Volume II - Episode 8 Where: Melbourne, Australia When: 1 month after E-Day, 8:17 am Voices. Gentle rocking. "Kim," somebody said. "I need you to wake up." No! Kim thought. I'm not leaving this dream! In here, Jess is still alive, and I'm with her, and Rodney is dead, and I'm free. But in real life, I'm Rodney's hostage, and he bashes me every single night. And Jess is...Jess is... But the voice was insistent. "Kim, I need you to wake up now. Come on, baby." Kim squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. She wanted to stay in her dream. She never wanted it to end. Me and Jessica back together, in each others arms forever and ever and ever and... Suddenly there was a gentle pressure around her right eye, pulling the eyelids apart, physically forcing her eye to open. She tried to resist, but it was too hard. She allowed her eyelids to be pulled apart. She looked up... Straight into the face of her beloved Jessica Bell. "She's awake," Jessica said, looking relieved. "Good," a man's voice said. It's Ken, Kim realised. It's Ken's voice. "Keep talking to her. Try to keep her awake until we get home." Kim tried to make sense of her surroundings. The last thing remembered, she had been in Bendelle Shopping Centre's car park, and Jessica had just told her she was a witch. Now she appeared to be lying down in the back seat of a four-wheel-drive, with her head on Jessica's lap. No, that can't be right, her mind insisted. Jessica's dead. She died in a car crash. She died in a fire. She... "Are you okay, babe?" Jessica asked, gently stroking her hair. "You gave me a really good scare back there." "Is this real?" Kim asked, drowsily. The world was spinning. The pain in her left eye was excruciating. "Are you real?" Jessica smiled her most beautiful smile. "Yes, baby," she said, kissing Kim's forehead. "I'm really real." "What happened?" "Remember 'Two-Cap' Katie? Remember how she would always take two caps of G, even though she would always pass out after? Well, you did that. You passed out right in front of me on the shopping centre car park. Would have cracked your skull open on the bitumen if I hadn't caught you with my cat-like reflexes!" "Oh my God. 'Two-Cap'...she was such a fradge." "I know!" Jessica said, laughing. "What a lightweight!" "My head hurts, Jess." The laughter faded from Jessica's face. She looked towards the front passenger seat of the four-wheel-drive. "Ken?" "She'll be okay," Ken said. His voice was calm and soothing, so full of wisdom and knowledge. "I think she has a concussion. Once we get home we'll make her comfortable and fix her right up. In a few days she'll be good as new." Kim lifted her head to look at Ken's face. The movement put pressure on Jessica's thigh. Jessica winced painfully. "How's the leg?" Ken asked. Jessica grimaced in response. Her expression said it all: it hurts. "You shouldn't have run." "Why?" Kim asked groggily. "Why shouldn't she have run?" "Don't worry about me, baby," Jessica said. "I'm tough." "Why shouldn't you have run?" Jessica winced again as she tried to move her leg to a more comfortable angle. Her face clenched as a bolt of pain ran up her thigh. She took a few moments to regain her breath, then explained: "I got pretty messed-up in the car crash, honey. I broke my neck, both thighs, my left knee, the right side of my pelvis, both shoulders, um..." "Your wrists," Ken reminded her. "Oh yeah, both my wrists and also my left forearm. I was a mess." "Oh my God!" Kim exclaimed. "I'd probably be dead if not for Ken and Victor. They pulled me out of the wreck and took me back to Vic's place. Ken fixed me up. If not for him, I'd be a cripple." "Is he...Ken...is he a doctor?" "Not exactly. He's a carnomancer." [CONTINUED IN FIRST COMMENT BELOW]