The Children Who Time Lost (37 page)

“Ready?” Michael said.

I nodded and we walked out of the house and got into the SUV.

We arrived in Tonopah eight hours later. I yawned and looked out the window. Desert sand greeted me in all directions. Michael yawned in the passenger seat and stretched his arms. Manuel took a sharp left off road and went uphill for a few miles. Then he parked in what looked like the middle of nowhere and shut the engine off.

“Are we here?” I asked.

Michael glanced at Doug. “Well?”

Doug opened the door and stepped out without speaking. We all got out and stood beside him. The air was moist and humid, with barely any wind to accompany the heat. Doug was staring east. I followed his gaze but didn’t see anything. He pointed into the distance. “There.”

I looked closer and then I saw it. The hole in the ground was huge. From this distance, it looked like a crater the size of a football field.

Doug pointed higher up in the same direction, toward the hills to our right. “We’ll camp up there until nightfall and then we’ll use the C4.”

I stared at the crater a little while longer before returning to the car. “Let’s go then.”

Twilight was approaching when we arrived at our destination. Manuel left the SUV at the top of the hill beside a small cave. We all got out and made our way down a set of steep slopes until we got to within thirty feet of the crater. Manuel and Michael set up a tent where they could start assembling the bomb. The sun had disappeared by the time they’d finished. I walked inside and looked at five blocks of plastic explosives and a number of wires and metal casings. I squatted. “What can I do?”

“We’re almost done,” Michael said.

Manuel gave me a look, silently asking that I leave them to it. I walked out and saw Doug standing at the edge of the hill, staring at the full moon. I stood beside him. He glanced at me and turned back to the sky.

“What was she like?” I asked.

He looked at me but didn’t speak.

“Your wife.”

He closed his eyes, looking like every ounce of sorrow and pain he’d been bottling up had just stabbed him.

Damn. Why did I ask that?

He opened his eyes and smiled at me. “You would have liked her. She always saw the best in people.” He walked to the edge of the tent and sat down. I joined him.

“What was her name?”

“Sophie.” He wiped a tear from his face. “I remember when our numbers came through. The first winners of the Lotto.” He stared into my eyes. “It was a big deal.” His voice grew unsteady. “It really was.” He sounded as if he were trying to convince me.

“I know what you mean. I didn’t believe in having a second child. When my husband and I won, I …” I sniffled, stood up and took a few steps away from him. I remembered the look on Kevin’s face when he shouted my name on the red carpet in Hollywood. I wished I could go back to that. I missed my husband.

“I’m sorry,” Doug said. “I didn’t mean to bring back old wounds.” He walked up to me and caressed my right cheek. I turned away.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean …”

I turned back to him, but then a bright white light emerged from beneath us, blinding me. I thrust my hands over my eyes and dropped to the ground. When I opened them, Doug was crouched beside me.

“It’s happening,” I said.

Doug nodded. “I’ll go get the others.”

We all stood three feet from the edge of the hill and stared at the swirling light. It howled and spun like a tornado. We hadn’t expected the portal to just appear like this. Was this a coincidence or did someone else know of our plan? My hands quaked as I tried to imagine what would come out.

The howling eventually ceased and the portal started to expand. Two feet stepped to the ground, and hands followed.

As the body came into view, I noticed the slithery organisms moving back and forth like snakes. Manuel took a few steps back, his face juddering. But the other two maintained their postures. The Shrinik stepped onto the desert and turned to stare at the portal. Some of the organisms surrounding its body leaped to the ground and circled it.

The gateway closed moments later. The Shrinik stared at the sky and roared. Then it changed back to the body of a human. The organisms merged with its skin and disappeared. In front of us stood a well-groomed man, maybe in his late twenties. He wore a crisp gray suit and had a clean-shaven face and bright blond hair. From a distance, he appeared to have a toned physique. He pulled out what looked like a cell phone and pressed a few buttons.

We all backed toward the tent. I was still questioning the convenience of a portal’s just magically appearing. But we were still clear about what we had to do. Michael nodded at Doug and entered the tent. A moment later, he returned holding two AN-94 assault rifles. He threw one to me and the other to Doug. He returned to the tent and came out with one more AN-94 and the SV98 sniper, which he passed to Manuel. Doug held his gun in the air and walked down the hill, Michael hot on his heels. I followed a few yards behind. I saw Manuel take up position on the ground, the sniper rifle aimed in the direction of the Shrinik. The man kept looking at the sky as if waiting for something to fall from it.

When we reached the bottom, Doug glanced at me and nodded. I raised my gun and pointed it at the man. Doug took steady steps forward while Michael tiptoed left, a few feet behind the man. The man would see Doug at any moment. My finger was steady and waiting to pull the trigger if necessary.

