Strike 3: The Returning Sunrise (32 page)

In the dark florist shop across the street from the eastern side of the skyscraper, Chad waited with Scatterbolt, sitting with the robot at a table full of potted plants and bags of seeds. Behind them, Keplar Junior was playing with a plastic shovel, chewing it into thousands of pieces.

“What do you think is going on up there?” Chad asked. “You think she made it?”

“I don’t know,” Scatterbolt replied. “But if we don’t hear from her in two minutes, I’m heading up there.”

“But they’ll recognize you,” Chad said. “You said your face has been on wanted posters all over this place.”

“I know, but it’s a risk I’ll have to take. I’m already sick to my stomach about bringing you guys here. If she hasn’t gotten her chance to talk to him yet, it’s too late now. We have to get out of here soon and—” The robot’s eyes grew large and flashed with a yellow light. “Oh, no,” he said.

“What?” Chad asked. “What’s ‘oh no?’”

Scatterbolt stood up. He walked across the room and slowly opened the door. Stepping out into the dark, silent city, he looked down the street, toward the eastern part of Harrison.

About a block away, in the middle of an intersection, there stood a single Hooded Gore, staring back at Scatterbolt, with its claws dangling at its sides. Its head was crooked.

However, Scatterbolt soon learned the Gore was not alone. From around the corner, the demon was soon joined by nineteen more Gores, all of which barreled down the street and stood behind the first Gore in a pack. As the cloaked creatures looked down the road toward the florist shop, their red eyes were glowing in the night.

Scatterbolt turned to Chad. “Stay in the building. Don’t move.”

 “Oh my god,” Chad said, looking out the open door. “Oh my god. They found us. They found us somehow.”

“You stay there,” Scatterbolt said again, holding up his hand. “Both of you. You and Keplar Junior. While I distract them, you run and get as far away from here as you can.”

“You can’t take them all on at once,” Chad said. “They’ll—they’ll—”

The squadron of Gores suddenly hissed en masse and charged down the street towards Scatterbolt, who stood in the middle of the road and waited for them.

“I’m going to draw all their attention,” Scatterbolt said, yelling over the noise of the Gores’ clawed feet hammering the asphalt. “You get away with Keplar Junior. As fast as you can. Don’t look back.”

“I can’t,” Chad stammered, watching the enraged demons near Scatterbolt. “I can’t go out there without…”

Scatterbolt stood with his palm raised, ready to fire his globs of oil at the Gores. There were too many of them. He knew that. But he had to give Chad time to get away.

“Take Keplar Junior and get out of here,” Scatterbolt said, as the red-eyed Gores marauded toward him. “Wait until all this is over, then head back to the Common and try to find Orion.”

“But you can’t face them alone!” Chad yelled. “Call for help! Do something!”

But Scatterbolt didn’t answer. He began picking off the Gores with his oil globs, but their numbers were too many, and he couldn’t even make a dent in their oncoming pack. Soon, the stampede was upon him, and he had to pop his helicopter from the top of his head and hover up into the air. But, he knew he couldn’t fly too high above them, or else the Gores would give up on him and head after Chad and Keplar Junior. From six feet off the ground, the little robot continued to send sticky oil globs down at the demons, but the Gores were jumping up and grabbing at his legs, clawing at this feet. The robot knew it was only a matter of time before the Gores were able to leap high enough and pull him down to the street.  

In the florist shop, Chad looked out the open door, unsure of what to do and so frightened he felt like crying. He looked into the dark shop behind him, trying to decide if he should wait there and hide in the shadows, but then he looked back out into the city. All of the remaining Gores underneath Scatterbolt were jumping up like jackals, climbing onto each other’s backs and grabbing at the robot, who was only inches from their reach.

At the moment, all of the demons were completely distracted, and Chad knew he could run out of the shop and down the street in the opposite direction, away from them, any time he wanted. The whole city was deserted in that area, and he knew he could go there and hide somewhere until everything was quiet, just like Scatterbolt had told him to.

But he couldn’t. He was too afraid to go out into the city by himself. And he couldn’t live with himself if he just left Scatterbolt there with all of the Gores.

But what could he do? What could he do to help?

