Misplaced 5, part 4

Once again there were explanations and exclamations of wonder- and perhaps a hint of disbelief. But after days stranded on a desert island terrorised by a mysterious monster, seeing identical copies of yourselves and your friends who you knew to be dead walking around was enough to convince you that something strange was going on. Or that you’d eaten too many mushrooms.


The rescuers followed the others back up the rocky gully to a shallow cave among the rocks. In the entrance there was a blackened circle of stones that showed there had been a fire, but it didn’t seem to have been alight for some hours. Ruth guessed that it was lit at night as protection. But why was there no signal fire? Why were the remaining survivors hiding in a cave? Was it just for fear of the monster, or was there more to it than that?

But then all this speculation was driven from her mind. Just inside the cave she could see the shapes of two people, propped up against the walls of the cave. She hurried forward. And found herself face to face with herself.

Ruth had been injured in the monster’s attack, as she had known. She still looked pale and ill, with makeshift bandages covering the claw wounds. But she was alive, definitely alive.

Ruth looked down at her, relief evident in her face. She expected the Ruth of this world to be confused, surprised. But she seemed less surprised than most of the others. Behind her in the cave was this world’s Claire, who appeared to have a similar injury to the one her other-world counterpart had sustained in the crash. She had stayed behind at the camp, not in a state to go exploring into new universes. It looked like Claire here was in an even worse state.

All the survivors here seemed to be in worse condition than those on Ruth’s own side. Even those who weren’t injured seemed gaunt and had a worn, haunted look. Looking round the cave Ruth and her friends could see no stocks of food and little firewood. Did fear of the monster so terrorise them that they were afraid to search for enough food?

“We came through to see if you needed help and if we could give it to you,” Nick said. “After we found Mick, we were worried there was no one else left.” Mick, who had followed behind the others, suddenly looked down at the floor as if ashamed. He edged away behind a boulder.

“We didn’t know what had happened to him,” Tom from the alternate world said. “The night the monster attacked Mick was supposed to be keeping a look out in case it came, but he must have fallen asleep because we had no warning, we just woke up and there it was, bending over Becky and David.” He shivered.

“We all ran,” the alternative Rachel said. “We got separated in the darkness and the forest. I was so scared. In the morning we went back to the campsite and found everything destroyed. Charlotte and Emily were there when I got back, and Claire who’d hidden in a tree.”

“I found Ruth on my way back to the camp,” Tom said. “She was unconscious, and I thought it was too late, but she was still breathing. We tried to bandage the injuries and stop the bleeding, and eventually she woke up and we brought her up here.”

“What about Patrick?” Rachel asked. “We saw him in the forest but he ran away.”

“Pat? He was away from camp when the attack happened,” the alternative Rachel answered her. “He was already acting a bit strange since the crash- I think he was upset because Steph died after he tried to save her. He kept going off on his own. We’ve thought we’ve seen him once or twice in the forest, but he doesn’t stay still long enough to talk to. He’s behaving like a monkey, almost.”

“So that’s all of you that’s left?” Charlotte asked. “You six, Mick and Patrick?” The survivors from this world exchanged glances.

“Well, not really,” alternative Tom said awkwardly.

“Some of the others survived too,” alternative Rachel said. “But they won’t help us.”

“Won’t help you?” Rachel exclaimed. “But why not?”

“They say the injured are too weak, that there’s no point in helping them. They said we could waste our lives trying to help them, but they weren’t going to. They were just going to abandon them!”

“They just couldn’t be bothered with the extra work, collecting extra food and stuff,” alternative Charlotte said. “So they’ve made their own camp and told us we’re not allowed near it or near the site of the crash.”

“What makes them think they’ve got the right to do that?” Tom asked.

“The pilot of our aircraft had a gun,” alternative Tom said. “And now they’ve got it.”

“And they’ve just abandoned you?” Charlotte said. “Who’s in this group?”

“Emma, Ernest and Kath,” alternative Rachel said. “And Amy and Sophie, but they probably just got dragged into it. And Adam.”

Adam suddenly looked ashamed. Even though he had chosen to stay here rather than go back to his own universe with the others, he felt ashamed of what the other version of himself had done. Ruth too felt a sense of shame, that people who must be identical to people she thought of as friends could do what the survivors had just described. It had seemed bad enough when her friends from her own universe had gone back, too afraid for themselves to search for their alternate selves, however likely it seemed that they needed help.

“Well, we’re not much better off than you,” Tom said, “But we won’t abandon you.”

“No!” Rachel agreed.

“Thank you,” the alternate Tom said.

“Let’s go and find some food for all of us,” Nick said.
 
 
The story continues...