by D. S Mac
“Hannah… Hannah.” She recognised the voice. A friend. “Hannah, stay still.” As he was speaking, her vision focused. She became aware that a body was slumped over her legs. Peter was crouched next to her. His soothing voice calmed her marching-band heart. Hannah tried to speak, but all that came out was a raspy croak.
“Don’t speak. Here, have some water.”
Her lips felt the cool smooth glass. She tilted her head back and greedily drank. Her attempt at swallowing became a gargling sputtering mess as half the water flew from her mouth.
“Whoa, slow down, Hannah. Small sips.”
She nodded and opened her mouth, asking for more. The glass touched her swollen lips once more. This time the water flowed down. Hannah relished the cool soothing liquid. It gave instantaneous relief.
It took a good half hour for Hannah to be able to speak. Peter never left her side.
“What happened?”
“You sound thirty years older.” Peter’s cheeky smile warmed Hannah’s heart. “I thought you were taking your time, so I came round the back. I heard a struggle coming from upstairs, so I ran. Found a gun at the bottom of the stairs, slipped up and shot him.”
“Thank you, Pete. Have you seen the chief or his family?
“I haven’t left you apart from getting the water. So no, I’m afraid not.”
Hannah raised a hand towards the room she had not yet been in. “Can you check there?”
Peter stood up; his knees cracked from having squatted for so long. “Sure.”
Hannah watched as he pulled open the door and stopped dead in his tracks. His arms slumped to his sides. His back sagged. Hannah could almost see the bile rising through his system. Peter’s skin dulled to a sickly grey. As he released the contents of his stomach at his feet and the sour stench of vomit filled the landing, Hannah knew. She knew that what he found in that room was the executed Baldwin family.
Chapter 30 - Family
Drake had never worried about anyone in his life. He had spent too long being pulled from every possibility of friends or family by the power in his arm. Now he had friends; now he had… family. Now he had worries. Could he save them all? Would Hannah be alright? His mind was buzzing with what-ifs. This new part of his life was beautiful yet overwhelming. So many people suddenly depended on him. The whole world depended on him, and only a handful knew it.
Drake was sitting at the breakfast bar, both hands clamped tight around a well-nursed cup of tea. Elbows propped on the table while he was deep in thought. His muscle memory brought the tea to his lips. The bitter taste of cold tea filled his mouth. It broke him out of his train of thought as he almost gagged. No one likes cold tea. He placed the half-full cup down on the counter just as Fergus entered the room.
“Alright, bawbag, so this is where you’re hiding.”
Drake watched as Fergus struggled over. A faint smile spread across his face.
“Drake, you good?”
“Yeah. Guess I just got a lot on my plate.” He stretched back and ran his hands through his hair.
“Aye, the lone soldier becomes a world saviour. It’s heavy.” Fergus grabbed a coaster and began fiddling with it.
“How are you feeling?” Drake nodded at his side.
“I’m alright, still sore, but Amy did a great job.” He frowned at Drake. “Mate, we’ll win this together.” Fergus looked at his friend. He could see the fear in Drake’s eyes. It wasn’t fear of death or fear of the end but fear of loss. “All of us.”
Drake smiled. Gave his friend a curt nod. He took his cup to the sink and washed it up.
“Ferg, that guy at the end, did he seem familiar to you?”
Fergus’s rough snort resounded in the kitchen. “Aye, he reminded me of you.”
Drake spun around, drying his hands on a tea towel. “Me?”
Fergus looked deep in thought for a second. “Well, you had the same mannerisms, and when you both led on the way to the fractures, you both moved the same. Maybe you had the same training?”
“Possibly.” Drake screwed his face up and threw the tea towel on the counter. “We should see how the girls are.”
Back in the lounge, the two girls sat eating a good breakfast. Toast, cornflakes and orange juice. They both stared as Drake entered the room. The quiet girl, Mel, nudged Abbie’s arm and nodded towards Drake.
“Erm… Drake?”
