Time Spent

by J. David Clarke

  A short time later, the man climbed out, and conferred with the other rescue workers.

  "Can you move the rock?" Brandon asked, climbing to his feet.

  "We're gonna get some ropes down there and winch it free," the man said, placing his hands on Brandon's shoulders. "I'm sorry son, but you need to prepare yourself."

  "Prepare myself for what?" Brandon said.

  "Your friend isn't breathing. I checked but was unable to find a pulse. I tried to resuscitate her, but-"

  "Wait, what? What are you saying? Not breathing?"

  "We're gonna get her out of there, but it looks like your friend didn't make it. I'm really sorry."

  "Didn't make it? What are you talking about? I found her! I saved her! What do you mean didn't make it?"

  "I'm sorry," the man said, and went back to the crevice to help lower the ropes.

  "No," Brandon said, shaking his head. "No! NO!" He fell to his knees and pounded his fists into the ground. Tears spilled down his cheeks. "NO!!!"

  ______________________

  Tommy's hand tightened around his neck. Brandon clawed at his hand but couldn't move it. It was like...like trying to move a stone.

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

  Brandon jammed his feet into the earth and launched Tommy and himself into the air. He spiraled up, rocketing faster and faster. Then he curved back down. From this high, he could see the entire countryside, all the way to the mountains. He aimed for the mountains and struck the rock like a missile. He blasted through the mountain and emerged on the other side, sending a shower of stones into the valley below.

  Tommy was still hanging on. He couldn't hurt Brandon while he was flying, but he wasn't letting go.

  "Still here, bitch," he said. "Your Superman shit ain't stopping me!"

  "I tried to come up with a super-hero name," said Brandon. "Couldn't think of one."

  Tommy laughed.

  "Know the problem with super-hero names?"

  No reply.

  Brandon rocketed into the city, flying low between the buildings. A contrail of white cloud formed behind them as they moved faster and faster.

  BOOOOOOOM!!! A wave of air began crashing outward from them, shattering the glass windows as they passed.

  "HUMAN ROCKET," Brandon said, and turned upward above a construction site. He flew up above the clouds, then turned back down and used the pull of gravity to accelerate until Tommy was barely hanging on. He struck the girders and steel beams in the half-constructed building and blasted through them, causing the entire structure to collapse on them. Once he hit the ground, he blasted back up, pulling Tommy right through it all.

  Still Tommy hung on.

  Brandon again zoomed through the city, flying low until he saw a building fire.

  "HUMAN TORCH," he said, and flew through the window of the burning building. He began flying in corkscrew pattern through the city, the wind of his passage pulling the flames along with him.

  Tommy's grip began to slip.

  Brandon flew low, until he saw a tanker truck parked outside a truck stop. After he made a pass to be sure there was no driver, he circled back and aimed for its center.

  "HUMAN BOMB," he said, and struck the tanker, blowing a hole right through it. As he passed through the oil he held his breath and slowed, allowing the flames trailing him to catch up. The oil ignited and the tanker blew, sending burning oil and fragments of metal exploding outward.

  Tommy's hand was no longer around his neck.

  Brandon flew up for a bit, catching his breath, then flew back down to look for Tommy. He found the giant lying in the center of the wreckage, unconscious. He hadn't been harmed, protected as he was by Brandon's power, but he hadn't known to hold his breath. The fire had taken the air right out of his lungs.

  Brandon leaned over him. "The problem is, when you can do the things we can, you're not really human anymore. Not even super-human. You're...more super than super."

  He heard a sound then, the same wail he had heard back in the lab. Brandon covered his ears. It was coming from the direction of downtown. When it stopped, he reached down to take Tommy by the hand.

  "Come on, big boy. I'm not leaving you here." He launched into the air, pulling Tommy along the same way he had the satellite. He stopped to collect Russell as well, then headed for the source of the sound.

  Something was happening at the center of town, on top of one of the taller buildings. Brandon streaked toward the roof, and dumped Tommy and Russell as he landed on the rooftop.

