Timestorm (27 page)

“They’ll find a way to turn it off and we won’t get another chance.”

“No, no way.” I exhaled and squeezed my hands shut. “Give it to me, then. I’ll do it.
I’ll
do it, Blake. You go.”

He gave me a sad smile. “I’d never let you do that, Jackson. This is my fight. This is my chance to make amends for what happened to Lily and her family. You’ll get your turn soon enough.”

A high-pitched scream erupted from the hallway. I skidded out the door and saw Emily being carried deeper into the building by two men, a woman trailing behind them. She fought and kicked, trying to get away. Blake was right behind me, watching over my shoulder.

“Get her and get out of here,” he said firmly. “You’ve got exactly three minutes.”

I felt like my chest had caved in. I had no idea what lay outside this building. Had anyone else made it out? Regardless, Emily was here and I could save her. I knew I could.

I spun around to face Blake. “Look—”

“Go!” He pointed toward the screaming Emily. “I know you’d never let anything happen to her, Jackson. Go! Just do what I asked, for Lily?”

I let out breath and looked over at Emily. “Okay …
okay.
”

That was it. My decision had been made and all I could do was take off toward the men and woman trying to stuff Emily back in that room again or worse, “eliminating experiment 1029” as Thomas had basically tried to do by dumping her in the wilderness with the rebel experiments.

With my adrenaline rush and my newfound superhuman powers, I kicked one dude to the ground, knocked out another with my elbow, and shot the woman in the thigh with my pistol. Emily screamed as she and the woman fell. The woman clutched her leg, red seeping into her brown clothing. Before I could scoop Emily up, half a dozen more people appeared in front of us, guns aimed at the tiny little girl with flaming red hair. Her eyes bulged and her entire body froze. I dove forward, reaching for her waist, and barely took in an unfamiliar blurred figure, someone much younger than the other Eyewall workers, who seemed to stumble forward, accidentally flinging himself in front of the six bullets that released simultaneously, hurtling in Emily’s direction. I had no idea what exactly had just happened but regardless, relief swept over me.

I grabbed Emily, jumped to my feet, and ran faster than I’ve ever run in my life, not taking a second to glance back. We burst outside into the cold night, Emily’s face buried in my shoulder, and her fingers digging into my back. The second we passed through the gate connected to the electric fence, the entire structure exploded behind us in a cloud of fire, dust, and smoke. I forced the thought of all the people inside out of my mind and focused on my feet hitting the ground over and over again. The woods were so dark I could hardly see a thing, but they were miraculously free of the choking smoke. Emily lifted her head and pointed at several people, off to the right, standing frozen, watching the explosion. I slowed my pace, setting Emily down, clutched my sides, and tried to catch my breath.

My eyes zoomed in on the waiting people …
Courtney, Adam, Lonnie, Marshall, Stewart, Mason …

“Oh thank God!” Dad shouted.

Before I could even begin to panic, Holly was right in front of me. She threw her arms around my neck, nearly knocking me over. She had caught me by surprise, so much that I almost cracked a joke about her being my enemy. But I felt her shaking, tears landing on the side of my neck. I froze for a second and then wrapped my arms around her, squeezing her tight.

I turned my head, burying my face in her hair, running my hand over it. “Blake made me leave him,” I whispered. I needed to tell someone. “He wanted to set off the bomb himself. To make sure they couldn’t stop it. He wouldn’t leave, I couldn’t…”

She lifted her head, eyes meeting mine. “Maybe he planned it that way all along?”

I fought off the blurriness in my eyes, the lump in my throat, and finally released Holly, stepping behind her, and got pummeled right away by my sister.

“I would have killed you if you didn’t make it out,” she said, crying much harder than Holly. Dad was bent over, like he was still trying to catch his breath from making his own run out here.

Lonnie had already picked up Emily. She looked at me, eyes still a little hopeful. “Blake?”

I just shook my head and watched as tears filled her eyes. “Where are Grayson and Sasha?”

“They were shot before we got out,” Dad said. “I’m not sure who shot Sasha, but Grayson went after Thomas … he just took off, and there was no stopping him. Believe me, I tried.”

