by Sean McMahon
‘It was,’ confirmed Malcolm. ‘But given the immediacy of the…Time Vampires–’
‘Ha!’ said Hal happily. ‘I made a serial killer say Time Vampires!’
‘–I thought it prudent,’ continued Malcolm, ignoring Hal’s childishness, ‘to take advantage of the hand we’d been dealt.’
‘So that was just a random Time Echo you latched onto?’ said Kara, in no way complaining. She was honestly just as relieved as the rest of them to be out of that doomed netherworld.
‘What do you mean by “Time Echo”?’ asked Malcolm, unfamiliar with the term.
‘It’s what we named them,’ said Hal, rapping a knuckle against the now-repaired fence.
Malcolm stared blankly, clearly needing further clarification.
‘On one of our later restarts,’ said Kara, recalling the encounter, ‘we sort of…broke time a bit.’
‘Of course you did,’ said Malcolm, the mere hint of a smile curling his top lip.
‘Anyway,’ she continued, ‘things kind of escalated. Echoes started popping up left, right and centre. Versions of us from different phases. Some that hadn’t even…’
Kara stopped short, recalling one Time Echo in particular; wearing a brown leather jacket, and brandishing a gun.
Hal pulled his attention away from the remarkably unremarkable fence, and turned to see why she had stopped talking.
‘You okay, Kar’?’ he asked her, concern in his eyes.
‘Yeah. Fine,’ she lied, trying not to look at the gun holstered to his side or the brownness of his jacket. And wondering who the hell he would have to pull a gun on before their time here was spent.
‘I know nothing of the…Time Echoes of which you speak,’ said Malcolm, rousing her from her private thoughts, but sensing there was something resting beneath the seemingly trivial facts within her words, ‘though I imagine the same rules apply. During each cycle at The White Lodge, echoes of the past present themselves as shadows. They act as doorways to the many restar–’
‘You mentioned that already,’ said Hal. ‘Nice work getting us out of there.’
‘You are welcome.’
‘Gah,’ shuddered Kara. ‘How do you manage to make even basic small-talk creepy?’
Malcolm shrugged, and shot her an ugly grin.
Kara bristled, and was about to ask him what the hell they were going to do next, when Malcolm pre-empted the question.
‘You two head to that lake over there,’ he said, pointing to the wide expanse of water situated behind them. ‘Stay out of sight until I return.’
‘And where are you off to?’ said Hal suspiciously.
‘I have to return for the others. Or have you forgotten about them already?’ he chided.
‘Of course not!’ balked Hal, though in fairness, in all of the death-defying excitement he almost sort of kind of had. ‘I just meant you’re going back for them now?! With all those…things waiting there for you?’
‘Hmm,’ hummed Malcolm, making it evident he wasn’t fully buying Hal’s act, but allowing it to slide. ‘I will be fine, but we need to regroup before making another attempt, lest we risk losing your colleagues.’
‘Another attempt?’ said Hal, not following.
‘We missed our window when we lost the anchor of my past-self,’ said Malcolm, presumably referring to the floating central nervous system of a notable red disposition. ‘We were lucky to find this woman to latch onto,’ he added, as the lady walked away from the bins and back into the building that may or may not have been her home. ‘But the chances of this being your 165th restart, let alone us being in-phase with the specific restart my past-self is occupying is…’
‘Slim?’ guessed Kara.
‘Quite.’
‘Dammit,’ blurted Hal, knowing that would mean only one thing; they would have to return to The White Lodge to try again. The thought was less than appealing, and felt a lot like they would be pushing their luck.
Malcolm, meanwhile, was fairly confident he could locate Peter and Fearne having only made one jump between timelines, but felt less so attempting to navigate his way back to them by indulging in another. The search for his past-self could wait.
As he prepared himself for the long walk back to the Restart Point situated at the edge of Pentney Lakes, he grimaced. How far had he fallen? Reduced to little more than an interdimensional taxi driver.
‘You can't go back there, Malcom,’ said Kara, alarm in her voice. ‘Those things will swarm you!’
‘Is that concern I detect?’
‘We literally couldn't care less,’ said Hal, ‘but you're the only one that can Nightcrawler your way around timelines.’
‘Oh...well…yes,’ said Malcolm, realising he would still need to work on gaining their absolute trust. ‘You needn’t worry. As I’ve said before, time works differently there. Hours will have already passed. Perhaps even months.’
With that, he departed, leaving Hal and Kara alone, and arguably stranded, now prisoners in a vertical slice of residual time. Seeing few other options, they slowly made their way to the nearby lake, eager to take a well-earned breather.
*
‘What's on your mind?’ said Kara, noticing the troubled look on Hal’s face as they walked.
Hal appeared to show signs of hesitation.
‘Oh, come on Hal, if we can't talk to each other we really are screwed.’
‘It’s probably nothing.’
‘You’ve always been good at making something out of nothing,’ she quipped.
Hal shot her a raised eyebrow, and she winked to let him know she was kidding, which was apparently all it took to put him at ease enough to make him spit it out.