  ______________________

  The strange figure stepped down as if walking down a flight of stairs, only there were no stairs. Its legs moved gracefully downward until it stood on the roof.

  At first, Brandon thought it was an alien. It was slim and strange looking, with large blood red eyes. He thought he saw flowing red hair down its back, but sometimes it only appeared to be a red glow.

  The figure approached Brandon. It looked at him for a moment, as if considering what to do about him. Then it reached out a hand, and touched his forehead.

  Red light exploded in Brandon's mind, and he lost consciousness.

  ______________________

  "That's all I remember," Brandon said. "When I came to, Kevin told us all it wasn't safe to be together anymore. He said Tommy and Russell and the others were from an alternate reality, said he had to take them back home and we all had to split up or something like that could happen again. He never told me how he managed to stop it or what it even was."

  "Who cares?" Mia said, the yellow light flickering around her right eye. "What are we even doing here?"

  "We're trying to help Kevin," Brandon said. "And Zachary."

  "Why, so he can open up the sky again and destroy us all? Why are we trying to help him?"

  "Because that's what heroes do," Brandon said.

  "Heroes?" she said. "Are you serious? Do I look like a hero to you?" She raised her right hand and whipped off her hood, revealing her face. A puzzle pattern of circuitry criss-crossed the left side of her face, and ran down her neck.

  She brought up her right hand, the yellow energy illuminating the circuitry as it grew and branched out slowly across her skin.

  "I can't even help myself!"

  CHAPTER TWO

  From somewhere, the woman produced a clear plastic pouch containing Mia's clothes and other personal items: items she hadn't seen in eighteen months. On the pouch's label was printed her name: LOZANO, MIA.

  She took the pouch and looked through it.

  "Everything there?" the woman asked.

  It had been so long Mia wasn't sure, but it seemed right. She nodded.

  "Sign here," the woman said, pushing a form through the slot.

  Mia looked over it, and located the space at the bottom to sign her name. She signed it, and passed it back. "Is that it?"

  "You can put on your shoes. Just pass me back the others."

  "Oh." Mia took her sneakers out of the bag. The slippers she had been made to wear while in juvenile detention came off easily. She passed them back to the woman behind the plate glass window, and put her own sneakers on her feet.

  "That's it," the woman said.

  "So...I can go?"

  The woman looked her in the eye, a cold look. "Stand at that line." She indicated a white line painted on the floor in front of the outer door. "I'll tell you when to exit."

  "Oh. Okay." Mia stepped up to the line, clutching the pouch to her chest.

  There was a buzzing sound, and the woman said, "You can open it now."

  Mia opened the door, and stepped out into the sunlight. Her dark, close-cropped hair blew gently in the breeze, and she could feel it through the green scrubs she was wearing. For a moment, the light was too bright for her to see. She held up a hand to shield her eyes from the sun. Finally, her eyes adjusted and she saw her father standing there by the curb. He was much like her in build, small and thin, with a wispy brown comb-over.

  "Dad!" she
called, smiling.

  "Hey, honey." her dad said. He did not smile.

  She ran up to him and threw her arms around him. He did not embrace her, just patted her a few times on the back and said, "Okay, let's go."

  She followed him to their car. "Where's mom? And Danny and Megan?"

  "They couldn't make it," he said, opening the car door. "We'll talk about that."

  Mia climbed into the car. "Talk about what?"

  Her father clutched the wheel with both hands, sitting in silence for a moment. Then he started the ignition and drove them home.

  She stood in the doorway to her brother's room and just stared at the emptiness of it. The bed and dresser were still there, but all his belongings were gone. It had been the same with her sister's room.

  "Mia, come to the table, honey. I need to talk to you."

  Her dad had set a plate down for her at the dinner table: microwaved leftover spaghetti. Mia had been famished earlier, but had all but lost her appetite upon learning that her mother had moved out, taking her brother and sister with her. She sat at the table and picked at it with her fork.

