Strike 3: The Returning Sunrise

by Charlie Wood

  “The past does not have to die. Everything that is gone can be remade, the same as it was before. We will all live in peace once again.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Soon, Scatterbolt, Jennifer, Chad, and Keplar Junior reached the eastern side of the skyscraper. As they peered around the corner of the building and looked to its rear entrance, they could see that scientists and other government workers were still dashing out of it, carrying personal possessions and running into a swirling portal behind the building, which was being watched over by two Rytonian guards. Because Scatterbolt and the others were much closer to the Common now, the sounds of the battle were much louder.

  “Look,” Chad said. “People are running out of the building. Do you think we should be going in?”

  Floating in the air thanks to his head-mounted helicopter, Scatterbolt jammed his metallic fingers underneath a window on the side of the skyscraper. Soon, with a loud CLICK!, he was able to pop the window open.

  “There,” the robot said, landing on the ground. “Head in, be as inconspicuous as possible, and try to get to the top of the building. That’s where the Daybreaker should be.”

  Giving Jennifer a hand, the little robot boosted her up into the open window.

  “No one should realize who you are because you’ll just blend in with the other Rytonians,” Scatterbolt said. “Luckily, they aren’t all green-skinned. Plus, with all the chaos going on, no one should give you a second look, anyway.”

  “What?” Chad said. “You’re not going in with her?”

  “No, I can’t. My face has been on wanted posters all over this place for months. Plus, I’m a little robot. I won’t blend in as much as Jen.”

  “And what am I gonna do?” Chad asked. “Should I go talk to the Daybreaker, too?”

  “No, he’s already seen you on the island navy base. He might think it’s a trick or something. Jen’s gonna have to go on her own.”

  “Are you sure?” Chad looked to Jen. She was already in the skyscraper, peering out the window. “Jen, are you okay with that?”

  “Yes, I’ll be fine. You just stay here with Scatterbolt.”

  Scatterbolt pointed to a nearby flower shop, across the street from the open window of the Trident. “Me, Chad, and Keplar Junior will be right over there, Jen, across the street and hiding in that shop. Chad, you stay with me and don’t move. I’m in enough trouble as it is.”

  “You don’t have to worry about me going anywhere,” Chad replied. “Just make sure you’re nearby.”

  “I will,” Scatterbolt said. “And Jennifer?”

  The robot turned to the window. Jennifer looked back at him.

  “Good luck,” Scatterbolt told her.

  ***

  Seconds later, Jennifer was quickly making her way down a dark hallway in the skyscraper, heading toward the main lobby. Due to the ongoing battle outside, the electricity in the building kept going out—every few seconds, the lights would flicker on-and-off, as power surges ran through the building. To make matters worse, the floor underneath Jennifer’s feet continuously trembled, shaking to various degrees with each explosion or energy blast from the war being waged near the building’s front entrance.

  However, luckily for Jennifer, the battle was having one important positive side effect: just like Scatterbolt had predicted, hardly any of the Rytonian scientists or government workers were looking at Jennifer twice as they ran toward the rear exit of the building, even though they were all traveling in the opposite direction and Jennifer was the only person heading deeper into the skyscraper.

  Surrounded by the panicked Rytonians, and as scared and as nervous as she’d ever been, Jennifer finally reached the building’s main lobby. To her left, directly across from the building’s main entrance, she spotted a golden-doored elevator. Taking a deep breath, she quickly walked toward it, but she was soon stopped by a Rytonian scientist carrying a large box.

  “Hey! Where are you going?” the man asked her, grabbing her arm. He looked her up and down. “Do you work here or something?”

  “Yes,” Jennifer replied, pulling away from him. “I have to—I have to go up to the top floor.”

  The man furrowed his brow. “What are you, nuts? Can’t you see this whole city is coming down on our heads?” The man grabbed her arm again and pulled her away from the lobby, back toward where she came from. “We’re evacuating. Come on, there’s an escape portal in the rear of the building.”

  “No!” Jennifer shouted. She pulled away from the man again and pushed him away.