Behind Chad, Keplar Junior began barking.

“I know, KJ, we have to leave, but we can’t, we have to—”

From the table where Chad had been sitting, Keplar Junior began barking even louder, and more wildly, his yips echoing in the florist shop. Chad could also hear the dinosaur jumping up and down, his claws scratching against the shop’s linoleum floor.

Chad turned around. After quickly leaping up onto a stool near the table, Keplar Junior began growling like a mad dog, as loud as he could, with his head darting up and down. Chad realized the three-horned dinosaur wasn’t barking because he was afraid. He was barking at something on the table.

Chad walked to the table and looked down.

Keplar Junior was barking at the laser blaster that Scatterbolt had brought with them from Capricious.

“What am I supposed to do with that?” Chad asked. “I don’t know how to use that thing! I don’t even know what it is!”

But Keplar Junior wouldn’t stop barking, and nodding his head toward the blaster.
Outside, Chad could still hear Scatterbolt’s globs of oil exploding uselessly against the city street.

Reaching down, Chad picked up the chrome, shining blaster. The weapon’s barrel was wide, flat, and horizontal—it looked more like some kind of vacuum attachment than a blaster, and it was cold and surprisingly light in his hand. Rolling it over, he looked at the small, rectangular, blank screen on its side.

So nervous and terrified that his knees were barely keeping him standing, Chad stepped out of the open florist shop and into the street.

With his arms trembling, Chad raised the blaster, holding it with both hands about four feet off the ground. After taking a deep breath, he grimaced, doing all he could to stop himself from vomiting.

“Scatterbolt!” Chad yelled, his voice cracking. “Go higher!”

Scatterbolt turned around. Chad was standing in the street, pointing the laser blaster at the army of Gores.

“What are you doing?” Scatterbolt yelled. “Get inside!”

“Just stay up there!”

Closing his eyes and turning away, Chad pulled the trigger of the blaster. But, he was so scared and nervous he forgot to let go. He just held the trigger down and looked away.

From the air, Scatterbolt eyeballed the barrel of the blaster. He could see that the flat-mouthed weapon was charged and ready to blow. All of its chrome was shining bright green, and the screen on its side now read: CHARGE
FULL
.

“Chad!” the robot yelled. “Let go!”

Finally, Chad let go of the trigger.

Instantly, a green laser the entire width of the city street shot out of the weapon’s barrel, zooming out over the road. In a bright, lime-colored flash, the beam lit up the night, zipped through the air above the ground, and sliced right through every single Hooded Gore. Before the laser beam was even at the end of the street, the demons dropped to the asphalt in a heap, without the ability to let out even a single scream.

Removing his arm from his eyes, Scatterbolt blinked and looked down at the Gores. There was now only a harmless pile of smoking cloaks there, with their insides completely empty.

Scatterbolt looked back at Chad with a wide smile.

“Chad!” the robot yelled. “You did it!”

Chad opened his eyes. He looked down the road. With his arms still held out in front of him and holding the blaster, he let out a small squeak of a laugh.

Then, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he fainted, falling to the street in a clump.

***

On the top floor of the skyscraper, Jennifer stood with the Daybreaker near the office’s giant window, behind the broken wooden desk. Reaching into her pocket, she retrieved the front page of a newspaper, folded up into a small square. As she placed the newspaper on the desk, Jennifer realized the Daybreaker’s nerves and confusion were slowly fading away—he no longer grew angry and moved away from her when she came near him.

“I know it’s confusing,” Jennifer said, placing her finger on the newspaper, “but you’re not from this timeline. This is a different timeline—a different world—than the one you’re from. Look, I brought this with me to show you. Do you remember what month it was when Rigel first came to you at the grocery store?”

“Yes,” the Daybreaker said. “It was the beginning of October. I was supposed to meet you later that night at Stacey Redmond’s party.”

“Right, and when was that? Like two months ago, right?”

“Something like that.”

“But look at this.” Jennifer pointed to the date on the Bridgton Herald’s front page. “It’s the middle of August. That’s not possible, right? And look at this.” She reached into her other pocket and retrieved her iPhone. Pulling up a series of photographs, she swiped through them. The pictures showed Tobin and his friends at their high school graduation, dressed in their black robes and pointed hats.    

