensitive!

"Sorry, that's the time between Holly's contractions." He looked down at his stop watch, lapsing the timer. "The comet is due in 6 hours."

They had been driving for a few hours now; Reese and Aris still couldn't be sure where the sensitive would be. But they had said they were getting closer, so there was still hope.

"We need to get Holly to proper shelter." Kim reminded them all from the passenger seat, still adamant that Holly needed to be a priority.

"But we can't divert!" Reese protested. "We have to get to the circle of perpetual time and find the final sensitive before the comet arrives!"

Kim scoffed. "If you think Holly is delivering her baby in the back of a rusty tin can with an audience, then think again!"

"But we only have 6 hours!" Reese continued to argue.

Ernesto wrapped his arm around Holly, bringing her into his chest. "It's alright, darling, we'll find shelter."

Holly and Ernesto were grateful for Kim's bluntness and insistence about getting them to a safe place to have the baby. The closer together her contractions got, the more they just wanted to stop moving and find somewhere to actually have the baby. They would never want to say it to their tribe; they knew how important today was. But Holly was getting uncomfortable, and didn't know how much more jostling in the van she could take. So having Kim fight their corner made things a lot better.

"Which way now?" Serena asked as they reached a cross road, the sea now clearly visible in front of them.

They all got out of the van to try and figure out where to go. Ernesto helped Holly down; despite his protests, she had insisted that she wanted to get out and stretch her legs.

"Left or right? Reese?" Serena asked the young sensitive.

"I don't know. I've still not solved the riddle on the map. 'Time never dies.' I just assumed when we got here, we'd be drawn to the seventh sensitive like before, and then we'd work out the rest." She looked around, her face scrunched in frustration. "But I'm not feeling anything."

"I am!" Aris, another sensitive, butted in. "It's right!"

"I can't sense it?" Reese replied, confused. After a moment she changed her mind. "Wait, yes! I'm being pulled too. It's right."

"Sadiq, I-" Frankie started but was interrupted.

"Look, if Reese says right, then it's right."

"But what about Holly? There are buildings up to the left!" Kim pointed up to the hills and there lay a small cottage next to a lighthouse. When no one replied, Kim grew frustrated. "Serena!"

"Look, Sadiq, are you up to making decisions?" Serena asked their tribe leader.

"I had a bang to my head and forgot some stuff but-"

"-Some stuff?" She interrupted him. "Including breaking up with me."

"I did?" He asked back confused.

Ernesto was getting fed up. They didn't have time for this nonsense, their baby was about to be born and right now Holly was hanging onto his arm in pain. This wasn't fair on her.

"Which direction are we going?" He asked, hoping to put an end to the arguing.

"We're going right!" Sadiq all but shouted. "Reese is never wrong."