Through Space and Time

Prologue

I remember it like it was yesterday, even though I was only eight years old at the time. The announcement broke out over the radio waves letting us all know the nuclear war had started, it was the end of the world as we knew it. I held my father's hand and we sobbed together hopelessly. I old enough to understand we were all going to die, but young enough to believe that at least we were going to see my mother once more. She'd passed away due to pancreatic cancer three years before. I couldn't wait to see her face again; I just didn't want to have to end my life so young for that to happen.

Very soon, the bombs got closer to us and the planet was slowly destroyed, piece by piece as the wealthy men killed as all because of their dumb pride. I tried to prepare myself, but there was no way get ready for that. I hid under the table with my dad, where we just waited.

Waited for the gruesome death to come.

There was an ear piercing boom and everything turned blinding white. Instead of feeling my body shut down like I was expecting to, I felt a deep pull. One so powerful I couldn't resist it, even if I tried. I was sucked, pulled, torn away from my home, my life, everything I knew...

Including my father.

The next time I woke up I was somewhere new. I knew I wasn't on Earth anymore because I found myself surrounded by the sorts of creatures I'd only read about in books. I assumed I was dead and this was some sort of afterlife, but then I looked across and saw the creatures eating another child, one that they'd killed, and they were coming for me next. My survivalist instinct kicked in and I ran.

I didn't stop running, adrenaline pushing me forward, until I staggered, stumbled and fell down a hole. That familiar sucking feeling consumed me again and after a few seconds I found myself on yet another planet.

It took me a long time to work out what was going on, to unravel this bizarre mystery. The nuclear war tore open a hole in reality, in time and space. Now we're able to travel through other dimensions, to other planets, with ease. The only problem is a lot of the worlds are hostile and they hate humans. I've seen the odd few mostly confused humans like myself, but they all seem to end up dead.

It's like I'm the only one cursed to keep on living.

I'm used to it now though, I don't get attached anymore. All I want to do is find my father, I believe we got separated as the blast went off, so he could be anywhere. One of the last humans I ran into told me that a few of us have gone back home, and they've found a surprisingly habitable planet. If that were true, it would be amazing. We could restart and revamp the human race. I don't know if it is though, it can't be. The fallout after a nuclear war can last for generations.

Plus, we can't control where we go anyway, so returning isn't a simple process. We just have to find the 'exit hole' at each place and it moves us onto the next. I'm sure some people have found permanent homes along the way, there must be some good places out there, but I can't settle until I've found him.

I will keep looking until I know the truth about what happened to the one remaining person I have in my family...