Trapped in Time 1: The Time Takers (28 page)

“I am.”

“You could have watched them die from behind.”

“I have to see their faces.” Carrie nodded and then realized Andy couldn’t see her without a skull cap. She sat and waited for the raiders to come out of the forest. She wished she couldn’t see his expression. It was ugly.

• • •

Dernzak led his men through the forest and Rison came over and said, “We were attacked at the last forest we went through; I would have thought we would be attacked there.”

“Perhaps we killed all the attackers with our beams.”

“Dernzak, you know a beam won’t destroy the entire body; if they were there, we would have seen it.”

“Just make sure everyone stays sharp. We’re going to be moving out of this forest in another hundred yards; I can see the clearing ahead.”

“I’ll have the men to continue firing at the tree line on our right flank once we emerge.”

“That would be good.”

• • •

Dernzak exited the forest and the men following him emerged a moment later. They moved ten yards and then Dernzak saw a man walk out from the cliff wall in front of him. He held up his hand the men behind him stopped. He watched the man dressed in a blue and white uniform move into the center of the clearing and stop. He faced Dernzak and crossed his arms. Rison came running over and said, “I don’t like this. He has a bow on his shoulder.”

Dernzak had already seen the bow and tried to decide what to do. He stared at the man and then raised his arms over his head with the hand beams in his hands. He turned and lowered his arms and handed Rison both hand beams. “What are you doing?”

“I want to see if he’ll tell me why he’s attacking us. Keep the men here and tell them to not do anything stupid.”

“What would stupid look like?”

“I suspect you know the answer to that.” Dernzak raised his hands over his head and started walking forward.

• • •

Andy saw the man dressed in grey start moving toward him. His rage was close to taking him but he was forced to admit the man had big ones to come toward him. He had to see the bow. Carrie was more surprised than Andy. She knew the man was from her time and everything she knew about survival was shoot first and question later. This man was not following the behaviors of his time.

• • •

Dernzak walked up to within fifteen feet of the man and heard him say, “That’s far enough.” Dernzak stopped and the man said, “You and everyone you brought with you is about to die.”

Dernzak saw the anger on the young man’s face and he shook his head, “Why are you attacking us?”

Andy’s rage was instant, “You killed my wife and four innocent women. You are going to pay for your crime!”

“We haven’t killed anyone?”

“Fourteen of you came to our community and killed them in cold blood.”

“That’s not possible; our scouts were ordered to communicate with any one they found.”

Suddenly, Carrie understood what she had been missing and her heart went into her throat. She saw Andy start to raise his arm and she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him pinning his arms. She started yelling, “He’s right, Andy. He’s right.” Andy was past hearing and fought to get an arm free. Carrie screamed, “I was there, Andy! I saw it happen. They didn’t fire first.” Dernzak heard the voice but didn’t see anyone. He saw the man struggling to lift his arms and saw part of his arms weren’t visible. Then he heard, “ANDY, LINNAE FIRED FIRST AND KILLED TWO OF THEM. THEY WERE COMING TO TALK.”

Andy stopped struggling and looked to his right. Carrie ripped off her skull cap and said, “I was overhead and saw them come around the wall and start walking toward Linnae and the women. They were easily inside the beam’s range but they didn’t fire. One of them raised his hand and Linnae fired two arrows killing two of them. The other two fired in self-defense. This is all a mistake.”

Dernzak saw the woman’s head appear and knew these people had a way of becoming invisible. He saw the man turn his head and look at him with a rage that was beyond anything he had ever seen. The man raised his head and screamed a scream that had to come from the primordial part of his soul. His scream ended and he fell to the ground and held his head in his hands. The woman tore open a shirt and pulled it off her arms. She put her hands out to her sided and pushed her palms toward the ground. She looked at Dernzak and said, “If you want to live, you will do exactly what I say; do you understand?” Dernzak nodded. “I have six hundred hand beams trained on your men from behind. If they make any threatening move, they will die.”

“You have the accent of my time.”

“I come from your time. However, this is going to snowball out of control if you don’t go back and get all your men to put their hand beams on the ground and follow you back to this spot. Do you understand?”

