A Shattered Future

by Joel Adrian

  Bravon grabbed the man’s arm, straining to break the gun free. A moment later and he’d secured the weapon.

  The Russian man struggled, but not against Joey. He was trying to push a hand to his own chest. Joey’s massive arm stopped him.

  Their attacker wedged himself under Joey’s arm, and Emersyn watched as he clamped his teeth down, sinking them into the big man’s arm. Joey cried out in pain, and it allowed the Russian man to get a hand under his shirt and to his chest. A second later, and he disappeared.

  She had the gun raised and ready to fire, but he was gone.

  “Damn it!” Joey cried, pounding the ground with his good arm. He raised his bitten flesh, fresh trails of blood leaking out of it.

  Bravon panted on his knees. “He’s . . . my god, he’s teleporting.”

  “How is this possible?” Emersyn asked. When she saw nobody heard her, she forced herself to speak up. “How is this possible, guys? Did you know about this, Bravon?”

  The Sergeant Major shook his head. “Nah. Hell no. Time travel was all the further I thought it went . . . teleporting, that’s something new to me. When—ow!” He clutched his wound as he stood, waving a hand out to balance himself. “When we see Mona again, we’ll ask her. She’s gotta know about this.”

  Emersyn caught her breath and walked towards the group. The stink of gun smoke was making her feel sick, and knowing she’d fired the rounds off, and one hit, didn’t make her feel better. “You okay?” she asked Joey.

  The massive man had climbed to his feet, though his expression was bewildered and angry. “Let’s just get outta here,” he said.

  “I can agree to that.” Bravon pointed to the mountain, which was taking up their full view. “We’re maybe 20 minutes out. Let’s get to it.”

  The steep incline of the mountain proved to be more difficult than Emersyn anticipated. They managed to find the road they drove to the mountain, but it was up a sharp incline. Emersyn started up it, and once she got to a tree, she stopped and started helping the others up.

  She got Bravon past the tree, and he was able to dig his hands in and force himself up the rest of the way. Once he conquered the ridge, he rolled over onto the road, laughing in success.

  Emersyn smiled when she heard him laughing from the top. Maybe they would make it after all. She turned, and planted her left hand against the tree, reaching her right hand back towards Joey.

  The big man was going to be a challenge. She had no way of pulling his weight, and with him having only one good hand, Emersyn had her work laid out for her.

  “Alright, nice and easy,” she called out to Joey. She saw the concern on the face of the Italian mobster.

  He started up the steep incline, digging his good hand into the damp ground to climb further up. Without the use of his right hand, he had to stop, pull his hand out, and quickly shove it higher up to avoid a spill.

  “Okay, use this tree,” she said, bracing herself against the crooked trunk of the tree and reaching a hand out. “Take my hand, and once you get up here, you won’t have to—”

  Joey chuckled a bit. “Girl, I’d rip your arm from its socket.” He was about three feet beneath the tree, hand firmly in the ground and feet slipping. “Just hang on there.”

  He ran his feet up and pulled his hand free, scurrying up the side as quickly as a man his size could. He managed to reach the tree, draping his good hand over it and clutching it for dear life as his feet lost traction.

  “Damn!” he cried, barely hanging on.

  She reached down and pulled at his wrist, trying to help him up. Her strength was no match for his weight: he was near-dangling, supported only by the tree.

  There was a low crackle. Emersyn looked down. The tree was uprooting, threatening to give way under the immense weight.

  “Aah!” Joey cried, his fingers slipping.

  Emersyn let her hands free of the tree and put both over the big man’s wrist. The sweat made it slick, but she didn’t falter. She pulled up with all her might. “Come on!”

  Joey Del Core didn’t budge.

  The tree was pulling free from the ground. In a few more moments, they’d both be tumbling down the ridge towards the bottom. But she wasn’t going to quit on him.

  She heard a familiar ‘whoosh’ and saw the Russian man from earlier appear out of thin air. He stood up on the near-sideways tree and clamped a hand down on Joey Del Core’s wrist.

