by Jason Wilcox
“No. I don’t think that’s all,” James said while crumpling his trash. “You’re more than tired and missing your girl. There’s something more going on. Did Bridget do something? Or more likely, did you do something stupid?”
Caden pulled out a pen from his pocket and a magazine from the seat in front of him. He quickly wrote, “It’s not Bridget,” he rubbed a hand on the back of his neck while he wrote. “You can’t tell anyone, not even Matt.” He scribbled quickly, not wanting to speak the information because of the T-13.
“Sure thing,” James said moving in a little closer to him and wrote. “You know you can trust me.”
“Yes I do. Something keeps happening to me, and I can’t tell if I’m going crazy or if I’m having realistic nightmares or...” Caden couldn’t even finish writing that he might be seeing hallucinations. It sounded too stupid.
“What’s been happening?” James’ eyebrow lifted.
“I’ve been seeing creatures-” Caden stopped writing again. He felt completely crazy and James was going to see him that way.
“Creatures?” James wrote. “What do you mean exactly? Like animal creatures?”
Caden shook his head no. He felt like a fool and wished he had never started telling James. “Monster-like creatures,” he slowly wrote.
“Monsters?” He gave Caden a half smile. “Seriously? Monsters? What do they look-”
A scream cut James off. Seatbelt latches clicked as people ran from their seats. A man stood over James and Caden pointing a gun at them.
“Are you going to shoot us?” James asked nonchalantly.
“I’m only here for him,” the man said, pointing at Caden. Beads of sweat rolled down the man’s forehead and dripped off his short brown hair. He wore a black body suit. “But if you get in the way, I’ll kill you as well.” His hands trembled as he waved the gun back and forth between Caden and James. The man talked into a mic on his wrist. “I have him in the second cabin.”
Seeing the perfect opportunity, James hit the gun, causing the man to shoot at the ceiling. James snatched the gun and tossed it to Caden. The man threw a punch only to be knocked down as James grabbed his arm and slammed him to the floor. Blood gushed from his nose.
“Fool. Do you even know who you’re messing with?” James rested his knee on the guy’s head and twisted his arm almost dislocating it. Caden watched James do his thing, standing in the aisle ready to help. He was impressed and ashamed. Normally he would have been just as quick as James, but he had been so caught up in his fears of losing his mind, he couldn’t pull himself into the action.
“I know who you are,” a voice said from behind, “and I’m tired of you messing with my men.” Caden turned around. It was the same man he had seen in the stairwell holding the gun to the scientist. “I have plans for you, though, ones that will get you out of my hair.” The man smiled, and Caden started to run at him but before he could make a move, he was thrown against a seat and James was hurled down the aisle by an explosion on the plane. Both men in the suits disappeared at the same time.
Caden grimaced as James rose from the floor. “They’re the ones that broke into the main office, the ones that stole the suits and obviously made copies.” Before James could respond, another explosion rocked the plane knocking both men back down.
Looking out the window, Caden noticed a jet flying toward the plane as a missile launched. It hit the wing, blowing the engine to bits. Pieces of metal and debris pelted the side and window. Passengers rushed to the front of the plane panicking.
“They’re already off the plane, aren’t they?”
“Yeah,” Caden said as he tried to keep his balance. The plane plummeted toward the ground.
The pilot blared over the speakers, “Please, everyone stay calm and put on your seatbelts. Stay seated!”
James’ eyes met Caden’s. “What do we do?”
Caden glanced at the ground and then to his wrist. “This.” He pushed the switch to stop time.
The silence was loud after all the screaming. The passengers looked like they were being thrown forward, frozen in that moment. Caden hit the switch so quickly he hadn’t noticed that the front of the plane touched the ground.
“Let’s get these people out of here!”
“How?” James asked. He glanced at the frozen people and then looked around. He ran over to the emergency exit and kicked it open. “This way.”
“Good thinking.” Caden grabbed a young man who was thrown out of his seat. The passenger’s body was frozen like a statue but was very light, like Styrofoam. He took him to the exit. “Now what?” Caden turned to find James. James was behind him, holding a large woman in front of him. He hadn’t realized Caden had stopped and continued forward toward the exit. Caden scrambled to get out of the way just as James realized he was there, but it was too late. Caden lost his balance and dropped the passenger. Unbelievably, the man stayed in one spot, frozen in mid-air high above the ground. Caden sighed with relief.
Jumping out of the plane, Caden seized the floating man and pulled him slowly to the ground. Once his feet gently made contact, he walked the passenger away from the crash to make sure he would be safe when they started time again.
Caden saw the outside of the plane for the first time. The front end was crumpled. A thin trail of flames moved along the underbelly of the plane and pooled in some of the ripples from the impact. One of the windows was smashed out and glass fragments were frozen in midair just above the roof of the plane. Caden quickly made his way to the cockpit. James, with an arm full of passengers, was just barely getting to the ground when Caden reached the front end of the jet liner.