He helped ease Fergus down and threw himself on the seat next to him. “Yeah?”
“How did you get us out of there?”
Drake gave off an awkward laugh. His mouth drew in. “That is an incredibly long story. Have you called your families?”
“Yeah, they are on their way.” Mel broke down into tears.
“They were told we had died in an accident abroad.” Abbie’s eyes swelled. She used a sleeve to wipe them quickly.
“Forrest is a powerful man. We’re going to put an end to him, okay.”
From the lounge, they heard the front door clunking open. Seconds later, Chase strolled in with a large case. “Ah, good, you’re here. Do you have a minute, Drake?”
Drake stood up to help Chase with the case. “Yeah, sure, what do you need?” The case was heavier than expected. He nearly dropped it.
“Whoa, careful with that. It’s rather delicate.” Chase set the case down with Drake’s help. He spun the numbered dials, and the case unlocked with a chink. “I’ve got some equipment here. I’d love to run a test or two on your brain. If you wouldn’t mind?”
“Go ahead.”
Chase gently pushed Drake back into the seat. He produced a rather ominous-looking crown, with wires, diodes, capacitors, electrodes, the works, all bodged together.
After putting the crown on Drake’s head and placing the electrodes in the necessary places, Chase fired up a small laptop and connected the remaining leads.
“Now, this will show me your brain activity.” He trailed off as he tapped away at the keyboard. The click-click of the keys finished his sentence.
As the machine activated, Drake felt a dull electrical throbbing at his temples. He watched as Chase tapped away, casting intermittent glances over at him. “I see normal brain activity. How curious.” His thumb and forefinger stereotypically went to his chin. “If only you could start the temporal process.”
“Ohh, Chase, have I got a surprise for you.” Drake’s smile lit up the room. He had forgotten that Chase didn’t know yet. “Be ready.”
Chase frowned in confusion, tapping a few keys. He curiously nodded to Drake.
Drake closed his eyes and took slow deep breaths. He filled his mind with fractures. When he could picture the neon glassy portals, he started to focus on a time zone ten minutes from now. A static tingle buzzed around his body. As the charge grew, he became one with it, allowing the electricity to flow through his veins.
Chase sat there staring in awe. The two girls cowered on the sofa, visibly shaking from seeing the impossible. Drake’s arm was glowing a beautiful azure blue. Their shadows flickered across the room as it pulsed. An electric crackling filled the air, which gave them all gooseflesh.
“Woohoo. Drake, my man!” Fergus had leapt out of his seat and was shuddering as the electric-filled air stood his hairs on end.
Chase checked the readings and was blown away. Drake’s temporal lobe was lit up like a Christmas tree. Energy readings were off the charts. Completely immeasurable. Utterly impossible.
Sparks burst from the crown as the capacitors blew. It sent a shock wave of energy through the laptop, which burst into flames on Chase’s lap. The lounge, within seconds, had become a massive fire risk. Chase frantically bashed at the laptop to douse the fire. Fergus snatched up a blanket and smothered the flaming device.
“Shite, Drake, your heid!”
They had been so focused on the blazing laptop that they didn’t notice Drake’s head going up in flames. Drake yanked the crown along with electrodes off and frantically slapped his head. Luckily, the fire was mainly on the crown. He had
merely escaped with burnt hair. The bitter stench found its way to his nose. He screwed his face up and assessed the damage in the lounge mirror. His whole right side had been singed down to a number two.
“Well, that isn’t too bad.” He ran a hand through the singed area. The shorter hairs prickled his skin. “Think I could get used to this.”
“Aye.” Fergus burst into laughter. The heave of each laugh strained his stitches. The outburst lasted a second before he was bent double, clutching his side.
“Easy, tiger, sweet bit of karma.”
Fergus raised his arm and stuck his middle finger up.
Chase sat back down and released a deep sigh. “I’ll have to build another EEG now. Luckily, I saw enough of the data. It’s an incredible amount of power. Before we know more, try not to use it, Drake.”
