New Reality: Truth by Michael Robertson Page A

back, he breathed heavily. "What is it, Tom? What's wrong?"
    The bags beneath Tom's eyes were packed and his skin was pale. "We need to go." He looked behind. "We need to go now."
    Swallowing back the funky taste in his mouth, his sticky saliva doing nothing to dilute it, Jake sat up. Squinting against the ache in his sinuses, he rubbed below his eyes to try and ease the congestion. Despite the scarf covering his mouth, the fine grit in the air found a way up his nose and left him permanently bunged up, especially when he first awoke. The only thing he'd been able to smell in the past few months was the gamers' shit. "Right, calm down and tell me what's happened."
    Standing to his full height accentuated just how much weight Tom had lost. His clothes hung from him like old rigging clinging to a mast. Scratching his head with a shaking hand, he looked around, his eyes not settling on any one spot. "Just trust me, we need to go now."
    Grimacing as he got to his feet, his shins on fire, his hips burning, Jake found himself already staring at his friend's back. "Wait up, man. Just tell me what's going on."
    There was no response from the tall man, who continued to walk away.
    Rubbing his face to try and banish the effects of sleep, Jake looked to where Tom had sat during the night.
    Gooseflesh sprang up on his arms.
    He lost his breath.
    His legs shook.
    The line ran back to where they'd come from, a livid scar of raised rubble.
    The dust clouds hid its beginning.

    ###

    Breathing so hard he was close to vomiting, Jake finally caught up with Tom. A headache crushed his eyeballs, his head spun, stars sat in his line of sight, and his mouth was so dry his tongue felt like it would crack at any moment.
    Swallowing again did nothing to ease his parched throat, but it helped him find his words. "Stop!" After several heavy breaths, he added, "Please?"
    Stopping, Tom turned to face his friend, occasionally glancing behind as he waited for Jake to catch his breath.
    "What happened last night?"
    A frown crushed Tom's face, but he didn't reply.
    Taking another breath, Jake pointed back to where they'd come from. "I saw the line of rubble."
    "What are you talking about?"
    "Come on, stop mugging me off. I looked where you were sat and saw the line of lifted rubble that led directly to it."
    Tom didn't reply.
    "When I was keeping watch the other night, something started scrabbling around beneath me."
    The frown on Tom's face was replaced by a drawn look of horror.
    "Something was toying with me, scratching the stone I was sat on."
    "Why didn't you tell me?"
    "Are you being serious? I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but you've been super freaked out since you saw the things chasing me. If I'd told you that--"
    "I can't believe you didn't tell me!"
    "All right, calm down."
    "I won't calm down, Jake. How can I trust you when you keep secrets from me?"
    "You're a fine one to fucking talk!"
    Standing to his full height, Tom looked down on his friend. "What's that supposed to mean?"
    "Secrets, Tom. Like you keeping secrets from me about what's following us."
    Folding his arms over his chest, Tom looked over at the Rixon Tower.
    "And while I'm being honest, you have to know that it wasn't Rixon who emptied the vending machine."
    "What?"
    "There was a hole in the bottom of the machine. A hole that had been punched through from the back." Looking into Tom's eyes, he could see his friend was breaking. "From something underground."
    "So you kept that from me too?"
    "Would it have helped if I'd told you?"
    "It may have prepared me better for last night. How can we survive together if we're dishonest with one another?"
    "I'm telling you now, aren't I?"
    With his arms folded across his chest, Tom stared at the Rixon Tower.
    "Whatever it was had punched its way through the vending machine and climbed up. There were scratches across the red metal as if the thing had sharp claws."
    Tom's eyes lost focus.
    "There was a line of rubble leading from the