Michael Robertson - New Reality - Truth

The tall man descended the slippery landscape, his arms thrust out to the sides for balance as he skidded down it.

When a deep yawn groaned through their environment, he stopped. It sounded like a moaning whale. The rocks on the floor bounced with the vibrations.

Dust and dirt suddenly exploded from the ground between them. For the second time in as many minutes, Tom was lost to him. The deep yawning sounded again and the ground rocked.

When the dust settled, there was a crevice between them. It was at least three meters wide.

Gritting his teeth against the fractured pain crawling through his shin, Jake got to his feet. Hobbling towards his friend, he stopped at the edge and looked down into the fissure. It was too dark to see anything clearly. All he could make out was a river of perpetual black movement. He looked back at Tom. “Help me, man.”

Shaking his head, tears standing in his eyes, Tom looked down at the undulating swarm in the ravine. His skin was transparent when he looked back up. Searching the floor around him, Tom shook his head again and took several steps back.

“Tom, where are you going?”

Pulling his hair away from his forehead, Tom then looked at his friend. Turning his attention to their surroundings, he picked up an electric flex and walked close to the edge of the gap. “Here, catch this.”

Reaching out, Jake looked down and his head spun. The cable slipped through his grip, and Tom had to reel it in for a second throw.

Jake caught it this time. It was thin. Could it even hold his weight? “What are you going to do with this?”

Tom didn’t reply. He simply stared.

“You don’t know, do you?”

“No, I do. I was thinking—” The ground shook again, and Tom’s eyes spread wide. Looking down, his feet not even a meter from the edge, Tom winced. “I’m sorry, Jake. I’m so sorry.”

Standing with the limp cable in his hands, Jake watched Tom’s back as he ascended the hill again. “Tom! Wait up, Tom. Help me, man. Tom!”

The ground shook. Swallowing the grit in his dry mouth, dizzy from the thick pulse crushing his skull, Jake searched the floor for something of use. Anything.

Unless he was going to throw rubble at whatever was beneath them, he was shit out of luck.

Thoom!

Behind, a hole as deep as the one he was staring into but twenty times wider opened up. A mushroom cloud of dirt filled the sky. As the hole stretched, the debris in the surrounding area was drawn towards it and sucked into the abyss. A whirlpool of rubble and masonry. The entire landscape was changing before his eyes.

Turning in quick circles, hoping that his second look would reveal something that would help him, he then caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

The first he saw was a long scaffolding board wobbling in the strong wind. A couple of seconds later, Tom, red-faced and sweating, appeared over the hill. Sliding down the slippery slope again, he let the board fall across the gap, the end of it crashing to the ground centimeters from Jake’s toes.

When Jake looked down at it, Tom shouted, “Hurry up! You don’t have the time to think about it.”

Glancing behind, the black hole continued to suck the landscape into it. Putting his attention on the narrow board, Jake watched it hop and jump with the wobbling landscape. As he stepped forwards, another quake shook the ground.

The kneecap on his good leg took the brunt of the impact when he fell onto a jagged brick. Before the rest of his body had hit the floor, the searing pain had already crippled his thigh.

Looking up at Tom, his bottom lip buckled and he shook his head. “I can’t do it, man! I can’t fucking do it!”

What could Tom really do to help? He was useless at best. All he’d done was drag Jake down and kept him in the ruined city. He was just prolonging the agony. There was no way Jake could cross the gap. He could barely stand, let alone walk that plank.

Staring at Tom on the other side of the gorge, Jake waved him away. “Go without me. I can’t walk.”

Looking at Jake for a moment, his eyes pinching at the sides, Tom nodded and turned his back. After one step, he stamped on the floor and spun around again. “Fuck it!”

“Just go. There’s nothing you can do to save me.”

“Fuck it!”

“Go!”

“Fuck it!”

“Stop saying that!”

Walking up to the edge of the plank, Tom briefly looked down. Snapping his eyes back up again, his cheeks puffed as he exhaled.

“What are you doing, Tom? Just bloody go already.”

Closing his eyes and taking several deep breaths, Tom then reopened them and placed a shaking foot on the plank.

Gulping dusty air, Jake put his hand on his chest, his heart kicking against it. “What are you doing?”

Staring at Jake, Tom said, “Will you please shut up? I’m concentrating.”

Biting down on his bottom lip, Jake watched on in silence.

When Tom fully stepped onto the plank, it was hard to tell if the wobble was coming from the plank, the wind, or Tom’s trembling body. Whatever the cause, the effect was horrific. There was no way Tom would make it across without falling to his death. Why was he even coming over? What did he plan to do once he’d crossed the gap?

As he reached the middle of the plank, Tom swayed in the strong wind. Burying his mouth and nose into praying hands, he closed his eyes and remained statue still.

Watching his friend, panic stole Jake’s breath.

The wind had picked up to the point where the tendrils of Tom’s clothes were being blown horizontally away from him.

The grit stung as it sandblasted the side of Jake’s face. Rubbing his kneecap to soothe the burn, Jake gasped as Tom stepped forwards again, the board looking more unstable than ever.

Two quick strides and Tom jumped clear of the plank. The long lump of wood hopped several times, and Jake expected it to fall into the hole.

Landing on the rubble, Tom rested his hands on his knees and expelled a long breath. “Fuck.”

After a moment’s silence, Jake said, “So what are we going to do now?”

“We’re going to cross back over.”

Shaking his head, Jake pointed at the bridge. “There’s no way I’m crossing over that. No fucking way.”

Looking at the dry whirlpool behind them as it chewed up the land like a giant waste disposal unit, Tom said, “It’s getting bigger. If we don’t cross this plank, we’ll die. That’s all there is to it.”

“But I can’t walk.”

“Crawl then.”

Staring at his friend, Jake didn’t move.

“Hurry up, Jake. I didn’t just risk my life for you to bottle it.”

“But I can’t do it.”

Shaking his fist at him, Tom clenched his jaw and shoved Jake forwards with his foot. “You have to! I’ve just risked my fucking life for you!”

When Jake didn’t move, Tom shoved him again, his entire body shifting closer to the edge. “Now! Get moving, you stupid bastard!”

Kneeling on his damaged knee, Jake’s stomach contorted and he had to fight to stop himself vomiting. It felt like the patella had fractured in several places and every ounce of applied pressure crushed it like an eggshell. Turning around to look up at Tom, he was met with a stony glare.

Shuffling forwards, Jake placed his water in front of him before gripping either side of the rough wooden plank.

“Hurry up, Jake.”

Feeling Tom’s nudging foot against his bottom, Jake moved forwards, placed his bottle farther ahead, and then moved forwards again. Every time he put pressure on his knee, it sent electric pain through his groin and kidneys.

With each shuffle forwards, Jake became more aware of his surroundings, and more specifically, the height of the drop. With each shuffle forwards, the wobble in the board became more exaggerated. With each shuffle forwards, Jake was accepting that he couldn’t turn back even if he wanted to.