Time Spent (9 page)

He collapsed on the bed next to her, the
room filled with the sound of their panting breath. Becca's eyes
were gone from his mind now, and he saw nothing but the endless
cosmos spinning and whirling through the night above him.
Eventually, the moon and clouds returned to visibility, then the
top floor apartments, his ceiling, and finally, his eyelids.

Tyler slept.

"It was chaos," Tyler said. "Soldiers were
running everywhere, some toward the scene, some away from it. There
were these zombies or whatever that Brock had made, they were all
over the place. And there were others, people with powers, like
us."

"Not like us," Brandon said. "Tommy,
Russell, those guys? They're not like us."

"How are they different?" Tyler asked. "They
were as lost and confused as we were."

"They're villains, that's how," Brandon said
with conviction.

"Villains." Tyler looked him in the eye.
"What do you think
we
are?"

______________________

"My God," Becca said, "that's Brock
Kenney!"

"What?" Tyler had never seen Brock, only
heard him. The voice that emerged from this thing's throat could be
Brock, but it could be any male voice.

"It's Brock. From school."

"But Brock wasn't on the bus," Tyler said.
"Was he?"

The tiny antennae in Brock's eyes whirled.
"threatdetected. Well, WELL, if it ain't OL' STINKY, stinkin' up
the PLACE. countermeasureinitiated."

Two metal prongs popped up on Brock's chest
with a
whisshh
of released air. They then sprang free and
hit the ground, sprouting tiny legs. The two scrabbled in Tyler's
direction, but then whizzed past him toward the main building. One
of them fired a beam at the wall, scorching it, before the two of
them passed directly through the wall.

"What the hell was that?" Becca asked.

"I think...I think they just went after
Max!" Tyler said.

OOKAY, THAT'S IT. I'M SHUTTING THIS GUY
DOWNN

Brock stood straight up with a jolt.
"alertalertunknownenergydetected. WHOA, what you tryin to DO
there, BeccaLICIOUS? mainframeunderattack.
countersignalinitiated."

Another small antennae sprouted from the
metal dome atop Brock's head.

"AHH!" Becca clutched her head and fell to
the ground.

"Becca!" Tyler ran to her. She writhed on
the ground, in obvious agony. "Hold on, I'm gonna try something."
Tyler's eyes cast about, finding a rock on the ground. His eyes
dialed open, and he observed the worlds spinning within the stone.
"Okay, now..." He looked up at Brock, and concentrated on the
worlds within him. He shifted them around, so that they looked like
the ones in the stone.

"alarmalarmunknownthreatdetected. Nuh uh GAY
BOY! alarmalarm"

Brock lifted a hand, but it was too late.
Stone spread out from his chest and enveloped him before he could
act. His entire body was transformed in less than a second.

"You okay?"

"Ah, my head." Becca pressed her hands
against her temples. "I don't know what that was, but it hurt like
hell." She looked up and saw the statue Brock had become. "How did
you do that? You can turn people to stone?"

Tyler shrugged. "I don't know, I just
thought of it...I didn't want to...well anyway, it worked. Come
on." He helped her up and she put an arm around him, leaning
against him.

One of Brock's cybernetic zombies stopped in
its tracks as they moved past it. Suddenly it cocked its head, and
Brock's voice emerged.
"primaryhostdisabled.
secondaryhostengaged."

Its body went through a dramatic
transformation, shifting and mutating, growing in size and
sprouting metal shapes that wrapped around it, until it looked
exactly as Brock had, head to toe.

"Oh, Jesus." Becca looked at Tyler.

Tyler's eyes dialed open.

"newtargetsacquired. Forget the FAG, let's
pay our favorite LEZBOS a visit. targetacquired."

Brock walked away in the direction Mia and
Amber had gone.

Tyler allowed his eyes to return to normal.
Super powered and all, and that idiot still thinks I'm gay,
he thought. "It's okay, come on."

"He's going after Mia," Becca said.

"She can handle herself," Tyler said. "She
sure as hell doesn't want our help. Come on, let's get inside that
hangar."

"Why?"

