Shift #2

by Jeff Povey

  ‘Skiiiiiiiiilllllllllls!’

  The train station is silent and still as we troop out onto platform one and find what’s left of GG’s train. There is an engine and two battered carriages.

  We found the Moth buried head first in a hedge but apart from a few scratches he and his wheelchair weren’t badly damaged.

  ‘I must’ve been going at fifty miles an hour!’ he mumbled in a daze.

  Which still isn’t as fast as his doppelganger Moth Two was going when I hit him with a train.

  My spider sense hasn’t troubled me and as the sun rises I’m wondering if we’ve caught the Manipulator off guard. Everyone has to sleep, and using that much power must take it out of you, so there’s every chance he – or she – isn’t even awake yet. Which gives us an advantage for once.

  Other-Johnson and I have conveniently forgotten to mention Another-Billie and Rev Two gathered around my dad’s hospital bed. I have no idea if he’ll pull through, so why give Billie and the others a hope that might not be there? Finding my dad’s papers is a long shot, but if my dad doesn’t wake up, it might be the only chance we have. Besides, it’s about all we can do while Another-Billie tries to revive him.

  We fall back behind the others and Other-Johnson mentally contacts Another-Billie and Rev Two, opening the waves to let me in on their conversation.

  ‘The Ape is still chasing me,’ he lies.

  ‘Jesus, Johnson.’ Rev Two’s voice still spooks me a little. ‘What did you do to him?’

  ‘Nothing, I swear.’ Other-Johnson is careful not to let Rev Two know anything about me or the others, but he’s also secretly drawing Another-Billie in. The boy never misses a beat.

  ‘Billie, keep trying to make Rev’s dad better.’

  ‘I will.’

  ‘Good girl, you’re the best,’ he tells her. ‘I’ll check in for updates, and, uh – tell you how I’m doing.’

  ‘I miss you,’ Rev Two says.

  ‘I miss you too. Loads.’

  ‘I could do with going home,’ Another-Billie adds. It’s a loaded comment.

  ‘That’s going to happen,’ Other-Johnson assures her.

  ‘It’d better.’ Which comes out as a warning more than anything.

  ‘I’ll be waiting for you,’ Rev Two says. ‘So lose the Ape and get back here.’

  ‘I’m trying my best. And, Rev—’

  But at that point he cuts my link so that I don’t hear what he tells her. It’s pretty obvious though because he avoids my look for a few moments.

  Then he breaks their connection. ‘I’ve got to keep up appearances,’ he whispers to me.

  ‘I know that,’ I whisper back a little bit too tightly. ‘How long do you think we have before your Rev finds out that’s not her dad?’

  ‘Let’s just get to London.’

  I stride on ahead to catch up with the others as they’re boarding the front carriage.

  The two Apes hoist the Moth and his chair into the train and I jump on behind them, just in time to see the Moth moving at speed straight down the aisle.

  ‘Stop doing that!’

  Non-Ape laughs and high-fives the Ape. Their latest game seems to be shove the Moth.

  I sit down in a window seat that’s part of a set of four seats with a table. Billie steps onboard and I expect her to sit with me, but instead she takes a seat a little further down. Guess we all need a bit of alone time.

  Other-Johnson springs into the carriage and I put my feet up on the seat opposite me, hoping he’ll get the message. He does and strolls past me to sit a few rows behind me.

  GG fires up the train. And incredibly it starts first time. ‘Ding dong! All aboard!’ his voice rings out of the tannoy.

  It’s then I realise that Johnson is missing. The doors close and I’m ready to pull the emergency cord.

  ‘Where’s Johnson?’ I shout.

  Whoosh! The doors open again and I look up to meet Johnson’s eyes as he climbs aboard.

  Unlike Other-Johnson, he isn’t discouraged by my feet, walking up to me and pushing them gently off the chair so he can sit opposite me.

  He holds up a bag from Boots.

  ‘You’ve taken a few hits. Thought you might need some TLC so I ducked into Boots when you were all chasing after the Moth.’

  ‘Thank you,’ I say.

  He starts pulling out all manner of creams, ointments and plasters from the bag.

  ‘Need to bandage your hands. You won’t be able to do it on your own.’

  ‘Look at Doctor Johnson,’ I hear Other-Johnson say under his breath.

