“Yes,” Jane said, not bothering to soften the blow. “You brought the entirety of Western civilization to its knees and reduced humanity to a primitive agrarian lifestyle. Worse, you managed to make about half of the world’s survivors think it was a good idea. A second Dark Age was in the looming and no one had any idea if, let alone when, it would end.”
“Jesus,” I said, stunned.
Jane sighed. “No, he wasn’t the messiah people were praying to. That was you.”
Hearing her say that reminded me of something. “Solomon mentioned that he was a follower of mine … err, of the Scorpion, I mean. A member of his army. So why travel back in time to kill him … err, kill me, I mean?”
“We came to realize that he was a false prophet. The New Hope Army scorched the Earth in his name and accomplished nothing in the process. The world was actually worse off because of it. There was no coming back from what we did. The only way to right our wrongs was to stop the Scorpion from rising to begin with.”
I leaned my head against the window of the car. “Maybe you should have put a bullet in my head back in that alleyway.”
Jane paused. “No.”
“No?” I asked.
“Listen, I’m not going pretend I understand how you become the Scorpion, but you’re nothing like the monster I knew. The other members of my cell clearly disagree with me, but I believe it enough to protect you. However, keep in mind that if you ever start to become that power-hungry psychopath, then I’ll kill you myself.”
I smirked. “Well, that’s reassuring.”
“I’m not joking,” Jane said.
I frowned again. “No, I suppose you’re not.”
“Just focus on going back to your normal life, living day to day, and I’ll protect you. There’s only four left and my trap—”
“Wait, hold up, what?” I asked, doing a double take. I accidentally banged my head on the window of the passenger door.
Jane blinked then cursed under her breath. “You should probably forget I said that.”
“You really did use me as bait, didn’t you?” I said, my mouth open.
Jane muttered something in Arabic and I wondered where she’d picked up the language. “I did my best to convince them you were dead, but I couldn’t know for sure if they bought it. I had a feeling Solomon was following me, and yes, I used you as bait to draw him out. I’m sorry, but it was the only way.”
“Stop the car,” I said, ready to leap out.
Jane, instead, sped up. “The other assassins don’t know your name. Your real name. Only I knew that. But they know your face now, and with Solomon gone, they’re not going to stop searching. There’s a very real chance, though, they’ll never track you down, especially if you stay away from the big historical events you’re supposed to be a part of.”
I clenched my fists, gritted my teeth, then relaxed, wondering why she was giving me these instructions now. “Where are you going to be?”
“Where do you think? Hunting the rest of my cell down and stopping them.”
“But wouldn’t you be able to do that best by my side?” I protested.
“I brought these killers here. It’s my responsibility to end them.” Jane sounded resolved and I had no doubt she was willing to kill to accomplish her mission. After all, she’d already done it. It’s just that her mission had gone from killing me to protecting me.
I started thinking of that brute attacking me in the garage. Just picturing him swinging that sword made my stomach clench. “You can’t leave me alone. If just one of your friends find me, then I’m as good as dead. They’ll kill me before I ever realize what’s happening. I’m not like you. I can’t fight them.”
The terror in my voice must’ve been apparent as Jane let out an amused chuckle. She then paused, realizing my fear was genuine. “Sorry, it’s hard separating you from the guy in the future.”
I looked at her funny. “Did you know him well?”
“I was raised by the New Hope Army. They took in a lot of children from the countryside and taught us how to fight. Mostly orphans. After my mother died, I suppose you could say the Cause became everything to me.”
“What about your father?”
Jane stared forward. “He didn’t care about anything but the war.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me, too.”
She paused, taking a deep breath before agreeing to my request. “Fine. You want me to stay and protect you like a bodyguard, then that’s what I’ll do. But how do you propose explaining that a strange white-haired girl is now shadowing your every move?”
I had an idea, but I wasn’t sure if I liked it, let alone wanted to shelter her. “You could stay with my father and me.”
Jane blinked. “Excuse me?”
I started to babble. “Do the records from the future ever mention an Aunt Kathy?”
“No,” Jane said. “You have an Aunt Kathy?”
“On my mom’s side,” I said, not having seen her in years. “My father completely cut off his wife’s family when she died, so I don’t have much contact with them.”
“I can imagine,” Jane sympathized. “The records of your father don’t depict him as a very hospitable man.”
There were records of my father? Oh wait, of course there were. There would be any number of people who would want to know about the home environment of the man who’d created history’s greatest monster. Except, wait, they didn’t know my real name. Was Jane lying to me or did she know more than your average historian in the future? Okay, I was thinking way too hard about this.
“Yeah,” I said, taking a deep breath. “He’s not going to let a stranger stay at the house. Kathy has kids we’ve never met, though. Maybe you can pretend to be one.”
Jane looked over at me, skeptically. “You want to pass me off as your cousin?”
“Yeah, why not?” I asked.
“Because it’s a stupid idea, that’s why. Your father is only concerned with his own self-interest. He gains nothing from giving me a room.”
I shook my head. “Unless you have a credit card to stay at a Holiday Inn, then it’s our only option.”
