Save Him

by William M. Hayes

  Ray stood unmoving, staring at the black figure, and then calmly spoke.

  "No, you can't get to her that easy. I don't believe you."

  The black-cloaked man leaned his head out of the morning shadow, the light from the sunrise touching his face, revealing hate-filled blue eyes.

  "You do not believe me?" the man in the black cloak said in a deep, chasm-like voice.

  "He touched me in the alley. I can still feel the miracle. He is inside of me. It is beyond just having faith now. He has to continue on with what He was meant to do in this time, and I'm going to help Him do just that."

  The black-cloaked man stepped closer. With his face cast in shadow once more, he pointed a jet-black finger at Ray. "What his son came here to do will never be known in your time. Do not be so confident because he touched you and in the way you feel now. I can get to all of you." The black-cloaked man leaned his head closer, inches away from Ray. "Just ask Jack, Raymond."

  Hearing footsteps again, Ray looked away from the man to see Ben running toward him with a headset in his hands.

  "Ray—it's Adams. He says he wants to help."

  Ray turned away from Ben, looking back to where the man in the black cloak once stood but only saw the deserted mountaintop before him. He took the headset from Ben, adjusted its fit, and cleared his throat to let John Adams know that he was listening.

  "Ray, let's meet. I just met a man claiming to be Jesus."

  "Not the man in the alley, was it, John?"

  "No, it was not. Todd and I will be laid out, facedown in the sand with our hands behind our backs, when you reach us."

  "Kevin, Janice, and Carrie aren’t in their tents. Did you wake them? Are they with you?"

  "No…" John answered, followed by a few seconds of silence.

  "Shit—we're being taken back, Ray."

  Three Return

  Will monitored the storm heading their way on one of the computers in his office with the tech Robertson seated next to him. Will had three scenarios going through his head on how to evacuate himself if the storm did not change direction. His life was paramount because of his work at Genesis—the others at the lab were secondary. If he could take a few like Robertson, he would. If taking some of the lab members endangered his life in any way, they would have to be left behind. Tough decisions must be made, and he had to make them very soon.

  The door to Will's office opened, and a female tech rushed inside. Without turning his attention away from the computer in front of him, Will screamed, "Knock on the door! Don't just come in—what's wrong with you people!"

  The woman stopped where she was and stared at Robertson. He motioned with his eyes and a slight tilt of his head toward Will for her to say what she came running into the office to say.

  "Sir, some are back."

  Will spun around in his chair and stood up.

  "What?"

  "Three have returned, sir. They're in the downstairs cafeteria."

  Will rushed out of the room, followed by Robertson, and both men started to run. In the cafeteria, Carrie, Janice, and Kevin sat drinking bottled water at a white table surrounded by other white, gleaming tables. Through double doors at the other end of the room, Will and Robertson burst inside. The tap-tap sound of their feet hitting the linoleum floor reverberated around the cafeteria as they made their way toward the three. Will reached the returned members of Ray's Unit and stood over them. He placed his hands on his hips in a display of power—showing them that he was now in command.

  "What happened?"

  They shared a look of being a little out of it—tired. Kevin seemed a bit more alert than Carrie and Janice, so he answered. "Found Rydel before he could do anything. Took us three days. Went to sleep and then got taken back."

  "You've been gone almost five days!"

  "What…?" Kevin asked, looking and sounding confused.

  "Five days!" Will shouted. "Somebody is changing something in the past—do you have any idea what's heading our way!"

  "What's heading our way?" Carrie asked.

  Will Stevens turned his back on the three time-travelers and walked out of the cafeteria with Robertson in tow. Outside the double doors, Will ordered Robertson to monitor the storm, and the man ran off. Will leaned against the wall outside the cafeteria, the fact dawning on him that he could not kill the time travelers. He had tried to do so hours ago with what he had added to his backup chips, and three had just returned. The situation needed to be gravely reassessed.

  The Peace Offering

  Ray walked down the mountain path with Ben and Sal trailing behind—both men aiming their guns below. As they came to the end of the path, the three could see John and Todd ahead, laid out facedown on the ground with their hands behind them. Ben and Sal followed Ray as he closed in on the two men. Ray held up a hand for Ben and Sal to stay back and scanned the perimeter with his Smartround gun, making sure John was telling the truth about Carrie, Janice, and Kevin. He then aimed his gun back at John and Todd.

  "Stand up with your hands on your heads," Ray ordered. The two stood up with their hands clasped on their heads.

  "Ben, take their guns." Ben disarmed the two quickly and jogged away with the weapons. Ray stepped closer to John. "Come with me, John."

  Ray and John walked away, and as they did, Todd aimlessly began to jog off into the barren land around him. Ben and Sal swung their Smartround guns in Todd's direction. Turning, Todd saw the two and lifted his hands in the air while shouting out to John Adams.

  "I can't do this, Colonel. I'm sorry. I can't help you. If my daughter lives and I'm damned forever for not doing anything to help save Him, I can live with that…as long as my daughter is safe."

  John and Ray stopped walking, looking back at Todd.

  "I understand. And Ray will too. Just stay still, Todd, or they'll shoot you."