  Emersyn let go and reached into her waistband, gripping the pistol. She fumbled to get a good grip on it, her hands slick with sweat from Joey’s wrist. As she took aim, the ‘whoosh’ permeated the air again, and both the Russian man and Joey Del Core disappeared.

  She sat on the tree, stunned. They were both there, and now they weren’t.

  “I saw it,” Bravon called from the top as if affirming her eyesight. “He’s gone too.”

  She leaned back, groaning. “Damn it!”

  The sky was a brooding gray now. The sunshine had been choked out by dark clouds. Emersyn looked up, feeling the first pangs of rain on her skin. She turned and looked up towards Bravon. “He’s gone,” she said as if she’d lost a family member. “He’s gone.”

  “You did all you could,” Sergeant Bravon Pearson said. He stuck a hand down over the sharp cliff towards here. “Come on. Let’s get you up here, Private.”

  She forced herself to her feet on the unstable tree and turned. She handed the gun up first, and then jumped, grabbing Bravon’s hand.

  He pulled her up, straining against her weight. His strength prevailed, and he was able to pull her up over the treacherous cliff.

  The two collapsed on the dirt road they’d taken to the activation site the night before. They sat in silence, the rain progressively pounding harder.

  “We lost him,” Emersyn said quietly.

  Bravon grunted. “You did the best you could, Private. You tried to save him.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not a Private. A soldier, a real soldier could’ve saved him.” She brought a hand up to wipe the rain from her eyes. “Mona could’ve saved him.”

  Sitting up, Bravon turned to her. A weak smile grew under his mustache. “You still don’t get it, do you, kid?” He planted a hand against his wound and winced. “She is you. You are her. Doesn’t matter how far apart you are in age. She has unlocked potential that started with you.”

  She thought on the words. Even if there was truth to them, it would still take two decades to get from where she is to where Mona was now.

  “I never said it would be easy,” Bravon continued as if reading her mind, “and I never said you were destined to do it. But you got an idea now. You know what could be.” He stood up and offered her his free hand. “What’s it going to be, soldier?”

  She felt each splash of rain on her face. Tiredness had taken her. Part of her mind told her to just stay here. Stay down, just like she had through every moment leading her to now. Stay at the job she hates, stay in the relationship that wasn’t fulfilling her. Stay down.

  No. I’m not staying down.

  Emersyn sat up and grabbed the Sergeant Major’s hand. He cracked a smile and helped pull her up to stand across from him.

  “That’s the way,” he said.

  She turned and pointed down the road at the mountain. “Let’s get to it, Sarge.”

  The two started off towards the mountain. The mission had gone to hell since Emersyn and her team arrived, but just because they were down didn’t mean they were out. They trudged onwards, the dirt slowly turning to mud under their heel.

  Chapter 10

  Catalina was leading.

  Mona didn’t much mind, if she didn’t have to look at Tanner Highwall.

  “So, uh, in your time, are there any new technologies I should be aware of?” Catalina eyed Mona. “You know, any company or idea worth investing in, amigo?”

  She tried to keep the smile from tugging at the edges of her mouth. “Aren’t you in prison, kid? How are you going to invest?”

 
; Catalina stuck a hand out, mocking as if she was offended. “Hey, amigo, you’re from 20 years up. I’ve got 5 years left on my bid, and if I survive this, I hope to cut it down to dos.” She held up two fingers.

  Tanner scoffed from the back. “Maybe we oughta focus on getting our asses out of here alive before we talk about selling them to invest in companies.”

  Catalina scowled. “Buzzkill.”

  “No flying cars or anything,” Mona said, pretending she didn’t hear Tanner, “but the military has some cool augmented-reality tech. Nothing revolutionary in the public eye, though.”

  Mona saw Catalina’s face transform from excited to sad. “Darn.”

  The clouds had taken the sky overhead and were a sickly gray as they carried on from the road, back towards the cave. They were tired, hungry, and anxious to get back. Mona’s stomach had started to churn with her own anxieties about the situation. It was a feeling she hadn’t felt in a long time.