Just then, the man’s gaze met mine, but I didn’t lower my gun. His blue eyes shone in the moonlight. I swallowed and my knees started to wobble, but I kept my aim steady. The man dropped his phone to the ground and reached for his waist, but Doug leaped in front of him, his gun pointed at him.

“Don’t even think about it.”

The man raised his hands and backed away. Then Michael ran forward with his gun pointed as well. The man glanced at him before resting his gaze on me.

“Throw your gun to the ground,” Michael said.

The man didn’t budge.

“Do it now.”

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a bright silver gun. He dropped it to the ground. Doug inched forward and picked it up. After studying it for a moment, he put it in his pocket. I lowered my gun, but Michael left his pointed at the man.

“Are there any more of you coming?” Doug said.

The man looked at Doug and shook his head. “What’re you guys doing? Do you really think you can defeat an entire race?” He looked past me at Manuel, who had left his position and now stood a few feet from us. “Come on. There are four of you. What difference do you think you can really make?”

“We can start by killing you,” Doug said. “What do you think about that?”

The man shrugged. “Listen, I’m on your side here. I might be a Shrinik, but I’m working against them.”

We all looked at him, bewildered, but none of us spoke.

“I swear to you, my mission here is to take them down.”

I walked forward. “Where are you from?”

“2086.”

I frowned. Why were people coming from so many points in the future back to 2013?

The man took a step toward me.

Doug charged forward and raised his gun. “Don’t take another step or I swear I’ll take you down.”

He nodded at Doug but then looked at me again. “I know who you are, Rachel Harris.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I
tried forming words but couldn’t speak. A Shrinik from 2086 knew me. How? I just wanted my son back, but now I was faced with the reality of aliens’ traveling around in time at will. Was it my fault? Had I changed too much by coming back here? The man ignored Doug’s continuous warnings, dropped his hands and kept walking toward me. Michael pulled a Glock from his pocket and shot into the sky. The man stopped, and I walked toward him. He smiled at me as if he’d known me for years.

“How do you know my name?” I asked.

“Because in the war I’m fighting in the future, your face gives all of us hope.”

Michael shifted beside me, his eyes riveted to the man. “What war?”

“In my time, the humans are at war with the Shriniks. I’m part of a long-serving resistance group known as the Originals.”

Doug stepped beside us. “So you’re playing both sides?”

The man nodded. “With the intelligence I’m able to get, the resistance value my contributions.” He bowed to us like we were royalty. “My name is Curtis Henning. I promise you we fight for the same side.”

None of us spoke for a while. Then Manuel spoke up, much to my surprise. He had typically spoken only when Michael spoke to him first. “But why would you pick humans over your own race?”

“I believe in peace, and in my time, my people just want dominance. They would rather murder every human being than share space with them. I can’t be part of such evil.”

I stared at him and wondered if he’d come from a 2086 that had been affected by the changes I might have made, or if I always came back here to 2013 regardless of how many wrinkles occurred because of time travel in general. I glanced at Doug. “What do you think?”

Doug stepped forward, still pointing his gun. “Give me one reason why I should believe anything you say.”

The man raised his hands again. “If I’m lying, I would keep you here and not tell you about the cars filled with Shriniks on their way here to pick me up.”

I shuddered and took a step back.

“What do you mean?” Michael demanded. “You mean they’re coming now?”

Curtis nodded and picked up his cell. After staring at it, he faced us. “I’d say they’ll be here in under two minutes. They know I’m here. Now, if I were with them, I’d just let them capture all of you, but I’m not doing that.”

None of us responded.

“Now stop wasting time and get out of sight.”

Manuel backed up, but Michael took a step forward. “No way. What, so you can just leave with them? Do you think we’re crazy? The minute you’re in the car, you’ll sell us out.”

Curtis shook his head. “I guess you just have to trust me.”

“I’m sorry, Curtis,” I said, “but right now, we don’t trust anyone.”

Doug walked toward him and flicked his gun. “Get moving. You’re coming with us.”

Curtis glared at Doug.

“Are you deaf?” Doug growled. He stood beside Curtis and pushed his back.

Curtis gave him another hard stare and started walking toward us.

“And don’t even think of changing,” Doug said. “I’ll blast you with the gun before those nasty creatures come crawling out.”

Curtis laughed and kept walking. I saw a faint light east of us. It drew closer and closer. Headlights. “They’re coming,” I shouted.

Doug ran forward, pushing Curtis. Michael and I followed Manuel up the hill. When we arrived, Manuel had already started taking the tent down.

“What’re you doing?” I asked.

“We can’t be this close to the ground,” he said. “We need to go farther up.”

Michael dived down and helped him. “He’s right. We’re too exposed down here.”

Doug arrived with Curtis moments later, his gun never straying from the Shrinik’s head.

“I’m telling you,” Curtis said, “this is a mistake. If they don’t find me, they’ll know something is wrong.”