  Johnson ignores Other-Johnson, acting as if he isn’t there. I try to do the same. This Johnson is the one it all began with after all. I know I can trust him, whereas Other-Johnson is much less certain a proposition.

  ‘Hands.’ He pops the cap on a tube of antiseptic cream and squeezes it onto my open skinless palms. It stings to high heaven and I grimace.

  Gingerly he rubs it into my palms and after a minute or so the pain starts to ease.

  ‘Better?’ he asks.

  ‘Much,’ I reply.

  He starts wrapping bandages round my hands, as tight as he dares. ‘Tell me if it’s too tight.’

  ‘It’s fine.’

  The train moves off and GG’s voice comes over the tannoy again. ‘We’ve done this before so sit back and enjoy the scenery.’

  Johnson winds the bandage round and round, first one hand and then the other. He doesn’t say a word but I listen to his breathing until he finishes.

  ‘How’s that?’ he asks.

  ‘Gorgeous,’ I say dreamily.

  ‘Sorry?’

  I sit up, breaking from my reverie. ‘Great. I meant great.’

  Johnson nods, then looks down at my wounded thigh. I have stretched my leg under the table because it somehow helps the pain, but in doing so I have inadvertently touched my knee with his.

  Johnson’s next move is obvious. But he hesitates.

  ‘Listen, I’m going to get you home, Rev,’ he eventually says.

  ‘We’ll all get home,’ I assure him.

  His eyes blaze. ‘And when I do . . .’

  I wait.

  ‘When I do. Look out.’

  He gives me a short almost embarrassed smile, then gets up. ‘I’d better check on Billie.’

  He heads down the carriage as we gather speed and Other-Johnson immediately sends me a mind message. ‘I’d be bandaging your thigh right now.’

  ‘Go away,’ I tell him.

  ‘Calls himself a doctor?’

  ‘You called him that.’

  ‘Let me take a look at your leg,’ Other-Johnson adds.

  ‘I’m good, thanks.’

  ‘Rev—’

  ‘Please,’ I tell him, ‘there’s more to think about than my leg. So get out of my head. I need the space.’

  Other-Johnson ‘leaves’ my head and leaves me to sit and wonder. Just wonder and wonder about what happens next.

  The last time we boarded this train to London Moth Two had turned into some sort of human–animal hybrid and chased us down the track. I’m still not proud of what happened, but mainly thanks to me he ended up decapitated and very dead.

  Johnson now sits across the aisle from Billie but she is looking anywhere but at him. She still can’t face him.

  ‘When’s this going to end, Rev?’ she asks.

  The Moth has applied his brake to his wheelchair and the Apes are standing by the door showing each other pictures they have on their phones. I’m not sure what the picture or photos are of but I’m pretty sure it has something to do with girls.

  ‘Eight.’

  ‘Seven.’

  ‘Nine.’

  ‘Yeah. She’s a nine.’

  ‘Soon,’ I tell Billie. ‘It’s got to be soon.’

  ‘But it will end, right?’

  ‘It has to,’ I say. ‘One way or another.’

  GG is behind the wheel of the train – if there is a wheel, I don’t know much abou
t trains. He has kept up a running tour-guide commentary over the tannoy for most of the trip. We aren’t moving fast, maybe forty miles an hour, and Billie has joined me now, not wanting to be too close to Johnson.

  ‘So cruel,’ she says quietly, glancing back at Johnson. ‘So horribly cruel.’

  ‘On your left you will see houses built circa the nineteen-eighties. There are small gardens and, look, some people have squeezed in a greenhouse.’

  Billie cups her scarred face, her elbow placed on the table between us.

  ‘Least whoever it was won’t be on the train.’ Billie tenses as a thought strikes her. ‘Assuming we are on a train. This might not be real either.’

  Non-Ape farts two rows down. It’s a loud all-engulfing explosion. Non-Ape starts laughing and then waves the fetid stench our way. ‘Eat that.’

  ‘That’s maybe too much attention to detail,’ I tell Billie.

  ‘On your right you’ll notice some empty fields. Horses would usually be grazing there, so use your imaginations.’ GG then whinnies to help. ‘Down, boy,’ he adds.

