Yesterday Never Dies (Die Again to Save the World Book 3)

by Ramy Vance

  They all laughed, and Rueben scratched his head trying to imagine Marshall all love-struck and awkward. He would have to agree with Buzz on that—it was probably a play.

  Carolyn’s face took on a dreamy look. “He took me swing dancing because that was a thing back then. He was a pretty good dancer. Afterward, he was a total gentleman and dropped me off at my door with a sweet little kiss.”

  Rueben cleared his throat. “You’re talking about Marshall Peet, right? From Earth-A?”

  She laughed. “I know, he changed a lot when he graduated from the police academy, but that sweet little softie was still there. I think I might have been the only one in the world who saw it. So, eventually, we got married, and Rueben-A was born—”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Rueben waved both hands in front of him agitatedly. “You had already given birth to Rueben-Z on Earth-Z, and you happened to have an identical baby twenty years earlier on Earth-A? I’m no scientist, but I mean, the chances of that happening…out of all the different sperm and egg combinations—”

  “Temporal displacement,” Buzz said. “It seems you were fated to be born in this world as in all the other worlds, to keep them parallel.”

  Rueben scratched behind his head. “Yeah. But…”

  “At least that’s my best guess at the moment. I am an observer of facts. Carolyn came here. Your parents did it. You were born.” Buzz turned to Carolyn to resume.

  “After Rueben-A was born, I finally started to forget about the horrors of Earth-Z and abandoning Rueben-Z, as crazy as that seems. And it seemed that for once in a long time, I was going to get to live a normal life again and raise a happy little family. That was the way it was until…until Thorne came into our lives. Like I explained to Rueben, I died over five hundred times trying to save him from Thorne.”

  Martha rubbed at her cheek. “Wait, you knew Thorne?”

  Carolyn smiled. “He wanted my Repeat power. He hijacked the bus to get to me because he thought I could give it to him. He called me ‘Hopper’ because he had déjà vu-like abilities. He could see events in the timeline that happened before I warped back.”

  Martha turned a shade paler. “Thorne was like me?”

  “On a much more magnified scale,” Carolyn said. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. On Earth-A, you’re not crazy.”

  After a sigh, the color started to return to Martha’s face.

  “Thorne was why I felt that I had to leave Rueben and Marshall, to keep them safe from me and my power. I know now that it wasn’t the right decision. At the time I kept thinking that what if Thorne’s ravings had gotten noticed by the government or fringe scientists? If someone like that would’ve gotten their hands on me…well, who knows. They could’ve locked me up in a padded room for the rest of my natural life as they slowly vivisected me to try to find out how to duplicate my power.”

  “Sheesh,” Buzz said. “That’s heavy.”

  Carolyn sighed. “So I dropped everything in my life and ran away. I figured everything would be fine and balance itself out.” She shook her head slowly, her eyes weary.

  “But Rueben-Z found you,” Rueben said.

  “Yes. He found a way to leave the world I had abandoned him on and tracked me down. Now everything is out of balance. I should have known I couldn’t outrun my past.”

  They were all quiet for several minutes, then Aki’s face went taut. “The phenomenon that destroyed Earth-Z. The time disease. It’s coming for us, now, here on Earth-A, isn’t it?”

  Carolyn dropped her head into her hands. “Since Rueben-Z is the carrier of it, I can only assume so. I am so, so sorry.”

  Martha clenched her fist. “What is Rueben-Z’s game here? Why did he want to cause a global nuclear war?”

  Rueben rubbed his jaw. “If he thought that the phenomenon was some type of super pathogen…”

  “He might have thought he could destroy enough of the living organisms on this world before the phenomenon could take root,” Buzz finished.

  Aki shrugged. “It’s an idea. Not a great one. But it is one.”

  “Well,” Rueben said, “I worked it out in my head that the only reason I would do what he was trying to do was if I had to make the least worst decision from a handful of bad decisions. I guess World War III was it.”

  Martha drummed her fingers on her lap. “That’s definitely bad.”

