Hi again!
Sorry for the long wait but reality and my part-time job needs to come first! To keep Clive Barkers wonderul books alive and not fading away (Damn you Clive, seven years has gone seens your last book and we`re still waiting! Where is Absolute Midnight?) is our responsibility to create and update fan-stories! Inspire people to read these books, perhaps make their own stories and give Clive one last push (or hard kick.) to hand his manuscript over to his publisher.
Thank you "Red Stockings" for your great help (and sharp eyes) to read and correct my grammar and tenses for me. What would I do without you?
And great thanks for the first reviews on my first chapters. :)
Chapter three.
Sitting tied up in a car which was sinking to the bottom of a new ocean, wasn't quite how Carrie had planned to spend her day off. The air pressure, which awoke her from her blackness, now forced her to see dark-blue shadows instead. Freezing water was all around her and she didn't know first which way was up or down.
Why wasn't she dead?
The answer to that was the red ford's quality. Despise its rustic appearance, it was solid and the windows were thick and intact so it had saved her from getting crushed. But a small string of water was starting to come in from the few openings in the doorframes and was beginning make a small pool around her legs. Carrie checked first if her legs and arms were intact, she had a headache but it was nothing serious.
Alright, her body was all ok but the situation was terrible. She was locked inside a Ford, with a tremendous load of garbage floating outside; street signs, bicycles, chairs, tables, sinks and fencing, everything. To her surprise, fishes! Fishes that looked like offspring's of a Piranha and a Shark, with a small crossover of a Dragon fish, they circled the red car like a flock of starving vampires and Carrie didn't like their eyes while they swam near the windows and gazed upon her like a delicious meal.
"What are you looking at?" Carrie narrowed her eyes on the nearest fish that just passed on her right side, with a quick reflex the fish moved away from the window when it saw Carrie's suspicious look.
Suddenly, with a feeling like a car crash, the car hammered into a solid underside of a boat. The shock of the impact caused her eyes to fly open. The car was dragged along the rough surface of the boat, and the sound of scraping metal and hard wood were terrible in her ears. Causing new holes and new entries for the water pour in.
"In this situation there are two different kinds of deaths I can choose. Number one; be suffocated and drown in this fucking car. Number two; get eaten by Piranha-Sharks! Not an easy choice! But if I chose number two, there is a slightest chance that I may survive. If these "fish" stop circling around me like I'm a meal and if I swim very fast, I might be able to make it out. But the problem is, if I open the window or the door when there's still air in here, the water will come crashing down, including the fishes and I won't be able to make it out. If I wait until the car fills up all the way, it would be easier to open the door or the window. But again, there is a risk…I might be fish food!
She quickly made her decision.
Carrie pushed against her seatbelt and it came free. The water had reached her waist now, but she forced herself to remain calm and breathe through her nose. Taking long slow breaths, since the air was precious, she needed to be prepared while she waited. With great anguish she decided to leave her bag, it would be dead weight for her and would slow her down. She did not want to lose her precious sketchbook and her pencils! But she had no choice. Opening the side locker she tucked the bag in and closed it. She didn't want the fishes eat her precious master pieces!
The Piranha-Sharks circled around faster, as if they knew what she was going to do.
30 seconds later, figuring the pressure was about as equal as it was going to get, Carrie pulled a long deep breath in through her nose as the water reached her head. Then she dipped her head down. Her eyes stung from the salt but she forced them to remain open as she slid her hands along the front door, until she found the handle.
She pushed her hands hard against the door handle and it creaked and groaned even underwater. A few precious air bubbles escaped through her lips in her efforts. Her lungs were staring to ache for oxygen.
The door opened slowly just as Carrie was growing light headed.
The water was dark as Carrie pushed herself weakly out of the car, trying to get to the surface. The pain was incredible, a terrible weight was pressing onto her body, squeezing her insides with an unfathomable pressure. Following the last of the bubbles that escaped the Ford, she kicked her way to the surface.
A moment later she managed to burst through the surface before the water overwhelmed her. A ton of garbage welcomed her, and all the junk made it even more difficult to swim.
Her arms felt heavy, her legs felt like lead and her torso was practically a dead weight. But she kept on swimming until she reached a big piece of floating driftwood and clung into it.
Mission accomplished! She was alive and the Piranha-Sharks hadn't attacked her…Yet!
