Chapter 3
1053 Words
3
He was a big boy, maybe a hundred pounds of yellow, snarling Labrador, and even though I’ve always heard those kinds of dogs are supposed to be friendly, apparently that was only in my own universe and not this one. In this one he looked ready to rip my throat out.
“Easy, Red,” the girl said, but she didn’t seem all that concerned. The dog maneuvered in front of her, his legs rigid, ears back, hackles mohawking down his spine. Meanwhile the girl still sat there looking at me curiously like I was some new kind of animal that had just appeared.
The dog started edging toward me, growling so loudly now I could actually feel the vibration of it in my stomach. This wasn’t what I expected just from listening to a meditation CD. Where were the fluffy flowers? Where were the happy clouds?
“Red, relax!” the girl said. “It’s just a holo.” She picked up a rock and flung it at me. She was just starting to say, “See—” when the rock hit me and bounced off.
Her eyes narrowed. She picked up a second rock and pitched it at my chest.
“Ow! Can you stop?”
The girl sprang to her feet. She pointed at me with an outstretched arm and started shouting.
“What are you? Did Ginny send you? Where did you come from? What do you want?”
It was hard to make myself heard over the dog, who was now more worked up than ever, slavering and barking, just inches away.
I held up my arms in front of my face. “Can you call off your dog? Please?”
“What are you?” the girl demanded. “Who sent you? Are you real?”
“Yes, I’m real! Nobody sent me—I sent myself. Now PLEASE!”
And then suddenly everything changed.
The wind shifted direction and blew over me from behind. The dog tilted his head and sniffed. It was like he’d finally just gotten a good whiff of me.
And instantly his whole body relaxed. His ears came up, his mouth popped open, his tongue hung out, and his tail wagged. He went ahead and tackled me, just like I’d been afraid, but he was l*****g me and wiggling all over like he’d never been so happy in his life.
“Red—” the girl said, but her dog was too busy wrestling with me to notice.
Finally I got control of the situation and was able to sit up again. “Good boy,” I said, patting his head, and that was enough to make him plop down in front of me, chin on my lap, tail swishing happily in the dirt.
The girl stared at me in wonder. “I don’t understand.” But I was pretty sure she did. Whether she was ready to believe it or not, her dog had just confirmed our matching DNA.
Although the truth was, we weren’t exact duplicates. Not exactly. She looked a little taller than I am, definitely way fitter—or maybe just more outdoorsy, although the way she carried herself made it look like her arms and shoulders were a lot more muscular than mine. But aside from that, same square face, same nose and mouth and blue-gray eyes—same overall everything.
Except for our hair. That was the only real difference. Same exact color, but mine is limp and scraggly and sad, whereas hers was long and thick like a horse’s tail. You could have pulled a tractor out of the mud with that hair. Mine breaks if you even try to comb it.
And we were dressed differently, of course. She wore gray pants, hiking boots, a navy blue sweater. It all looked pretty regular—like something I could have bought at an outdoor clothing store if I wanted to. No weird fabrics made out of negative-ionic pulsating supercharged atoms or anything. It just looked like regular fleece and cotton.
Whereas I sat there in the dirt still wearing what I’d had on five minutes before: just my sleep shirt and boxers. No socks, no shoes, nothing else. Thank goodness for the warm dog draped over my lap. He was the closest thing I had to pants.
“I don’t understand,” the girl said. “Any of this.”
“It’s kind of hard to explain,” I said.
“But you can explain it?”
“I think so, maybe if I start at the beginning—”
But that would have to wait. Just then a huge gust of wind came up and blasted right through me. I shivered so hard the dog had to lift his head off my lap.
Despite everything, the girl was practical. “You’re going to freeze out here. Come on—I need to get you some clothes.” She headed toward the trees behind her. “Hurry—we have to get to my camp.”
She took off at a trot, and the dog and I jumped up to follow.
But as the three of us made our way through the pines, I couldn’t help having a few random thoughts: like, how did I know it was safe?
And for that matter, how did the girl know I was?
Because, really, what did she know about me? I’d just shown up, suddenly out of nowhere, wearing her same face and body and totally inappropriate clothing, and yet she was trusting me enough to take me back to her camp? How did she know I wasn’t dangerous? How did she know I wasn’t some alien or clone sent to harm her?
And same question for me—how did I know I could trust her?
Because when you thought about it, I had absolutely no idea where I was. Not just where in the world but in what world. The place looked a lot like Earth, but it could be completely different. There might be creatures on it I had never heard of or seen. The girl looked human, but how did I know she didn’t eat her own kind? Maybe she was leading me back to her people, who were going to throw a big party in my honor and then roast me alive.
At least the dog was on my side. He stayed so close I could feel his breath against my bare leg as I hurried down the trail, trying not to jam my bare feet against every rock and twig.
At one point the girl got a little too far ahead of me. I was afraid I’d lost her.
“Audie?” I called out, wondering if it was possible she had my same name.
She didn’t, but she did come back. And she understood.
“Halli,” she said, pointing to herself. “I’m Halli.”
I introduced myself and we both shook hands.
Which, considering the science of the whole thing, might be the weirdest thing I’ve ever done.
- Writer