  The man was shocked, confused. “Are you crazy? The building’s being evacuated!”

  “I know, but I have to get up to the top floor,” Jennifer said, trying to calm down and catch her breath. “Please. Someone—one of my family members is stuck up there. Can you help me get to the top floor?”

  “One of your family members?”

  “Yes.”

  The man looked at her, then shook his head.

  “Here. This will get you to the top floor.” He tossed her a key card from his pocket. “It’s your funeral. I still say you better get out of here while you still can.”

  Jennifer took the key and walked past the man, quickly making her way into the elevator. Once inside, she waited for the doors to close, and then inserted her key card into a slot at the very top of the buttons. After a light above the key slot blinked green, the elevator began to rise.

  Only ten seconds later, Jennifer was at the top floor, and the doors opened. Stepping out, she walked into a small lobby. It was nicely decorated with flowers, paintings, and comfortable furniture, but there was nobody nearby. Looking at her surroundings, Jennifer saw that there were four hallways leading away from the lobby. She didn’t know which way led to the Daybreaker and there were no signs, so she would just have to pick one and hope it led her where she needed to go. If not, she would just have to head back to the lobby and try again.

  But then, just as Jennifer stepped toward one of the hallways on her left, she heard a loud voice call out.

  “Hey!”

  Jennifer turned around. A six-foot-tall, two-hundred-and-fifty-pound, green-skinned security guard was walking toward her, emerging from one of the other hallways.

  “What are you doing here?” he shouted. “How did you get up here?”

  Jennifer felt her knees buckle. “I—I just used the key and I—”

  The guard snatched the key from her hand.

  “Where did you get this? How did you get into this building? Where is your identification?”

  The guard grabbed Jennifer by her wrist and whipped out a scanner device from his pocket. He then pointed the black machine in her eyes, shining a light into her face. She turned her head to the side and tried to pull away from him.

  “Please, I just—I just—”

  The scanner in the guard’s hand beeped. Its screen read: NO ID ON FILE.

  “You’re coming with me,” the guard said. “You shouldn’t be up here.”

  “No, please!” Jennifer pulled on her arm, trying to free it from the guard. “I need to—I can explain—”

  The guard brought her toward the elevator.

  “I’m sure you’re confused with all the madness going on,” he said, “but that’s no excuse to sneak up here and—”

  The elevator door opened. Jennifer knew this was her only shot. “Please, I’m here to see the Daybreaker,” she said. “Please. I’m his friend. You have to believe me.”

  Jennifer finally freed her wrist and maneuvered away, stepping back into the center of the lobby. The guard was not happy.

  “Look,” he said, reaching for the stun gun on his belt. “You better just come back here and go with me. I don’t want to have to hurt you.”

  Jennifer began to cry. She was running out of time. “I’m here to see the Daybreaker. I’m his friend. I need to talk to him. Please.”

  The guard grew more concerned. He placed his hand on his walkie-talkie.

  “What ar
e you talking about? What do you mean, ‘his friend?’”

  “I’m his friend, since before all of this,” Jennifer said desperately. “Before you all came here. And I need to speak to him. Please, please help me.”

  “Who are you?” the guard asked, his voice raised. “How’d you get up here?”

  Jennifer threw her hands up. It wasn’t working. What else could she do? “I already told you,” she replied, shaking her head, trying to hold back the tears.

  The guard was suspicious. He wasn’t buying it. He pulled his walkie-talkie off his belt. “Hold on. You stay right there. I’m calling this in. Don’t move.”

  Suddenly, Jennifer heard a voice to her left.

  “Wait.”

  Jennifer turned in the voice’s direction. A pretty, green-skinned girl with blonde hair and brown eyes was standing there, wearing a nurse’s uniform. She looked young, Jennifer thought, not much older than her.

  The nurse stepped forward, toward Jennifer and the guard.

  “I know who this is,” the nurse said to the guard. “Rigel told me she would be coming.”

  “You do?” the guard asked, surprised. “He did?”

