by Michael Shaw
The tips of my fingers just barely touched his head.
I came back down, and my legs gave underneath me. I fell, but I quickly turned myself over to lie on my back. Alex was falling. I held my hands up, and he landed on top of me, chair and all. I grunted with the force of it, and so did he. But he was okay.
I did it, I thought, breathing in and out heavily. He’s okay. We’re okay.
He rolled off of me. I got on my knees and started untying him. He groaned, hardly conscious. Beaten up all over.
I checked the watch. Nine minutes and fifty-eight seconds. Fifty-nine. I looked up to the sky.
Internal time hit ten minutes, and the pain hit my head. Time returned to the world. Glass hit the sidewalk all around us. I untied Alex completely and took the gag off from over his mouth. He coughed and rolled over, trying to pull himself up.
I stood up and watched the other two come down.
Alex lifted his eyes to me. “Jon,” he barely said. “I’m - I’m sorry,” Alex exhaled heavily. “I’m sorry I betrayed you.”
I looked down at him, and I just nodded slowly. “I’m sorry about your mother.”
He bit his lip, closing his eyes. Dust and blood was smothered all over his face.
“I saw the video,” I said.
He opened his eyes.
“I don’t know what you think you saw, but it wasn’t my father. It couldn’t have been?”
He lowered his eyes to the ground. “Did you hear the audio with it?”
I blinked. “What?”
Our conversation was halted when the men in the air came closer to the ground. Hunter’s yells could be heard from the ground. He glided down using Midas’s telekinesis, but David held onto him by his neck. His strength was starting to give under the weight. Their descent began to speed up.
They fell toward the sidewalk across the street. Hunter let out a gut-wrenching scream, and his right hand glove made a loud pop. It burst into flame, and its power was gone.
The two quickly fell, only one of Hunter’s gloves slowing the fall. They spun and tumbled with no second hand to guide their path, and they hit the ground hard. David Kemp was on the bottom, receiving most of the impact.
Hunter rolled off of David as soon as they hit the ground. David bent his legs and tried to get up. The wind was knocked out of him.
Alex and I slowly advanced across the street, both limping.
David put his hands on the pavement and struggled to lift his top half up.
Hunter let out a heave and pulled his right glove off. It lay on the sidewalk, continuing to engulf in flame. He got up, groaning as he did. He breathed in and out heavily. Angrily. He dawned an expression of rage on his face. He looked at his single Midas glove and clenched a fist.
David had made it to a knee, still struggling to breathe.
Hunter held up his left hand, flexing his fingers like a claw. David’s body lifted up and slammed against the wall of the building next to them.
Alex and I froze, now on the same sidewalk, but still several feet away from the two of them.
He walked toward David slowly, deadly anger in his eyes. He grit his teeth, and David sucked in a large, raspy breath.
Alex and I hesitantly walked toward the scene. In Hunter’s eyes I saw something I had only seen once before. It was a look he had given Donald Lane back at Eclipse. Hatred. He was now just a few feet in front of David’s suspended body. His whole arm stayed outstretched, and it strained to keep David up against the brick. He was so strong with Midas now, it frightened me. A smirk crept onto his face. He slowly lowered David down to where his feet touched the ground.
I stared, watching Hunter gaze into his eyes. And I just barely heard him say it.
“Who’s the rat, now?”
David lunged toward him, but he was immediately stopped.
Hunter angled his hand up slightly, almost elegantly.
David floated up into the air just a bit. He was powerless.
Hunter posed his fingers as though he were holding something, and whipped his left hand across to the right. I cringed at the sound.
David Kemp’s neck snapped.
The gruesome noise echoed across the street. I stopped dead in my tracks, staring in disbelief.
He fell down to the ground and toppled over.
Hunter stood over him, looking down with satisfaction.
Alex took in a shaky breath. “Who - who is he?”
I held my breath. I didn’t answer.
Hunter looked up at the two of us, still breathing heavily.
Alex coughed into his hand.