  "Okay, okay. Okay, sir," Todd stammered, "I'm okay."

  John and Ray walked on. Coming to a stop, satisfied that they could now have a private conversation, Ray shrugged his shoulders at John—his body language asking: Why do you want to help? Explain.

  "Can't have one here without the other, right? Yeah, I just found that out. I touched the Other by accident. Felt the evil inside him, heard it in his voice, his laugh. Same laugh my sister and I heard coming out of my father as he left us to die. He'll try getting to the members of your Unit—he tried to get to Todd."

  Ray's head dropped, the disgust on his face visible. "He got to Jack. He's dead."

  Ray lifted his head and took in the sunrise, trying to push out the last images of Jack from his mind. John extended his hand to Ray.

  "I'm with you, Ray."

  __

  Ten minutes later, Ray, Rydel, and John stood around the one fire pit now burning inside the camp. What was left of the members of Ray's Unit waited in the distance behind the three. John took a couple of steps closer to Rydel.

  "Rydel, your sister has passed. She died the day we left to go after you. Will and I were the only ones who knew. I'm sorry."

  Rydel lowered his head and tears fell from his face to the ground. He looked up and wiped his eyes and face with both hands.

  "I was hoping she'd be able to hang on until I got back." Glaring at John, Rydel's face became angry, red. "Why did you lie about what my sister said to you, John? Why?"

  "Because what she said sounded crazy at the time. But not now…not now, Rydel."

  The three remained silent for almost a minute. Ray then slung his Smartround gun over his shoulder and turned to Rydel. "I have a plan of my own to save Him today, Rydel. But the guns and all the ammo you took from the lab—what was your plan?"

  Rydel pointed at the mountains.

  "From the mountains, I would follow the ones taking Jesus to be crucified and then take out everyone around Him with smartrounds. The ones I recruited with S-7 would go in, get Him, and bring Jesus up into the mountains."

  Ray smiled. "Not bad, Rydel. However, you alone would never be able to take down
that many targets—it's not as simple as taking a picture, like you're thinking. Put two of my best shooters up there, and they'll hit the targets you're talking about. Then what?"

  "Then I would send Him away from here with another Placement chip that I was able to make on my own—a sort of one-way chip with no return."

  Rydel reached under his cloak and took out a Placement chip, showing John and Ray. "Where I send Him, it will take Jesus years to travel back to Jerusalem. He'll be safe. Jerusalem will have moved on. His true message will have reached the masses before He returns."

  Puzzled, John took a few steps closer to Rydel. "True message, Rydel? What do you mean?"

  "When God came to my sister, He told her His Son was to prove that there is a place awaiting us after this life. Christ was meant to leave something behind in the time we are in now, proving just that."

  "Leave something?" John asked, still not understanding.

  "A reoccurring phenomenon that will happen each year, giving people hope. It's what Christians will worship instead of Christ on the cross."

  John and Ray shared a look, taking in all Rydel had said for a few seconds, and then returned their attention back to Rydel as he continued.

  "Evil and doubters there will always be; it won't change much in our time. People ignore miracles every day. But people will care more. A greater importance will be put on human life. As a result, a war will be avoided."

  "A war?" John quickly asked.

  "The one war is coming that will destroy the earth. The Other will kill us all. Christ's Second Coming has to be done in the time we are in now—He must continue and finish what He was sent here to do. Earth will burn if He doesn't—"

  "Hey! Hey!"

  The three turned to look where the shouting voice came from and could see Sal running in their direction. "Todd's been sent back," Sal said, breathing heavily.

  Rydel put a hand on Ray's arm. "We need to go, Ray. It's time. They're going to lead Him to be crucified soon."

  __

  With their backs to the tents, Adriana, Ben, Sal, and Steve stood in front of Ray, waiting for him to speak.

  "The three of us are going after Him," Ray said. "You four gather up all the smartrounds we have, and get to a high point in the mountains overlooking the city."

  "What's our game plan, Ray?" Sal asked.

  "Lightly take down the soldiers leading Christ to be crucified and anyone near Him. With the rounds we have, we can take down the whole damn city, if need be. After that, make a path for us to leave, take down anyone coming near Him, and take down anyone following us."

  "Where do we take Him after that?" Adriana asked.

  "We have a Placement chip that will take Him away from here," Ray said before pointing at Steve. "Steve, you're my first shooter." Ray looked over the faces of Adriana, Ben, and Sal. "Who's my second shooter?" Ray asked the three.

  Ben and Sal glanced at each other. The two pointed at Adriana. "Adriana's next in shooting off multiple-target smartrounds after Steve. She blows the two of us away, Ray," Sal confessed.

  "Okay." Ray gestured to Ben and Sal. "You two are the eyes tracking Jesus."

  The four entered the tents behind them to gear up. Ray called out for Rydel, who was standing with John at the fire pit. Rydel trotted over to Ray, a concerned look on his face as he reached him.

  "Need to ask you a question before we go."

  "Of course, Ray."

  "How is it that the Other was able to get to Jack and kill him, but not to me or you?"

  Rydel waited before answering, searching for the words in his head, then shrugged his shoulders.