And if it could get any better, the red ship that had rasped the roof of the Ford with its keel was rising from the waves before her. And luckily someone was standing on the right side of the deck and was just looking down at her small feature. It was a young girl with dark-brown short hair with a touch of red in it, her face was sad but seeing Carrie splashing around with all the junk made her eyes pop out in shock.
"Hey!" Carrie shouted, trying to wave with her hand without losing her grip on the driftwood. "Help me up!"
Suddenly pain shot through Carrie's right leg as one of the fishes took a quick bite from it and dragged her back under the water. She screamed in pain and the air in her lungs escaped in a frantic stream of bubbles. She span around seeing nothing but the dark blue darkness around her. Once again the piranha-sharks came into her view. They licked their long reptile tongues over their so-called "mouths" and "breathed" in the bloodstained water that came from Carrie's wounds.
"Go away, Go away you little creeps!"
With a slow but hard kick she managed to hit one of the fishes on the nose, but in return it took a hold of her boot and started to drag her down deeper into the darkness. A yellow fish started to nibble on her left thumb and another started to rip off her shirt. She tried to fight back, but the cold water was starting to envelop her flailing limbs with caressing arms like ice. Her eyes widened in pain and her muscles began to cramp from the freezing temperature. Slowly, the little air she still had in her lungs left her body. Small bubbles spiraled up towards the sky that was too far away to reach. Her vision completely clouded over and she started to sink into a black oblivion.
But just before her mind could leave her, one the fishes decided to take a nice bite out of Carrie left hand. The pain that came from the creature's sharp teeth caused the palm of her hand to glow, and a tingling sensation began to pulse through her hand, getting warmer and warmer. Just as the fish was ready to take a new bite, it touched Carrie glowing palm, and suddenly jolted away like as if it had gotten an electric shock.
The other fishes quickly moved away from Carrie's limp body and her dangerous glowing hand, staring at their now dead comrade… lying upside down, totally roasted to his bones.
If fishes had shoulders, they would have shrugged them thinking; "What the Heck!" before they enjoyed their new dinner from their once dear comrades' flesh.
Candy's eyes were focused to systematic scanning over the water. It was a dreadful sight. The surface was littered with the remnants of peoples' precious things, so compacted that it looked as if you could almost walk on it. Every now and again something would appear among the wreckage, something personal, such as a bicycle with training wheels, or a bed floating by with the pillows still in place, and an empty kennel.
But the thing she'd feared seeing the most, was the bodies of people who'd drowned. Finnegan Hob's comforting words had soothed her a little, but the guilt still lay in her stomach. It was she who had wanted to go back home. Why hadn't she changed her mind when Wormwood started to chase them? Take another course or give herself in? She could have prevented it. She could have waited!
Luckily, someone had forewarned the people of Chickentown, but now thousands were stranded on the top of the hill. She could see smoke rising from the fires they had built and around that a sprawling collection of tents.
"Thank god!"
You can always get new things, you won't miss a washing-machine, but personal things like photographs, diaries, teddy bears and beloved dogs and cats are harder to forget or replace.
And there is no replacement in human life either.
Suddenly her eyes caught something splashing frantically in the murky blue water. The face was obscured, but judging by the length of the drowning person's hair and the highness of their voice it was easy to tell it was a girl. It was clear that even though there were lots of people stranded on The Hill, the wave had managed to claim some victims on its way.
"There is a woman in the water!" Candy shouted as the girl suddenly sank beneath the surface of the water, leaving nothing but ripples in her wake.
Finnegan Hob and Malingo rushed forward and gazed down to where Candy was pointing.
Captain Mcbean scanned the scene ahead of the Lud Limbo boat-cabin, trying to fix his gaze in the bubbling water where Carrie's head had just come up and then disappeared.
"Are you sure? It's hard to see through all this junk?" Mcbean shouted.
"Yes I'm sure and we need to get her up!" Candy pleaded.
"And be eaten by Mantizacs? There are dozens of them, they've probably eaten her legs and arms by now!"
"But we can't just leave her there!" Malingo shouted as he started to remove his clothes, getting ready to jump in. But Finnegan Hob stopped him before he committed any foolish bravery.
"Don't be a fool! Do you want to be fish-food? Look, there is something down there!" Finnegan Hob said and pointed his finger down.
As they looked at the black water, Candy thought she saw something bright silvery blue shining from down in the blackness. Then suddenly it came up to the surface, a thing covered in greenish blue like scales from head to toe, it might have resembled a fish, if it weren't for it somewhat human appearance, and that it was holding the half unconscious girl in it's arms.