Hunter’s eyes fixed on him.
Alex walked toward Hunter. I followed behind. He nodded in courtesy. “Thank… thank you.”
Hunter stared.
“If it weren’t for you, I’d be dead right now-”
“Alex Nelson,” Hunter said.
“Yes.”
He tilted his head and raised one eyebrow. “You’ve seen the video.”
Alex glanced at me. “I…”
“You’re the one they gave it to.” Hunter reached up and grabbed Alex with Midas’s invisible power.
“Wait!” I jumped in between the two of them. “Hunter, what are you doing?”
“I’m doing what I came here for. Get out of the way.”
“I went all this way to save him. You can go delete that video yourself.”
“My orders were to eliminate any Luna employee who had seen it, Ashe.” He pointed the glove at me. “Your guy’s gone.” He nodded at David’s lifeless body. “But mine is right here,” he said, looking at Alex.
I felt a pressure around my neck. Hunter put his unseeable grasp on me.
“Donald never told you,” he explained. “Deleting the video was only half the mission,” he inhaled deeply. “I intend to do all of it.”
Chapter 30
He pushed his hand down, and the invisible force knocked me over. He advanced toward Alex and took a hold of him with Midas. “What did you see?” He demanded.
Headlights periodically illuminated our figures now, as some traffic was coming down the road next to us. But no one stopped to see what was happening. Everyone just sped past.
I quickly got up. “Hunter, stop-”
He froze me with the glove. Using his free hand, he punched me square in the jaw. My head hit the building next to me, knocking against the brick. I fell onto the sidewalk.
He pushed his invisible hand on Alex once more, pressing his face against the pavement. “Tell me what you saw, or I will kill you right now.”
My head spun.
“I - I saw George Ashe killing my father,” Alex answered, frightened.
Lightheaded, I turned my face to see Alex across from me. “No,” I objected, my voice barely sounding. “It wasn’t my father. It couldn’t have been…”
He looked right at me. “I heard his voice. And my dad…” he shifted his eyes up at Hunter. “He called him by name.”
I put both of my hands against the ground, willing myself to get back up. “No. That can’t be what happened…” My eyes rose to Hunter. “This… wasn’t part of the mission, Hunter,” I groaned.
“No one in Luna can know,” Hunter spat. “Eclipse broke its connections with these dinosaurs a long time ago.”
Connections? “What? There’s never been any-”
He flicked his wrist, pushing me back down. “Shut up, Jon. You’ve had your turn. Who else has seen it, Nelson?”
He shivered, stammering in fear. “Just… Just David Kemp and two other men.”
“Jacob and Howard,” I exhaled, eyes shut. “They’re dead.” I fell into a feeling of limbo. My leg pounded. My arm ached. My chest felt ignited in flames. Hunter had turned on me again. I couldn’t let him kill my friend. Get up, Jon. Come on…
“Please, don’t do this,” Alex pleaded. “You haven’t gotten the video yet, right? I can help you delete all traces-”
Hunter bent his elbow up, lifting Alex to his feet.
Alex doubled over, struggling to even hold himself up.
I squinted under the headlights passing by. My arms, shaking, finally lifted me up. I have to stop him…
“Stand up, Alex!” Hunter forced him to stay on his feet.
Alex stood nimbly, his eyes just barely able to open. He wore a battered face of defeat.
“I don’t need help pressing a button on a keyboard, Nelson. You’ve got no leverage here.”
I knew intuitively that the watch was still in cool-down. Right now, there was only one way to settle this. I reached behind my back. My fingers squeezed the handle of my father’s pistol. “Hunter, don’t do it.”
“Forget it, Ashe.” His eyes remained on Alex. “You’re just a puppet. Always have been-”
I pulled the gun and shot.
He jumped to the side in surprise. The bullet caught his free arm. He grunted, and his torso jerked to the side, but he kept his invisible grip on Alex.
I pulled back the slide and got ready to shoot again.