  "I need to talk to you about school," he said.

  "Okay."

  "You'll be starting this week, in public school."

  "Whaaat? Why?"

  "You'll be going to the high school right over here," he said.

  "What about St. Anthony's?"

  "No. Listen to me, Mia..."

  "I don't want to go to public school," she said. "What about my friends?"

  "Mia..."

  "No, dad! I don't want to go there."

  "They won't take you back, okay!" He said, slamming down his fork.

  She sat in silence, staring down at her plate.

  Her father folded his hands in front of him. "They won't take you back, and no other private school will have you. We tried, your mother and I..." his throat closed up for a moment. "We called and went in person and...we tried."

  "Did mom leave because of me?" she asked.

  "Honey..."

  "Did she??"

  "No...it's not...we were having arguments, honey, we were arguing all the time."

  "About me."

  Silence.

  Mia burst out crying, the hot tears spilling down her face. She covered her face with her hands, and the tears ran down her arms to drip into the tomato sauce on her plate.

  ______________________

  The yellow energy burst from her hands like a battering ram, scattering the soldiers in front of her. She swung her fists from side to side, and the energy cracked and splintered the walls as she passed.

  "Mia, stop!" called Tyler from behind her. He and Becca had followed behind her from the lab, ever since she had exploded with anger over Kevin taking the bus driver away, denying her revenge, but she would not answer them. "We have to find Max, he can get us out of here without a fight."

  Becca laughed. "She wants a fight."

  They saw other soldiers, but they were running not in Mia's direction but down the hall the other way.

  "Come back!" Mia shouted. The sound was building in her head again: eeeeeeeeee!

  "Let them go!" Tyler said. "We need to get out of here!"

  Mia followed the soldiers outside. They ran across to a large hangar. Sounds came from within the hangar: gunfire, and screaming.

  "Hold on a sec," Tyler said. "I don't think we want to go in there..."

  The door to the hangar opened. Instead of soldiers though, a single girl emerged. She was small, Mia's size, and ghostly white. Her skin and hair were the color of milk. Even her clothes, a baggy sweater and jeans, had faded pale gray. Her eyes, though, were jet black. She walked in a strange shambling gait, her black eyes staring straight ahead, her head cocked to an odd angle.

  Despite her strange appearance, Mia recognized her instantly.

  "Amber...?" she said. "Amber! What are you doing here??"

  Amber cocked her head the other way, looking in her direction. Then her mouth opened, revealing her bone white teeth and inky black gums and tongue. Her jaw sank down and down, opening her mouth into an elongated yawn.

  A horrifying wail erupted from her throat, causing Mia, Tyler and Becca to clap their hands over their ears. Mia sank to her knees. With the deafening wail came a bone chilling wind, spreading frost over their skin in an instant.

  Suddenly, the wail stopped. Amber froze in place, immobile.

  "It's okay," Tyler said, keeping his eyes focused on her. "I got her."

  "The fuck was that?" Becca said, shaking a finger in her ear.

  "NO!" Mia stood, shaking ice crystals from her spiky blue hair. "LEAVE HER ALONE!"

  She slapped a hand at them and yellow energy lashed out, knocking Tyler and Becca to the ground. Amber stumbled forward, looked confused, then turned to the right and began shambling in the direction of the base's main gate.

  "Amber!" Mia called, chasing after her.

  Tyler crawled painfully to his feet, and extended a hand to help Becca stand up. "What the hell?" he said. "Why did she attack us?"

  "She doesn't need a reason, haven't you noticed?" Becca said, watching Mia run after the pale girl. "She's a crazy fucking bitch."

  MIA

  "The spark."

  "My God," said General Stearnes.

  "Yeah," Mia said. "Tell me about it."

  Shiny black lines criss-crossed the left side of her face, and a thin black latticework covered her left eye. Her left hand, too, was covered in the metallic mesh of circuitry.

  "It's like Cable's technovirus," Brandon said, "by way of the Borg."