"Deaux-Deaux!" Candy shouted happily.
"I think you dropped something? She was lucky, she's got red and black legs so the Mantizacs and Kjivns felt unsure if she was edible or not."
The crew were already lowering a rope as he started to swim slowly back to the ship. It was hard work to keep both of them afloat. She was light but her sodden clothes weighed both of them down. But they were yanked out of the water and pulled slowly upward by the crew. Then they pulled them over the side and Deaux-Deaux slumped onto the deck, putting the girl gently down on it.
She was lying there, completely unresponsive. At first glimpse, Candy thought she had mistaken a skinny boy for a girl, but then she noticed the very small bumps under her wet shirt and the sharp feminine look on her face. (Under cover of wet runny black makeup) She had a nice wound on her right leg and one of her hand, small red marks were covering her arms and shoulder and most of her outfit was torn and shredded open. For a moment they worried that Deaux-Deaux had been too late to save her.
"Do you think she's dead?" Malingo whispered.
Carrie's grey eyes suddenly flew open and her lungs started to remove all salt-water that had filled them, which caused the crew jump slightly with surprise.
"Guess not!" Finnegan Hob added.
It was gone, the weight, the pressure. Her stunned senses could not make out what was going on. All she knew was that she was motionless and utterly freezing cold. Carrie tried raising her head, but she was overcome by a sudden rush up into her throat. She hauled her battered body over to one side, and felt the burning of dirty salt-water vomit from her mouth.
Malingo supported her and patted her back to help remove all the sea-water in her lungs.
Carrie opened her eyes slowly again and found that they still burned from the salt water that had previously entered her eyes. Realizing she was no longer in the water, she sat up quickly, looking around at her unfamiliar surroundings and the creatures starring at her.
"How are you feeling?" Candy asked as she moved closer.
"How did you end up in the water?" Mischief John asked while all his brothers stared curiously at her, all with different expressions; confusion, curiosity, suspicious, flirtatious, worried, angry, pity on their mummified faces. Carrie managed to look up at him, obviously confused and half-delirious from the massive intake of water in her lungs.
"Are you alright?"
When she turned her neck, her grey eyes flew open as she stared at Malingo's odd orange face right next to her, with a reflex her hand came up and she slapped him hard across his face.
Malingo's head whipped around from the force of the slap and he put his hand to his stinging face. "I don't think I deserved that..." He muttered.
"Who… are… you?" her voice was hoarse, so she swallowed and tried again. "What's going on?" Better.
"Hey! He just tried to help you, you almost drowned and we saved you, or Deaux-Deaux did and you should be grateful," Finnegan Hob glared angrily at Carrie.
Was this some sort of a weird dream she was having? A colored man with green eyes and red dreadlocks was explaining to her that they had just saved her life, while a strange red skinned man with horns and skulls on his head had asked why she in the water? (Did he think she had a strange urge to take a nice swim today?") She looked at the orange skinned humanoid with web feet who seconds ago supported her back?
It must be another one of her dreams; she did recall people like this in her dreams and in her drawings; only they were not as vivid as they were right at this very moment.
"I…don't like being touched," Carrie muttered while she crawled away and coughed out the last remaining water in her lungs. Her leg hurt terribly and she hissed in pain when she moved it.
"You need to cough up some more water; you face looks blue!" John Mischief added.
"Yours is very red, have you eaten chili pepper?" Carrie spat back and tried to sit up. She wobbled at first, and then took a careful step. But every step she took, pain shouted from her right leg and she moaned lightly.
"She's got a sharp tongue!" John Moot muttered.
"Oh please! Can't you see that she is overstressed and injured? She needs treatment and peace!" Geneva Peachtree said.
Carrie analyzed the rest of the crew; she, this black woman, the man with dread locks and a small girl with silver hair were the only ones who looked almost human. Carrie didn't trust these strange creatures or strange humans either.
"I`m so sorry for what just happened but we didn't mean to…" Carrie looked up at the other human girl who was standing next beside her. It was the girl with the short hair who she had called for help… her eyes…How odd is that, to see the same eyes she just gazed on yesterday, wondering if they could have join a nice road-trip away from this tiny town together, now gazing in real life on her, on a ship!