The metal was cold to the touch as Caden began climbing up the side of the plane, using the bent and broken metal as a type of ladder. A strange sensation went through his fingers as he took a hold of a ledge. His nerves seemed not to know if they should be signaling pain or comfort. Pulling himself up, Caden noticed that his fingers were in a pocket of fire. Quickly he pulled his hand away, more out of surprise than anything. His fingers looked fine, no burns, and he turned his focus back to the flame.
The yellow, reddish flame, which looked like a liquid in stopped time, seemed to be alive. It seemed almost to call to him. With doubt in his mind, Caden moved his hand close to the fire, but still kept at a safe distance. He whisked some of his fingers in the air and immediately stopped; the flame had responded to his movements, changing to a darker shade and growing.
“Are you going to play all day or help me unload this thing so we can get out of here?” James asked.
“Did you see that, the flame…?” Caden trailed off noticing that the flame looked the same. His hallucinations were getting the better of him and now wasn’t the time to deal with them. “I…I’m just still getting used to this Dead Time stuff.”
“I noticed,” James said with a smile on his face. “Now, can we get back to work, or am I going to need to crawl over you so you can stare at the fire?”
Lifting himself up, Caden reached the window and climbed into the plane. Both of the pilots were beat up from shards of glass hitting them and being slammed forward into the plane’s instruments. Caden watched as James grabbed a piece of glass that was floating in front of him. The cockpit was littered with them, along with other objects that were loose inside the small area.
“Want to help me with these guys?” Caden asked.
James poked and toyed with the pieces of glass in the air. James looked over at Caden. “Sure thing.” They quickly got the pilots out, but it took some time to get the rest of the passengers off. Fortunately, since it had been such an early flight, the seats were only half filled.
“Could you imagine how much harder this would have been if we weren’t in Dead Time and we had to deal with actual body weight compared to weightlessness?” James took a deep breath as he looked around. People were strewn across a parking lot near where the plane crashed.
“No. I couldn’t imagine, nor do I want to. You ready to
start time ag…” He stopped short and sprinted toward the plane. “Someone at the emergency door,” Caden screamed over his shoulder. If one of the men in the black body suits was still on the plane, Caden was going to get him. There wasn’t going to be any slow responses this time.
He climbed through the open window of the cockpit and headed up the plane. It took him a minute to get to the seating area where he had seen the movement by the open emergency door.
At the corner of the doorway, Caden stopped and looked around. Not seeing anything, he slowly made his way up each aisle looking around the seats. He bent down to look under them. He could see nothing in the main section of seats, but farther on, he noticed someone crouched about five rows up.
The lights in the cabin dimmed and he could sense something was wrong. As quietly as he could, Caden moved backward. He heard the soft sound of someone rubbing against the leather seats. What sounded like claws slid across the hard floor. Caden took a couple more steps backward to the open emergency door.
“Where ya going?” a scratchy voice croaked from behind the seats. Caden took another step, realizing that it was the same dark creature that had attacked him just a few hours ago. The creature sniffed then scratched at the seats. “MAULDRIN!”
A weakness surged through Caden’s entire body making him collapse to the floor. The overhead lights shut off, and the light in the cabin seemed to be sucked out. A dark colored hand reached out and grasped the seat, and the figure began pulling itself up.
Caden tried to move, but couldn’t. A strong force pinned him to the floor.
“You’re not going anywhere,” the creature hissed. A cold liquid began moving across Caden’s legs making its way towards his head. His muscles tensed as if he had just stuck his legs into ice water.
“Too bad your big, red friend can’t save you this time. He can’t follow us into a cell of time.” The creature slowly moved down the aisle.
With one last effort, Caden focused on his muscles. He first moved his fingers, and the rest of his body quickly followed. Not wanting to stick around and find out what the creature was planning on doing with him, Caden rolled over, shaking away the icy feeling. It was a struggle to get his body to function, but with all the energy and strength he had, he jumped up and dove out the emergency exit.
Unable to look behind to see if he was being followed, Caden yelled, “RUN!” Caden hit the button even as he flew through the air. The explosion hit Caden, launching him forward and slamming him to the ground. He curled instinctively. His back and right shoulder took the brunt of the damage from the tumble, getting scraped and bruised. He huddled until the plane stopped crashing into the ground. Screams and cries rang out as people ran around frantically, not understanding how they got out of the plane.
James helped Caden up. “That was some crash landing you did.”
Caden smiled.
“Why did you start time back up so soon?” James asked while brushing off some of the dirt on Caden’s back. “Why didn’t you wait until you were on the ground?”
“Did you see it?” He thumbed back toward the plane. “The thing that was after me? Didn’t it follow me out of the plane?”
“I only saw you, but you did have me worried for a minute with that horrified look on your face.”
“That’s because there was something after me, and it wasn’t one of the men we saw earlier.” Caden shot off. He felt frustrated. He had hoped James would see the creature and prove the hallucinations were actually real.
“What thing are you talking about?” James asked, “We were the only ones in Dead Time this time. There wasn’t anything else in there but us.”
Caden looked around at the screaming and chaos. “I’m not sure what it was, but it was creepy, and it’s not the first time I’ve seen it.”
The blaring sirens grew louder as they approached the crash site.