"Because I saw where these guys are all
coming from, and I saw who's responsible."

"Who?" But by now Becca could see for
herself: the hangar had been converted to a warehouse, and inside
it were three identical school buses, and tables lined in front of
them. Some of them had corpses on them, some of them were empty,
and in the middle of them stood a blond man she recognized
immediately.

Zachary.

______________________

"Action!"

The sprinklers overhead began showering them
with light "rain". Tyler dashed across the make believe street,
meeting his commercial co-star, Trina, in the middle. Once he met
her, he held up the container of mints and smiled at the camera.
Instantly the rain stopped and the lighting changed. The rest of
it, rainbows, sparkles, or whatever, he supposed would be added in
post.

"And cut!" the director called. "Okay, let's
reset, yeah?"

Someone handed Tyler a towel and he dried
his hair. As he handed it back, he saw Becca standing in the rear
of the studio.

"Hey Dario, can we take a short break?"
Tyler asked.

The director turned and saw Tyler walking
over to Becca. "You take ten minutes, yeah?"

"Thanks!"

Becca walked over to him. "So this is what
you do now?"

Tyler laughed. "This is it."

"This your girlfriend, Tyler?" the director
asked, looking Becca up and down. He was a pot-bellied man in white
pants and a purple shirt, top three buttons open and a gold chain
nesting in his graying chest hair.

"No, I'm just a fan," Becca said.

"You a model, yeah? No, actress! Yeah?"

"Oh yeah! I pretend to give a shit
all
the time
," Becca said with a wide smile.

"Well you keep an eye on this one, hah?" He
reached over one meaty hand to give Tyler's butt a pat. "He going
places!"

"Okay, we'll be right back, Dario." Tyler
ushered Becca from the studio.

"Ty," one of the men on set called after
him, a young guy with blond streaked hair, wearing headphones and a
three-piece suit. "you're on for the club later, right?"

"I'll be there!" Tyler said with a wave.

In the hall, a girl passing by said
"Tylerrrrrrr!" loudly.

"Hey girl, hey!" Tyler waved. "I have no
idea who that is," he said to Becca.

"I bet." Becca said. "Just like you had no
idea that old man's hand was on your ass."

"Who, Dario? He's harmless. He just likes to
flirt."

"Ew."

"Come in here," he said, ushering her into a
small room with a few couches and tables. Once they were inside, he
turned on her. "Why do you have to be that way, Becca?"

"What way?"

"You know what I mean. 'I pretend to give a
shit all the time'? That way."

Becca shrugged. "Born without the capacity
for bullshit, I guess."

"Okay, well this isn't bullshit, this is my
life, and these people have a lot to do with how my career goes. So
you have to put up with some bullshit, so what?"

"Fine," she said, throwing up her hands.
"Sorry!"

"Why are you here?"

"I came by to see you."

Tyler stared at her.

"Ugh. Okay. Look, I just...the truth is...I
don't have anywhere to go."

"What do you mean? You always have
places."

Becca sat on one of the sofas. "Yeah, I
mean, I can have a place, if I want one. I can always have a place.
I'm trying to stop. I've been trying to stop."

"Stop using your power, you mean. To control
people."

"Yeah."

Tyler sighed, and sat next to her.
"Okay."

"I never told you, but my mom...she killed
herself."

"I'm sorry," he said.

"You didn't do it," she said.

"I didn't mean...."

"I know. It's just...my dad left us when I
was a kid, and then my mom killed herself, and then the bus crash
on top of that. When I found out I could make people do anything I
wanted, I...I went off, I guess. I went too far. You don't
know."

"I remember," he said.

"No, worse than making people wash my hair,"
she said grimly. "Way worse. I was using people all the time, and
using drugs to make myself feel better about using the people. I
thought it was a non stop party, but...I think..."

"What?"

The next words came out in a whisper. "I
think I was killing myself."

Tyler looked down.

She swallowed. "Not at first, but after a
while. I wasn't thinking about a future anymore, not after a
while."

Tyler looked for a moment like he had
something to say, but then he shook his head.

"I don't want to be like that anymore,"
Becca said.