Jennifer stopped on a picture of Tobin and his mom outside of the high school. The boy was smiling and holding up his diploma for the camera, with his other arm draped across his mother’s shoulders.

“See?” Jennifer said. “This hasn’t happened yet where you’re from, right? Because you’re in the wrong timeline, Tobin. Rigel took you from your timeline and brought you here, but you should be back in the past, in your own timeline.”

Jennifer handed the phone to the Daybreaker. He stared at it, thinking, his eyes narrowed with confusion.

“I don’t even understand it fully,” Jennifer said, “but Rigel went back in time, captured you, and brought you here. To this timeline. That’s why there are two Tobin’s here—two versions of you. The one out there, the one dressed as Strike? That’s the Tobin from this timeline.

“You weren’t supposed to meet Rigel that night at the supermarket, Tobin. You were supposed to meet Orion. That’s what happened in this timeline, and you became Strike, you became a hero. But, somehow, Rigel went back in time and changed that. So, instead of Orion, you met Rigel. And then you became...you...”

Jennifer didn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t want to bring up all the terrible things that the Daybreaker had done.

“You were lied to, Tobin,” Jennifer said. “Rigel and Nova lied to you. That helmet of yours? It showed you things that aren’t true. The Jennifer in your timeline—she’s still alive. And so is Chad, and your mom. It was all a lie.”

Jennifer walked to the window. The Daybreaker followed her, looking outside, at the destruction.

“Look what’s happened,” Jennifer said, holding out her hand. “Boston is gone. The Earth is in danger. Rigel wants to enslave everyone on Earth. You have to help us, Tobin. You have to end this.”

The Daybreaker watched the battle. The horizon was burning.

“Does Tobin—the Tobin from this timeline—know how you feel?” the Daybreaker asked. “Have you ever told him?”

Suddenly an explosion rocked the building. Jennifer had to reach out and grab the desk chair to keep from falling to the floor. The Daybreaker stood at the window and looked down. A massive fire was raging at the foot of the skyscraper.

“You need to get out of here,” the Daybreaker said. “Now.”

In the park outside of the Trident, the battle was nearly over. As Tobin crouched behind a fountain, pressing his back against the marble and holding his ribs, he scanned Boston Common. Heroes—and his friends—lay strewn about the scorched earth. To his left, he saw Junior, ripped from his mech suit and slumped against a railing, with his eyes closed. To his right, he saw Agent Everybody, laying face down on the ground and motionless, with his ray gun a few inches from his fingers. Tobin had no way of knowing who was dead and who was still alive.

Groaning and shifting his body, the boy kneeled on one leg. Over the top of the fountain, he could see a squadron of Eradicators, marching the remaining Rytonian Rebels toward the skyscraper. The rebels were chained at their wrists and shackled at their ankles. At the other end of the park, every few moments, Tobin could see a giant red flash, snapping brightly in between the buildings in the east. This meant the survivors and the wounded heroes were retreating back to Capricious.

Reaching up, grimacing through the pain, Tobin pushed the button on his earpiece and spoke into his communicator.

“Keplar. Keplar, can you hear me? Where are you?”

Nearby, Keplar was standing near a stretcher in one of the buildings along the side of the park. He and Ida were trying to force Orion to stay in the stretcher, but the old man was resisting, reaching for his bow and arrows.

“I’m with the medics,” Keplar said into his communicator. “I had to get the old man and bring him in here. He got hit pretty bad. Where are you?”

“I’m in the Common,” Tobin said. “I’m not sure who’s left.”

“Krandor, kid,” Keplar snapped, his hand on Orion’s shoulder. “You gotta get out of there. We need to regroup, get back to Capricious, and come up with another tactic. This one is shot to hell.”

“Nope,” Tobin said, sitting in the dirt. “I’m facing him now. Rigel has to be stopped. Get who you can together and give me some backup.”

Keplar thought it over. He looked around the medic building. There weren’t many heroes left: just Mad Dog John, Adrianna, Aykrada, and a few of King Ontombe’s animal warriors.

“Damn, kid,” Keplar said, shaking his head. “If this is how you want to go out, I’m there. Just give me a second. We’ll be right there.”

