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Usually, the nightmares came on and left in razor-sharp, lightning-quick flashes of panic and pain. The sick, sticky sensation of fear lingered for hours afterwards, but the content of their night terrors faded quickly upon waking and left them grasping at vague and poorly-defined shadows.
This was something else. The world stretched on in monochrome; craggy bluffs creeping into the soft lapping waters, coarse pale sand beneath them, washed-out sedge and beachgrass climbing tiny, gentle hills. This was the Beach.
They stood. Sand crunched between their toes. They were in the compression shirt and thermal leggings they wore underneath their jumpsuit, comfortable and form-fitting and leaving them feeling entirely bare.
“…hello?”
They turned, following the voice, and there behind them with her back to the endless black waters was a woman in a red dress.
“Hi?” They played with the hem of their shirt. Sure, they’d seen a Beach. Their Beach. Nobody else was ever there. “Who are you? What’s happening?”
A brief, pained expression of concern flitted across the woman’s face; she frowned, bright white teeth under chapped pink lips, feathery blond hair curling on her temples and her brows pinching on her forehead.
“My name is Amelie. I’m usually… alone here.”
They swallowed.
“Alone? On the Beach?”
“For a long time,” she agreed, softening her tone to something approaching hesitant, something shyly vulnerable. “You have DOOMS, don’t you?”
“My parents never let me get tested.” But that meant nothing, they knew. “But probably.”
Probably, as if they did not see the hovering dead, or hear their anguished cries.
“Have you ever been to a Beach before?” She pressed, now with a sense of quiet urgency. They shook their head.
“Never like this.”
Then, she took a step back. Her high-heels sunk into the sand only a bit. She turned, crossing her arms over her middle, and Tobias closed the meager distance to stand at her elbow.
“What?”
“This is… bad.”
Tobias was fairly sure many things were bad.
“Yeah?” They said, a conscious effort to soften their voice.
“If you’re here…”
“Yeah,” they said again, closer to a mutter.
“I used to dream of the Beach. Or would come here. And then one day…” she unfolded her arms, gesturing out to the cloudy sky and the twisted pillars of stone rising from the waters. “I couldn’t leave. I was stuck here.”
Tobias was struck by the sudden urge to hug her. Imagine being stuck here! All by herself. Trapped. Not knowing what was happening outside, and not able to simply give up. They looked at the ground, instead.
“I’m sorry.”
“Tobias. That’s your name, right?” It was on their tag, sure, anyone who could see Porter IDs could see it— even unregistered ones. And surely— here, on the Beach— the rules were different. “If you’re here, that means you might come back. You might get stuck here too.”
A cold bolt of icy-sharp fear stabbed them, up through their guts and into their throat. They tensed.
“That can happen?”
“I don’t know.” Amelie said, voice now at a mournful whisper. “But… someone is helping me. He’s going to figure this out.”
“Who?”
Damn. At least she had someone.
“His name is Sam. He’s my brother.”
No way.
“We think that we can find answers at Edge Knot City, where I was— physically— last. But he needs to get there. And… I know he won’t ask for it, but he can’t do it alone.”
Tobias glanced at her, the way her hair ruffled in the tiny breeze and how her long lashes caught seaspray, the flat drape of her red dress and the stylish cut of her heels. Was that what she was wearing? When she last was, physically?
“And if he figures out how to save me… it’ll help you, too, before you get trapped on a Beach like me.”
“You want me to help him.”
They had to admit, helping out Sam Porter Bridges wasn’t the worst thing they could do with their life. A little bit of healthy idolization never hurt, and if they could turn it to good use…
Amelie nodded. “But he can’t know. I know it sounds silly, but he needs to think that he’s doing it on his own. If he knows I was able to talk to you— to somebody else, because they came to my Beach? I don’t want to worry him. If he knows that other people could get trapped too…” she paused, voice thin and wavering. Tobias reached out, finally, and set a hand on the back of her elbow. “If he could get trapped. He’s the only one who can do this for me. But you’ll help him get there, won’t you? I can keep an eye on him from the Beach, and you can help him out there, in the real world. And then both of us can be free.”
Free. It sounded nice. Tobias nodded.
“It’ll be okay.”
Reassurance never tasted so false. Amelie cracked a smile, frail and sad, and that had to be enough. “Oh, thank you. You have no idea how grateful I am that you’re willing to do this.”
Yeah, probably not. People weren’t so good at expressing thanks in this day and age; maybe they’d do Amelie the favor of not telling her exactly what they were.
“And… one more thing. There’s a man. He says that his name is Higgs.”
The fucking terrorist? Yeah, Tobias knew about him. They grimaced.
“Stay away from him. At all costs. He can’t know what we’re trying to do, and… his DOOMS is incredibly powerful. If he finds out that people can be stranded on the Beach, if he finds out a way to do it himself—“
Tobias cut her off as her voice began to tremble. “Yeah, I know. I’ll steer clear. I don’t fuck with insane terrorists.”
“I’m glad the Beach brought you to me, Tobias.” She smiled— then, frowned, and the world became fuzzy. “Tobias?”
The soft nothingness of the Beach faded away, and Tobias woke up half-sprawled out of their bedroll. Normally, waking up would be a slow and agonizing event galvanized only by a lucky cargo ping or a delivery. Now, though, they rolled out of their patchy sheet and grabbed for their folded jumpsuit. Last they’d heard, Sam was going to make his way across the flats, and there were plenty of frustrating pitfalls and dead zones there. If they were going to help him get to Edge Knot City without him knowing, they needed to be sneaky about dropping down ladders and anchors— and quick.
Real motivation. Real want. Goal-directed behavior.
For Amelie, to get her out of that hellhole. And for them, to keep them from it.
And for Sam, to save them all.