Time Spent (2 page)

They laughed. She stepped around him, but
turned back.

"Be careful walking with that game," she
said.

"Ha. Yeah," he said, patting his pocket.

"What game are you playing anyway?"

"Oh, 'Tekken: Dark Resurrection'. I've
played it pretty much out, but I still like it."

"Very cool. I'm more of a Lego Star Wars
girl. See ya."

Brandon's jaw dropped.

She walked off toward the doors on the south
side of the courtyard. Brandon stood and watched her go for several
seconds. A rough hand shoved him on the back.

"Fuck's your problem, Holt. Move," said
Tommy, one of the most muscle-bound kids Brandon had ever met.

"Sorry," Brandon said, and turned to go.

But try as he might, it was impossible for
him to remove the grin from his face the rest of the day.
Beth.
Her name is Beth.

______________________

He urged himself on faster and faster, but
Brandon knew it was hopeless. The Earth was speeding away from him,
and leaving him behind. He closed his eyes, and tried to calm his
mind. Finally, knowing this was the end, he stopped.

He heard something then: a voice, Beth's
voice.

You're a hero, Brandon. You're
my
hero.

His eyes snapped open.

Brandon's hands clenched into fists, and his
brow furrowed. The receding Earth wavered before him as space
rippled. Stars seemed to elongate into curved lines around him.

The blue-green sphere of Earth jumped to
land in front of him and Brandon rocketed to it.

The old pickup rattled over the gravel road,
throwing stones behind its wheels as it bounced along. The farmer
clasped the steering wheel with one calloused hand while the other
was draped over the shoulder of his wife.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, looking out the right
window.

There was a streak across the sky as
something plummeted to the ground. It impacted with a loud
boom.

"Did you see that?" she asked.

"I sure did." He stopped the truck and threw
the gear shifter into park. "Whatever it was, it just landed in our
back forty."

He opened the door and stepped out, grabbing
the trucker cap from the dash and placing it on his head. Reaching
behind the seat, he pulled out a long zipper bag and unzipped it to
reveal a rifle, which he drew out of the bag.

"Oh, honey, you don't need that," she
said.

"Better to have it and not need it," he
said.

She nodded reluctantly and opened the
passenger door to step out.

"You stay here!" he said.

"I most certainly will not," she said. "I'm
coming with you!"

He sighed and stepped around the truck. "You
stay close to me, then."

They walked across the field, following the
trail of smoke that led to the crash site. It wasn't like you see
in the movies, with a long gouge in the earth leading to the end
where the object lay. Instead, it was more like a giant scoop was
removed from the earth, with the crops flattened around it.

In its center lay a battered metal cylinder
with a panel hanging off by one hinge.

"That looks like a door," the farmer
said.

His wife tightened her grip on his arm.

They inched closer, and peered inside.

"It's empty," said a voice from behind
them.

The farmer spun around and raised his
rifle.

"Whoooaaa, whoa!" It was a tall, skinny
young man, maybe twenty years old, with curly brown hair. He was
completely naked. He raised his hands, then quickly lowered one
hand to cover his crotch. "It's okay! It's okay!"

"Who are you?" the farmer said.

"My name is Brandon. Brandon Holt. I'm, uh,
I'm an American."

"What is this?" he asked, gesturing to the
satellite.

"It's not a spaceship or anything, it's
a...it's a satellite. Well, it's not even a real satellite, Brent
Spiner lied about that, but uh, it just got pulled along behind me,
I think."

"Pulled along?" the farmer's wife asked, her
voice shaking. "Pulled along from where?"

"Well that's, yeah, that's an excellent
question, ma'am." He lowered his left hand to join the right in
covering his crotch. "You don't happen to have some pants, do you?
I'm not sure what happened to my clothes, I think I warped right
out of them."

"Answer the question!" The farmer raised his
rifle.

"Pulled...uh, from...space. Space, pretty
much. Yeah. But listen, it's all good! I'm not an alien. At least,
I don't think so. I'm really not clear on that whole thing yet, to
be honest, but...it's okay, I promise!"

"Get back to the truck, babe," the farmer
said, backing up.

