Time Spent

by J. David Clarke

  "Wha-? No, baby, you weren't on the bus!"

  Amber cocked her head to the side. "It hurts. Everything hurts."

  "Stop! Amber, stop walking and let me help you!"

  "I can't stop," Amber said. "Can't stop until I get there."

  "Get where? Where are you going?"

  Her head waved from side to side. "I just want it to end. She said it would end when I get there."

  "She who? Who's 'she'?"

  "She said everything would finally end."

  A voice blasted from behind them as if over a loudspeaker.

  "OH YEAH WHAT WE GOT HERE? HOT GIRL ON GIRL ACTION!"

  Mia turned, and her eyes widened at the horrifying sight behind her.

  Who it was was instantly recognizable: Brock Kenney, gargantuan football player from her high school. What it was, or what Brock had become, was a terrifying unknown. Brock was naked, bigger than ever, at least eight feet tall, and his body was lined with metal, which appeared to be embedded in his skin. Spiked metal rings were set in his arms, legs, and torso. Circuitry ran up his neck and around his face, and metal protrusions jabbed from his shoulders. A black metal dome covered his skull, and what looked like glowing satellite dishes sat where his eyes had once been. That was not the most disturbing sight, however. The most disturbing thing was Brock's penis, lined with jagged black metal, extended to nearly a foot and a half, and whipping around like a live wire.

  "Oh Jesus," Mia said, disgusted and horrified at once.

  Brock was holding a man with his right hand, a soldier from the look of it. Circuitry covered the soldier's face and hands. Brock pitched the soldier aside, and he climbed to his feet and staggered away like a zombie.

  Brock's mouth opened, and without his lips or tongue moving, his voice issued from a speaker apparently mounted somewhere in his throat: "imageanalysisfacialrecognitionengaged. Hey HEY! If it AIN'T the littlest LEZBO I know! Come here GIRL I got a SURPRISE for YOU! targetacquiredtargetacquired."

  "Oh, I got a surprise for you too, Brock." Yellow energy crackled from her eyes. "A big surprise..."

  ______________________

  The rooftop door buckled and fell aside, doorjamb shattering under the assault of the yellow energy. Mia stepped out onto the rooftop and into a howling windstorm. Amber was at the center of it, perhaps was the center of it, her open mouth unleashing a howl of sound and biting cold that swirled around her to engulf the building.

  Mia tried to move closer, but the pain near her left ear intensified, and she swayed, unsteady on her feet.

  A spark jumped from her to Amber, and back again.

  Soon, others arrived, and sparks jumped from Amber to Mia, to the others, and around again. Finally, an area near Amber darkened, and the world seemed to crack open and peel away. When it came together again, Kevin stood on the rooftop.

  Lines of energy arced between them now, and then arced into the air above the rooftop. And where they came together, the sky darkened. A shimmering hole began to form in the air. A sound rose, like the sound of cracks opening in ice, only a million times louder.

  ______________________

  Mia walked through the cafeteria, looking for a table. Finally, she sat, picking at her food with her fork: some kind of meatloaf supposedly, and it was definitely a loaf, but meat? She wasn't sure.

  "Can I sit here?"

  Mia looked up. It was a girl, small like Mia herself, with straight, light brown hair that fell between her shoulder blades. She was very thin, and wore a baggy sweatshirt and loose-fitting jeans. She was pretty though, and Mia was instantly taken by her eyes.

  "Sure," Mia said. "Yeah, you can."

  The girl sat down across from her.

  "You don't have a tray," Mia said.

  "I'm not hungry," she said.

  "Oh." Mia looked at her tray. "I'm not really that hungry either. You want to split these apple slices?"

  "Okay, thanks," the girl said, taking one.

  "I'm Mia."

  "Amber."

  She's so pretty, Mia thought, but she didn't want to say anything, didn't want her to know.

  "I just started here," Mia said.

  "I know," Amber said. "I mean, I knew I didn't recognize you. From before."

  "Yeah, I went to a different school before..." Mia thought about it, and decided to risk a little. She leaned forward and whispered, "I was in juvie. For a year and a half."

  Amber's eyes widened. "What did you do?"

