Time Spent (34 page)

I used to be able to fly. And for a minute
there, I really was a hero. That was a dream come true for me, it
really was. Dreams die hard, you know. But it wasn't just my body
that came crashing down that day. Something inside me got broken
too, and it never did mend quite right again.

Maybe it was inevitable. Maybe we all have
to grow up sometime. Whatever it was, it happened as I was lying
there, my bones shattered, watching the rift grow so wide I lost
sight of the sky. Reality fell apart. Space crumbled. Time lost.
Everything ended. It just...ended.

And guys, that's when
things
really
got
weird.

EPILOGUE

"The power of
time."

You have to listen to me, Becca,
Carl
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 it's 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.

WWHO IS IT THENN

I believe he is the red woman's Emissary. He
brought us all together for her, and she'll be here soon. You have
to listen to me!

OOKAY I'M LISTENINGG

There is a path to victory, but there's no
margin for error. Once she gets here it will be too late, because
she's like you. She can hear our thoughts.

FFUCKING BEAUTIFULL

We only have a chance because right now, she
doesn't know she can kill us. She thinks we're like her and the
others like her, but we haven't absorbed enough of the energy to be
immortal like them. If we fight her, she will quickly learn that
she can kill us, and if that happens, we don't stand a chance.

SSO...IF WE CAN'T FIGHT, THEN WHATT

"What's going on?" Kevin asked. "Are you
talking in your heads? What is he saying, Becca?"

Don't say anything...for god's sake, don't
say anything. It's not him, I swear to you.

Becca looked to him and back to Carl. "I
don't know. I mean...I'm not sure."

Listen to me Becca...the red woman will make
us an offer. An offer to join her. Becca, we have to take that
offer. We have to let the red woman win.

"Hey, I never got to ask my questions,"
Brandon interjected.

"Shut up, Dork!" Becca said.

Brandon threw up his hands. "What did I
do?"

"Like we don't have more important things to
do than answer the question about the aliens one more damn
time!"

"What's more important?" asked Kevin. "What
was he saying?"

"It's all right." Carl nodded to Brandon.
"Go ahead, Brandon."

"I asked you a question!" Kevin strode up to
Becca. "What was he saying just now?"

"I was trying to show her what Zachary
showed me," Carl said, "but it's like a dream, you know, they fade
once you wake--"

Kevin turned quickly, driving his fist into
Carl's face. "QUIET."

"Hey hey!" Brandon tried to grab Kevin's arm
but his hands slipped away. "Calm down!"

Kevin turned on Becca, ignoring Brandon
completely. "You think you can put one over on me? What was he
saying?"

Becca...
Carl struggled to keep
sending but he was dazed from Kevin's punch.
The only way to
beat the red woman is to let her win. Then we have time to put
things in motion. The path to victory...lies through
defeat.

Brandon tried to move between Kevin and
Becca but something held him back. Simon pointed a finger at him.
"Let him talk. She's up to something, I'm telling you. I saw her in
my vision."

"And I told you to fucking drop it, didn't
I?" Becca asked with a raised eyebrow.

You have to tell Simon. He can see the
future...he can help...tell Simon...

"He may be afraid of you," Kevin said,
moving closer to her. "But your little mind tricks don't work on
me...do they,
bitch?
"

Becca saw something then, lurking behind
Kevin's eyes: a milky white spiraling cloud.

TTHIS IS NOT KEVIN...OKAY, OTTO...WE'LL TRY
IT YOUR WAYY

______________________

Brandon lay on the ground, his body broken.
A tear slid down his face as he watched the rift widen.

______________________

Mia tried to stand, but she felt weak, her
body hollow inside. She closed her eyes, trying to summon the will
to fight back, but nothing came. Her mind was still, the sound that
had plagued her since the bus crash had fallen silent.

______________________

Tyler clutched his face, the ruined fluid of
his eyes drying on the backs of his hands.

______________________

Max howled and howled, lost in an endless
night, unable to bring himself back together.

______________________

Heather stood frozen, betrayed and
alone.

______________________

Simon sat on the ground, miserable. He put
his head in his hands and waited for the end.

______________________

Becca stood, looking up at the sky, or what
was left of it. The rift grew and grew, and Gwendolyn rose to meet
the strange lights approaching from the void. She turned, and saw
Tiffany and the others from the second bus 313 still standing
immobile in a circle.

She ran to Tiffany and shook her shoulders.
"Tiffany, why are you doing this? What's wrong with you?"

Tiffany looked down at her. "I'm not
Tiffany. I'm Aaron." Brock, standing several feet away, looked at
her as well. "Gwendolyn thought it would be best if I kept the
others in line." Tiffany spoke again: "Just in case."

So she lied. They don't "know their place".
They're being controlled.

She turned away from Tiffany, and Kevin
appeared in front of her.

"Thought you switched sides, but it sounds
like you're still playing for the losing team. Stupid move,
bitch."

"Who the hell ARE you?" she asked.

Ryan laughed. "You still haven't figured it
out? Maybe this will help: 'We're gonna have some real fun now, you
fucking scumbag'."

Becca recoiled. "What...what did you say?"
She turned toward Carl.
AARE YOU SURE ABOUT THISS?
But Carl
was lying on the ground, staring at the sky, immobile and
unresponsive.
OOH GREATT

Ryan laughed. "He can't help you." He
grabbed Becca's wrists and pulled her close. "No one can help you
so just get used to it."