“You don’t think he’ll question a long-lost relative suddenly showing up out of the blue?”
I stared at her. “It depends on how good of a liar you are.”
Jane smiled. “That’s not a problem. Do you really want me living in your house, though?”
I paused, thinking of all my possible objections. I wasn’t attracted to Jane, which was good, because that would have never passed muster if I was trying to convince my dad we were related, but I’d be okay with having a friend who understood all this close by. I also, despite the horrifying nature of my destiny, wanted to know more about the future.
There was something more there as well, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. In the end, I decided it was the fact I didn’t want her living on the streets after she’d saved my life twice.
“Yeah,” I said. “I would.”
Jane seemed confused by that for a second before just going along with it. “Well, I suppose that solves a number of problems.”
“Like?”
“Following you around to make sure no one hurts you or those you care about?”
I felt sick. “I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to my friends because of me.”
“I’ll keep them safe,” Jane said, her voice very low and firm. “I promise.”
“Thank you.”
We arrived at New Detroit as the sun was starting to set. Butterfly had demolished dozens of the old Rust Belt cities to build their new corporate archologies, but Detroit was their crown jewel. The City of Rock n’ Roll was unrecognizable from the place my father had grown up in with massive glass skyscrapers, fountains, and parks where Downtown had once been. Much of the older citizenry had been evicted and Old Detroiters like my family were a minority now.
Pretty as the city was, I couldn’t help but think of the fact most of the
survivors were now scattered across the United States, and what was once the heart of a thriving community was just gone. We passed a homeless man being arrested for vagrancy by the local corporate police passing through, something Jane didn’t seem to notice, but I did.
“So, if I don’t become the Scorpion, do the corporations still take over?” I asked, looking idly.
“Hmm?” Jane glanced over. “I guess so. As bad as they are, though, the Scorpion was worse.”
“Yeah, I get that,” I said, forcing that thought out of my head. As much as Jane wouldn’t like it, I would have to reveal the truth to Anna. I needed a fresh pair of eyes and someone to share my burden with. It was very likely she wouldn’t believe me, but I had to have faith she would.
Jane looked around. “It’s beautiful here.”
“Yeah,” I said. “For the rich.”
“Can’t people make money in your time if they work hard?” Jane asked, sounding genuinely surprised by my reaction.
I snorted. “Work ethic doesn’t have anything to do with it. The rich get richer and the poor stay poor. Working hard and making a fortune is just a lie people tell each other to get through the day.”
“No one’s rich in my time,” Jane muttered. “Not anymore.”
“Kick people enough and they’ll tear you apart,” I said. “I have faith Christine will be able to stop the corporations on her own, though. Do you know what happens to her?”
Jane paused. “No.”
I blinked. “Really? She’s not mentioned in any of the history books?”
I found that difficult to believe, she was the founder of H.O.P.E. after all.
“No,” Jane said.
“Why?” I asked.
Jane shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “Well, she probably died at the protest.”
My mouth hung open. “What?”
“Are you familiar with the Butterfly Effect?” Jane asked. “Nothing to do with the corporation.”
“I know what you mean. I learned about it in science class. Some physicist wrote about the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil could start a tornado in Texas. It’s showed up a lot in science fiction, especially about time travel. Doctor McCoy saving Edith Keeler in 1930 caused the Nazis to win World War II so Captain Kirk has to stop him from doing so despite the fact he loved her.”
“I thought you didn’t have time travel now?” Jane asked, confused.
I grimaced. “They don’t have Star Trek in the future?”
“I was lucky when I had running water.”
“Ah,” I said, suddenly wishing I hadn’t brought the subject up. “So you’re telling me that we’ve already changed the past?”
“I think I made that clear when I told you the future is always in flux.”
I winced. “Yeah, I’m really sticking my foot in my mouth lately.”
“No argument there.”
We arrived at my house in the suburbs a half hour later. It was a two-story white building surrounded by a dozen other nearly identical ones. Mom had paid for it with her job as a lawyer until passing away from cancer. That was the real reason I didn’t think Dad would turn Jane away.
I hoped.
I saw him coming out the door.
CHAPTER SEVEN
John Stone, aka Dad, was fuming. Even through the car’s window I could see the corners of his mouth furrowed in a scowl. He’d probably been drinking, too. From this far away I still spotted the slight stagger in his drunken steps as he stormed across the front lawn with balled-up fists at his sides. Growing up, it was a sign I had to recognize if I were to escape my childhood alive, and right now, on a scale of one to ten, I couldn’t even calculate how pissed off he really was.
I thought he was ready to rip the passenger-side door off its hinges when he suddenly stopped about ten feet from us and yelled, “Robert Stone! Get out of that damn car!”
It literally felt like I gulped a rock in my throat as I swallowed down whatever nasty taste had been building in my mouth. I could feel Jane’s eyes staring a hole into the back of my head but had no clue as to what kind of expression was on her face. The girl was already unpredictable, and who knew what kind of catastrophe would occur if I sicced her on my father.
