up there. Because if he’s not, I don’t know where to go from here.
“I see something,” Elijah says. Then he grunts, and there’s the screech of metal grinding against metal.
Elijah’s weight is pulled off me, and I quickly climb the last few rungs.
“Hurry up or we’re never going to make it out of here before they spot us,” Barclay says.
Elijah has collapsed onto the ground, coughing. “Did we make it?” he says.
“Almost.” I look at Barclay, and I’ve never been so glad to see him.
He pulls me the rest of the way out of the sewer tunnel, and we both grab Elijah.
Barclay has my backpack on his back and he pulls a quantum charger from his pocket. He’s apparently already set the destination, because he presses one button, and I hear it power up.
The portal opens in front of us, and something in my chest lifts as the cool air and the smell of the sea whips around us. Holding Elijah by the arms, I nod at Barclay, and all three of us step through.
03:10:45:38
We end up in a heap on the ground, chests heaving. My body aches, my skin feels raw, like I have a really bad sunburn, and my mouth is so dried out it hurts.
I glance around, but it only takes a second for me to realize we’re in the same abandoned world Barclay took me to on our way here.
Which means we’re safe.
My eyes burn, and warm tears roll down my singed skin.
Once the portal shuts behind us, Barclay grabs me by the shoulders and turns me to face him. “Are you hurt?” he asks, pulling my wet clothes aside to check for blood.
I’ve never been so glad to see his face in my entire life. Those blue eyes, high cheekbones, and strong jaw. He’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I want to wrap my arms around him, bury my face in his shoulder, and never let go.
At least, I do for a second, then I remember this is Barclay and this was his plan in the first place, and that helps me get over it.
“Janelle, are you hurt?”
His grasp digs into me, and the pain shoots through my shoulders. I shake my head and try to push him away, but he’s holding on too tight.
“What happened?”
“It’s not my blood,” I say, finally succeeding in getting him off me.
But that reminds me. I look down, and all I can see is blood. A lot of it’s been washed away, but it’s still in my hair and under my fingernails. Even my hands look stained.
“Whose is it?” he says, looking to Elijah.
“A guard,” I say, even though I can’t believe these are my words. “I killed him.”
As I say it, it really sinks in. This past fall, I saw someone die right in front of me, and I thought that was bad enough. But now I’ve killed someone. With my own hands, I shoved a jagged piece of metal into his neck and I felt his blood wash over my hands, soak itself into my skin.
I think about his face, and my stomach heaves. I turn away from Barclay, bend at the waist, and vomit acid and protein bar onto the grass.
“Is she okay?” Elijah asks, as I heave again. “The guard, he fucking shot me. Did he get her too?”
“She’s okay, just shock,” Barclay says. He rubs a hand on my back and says, “Don’t worry, this always happens the first time, it’s normal.”
I can’t imagine those words have ever made anyone feel better.
And if it couldn’t possibly get any worse, he adds, “It gets easier.”
I have just enough breath to say, “God I hope not,” before I deposit the rest of the acid from my stomach onto the grass.
03:10:37:14
Barclay checks out Elijah’s wounds and gives each of us a change of clothes from my backpack.
Then he crouches next to me. “He’s in bad shape,” Barclay whispers. “I think the bullet was a through-and-through, but I can’t be sure there’s not a fragment of anything in there.”
For a second I just stare at him. I’m not sure what he wants from me.
Barclay must sense that because he adds, “He needs a hospital.”
I nod. Right now, I feel like I might need a hospital too.
“I know a good one,” Barclay says. “It’s a world similar to your home one, where there’s no interverse travel and not a lot of disturbances. We’ll be safe there as long as we don’t stay too long.”