Time Spent (26 page)

"You drive the kid home, Frank. Don't let
him drive today."

"I sure will," Carl's father replied. He put
an arm around him and ushered him away. "You okay, son?"

"Not really," Carl answered.

After they got in the car, Carl could no
longer hold back the tears. He felt them stream down his face, hot
and salty tasting as he sucked them through his lips with each
heaving sob.

"Oh my God, Carl, at least wait 'til we're
out of the lot so none of the boys see."

"It's all my fault, Dad. It's all my
fault."

"God damn right it is," Frank Macklin said.
"Davis is a good man. You're god damn right it's your fault."

Carl's cheeks flushed. He didn't know why he
had expected his father to say something comforting like the
manager had. He should have known better. He sat in silence,
sobbing quietly to himself.

"God damn right, and don't you forget
it."

______________________

During the night, Carl had torn free the
lining from his lab coat pockets and used that to keep the dust out
of his nostrils and mouth. The boulders had provided protection
from the razor sharp shards in the storm, and his warren, such as
it was, had provided him just enough shelter to survive.

Carl emerged the next morning, caked with
dirt, his coat in tatters, but alive. He had just enough strength
to begin his morning dig for water and food.

As the light of the first sun struck him,
Carl knew a tiny ray of hope as well. A path to victory had to lie
ahead, and he would find it. One day after another, he would pick
his way through the dangers ahead and find the road home. He was
going to survive.

______________________

Carl sighed as Zachary approached. He had no
choice this time. "Very well, Zachary. Do it."

Zachary stood in front of him. He reached a
hand forth, placing it on Carl's forehead.

"Carl, come say good bye to your
brother."

"No." Carl lay on his bed, facing the wall.
He refused to turn to face her.

His mother, Linda Macklin, placed a hand on
his shoulder. "He's leaving, Carl. He's going off to the war."

"He BROKE my PLANE!" Carl tightened his arms
around himself.

"Son..." She rubbed his arm. "I know that
seems important, but you don't want to not say good bye. What
if..." She choked up and could not get the words out. "It's
war..."

"NO."

She let out a long breath. "All right, Carl.
All right."

She stood and went into Terrence's bedroom.
"He won't come."

Frank, her husband, turned from his place by
the window. "By God, I'll make him-"

"No, Dad." Terrence stood, slinging his
duffel over his shoulder. "It's okay. He's mad because I broke the
wheel off his toy plane. Let him sulk, he'll get over it."

"It's not right," Frank said. "Little
snot."

"Frank..." Linda said.

"Well, it's not. It's just not." Frank faced
the window, trying to hide how close he was to tears.

Terrence took a last look around. "It's time
to go." He reached into his pocket and withdrew the plane, its
wheel freshly glued in place, and set it down on the bookshelf.

Carl's eyes opened, fresh tears spilling
from them.

"I know this..." Carl searched Zachary's
face. "What is the point of this? I know this?"

"Same thing happened to me," Becca said
wearily. "When Zachary touched me, I saw things I already
knew."

"I never said good bye." Carl looked down.
"I didn't say good bye, and my brother...he died. He died thinking
I never forgave him."

"He's with God now," Zachary said.

Carl looked up at him. "That can't be all,
it doesn't make sense. Do it again, Zachary. Do it again."

Zachary reached out and touched his hand to
Carl's head.

Terrence Macklin's boots slipped through the
wet grass as he crept, keeping his eyes fixed on the Sergeant just
ahead. Night in the bush was absolutely dark, but the full moon
above shone a pale light down upon them, enabling him to make out a
few of the other men in his platoon.

Suddenly, pinpoints of light popped in the
tree line, and the quiet night exploded in a cacophony of
gunfire.

There was no cover. Terrence raised his
rifle and opened fire, targeting the points of light. He saw two
men go down. The Sergeant was calling for them to bug out, but
Terrence didn't retreat.

He kept his rifle up and fired into the
night. Bullets whizzed past him, splashing in the puddles and
throwing up splatters of muddy water.

