Marlo here. People usually call me that, though it's just me middle name. Me dad and mum saddled me with the name of Jason. I detested that name like nothing else while growing up. It was either Jason and the Argo-NUTS or Friday the 13th jokes. Jason weren't a noble name at all. So I took me middle one for good or ill.
Can't say that I hate my surname so much, though. Walker just fits me about right as any. Been on the long walk for a while now, haven't figured out where to settle, if settle I should. Of course it gets lonely, sometimes. I even wonder whether I shouldn't just head back home to Mina and the family once and for all. Then I remember why I left and try to put it out of me head as best I can do. It ain't easy. Not at all.
Me dad always said I was a wild one, but neither of us knew a thing about it. If only he could see me now.
I guess a bit of present context would help. Picture this, then: I was lying behind a bed next to this beautiful Turkish girl whispering to her in my broken German to keep as quiet as she possibly can. Her little hand was clutching tight. Much tighter than you'd have thought to take a look at her. I told her there was nothing rightly to worry about, that she'd be back with her family soon enough. She was really spooked, though, I've never seen anyone as scared as she were.
That was when my trick knee gave out on me and made a cracking sound on the floor as I turned to get a closer look. All I could see was the man's legs, several feet away, but I could tell he'd heard something or other. He just stood there for a bit, and I was beginning to think I was clear, that nothing were about to happen to me and the girl, but then he took another step forward. That was bad in itself, but when he crouched down and finally knelt to the floor I knew it were over.
He swore in his guttural Austrian accent and jumped to his feet, the same time as I grabbed Fairuza and pulled her behind me. I'd had time to push the bed right over, but by then he was at us, and we were trapped. He started shouting angrily at us, pushing the bed, me pushing back. He weren't big or nothing, but he were a strong, wiry little fellow. He pulled out a knife, so I pulled out my Coleman and beaned him on the head with it. Course that's when the damned thing decided to break. Seems the Austrian's head were tougher than it.
I was getting rightly concerned about the noise. Though he were the only one in the house at the moment, the others were just outside and soon enough came in to join us. They'd probably be carrying more knives, so it weren't the ideal situation. Fairuza's grip on my hand earlier, too, were nothing compared to how she clung to me with her whole body now. She was scared stiff, and it meant I weren't as mobile as I'd like to be, all things considered. There was nowhere to run to, neither. And four men's strength was too much for me to handle. The bed were pulled away and that was that. Eventually one of them would have the brains to go fetch a gun from somewheres, but until then their knives could do enough damage. I needed to get out of there, to say the least.
Fairuza wasn't in any mood to understand a word I said, but I whispered to her in English, "Hold on tight now, we're getting out of here." A completely redundant phrase considering I could barely move at that point. She couldn't hear me, really, but even if she could she weren't in any shape to make sense of my words.
There was no going sideways, or forwards, or backwards, neither. So I leapt up.
Everything were blurry for a split-second, and then I was staring at a starry, dark-blue sky and couldn't breathe none. Neither could the girl, apparently, as she went limp in a moment. I'd never done the like before, and I weren't rightly sure of how to get back to the ground again, but I figured if I could just get myself turned around I'd make it work out. I pulled on Fairuza's arms, already clutched around my midsection, to make sure she weren't going anywhere, and I looked down on continental Europe below.
Already I was feeling lightheaded despite the tremendous adrenaline rush that made me feel high, so there weren't no time to lose. I glanced over and took a look at the British Isles, got stuck between Eire and Wales, almost figured on the Isle of Man, but finally decided on England. It weren't the same as running or leaping, but somehow I got myself going where I wanted to, and the world became a blur again.
In that split-second I wondered to myself whether I'd stop before I met the ground.
