A Shattered Future

by Joel Adrian

  “I-I found him on his side, but he might have moved,” Emersyn said quietly.

  Mona’s face was blank. She stared down at the body of Bravon Pearson. “Okay, okay, let’s get the thing out.”

  Emersyn cradled Bravon’s head in her hands as Mona sucked in a deep breath. “I’m going to pull it right up and out.”

  “We’ll need to hit that wound with a ton of pressure to stop the bleeding.” She looked around for something to use. She swore and pulled a utility knife from her belt, cutting the sleeve of her army fatigues off at the shoulder. She yanked the torn piece of uniform down and wrapped it around her hands.

  Behind her, Joey Del Core was stirring. Tanner and Catalina were both still out on the ground.

  “Don’t none of y’all move.”

  They all turned to see an older man holding a rifle at their heads. He wore a bright orange hunting vest over a tan jacket. Greasy black hair flowed down to his shoulders, capped off with an orange hat atop his head. “The hell’s goin’ on here, huh?

  “Step away, civilian,” Naomi ordered. “We’re treating a wounded superior officer and if we don’t do this now, we’re going to be in deep.”

  The hunter took a moment and surveyed the scene. He narrowed his eyes at Joey Del Core and Catalina Hernandez, then at Emersyn. “They sure ain’t dressed like soldiers. Someone tell me what’s really going on here!”

  “Just step the hell back!” Mona shouted.

  Emersyn flinched at her sudden shift in tone.

  “’Ey, who’s this guy?” Joey Del Core asked, sitting up against a tree. “Oh, damn, my head . . .” He brought a hand up to rest on his temple.

  As the hunter averted his gaze to the large man, Mona shot up. In one swift movement, she retrieved her baton, extended it, and smashed it across the hunter’s face. He collapsed into the leaves and tall grass, unconscious.

  Emersyn watched as she dropped the baton and fell back to her knees, reaching a hand over and grabbing the stick impaling Bravon. “Ready?” she asked, passing a glance to both Emersyn and Naomi.

  “Aye,” Naomi replied.

  Emersyn could only shake her head. The situation was spiraling out of control, and she was struggling to keep herself in the moment.

  Mona pulled the stick free.

  Deep red blood started leaking from the wound. Naomi immediately put her torn sleeve down on the hole and pressed as hard as she could.

  Bravon jerked up, groaning. Emersyn leaned over him, trying to restrain him and hold him down, but he was strong and fighting against her. She hugged his muscular frame, trying to pin him to the ground.

  “Just stay still, sir,” she whispered to him.

  “Damn it, it’s not working!” Naomi shouted. “I need to find something else. Here—hold this!” She grabbed one of Emersyn’s hands and planted it atop the bloody sleeve. Emersyn winced as the warm blood ran over her fingers.

  “Press it down!” Mona said.

  Emersyn grunted and put as much pressure on the wound as she could. Bravon jerked in her other hand, and she was afraid she might be hurting him. But they needed to save his life above all else.

  She pushed and pushed and pushed some more.

  Mona rushed back with an entire shirt. Emersyn looked beyond her to see Tanner, still unconscious, now wearing just a gray, sweat-stained tanktop.

  “Okay, use this now.” Naomi pulled the bloody, soaking torn sleeve and tossed it aside. Shen piled the crumpled top uniform and applied as much pressure as she could.

  Emersyn fell back, the Sergeant’s head hitting the ground below. Her hand was completely coated in blood. She couldn’t take her eyes off the crimson mask that adorned her palm.

  “Hey!” Mona shouted. Emersyn turned to face her, eyes wide in horror. “Hang in there,” she said in more of an order than a comfort.

  Mona and Naomi stabilized the Sergeant, though both were hesitant to tell Emersyn what his chances were when she asked. She wiped as much blood off her hand as she could onto the leaves and bushes, though there was still a noticeable tint to her left palm.

  Joey Del Core hadn’t moved from the tree he was leaning up against. He was gently snoring, occasionally mumbling something and groaning. Tanner was still out, not having moved a muscle.

  Catalina Hernandez woke up about an hour after everyone else. Emersyn was glad she hadn’t had to see the panic that everyone was in during the arrival. It would’ve frightened the jumpy girl.