It had been a good thirty seconds since he called me out, and every moment that passed I could see the veins in my dad’s neck get more pronounced. I stalled long enough, and there wasn’t any point delaying the inevitable. I had to get out of the car sometime. Why not now?
So I just opened the door, slowly of course, and immediately put a gentle hand out to try and calm him down. “Dad, take it easy.”
“Don’t you dare tell me to take it easy. I heard all about your little field trip from that black girlfriend of yours.”
Yeah, my dad never called Anna anything else. I normally hesitated to assume anyone was racist, but my father had never given me any reason to think otherwise. He was one of those New Detroit residents who blamed the majority population for all the problems in the town.
After stepping fully out of the car, I carefully shut the door behind me without ever taking my eyes off my father. “I’m sorry, I wanted to tell you but—”
“But what? You’re too much of a coward to confront your old man?!” My father was itching for a fight. I hated when he did that. He always wanted me to throw the first punch, but I never did. It didn’t keep me from being hit.
We were the only people outside, but he was now screaming loud enough for the neighbors to hear. Not that I cared. It wasn’t even close to the worst thing he said to me in public. But Jane was still in the car, and for some reason, I couldn’t pinpoint what, I felt embarrassed for her to see me like this.
“Please, just give me a minute to explain,” I said, while approaching my dad to draw his attention away from the car.
It didn’t work.
“Who the hell drove you here?” he asked.
I took a deep breath to prepare myself for what was sure to be an uphill battle and did my best to broach the subject gently. “I met her in Chicago.”
Reacting on instinct, my dad rolled his eyes way more exaggerated than any normal person should be capable of and immediately finished my story with his own prejudices. “Oh, that’s just great. Picking up strays now?”
“No! It’s not like that. She’s Aunt Kathy’s daughter,” I responded, quite reasonably I thought.
But Dad appeared more confused by the news than anything else. “What? How did you…”
His voice trailed off, apparently still processing the information, so I tried to fill in the blanks. “I talked to a lot of people there and was surprised to find her. I never met one of my cousins before.”
My father still looked perplexed and possibly even skeptical of the situation. “So she drove you home?”
“Actually, I invited her here because she needs a place to stay.”
I just shot it out there. Point blank. No warning. No groundwork. Nothing.
It did not go well.
“What?!” My father exploded, and I could smell the whiskey on his breath. Well, that explained his mood. That and the fact I’d been part of a “riot.”
The bulging veins in his neck had now expanded to his temples and forehead. I could clearly see his teeth as he made no point in stopping himself from sneering at me. I wasn’t necessarily afraid, but it was still a scary sight. Unattractive as well, I might add.
In contrast, I tried to be as soft-spoken and reassuring as possible to smooth over his demeanor. “We have an extra room and it’ll be just for a little while. You won’t even know she’s here.”
It didn’t go as planned.
“If I didn’t just work a double shift beating up drug addicts, I would whoop your ass right now, son,” my father said with an open palm raised ready to strike.
It was all show. I knew when he was going to hit me, and it was never in front of other people, especially women. But I had to perform my part by putting my hands together and pleading to th
e man. “Can you at least hear her out?”
“Why? So I can have two ignorant kids living under my roof instead of one?”
“But, Dad, she’s family.”
Ignoring my argument, he pointed backwards with his body turned and ready to leave. “I’m going in that house to grab a beer. When I come back out here if that damn hippie chick’s ugly car isn’t out of my sight, I swear I’m gonna…”
“Robbie, it’s fine.”
My father and I were both surprised to hear Jane’s voice chime in. We turned to find she was standing just outside the car on the driver’s side with the door still open.
She waited there for a moment before lowering herself to get back inside the vehicle. “I’ll go somewhere else.”
“Jane, wait!” I called out to her.
And the girl stopped, popping her head back out just enough to see us. “No. Don’t worry about it. I’ll just call the Captain and see if he could help me out.”
“Captain? What Captain?” my father curiously asked with his ears perked up like a dog responding to a trigger word.
Halting her departure, Jane slowly emerged from the car to once again stand completely outside it. “My brother. He’s a Monarch employee.”
“Robbie, what’s she talking about?” my dad asked, looking to me for answers.
But I honestly had no idea. My first reaction was to just shrug my shoulders with a clueless expression, but Jane quickly cut in before my father had a chance to see my reaction. “My brother, James, is stationed in Chicago as security at Butterfly headquarters, but he was scheduled for a transfer to New Detroit at the end of the day.”
Whatever anger my dad built up in his face had subsided and was replaced by a genuine interest in Jane’s story. “I have a nephew in Monarch?”
Jane shrugged her shoulders as if she just realized that convenient fact. “Yeah. I guess you do.”
“So you weren’t part of that protest my son was involved in?”
Leaving the side of the car, Jane shut the driver’s door and walked around the hood, approaching us with a surprisingly charismatic disposition. “You thought I was involved with those leaf-lovers? Oh, no. I wouldn’t be caught dead at that thing. No offense, Robbie. I was inside the building waiting for my brother’s shift to end. James and I live together, and he was going to take me with him when he left for New Detroit tonight. But then the rioting started.”
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