‘It’s just, how did we generate that much power back there? We were nowhere near our past-selves…’
‘It’s not the first time we’ve pulled that much out of the bag,’ noted Kara, recalling the notable occasion they had managed to stop Malcolm’s actual heart when push had graduated to shove.
Hal pulled a face.
‘Again with the face. What?’
‘I don't think we did anything Kar’, I think…that was all you just now.’
‘Nah, it was both of us,’ said Kara, dismissing the notion. ‘Maybe we were just...I dunno, closer to the source whilst we were in…wherever the hell we just were.’
Hal wasn’t so sure. The more he thought about it, the more he realised it had felt like he had just been drawn upon by Kara as a sort of energy boost. Something felt off to him; if they were so close to this Restarter energy source Kara had mentioned, why were those Time-Vamps chomping at the bit just for scraps of the stuff. It made no sense.
To add a further layer to his unease, amidst the pile-up of oily bodies, he was certain he had seen a flash of red. At first, he had reasoned that perhaps Malcolm had generated it. It was certainly hard to tell up from down, whilst they were crushed beneath the bundle of chaos. But now he wasn’t so sure…
‘There’s one thing I am sure of, though,’ said Kara, as if reading his mind.
‘Hmm?’
‘Remember that Time Echo you were crushing on when we broke time? With the gun and leather jacket?’
‘I wasn’t crushing on anyone, he just looked badass is all. I’m comfortable enough in my sexuality to appreciate a cool looking–’
Kara stared at him, a look of amusement on her face, as the penny dropped.
‘Wait…’ said Hal, resting his left-hand on the grip of his holstered Colt.
‘Theeeeere it is,’ said Kara, seeing that he finally understood.
‘Woah.’
‘You’re damn right, woah.’
‘Why didn’t you mention it earlier?’
‘Didn’t see the benefit of letting Malcolm know everything. At least, not until we knew what it meant.’
The revelation hit him like a brick.
‘But that would mean…you and I were always destined to come back here?’ reasoned Hal. There was no other explanation.
Which led to a
more pressing question; who exactly in the future was he aiming the gun at?
*
There was nothing Hal and Kara could do whilst they were waiting for Malcolm to bring Peter and Fearne into phase with whatever restart this even was, so they waited as instructed along the outskirts of the forest in an attempt to stay out of sight. They knew there was a slim chance the Dark Restarter was roaming the area, and didn’t want to risk bumping into him before they had a chance to formulate a plan.
Hal set himself down on the ground, resting his weight on his elbows, revelling in the first moment of silence since they arrived back in the past. He retrieved the two cans of energy drink from his backpack, delighted to discover they too had been restarted, and raised his eyebrows to Kara.
She nodded, and he chucked her a can, before cracking one open.
‘Seriously Hal, I can’t stress this enough, great shout on the bag!’
‘Thanks, that panned out pretty well, right?’ he said.
‘I’ve got something to show you,’ said Kara, placing her can of drink down for a second and reaching into the jacket she had discarded by her side.
She rummaged in one of the internal pockets, before retrieving a pair of spectacles and a magnifying glass, handing them to Hal.
‘I don’t know why, but I’ve carried them everywhere with me since our trip to Fir Lodge.’
‘I guess now you know why,’ said Hal with a chuckle. ‘It’s like you were trying to tell yourself something.’
‘I guess so,’ said Kara, picking up her drink and pulling the ring of the can. She took an enthusiastically deep gulp of the fizz-less beverage, realising that she too had taken up some interesting hobbies once she had returned to their present.
‘You know,’ said Kara, ‘I bought a “lock-picking for dummies” book when I got back.’
‘Why?’ chuckled Hal, handing back her time-travelling knick-knacks.
‘I guess due to being stuck inside that storage room in Kev’s basement with you for the best part of thirty-three hours. Never again.’
They laughed, and each took a sip from their cans.
‘Fair point. You any good?’
‘I managed to pop a few locks, yeah.’
‘Sick,’ said Hal approvingly.
All he’d really achieved was discovering where to buy rubber-duck-style flamingos.
They sat there, lying on their backs, as Kara fiddled with the ring on the can, slowly weakening it until it snapped with a satisfying “tink”, before continuing to chug the drink like it was air, until the container was finally empty.
‘Not bad,’ she said finally. ‘Why are you smiling? It’s weird. Stop it.’
‘I've just missed this, that's all,’ said Hal. ‘Not the dying part obviously, but us, working a problem. The Restarters, solving crimes in time.’
Having polished off the final droplets inside the can, she looked around for a bin to recycle it, then realised that didn't matter, remembering it would vanish on the next restart.
‘So, what's the play?’ Said Kara. ‘You all in on Malcolm’s plan?’
‘Peter and Fearne seem on board,’ said Hal, nursing his own drink as if it were a fine whisky.
‘I don't care what they think. I only care about what you think.’
‘I think...he’s gotten us this far,’ said Hal.