He thrust his hand in my direction, and the gun flew straight out of my grasp. I fell forward with the momentum of its flight through the air.
Hunter grabbed the gun with his free hand and returned to holding Alex up with Midas.
I froze, completely helpless.
“Now what, Jon?” He pointed the pistol at my face, gritting his teeth. A growing red blot appeared on his sleeve.
Passing cars lit up Hunter’s mad eyes. He stood over me triumphantly, holding up Alex telekinetically with one hand, and my own weapon with the other. “You’ve lost.”
I took out the watch. Still in cool-down.
“Go on, McFly,” he wore a devilish smile. “Use your gadget.”
Our eyes locked, and my mind raced for a solution.
He has my weapon. I can’t use the watch. I’m stuck. Dejected, I lowered my hand.
“Waiting for it to reboot?” He laughed. “Then I’ll make this quick.” He turned to look at Alex.
“P-please…” Alex trembled. “Please, just-”
“And Donald said I was incompetent,” Hunter exhaled, his breaths growing heavy. He flashed his wild eyes at me. “Look at me now. I’m about to single-handedly save Eclipse.”
“Hunter, you don’t have to do this.” I held my hands up, rising all the way to my feet. Maybe I could wait him out. Wait for the watch to cool down.
“Not another move!” He pointed the barrel at my head.
“How will this solve anything? If he dies, people are going to start asking questions.”
He gave it a thought for a moment.
Come on, I glanced at the watch. Just wait a little longer.
“I know what you’re doing, Ashe.” Hunter shook his head. “No more from you.” He looked back at Alex.
“Hunter!” I held my hands out, begging him to stop.
“Now Donald will know,” he grumbled. “He’ll know what I can really do.”
A few cars passed by every minute, illuminating a new element of insanity on Hunter’s face. I didn’t plan for any of this. I swallowed, keeping my hands up in surrender. I wanted to save the people I care about. Not lose more of them. I wondered what would have happened had that watch just stayed in the box. Would anyone have known that it even existed? Jason would still be alive, and I wouldn’t be watching my friend face death before my eyes. Unable to do anything else, I made a final plea. “Hunter, just let him go.”
His eyes met with mine. An incoming car caught his attention for a moment, and then he returned his gaze to me. His lips parted, and he said it just loud enough for me to hear.
“Okay…”
Hunter lowered his gloved hand, loosening his grip. My friend tipped back, slowly falling, and Calhoun looked past me. His eyes watched an oncoming vehicle.
I turned and saw the car. No. I ran toward Alex. “No!”
Screeching tires. A tumbling body. A subdued, maniacal chuckle.
I fell to my knees. It all happened in front of my eyes. I was powerless to stop it. The silver car hit Alex; his body slipped under the front. The left tires ran straight over him. His body was left in a mangle. The car pulled to a halt several feet past him. I staggered to my knees.
The driver, terrified, quickly got out of the car. “Oh my…” He saw the body on the ground. “Are - are you all okay?”
“Call the cops.” Hunter pointed the gun at him.
He backed up, shocked. “I…”
“Go!”
He got into the car and pulled it off the road, presumably to do as Hunter said.
Alex’s dead eyes stared into mine.
“Alex…” I was left to behold my friend’s lifeless, destroyed body. I fell to my knees and sobbed. Through the tears I felt like I could only see one thing. That no matter what I tried, everything led to pain for those closest to me. I did not even think of Hunter. I blamed Jonathan Ashe. That cursed pocket watch, I squinted and breathed quickly. You could’ve left that watch in the box! I screamed at myself, letting my tears fall next to Alex’s mortal figure.
Hunter dropped the gun. His feet lightly brushed against the sidewalk as he turned my way. “The police will be here any minute now.”
I pulled at my hair. “Why…” I shook my head. “Why did you do this?” I yelled.
He knelt down next to me. “Oh, I’m not done yet.”