  “Hmm,” Buzz said. “In the case of a global nuclear war, I’d estimate that enough people would survive the fallout in spread-out clusters throughout the planet. It would devastate the global ecosystem, but in time, we could rebuild. Kind of genius really, from an evil genius’s perspective…” Upon receiving a stern look from Martha, he added, “But the very idea of it is simply too diabolical to try. Even as a Plan Z, as you will.”

  Carolyn picked up where Buzz had left off. “If it turns out the phenomenon is due to an alien invasion, global nuclear war would probably make our planet utterly undesirable. They’d leave us alone.”

  The word “alone” echoed in Rueben’s mind. He was getting a better picture of Rueben-Z’s mental state. The man was still out there and was an immensely bigger threat than any of them could have previously guessed now that they knew about the time disease he’d inadvertently carried to this world.

  Suddenly someone called, “Hey, I have a question.”

  They all whipped around to see Marshall standing at the back of the room.

  “Once we deal with this ‘Rueben-Z mess,’” Marshall continued, “are you planning on bailing again?”

  Chapter Six

  Tuesday, May 23, 2:33 a.m.

  Marshall stood at the back of the living room with his hands in his jean pockets, his eyes looking right through Carolyn.

  “H-hello, Marshall.”

  “Carolyn.”

  “How, how much of that did you hear?”

  Rueben could see the anguish on his mother’s face. Her face said that she wanted to run up to Marshall and embrace him, and Marshall’s face… Well, it told her that she better not try.

  “Enough,” Marshall muttered. He scratched his jaw.

  “How’d you get in here?” Buzz asked.

  “I snuck inside after the maid answered the door.”

  Carolyn looked heartbroken. “I’m so sorry, Marshall. I didn’t mean to. I should have told you—”

  “Save it,” Marshall said disinterestedly.

  Rueben winced at the sudden tension in the room. His friends, he noticed, were in similar positions of discomfort. Marshall was a dick, but in his defense, he had just heard that his wife was from another world where she was also married to him. Who only knew what was going through that thick skull of his.

  “Oh, what’s this? Some kinda fancy pie?” Marshall moved toward the remnants of tart on the silver platter. He raised a slice to his mouth and made a face. “Hm, bitter.”

  Rosa appeared from the doorway Marshall had just entered with a concerned look on her face, but Buzz waved her off.

  Carolyn rubbed her forehead. “Marshall, can we not do this now?”

  “What are we doing? I’m standing here with a bunch of Rueben’s friends in a mansion you can’t find with GPS—luckily I’ve been here before. Just standing here talking. Oh, and my wife I haven’t seen in fifteen years is here too. Talking about world-hopping when all along I just thought she could warp back in time…”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “Oh? What’s it like? I know you had your reasons, but feel like taking a trip down memory lane with me? Finding out what you missed during your little time away?”

  Rueben groaned. His mom had just gotten done explaining how sweet Marshall had been and for a moment, he’d thought that maybe Marshall’s attitude would turn a one-eighty when he next saw Carolyn. But no. Still rude-ass surly Marshall. The last thing Rueben wanted at this moment was Marshall unveiling embarrassing childhood secrets in front of his friends…particularly Aki. “Damnit, Dad. Can you not do this here?”

 
; Marshall ignored him. “The kid had dentist appointments, homework, soccer practice.”

  Rueben muttered, “I never played soccer.”

  Marshall kept going. “Grocery shopping, laundry.”

  Rueben cleared his throat. “I did all of that.”

  Marshall still didn’t acknowledge him. “On top of me having to climb the career ladder so I could keep putting food on the table and a roof over our heads. I sure could have used some help, Carolyn. Would have made things a hell of a lot easier.”

  “I know, Marshall, and I’m sorry. I made the best decision I could with—”

  He interrupted her. “We could have handled your ‘situation’ together. If you’d only told me the full story…” He shook his head. “I thought marriage meant life partners. I guess that whole ‘’til death do us part’ thing is a bit tricky for you time-hopping Repeaters.”

  Carolyn stared into the carpet. “Marshall, I’m sorry it’s been so hard on you. I thought I explained everything I needed to at the time, and I thought we agreed that it was best.”

  Rueben’s mouth dropped. They had agreed?