______________________

Gwendolyn rose through the sky until she was
on the verge of the tear in space, nearly touching the inky black.
Her red hair streamed behind her, her eyes glowing in the night.
Energy surrounded her, glowing like starlight.

There were others ahead, glowing in the
vastness of the void.

They appeared, shining like stars. First
dozens, then hundreds, then so many they were beyond counting.

The Lost had come.

Her brethren had brought her a gift, as
well. They carried among them one who had been lost, tumbling
through the void. This one did not glow like the others. This one
was human. They laid him at her feet.

Zachary looked up at her, a deep sadness in
his eyes. Slowly, deliberately, he kneeled there, suspended in the
air at her feet.

She laid a hand on his blond hair, smiling
fondly. Then she addressed the others.

MY BROTHERS, MY SISTERS, MY CHILDREN, THE
TYRANT'S REIGN HAS ENDED. THE POWER OF TIME TO CONTAIN US IS
SPENT.

They streamed forth from the void, thousands
upon thousands of them flying into the night as the rift widened.
Behind them, the rift grew until space around it lost cohesion and
the rift was everywhere. Every reality, every world collapsed, one
upon another upon another until there was nothing left.

NOW MY SON,
she placed a hand on
Zachary's chin and lifted him up,
NOW THE TIME OF THE LOST CAN
BEGIN.

Lightning flashed outside, for a brief
moment replacing the dim yellow glow of the tiny bulbs that served
as the only illumination in the hospital halls.

Mia's feet dragged along the floor as the
two orderlies dragged her by her arms, bound up in the
straightjacket she was made to wear. The rounded a corner and made
their way to the cramped room where she was to receive her
treatment. Mia began to resist, kicking at the floor, the walls,
their legs, whatever she could reach, until they slammed her down
on the table and pulled straps across her chest and legs. Once
tightened, the straps made it impossible to move. A final strap was
pulled across her shaved head, and Mia couldn't even look away as
they placed the contacts on her temples.

"This will all be over in a moment, Miss
Fury," the doctor said. He was tall, with white and black streaked
hair that stood straight up. A scar ran down the side of his face,
from left eye to chin. The eye at which it began was frosted over
and milky white.

That's not my name! This is all a mistake!
I'm not crazy!

"Nnngghh!" Mia tried to protest, but the
mouthpiece prevented her from forming words.

Next to the head of the table was a strange
machine, filled with dials and knobs and indicators, none of which
had any words or numbers to tell what they did or how much of it
they were doing. The doctor flipped two black switches and a sound
began:
eeeeeee!

The doctor turned up one dial and the sound
rose in volume.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEE

Mia knew that sound. She writhed on the
table but couldn't escape.

"Now, Miss Fury," the doctor said, leaning
in close, "this is going to hurt...quite a lot, I'm afraid." His
lips turned up in a sneer.

He flipped one final switch and yellow
sparks jumped from her head to the machine.

"NNNNN!!"

The doctor turned up another dial and the
sparks became more fluid, growing into a torrent of yellow energy
that poured from her head into the contacts. The energy could be
seen passing through the wires and into the machine.

"NNNNNNNGGGGGHHH!!" Mia's body shook and
convulsed.

Finally, the doctor turned down the dials
and switched the machine off. Mia's body sagged on the table, weak
and empty. The straps were removed, and the orderlies hauled her
off the table and dragged her back to her room. There was an
audible CLICK-CLACK as the door was locked.

The tiny light above her went off. Mia sat
on the floor, leaning against the padded walls in the corner and
gently sobbing in the darkness, only the occasional flash of
lightning through the small circular window to show her pain.

The CLICK-CLACK of the lock awakened her.
She had slid to the floor in her sleep, a puddle of cold, sticky
drool collected under her cheek. Mia tried to lift herself, but the
straightjacket combined with the weakness of her limbs combined to
leave her helplessly immobile.

The door opened.

Someone entered her room, an outline framed
by bursts of lightning from outside.

"Mia?" A man's voice.

Lightning flashed again, this time a long,
sustained series of bolts, giving her a better look at the man in
her room: young, perhaps early twenties, with jet black hair.

"Hold on," he said. He reached around the
door. The dim light switched on, revealing his strange, garishly
colored coat, with dark shirt and slacks underneath. He might have
been handsome, except for the strip of gray cloth tied around his
head, covering his eyes.

"Mia?" He walked over, kneeled down and
lifted Mia up, setting her with her back against the padded wall.
"Can you hear me? Are you all right?"

"Nnnnn!"

He undid the buckle behind her head and
removed the mouthpiece, gingerly so as not to hurt her teeth.
Relief flooded into her jaw as her mouth was able to fully close
for the first time in so long.

"Mmm...ohh...thank you," she said through
her teeth. "Thank you."

"We don't have much time," he said. "Do you
think you can walk."

She looked closely at him. "Tyler? Is that
you? Oh, Tyler, your eyes..."

Tyler put his arms around her. "Shh, it's
okay. It's me."

"You were mad at me," she said through
tears. "You hated me."

"No, honey, no. I don't hate you. Let's get
you up."