"We're going back to our beginning. What do you think he means by that?" Whispers Kade, careful not to engage the topknot guy in any further dialogue.

"I'm not sure, but I'm sure I want off this tube train," I say, noticing that all the children without imps have fallen asleep, including little Kelvin who is snoring in my lap.

The little girl with the extra bad attitude and super sharp nails, approaches us, her imp nuzzling into her neck. She stares at me with penetrating eyes, "When we arrive at your beginning, it will become your end," she says, with not a hint of malice. I smile sweetly, as Kade's hand finds my knee, reassuring me, "What ever do you mean?" I ask, softly.

She doesn't return my smile; instead she gives me a vacant stare while her imp nuzzles silently into her ear. It's clear that she's concentrating and listening intently.

The imp's head nuzzles back into her neck and the girl glances at topknot guy, still standing at the door to the adjoining carriage. When he nods his approval, the girl speaks with a pitch perfect, rehearsed tone that is at odds with her age, "Back at your beginning, The Lady, will end."

I feel Kade tense, his lips find my ear and he whispers, "I've got to rip out his topknot, to disable these creatures!"

The carriage erupts into a cacophony of children's laughter as every child with an imp stands up, "We all heard that, you daft bat!" They sing, in a gleeful chorus, while making cat like sweeping gestures with their claw like hands.

Within seconds, the children surround us, their imps nuzzling into their ears while the children's faces contort with concentration.

Kade and I squirm in our seats, feeling vulnerable being hemmed in by so much malevolence. We exchange wordless glances trying to read each other's thoughts and find some kind of shared plan of action.

But nothing comes.

We are trapped.

Trapped from the world above us, in a speeding underground train, and trapped in its carriage by a shield of children who are being manipulated by little monsters.

We have nothing but our hands and physicality with which to defend ourselves.

Kade takes my hand and says with incredible intensity, "I love you."

But something in his intense declaration upsets me, it sounds kinda final.

"Why'd you say that?" I ask.

He looks hurt, "Because I do."

I smile, "But I know you do."

He clenches my hand, "Good, don't ever forget it," he says, softly.

Bad attitude girl breaks our moment, "EURGH, stop being so disgusting!"

I respond sweetly, "Love isn't disgusting."

She shakes her head, dismissively. I decide that engaging these children in conversation is the only weapon we have right now. So I scan them all, like a sun shiny teacher about to teach a valuable lesson, "You all love your mummies and daddies, right?"

They all shake their heads, almost violently and say in unison, "We reject our parents in memory and honor of The Surgeon and her agents!"

Suddenly, Kade clenches my hand so hard, that it hurts and distracts me from responding to the children. Our heads swivel towards each other; I know my face shows the shock of pain, while his shows me sadness and fear.

"It's failed," he says, his face turning pale.

"What has?" I ask, his grip on my hand, tightening.

"Mum's procedure, has failed. I have the strongest feeling, an innate sense of her passing away, right this minute," he says, with certainty.

Little Kelvin begins to stir on my knee. He awakens and sits bolt upright – "SHE'S GONE – THE BOMB!" He hollers.

Topknot guy dives onto the floor of the carriage, "CHILDREN, GET DOWN – NOW!" He screams. They comply, by throwing themselves onto the rumbling floor, followed by their adult supervisors.

The imps crawl onto the children's heads, encapsulating them, like protective helmets.

A quiet calm surrounds us.

I feel a gentle breeze brush my cheek, and I turn to Kade to ask if he feels it, too.

But my voice is whipped away by a surging whoosh and an enormous pressure that is lifting Kelvin and I off our seats.

My surroundings take on a slow motion surreal sense as I'm deafened by the most enormous booming sound that splits my ears.

Then I see Kade, his face full of love, his body full of protective energy as he launches himself on top of little Kelvin and I, his body taking the full brunt of the explosion that is tearing up the tube train.

That is my last memory, before my world goes – BLANK.

......

When my conscience returns, I have no idea how long I've been lying here: minutes, hours, weeks? I don't know.

What I do know is that I'm alive, and alone.

My clothes are torn and bloodied. I check over my body, I find no open wounds; the bloodstains don't come from me. I move my legs, they work.

Standing up, I'm unsteady on my feet, but that stems from the fuzziness that comes from awakening, rather than injury.

I look up and down the carriage. It's battered, but not broken.

FLASHBACK: A bomb. It was a bomb that went off. Kade threw himself on Kelvin and I, to protect us.

"KADE!" I shout.

My voice, carrying his name, is echoed back to me.

I sit down, put my head in my hands and think: what's happened?

FLASHBACK: "When we arrive at your beginning, it will become your end." That's what the vicious little girl said.

The fuzziness begins to leave my head, and clarity begins to slowly return.

I walk along the battered and empty carriage, to the door.