  “Yes,” the nurse replied. “She has vital information for the Daybreaker on the next phase of the battle. It’s important that she speak to the Daybreaker right away. I suggest you let her through.”

  The guard thought it over. “Okay. But I’m still calling this into headquarters.”

  As the guard pushed a button on his walkie-talkie and waited for a response, the nurse took Jennifer by the hand and brought her down one of the hallways.

  “Thank you,” Jennifer said, confused, looking at the nurse. “Who are you? Why did you do that?”

  Nurse Somerset stopped and turned to her. “Are you really the Daybreaker’s friend? From before all of this?”

  “Yes,” Jennifer replied. “Where is he? Do you know where he is?”

  “Come on,” Nurse Somerset replied. “We don’t have much time.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  In his office on the top floor of the Trident, the Daybreaker stood behind his desk at the floor-to-ceiling window and looked out at the battle being waged in Boston Common. Still too weakened from his most recent extraction, the Daybreaker was using a crutch to stand, and as he readjusted the crutch under his arm and pressed his hand against the glass, he heard the door behind him open.

  “Alison, where is my armor?” the Daybreaker said. “I need to—”

  But when the Daybreaker turned around, it wasn’t Nurse Somerset he saw in the doorway.

  It was Jennifer.

  Immediately, the girl brought her hand to her mouth, in shock at the sight of the second Tobin.

  “Tobin, hi,” she said, her voice wavering. “It’s me. It’s me.”

  The Daybreaker looked back at her, with his face blank. As he looked her up and down, he began to squint, confused.

  “Who are you?” he asked. “What are you doing here?”

  Jennifer carefully walked into the office. “It’s me, Tobin. It’s—”

  The girl stopped. It wasn’t until she had stepped closer to the Daybreaker that she realized how horrible he looked. His skin was white and lifeless, and the black circles under his eyes stretched almost all the way down his cheeks. His lips were pale and chapped, and it appeared he had lost close to fifteen pounds.

  Jennifer gasped and covered her mouth, crying.

  “My god, Tobin, what have they done to you? What have they done to you?”

  The Daybreaker stared back at her, angry. As he held his fists against his legs, his hands erupted in white-and-blue energy.

  “Who sent you here?” he said, raising his voice. “How did Orion do this?”

  “It’s me, Tobin,” Jennifer said through her tears. She held her hand against her heart. “I promise, Tobin. It’s Jennifer.”

  “No,” the Daybreaker replied. “You’re dead. Jennifer’s dead. Who are you?”

  “Tobin, please. It’s me. I’m here. And so is Chad. It’s really me, I promise you.”

  “Orion created a fake Chad, and now he has created a fake Jennifer. How did they do this? Why are you here?”

  Jennifer grew upset. She tried to stop her crying, she tried to be strong. But it was so difficult, seeing her best friend like this, and hearing him speak this way.

  “Tobin, Chad and I, we’re fine. We’re both fine. He’s here, too, right now, downstairs and outside. The real him. You’ve been lied to, Tobin, they’ve been—”

  The Daybreaker suddenly screamed, lifting both of his glowing fists up and bringing them down on his desk, smashing the wooden piece of furniture into two pieces. Jennifer jumped back, startled.

  “I saw your bodies!” the Daybreaker shouted. “I went to your funerals!” He stomped across the room, his fist raised over his head. “Now, you are going to tell me who you really are, or else I’m gonna—”

  The Daybreaker stopped. He dropped his fist to his side. His face fell.

  Jennifer was crying and looking away from him. She was afraid. Afraid of him.

  The Daybreaker stepped backward, overwhelmed, his eyes darting around Jennifer. “I don’t know,” he stammered, “I don’t—I’m so confused, I don’t—”

  Frustrated, the Daybreaker fell against what was left of his desk and ran his hand through his hair, gripping it tightly and growling through gritted teeth. His eyes were closed, but when he looked up, Jennifer saw that his face was streaked with tears.