I looked at him, and I saw his hand lifted toward me. There was only thing left for me to do. It was the only thing I ever could do. The watch had to have been cooled down by now. It couldn’t save Alex in time, but maybe it could stop Hunter. I pulled it out of my pocket. It was ready.
But so was Hunter.
He immediately plucked it from my hand, pulling it with Midas.
“No!” I lunged for it.
Hunter shoved me back and stood up. Looking disgusted with me, he kicked me in the gut.
I rolled over and quickly bounced up, ignoring the pain. Not the watch. He can’t have the watch. “It’s no use in your hands, Hunter!” I made fists and ran at him.
“This old thing?” He lifted me off the ground and pushed me back. “Then I guess no one can have it.” With a smirk on his face, he floated the pocket watch into the air. His fingers twirled, making the cover open.
I staggered toward him, refusing to be brought down. “No…” I pleaded through tears.
He flared his ghastly eyes at me. “No one.” His hand whipped toward the building to our side, and the pocket watch sped into the wall. The cover bent back, and after that, the sound of glass cracking hit my ears. And that was just the first thing that hit me.
Chapter 31
The moment that the watch slammed into the wall, my heart lit on fire. I lost balance, and my body jolted to the left. I fell to the ground once more. But this time, I could tell I wouldn’t be getting up.
My heart sent sparks through my body with each beat. I writhed in pain and cried out. What’s happening to me? I clawed at the front of my shirt and pulled it down. My chest now glowed red, along with my right arm.
Hunter lightly stepped toward the watch and, with deliberation, hovered his foot over it.
“Hunter,” I gasped. “No!”
He let it crunch underneath his foot.
It was like lightning. Electricity, coursing through every part of me, pumping out from my heart. I arched my back and squinted. Agony.
“Little Jonathan,” he laughed with pity. “You are nothing without it.”
I heaved, trying to wait for the pain to pass. But it didn’t. Whatever had been reaching my heart had now arrived, sped on by Hunter’s destruction of the watch. It was eating me alive. I opened my eyes for just long enough to get a glimpse of Hunter, and I let out the only word I could. “Why?”
His voice crept through my ears, making me shudder even more. “Just like I said. You’ve always been a puppet. So easy for me to string up and wave around. Just a tool for me to use. You were foolish back in high school and you still are now.”
&nbs
p; “You acted like you had changed!” I cried through grinding teeth.
“Acting. What an anomaly!” He mocked.
I convulsed, rolling over to my side. Alex lay a few feet next to me. I remained on the sidewalk; he remained on the road.
“You’ve always been malleable, Jon. Vulnerable. Back in the day, it was easy to manipulate you. Only reason I gave your crap back to you was some information that made our relationship… interesting. I found out about a larger plan. A plan that I was not made aware of until Donald discovered I’d been playing you.” He peered down and watched me suffer. “And he didn’t tell me the full details of that plan until the time came. Recently. When you started using the watch.”
I forced words through my clenched teeth. “What are you talking about?”
“You used the watch, and it sent a signal. This was what Eclipse had been waiting for. We picked that signal up immediately, but we didn’t know how to find you. That is, we didn’t know until you did the work for us.” He knelt down next to me. I felt his hot, slimy breaths float across my neck. “Calling me up like that saved us a whole lot of work.”
I looked up at him through squinting eyes. He grinned, proud of the work he had done. “Why did I ever trust you?” I exhaled.
“Granted, after the first signal was sent, we were already working to pin you down,” he continued, ignoring me. “I mean, who do you think froze all your bank accounts?”
That made my eyes open wide. “You… How-”
“Man, some things just never change! Do they?” He stood back up, still watching me suffer. “I can steal your money now just as easily as I could then.”
I craned my neck down to see my chest. The deep red had spread from the middle of my sternum to the rest of my chest. My entire body kept shaking involuntarily. “Then why…” I looked over at the pocket watch. “Why destroy the watch?”
“That was the problem. It had already attached to you as the user.” He shook his head, flattening his lips. “So we went to the next best thing.” He flashed a devious grin at me. “A full scan of the device.”