‘That he has...’ agreed Kara the words loaded with subtext. ‘He seems different. Less…’
‘Murdery?’ said Hal, and Kara nodded thoughtfully.
‘It feel odd to you?’ she said. ‘That that's the new bar for the people we do and do not trust, these days?’
‘Their ability to resist the urge to drive an axe into our back?’ clarified Hal. ‘A little.’
‘We could go our own way? Bail on…’ Kara could see Hal was trying his utmost not to burst out into song. ‘You’re singing Fleetwood in your head aren’t you…’
‘No,’ Hal lied.
Kara squinted suspiciously and smiled. ‘Liar.’
Hal shrugged unapologetically and allowed her to continue.
‘We could bail on all this. Fly solo, and solve this thing ourselves?’
Hal thought about that. It did have a certain appeal. With the exception of one or two major issues.
‘And have not only three Malcolms to worry about, but also two rogue Restarters knocking around?’ said Hal, voicing his concerns.
‘We've survived worse odds,’ countered Kara.
‘Have we though?’
‘Not really,’ she admitted, pursing her lips, as if wrestling with another question. Hal gave her the time she needed. ‘Are you really as mad at Peter and Fearne as you make out?’ she asked finally.
‘Are you not?’
‘Of course I am, but…you seem extra-pissed.’
‘Honestly?’ said Hal, exhaling slowly. ‘They did what they had to in order to survive. And by the sounds of it, they were here a lot longer than we were. Who knows what lengths we would have resorted to in the end. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to give them a hard time for a while though. We’ve earned that much.’
Kara nodded.
‘Back to Malcolm for a sec’,’ said Hal, reaching the only conclusion that seemed the most logical. As much as they hated to admit it, they had little choice but to work with him. At the very least, his quantumly-charged bus pass has been worth its weight in gold thus far. ‘I say we keep our eye on him. First sign of a murderous relapse, we make our way to the Restart Point and ditch him.’
‘He’s hiding something.’
‘Oh, no doubt. He’s hosting a freakin’ Easter egg hunt of truth eggs all over the entirety of the Pentney Lakes.’
‘You think it was Future Malcolm that brought us back here? Restarted our past? Or Dark Restarter Malcolm?’ asked Kara.
‘Whichever one of them it was, Future Malcolm would remember it either way. Which means he’s blatantly lying when he says he doesn’t know.’
‘What if it wasn’t either of them?’ posed Kara.
They sat there silently pondering that. If that were the case, it meant there was another variable messing with their past. Potentially another Restarter entirely.
‘I’ve actually been thinking of a way we can find out for sure…’ said Hal.
Kara leaned in, eager to hear what was sure to be an interesting Time Heist in the making.
As he explained his idea, she chuckled. It was perfect. And just crazy enough to work.
‘That’ll take time,’ she said eventually, having both thrashed out the kinks.
‘The one thing we have,’ said Hal simply.
They clinked their empty cans together in agreement on that, and laid in wait for the return of Malcolm, Peter and Fearne.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Someone that I used to Know
Restart Unknown – Friday, August 24th, 2018, 4:01pm
The minutes, as they were prone to do, had turned into hours, and both Hal and Kara were getting antsy.
Kara was feeling notably safer, knowing that they were in a bog-standard restart which, if Malcolm was to be believed, was little more than a rerun from their own past. One which would run its course without incident, so long as they didn’t wade in and mess it all up. All they had to do was sit still and not interact with anything or anyone.
A necessary requirement that quickly became boring for the two of them.
Kara excused herself from Hal’s company, who insisted she not wander too far. Neither of them wanted to bump into Malcolm’s murderously marauding past-self before formulating a solid plan of attack. Or worse, versions of their Restarter-selves who were undoubtedly still working their way up to their 165th restart, believing their actions would eventually end their time-loop once and for all.
She thought about that, as she took a stroll deeper into the woods, finding herself equally keen on taking advantage of the opportunity to be alone with her own thoughts.
After a short while, she found a nice familiar spot; a woode
n log that overlooked the lake. She took a seat, smiling at the significance of the location.
Remembering how they had been following Kevin, but got side-tracked by the beauty of the lake. It may have been the fog messing with them, but she personally remembered it less cynically.
Through all their adventuring, it had been a true moment of simply allowing the picture-perfect lushness of their surroundings to wash over them. It had made them feel normal. Just two friends hanging out, without the worry of time, space, or the cyclical continuation of their untimely deaths, that would play out indefinitely if they simply stopped chasing the answers that, back then, seemed eternally out of reach.
Not that they were that much more the wiser now, of course.
Kara sighed, contemplating the many ways in which The Dark Restarter could have changed their past to bring them back here. Each one more outlandish than the next. If indeed it was that version of himself that had done so at all…
It was during one of these ruminations that she heard the rustle of leaves behind her, and she span around quickly, like a ninja responding to the tell-tale flutter of an impending dagger. And there, standing before her, beneath an archway created by nature itself, thanks to two incredibly thick interconnecting tree branches, was Hal.