  That, Mia could not tell. Never. "It was nothing, it was stupid. Nothing."

  Amber quietly ate a slice of apple.

  "Anyway," Mia went on, "yeah, I used to go to Catholic school. St. Anthony's."

  "Did you like it there?" she asked.

  Mia considered. "It was okay, I guess. The sisters could be mean."

  "Sisters?"

  "Yeah, the nuns."

  "Oh," Amber said, "Duh! I'm stupid."

  "No you're not." Mia said. "You're just not Catholic. Which is good for you, trust me."

  They laughed.

  "I am stupid though. Everyone's always saying that."

  "No!" Mia became very serious. "You're not. Don't say that!"

  Amber ate another slice of apple.

  "Well well, what do we have here?" Brock had come up beside their table. "Aw, do we have a lezbo love connection?"

  "Go away," Mia said, annoyed. "God, you're such a caveman."

  "Is that it, Amber?" Brock asked. "Are you in love?"

  Amber looked down and stayed quiet.

  "Leave her alone," Mia said.

  "You might want to be careful with this one," Brock said, and he reached down to yank Amber's baggy sleeve up, revealing dark scars crossing her arm. "Homegirl has issues!"

  Amber recoiled, yanking the sleeve down.

  Mia stood up. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" she screamed.

  The whole cafeteria went quiet. Brock laughed. "Whatever" he said, and turned to leave.

  A quick hand scooped up Mia's meatloaf, and she stepped up on her chair and climbed up on the table. Hearing the noise, Brock turned back. Mia grabbed his shirt collar with one hand and with the other she smashed the meatloaf into his face.

  "What the fuck?" Brock said, sputtering the meat and sauce out of his mouth and wiping it from his eyes.

  Two teachers ran from the other side of the cafeteria, to break it up.

  Amber watched as they ushered the two of them out of the cafeteria and toward the principal's office. Around her, the whispers began:

  "Did you see that?"

  "Heard she was in juvie."

  "Just got out of jail."

  "What did she do?"

  "That girl is crazy."

  ______________________

  "Oh YEAH? What are you gonna DO throw some MEATLOAF at me?"

  Mia's fists glowed. "Something like that," she said.

  Brock's glowing eyes fixed on her hands. "unknownenergydetected spectraclanalysispending dangeralertdangeralert"

  Mia threw her hands forward and a ball of yellow energy exploded outward, crashing into Brock like a giant bowling ball. His enormous body braced itself, and the energy crackled around him, then faded.

  "analysiscompleteenergycompatible. MMmm Daddy LIKE... acquireacquire"

  "Oh shit." Mia backed off.

  Tendrils fired off from Brock's fingertips, trailing thin wires back to his hands. Mia threw herself backwards, trying to avoid them. Four of them landed in the back of a passerby who had seen Brock and started to run. Circuitry spread out from the points of impact to cover the man within seconds.

  Mia clambered to her feet and turned to run, when pain exploded in her left temple. One of the tendrils had hit her there, driving a spike into her face. She reached up and tore it free, throwing it aside, but the pain was intense, and something was left there, just under the skin.

  "targetattained. YEAH baby you MINE now! conversioninitiated"

  ______________________

  The hole widened, and through it, Mia
saw a sea of madness. She saw a deep green forest. There were faces in the trees, and accusing eyes in the clouds.

  All of them were staring back at her.

  Mia gasped. The sound of their terrible keening filled the air. The wind buffeted her even harder, and Mia's head felt as if it would split open.

  The forest grew, trees reaching to the heavens and clouds spreading out to darken the sky. And in the center of the forest, Mia saw a ring of dancing women. A pile of dead animals lay at their capering feet, their naked forms covered in blood.

  ______________________

  After school, Mia found Amber waiting for the bus outside.

  "Hey," she said.

  Amber smiled. "Hey. What happened?"

  "I'm stuck here on Saturday," Mia said. "But it was worth it."

  They laughed. I like her laugh, Mia thought.

  "I'm really sorry you got in trouble, though," Amber said. "I feel like it was my fault."

  "Your fault? Uh, no. That Brock guy is an asshole."