  “I was thinking,” Tanner said, “that hunter that . . . killed Naomi.” He struggled through the words. “Awfully convenient.”

  Catalina quirked her head back towards him. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “So, Mona, what are the odds that was an undercover Time Regulator, eh?”

  She kept her focus forward. This isn’t the Tanner you know, she told herself. This isn’t him. “Could be. But the ones we saw had a uniform.”

  Mona saw Tanner shake his head out of the corner of her eye. “No way,” he started, “it had to be. They can track the stones, right? The gems? How many other people we seen out here?”

  She stopped and considered his words, separate from the pain his voice brought her. “It’s . . . possible,” she said. “But I doubt it.”

  “I’m just ready to get back,” Catalina said. “Back in my cell. Warm in the winter, cold in the summer, my girls in B block are gonna die when they hear about this stuff.”

  “What stuff?” Tanner asked, side-stepping a large hole in the dirt. “We didn’t see much. Didn’t do much. Didn’t find squat.”

  She turned back, her face pinched. “Are you off your nut, ese? We’re in 2040 right now! The future! How many people can say they’ve been here, amigo?”

  “Was hoping we’d at least be able to finish the mission,” Tanner grumbled.

  “Far as I’m concerned, we did,” Catalina said. She nudged Mona. “Isn’t that right, old girl?”

  Mona turned to the Hispanic woman. “We’ll see. If your President Warren is anything like the one I remember, he’s an ass. Stubborn as hell. Might not take us at our word.”

  The group trudged along as specks of water started birthing from the large, overhanging clouds above. They were coming up on a bend. If Mona’s memory served correct, after the bend, they would only be four or five miles out from the cave.

  She suspected they wouldn’t see the sun again today. An hour ago, it had been dipping generously into the sky. The evening would be here quick, night even quicker after that. She needed to get all of them in the cave and back to their timeline before night fell.

  Three men emerged from the bend, all wearing matching sets of button-down shirts with the hourglass emblem sewn onto them.

  Mona, Tanner, and Catalina froze in their tracks. To their left, the steep cliff that fed off into the woods. On the right, they were bordered by the edge of a mountain. And behind them was a straight road. They’d never be able to outrun the Time Regulators.

  Mona felt her body tense. The pistol was still in its holster. She took a deep breath, her panicked thoughts racing through her mind like mice.

  “We can’t run,” Catalina said.

  “We fight.” Tanner pulled his pistol out.

  Mona turned to face him. The pain struck her worse than a blow to the side of the head. His face was younger, but still the same. The face she’d been trying this entire time to ignore and avoid. “You kill them, they’ll kill you.”

  Tanner shook his head. “They can try. We have to get back. The others don’t know how to use the Requiem. I’ll take these guys out!”

  Mona stood firm, shoving her face into Tanner’s. “I’m not losing you again.”

  He titled his head, eyes narrowing. “What? Again?”

  The Time Regulars advanced quickly on their position, walking forward at a brisk pace. Mona raised her pistol and fired at their feet, careful not to hit them. The shots didn’t cause them to back off.

  One of the Time Regulators took the lead from the others, raising a hand. “You’ve caused a great deal of trouble for our organization. You’re all to be taken to cells in a timeline far from here until we come to a punishment.”

  Tanner looked the agent up and down. “Yeah? Come get us first.” He leveled his pistol at the regulator.

  The Time Regulator frowned. “This doesn’t have to end in a shootout. Come peacefully and we can speak like civilized folk.”

  Catalina raised her middle finger to them. “Civilized enough for you, amigo? Get out of our way.”

  The Regulators charged forward, intent on seizing them and transporting them away. Mona was out of options. She raised the pistol and fired on them.

  Two of the regulators vanished. One was struck in the stomach and collapsed onto the ground.

  Before she could think, the other two re-appeared behind them. One tackled Catalina to the ground. The other descended on Mona. Mona started to raise her gun, but the regulator sunk to the ground and spun around, tripping her and causing her to fall. Tanner wrapped his arms around the regulator, but the regulator was quick, throwing his head back and smashing it into Tanner’s face.