His wife ran for the truck, and the farmer
backed up several steps, then turned and ran behind her.

"W-wait!" Brandon called.

He scrambled after them, but they jumped
into the truck and started it before he could catch up to them. He
grabbed the passenger door handle, and jerked it, but the door was
locked.

"Wait! I can be your super-baby! Raise me in
your country ways!"

The truck roared to the life, throwing
gravel to pelt Brandon's naked body.

"At least give me some pants!" he cried.

He stood for a bit, watching the truck
rumble off into the distance.

"Man...comics are bullshit."

"This is an unmitigated disaster, General
Higgins!"

Higgins sat in his office chair and lowered
his head. The General addressing him was a younger man, with dark
hair and a pointed chin. He had assumed command of the base in the
days since the disaster, since everything had somehow spiraled out
of control. Higgins still wasn't sure exactly what had happened,
but he knew Washington was pinning the whole thing on him.

The younger General, William Stearnes,
continued. "You allowed skirmishing children to tear apart this
base, General! Tear apart a United States Army base! Do you have
any idea how that makes us look?"

"But they weren't kids. Dr. Juergens'
analysis said they weren't even human anymore. They could do
things. Things you can't believe!"

"Dr. Juergens," Stearnes said. "This Dr.
Juergens?" He held up a photograph.

Higgins peered closely at it. "No, that's
not him."

"How about this one?" Stearnes held up
another photograph, of a white haired man with wire-rimmed glasses,
sitting with his arm around woman with graying brown hair.

"Yes, that's him! Dr. Juergens," said
General Higgins.

"No," said Stearnes, "This is a photo of
Carl Macklin and his wife. It was taken from his home. You let this
man, the same man you were looking for, run your investigation and
your entire base for MONTHS."

"No, that's not possible," Higgins
stammered, "we couldn't find any pictures of Macklin, there was
nothing in the house!"

Stearnes looked down at him with utter
contempt. "And who told you that, General?"

"W-...it..." Higgins fell silent.

"Exactly." Stearnes shoved the photo into
Higgins' chest. "Exactly."

"In fairness," said a voice from behind him,
"this guy Macklin was a pretty good liar. We all fell for it."

Stearnes spun around to see Brandon standing
in the middle of the office, wearing work goggles and a Superman
t-shirt. One by one, they appeared out of thin air, surrounding
Stearnes and Higgins. The first was a beautiful girl with striking
green eyes: Becca Miller, her long blonde hair tied back in a
ponytail, wearing a black pantsuit and white buttoned shirt. Next
came Tyler Chambers, in a blue t-shirt and jeans, his arms folded
over his chest. Mia Lozano appeared beside him, a hood pulled low
over her spiky blue hair, hands shoved into her pockets. Next to
Stearnes was Heather McDonnell, who was recognizable though her
features were entirely formed from shining silver metal. Lastly,
what could only be Simon Chu appeared, his gorilla form grown
massive and wild looking. Before him floated Kevin Lloyd, seemingly
unconscious but weakly clutching at his throat. Simon inclined his
head, and Kevin's body lowered to the floor.

"My God," Stearnes said, reaching for the
desk. A metal hand shot out and clasped his wrist. Heather held it
away from the drawer.

"Let's not do anything hasty," Becca said,
withdrawing a badge from her inside pocket. "I'm with the FBI, we
just need to talk."

"You're out of your jurisdiction,
Agent...Miller," Stearnes said, reading her badge. "You have no
idea what you're involved with here!"

"She...She's one of them!" said Higgins,
pointing at her.

Stearnes' eyes narrowed. "Of course. I
recognize you from the footage. What do you want here?"

Brandon stepped forward. "We just want our
friend, the blond kid: Zachary. Give us Zachary and we'll leave
peacefully."

"Peacefully?" Stearnes laughed. "We're way
beyond that, Curly. You and your friends have been declared enemy
combatants. The Secretary of Defense is involved now. There are
going to be Senate hearings over this. You don't get to just walk
in here and walk out."