"You`re Candy Quackenbush!" Carrie said slowly. Her piercing eyes looked deep into Candy's odd ones, one blue, and the other brown. Carrie's eyes were so sharp, that Candy found it uneasy to look into them, but she didn't show it in her face while she spoke.
"Yes, it's me." She smiled. "Look I'm really sorry for what just happened but we didn't have so much choice; they came along when we passed through the frontier."
Carrie nodded. "People were looking for you, you just disappeared."
"I know, for a moment I just wanted to leave this place, but now I'm going back." Candy said as she looked at Carrie's thin form. But what was she going back to? She has just ruined her hometown and she had no idea were her parents where!
"Who are they?" Carrie starred suspicious at the strange crowd of people around them.
Candy had no idea whether to answer Carrie's difficult question or not. Malingo is a Geshrat, Deux-Deux a Sea-skipper, but the rest of the team were pretty difficult to place. She didn't know which Island or people/creatures they belonged to.
"People of Abarat," Candy said and found the answer right.
"What`s Abarat?"
"A place where the hours have their own Island," Candy repeated. "If I told you more, you wouldn't believe me, besides if you did it's a very long story."
"And we don't have time to sit around like some children, hearing you telling bedtimes stories," Captain Mcbean yelled from the wheelhouse. "We are near the tower with the clock you described. I can see people on the roof."
Carrie and Candy fixed their sight outside the vessel on what was once Chickentown. Some of the buildings were on fire or burning. The thick black clouds of smoke bellowing out in some areas made it hard to see clearly. Seeing people stranded, some of the roofs of the buildings, they looked at them with shock or disbelief in their eyes while they passed through. The Wormwood was nowhere to be found, totally obscured by the mist and clouds of smoke from the burning buildings.
"I guess they're going to choose the moment," Mcbean muttered and while he narrowed his eyes to see better from his binoculars.
Just half an hour ago, Carrie had been walking through the streets, trying to figure what in the world was going on with this town, and especially her life. Now the world had turned upside down in a moment and she had gotten roared in her ear by a ghost lady, starting to hear voices in her head, and then illegally stealing a car to get away and getting crushed by a big monster wave. Well at least she was over sixteen and had a car license. Which unfortunately was in her bag, in the locker, in the smashed car and deep down in the murky water, together with her journal, cell phone and her precious sketchbook.
A pang of sorrow came over her as the thought of her lovely drawings; all her paintings and other sketchbooks in her room were probably destroyed. Worrying about Nancy's health didn't occur in Carrie's mind, Nancy was safe and sound on the top of the Hill, and that was enough for her. It was her pictures that she missed most of all.
"Please god let my family be safe!" Candy whispered, as she looked sadly at the ruins of her once beloved home.
Carrie narrowed here eyes at Candy to read her expression, but then the pain in her leg hit her again and she clasped her hands against the wound. It didn't fade away; instead she started to feel all the other wounds and scratches, especially her palm on her left hand.
"Let me take care of you," Geneva Peachtree said as she moved slowly to Carrie's side. She felt that this girl was like a loaded pistol. It was best not to do something hasty that she could take the wrong way.
"May I?" Geneva asked as she opened her hands to Carrie. Asking permission to touch her. After a long minute, Carrie gave a small nod, allowing Geneva to take one of her arms, placing one over Geneva's shoulder to support her and they headed down to the cabin. Not a single moment until then had Carrie let her shield down.
Before they went downstairs, Carrie turned her head slowly towards Candy. She saw her glancing over the railing after her family and the last of remains of Chickentown.
This was not her style but out from her mouth Carrie spoke a few words; "Thank you", then she addressed Malingo, who was still staring at her and gave him a small nod; "…and I`m sorry!"
"Talk about Ice Queen that one," John Serpent mumbled to his brothers after Carrie and Geneva disappeared.
This chapter is quit dull and it was hard to write, it didn't inspired me like my other chapters but I had to write it down because it`s important for the story.
I think it`s because I don't like Candys friends. :P
Mischief John, Malingo and Finnegan Hob are alright but they are no fun to write and I fell nothing for Mcbean,Tom,Tria or Geneva. It`s nothing thrilling about them. They are "to good" and to easy to forget.
But as "Red Stocking" wrote: " I have to agree with you, Candy's 'friends' are not very exciting, but I suppose we don't know very much about them. Perhaps you could create some histories for them, to make them more interesting?"
Perhaps you`re right! Maybe I should! But not to much. :P
P.S Be prepared for chapter four! You`re going to love it!
Reviews please!