  “Agreed? We talked about the possibility of you leaving for a little while until things calmed down. Then you took off and left me a goddamned letter about parallel universes and regrets. It made no sense to me, and you never gave me half a chance to ask questions.”

  Her eyes brimmed with tears while Marshall maintained a scowl.

  “And after what I did to Thorne…God.”

  “You didn’t have to,” Carolyn said. “We could have kept—”

  “I did it for you. I did it for us. I trusted you. I trusted you.” Marshall’s eyes twitched at the corners, and his jaw tightened.

  Rueben jumped up. This was enough. “Dad, calm down. There’s more to this than you think.”

  Marshall finally turned to him, his eyes hot and fiery. “You shut the hell up for once. I am not interested in what you have to say about my marriage.”

  “Your marriage? It’s just as much about my childhood as it is your marriage.”

  “Damn it. You stay in your goddamned lane. This is between my wife and me.”

  Rueben turned to Aki. “I’m leaving.”

  Aki rose from the couch. “Maybe we should all leave.”

  Martha grabbed her purse from beside her.

  Carolyn whimpered. “Marshall. I told you something else in that letter. It will always be just you and me.”

  Marshall’s voice cracked. “Yeah, but it wasn’t.”

  Rueben’s eyes widened at the abrupt softening of his dad. He stopped. They all stopped and watched. All of a sudden, Marshall began to sob. “It wasn’t you and me. It was just me. All alone. And I… I…” Marshall collapsed on the couch, and he wept.

  Rueben’s face paled. He had never seen his dad cry. The closest he’d ever seen was him misting up during the national anthem at a football championship. But this… Rueben didn’t know what this was.

  Carolyn rushed over to her husband and wrapped her arms around him, and he sobbed, “I missed you so much. I just missed you.” Marshall grabbed her neck and pulled her closer to him. Then they sat, and he kissed her wet cheeks and leaned his forehead against hers.

  She cried with him. “I missed you, too.”

  Rueben stared at his parents weeping on his best friend’s couch.

  Whoa. And he thought time-jumping blew his mind.

  Martha turned to him. “I’m pretty sure it’s the end of the world now. Marshall’s crying. We’re fucked.”

  Rueben and his friends laughed softly, uneasily.

  At that moment, a shrieking alarm filled the house. Everyone clapped their hands over their ears.

  Buzz’s body went rigid. “The security alarm. It’s a break-in.”

  Chapter Seven

  Tuesday, May 23, 3:12 a.m.

  Snapping to attention, Buzz rushed over to a side table and snatched up a tablet. A few swipes later, he’d pulled up some security video feeds from around the mansion. While Marshall helped Carolyn up from the couch, Rueben’s friends gathered around Buzz to peer at the footage. Martha and Aki, still in their bathrobes, grabbed their handguns from their piles of dry clothes.

  Then the screaming alarms died as suddenly as they’d begun.

  Buzz frowned. “What the hell?”

  Rueben waved his hand in front of Buzz’s face to get his attention. “Has it ever malfunctioned like that?”

  “No. I designed it myself. My designs never malfunction. Oh shit.”

  “What?” Rueben said. “Did it malfunction?” That’s when he saw the figure on the security feed making its way through the halls of Buzz’s mansion. “Oh shit.”

  “Pete, er, Rueben-Z,” Aki said.

  “Shit,” Martha agreed. “How did he find this place?”

  Footsteps sounded outside the open doorway, and a moment later, Rueben-Z stepped inside the living room with a ferocious grin on his face. He no longer wore his white hoodie with stripes on the shoulders. Now he wore jeans and a black compression shirt underneath his form-fitting metallic body armor.

  Tiny lights blinked on parts of the armor and he had some kind of streamlined metal tube running alongside each arm, connected to it. The scar on one half of his face gleamed in the room’s lighting.

  “Hello, friends. I should’ve known you’d all be lying low here. Nice digs. Just like on all the other Earths. But you should know, there’s no safety in numbers. There’s only death.”

  He laughed harshly, and Rueben stepped forward between his friends and Rueben-Z. “Death for you. Or have you forgotten that you can’t warp anymore? If you die, you don’t get to come back.”

