Part five

"Yaz…" my brother says, his voice breaking. He rubs his eyes with the back of a hand, but fails to catch a few tears from streaking down his dust-swept face. "After all this time…"

I don't even know what to say. I don't know where to BEGIN… But I keep my emotions under control and when he rushes forwards to squeeze me into a hug, I hug him back.

"Ry…" I stutter when he pulls back. "What... I don't…"

There are creases beside his eyes. His jaw seems sharper, and is covered in a layer of stubble. I look at his hands as he gently slides them down my arms and returns them to his sides. His left is covered in scars and deep scratches, and the wrist and palm of his right have been wrapped in some kind of makeshift, fingerless glove. I look up at him and decide on some words. "What *happened* to you Ry? You're OLD".

He laughs, and the sound warms me. "Fuck off Yaz, I'm not that old". And fine, sure, he looks to be a man in his late twenties, early thirties perhaps, but that's still a great deal older than he is supposed to be. The laughter leaves his face almost as quickly as it appeared. "I've been waiting a long time, Yaz. A hell of a long time. Looking for you. I had to".

"Looking for me…? I don't…. I don't understand, I've only been gone for a few hours…"

*Is that true? …I think I've been on the bus now for the better part of a day, but still…*

"No, Yaz", he says sadly. "It's been a while. A long fucking while. The bus… Well; the bus never brought you home".

I just stare at him. This man with my brother's voice.

"Ry, you're scaring me. Please, just tell me what's going on… How did you know I was on the bus?"

Guilt passes cold across his face.

​

"…Because I'm the one who signed you up", he says quietly.

​

I stare at him in silence. Fear and frustration and relief that he's even here all merge and mingle together, painfully. The engine rumbles softly beneath us. I rub my hands down the sides of my face in thought and turn to look out the window.

Another sign approaches, out there in the desert. This one is in such a poor condition that the original text is completely illegible… but across it in that same black and oily paint is written a phrase. It uses English characters, but it's in Japanese. I think it says '*kegareki kuni*', though it whizzes by pretty fast.

​

"Why would you do something like that?" I ask him, eventually

"It was so stupid of me, Yaz. I'm so, so sorry. I was just frustrated with you, that's it. That's literally it. We'd had a fight, I don't know if you even remember-"

"I remember. It was only a week ago". I reply.

"…Right. Of course. Well you disappeared one day and I realized then that I'd made a terrible mistake. I didn't even think anything would happen… I could never accurately describe to you the fear and the panic and the sheer agony of those first few days and weeks… I waited and waited and waited for you to come home but you never did. I looked for you, *everywhere*, until it became clear that if I ever wanted to find you, I'd have to look a little… further afield".

"How did you even get here, Ry?" I ask, turning back to face him.

​

The bus crosses over a set of ancient and silent metal tracks. Like rails, for a train. They extend far out to the horizon in both directions, and intersect the road at an exact 90 degree angle. Ry grimaces and rubs the back of his gloved hand.

"…The bus is not the only way to travel between worlds", he murmurs.

​

Another pause. The orange light of the ever-evening catches on what appears to be a great field of broken glass out in the black sands. It sparkles and shines directly into my eye, and I squint and cover that side of my face with my hand.

I want to be angry with him. I really do. To give him hell for what's he done.

But… the emotion fades. To the tell the honest truth…

"…I'm just so happy to see you, Ry. And damn. Talk about a glow-up".

He laughs at this, with heart, and then he draws me into another hug, tighter this time.

"Okay, okay!" I say, wheezing, playfully pushing him away. "So what's the plan. You've found us. How we are all going to get home? And what are we gonna do about your AGE?"

A terrible thought occurs to me, and I am struck by a sudden fear. "Wait- has everyone aged as much as you!? Back home? Mom and Dad... how much have I missed!? How will we ever explain-"

He puts a hand out. "I do not intend us to return to the time at which I left. We will return to the point of your departure, or near enough to make no difference".

"So what about you? How will we explain why you've aged so much?"

​

To this, Ry does not respond. Instead he turns to Leah, who has been quietly watching us this entire time.

​

"Are you gonna introduce me?" he asks.

"Right- sure, sorry, Ry this is Leah. Leah, this is, obviously, my brother, Ryan. Though he's… um.. not supposed to be this old…"

Leah gives him a little wave, and Ry furrows his brow. "Have we met before? I feel like I recognize you".

Leah shakes her head. "It's possible you've seen me around. I only live a couple of blocks away from you guys. It's nice to meet you, by the way".

Ryan nods, then claps his hands. "So, the plan:

"I've seen the route. I've seen the tests and the challenges that lie ahead, in all their misery. I've ridden all the way to the Axis-Mundi and my plan is a simple one. Succeed where I have failed before. Get you to the end of the road, and ensure that the bus takes the right path. The right path back home".

"Succeed where you have failed before?"

"Yes. My guilt runs deep, Yaz. I've ridden the bus. All while looking for you, of course, but I've accompanied 'travellers' like you guys from City to City, station to station". A sad smile that does not reach his eyes passes fleetingly across his face, and for a moment he stares out at nothing. In a motion that is perhaps unconscious, he reaches up to a chain around his neck. One that ends in a little cross.