  Jennifer cried with him. She stepped toward the desk, holding out her shaking hand. She wanted to squeeze his arm—give him any kind of human contact—but she was still afraid of what he might do.

  “It’s me, Tobin,” she said. “It’s me. I swear. I promise. Please, let me help you.”

  The Daybreaker moved away. “I don’t—I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t believe you. This is a trick. It’s one of Orion’s tricks.”

  “Tobin, you need help,” Jennifer said. “You need someone to help you. You need to know what is really going on.”

  The Daybreaker looked up. His confusion was now making him angrier.

  “You’re a liar. You’re all liars. I don’t—it can’t be you. You’re gone. It can’t be you.”

  Jennifer pushed her fear aside and took another step toward him. He needed her. Now more than ever, he needed her.

  “Tobin, it’s me,” she said, barely able to speak through her tears. “It’s me. Remember when we snuck out of Health class in seventh grade, and we had to hide in the lunch ladies’ room from the hall monitor? Remember when you made me go to that awful horror movie freshman year, and we were the only ones in the theatre and it was the scariest thing ever? Remember the night my grandfather died and we went to the beach at midnight to talk, and we ended up going swimming and we didn’t come home until five in the morning?”

  The Daybreaker looked at Jennifer, with his head tilted slightly, his brow furrowing. His hands slowly unclenched. His confusion was lifting. It was as if another life was coming back to him.

  “Remember,” Jennifer said, “last year, when Mike broke up with me at the homecoming dance and you hung out with me in the coat room all night, making me laugh and staying with me so I didn’t have to go back inside and face everyone again? Remember? Do you remember? That was the night…that was the night I realized I loved you.”

  The Daybreaker stepped back. His eyes were wide.

  Jennifer looked away from him, in shock at what she just said. “I know...I know things have never really lined up for us. I’m with Tommy now, and before that you were with other people. The timing has never been right, and I never wanted to ruin our friendship, and I don’t think you did, either. But...I love you, Tobin. I love you. I always have. I’m in love with you. And I can’t bear to see you like this.”

  The Daybreaker stood near the ceiling-high window, stunned. As Jennifer looked at him from across the room, she realized, now more than ever, that he looked like Tobin.r />
  Jennifer walked toward him. Before he could speak, she grabbed the boy by his arms and pulled him close. She closed her eyes, tilted her head, and kissed him, pressing her mouth against him, holding him close to her body. She felt his lips against hers.

  It was a feeling she had wanted to experience many times over the past six years, when they were alone in her basement late at night and watching a movie. Now, finally, at this most important of moments, she had.

  She couldn’t have been happier that she had waited until now.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  In the dark florist shop across the street from the eastern side of the skyscraper, Chad waited with Scatterbolt, sitting with the robot at a table full of potted plants and bags of seeds. Behind them, Keplar Junior was playing with a plastic shovel, chewing it into thousands of pieces.

  “What do you think is going on up there?” Chad asked. “You think she made it?”

  “I don’t know,” Scatterbolt replied. “But if we don’t hear from her in two minutes, I’m heading up there.”

  “But they’ll recognize you,” Chad said. “You said your face has been on wanted posters all over this place.”

  “I know, but it’s a risk I’ll have to take. I’m already sick to my stomach about bringing you guys here. If she hasn’t gotten her chance to talk to him yet, it’s too late now. We have to get out of here soon and—” The robot’s eyes grew large and flashed with a yellow light. “Oh, no,” he said.

  “What?” Chad asked. “What’s ‘oh no?’”

  Scatterbolt stood up. He walked across the room and slowly opened the door. Stepping out into the dark, silent city, he looked down the street, toward the eastern part of Harrison.

  About a block away, in the middle of an intersection, there stood a single Hooded Gore, staring back at Scatterbolt, with its claws dangling at its sides. Its head was crooked.

  However, Scatterbolt soon learned the Gore was not alone. From around the corner, the demon was soon joined by nineteen more Gores, all of which barreled down the street and stood behind the first Gore in a pack. As the cloaked creatures looked down the road toward the florist shop, their red eyes were glowing in the night.