One light disappeared, then another.

All of a sudden, a woman stood before
him.

Terrence lowered his rifle and gaped
slack-jawed at the vision that had appeared. Framed in the
moonlight was a tall woman with flowing red hair, clad in a crimson
dress that flapped around her legs, clinging to her thighs. Her
eyes glowed red in the darkness.

"Who..." Terrence stammered, "What...?"

The woman was gone. Terrence heard a popping
sound, and felt something, like a bee sting inside his helmet.
Blood washed into his eyes, and the world went red.

He fell into the wet mud, face first, and
stagnant water flooded his mouth.

Carl's eyes snapped open, and he sucked air
in heaving gasps, as if he were drowning. "That's it!" he
shouted.

"What?" Brandon asked.

The break in time as well as space, she's
used it.
He looked around at each of them, except Kevin,
searching their histories.
She's invaded our pasts. She knows
everything about us, has made some of it happen!
"That's it!
THAT'S THE MESSAGE!"

______________________

In the end, she deposited him back where he
started, the shallow place dug in the side of the mountain. Carl
tried to look at her but the red light was too powerful, it hurt
his eyes to look at it for too long. She was not human, despite her
shape, that much he knew. The beautiful form, red flowing hair,
these were a disguise. Only her red eyes gave a hint at who or what
she truly was. He saw a long, cruel history in those eyes. Carl
tried to look into her past, but it was so long and filled with so
much anguish that he had to look away before he reached the
beginning. She was ancient. She was powerful, or perhaps more than
that, perhaps she WAS POWER ITSELF. Carl wasn't sure.

"Please," he begged, "don't leave me here.
Please."

She smiled upon him. "DO NOT DESPAIR. I WILL
SEND MY EMISSARY WHEN THE TIME COMES."

"The...time? When? I won't make it
here."

"THE END IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK."

The light receded, the red woman vanished,
and the portal closed. Carl huddled in his shelter, staring into
the sky.

There, in the dirt, with the cold wind
stinging his face, he awaited salvation.

______________________

"What is it?" Simon asked. "What was the
message?"

"We're out of time," Carl said. "You have to
listen to me, we're almost out of time!"

"Heather said the red woman was killing us
in the future," Simon said. "Is that what you mean?"

"Yes, YES!" Carl looked around frantically.
"You have to do something quickly, you have to let me see him
before it's too late."

"See who?" Becca asked.

"MAX," Carl shouted. "Please, you have to
show me Max right now."

Becca looked back at Tyler, who looked
doubtful.

"Please!"

Becca appeared to consult Max
telepathically. She then faced Carl again. "He says only if you
answer his question first."

"What? Ask it, quickly!"

Becca listened. "He wants to know about the
three school buses in the hangar. Where do they come from?"

"The first one is ours, the other two come
from other realities, they're alternate reality versions of our
bus."

Becca listened again. "So, the second and
third school buses had the other students, the ones Zachary brought
back, and Kevin took home."

"They were aboard the second bus."

"We already know about them," Kevin said
from behind Carl. "This is pointless."

Becca raised a hand. "No, I know what he's
getting at. Tiffany and Brock both said a woman had spoken to them,
told them she would be coming."

Mia interjected, "Amber said that too! She
said the woman told her it would all end!"

Carl nodded. "She never meant to pull us
through that rift. She meant to pull them through, use them to
widen the crack she made for her own purposes. We were
unexpected."

Kevin finally moved to face him. "This is
all conjecture."

"They all died in the crash," Carl
continued. "That's why the world didn't end the very first time the
rift opened. She lost her pawns."

"But if they all died," Becca said, "why
didn't we?"

Carl raised an eyebrow. "You don't...you
don't know?"

"Know what?" she asked.

"You
did
die." He looked around at
them. "You all drowned, except Kevin, who vanished, and Zachary."
He faced Zachary, looking into his past. "Zachary went back in
after you, one after another, bringing you back."

Brandon turned to Zachary. "Is that
true?"

