“It is, indeed,” she said, still looking into the aperture. “Are you sure they’re okay?”
“Landon must have gone back to get her. They’ll be out any-”
Also, for the second time on the trip, Amy had foolishly stared directly into what they’d identified as the light of God, Himself. She shielded her eyes with her arm, diving onto the ground as she’d done before. This time the intense light had a searing heat that went along with it, and she felt as though the temperature of the air around her instantaneously rose 50 degrees. She was afraid to look up, but couldn’t help herself when she heard loud footsteps coming near, and struggled to see Landon and Claire tripping over themselves to make it the final few steps out of the corridor.
“What was it?” Amy yelled to them, noticing that the ground beneath them had begun to tremor.
Landon wasn’t going to share, though. He quickly recovered from whatever he’d seen and began barking orders. “This is it! Get your cloaks ready now!”
The shaking in the ground was intensifying, and this time the light from inside the structure had not subsided. Amy tried to fight off the burning glare as she scrambled to pull the pack from her back.
“We have to move,” Landon yelled. “Get your packs on and let’s go.”
He waved them toward the trees as the ground beneath them began to destabilize. Amy fell, and noticed that Robert had, as well. From her prone position, she could see that the upper portion of the building was beginning to crumble, and knew Landon’s assessment was accurate. She struggled to her feet and started to run quickly but cautiously to adjust for the uneven earth under her feet. It was a difficult run, and it seemed with each step that the rumbling in the ground grew more violent.
They hit the tree line, yelling options to each other as the noise of crumbling rock behind them and the shaking beneath them grew to be intolerable. Amy heard a sudden crack of thunder, as well, which pulled her attention skyward to see two enormous balls of flame falling from the sky and pummeling the sides of the structure. It was quickly being reduced to rubble, its higher levels falling inward toward the atrium.
“Amy, come on!” someone yelled at her. It sounded British, so it must’ve been Davies, but she was captivated. A moment later, she noticed Davies sidle up to her, also looking back toward where they’d been.
“Were those meteors?” he asked. “I only caught a glimpse of them.”
His question was answered a moment later when out of the gaping holes the fireballs had left in the side of the building they watched two terrifying creatures arise. They were humanoid, certainly, but probably three or four stories tall, and with magnificent wings protruding from their backs. Their bodies were engulfed in flames and the heat emanating from them accelerated the destruction of the building.
Suddenly, the penetrating light was gone, and they had a clearer view of what was happening. They watched as the creatures began to lay waste to the building, violently smashing and burning sections of the structure. Pieces of molten rock started to fly through the air, and the ground around the structure began to fill with dust. Though she knew she had to, Amy could not pull away.
So, it was good that someone else did. Apparently, she and Davies hadn’t been the only ones standing and staring – they’d all halted to see what was happening. But someone grabbed her. She thought it was Robert, but it didn’t matter, and she turned and broke into a sprint once again. They continued through the dense forest as quickly as they possibly could, for as long as they could, not knowing how far they needed to run for safety.
Until, suddenly, the earth beneath them shook with such force that all of them were tossed into the air several meters.
CHAPTER 72
Landon hit the ground hard on his right shoulder. Pain flew through his body, but he diagnosed quickly there would be no lasting damage. He hoped the others were as fortunate. That last jolt of the earthquake had nearly done them in.
Why he hadn’t considered that the Fall of Man would be so violent, he didn’t know. But it was, and he could not imagine how much more was to come – and how they were going to survive it.
As he turned to analyze everyone else’s predicament, though, he saw the worst hadn’t yet happened.
In the direction of what had been The Garden, not only were sections of the forest disappearing before his eyes, being pulled into the ground, but a sandstorm like nothing he’d ever seen before was headed toward them. Billowing sand a kilometer high was rushing up on them, and though he was thankful they’d had the presence of mind to run, it hadn’t been far enough.
Trying to suppress thoughts of them deserving what they were about to get, he thought quickly about their options. They could not be sure that time as they knew it had commenced yet, so there was no guarantee that the cloaks would now take them back home. The destruction of the Garden of Eden was not complete, and they only had one shot at the return trip.
He toyed with the idea of trying, though. Perhaps even having everyone get their cloaks on…
The cloaks.
They were impermeable. Which meant they could withstand-
“Put your cloaks on! Now!” he yelled. He looked around him to see that everyone else seemed able to continue, but that they’d all similarly noticed the sand rushing toward them. “Now!”
“Can we do it?” Claire asked over the deafening noise.
“Just put it on,” he shouted.
The wall of sand was coming closer and gaining momentum, so they all scrambled to extract their cloaks from their pouches and slide them over their heads. In his haste, Landon could only account for himself, and he pulled the heavy fabric over him – for the first time in his time travel career – just as the sand reached them. He felt the impact of the shockwave from the crumbling structure hit him, but the cloak held as pellets of sand and rock whipped against it. He was able to maintain his balance at first, and the cloak protected his entire body, but eventually the force of the impact caught him, and he found himself being swept away.