  Crying out, Tanner fell backwards. Catalina pulled her pistol free and fired four shots of rubber bullets into the regulator’s chest. He stumbled backwards but didn’t go down.

  Mona tackled the regulator that was fighting Tanner and pulled her baton free. She smashed it into his face, then again, and again. His nose was bloodied, and he spit out a glob of blood and teeth. He raised a hand to his collar, pulling a chain up from around his neck. It was a small, circular black container. He activated it with a button on the side and disappeared beneath her.

  She turned around, searching for him, but he was gone. “Damn!”

  Mona spun and smashed the regular that Catalina shot in the back of the head with her baton. She turned to see the man she’d shot with one hand wrapped around Tanner’s wrist, and the other reaching for his own pendant.

  “No!” Mona screamed, and she charged forward, grabbing her pistol off the muddy ground. She raised it and fired.

  The bullet hit dead on, killing the time regulator. His body crumpled to the side of Tanner.

  “You traitor!”

  She turned to see the remaining regulator staring at her in horror. He produced a revolver from his own waistband and spun, pointing the gun at Catalina.

  They both fired.

  Catalina’s rubber bullet connected with the regulator’s hand, causing him to writhe in pain and drop his pistol. His shot lurched itself into her chest, and she fell back into the ground with a gasp.

  A second later, and the regulator vanished.

  “No, no, no!” Tanner screamed, rushing over to Catalina and cradling her in his body. “Damn it, come on!”

  Mona followed, dropping to her knees in the mud. She pushed Catalina’s hair free of her face and propped her neck up. Catalina gasped in pain, one of her hands clutching the bloody spot on her shirt.

  Rain spilled heavily from the sky, soaking them all. Mona took one look at the wound and knew the young girl was done for. Tanner raised his eyes, and without saying a word, expressed that he knew the same.

  Mona clutched the dying girl’s head in one hand and used the other to clasp into one of Catalina’s hands. “I’m so sorry,” she managed.

  “D-don’t be,” Catalina managed, “you’re a g-good soldier.”

  Catalina’s eyes eased shut, and her shallow breaths ceased.

  Tanner’s gaze fell to
the ground. He raised a fist and smashed it down into a puddle next to him, sending water spraying in every direction. “To hell with this! I’m sick of losing people!”

  Mona agreed. She couldn’t say anything, though. It would hurt too much. The pain ripped through her every second she had to see him alive.

  “We need to go,” she managed.

  Tanner clutched Catalina’s shirt. Mona could see he knew they had to go, but he didn’t want to leave her. Just the way he didn’t want to leave Naomi. He never did know how to let someone go. She felt the shot of watching him die rip through her mind, and she pressed a set of fingers to her temples to cease it.

  She stood, tired but unwilling to quit. Tanner pulled the cell phone Catalina had recorded the footage on from her pocket, and reluctantly rose next to her. “Ready when you are, ma’am.”

  Mona and Tanner started down the long, muddy road. They were two soldiers with their objective growing closer and closer in sight. They wouldn’t stop now. But every step Mona took next to Tanner made her heart ache more. She longed for Tanner. But she had to remind herself he wasn’t hers.

  A crack of thunder and a flash of lightning lit up the sky in a brilliant light, just for the moment. They saw the mountain looming in the distance. It felt so far away.

  Mona hoped that Emersyn, Joey, and Bravon were having better luck than they were.

  Chapter 11

  Emersyn studied the man at the mouth of the cave.

  He was a tall, lanky man with green eyes and a spill of blonde-brown hair flowing down to his shoulders, draped by a long beard that messily fell on his chest. He looked unbathed, but the dirty flannel shirt and bright orange hunting jacket led Emersyn to worry more than she would’ve otherwise.

  She explained to Bravon how the hunter had killed Naomi, and how this one was dressed just like him.

  Bravon shifted his position, laying down in the grass and pushing his head against Emersyn’s, peering through the small opening in the brush. “We could take him if it came to it.”