Drake was about to reply when a succession of clacks at the front door burst through the house. He nodded and went to answer. After peeping through the peephole, he could see two distraught-looking women and two men who bore the weight of it all on their shoulders. He grabbed for the handle and yanked it open.
“Our babies! Are they here?” A blonde woman who had a little extra weight than she probably would have liked stepped forward. Her eyes were filled with pain and pleading.
“They are. Please come in.” Drake led them through to the lounge. What followed was a beautiful yet terribly sad reunion. Tears streamed down all their faces. The two girls were embraced in hugs that looked like they would suffocate.
“We’ll leave you alone for a minute.” Drake motioned for the others to leave them to it. They all left the room.
Chapter 31 - Forrest Futures
It took almost an hour for the tears to stop. The families thanked Drake, Fergus and Chase profusely. They had their girls back. Forrest had fed them some rubbish about a trip to America on a private jet that had failed and crashed in the Atlantic. When in truth, the girls had been locked up in cages. Subjected to hell. They had been abused by that creature and locked up, waiting to be cannibalised for two weeks before Drake and Hannah had found them. Their recovery would take some time, but at least they were alive. At least for the next few days, if they couldn’t stop Brendan and his machine.
The trio sat around the breakfast bar, quietly chatting away. General friendly chatter, the last bit they would find before the massive task ahead. With Chase old and Fergus injured, this would all fall on Drake’s and Hannah’s shoulders. It was a considerable weight to bear and one they could not afford to drop.
“So we know where, and we know roughly how. What we don’t know is why or how to stop it.” Drake changed the subject back to Brendan.
“I may have an idea on that.” Chase straightened up. “I’ve been thinking about the how. If he ran the same parameters as before, the same result from 2018 would happen. There has to be a different variable.” He cleared his throat. “The only one I can surmise is that he will reverse the polarity of the antimatter, but it’s never been tested. So I cannot say for sure.”
“So all we have to go on is a theory?” Drake let out a deep sigh. The front door clicked open; the sound carried to the kitchen. All three of the guys glanced toward the hallway. “Well, seeing as we’re doing this, we’re going to need some weapons.”
Hannah and Peter emerged from the hallway. The first thing Drake noticed was the thick red bruising around Hannah’s neck, but before he could say anything, Hannah threw down a large duffel bag with a loud metallic clang. “Someone say weapons?” Her mouth curled into a winning smile.
Drake knew at that moment that she was tough, and it would be useless to fuss over her injuries. He watched as Fergus jumped to his feet and carefully knelt to inspect the bag. The grinding of the zip was the only noise until Fergus saw what was inside.
“Ooooh, goddamn, Hannah, ya cannae play with my heart like this.” He reached inside and pulled out two Glock 17s. He let out a prolonged whistle of surprise and admiration. “There are enough Glocks in here along with enough high-capacity magazines to bring down a small army.”
“Courtesy of the station.” She smiled and walked over to Drake. He looked at her with concern. “I’m fine.” She squeezed his shoulder. “Lowlife got the jump on me is all. Glad Peter was there to shoot the prick.”
Drake nodded and smiled to show he wouldn’t fuss, then asked, “The chief? Did you find him?”
When there was no reply, Drake looked between Hannah and Peter. Peter could not help but lose a single tear. He wiped it away with his sleeve.
“It was awful. The scumbag slaughtered the whole family. Kids and all.”
Several gasps ricocheted around the kitchen. Chase got up and supportively placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder.
“Why would they do that?” Chase’s voice betrayed him. A higher pitch than intended came out as he asked the question. Hannah leant down and nuzzled into Drake, wrapped both arms around him and placed them on his chest. Drake put his arms up to caress her gently.
“I… I think he may have been on Brendan’s payroll. It would explain how the hospital actually happened and why police presence took way too long to arrive.”
“Fuck, that brings the question of who else?” Drake gently pulled Hannah off and stood up. “Right, fuck this. It’s now or never. We finish this tonight.”