CHAPTER 73
Robert jerked awake, bathed in sweat.
Even through his cloak, he could feel the hot sun beating down on him, and wasn’t sure if he was perspiring from actual heat of the weather or the anxiety that had attacked him seeing a devastating wall of sandy death bearing down on him. Either way, he was thankful to be alive.
He almost had missed the deadline for putting his cloak on, as at the last second, he’d remembered that he was still carrying Reilly’s, as well. As strong as his contempt was for his former friend, he could not condemn him to death by withholding his only hope. He’d handed it to him with seconds to spare, and would find our momentarily if he’d successfully gotten it over his head in time.
Robert was on his back, but the viewing glass on the cloak had shifted around him so it was no longer aligned with his eyes. As he tried to fix himself, he realized he’d blacked out, and strained to remember what had happened. Had they pulled the trigger and gone back to the present time? He remembered flying through the air and he remembered trees falling all around him. But that was about it.
Finally, he orchestrated the cloak into a position that would let him see clearly, and he was greeted with clear blue sky. Whatever supernatural phenomenon it was that they’d been witnessing had ended. They’d survived – or, he had, at least – and if Landon’s theories were right, they would now be able to return home.
Home. Where the U.S. government was waiting to arrest him. But it was somehow still better than here.
Having collected his thoughts, his next mission was to get out of his cloak and check on everyone else, so he began to peel the heavy fabric off himself. With a struggle, he finally pulled the garment over his head, and opened his eyes to see nothing but sand and sky surrounding him.
Sand and sky.
“It’s gone,” he heard Landon’s voice coming from behind him. “It’s been destroyed.” His voice was sad, almost heartbroken.
“I guess so, huh?�
� he said, not turning. “That was really something. Was it what you’d expected?” Now, he turned to look at him.
Landon was shaking his head. “No,” he said. “We couldn’t have seen any of that coming. The actual existence of the Garden was enough of a stretch for us. To suggest that we could possibly witness the Fall of Man, and that it would be so demonstratively violent, would be lunacy.”
Past Landon, Robert could see the other members of the team, including Reilly, spread across the desert floor, all showing signs of life as they emerged from the sand, removing their own cloaks. He saw Landon follow his eyes. “You don’t realize how heavy these things are until you try to take them off by yourself,” he said.
“These things saved our lives.”
“Yes, they did.”
But Robert noticed there were too many figures in the distance for the members of their team, and rubbed his eyes, thinking the desert sun might be playing tricks on him. He squinted to see, and realized there were two additional silhouettes, standing side-by-side. “That can’t possibly be them, can it?”
Now Landon laughed. “Nothing will surprise me, ever again,” he said.
Robert stood, collecting his cloak that had been in the sand next to him. “Have you looked at where and when we are?”
“Yes,” Landon said, tapping his forearm. “We are exactly where we landed, in the location of where the Garden of Eden was said to be.” He turned his attention back toward the horizon.
“You left out when,” Robert said.
“Oh, did I?” he asked. “You might not want to know.”
“Are you serious?”
“4139 B.C.E.,” he said.
“Forty-one what?” Robert said, gasping. “Are you sure? We just skipped four thousand years?”
Landon shook his head again. “That’s a debate I’m not going to get into right now. Let’s just get home.” He paused for a moment, though, and looked back at Robert. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t mean to be insensitive. I know what’s waiting for you there.”
Robert waved a hand at him. “Don’t you worry about it. We don’t have a choice. And we only have the chance to return because of you.”
The others were starting to approach them now, with Claire reaching them first, then Davies, and then Amy. They all exchanged encouraging words and quickly swapped stories of their trials between the sandstorm and that moment.
After he’d checked on his teammates, Reilly approached him, stopping two feet away. “Thank you, Robert,” he said. “I know you didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did,” he said. “Because that’s what the good guys do.” Then, he turned away from the man he’d called a good friend for so long, joining the others as they turned their collective attention toward the two people who were now clearly walking toward them. They were just close enough that they could make out a fully-clothed man and woman – the same ones that had been in the Garden.
“Can you imagine?” Davies asked.
“Do we talk to them?” Amy wondered out loud.
There was silence among them for a moment, then Claire spoke. “No,” she said. “We should leave.”
“Are we sure that’s what we want?” Robert asked, only to make everyone think twice about it before choosing a side.
“Doesn’t matter what we want,” Landon answered. “Claire’s right. We could screw up an awful lot of history by saying the wrong thing.”
“I think we could screw up all of it,” Davies added.
“Then we leave?” Robert asked. They all nodded their agreement, so he looked around to see nothing but flat, open space. “How do we do it without them seeing us?”
“Alright,” Claire said, stepping into the center of the circle they’d casually created. “We’ve gone above and beyond our mandate in trying to protect everything and everyone from the evils of time travel. We need to go home.” She pointed toward the paradise that was no longer there. “Look, they just saw God destroy the Garden he’d made for them, and angels come out of the sky and start burning things. I think they can handle watching some people disappear from far enough away that they won’t even know what’s going on, anyway.”