  Rueben-Z sneered. “Oh, I haven’t forgotten. Thanks for that. You fucking bastard. But being able to die does put things into perspective. Really gets you to focus on what’s important. You know. Like revenge.”

  Carolyn stifled a sob from somewhere behind Rueben, but he kept his attention on Rueben-Z. “You don’t have to exact revenge or hurt or kill anyone. We know what you’ve been through and we can help you—”

  “Oh? You know, do you?” Rueben-Z’s eyes landed on Carolyn. “Mother? So good of you to join us. My, aren’t you looking young and spry again? What are you? Younger than me now? Same age? Oh, how the surprises keep coming. And father? You’re here too? And been sobbing like a baby?” He scoffed. “Pathetic.”

  Marshall steeled himself and stepped in front of Carolyn. “You’re no son of mine. You need to leave. Now.”

  “Oh? Do I?”

  Marshall glanced at Rueben and his friends, then back at Rueben-Z. “Be smart about this. We outnumber you.”

  Fear crept over Rueben-Z’s face. But it was only a feint. Without looking, he pressed a button on his futuristic body armor, and a moment later, two burly men in red plaid shirts and beards who looked like they could have been lumberjacks barreled into the room and stopped at either side of Rueben-Z. All they were missing were axes, but judging by their meaty fists, they wouldn’t need weapons.

  Upon seeing them, Buzz slapped his head. “Oh no.”

  “Oh yes,” Rueben-Z said. “I broke into one of your hidden storage garages. Thanks for the robotic partners, buddy. And also the new gear.” He angled his head at the metal tubes fixed under his arms.

  Rueben set his jaw. “Uh, Buzz. Robotic partners. Gear. What’s he talking about?”

  Before Buzz could respond, Rueben-Z raised one arm, and a jet of white-hot flame shot from the metal tube and spewed forth into the living room. “Enough talking. More fighting.”

  “Get Mom out of here,” Rueben yelled at Marshall as Rueben-Z passed his flames over the living room. The heat was sweltering.

  “I never abandon a fight, son. Besides, you never split the party.”

  “We need to get out of here, not fight.” Rueben barely had time to raise a small side table in defense against Rueben-Z’s flamethrower. When it grew hot, he threw it aside and dove for the cover of a brass statue of some fa
mous scientist.

  Rueben-Z harshly chuckled as he turned and started spewing flames at the doorway leading out of the room, effectively trapping them in the living room.

  Marshall picked up a lamp, ripped its cord from the wall, and hurled it at Rueben-Z, who batted it aside with his forearm. “Sometimes, you have to fight. To kill.”

  “Please don’t kill Rueben-Z,” Carolyn called. “He could be the key to the cure.”

  Marshall grimaced and, relenting to his wife, turned to Rueben. “Well, can’t you just die and repeat back to before that madman got here so we can prepare better?”

  Rueben didn’t want them all to have to go through Carolyn’s speech again. Besides, Marshall and his mother seemed to have worked out their differences, and nobody wanted to relive that. Buzz could switch back on an automated email to let everyone know what had happened after he warped back if he chose to do so, but that might confuse his friends even more. No. He couldn’t lean on his power like a crutch every time something didn’t go his way.

  As if Buzz was reading Rueben’s mind, he called from his crouching position behind a sofa off to the side. “Don’t Repeat unless you have to. From what Carolyn said, warping could play a part in the whole ‘phenomenon’ trigger.” Buzz winced as a plume of fire shot over his head. “We don’t need any more variables right now.”

  Great, Rueben thought. If he wasn’t supposed to use his power, essentially he was as hobbled as Rueben-Z. Guess they could add a new rule to Buzz’s Rules for Repeaters: Do not warp in the presence of a Repeater infected with a time disease because it could destroy the entire world—

  A gunshot went off, and Rueben, still taking cover behind the brass statue, glanced across the room. Martha had fired a warning shot at one of the two lumberjack henchmen. “Stay back, or I’ll shoot.”

  The burly minion either didn’t hear her or didn’t care. As he advanced, Rueben’s stomach tightened when he saw that the second henchman was walking fearlessly toward Aki, who had her handgun out as well.