  Everyone was seated in silence, spread out amongst the small clearing they’d arrived in. At least two hours had passed since they’d successfully time traveled.

  Bravon took small, shallow breaths, but the blood was still leaking from his wound.

  Mona had found a mini med-pack in the bag he carried and wrapped his stab wound with gauze. It didn’t do much to restrict the blood flow, but she also tied the shirt around the wound to keep constant pressure on it.

  “Do we know where we are?” Catalina asked in a quiet voice. She leaned against a tree next to Emersyn. They were across from Mona and to the side of Naomi.

  Mona pointed at a mountain in the distance. “I’d say about a hundred feet from where we came from . . . but in my universe.”

  “That usually happen?” Naomi asked, face flaring. “You could’ve warned us we wouldn’t come out right where we were before.”

  Mona glowered. “I’ve only done this one other time, and I did come out where I started. It must vary. Or it could’ve been the way I programmed it. I’m not a freakin’ Requiem activator, I’m a soldier, same as you!”

  “Nah.” Naomi turned her head. “I never would’ve put a superior officer in danger.”

  “Go to hell.” Mona stood and marched off into the woods.

  Emersyn watched her, and then something clicked over in her brain. She felt the sudden urge to follow her counterpart. She stood, and despite the looming vertigo that held onto her, she walked towards the woods after Mona.

  “Hey, hey!” Catalina shouted. “Where you going, amigo?”

  Emersyn turned and waved her off. “I’ll be right back, Catalina. I’m just going to help.”

  Mona trudged on for about 200 feet before she came to a halt. The wooded area was doused in trees sprouting thick, green leaves. The ground was wet as if there had been a heavy rain that morning. The sun barely bled through the thick branches, obscured by the leaves.

  “What do you want?” Mona asked, not looking at Emersyn.

  “I want to help.”

  Mona scoffed. “Nobody can help. We’re screwed. Sarge bites it, and we’re on our own. Assuming the Requiem transferred through alright and it’s skill in the cave, we’d best go. Now.”

  “He’s not dead, and are you forgetting why we’re here? Going back empty-handed won’t fix anything.” Emersyn walked to the front of Mona, staring at her older self. “Are you that quick to give up?”

  Mona eyed her insidiously. “Don’t lecture me. You haven’t seen the things I’ve seen. You gotta know when to fold ‘em.”

  Emersyn felt her hands clench. “Well, not much coming from you. Took you how long to realize Ollie wasn’t what you wanted.”

  “I’m you, you make the same mistake!” Mona shouted.

  Emersyn stood upright and stared herself in her brown eyes. She got into Mona’s face, their noses inches from each other. “I’m not you!” She shoved a finger into Mona’s chest.

  A gunshot cracked through the air.

  Mona and Emersyn both jolted their heads to the direction of the clearing.

  “That was a rifle,” Mona said.

  Emersyn started to run off, but Mona grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to the ground. “Shh! Stop.”

  They both held still, the only thing audible was Emersyn’s rapid breaths.

  “Quietly, we need to sneak back there. The surprise is all we have.”

  Emersyn nodded at Mona and followed her in a crouch back towards the clearing.

  They slowly made their return, obscu
red by the dense bushes and foliage. Mona led the way, picking spots to step that wouldn’t crackle underbrush or snap twigs. Once they were back in view of the clearing, she held up a fist, and Emersyn stopped.

  She adjusted her head to peer through a small bush. Emersyn could smell the faint gunsmoke on the wind.

  There was a voice of an older man. “Now, someone wanna tell me what’s really going on?!”

  Emersyn recognized it. It was the older hunter who’d come upon them.

  Mona crept around to another bush, and reached a hand under several of the branches, pushing them aside gently. She sucked in a breath and waited. Emersyn couldn’t see what was going on, but she could hear the hunter pacing.

  Mona darted out from the bushes in a charge.

  Jerking her head up, Emersyn watched as Mona tackled the hunter from behind. The rifle flung from his hands. She wrapped an arm around his throat and her legs around his abdomen. He gasped for air, trying to break free of her vicelike grip.