  "I don't know, Ray. I guess it's just like it is in our time, or any time. If he could get to us all, he would. But he can't. He tried killing me but failed. Maybe the ones with faith are more difficult for him to get to. It could be as simple as that."

  __

  Alone, Ben prepped the area of a mountain they had all settled on to overlook the city of Jerusalem. Every way in and out of the city could be seen from this vantage point. Ben scanned the territory with his binoculars. He lowered them from his face and started to walk away.

  A bloodied hind leg from a horse fell from above and landed in front of Ben. He stumbled backward, staring above at a narrow rock ledge. Standing on the ledge, a figure in a black shroud held the mouth of a small horse shut with his right hand. A large hole of torn flesh in the animal where its right leg should have been dripped blood over the rocky edge where the man stood. The man tilted his head, glaring down at Ben, and spoke to him in English.

  "I want you to hear something, Benjamin."

  The man removed his hand from the animal's mouth, and the horse let out a cry of terror and pain that sounded almost human. The man snapped the horse's mouth shut again in a flash of movement. The eyes of the horse and Ben connected, the horse eyeing Ben with a look of anguished pain and fear. With his free hand, the man in black pointed an elongated, pitch-black finger down at Ben.

  "That will be the sort of sound your sister's boys will make as I rip out Isaac's eyes and burn off Shawn's face if you decide to interfere here. Just walk away, and I will not harm them. The only thing you are going to do in this time is wait to be taken back. I do believe we have an understanding. Am I correct, Benjamin?"

  Ben stared up at the man in black, unable to talk or respond in any way. In all his times out in combat, he had never felt the fear that he felt right now—an uncontrollable fear taking over his body and mind.

  The man in the black cloak lifted the horse by its face and snapped its neck with one quick motion. He threw the dead animal away, and it landed with a thud at Ben's feet. The black shape turned its back on Ben and was gone.

  __

  It was still early morning as Ray, Rydel, and John ran past scattered men and women on their way to the city of Jerusalem. Ahead of John and Rydel, Ray stopped so he could listen clearly to a transmission coming through his headset from Sal.

  "Ray, they're leading Him through the city already. You need to make up ground!"

  Ray yelled at John and Rydel trailing behind. "We need to pick it up—come on!"

  The three made it to the city in less than two minutes and did not stop moving once they got there. With adrenaline on their side, they were able to keep running through the city until finally pausing as Ray got another call through his headset.

  "Take the street on your left, Ray. The one with the old man sitting on the mat."

  John and Rydel followed Ray down the narrow, twisting street with the old man leaning against a cracked wall of stone, sitting on a brown mat. Ray ran past the man, followed by Rydel and then John. As John passed, the old man spoke to him in English.

  "If you do this, John, you will kill not thousands but millions in your time. The ones you took an oath to protect. You will kill them all."

  John came to an abrupt stop, turned, and walked back toward the old man. "No. I don't believe anything you say. Nothing. Touching you, I felt the evil. I still do. I now believe in Him because of you."

  The old man rose from the mat, lifting himself with the agility of a young man, and was in front of John so fast the colonel caught just a blurry glimpse of the man moving.

  "If you enter into this, I will have a crowd of God-loving men and women rip off each one of your limbs and eat them in front of you before you die."

  "John—come on!"

  John turned away from the old man, looking over his shoulder at Ray and Rydel ahead on the twisting street. A handful of women stood on the side of the street—all looking baffled by Ray's ranting in a foreign tongue.

  Ray waved for John to hurry. "Let's go, John, let's go!"

  John turned to face the old man again, but the man was gone. He whispered toward the spot where the old man had stood. "Fuck you. We're saving Him."

  He quickly met up with Ray and Rydel, and the three continued to run, making their way through the city.

  They got a brief look ahead at Jesus being led through
the city streets on His way to be crucified.

  "Okay, we need to get to high ground now," Ray said.

  Led by Ray, they raced through a narrow passage out of the city and to the top of a small hill with a view over the city walls. From there, they could see a twisting path leading toward a nearby hill with two suffering men nailed to crosses on the ground. A small gathering of soldiers looked down at the two men, boredom etched on their faces.

  Ray glanced over his shoulder at John and Rydel. "This is it. This is our spot. When I give the order, and the people start falling to the ground, we'll go in and get Him before He even gets near that hill they're leading Him to."

  Ray lifted his binoculars to his eyes and tracked Jesus being led through the narrow streets of Jerusalem.

  __

  With His body bent in half under the weight of the crossbeam He was dragging, Jesus crept toward His fated path to be crucified, His crown of thorns dripping blood onto His face and body. With each step He took, His body lowered, and then He finally fell, the crossbeam pinning Him facedown on the ground. Two soldiers behind Jesus reached down, one picking Him up, the other lifting the crossbeam off the ground. The two placed the crossbeam on Jesus's back and screamed at Him to continue walking, and then both men spit in Christ's face.

  __

  Having seen enough, Ray lowered his binoculars and gave the order to the shooters through his headset.

  "Take them down—all of them."

  "Ray, the woman pointing up here!" Rydel yelled.