“How were you able to get hand beams?”

“Do you want to stand here and ask questions or do you want to see your men die?” Carrie pulled a hand beam out of her pouch and showed it to Dernzak. His eyes widened and she said, “I am also capable of opening the door to these weapons.”

Dernzak turned and walked back toward his men. He knew she was telling the truth; he could see it in her eyes. He arrived at the front ranks and Rison ran up. Dernzak pushed him aside and said in a loud voice, “I am going to give you orders and you will obey them without question.”

Rison stood up and said, “What’s going on?”

Dernak quietly said, “I’m going to try and prevent all of us being killed.” He looked at his men and said, “Put every hand beam you have on the ground at your feet.” The men started looking at each other and Dernzak yelled, “YOU WILL DO IT NOW!!!” Rison stared at Dernzak and saw the fear in his eyes. He took the four hand beams he was holding and put them on the ground. He looked at the men and nodded. They all put their hand beams at their feet. Dernzak watched them and said, “Rison, lead the men out to those two and stop ten yards from them. I’m going to stay here and make sure no one picks up a weapon. Rison turned and started walking towards Andy and Carrie. Dernzak watched the men move out and made sure no one bent down. After they had moved away from the hand beams, Dernzak raised his hands over his head and yelled, “We intend you no harm.” He turned and walked forward to join his men.

Arashi looked at Harvey. Harvey raised a hand and moved it forward. The long line of archers followed the men out into the clearing. They picked up every hand beam as they passed.

• • •

Carrie saw the men moving toward them and she knelt down to Andy, “I need you, Andy. I need your wisdom, I need your strength, I desperately need you. Please, please, don’t leave me now.”

Andy took in a deep breath and blew it forcefully out. He took his head out of his hands and stood up. Carrie took his hand and looked up at him. He looked down at her, “Why didn’t you tell me you saw it?”

“I didn’t want to relive it. I still see it in my nightmares. But that is really the way it happened.”

“Linnae felt she had to protect the other women.”

“He shouldn’t have raised his hand; there were mistakes on both sides. This man doesn’t look like a killer.”

“He’s from your time, isn’t he?”

“About a third of them are from my time. I suspect it’s really easy for the Time Takers to find people about to die during that time.”

Dernzak ran to the front of his men and stopped ten yards from Andy. Andy looked at Dernzak and saw him staring at Carrie. He was obviously attracted to her. He was sure Carrie saw it as well. So much lost. He looked at the tall man and said, “It looks like you’re going to live another day.”

“I am truly sorry one of my men killed your wife. I know he wouldn’t have done it unless something tragic forced him.”

Andy looked at Carrie and back to Dernzak, “It appears it was an accident. There is a part of me that screams to kill every one of you but I know my wife would be disappointed in me if I indulged my feelings.” Andy saw Dernzak suddenly look toward the tree line next to the river and he saw scores of Raptors gathering. He saw Dernzak and his men were frightened; they weren’t armed and they were easy prey for the fast carnivores. Carrie pulled her whistle out of her shirt and blew it. The Raptors instantly disappeared. Dernzak looked at Carrie, “What is that?”

Andy sighed, “It’s a whistle only dinosaurs can hear. We’ve taught them that to hear it means death is close by.”

“How long did it take you to teach them?”

“Not long.”

Dernzak looked at Andy, “What happens now?”

“I’m taking every hand beam you possess and I’m locking them away.”

Dernzak’s eyes narrowed, “And just how will we defend ourselves without them?”

“We’ll teach you.”

“What do you use?”

“Bows and cutters. This world will not have hand beams in it.”

“Why not?”

“How long do you think those beams will continue to work?’

“At least a hundred years.”

“And then what happens?”

“I’m more worried about being alive tomorrow; a hundred years will have to take care of itself.”

Andy shook his head, “I can’t allow that short sighted vision to lead us into the future. We have to learn the skills that will be good for centuries to come so that our descendants can defend themselves. The hand beams will be locked away and kept under safe keeping in the event we encounter another group of humans that possess them. If they’re not used, they’ll last thousands of years if their energy is shut off.”