​

…My brother is not particularly religious, and I do not recognize the chain.

​

"This is my eleventh journey on the bus. I go different distances each time. I told you I've been to the Axis-Mundi, and whilst this is true, I have only been there the once. The bus… it only ever runs in the same direction. And there are no other vehicles here. None that work anymore, anyway. So I always have to make my way back on *foot*, across the desert".

I shake my head. "I don't get it- why bother? Why walk all the way back to this spot? Why not just stay at the end to meet us there?"

​

"Because Yaz", he says, and with a phrase that sends my blood running cold, "-in my experience, the passengers don't tend to survive past the tests in City Two".

​

As he speaks he reaches into his coat and draws out two smallish weapons, tossing one to each of us. At first glance they appeared to be blades, or knives, but when they are fully out of his coat and mid-air it is clear that they have been altered. The blades have been replaced with what I'm presuming to be *magnets* of some kind. I catch mine, but Leah fumbles hers and drops it to the floor, bending down to pick it back up.

"So… do you know everything about this place then? About what happened to it?" Leah asks cautiously.

Ry shakes his head. "I've pieced together a whole lot of information, and made some educated guesses- there are still buildings standing in the Axis-Mundi with useful intel inside- but I don't have the whole story, no".

​

We pass by a disturbing scene at the side of the road. A machine has been strung up on a cracked and modified lamppost. …'Crucified', would be the most apt way of describing it. The machine's eyeless head is lolled to the side, arms stretched out high on either side of it. The gears and pistons and springs that comprise his joints are rusted and still, and the plates that make up his torso are badly corroded. His six, crab-like legs hang limply down towards the sands, and whilst the sky's light glints like orange fire in the edges of his form, his shadow is long and dark across the dusty ground.

​

The bus drives right on by.

​

Ry lifts his gaze; he glances up to look at the dim and silent bulb, the one fixed into the ceiling above the driver's window. "Wont be long now…" he murmurs.

And he's right. There's something coming.

I can't see it, or even hear it… But I can feel it.

Something awaits us down the road. I feel the shadowy tendrils of its presence against my skin. The engine, I swear, even seems to quieten a little in anticipation.

"One of the designers- the 'OPERATORS', I should say- he was obsessed with the idea of travel, if the file I read on him in the Axis-Mundi was anywhere near accurate".

The bus strikes a deep pothole in the road and shudders violently. Leah and I stumble a little, but Ry keeps perfect balance, and goes on undisturbed.

"-Obsessed by bus travel, in particular. A Japanese man he was, and one awed and inspired by his many journeys across the United States. Across its sheer vastness, its open plains and fields, and its never-ending highways. Resting in the seat of a bus as the evening sun lights up the world beyond, as it casts it glow out and over your skin. It warms you, as the dust motes drift through the air and the landscapes beyond roll by…"

Ry looks out the window, and it becomes clear that he is reciting words that he has read in the aforementioned file, ones that he has committed to memory.

"…You're neither here, nor there. You're in purgatory. You and all the strangers around you too. United temporarily by a common bond. You're *between*".

He glances up to the bulb at the front of the bus.

​

Still dim.

​

"I don't know what the original purpose of this place was. 'New Eden' they called it. But now it is known by another name. The tests are a spiritual thing. They're supposed to determine moral character, in a non-intrusive way-"

"NON-INTRUSIVE?" I reply.

I share a look with Leah.

Ry smiles humorlessly. "I know, I know. As I said, this whole place is steadily falling apart. It's rotting".

"…*Poisoned*", Leah mutters, and Ry nods in agreement.

I reach out a hand to squeeze hers. I pause, mid-air, wondering if that would be weird… Despite everything, I still worry greatly about how I come across to others. About how I come across to *her*. The memories of her putting a hand on my knee, and addressing the wounds round my feet make me realize how foolish I'm being, and I continue the motion, giving her palm a little squeeze.

"Are you okay?" I ask her. She's been rather quiet since Ry appeared, though maybe she's just intimidated. I don't blame her. I look at him, and I still see my brother… but to a stranger, he's just a gristly, dust-covered, full grown man.

She nods.

​

Ry glances up to the bulb.

​

"It's nearly time", he says, in a voice with such authority that I am instantly sent into a mode of alert, ready to follow whatever orders he might distribute. I've never heard him like this before.

*What have you seen out here, Ryan? How have you survived in these wastes, all alone..?*

"The magnets", he says, "they'll draw the machines close, the creatures won't be able to help themselves- but once they realize what the magnets are they'll panic. That's when you jam the weapon up against its head, or chest, or wherever, really. Seems to work, in my experience".

Leah looks up and gestures to the driver. "What about-"

Ryan shakes his head and interrupts. "Won't affect the driver. Doesn't affect any of the drivers; I've tried it. He's made of stronger stuff, that bastard".

​

The atmosphere draws tighter.

​

"So what do we need to do?" I ask him, fear ebbing away at me. "What's the play?"

​

"…Just don't believe anything it says", Ry whispers. "Please, don't believe a single word".

​

And with that, the bulb burns a sudden orange. That terrible buzz reverberates down the length of the bus, and the distorted speakers crackle back into broken life...