Rabbits(128)

The room started shaking violently again.

“When is it going to stop?” I asked.

Swan turned to look at me, a pained expression on her face. “A universe doesn’t die like a person.” She looked down at Crow’s body, lying twisted on the ground. “It’s not light fading from a cage of blood and bone. It’s billions of years of starfire and wonder.”

I shifted my weight, and the shaking just about knocked me over. Emily grabbed my shoulder and stopped me from falling.

“I’d say you’ve got about an hour before the end,” Swan said.

“The end of what?” I asked.

“Of everything,” Swan said as she shook her head. “I tried to warn you.”

“There has to be something we can do,” I said.

Swan sighed. “The Radiants have fallen too far out of alignment.”

“So there’s nothing?”

“Maybe if you could win the game,” Swan said, “but at this point it’s corrupt, and no longer functioning properly.”

“So, what’s going to happen now?” I asked.

“When this dimension dies, every soul currently connected to the stream will be lost—all of their memories, lives, and families gone forever. And after that, each connected stream will fall into this one, then the others, like dominos. And then…the end of everything.”

“Could you do it?” I asked Swan. “Could you win the game somehow? Realign the Radiants?”

Swan shook her head. “I’m sorry, but without Worricker’s game in working order, I have no idea how to manipulate the Radiants to reset the mechanism. This world dies today. If you close your eyes, I can make it fast.”

“What happens if we don’t close our eyes?” I asked.

“This,” she said.

And then the world went black.





43


    YOU CAN’T HOT-WIRE A FUCKING PRIUS


I woke up in darkness.

“Emily?” I called out as I stumbled to my feet. “Hello?”

“K?” Emily said.

I rushed over, following the sound of her voice, and smashed my knee into something solid. My eyes had adjusted a little bit and I could see what I’d banged into.

I knew where I was.

I hurried over to the front door, fumbled for the lights, and finally switched them on. We were standing in the familiar cool fluorescent glow of the Magician’s arcade.

“Where the fuck are we?” Emily said.

“Arcade,” I said.

“What arcade?”

“We’re still in Seattle, close to my place.” I looked out the windows. It was dark outside. For some reason, I’d always imagined the world would end in the daytime. “What time is it?” I asked.

“Nine,” Emily said as she sat down on the floor and leaned back against the machine I’d banged my knee on. It was an old Atari game called Night Driver.

“Are you okay? How’s your shoulder?” I sat down beside her.

“It’s fine,” she said as she moved a few inches away.

“You’ve been shot,” I said.

“I know, thank you.”

“By a gun.”

Emily leaned back, shook her head, and exhaled.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Besides the world ending in an hour?”

“Yeah, besides that.”

Emily stared straight ahead and bit her lip. I could tell that she was trying to stop herself from crying.

“What is it?” I asked.

She turned and pulled me closer, reaching her arms around my waist and hugging me hard. Tears started streaming down her cheeks.

I hugged her back. I could feel her body shaking as she struggled to hold back more tears. She was clearly in pain.

Then, Emily Connors pulled back, grabbed my face and kissed me. I could taste the salt from her tears as her lips met mine. As her lips and tongue moved across my mouth, I felt a surge of emotion move through my body.

Part of me never wanted it to end.

I’d fallen in love with Chloe, but I had no idea what had happened to her, and Emily Connors felt like part of a completely separate life.

Did Chloe even exist here?

I imagined how I’d feel if the tables were turned and Chloe was kissing somebody from her past, and I gently pulled away from Emily.

“I’m sorry. I’m in love with somebody else,” I said.

And then I stood up and explained what had happened earlier, how I’d lost Chloe in a coffee shop filled with Harolds.

Emily looked as if she’d been struck.

I watched a wave of deep sadness move across her face as she absorbed what I’d just told her. I wanted to hug her again immediately.

But I didn’t.

“Well, that’s just fucking great, K,” Emily said as she brushed the tears away from her cheeks.

“What’s the matter?” I said.

“What’s the matter?” Emily repeated, and shook her head. “What’s the matter is you and I are fucking married, and I’ve spent the last four years looking for you.”

“What are you talking about?”

Emily took a few seconds to compose herself before she began to speak.