Raegan's heart jumped into her throat and started to pound viciously, even harder than when she faced the monsters only moments before. Could this be real? Or did he mean he knew her father from before? That didn't seem likely since he was clearly around the same age as her, but just because she couldn't recall anyone other than her father, didn't mean others were the same.
Either way, she needed to establish facts before she got too excited.
"He...he's alive?" she bit out, her voice hoarse with emotion. "You've seen him?"
"Yes, your father is definitely alive. You didn't know that?" Raegan shook her head, silenced. This was the news she'd always wanted but now it overwhelmed her. "He's an incredible man, the things he's achieved are unbelievable."
"Achieved? What are you talking about?"
"He's created the largest settlement of humans I've ever seen."
Raegan didn't know how to take this; her father was with people. She was alone, and others got to be with him. It wasn't fair...but also, this was good news, wasn't it?
"I see...a settlement..."
"He's trying to get everyone back to Earth."
"But isn't Earth uninhabitable?"
"Well, your father believes that the wormhole created by the nuclear blast will have gotten rid of the radiation, so by now it should be fine."
Raegan remembered her father as an incredible man, but she was his daughter and only eight at the time, of course she would think that. Miguel only just met him as an adult, and he seemed to think so too.
"He's saved so many people, you know."
"So, where is he now?"
"The settlement moves around every so often as they hunt for Earth, trying to get back home, and that's how I ended up here. I got lost. It was a hostile place and I got caught up in a mess of my own making." Miguel's eyes fell downwards. "I seem to have bad luck, I've created a lot of issues. But you've seen that yourself."
Raegan could see that Miguel needed comfort, but her head span too rapidly for that to happen. She wasn't great with sympathy anyway, that wasn't really her forte. Not ever letting anyone in too close did that to her.
"That doesn't matter, I'm not bothered about saving you, or whatever, I just want to find my dad."
"I want to find him too. That's what I'm in the middle of doing. I just...I can't believe that I've met Alan's daughter. That's unbelievable." He suddenly narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You are her, aren't you? This isn't some sort of joke."
"I should be asking you the same question. Of course he's my father."
"I'm sorry, I'm just a bit...this is overwhelming."
"Tell me about it! I've spent the last decade looking for my dad and now you're here telling me that you know him, that you've spent time with him."
Unexpectedly, a small sob escaped Raegan's lips. Emotion hit her from nowhere. She now knew that her father was around...but he remained just out of her reach. Still.
"I'm sorry," Miguel gasped. "I didn't want to upset you."
"No, it's okay." Raegan tried her hardest to get control of herself. "Tell me more."
"Well, I met him quite early on, to be honest, when there weren't many people around, and he told me about you right away. He knew then that you were still alive, and he was right. As a pretty fragile nine year old who was just trying to figure the world out by myself, that was a massive comfort."
"So, you were alone? When you found my father, I mean."
"Yeah. I guess my parents could be out there somewhere, but I don't know. I kinda have this memory that they died in the blast but I'm not quite sure. That might just be the way my child brain interpreted it."
"Wow, that's...I hope you find them one day. It must be hard."
"I feel like I know you," Miguel says with a soft smile. "Your dad has told me so much about you, and he's shown me a picture from his wallet too. You still look quite similar."
"I do?" Raegan thought she's changed a lot!
"It's the wild curly red hair and your violet eyes."
"Oh wow." Automatically, she ran her fingers through the hair that usually drove her wild, but today had brought her some good. It made Miguel recognise her.
"Alan has always talked about finding you, and now he has. Or...I have."
Sadness flew through Raegan. She was closer than she'd ever been before, but still light years away. It crushed her chest so hard she could barely breathe.
"But he hasn't, has he? There's no way we can find him. The exit holes are random, we can't guarantee that we'll find him."
"No...I know you're right, but if he's searching for Earth, maybe that's what we should do too. It's unlikely and it will be hard, but together we can do it, can't we?"
Raegan knew that if she agreed to spending time with Miguel then she risked letting someone actually in to her hard heart. This wouldn't be someone random who she could just choose to not get close to, this would be a link to her father...
But how would throwing away her one shot feel? Sure, she could hunt for Earth without Miguel, but perhaps it was time to let her barriers slide down, just a little bit.
Every day of this life was different, and more often than not, she embraced every challenge, this was just another one.
"Okay." She nodded, her chest twisting up painfully as she did. She didn't feel as certain as her voice sounded. "Let's do it. Let's look for Earth."
Raegan looked at Miguel and he stared right back at her. It wasn't ever a duo she expected to find herself in, but there was a chance it could turn out to be the best decision she'd ever made.
Maybe.
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