“Well, whatever it was, I’m sure it’s dead now. Especially after a crash like that,” James said with a chuckle. Caden knew James was giving him a way out; it was time to end the conversation.
Dust lightly clouded the air next to Caden as he patted the last little bit of dust off his clothing. “My wallet’s gone. They must’ve taken it. It had all my key cards and access cards.”
“You think they took it?” James asked. “The guys who attacked us on the plane?”
“I bet that was the reason for being on the plane and attacking us,” Caden said angrily. “They wanted us to die through an accident and get my wallet so they could go forward with their agenda without us getting in the way.”
“If that’s the truth, then we need to get to the office now. Let’s find a car.”
“Good idea,” Caden said following James. “I’ll call the office to-” Before he got a chance to dial, his cell phone showed someone was calling. He did not recognize the number.
“Caden,” Matt’s voice.
“Did Robert let you out?”
“Yes, but-”
“Good. Tell security and Robert that the people who stole the Dead Time suits were on the plane with James and me. It proves it wasn’t you. They stole my key cards and access cards. I figure they’re heading your way.”
“I’ll tell them, but there’s something I want to talk to you about…”
“Talk to me when I get there.” Caden cut him off. Other conversations would have to wait until after they stopped their enemy. “Right now James and I need to figure out how to get over there. We’re probably about forty-five minutes out.” He hung up the phone.
Police cars and emergency teams pulled up to the scene. James quickly ran across the barren land to the first street where a few homes stood, Caden right behind him. James pointed. “I see a car that we can, quote-unquote, borrow.” Caden could hear a slight chuckle in James’s voice as he spoke.
CHAPTER 21
Bridget sat at the bar in her mom’s kitchen stirring her hot chocolate and staring off in space. A pot sitting on the stove bubbled over and her toast was getting cold. Is there something I did to upset him? Bridget thought. She looked down at her hot chocolate. Why would he leave without saying goodbye?
The hot chocolate didn’t look appetizing any longer, so she pushed it away, accidentally spilling it. Snapping out of her thoughts, she leaned over to grab a washcloth. As she reached, she noticed the water boiling over and with a growl ran over to the stove.
Not only was Caden’s early departure frustrating, but a nightmare she had before she woke up was bothering her as well. She had been lost in a dark house and something dark and evil was there. The only exit was a big black door, and when she opened it, something attacked her, and that was when she woke up to find Caden gone. The nightmare left her sweaty and terrified most of the morning. She wanted Caden by her side even more.
“Bridget,” Elizabeth yelled from her bedroom. “Come in here for a minute.”
“One sec,” Bridget yelled back while shutting the stove off and moving the pot. She walked over to her mother’s bedroom and stopped in the doorway. “What ya need?”
“There’s a plane crash on the news,” Elizabeth said without looking away from the TV. She was sitting on the end of her bed. “Do you remember the flight Caden was on?”
“Flight 239,” Bridget said while walking closer to see the news report, “but I don’t think it would’ve been his, because it was an earlier flight than this.” Bridget sat down next to her mom. “Do they know what happened yet or how many dead?”
“The engines blew out; at least that’s what the pilots are reporting. They say that everyone was able to mysteriously get off the plane before it crashed.”
“Well, that’s good.” Bridget said.
“Yeah, but the odd part is that they don’t know how they got off. The crew and pilots are saying they were on the plane, and then right before the plane crashed, they were off and safe. It has the emergency teams and news media totally perplexed. Some of the passengers are giving credit to the creator, calling it a miracle.
Others say it was aliens, and they remember odd figures carrying them around on spaceships. I’m sure they’ll come to some logical conclusion, but now they’re still going through the wreckage to make sure everyone got off the plane.” Bridget stared at her mom, surprised with what she was saying. Curious, she looked to the screen.
Bridget gasped when she read the scrolling banner on the channel. “Oh my gosh.” Bridget said as she turned up the volume. “It was Caden’s flight.”
“All but three passengers have been identified,” a newscaster announced. “The emergency teams are still looking through the wreckage to find the missing passengers.” The TV screen switched to another news anchor that was out in the field. “This man who lives in the town says he saw the plane wreck and everyone get off. Can you tell everyone what you saw?”
The anchor lowered a microphone. “It was the strangest thing I ever saw,” the man explained. “The plane came crashing down. Then people were all over the place and one dude was like flying out of the plane, almost like some type of superhero saving all the passengers.”
The reporter pulled the microphone back. “Thanks, Tom. These other people standing next to me are passengers who saw the same thing, some person flying out of the plane. We haven’t been able to locate this man. According to some witnesses, he walked away from the scene with another passenger.”
The news cut to the wreckage, showing a smaller window at the bottom of the screen. “Emergency teams have found a body on the plane, but it is too badly burned for identification. It appears they were in the restroom. Right now, we have to go to our sponsors but stay tuned. We will continue following this story throughout the day.”
Bridget nervously tapped her foot on the floor. “Do you think Caden is okay?” she asked. Her mother muted the TV.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Elizabeth responded putting her hand on Bridget’s leg. “In fact, knowing Caden, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was one of the men who walked away unfazed by the crash.”