I knew exactly what he meant. Blake had been just as hardheaded. We turned to face the smoke and fire that used to be the Eyewall headquarters and stood in silence. My arm was slung around Courtney’s shoulders when Holly brushed up against my other side. Our hands collided and our fingers linked together. We all stayed there for a long time until Marshall broke the silence.

“The smoke will start drifting this way more heavily. We should move farther away and set up camp or decide to jump back.”

I let go of Holly’s hand and withdrew my arm from Courtney’s shoulders. “Lonnie?” She turned around to face me, both her and Emily looking right at me. “Are you still going somewhere with Emily?”

“Only if that’s okay with you?” She set Emily down on the ground again and I knelt in front of her.

“I’m gonna miss you, kid.”

She was already wiping tears from her cheeks, sniffling from the drama of what had just happened, the smoke and the future ahead. “Me, too.”

I leaned in closer, and whispered, “Do you know anything about that ring you delivered to me the first time I met you? Is it for Lily Kendrick? Are you still going to bring it to a younger me when you’re eleven?”

She shook her head. “I think we’ve changed too many things for that to happen, right?”

I found my backpack on the ground and patted the front pouch. “So you don’t know why I have this ring?”

I briefly explained Blake’s conversation with me while the others talked and made plans.

Emily listened carefully, and then finally said, “Maybe Blake gave it to an older version of me? I don’t know, but I guess it doesn’t matter so long as she gets it.”

I glanced at the wreckage again and sighed. “I guess not.”

She put her arms around my neck and gave me a squeeze. I hugged her back and then had to ask one more question before she left me for good. “So that pet chicken you mentioned … where exactly—”

“With the people in the tents,” she said right away. “The dots on the map.”

“The electromagnetic field is down,” Marshall said. “I can feel it.”

I could, too, like a buzzing in my fingertips. I could jump right now. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to wait.”
I don’t want to think about Emily jumping so far away from me, about Blake being gone … yeah, let’s get out of here quick.

Emily touched my cheek, trying to get my attention again. “Chief Marshall is the best time jumper. You don’t have to worry about anyone’s getting hurt, okay?”

I knew she said that because it was obvious everyone thought I’d overexerted my mind on the jump here trying to protect Holly from injury. Maybe I had, but then again, I’d just done a half-jump to the 1950s prior to my excursion to the future and was pretty spent.

“And remember, Courtney can time-jump, too, so you’ll have plenty of help getting everyone back safely,” she added.

That’s right, Courtney can time-travel. I’d almost forgotten about our arrival in 3200, when those faceless men had attacked us and before any of them could touch her, she kept vanishing and then reappearing like a magic trick. But based on how shocked she was by her own movement, I wasn’t convinced she’d been put in the expert time-jumper category just yet.

“Thanks. I’ll remember that.” I gave Emily another squeeze and whispered good-bye before releasing her.

I stood between Dad and Courtney as we watched Lonnie take Emily’s hand and vanish, heading to a time way beyond my present but far from this destroyed future.

The smell of smoke grew stronger and flakes of ashes floated through the air, so we quickly moved deeper into the forest. Even though I was ready to leave right that second, Dad and Marshall both agreed it would be best if we rested for at least a few minutes. Stewart and Mason set up some chairs and started a fire and we passed around bottles of water in silence. Holly came and sat beside me while Dad, Marshall, and Adam were deep in discussion about exactly which point each of us left in 2009.

“Hey,” she said, handing over her half-empty water.

I took a long swig and then handed it back. “What’s on your mind?”

“What isn’t?” She glanced wearily at me. “I just can’t believe they’re gone—Grayson, Sasha …
and Blake.
I knew he was on a mission and all but I didn’t realize…”

“Me either.” I kept my eyes straight ahead, fighting off tears. I could still feel that moment in the room with him. I could have dragged him out. I could have done the job for him.