  The hunter reached up and grabbed a handful of Mona’s hair, yanking on it. Mona screamed in pain. The hunter jerked his hand down, ripping the hair from her head. She roared and tightened the grip as his face grew purple. The eyes were bulging out of his face, a vein throbbing on his forehead as he fought for life.

  He gurgled, and a second later, the life left his body as his eyes shut and he went limp.

  Mona kept the hold on for several more seconds. She eventually let the body ease from her grip, gasping for a breath of her own.

  Taking short, quick breaths, Emersyn revealed herself from the bushes. She glanced around. Naomi was laying in a pool of blood just a few feet from Bravon Pearson.

  Emersyn raised a hand to her mouth in horror, falling backwards onto her rear. “Oh, God.”

  Mona turned to see the body. Her expression didn’t change. She looked to the rifle the hunter had used, then to Catalina, who was cowering against a tree.

  “The hell happened?” Mona asked, annoyed. “Why didn’t you stop him?”

  Tears welled in Catalina’s eyes. “I-It happened so quickly, I didn’t know what to do. I’m sorry.”

  Getting up, Emersyn made her way to Catalina and put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. Catalina closed her eyes and started to sob.

  “We’re down a soldier,” Mona said. She pointed at Bravon. “Maybe two.”

  “Don’t talk like that,” Emersyn said. She couldn’t believe her future self could be so cold and ruthless. “These are people’s lives. These are human beings. Not resources.”

  Mona’s face formed a pinched expression. “Right now, we need trained soldiers to keep us alive. Some hunter, a random hunter, just took out one of us!”

  Tanner stirred from the ground. “Oh, Christ, what kind of time-jump-hangover is this?” He groaned as he sat up, eyes glazed over. He turned to face the group, cracking Mona and Emersyn a smile. “Good to see you two, too. Or, since you’re both the same, nice to see you, Emersyn. What’s going . . .” His eyes fell on the two bodies. His smile lowered into a muted frown.

  He crawled over to Naomi, shaking his head. “No, no, no, shit, no!” he cried. He cradled her in his arms, lifting her body up. Her eyes were left open in shock, but the life was gone from her body.

  Emersyn watched as he looked at the hunter, piecing together what happened in his mind. Tears spilled from his eyes. His breaths were sharp and quick like he couldn’t get enough air. “Come back, Naomi. Naomi please, come back to me.” A trail of spittle fell from his mouth as his words broke into a sob. “Damn it!”

  Joey Del Core was still against the tree, sleeping, snoring. How he hadn’t woken up during the commotion was beyond Emersyn.

  “We need to establish a plan.” Mona picked the hunting rifle up, and pulled the bolt back, ejecting the spent bullet casing. “This was never going to work, I was stupid for thinking it was.” She kneeled, surveying the scene. “Let’s just focus on getting back to the cave, getting you guys back to your time. You’ve got enough information, you can warn them.”

  “Just shut up!” Catalina cried, her voice fraught with fear and anger. “You’re not helping.”

  Mona eyed the young Hispanic girl but stayed her words.

  Standing, Emersyn moved over to Tanner and rested a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

  Though he didn’t respond, Emersyn rubbed his shoulder and did her best to comfort him. She was the furthest thing from a good shoulder to cry on but seeing him so torn up with nobody comforting him made her feel less of a human.

  Silence befell the entire group again for the next hour. The sun had started to descend in the sky, afternoon creeping upon them.

  “Seeing this stuff really racks my brain,” Catalina said.

  She and Emersyn were sitting under a tree, about thirty feet away from the clearing. The grass was taller, and the tree was gnarled and bending the further it grew up. It provided them relief from the sun, but they were both too shocked to talk.

  Emersyn half-nodded, but she wasn’t paying attention. Her thoughts were fixated on Mona. 24 hours ago, she’d been fascinated by the woman and wanted to learn about her future. Now, seeing how cold and ruthless she was, she couldn’t fathom ever becoming so distant.

  “The time travel stuff scares me more,” Catalina continued, not looking to see whether Emersyn was listening or not. “When I grew up, I-I saw lots of death. Gangs on my street. My brother got shot in a gang war.”