The others cheered, and Fergus banged his fists on the breakfast bar.
***
They spent the next hour handing out guns and filling magazines with bullets. The kitchen was filled with silence apart from the metallic clicks of bullets being slotted into position. When they had finished, Drake, Fergus and Hannah had Glocks and four magazines consisting of eighteen bullets, while Peter and Chase were given a Glock and two magazines each. A chorus of clicks followed as they each pulled their slides back. The group of unlikely friends were ready. They shared a look of knowing that said ‘I’m with you until the end’.
As their unappointed and unofficial leader, Drake stood up.
“I’m going to be corny and say something. I appreciate every single one of you. For so long, I had nobody, and within the space of a few weeks, I have found some incredible friends. The way you are all willingly sacrificing yourselves to something none of us truly understand is truly admirable, and I wouldn’t want anyone else there with me. Let’s get this done.”
The kitchen erupted with hollering and cheers.
Drake glanced over at Hannah, who was looking at him with a lustful twinkle in her eye. Drake’s heart had never felt so warm, and he knew something he had never felt before, which was that he loved her. He leapt up from the table while the team was still cheering. He grabbed hold of Hannah’s waist, pulled her in tight, and their lips met. For a few seconds, the embrace shut out everything else. The room seemed to quieten as they entered a small realm of bliss. They pulled away from each other.
As their eyes met, Drake said, “I love you.”
Hannah’s face lit up. “I love you too.”
A slap on the back from Fergus snapped Drake back to reality. Fergus leant forward, puckered his lips and made smooching noises. “Where’s mine, lovebirds?” He chuckled and took a step back with raised defensive hands as Drake jokingly raised a fist.
“Right here, braveheart.” They all had a little laugh before heading to the front door.
Drake turned back to address Chase and Peter. “You guys stay here. Chase, I can’t bring you to a gunfight, and Peter, you have done enough for us.”
Chase suddenly looked relieved. Peter looked a little offended but understood this was out of his depth.
Drake turned to Fergus. “You okay to do this?”
“Like fuck would I miss it.”
Twenty minutes later, Drake, Fergus and Hannah were sitting outside Forrest Futures in Hannah’s car. They parked a block away, but the looming tower dominated all in the area, and the neon FF logo covering about five floors on the front of the building was glowing like a beacon. They reached, pulled out Glocks, and left the v
ehicle. Even though the building looked quiet, they kept to the shadows of the neighbouring buildings. If they could avoid being seen for as long as possible, that would work in their favour.
They reached the building wall, hunched over and skirted along it until they came to the front door. Drake watched as Hannah peeked around the frame and used a hand to peer through the glass.
“No one is there, no receptionist, nothing.” Hannah looked back at Drake, confused.
“Maybe they are closed for the evening.” He shrugged.
“We should find a service entrance anyway,” Fergus grunted from behind.
Drake and Hannah turned to look at him. “What are you thinking, Ferg?”
“I think they know we’re coming; fuck sneaking around. Let’s get up there and put a bullet between his eyes.” His face was stern as if to show he was dead set on that plan.
“Drake.” Hannah grabbed his arm. “He’s got a point.”
Drake looked between his two friends, his brain overthinking visible on his face from the rows of frown lines. “Okay, lead the way.”
After a few curt nods, they pulled out a gun each from their waistlines. Hannah stepped out to the front door. It burst open; the mechanical grind of its inner workings echoed throughout the cavernous marble lobby. They stepped in but were greeted by silence. Each of them had a gun raised and panned the vast open space. The elevators were on the other side, next to the reception desk. Their polished silver doors glistened from the bright halogen lighting. They reached the elevator. Having been met by no resistance, they were alone apart from their clacking footsteps against the marble floor. As they stepped into range of the sensors, the elevator’s AI voice kicked in. A rich, clear robotic British voice spoke. “Which floor, please?”
Drake stepped forward and quickly looked at the floor plan. “Penthouse.”