Opening the door, I step into the next carriage, which is similarly battered, bruised and empty.

FLASHBACK: Kade felt his mother's death, before the bomb went off. The bomb that little Kelvin spoke of.

Not wanting to think of death, I continue on, and into the next carriage, where the same scene greets me.

Although my head is now clear, my mind is blank. I've not lost my memory, no, I'm consciously blanking out what might be true.

The fact is, I don't want to continue this journey without him. So I pull the shutter down, blanking out that prospect – until I'm given reason to confront it.

Onwards I travel, into the next carriage.

And here, amongst the familiar battered carriage scene, I spot a difference.

To the right of the carriage is an open door – a way out.

A surge of hope halts me: maybe he left before me. That hope is soon quashed when I reach the door: he'd never leave me, alone and wondering. No, that's not in his nature.

I can't bring myself to say his name, because if I do, it will bring on a tsunami of tears, and there is no time for that, not right now.

Stepping onto a platform, I look right and left. To my left is an opening, a stairwell.

The exertion of the steep climb diverts my mind until exhaustion forces me to stop and take a rest. Looking upwards, I see a beam of brightness and pray that this is the light at the end of the tunnel.

With my breath suitably recovered, I continue upwards, toward the light.

Finally I look up into a clear blue sky and I step out onto a dusty ground. I'm compelled to walk as far away from the entrance of the underground platform, before I stop and take in my surroundings.

I'm in a barren landscape, a vast, derelict space that is oh so familiar to me.

But it can't be, the last time I was here, this space had been transformed.

This was 'The Land of love' the theme park that had The Love Rush rollercoaster as its main attraction. But before that, it was his home, where our love grew and it became our home.

A cool breeze sweeps past, and with it a fluttering at my feet. A small square of paper dances in the dusty breeze. I pick it up, turn it round and stare at it.

It's the picture of us as small children, his arm wrapped protectively around my shoulders, his sister Kelly looking at us admiringly. Bringing it closer to my face, I study the dusty, derelict ground on which we children stand, and compare it to where I now stand, alone.

My feet kick the ground, and I pick up a handful of dusty gravel, allowing it slip away between my fingers. This is real.

I'm back in the place that we first met. This was our beginning.

But I'm back without him.

My knees buckle and I crouch to the ground and say his name – Kade.

Then I allow myself cry – and I cry until I fall asleep.

......

My burning skin wakes me. I am lay where I fell, in a fetal position, with my cheek exposed to the harsh mid day sun.

Sitting up, my reality returns; I'm back in Chicago – but how?

And where has the theme park gone? I ponder: could The Surgeon's people have invented some kind of time travel, to return me to my beginning and finish me off? Which is what the vicious little girl implied.

But No, The Surgeon dealt in science facts, not fictions like time travel.

Standing up, I know there's a rationale reason for this. Putting the precious picture safely in my pocket, I try to think.

Looking around, my heart aches as I take in the familiar funnels and derelict warehouses wherein our story unfolded. And then I spot a rare splash of colour amongst the concrete grey. Stretching up into the sky is a line of red – it looks to be a remnant of track, from The Love Rush rollercoaster.

I walk towards it with an empty heart.

When I reach it, I see that it is the first lift of The Love Rush. It stands alone, fractured, incomplete and useless; a little like me, right now.

Leaning against the broken structure, memories flash before my eyes. And despite all the horrors that were endured in this space, it's only the lovely, laughter, and love filled scenes that return to me. I see Kade's beaming face, coaxing and cajoling me, "Admit it, you feel the same about me as I do about you!" I hear him say. I wonder if these flashing scenes are the one's people experience before death. But I don't feel like I'm dying.

My head snaps forward as my attention is grabbed by a figure in the distance, approaching.

My eyes scrutinize: the height, the shape, the walk are all so familiar to his. I spring forward, my quickening heart propelling me to sprint towards him.

I slow down as I near him, the bright sun dazzles my eyes, but I see he's disheveled and dusty, like me.

It's him, please God make it be him – "Kade, is it you?" I shout, my throat dry and raspy, but hope in my every word.

As he nears and the truth dawns, I deflate.

The guy looks at me with sympathy, "You survived this?" He asks.

I return his question with a question, "Survived what?"

His sympathy lessens in response to my curt manner, "This fun park was obliterated, wiped out by a series of explosions; razed to the ground..."

...I zone out as he continues to talk, but I find myself staring at him. He's about Kade's age and I can see his dusty and disheveled appearance is because he's probably part of a construction team, clearing out the space of bomb detritus and debris.

He continues to talk, but I'm not listening, I cut him off with a despairing, "Have you found anyone else?"

He shakes his head, "No. And seriously, if you've survived what happened here, you need to start counting your blessings. You got a second chance, a new beginning." He flashes me a smile, "You're one very lucky Lady..."