“I keep thinking about what he said in his memory files, the descriptions of the rooms full of kids. They’re all gone now.” Her voice shook. She paused and took a breath. “We did that. We…”

“I think that’s the bigger picture Marshall was talking about. We managed to blow up that building, knowing there were experiments …
children
 … inside and despite it all we still had the instinct to survive. Maybe this proves that Blake is a better person than all of us.
Was
a better person.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Holly agreed.

Courtney joined our conversation and I could tell she wanted to say something so I looked up at her and waited. “I’m so sorry about Emily getting in.”

There were so many questions and blanks still to be filled in from the last couple hours. “How did she get away from you? And it was just her, not you and Lonnie?”

Courtney shook her head. “It was awful, Jackson. She saw some guy and took off running. We couldn’t get her before … before they did. I don’t know what she was thinking. Maybe she thought it was you?”

I patted Courtney on the shoulder. “It’s okay. She’s fine now. We all are.” I looked at my sister, remembering what Emily had just mentioned. “Do you really think you can do the time jump back? Does it feel like something you know how to do?”

She managed a half smile or maybe more of a smirk. “My brain damage is worse than your brain damage and you know what that means, right?”

“What?” Holly and I both said.

“I’m accessing the area that allows for time travel to a much greater degree than you are.” The smile faded and I knew she’d just recited something Grayson had probably told her. Maybe they talked about it the other day after she’d had her seizure and he’d examined her.

Not wanting to cast another shadow over us right before our big moment, I grinned at my sister, and said, “You think you’re better than me? Game on, then. We’ll see who comes out on top when we get back home.”

Holly gave a little smile then gnawed on her lower lip. “But there’s still so many doors open when you’re dealing with time travel, right? What are the reversal possibilities? When will we know if changes are permanent?”

“Well that’s just lovely to think about,” Stewart mumbled.

“Don’t think about it,” Dad snapped. “I think it’s best we focus on moving ahead, which for us means heading back in time.”

I stood up and reached for my backpack, tossing it over my shoulder. “Let’s do this. I’m ready.”

“You sure?” Dad asked, concern filling his face.

I knew this had to be difficult for him after witnessing my near death from time travel not too long ago and Grayson’s warnings about my possible brain damage, but so far, ever since Dad tried to shoot me in the woods, I’d had these ultrasharp senses that I could literally feel coursing through my body. Maybe that was the buzzing that Emily described when she was in the presence of time jumpers.

“Something we all need to be aware of,” Marshall said. “Because our returns might not align perfectly with our points of departure, you may encounter duplicate versions of yourself.”

Holly’s eyes went wide with fear. “And what exactly do we do if that happens?”

Marshall’s gaze traveled over Holly’s head, not making direct eye contact. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“Great,” Stewart and Mason both mumbled under their breath.

The impending time jump provided a good distraction from looking at each person around me and analyzing the possibilities of duplicate selves and the impossibilities due to horrible things that happened before the jump to the future.

We’ll cross that bridge when—and if—we come to it.
For once, I was one hundred percent supportive of a Chief Marshall plan.

“We are returning to the exact day and location that Jackson left 2009 because that is the most natural time jump for him to make with the lowest probability of his sustaining a fatal injury. Those of you who were deceased on that day or left on another day, we will take extra precautions for you after we arrive and head to either Agent Meyer’s place or the underground Tempest headquarters, understood?”

We all nodded a yes and then I looked around at everyone, suddenly remembering one other very important detail. “We were all being held up by Eyewall agents when we left. They would have watched us vanish.”

“Dude! That’s right,” Mason said. “Holly was our hostage.”

Tension filled Marshall’s face. “All right then, better play the hostage role, Agent Flynn. Everybody, have your weapons ready. Hopefully, the element of surprise will give us a few seconds to react before they do.”

I drew my gun but turned the safety on. I didn’t want it to fire accidentally if my brain exploded or something. My legs were shaking but I tried to play it cool and reached for Holly, pressing her back against my chest. “Let’s go, Hostage, assume the position.”

She laughed but I could feel the nerves leaking through. “Are you scared?” she whispered.

I leaned down so my lips were touching her ear. “Incredibly.”

“We don’t have to stay enemies, you know,” Holly said. “Even if I am an Eyewall agent.”