Zachary shrugged. "I don't remember. I
remember God spoke to me, he told me I had to stop the bad people
from bringing the end times."

Carl laughed. He couldn't help it, it just
welled up inside him and burst out. He laughed and laughed, unable
to stop. "And that's...that's exactly what you did!"

Becca's brow furrowed. "He's thinking
Zachary stopped him from killing us, and if he had killed us we'd
have no chance of stopping her."

"Just so," Carl said, the laughter
subsiding.

"This is getting us nowhere," Kevin
said.

"Please," Carl said, looking at Becca.
"Please you have to show me Max."

Becca shook her head. "What about the third
bus? Max wants to know about the third bus."

"The third bus was empty. There was no one
on board."

Becca looked in the direction of the
invisible dog and nodded. The air shimmered in front of Carl, and a
German shepherd appeared before him, his teeth bared. After a
moment, the dog faded away again. That moment was all it took.
Carl's mind absorbed Max's past, analyzed his powers, and added him
to his calculations of possible futures. Carl peered forward again,
laying out the alternate futures before him. There it was, the path
he sought.

Carl lowered his head. "Thank you. Thank
you."

"How does that help you?" Becca asked.

You have to listen to me, Becca,
he
sent,
because we're almost out of time. She will be here soon,
and she's already done so much.

WWHAT HAS SHE DONEE

She's invaded our pasts, changed our
histories, made us who we are. She's given us flaws so deep we may
not have the strength to hold against her. But more, she's gathered
us together, to use us to do what she can't do alone.

WWHAT? HOWW

She sent her Emissary,
Carl sent,
to bring us together for the end. She said the end is closer
than you think.

Becca looked up, startled.
BBUT...THAT'S
WHAT KEVIN SAIDD

Becca, I asked Kevin if he remembered me
saying Zachary was the catalyst, and he said yes.

SSOO?

I never said that. I said HE was the
catalyst. And when I mentioned tracking Kevin down... his parents
were killed, but he didn't bat an eye about it or mention them at
all.

Becca didn't respond.

I don't know who or what that is...but IT'S
NOT KEVIN.

CHAPTER TEN

"I don't want to goooooo!"

Kevin tried to slide the glass door closed
but his father put a hand against it, holding it open.

"Just for a little while," Brian Lloyd said.
"Just go out for a little while and then you can come back in."

"I don't want toooooo..."

"You'll just be right here in the yard,
playing. We can watch you the whole time."

"Nooooooooooo..." Kevin stamped his feet up
and down.

"Brian, don't make him go out if he doesn't
want to," said Kevin's mother, Glenda. "Just leave the boy
alone."

Brian ran a hand over his head. "I'm trying
to..." He stopped and breathed in and out. "Can we talk in the
other room for a moment, please?"

"Oh lord Jesus help me." Glenda followed him
into the kitchen.

Kevin followed a few steps to hear their
whispered voices.

"You know what Dr. Keating said. We should
try to get him outside a bit at a time, get him over this fear of
being out of the house!"

"He didn't say to MAKE the boy go outside, I
read you're not supposed to make children do things they're afraid
of, it's bad for them."

"It's only for a few minutes, Glenda! It
can't be worse than letting him be afraid forever!"

"You act like he's afraid for no reason. He
had a trauma..."

They were silent for a bit, then Brian spoke
again, softly: "I know it, I know it. But I'm afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

Very quiet now: "I'm afraid if we don't do
something about this, he'll be afraid to leave home for the rest of
his life!"

Thunder boomed in the night sky, waking
Kevin just in time to feel the first drops of rain on his face. He
looked up at what remained of the roof: charred, broken timbers and
torn shreds of insulation hanging with pieces of drywall. One wall
was entirely gone, the others were broken remnants.

This had been his parents' bedroom.

Kevin stood and stepped back into the
hallway, watching as rain began to patter down where his parents
had once slept.
His parents, not mine,
he reminded himself.
Not mine.

The bus driver had told him so before Kevin
had left him alone on a barren mountaintop on some alien world, in
an alternate version of reality.