  Amber nodded.

  "Hey, you wanna go talk somewhere? We can sit in the bleachers and pretend we're watching baseball practice."

  "Um, well, I have to get home. My parents..."

  "Oh, come on...we can talk for a while and then I'll get my dad to come get us. You won't be late."

  "Okay."

  They climbed to the top of the bleachers and sat. Baseball practice was underway, but Mia and Amber were not interested in that. Mia could not get her mind off the place where their knees were touching.

  "So, what happened," Amber said, "what Brock, what he did."

  "With your arm."

  "Yeah..."

  "Do you want to talk about it?" Mia asked.

  Amber shook her head, eyes wide. "No, no, it's just, it's old. That's old stuff. I don't do that anymore."

  "Okay."

  "I used to do it. I went through a bad time. But I'm okay now."

  "I hope so."

  Amber nodded. "I am, yeah. I just didn't want you to think I was crazy. Or anything."

  Mia laughed. "I don't think that at all."

  "Good."

  "After today, you probably think I'm the crazy one," Mia said, laughing.

  "No!" Amber took Mia's hand in hers. "No, I don't. You're..."

  Words died on her lips. Their eyes met, and Mia leaned close...

  Suddenly a brown haired girl several rows below them jumped up and cheered. "SIMONNNN!!" One of the players had apparently hit a home run. There was sporadic clapping from the kids in the stands.

  Mia looked at Amber. "Wow, someone likes Simon a lot, huh?"

  They laughed.

  "I like your laugh," Mia said.

  Amber smiled. "It's you. You're different from everyone else."

  "Is that good or bad?" Mia asked.

  "It's good. It's like...you have something inside you. A spark."

  Mia considered this, then snapped her fingers. "Come on. You just gave me a great idea!"

  They made their way down the hair product aisle at the pharmacy, Mia tapping the boxes as she searched the rows. Finally, she snatched one up and turned around.

  "Perfect," she said.

  She held the box up and displayed it for Amber to see. Under the photo of the model wearing the hair color were the words ELECTRIC BLUE.

  "Blue hair?" Amber said. "Oh no, not me, I couldn't."

  "I'll do it," Mia said. "Why not? Come on, call your parents and tell them you're coming over to my place. You can help me!"

  Amber laughed. "Okay."

  Once the dye was worked into her hair, Mia stood. Traces of blue water ran down her body. She turned, facing Amber with her hair wet and freshly dyed, droplets landing in her black bra. Her shirt hung on the door nearby.

  "What do you think?" she asked.

  Amber swallowed. "You look..."

  Mia took her hands, pulling her close. "Feel that?"

  "What?" Amber said.

  "The spark."

  Their lips met. Mia could feel Amber's heart beating against hers.

  ______________________

  "Amber!" Mia cried, running toward her. Brock was somewhere behind, still coming after her, but he kept stopping to attack people on the street. Each one was turned into some kind of cyber zombie. Worse, Mia could feel something growing under her left temple, spreading.

  Amber was in the middle of the street. They had reached a much busier area of town now, and cars were everywhere. Amber's mouth yawned open, and the terrible wail issued forth again. It was deafening. Within moments the cars were encased in solid ice.

  "Stop!" Mia shouted, but her voice was lost in the noise.

  "analysisinitiated. Well WELL what do we have HERE? secondarytargetacquired. I knew we had a little LOVE connection with YOU TWO. acquireacquire." It was Brock, advancing from the other side of the street.

  "You STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Mia screamed, and stepped around one of the frozen cars. She grabbed the door handle, and tore the door free. "Get out!"

  The driver scrambled free of the car and ran.

  Mia reached under the car as Brock approached. The yellow energy spread out underneath it, and with a flick of her hands she sent it spinning through the air at him. The car struck Brock with an audible crunch, sending him flying and sandwiching him against a building on the opposite side of the street. The windows behind him shattered, and people within screamed and ran.

  Mia turned back to Amber, but she had lost her again. Amber continued her steady march toward downtown.

  "structuraldamagedetected. Crazy BITCH. repairmodeengaged."

