Unicorn Riders - Pinch (English)

Chapter 13: A solution to all problems

Like any other normal person Vera dreamt when she was asleep. But she never saw any significance in her dreams. No matter whether they were good or bad, in her mind they just happened. But this night when she was able to get some decent sleep, she dreamt intensely. And the dreams were not good.

In her dream she was running. She ran away, leaving Igor and Helen behind who watched her disappear with sad faces, but couldn't catch up with her. Butter the dog ran with her for a while, but when she started sneezing he stopped and fell back behind her until she couldn't see him anymore. She kept running and running, through Coock City and the Badlands, then through the Northern wilderness. She saw the crashed shuttle in the distance, saw Tammy lying on the ground in front of it, bleeding, with her hand pleadingly stretched towards her, but Vera ignored her and kept running. She ran until two foul smelling claw-like hands closed around her body, pressing all air out of her lungs. Before her two faces became visible: Sykes grinning gloatingly, and Johnson looking at her in disapproval and shaking his head. Then she felt tight ropes being tied around her wrists and ankles, pulling her into four different directions. She wanted to scream, but no sound came out of her mouth. Balefully Johnson glanced at her, his face a mask of pure evil. The ropes kept pulling stronger by the second, and Vera knew that it would rip her apart any moment now. But at just the moment that she felt her limbs would give away, she heard but one sentence out of Johnson's mouth, and it echoed in her ears like thunder.

Then she heard the snap of her bones breaking... and woke up. Covered in sweat, heavily breathing, looking around in panic, but she was awake. She stared into the darkness of the cave, feeling with her fingers on the sleeping bag she had covered herself with. Everything was fine. As fine as things could be in this moment, still being lost in the wild and being looked after by four runaways and a dog. Things had been worse before.

But Johnson's words were still echoing in her mind, and she couldn't calm her beating heart. She knew that it had just been a dream, but those words affected her. After all she had been through she wasn't even sure that something could be true about them.

Your parents will be next...

She blinked repeatedly to purge the shadows of her dream from her mind. In the corner of her eyes she saw a little dim light next to her that changed the colour. Little fingers were playing over this light, casting shadows to the ceiling. It was Jenny, lying beside her, having some sort of finger game with the light. She had noticed that Vera had woken up next to her, but she wouldn't be bothered by it. Everyone else seemed fast asleep. At least she heard silent snoring from one of the corners.

"Hi!" Vera greeted little Jenny quietly. Jenny looked up from her game for a heartbeat, looking silently at Vera before focusing on her game again.

Good conversation, Vera thought sarcastically. She wondered if the girl ever talked or was so traumatised by past events that she would never speak again. Taylor didn't seem to have any problem communicationg, but he appeared to be the more lively, more active one of the twins. Also the braver twin. Jenny would have never gone looking for food on her own or would have been brave enough to rescue Vera from the clutches of those criminals.

She found her backpack to be standing very close to her, and pulled it over quietly. The children had been helping themselves to the pastries and the fruit juice, but there were still loads of it left. Vera wondered what would be necessary to leave a visible dent in the food supplies her mother had given her. Good thing that most of the food had a long life time. She took a big sip from the juice bottle and ate a sandwich. While eating she noticed that she had still her headache, but her nausea wasn't so bad anymore. And after that ration stew Jesper had fed her with she was glad to have something good to eat again. She finished her sandwich and was puzzled that Butter hadn't come to her panting. Although her eyes slowly got used to the darkness in the cave she couldn't find Vanna or Butter. Taylor was lying in Vanna's sleeping bag, sleeping peacefully. The faint snoring came from Thor on the other side of the room. Vera hadn't noticed that he had come back to the cave again.