Dernzak looked at Carrie, “Are you able to kill the big reptiles with your bow?”

“I can kill the biggest. Every archer here can defend themselves in this new world.”

Dernzak looked around, “How many archers are here?”

Andy looked over his shoulder, “ARCHERS, REVEAL YOURSELVES!”

Dernzak and his men suddenly saw hundreds of bodies appearing around them as the archers pulled down their camoshirts. Dernzak saw all of them had a hand beam in each hand. He looked at Andy, “Will you promise to train us and leave us until you do?”

Andy looked at Carrie, “You will go with them and lead the training. I expect most of the people from your time to become our best warriors.”

Carrie looked at Andy, “I’m not going anywhere without you. Where you go, that is where I’m going to be.”

Andy saw Dernzak’s disappointment and smiled, “No Carrie, you are the one that needs to train them; you’re the only one with their reflexes and superior physical skills. I will be waiting for you to come to me once you complete their training. I will always be there, Carrie.”

Carrie stared into Andy’s eyes and smiled, “Linnae was right.” Andy nodded. Carrie turned to Dernzak, “We’ll give your community what it needs to survive. I suspect you’ll like the bow better than the hand beam. It has a longer range and with your eyesight and strength, you’ll really be dangerous.”

Dernzak looked at Andy, “I think we should work together in the future. Will you accept us as a friend and ally?”

Andy looked at Dernzak and after a moment held out his hand. Dernzak took it and they shook hands. “I’m going to send fifty of my archers back with you. They will stay with you until you develop the skills necessary for survival.”

“Will you give us the suits that make you invisible?”

“I’ll send one of those that can open the door where they are located. If you don’t have them in your cave, I’ll send you enough for your warriors. We will be training your women as well as the men.”

Dernzak looked around, “I can see half of your archers are women. Are they as good as the men?”

“Some of them are better.” Andy looked at Carrie, “She is our best.”

Dernzak smiled, “I imagine she is.”

Carrie smiled, “Flattery is nice but it won’t get you anywhere.”

“I can see you’re already taken. I respect that.”

Andy smiled, “I’ll be sending a group to pick up the hand beams in seven days. I expect you to hand them over to them.”

“Are you growing crops?”

“We are.”

“We’ll have them ready for transport. Thank you for not going through with your plans.”

Andy looked at Carrie, “She’s the one that made that happen. She deserves your thanks.”

“That’s true; but you’re the one that they listen to. I suspect that will also be true of us once this agreement starts moving forward.”

Andy nodded and looked at Harvey, “I want you to take them up the wall and go with them to their cave. Take a representative from each group and see how many doors can be opened.”

Harvey nodded and said, “Who do you want to go with Carrie to train them?”

“Send Arashi and Akira; I’m certain they don’t want to be separated. Select an equal number of male and female archers to be the other trainers. Make sure they qualified as a master.”

“Do you want me to stay?”

“No, I want the scouts back to go and work with the southern cave as well as taking a look at the next cave beyond them.”

Dernzak said, “Another cave?”

“You’re the second one to join us. We went to them to get the hand beams.”

Dernzak looked at Carrie, “Will you tell me all that has happened?”

“Only if you put your best effort at learning the bow.”

Dernzak laughed, “I can see this is going to be fun.”

Andy smiled, “Be careful what you ask for.”

“I know, I know. What’s this about the cliff?”

“We’re going to teach you how to get around.”

Andy looked at Carrie, “I’ll pick up the glider and take it back.”

“No you’re not!”

Andy jerked his head back, “Why is that?”

“It’s going to be at least two days before the training starts. I’m flying it back to the community and spend that time with you. I’ll fly to their cave in three days.”

Dernzak looked at them, “Did you say fly?”

Carrie laughed, “I’ll show you in three days.” Dernzak nodded and looked out at his men and the archers, “Well introduce yourselves to our new friends, men.” The two groups began moving together and talking with each other. Andy yelled at Dernzak, “You’re going to have to learn Latin.”

“What is that?”

“The language we’re all going to use to communicate.”

Dernzak shook his head, “I do hope it’s not hard to learn.”