  Johnson has moved to sit with the Other-Johnson but they’re obviously not overly fond of each other. Any Johnson really should be a unique creature. Two just isn’t right.

  ‘Flip me back,’ Johnson tells Other-Johnson.

  ‘Maybe I can’t. Maybe we’re stuck like this.’

  ‘I don’t like being you.’

  ‘Don’t mind me, say it like it is.’

  Other-Johnson’s irony doesn’t wash with Johnson. ‘You left me for dead. Took my body so you could save yourself.’

  ‘I gave you a shot at survival,’ Other-Johnson counters.

  ‘You gave yourself that shot.’

  ‘Don’t you like being strong and fast?’

  Johnson leans forward and releases a talon. Other-Johnson’s eyes are drawn to its gleaming tip. ‘You can have these – either way.’

  Johnson’s quiet anger surprises me. I didn’t know he had that in him. Or is being in the body of an aggressive doppelganger beginning to rub off on him? Is he subtly changing like Billie? Maybe that’s what Other-Johnson is hoping for.

  Another talon slides out. ‘You want them or not?’

  Other-Johnson reflects for a moment. Then grins. ‘Let me sleep on it.’

  ‘Coming up soon we’ll be passing the cereal factory, a rather charming building – and if you happen to be a cereal addict then you’ve found your mecca.’ GG toots the train horn as we pass the giant cereal plant. ‘All hail the Weetabix God.’

  ‘Snap!’ the Ape shouts. He and Non-Ape are playing cards now. I have no idea where the cards have come from but the game is becoming a little exuberant.

  ‘Snap!’ the Ape shouts again.

  ‘You’re too fast,’ Non-Ape complains.

  ‘You’re too slow,’ the Ape responds.

  ‘You’re saying I’m slow?’

  ‘I’m saying you’re not fast.’

  ‘That’s strong words.’ Non-Ape’s bulk takes up two seats and he looks completely awkward squeezed into the train.

  ‘I only know strong words,’ the Ape replies.

  I’m imagining a fight is about to break out, but Non-Ape seems to appreciate the Ape even more now. He nods his gargantuan head at the fearless defiance, enjoying it. ‘O-kay.’

  They lay more cards down but Non-Ape is determined to win and pays closer attention. The cards are dealt swiftly as both Apes become more and more crouched over the table that sits between them, desperate to be the first to—

  ‘SNAP!’ Non-Ape’s thick palm slams down on the deck and smashes the table.

  The cards go flying as the table disintegrates. After the shock the Apes start laughing. It hits a funny bone for both of them because they cannot stop laughing. The Apes truly are in heaven. They have found their kindred spirit.

  ‘Too quick, man.’ The Ape finally manages to talk through his laughter.

  ‘Fast is good,’ Non-Ape says.

  ‘Hey, you heard my fast song?’ the Ape asks.

  The Ape yanks out his phone and scrolls to a song.

  Please. I’ve heard enough of this song to last a lifetime. The Ape once played me songs that he thinks can help you survive. It was a simple private moment that left my ears hanging off.

  He turns up the volume on his phone and a band called Terrorvision’s ‘D’Ya Wanna Go Faster?’ fills the carriage.

  ‘Do ya wanna go faster?’ the Ape starts singing.

  Somehow Non-Ape knows the song – so it seems that music is something we have in common too – and starts singing with him. His voice is a good three octaves lower and the happy racket they create fills the entire train.

  They start rocking in their seats. Non-Ape is now perched on his but every time he rocks he makes the train wobble.

  ‘Dancing down the motorway,’ the Ape bellows.

  ‘In the fast lane all the way,’ Non-Ape adds as they grin at each other.

  GG’s next announcement is practically drowned out by them. ‘We’re now travelling through more suburbia with its endless copies of the same house. Wave, everyone.’

  I look over at the Moth who has barely said a word since we left. He’s dragged himself into a seat by himself. I’m not sure what he is thinking, but I wonder if it’s about what he’ll do if Non-Ape clears the rubble and reveals Carrie lying there. He pretty much came close to giving up when she died. I need to make sure we all look out for him. He found the love of his life only to have her die before anything could happen between them. That would change anyone.