"Actually," Becca said. "Yes we do. We don't
have to ask. I can take you all over anytime I want and we can do
whatever we want, and leave, and you won't even know we were here.
We're just playing it nice right now."

"We don't want to hurt anyone, or use our
powers, if we don't have to," said Brandon. "We just want our
friend."

Stearnes was silent.

Heather raised a metal hand and pressed him
against the wall. "Where...is...Zachary?"

"What are you?" Stearnes asked through
clenched teeth.

"I don't know anymore," she said, a breath
through her parted metal lips.

Simon let out a low growl.

"Just tell them where he is," Mia said, a
yellow light flickering from her right eye. "Just tell
them....please."

Tyler turned toward the wall. "I think Max
has him. Hang on," he scanned the wall. "Yeah, I see him. Come
on!"

"You're coming with us," Brandon said, "both
of you. Remember, no trouble."

They followed Tyler down a series of halls.
Whenever they passed soldiers on guard, Stearnes told them to stand
down. Whether he did so of his own volition or Becca made him do
so, Brandon didn't ask. Finally they came to the door to a small
room. Through the window, Brandon could see Zachary, strapped down
to a hospital bed.

Brandon unlocked the door and they went
inside.

Mia reached out her right hand, yellow
energy playing across her fingers. She tore the straps off, one
after another.

"Those are for his own protection," Higgins
said. "I swear."

With the straps off, Zachary crawled off the
bed. He had a strange look in his eyes, like he wasn't seeing
them.

"Zachary, are you okay?" asked Brandon.

Zachary moved to the corner of the room and
sank down, clutching his knees to his chest and rocking back and
forth. His lips moved, but no sound came out.

"What have you done to him?" Brandon asked
Stearnes.

"We didn't do a god damn thing. He's been
like this ever since he was brought back here from the building
downtown."

"The rooftop," Brandon said. "That's where I
last saw him."

Becca leaned over him. "Zachary, can you
hear me?"

Zachary didn't pay any heed to her, just
kept rocking and whispering.

"Can you tell what he's thinking?" Brandon
asked.

"I never could," she said. "He's like a
blank wall to me." She turned back to him. "Zachary, it's Becca. Do
you remember me?"

Nothing.

"We need your help, man!" Brandon exclaimed.
"It's Kevin. He's hurt. Something happened to him!"

"Okay, Dork, yelling at the catatonic guy
not exactly helpful!" Becca said.

"Whatever did this to Kevin is still out
there, and if it can hurt him, what can it do to the rest of
us?"

"She," Becca said, remembering. "Not it. He
said, 'she's here'."

"Who's here?" Tyler asked. "Who is
'she'?"

A look passed around the room. No one
answered.

"We're screwed." Mia said, shaking her head.
"You should have left me where I belonged."

Becca turned back to Zachary, taking one of
his hands in hers. "He's cold." She rubbed his hands. "He brought
me back to life once. I never even said thank you. God, I'm a
bitch."

Zachary's whispers became a bit louder.

"What?" Becca said. She leaned close,
placing her ear right up against his mouth.

"What's he saying?" Brandon asked.

"Shh!" Becca listened, then let go of
Zachary's hand and stood. She turned toward them, slowly. "He's
saying 'be brave'. He's saying it over and over."

Silence fell on them, for a moment.

"What happened to him on that rooftop?"
Brandon asked.

"I didn't see," Becca said.

They looked around at each other, but no one
answered.

"I only know I was terrified," Brandon said.
"And I remember the sound: the sound of the end of the world."

______________________

The wind screamed around the rooftop as
Brandon landed. The first one he saw was Kevin, standing close to
the center of the roof.

"What's happening?" Brandon shouted, but the
wind killed the sound of his voice.

The others were there too, and there were
sparks jumping between them, like the ends of jumper cables when
you touched them together.

Brandon moved closer, and the sparks jumped
to him. He backed off, but it was no use. Lines of energy arced
between them now, and then arced into the air above the rooftop.
Where they came together, the sky darkened. A shimmering hole
formed in the air. A sound rose, like the sound of cracks opening
in ice, only a million times louder.

Brandon clapped his hands over his ears.