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The stranger extended34 her hand and … her head exploded35 like a watermelon.
***
Two dead people in one morning might seem like nothing on the global scale of things but seeing your other copy getting shot in front of you could make anyone go insane36.
Is that what it was?
She was going crazy and was seeing things that weren’t there? Nope. The mums are screaming, and the grandmas are trying to run away. There was definitely some shooting just now. Is she the next target?
The other she said that they are trying to erase them. Click. The brain started to work again.
It took her a couple of minutes to get into the endless stream37 of people hurrying to their work. She stopped by the curb38 to catch her breath when a car tires screeched39 next to her, and the passenger door opened.
“Get in fast,” the driver yelled.
What next?
Will it ever end?
Why does this voice sound so familiar?
“Come on, Lizzy. We don’t have much time!” he sounded agitated40.
He knows her name!
***
She gaped41 at him. It was him. Her man. But how could that be?
“I know,” he said without taking his eyes off the road. “It took me awhile to understand this, but I’m not who you think I am.”
“You’re his copy,” it dawned on her42.
He nodded.
She couldn’t stop looking at him.
“He was trying to make you leave the apartment this morning. To save you,” he said. “He just needed a bit more time.”
What?! He knew?!
“We found him first and told him everything.” he said. “He thought we were from the future,” he added with a sad smile.
He kept quiet for a while. Only the sound of the accelerating43 engine.
“He was adamant44 to keep you out of it,” he said breaking the silence.
She felt tears ru
“How do you … Did you know him?” she asked.
“We just met him last night,” he said after a pause.
He looked at her for a second.
“Listen, we both lost important people today,” he continued. “I know this is all messed up46, but we need to stay together. At least for a while to get to the bottom of it47.”
She couldn’t see and hear him anymore. Emotions finally broke through the barrier of shock.
He took her hand and quietly said: “Don’t worry, Lizzy. We’ll figure this out.”
Then he took a ramp to merge into the highway out of the city.
Chapter 2
Lizzy’s Diary
6 DAYS BEFORE THE JUMP
I guess the most difficult thing in this crazy story was to accept that there was nothing crazy about it. I have 6 more days before the jump, and I must put all my memories together while they’re still fresh and painful. Yes, pain. I don’t know if I feel it after the jump. It co
In any case, I’d better start from the begi
I was in the car with Mark, or Mark’s copy, and my life was disappearing48 in the rear-view mirror49. When we put a good hundred kilometers between us and the city, he started to slow down.
I had no more tears in me and was just staring out of the window thoughtlessly50.
The car stopped.
“Here’s where we meet him,” Mark said.
“Who?” I asked.
“The man who knows the answers,” Mark said and opened the door. “Are you coming?”
5 DAYS BEFORE THE JUMP
“How do you know him?” I asked Mark when we got out of the car.
“You told me about him,” Mark said. “I mean, the other Lizzy. She found him a while ago or he found her. I’m not sure how that happened. In any case, he told her to bring her copy to him.”
“To do what?” I asked quietly.
“Apparently51, someone didn’t want that meeting to happen,” Mark continued.
“To do what?!” I repeated.
“That’s what you and I are going to find out because Lizzy didn’t live long enough to explain that to me,” Mark said, looking around. “It should be somewhere close.”
I looked around as well. We were close to a mountain.
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34
протянула (прошедшая форма глагола extend)
35
взорвалась (прошедшая форма глагола explode)
36
безумный, душевнобольной, ненормальный
37
бесконечный поток
38
обочина
39
завизжали (прошедшая форма глагола screech)
40
взволнованный, возбужденный
41
уставилась, пялилась
42
её осенило, до неё дошло
43
ускоряющийся
44
непреклонный, твёрдый
45
расплывчатый
46
запутано
47
узнать правду о (ситуации) (идиоматическое выражение)
48
исчезала, терялась (The Past Continuous Tense)
49
в зеркале заднего вида
50
бездумно
51
видимо, очевидно, явно, вероятно, по-видимому