  I briefly wonder if Another-Billie could heal him, make him walk again. Wouldn’t that be something? But then imagine his parents and doctors back home wondering how such a miracle could have happened. He’d be a major celebrity and he wouldn’t be able to explain any of it. But the thought lifts my spirits. Being back home with my mum and dad would be the biggest and best miracle of all.

  But who would believe any of this? If we did get home, who would we tell?

  ‘I think we should make a pact that none of us ever talks about this world,’ I tell Billie.

  ‘If we get home.’

  ‘When we get home,’ I correct her.

  ‘Your plan to find the papers is lousy, Rev. That hotel was huge.’

  ‘The Moth was in one of the ground-floor rooms. The hotel toppled when Non-Ape hit it, which could mean it fell away from the ground floor.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘So it could mean that the room is mostly still intact. And the papers could be in that room.’

  ‘Dreamer.’

  ‘Maybe, but it’s the only plan we’ve got.’ I say, again conveniently leaving out the plan B involving my dad.

  Billie eases back in her chair. She glances at Johnson. She has been stealing looks at him for the past ten minutes. ‘Forget the plan. Forget London. Europe would be better.’

  I laugh, thinking she is joking, but she turns to me and her eyes switch to black for a moment.

  My laugh dies away.

  Billie sits straighter in her seat. ‘Rev, that’s where I want to go.’

  Her eyes are still black and I feel like pointing it out to her but she’s got enough to deal with at the moment. ‘Promise me we’ll go there if this plan doesn’t work.’

  ‘Europe? Why?’

  She reaches out and her fingers curl round my wrist. Her grip is powerful and she isn’t concerned that she’s squeezing my barely-healed burns.

  ‘There are trains at St Pancras that go to Europe. The station is right next to King’s Cross. We can get GG to drive one.’

  ‘We’ve got a plan, Billie.’

  Her grip tightens. I try not to draw attention to it because her eyes are unforgivingly black.

  ‘Non-Ape will clear the rubble and we’ll find the papers for the Moth,’ I assure her. ‘I promise you.’

  ‘It’s too dangerous. Rev. You said yourself the alien world could come through a portal. By the time we get back to town it could be swarmin
g with those monsters. There’s already one of them roaming around. Why take that chance when we could all run away?’

  It’s a fair point. But it’s not the right one.

  ‘And what if they open a portal and they get to our world? They’d be unstoppable. We’ve got family and friends there. My mum, your dad. We have to make sure that never happens, not hide away,’ I counter.

  Billie takes a long while before relaxing her grip. ‘Was just thinking aloud,’ she offers as her blue eyes return.

  My wrist is white from lack of blood and I slip my arm under the table so that I can subtly rub the circulation back into it.

  The Apes erupt with a singalong rendition of ‘Run to the Hills’ by Iron Maiden.

  ‘Run for your life!’ they bawl.

  Which Billie would probably love to be our theme tune.

  I look out of the window and recognise the spot where we killed Moth Two and it’s not a good memory. But I can’t hear myself think because the Apes are now standing playing air guitar to the solo in ‘Run to the Hills’.

  GG’s panicked voice erupts into the carriage. ‘No! No way! That’s impossible! Good Goddy God!’

  I am up and out of my seat before anyone can move, heading down the carriage to the driver compartment door.

  ‘What is it?’ I ask GG as he pulls open the door. He’s white as a sheet.

  Johnson is behind me in a heartbeat. ‘GG?’

  GG clears his throat then points to the mirror attached to the side of the train. I have to get in the driver’s compartment to get a proper look.

  And he’s right.

  ‘Totally, totally not possible,’ he says weakly.

  It is impossible.

  Moth Two is running behind us. Gaining with every stride.

  The same Moth Two we decapitated and left for dead by the rail track not that far from where we are now.

  ‘Rev?’ Other-Johnson has joined Johnson and I realise I have no idea now if they have changed back or not.

  ‘It’s Moth Two,’ I tell them.

  The Apes haven’t noticed because they are so busy singing ‘Crazy Train’ by Ozzy Osbourne, banging their feet down hard on the floor of the carriage in tune to the beat. Billie and the Moth are on full alert as they remain seated, awaiting news.

  Moth Two can turn into a dark panther; it’s the only way I can describe it. A sleek black panther with the Moth’s face. But this Moth can run way faster than a real panther.