Tyler nodded. "Look, you can stay with me
for a while, okay?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. No more talking shit to industry
people, though, deal?"

"No promises," Becca said.

Tyler laughed. "Well, at least you're
honest."

"Always."

They stood, and Tyler put his arms around
her. "Everything's going to be okay," he said.

HHOW DO YOU KNOWW

I just do,
Tyler sent, and tried to
cover the real thought behind it:
I don't.

______________________

The sparks were flying between them with
greater and greater frequency, soon becoming lines of energy that
arced from one to another and leaped into the sky.

There was a flash then, all around them. For
just a moment, Tyler lost his sight, except for a point of light in
the sky.

"My eyes!" he cried, putting a hand to his
face.

The point of light in the sky expanded to
form a shimmering circle. A sound rose, like the sound of cracks
opening in ice, only a million times louder.

Through the hole in the sky, Tyler saw the
vastness of space.

______________________

What remained of the soldiers ran in all
directions, firing at Brock's cybernetic zombies and at some of the
other super powered people who had run away. Tyler and Becca made
their way to where Zachary stood, near one of the tables in front
of the three school buses.

"Zack! What are you doing?" Tyler asked.

"More importantly, why aren't you wearing
any clothes?" Becca asked.

Zachary turned from the body he had been
examining. "I know you," he said to Tyler.

"Yeah, I know!" Tyler said.

"You were on the bus with me. Your name is
Tyler."

"Derp, we know that already," Becca
said.

"I think I saw you, too," Zachary said to
Becca.

"Zack, we know all that already," Tyler
said. "What are you doing here? Now?"

"And where are your clothes?" Becca asked
again.

"They burned all up," Zachary said.

Tyler and Becca looked at one another.

"I found these people. They must have got
hurt. I was asking God to help them."

Tyler looked down at the table, and his jaw
dropped.

The body on the table was Marcus Villalobos.
He was wearing the same clothes he had been wearing the last time
Tyler had seen him. His dark hair was slicked back, as if it had
dried in that position.

Tyler grabbed Zachary's arm. "Can you bring
him back?"

"I can only ask God to do it."

"Then ask him. NOW."

"What the fuck are you doing?" Becca
asked.

Zachary placed his hands on Marcus'
chest.

"When we were on the bus," Tyler said. "I
saw a face. A face that was beyond the whole universe, or maybe was
the whole universe."

"Was it God?" Zachary asked.

"I don't know."

"I saw God. He spoke to me." A soft light
passed down Zachary's arms and into Marcus.

Becca frowned. "What does that have to do
with this guy?"

"This is Marcus," Tyler said. "He was
my...well I don't know what he was. But if it was the face of God,
maybe he's looking out for me, giving me a second chance."

"A second chance to what?"

Tyler didn't answer.

"You're both crazy," Becca said.

"Did you see God?" Zachary asked her.

"No," Becca said, "I most certainly did
not."

Marcus' eyes opened, and he sucked in
air.

"Marcus?" Tyler asked. "You're alive! You're
alive!" He crossed around as Marcus swung his legs off the table
and helped him into a sitting position. "I'm so happy you're
here...I thought you were dead."

"Tyler?" A cold anger filled Marcus' eyes.
"Where am I? Why are you here?"

"It's a long story," Tyler said.

"Yeah I bet." Marcus swatted his hand
away.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you made it pretty clear you didn't
give a damn about me."

"I...I'm sorry," Tyler said. "I told you I
was sorry."

"You can
see.
" Marcus said.

"Yeah...Yeah, I told you, my sight came back
after the bus crash."

"You weren't on the bus," Marcus said.
Something was happening to the pores of his skin. They
glistened.

There was a rustling sound behind them as
Zachary pulled the sheet off another corpse, but they were too
preoccupied to notice.

"Yeah, I was."

"You should have never gotten your sight
back." The glistening of his skin spread as a reflective surface
spread over the pores. From wherever the new surface spread, a glow
began to emanate. "You deserve to be blind."

"Marcus...what..."

Marcus' skin became a solid glowing bulb,
and the light grew and grew. Tyler was forced to shield his
eyes.