As Tobin released the button on his earpiece, Rigel hovered over to him, surrounded by the blue, electrified flames.

“It’s over, Tobin,” the red giant said. “The fight you showed was admirable. But it is time for you to face your destiny.”

“It’s not over,” Tobin said, clutching his ribs and trying to stand. “It’s never gonna be over. Because I’m not gonna stop until Earth is safe. I’ll never stop.”

Rigel snickered from above. “Finally, I see why your father always made Vincent laugh.” He held out his arm. “Look around you, Tobin. You are the only one left. I have dismantled each and every one of you. It is time to give in. There comes a time when you must admit defeat.”

Tobin got to his feet, coughing and spitting up blood. “I’ll never give up. I’ll keep fighting for what I believe in until the day I die. You know why? You know who taught me that? Orion.”

Tobin stood as tall as he could and walked toward Rigel.

“You were given a gift when Orion came into your life, Rigel. He could have taught you. He could have helped you, guided you. But instead you became a whining, simpering, misguided little buffoon. And that’s all you’ll ever be, no matter what kind of delusions you have in that head of yours.”

The fire around Rigel grew. “You can talk all you want, Tobin. Just like your father. All he ever did was talk, and look where he ended up. There’s a reason why I’m here and your dad and the others are gone. There’s a difference between talking about what you’re going to do, and actually making it a reality.”

Tobin painfully removed his bo-staff from his back. “Can I at least get credit for using the word ‘simpering?’ That was the ‘word of the day’ on my calendar the other day. I thought that was pretty good.”

Rigel rose higher into the air, hovering directly above Tobin. “A change is here, Tobin. A change Vincent planned for and spoke about for nearly a century. The next phase of Earth has begun. And you will simply have to be something my people step over as they begin to rebuild Earth into a better world.”

With a ground-shaking roar, Rigel reared his burning hand back, letting the fire rage, and prepared to swoop down and blast the weakened Tobin.

“Rrrrraaaaaaarrrggghhh!”

But then, suddenly, the red giant stopped. He stayed there, motionless in the air a few feet above Tobin, as if frozen in his blue flames. His face was stuck, contorted into his angry roar, and his arm was raised behind him, his fingers spread open. He didn’t—or couldn’t—move a muscle.

Bewildered, Tobin looked around the Common. He saw that everything else in the park was also frozen in time. The flames on the trees were no longer flickering—they were simply standing still and pointing straight up into the sky. The Eradicators near the skyscraper were stuck in mid-march, with the captured rebels behind them also not moving, their shackled feet in mid-stride. Even the smoke rising off the ground and into the sky was still, as if someone had pushed pause on the area inside Boston Common.

As Tobin looked back to Rigel, the boy realized the only thing not stuck in time was himself—but even he couldn’t move very well. Stepping forward, he found that he was now moving in slow-motion, with his head filled with a strange fog, and a dull, constant hum vibrating in his ears.

Then, Tobin saw him. He was walking through the park and toward him from the entrance of the skyscraper. It was the Daybreaker. He was wearing his armor but not his helmet, and appeared to be completely unaffected by the freezing of time, moving across the grass at normal speed. However, he also appeared to be sickly and limping, dragging his armored left foot behind him as he walked. As he shuffled down the middle of the Common, he was clutching his arm across his stomach, as if even the simple act of walking was causing him to use all of his strength.

However, when the Daybreaker finally reached Tobin, the armored boy’s expression showed no pain, illness, or suffering. He simply stared at the mirror image of himself, with one arm dangling at his side.

Preparing himself to face the Daybreaker, Tobin forced his own arm to move in slow-motion and bring his bo-staff in front of him. However, he soon realized the Daybreaker was not going to attack him. He also realized the Daybreaker now looked less confused, less angry. As strange as it sounded, he now looked more like Tobin.

Then, with eyes locked forward, the Daybreaker slowly raised his armored hand and pointed at Tobin. After the Daybreaker’s arm burst with blue-and-white electricity, the energy soon traveled down his fingers and out at Tobin. Closing his eyes and preparing himself for the devastating blast, Tobin saw a bright, snapping, blue pop of lightning, and then darkness.