  "Do you have a comic book reference for everything?" Becca asked.

  "No, sometimes they're movie references!"

  "You do know I can fly you into the sun anytime I want, right? You get that?"

  Brandon folded his arms. "You do know when I fly back I can nuke you before you even know I'm coming, RIGHT?"

  "SHUT UP!" Mia shouted, smashing her right hand into the wall. The yellow energy cratered a hole in the plaster there. "This isn't getting us anywhere!"

  "Maybe Zachary can help you too," Heather said.

  Mia laughed. "Yeah, Zack seems really helpful right now."

  Zachary rocked back and forth in the corner, arms wrapped around his knees, clutching them to his chest.

  "It's growing again," Tyler said. He gazed intently at the maze of metal on Mia's face. "It grew when you..."

  "It feeds on it," Mia said. "It grows every time I use my power. That's why I'm saying what are we doing here? Why did you bring me here? You should have left me there. You should have just left me."

  ______________________

  Mia walked down the hallway, her arms wrapped around herself, holding her books to her, looking around wide-eyed at the chaos that surrounded her.

  She had never before attended public school.

  It was like being a participant in some kind of psychological experiment to see what kids did when authority vanished. The halls were filled with insane, rushing, or laughing students. No one seemed to know, or care to know, each other. And the ones who did, well, she had already run afoul of a few cliquish types who seemed to exist only to put down others.

  "Excuse me," she said, trying to get to her locker. A mountain of a student, at least six and a half feet tall and several hundred pounds, blocked it at the moment.

  The giant turned around, and looked down at her with veiny eyes set in a pug nosed face.

  "Oh, I'm sorry," he said. "Am I in your way?"

  "Yes. Thank you."

  "I'm Brock," he said, extending one enormous ham hand.

  "...Mia," she put her tiny hand in his, and endured his sweaty clasp for a moment before pulling it back.

  But Brock did not move.

  "Ok, so could you move please?" asked Mia.

  "I'm thinking about it, skinny," he said. He reached out a hand to touch a lock of her black hair. Mia yanked back her head.

  "Don't touch me!" she said.

&nb
sp; "Aw, be friendly now," he said. "Not much to touch anyway." He tried to peek down into her shirt. "Not much at all." His friends, or whoever they were, giggled at his antics.

  Ugh. Mia was not into boys, but she had had male friends at St. Anthony's, and never really had a problem with them. If this were to be what public school boys were all like, she would not make it here. "Look, I just want to get to my locker, okay?"

  "Why don't you squeeze that skinny body past me?" asked Brock. "You might feel somethin' you like." His friends laughed louder.

  "Forget it," Mia said, exasperated. She turned and walked off to class without getting her book.

  A quiet girl in a baggy sweater, watching the scene from nearby, followed after her.

  ______________________

  The chain link fence frosted over and fell apart. Amber staggered through, white footprints marking her passage.

  "Baby!" Mia called, following behind her, but Amber did not acknowledge her presence.

  Amber walked into the street outside the base, cars swerving to avoid her. One car stopped in front of her, and the driver plunged his hand into the horn, blaring it over and over. Amber stopped, and cocked her head in his direction.

  "It's okay, Amber, I'll handle this." Mia raised her right hand, the yellow energy balling around it.

  Before she could swat at the car, however, Amber's mouth yawned open again. The wailing sound emerged, and Mia clapped her hands over her ears. A cone of frost swirled forth from her open mouth, and spread out to engulf car and driver. The sound built and built, until finally the car windows shattered, sending bits of glass raining down on the street. Frost built up on the driver, and within seconds he was encased in solid ice.

  Amber turned, and continued walking.

  "Holy shit," Mia said, looking at the frozen driver. The energy around her right hand died away. "Amber!"

  Amber shambled toward the city.

  "Baby, stop!" Mia said. "What happened to you? How did you get like this?"

  Words seeped from between Amber's lips in a misty whisper. "The school bus."