  Her words brought Emersyn back to reality. She turned to face Catalina, looking over the feeble young girl. The tattoos running up and down her arms felt sharply contrasting with her shaky personality.

  “I’m sorry,” Emersyn managed in a voice barely above a whisper. She needed to get death off her mind. She motioned to Catalina’s ink-lined arms. “What are they for?”

  Catalina held her arms out. A smile cracked at her face. “To escape.” She pointed at one, a sword against a shield. “This one’s my attack and defense, reminds me to stay strong no matter what.” On the opposite arm, she pointed at a snake wrapped around a syringe. “This is my past. Haunts me every day. But since I put this on myself, I know I can never go back there. I could never face myself.”

  “I . .” Emersyn wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t want to apologize again, this time for the woman’s past, but praising it felt wrong.

  “It’s okay,” Catalina said. She turned and looked up at Emersyn with her dark, full eyes. “I’m not ashamed of where I used to be. I have to acknowledge it. That’s how I move forward. Can’t run from your past.” She shook her head. “It took me years in prison to learn that.”

  “That where you got the tattoos?”

  She pointed to a few. “Just these. The rest were done when I was out. Which was a lot . . . I was in and out for stupid shit. Larceny, robbery, aggravated assault . . .”

  Emersyn quirked an eyebrow. This time she didn’t stay her tongue. “Assault? Someone like you?”

  Chuckling, Catalina turned to face the ground. “Don’t let my size intimidate you, homie. I can put up a hell of a fight. I don’t stay down.”

  Emersyn admired the young girl’s honesty and determination. Between the two of them, she seemed far likelier to become a soldier, even with her small frame taken into consideration.

  They both looked up to see a red-eyed Tanner enter the vicinity. His eyes were sunken into his face, and his hair was messily laid atop his head.

  “Hey,” Emersyn said, standing up. “I’m so sorry.”

  “She was my best friend. I loved her like a sister.”

  “She’s in a better place now, amigo,” Catalina offered.

  Tanner scowled at her. “To hell with that. She should be here! She was only 23 years old. 23!”

  He groaned and planted his back to a gnarled tree opposite theirs. He slid down to the ground, burying his face in his hands. “Bravon’s not doing good. That b—” He stopped himself, looking up at Emersyn. “Mona just doesn’t get it.”

 
; Nodding, Emersyn moved to stand between Tanner and Catalina. “No, I get it. At first, I could only see traits of myself in her, and I sort of . . . admired her. But she’s cruel, emotionless. We can’t do that.”

  Tanner scoffed. “I don’t know what else we can do. She’s the only one who knows how the Requiem gem works. If we strike off on our own, we’re going to get caught in a nuclear war.” He looked up, exchanging glances with both Emersyn and Catalina. “I don’t know about you two but I don’t plan on getting blown away by some Russian bomb.”

  “We’ll get back,” Emersyn said. “We just need to get her back to reality. I think she’s been in wars for so long, she’s forgotten how to respond . . . normally to these things.” Emersyn always felt pressure to not refuse people and avoid confrontation. Mona not only couldn’t care less, but she seemed devoid of any standard emotion when it came to death.

  “Let’s go talk to her, yeah?” Catalina said. Emersyn offered her a hand, and she took it, standing.

  “You guys go if you want,” Tanner said, “but I need to be alone right now.”

  Emersyn looked the blonde-haired Specialist. She felt for him and wished she could think of the right words that would comfort him. But seeing a close friend, a comrade, killed like that . . . she doubted anything she could say would be of any help.

  She let a hand trail down to pat him on the shoulder as she walked by. “We’re going. Just don’t stay out here too long.” Emersyn knew how addicting isolation could be, and she would never wish it on anyone.

  Chapter 7

  Mona was going through the items they had at the clearing when Emersyn and Catalina approached. She turned, grunted at them, and continued.

  “What’s the plan here?” Catalina asked, stopping next to Emersyn.

  “Continue back to the mountain,” the older woman replied. She tossed a magazine of pistol ammo into a pile. “Get you guys home, hope that word of mouth is enough to stop this war.”

  Emersyn exhaled loudly. “We can’t just forget Naomi died. Bravon’s not doing great. We need to help them.”