“I tend to agree with her,” said Reilly. “We need to go.”
Others approved, and Robert found himself one more time looking to Landon.
“Alright,” Landon said, “let’s get going before they get closer.”
Quickly, each of them pulled their cloaks over their heads again. Robert felt the warmth of the fabric as he sat on the ground, ready to initiate the time travel process. He dreaded what he would face when he returned, but he knew it was where and when he needed to be.
For the last action of the mission, and perhaps the last time ever, he resumed control of the team from Landon. “On my count,” he said. “One… Two… Three…”
He pushed the button and within seconds his fingertips began to tingle.
CHAPTER 74
The trip back always seemed to have more of an effect on Keegan’s body. It wasn’t a feeling he’d describe as pain, but definitely one of pressure, almost as one would experience on a spinning ride at the amusement park, but without the accompanying dizziness. Just a systematic attack on your bones as the portal reconstructs your cells under the protection of the cloak.
Never in the history of the program had a cloak failed, which was an impressive record of reliability, and this trip was no diversion from that streak. As Keegan came to, he quickly pulled the cloak off over his head and looked around.
To his right was one of other cloaks, in the process of being similarly removed. After a moment, the cloak fell to the floor revealing General Reilly. He was alone. None of the others had arrived with him.
Reilly looked at Keegan incredulously. “What are you doing here?”
Keegan held up his hands and shook his head in a classic let me explain gesture, then started to walk slowly toward Reilly. “There’s a lot going on here, and I need to walk you through it,” he said.
Behind him, he heard a series of tones, and turned his attention for a split second toward the entry door to the portal. The Attorney General and his agents must have reached the portal with Dipin and were about to come inside. Though they would need to tangle with the biometrics and probably threaten to kill the two agents inside before they’d get them to cooperate, he had very little time.
Reilly started to speak again, but Keegan sprung toward him and grabbed him firmly around the shoulders. The General was a well-trained soldier, likely skilled in self-defense, so the element of surprise was essential. Fortunately, Keegan was a powerful man, so he took him quickly, subduing him, with one arm under his right armpit in a move the old-time wrestlers used to call a Half-nelson. With his other arm, he wrapped Reilly in a bear hug and, though he struggled, kicking wildly and squirming, Keegan slowly started dragging him toward the closest pod.
“What are you doing?” Reilly was screaming at him.
Keegan ignored him. “Senator, I hope you’re still up there,” he called.
“I am,” she said over the speakers.
“Same process as before,” he said, inching closer to the pod. “I have a new set of coordinates for you.”
“I’m ready.”
After clearing his senses for a moment to listen to the progress being made at the entry door, Keegan rattled off the coordinates he’d drawn up and committed to memory moments before while in the cloak room of two hours before.
“They’re in.”
Reilly continued to struggle, but Keegan’s grip on him was holding true. “Next, I need you to open Pod #2 for me. You should see-”
Behind him, there was a hissing noise and the door to the closest pod rose open.
“Keegan, you’ll go to prison for this,” Reilly said. “Stop, immediately.”
“I think this might be the only way to keep from going to prison,” he said in Reilly’s ear, then turned and hurled the smaller man into the open pod. He followed him immed
iately in, burying his shoulder into Reilly’s back and holding him at bay. He hadn’t intended to lose his grip, which made things more difficult, but also knew that he needed at least one hand free to manually close the pod.
Fortunately, there wasn’t enough room in the pod for two people, so there was no leeway for Reilly to maneuver past him as Keegan pulled the door closed. They were trapped inside.
“You’re making a huge mistake,” Reilly said.
“Senator?” Keegan said.
“Keegan, are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Senator, the time is now!”
The pod was not soundproofed, but it certainly tamped down any noise outside. Keegan thought he heard a commotion in the time portal, meaning they must have gotten inside. Which was unbelievably dangerous with the machine engaging.
The pod began to shake. A moment later, gold filaments started to lift from both of their bodies.
CHAPTER 75
“Get back!” Dipin screamed, diving back through the door and into the security room. Having been the fourth person into the time portal and just getting back to safety himself, he knew there wasn’t much hope for the three agents in front of him. In his haste, he collided with the Attorney General, who a moment later would have been in the portal himself to arrest Robert. The AG tumbled to the floor.
Dipin looked up to see that the door was not closed, but one of the SATP security guards was attempting to close it. He heard a series of ear-piercing blasts in the adjoining room, meaning the time travel process had begun. It was too late for the agents. In fact, he didn’t even see them trying to get back to the security room.
The door snapped shut and the SATP security guard slumped behind it.
The Attorney General got to his feet. “What’s going to happen to those men out there?” he demanded.
His glare at Dipin demanded an answer, but Dipin only shook his head grimly.
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