  Brock's hands reached around the sides of the car. Metallic structures emerged from his hands, clamping into the car, and he hauled it away from himself. Once moved, the structures retracted in his arm.

  "I'm crazy?? Have you looked in a mirror?" Mia wrenched a fire hydrant from the corner and sent it flying at his head, a deadly missile.

  Brock swatted it away with one hand.

  "tacticalanalysispending. I'm not AFRAID of you... I'm not AFRAID. dangeralertdangeralert."

  ______________________

  They chanted, and their chants made the trees grow even more, and the faces stared down at Mia and blew forth the keening sound that infested her mind.

  The naked women danced, and suddenly they surrounded Mia, snatching at her with their bloody hands, pulling and pawing at her.

  At the center of the aperture in the sky, another woman appeared, this one framed by a cascade of shimmering red hair.

  The red woman stepped forth.

  ______________________

  "I need to get to my locker," Mia said.

  Brock turned. "Well, well, if it isn't our little lezbo love connection."

  Amber stood behind her, and Mia reached back one hand to clutch hers.

  "Locker. NOW," she said.

  "Ooh, takey chargey, I like it. And by the way, LOVE the hair," he said, indicating Mia's new spiky blue look.

  "Move your GOD DAMN ASS!" Mia swung her book bag up, very close to his head, and it smashed into the locker with a clang that rang up and down the hall. Everyone got very quiet.

  "Jesus!" Brock backed off. "This girl's fuckin' crazy," he said to his friends. "What do you have in that bag?"

  "Only books, for now," Mia said. "But if it needs to be bricks, I can make that happen next time."

  "You're crazy," he said again. "Let's go." He and his friends walked away.

  Once he was gone, Mia turned to Amber. "So, I have a good idea. What say we find a quiet place to sneak off too and make out?"

  Amber smiled. "Don't you have to get into your locker?"

  "Nope." She took Amber's hand and the two of them strolled off, laughing together.

  The whispers followed:

  "I heard she stabbed some kid."

  "Shh, she'll hear you."

  "She beat up a teacher."

  "...started screaming for no reason..."

  "...threw a brick right at his head."


  ______________________

  "Is that what this is all about?" Mia asked. "School? The cafeteria, everything? You're afraid?"

  "dangerdanger. I'M NOT AFRAID. dangerdanger." Brock repeated, looming over her.

  "You are afraid. You were. I'm sorry, I didn't know what else to do. You wouldn't stop! You never stop!"

  Brock paused, and the stalks protruding from his glowing satellite eyes spun in tiny circles. "evaluatingthreatlevel. I don't KNOW. I don't know what to DO. evaluating."

  The yellow energy died from Mia's eyes. "All you have to do is stop. I'll stop if you will."

  Brock lowered his hands. "threatabatedcombatmodedisengaged. What's happening? What happened to me? I'm scared. I'm SCARED. diagnosticprogramactivated."

  "Me too."

  "dangeralert. What's SHE doing? dangeralert."

  Mia spun around. Amber stood on the curb, her eyes fixed on Brock. Her mouth dropped open, and the wail began, rising and rising. Mia clapped her hands over her ears but it did nothing, the sound knocked her off her feet and she lay on the street, clutching her head.

  "dangerdangerdanger. You little BITCH. I'll GET you. dangerdanger."

  The swirling cone of cold issuing from Amber's mouth surrounded Brock. Within an instant, frost covered him, and he was quickly encased in ice. Still the sound mounted. Windows on the other side of the street burst. Ice grew and grew on Brock's body, until Mia could no longer see him at all. Louder, the sound grew, and still louder.

  Finally, Brock's frozen body burst into thousands of fragments that blasted into the air to clatter down on the street like hailstones.

  The sound stopped.

  Amber's mouth closed. Silently, she turned and continued her march into the city.

  Mia stood, shaking her head. All she heard was a buzzing in her ears, and of course the sound of the energy mounting inside her: eeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEE! She walked over to what was left of Brock, and found nothing but icy fragments on the ground. Nothing moved. Still, a pain remained in her left temple, and something was growing there, something throbbing and angry.

  When she finally caught up with Amber, she was shambling toward a tall building in the middle of the city.