Impact

by Steven Whibley

  “Cribbage?” Colin wrinkled his nose. “My crazy grandpa makes me play when we visit.”

  “Not a fan myself, but to cut to the chase, Matthias had a vision of Jacob’s death.”

  Lisa let out a small gasp, Colin peered down at his hands, and I knew where this story was going now.

  Glancing at Lisa, Archer said, “You know how it goes sometimes. This wasn’t a win. Afterward, Matthias blamed himself. He decided he was too old. He gifted me visions, thinking I would have done better to notice more from the vision that might have made a difference. After Jacob’s funeral, Sarah thanked us. She’d figured out we’d tried to save him. So Matthias told her everything—without the permission of the CS.” He shook his head. “So you see, we all have our own ways of handling things. Sarah joined up, and Matthias gave her the gift right away. I have a feeling if he had waited, he might not have been able to find the nerve to do that. It’s hard to give your visions away.”

  I stared at the empty peanut bag in my hand. Would I gift my visions to someone else? Would I want them going through what I did? Or would I want to give this up now? Even with bad days, like at the hot springs, I’d saved more than I’d lost. A weight lifted off my chest. I imagined a scoreboard, with me versus Death, and I was in the lead. If I kept that lead, I could feel good about what I did. I’d know I was making a difference.

  My stomach growled, and I actually felt like I could eat something more than peanuts. If Archer and guys like Matthias had fails, where they’d lost close friends, then anything could happen. And there was just zero chance I’d save everyone. Zero. I glanced at Colin, who was watching the crowd. I should be more like him. I could look at this like it was Halo or some other game. Or a competition. Us versus Death.

  We could do this.

  I saw another plane taking off for part of the show. McKnight would have been flying about now, but we had stopped that, so I smiled.

  That’s when the visions hit.

  CHAPTER 16

  Color drained out of the sky, out of the people around me, out of the trees and the grandstands. I sat frozen, unable to move. McKnight sat on the grandstand railing, but I knew he wasn’t really there. This was just a vision of him. Same as before, I watched his arms and legs tear back in impossible ways. His uniform caught fire. His face burned away. He opened his mouth, and a scream came out. He vanished, but the next vision hit right away.

  Around me, people seemed to turn and stare, but they weren’t really here, at least not the things I was looking at. These were vision people. Mouths opened wide, they screamed. The sound hit me in a raw wave. I wanted to slap my hands over my ears, but I couldn’t even blink. I stared as the world all around me caught fire. I’d never seen a vision play out with this kind of clarity. It had always been just people, but not this time. Flames licked toward the people in the vision. The grandstand pillars collapsed in giant piles of concrete. Clouds of dust dimmed the sunlight and even though I knew what I was seeing wasn’t real, I shielded my eyes. Pale gray people caught fire. Their bodies twisted. Other bodies flew apart. The flames licked up, and the screams turned from terror into something worse. I watched them burn, their skin turn black and fall off, and their clothes flame out.

  The vision cut off and left me gasping for air.

  I braced myself just in case another one was going to start, but the world around me came back into color and I knew it was over.

  My stomach twisted, and I almost lost the peanuts I’d eaten. I felt Colin’s hand on my shoulder, and Lisa was standing next to where Archer sat. He looked like I felt—pale, shaken, about ready to pass out. He was hunched over, his eyes closed. I didn’t want to shut mine in case I saw those burning faces again.

  Wetting my lips, I managed to choke out, “I saw about fifty people. And McKnight again. I saw him first. But there were CS members in there too, Archer. I saw them. It’s a new vision, isn’t it? We didn’t stop the accident. We just changed when it will happen.”

  Hands shaking, Archer pulled out his phone. “Start your countdowns,” he said, keeping his voice even and calm.

  I don’t know how he did that. My hands quaked so hard Colin had to take my phone from me and set my countdown. He didn’t say anything about it, so I didn’t mention it either.

  “Archer,” I began, “that was different. I saw more than just the people. I saw the grandstands; I saw fire and debris …”

  He nodded. “Me too. I’ve heard of others seeing it like that too. I think it has to do with the number of victims. Like I said before, it’s like the vibration that we tune into. Perhaps when there are enough vibrations the vision clarifies. Makes it easier to know exactly what’s going to happen.” He shook his head and turned back to his phone.

  Lisa turned away from Archer and scanned the crowd. “It was so weird watching you guys. You could tell who’s CS—they all stopped. Whatever they were doing, they stopped and stood still … except for a few who crouched.”

  Colin stood beside her. “Not everyone. We obviously don’t get the visions, but we—you and I kept moving. So did Nathan. I saw him watching Dean. It’s weird how he’s almost tracking you. It was like he was timing you. And speak of the devil …” Colin halted his words as Nathan walked over to us.

  Nathan didn’t hesitate. “What did you see?”

  He seemed upset, angry almost. But he also sounded like he couldn’t hold back the question or his curiosity. Was that because he didn’t have visions or because we hadn’t stopped the accident? I didn’t know, and I had other things to think about.

  Trying to remember every detail, I started telling them what I’d seen about McKnight and the people dying. I had to force myself to replay the vision, but I knew the details mattered. Archer stared at his phone as I spoke.

  When I finished, he said, “I’m getting reports from everyone. We all had that vision.”

  “Not everyone,” Nathan muttered. He wouldn’t meet Archer’s stare.

  “Why do you keep watching Dean, Nathan?” Colin asked. “I’ve seen fanboys before, but aren’t you a little old for that?”

  Nathan stared at him for a minute, but then the corner of his mouth lifted. “In case you hadn’t noticed, Dean is the key to this. He is the only one who saw McKnight.”

  “Not today.” Archer pushed to his feet. “I saw that too. I made it a point to meet McKnight yesterday. A lot of us did.”

  Nathan’s eyebrows lifted. “Really?”

  “Yeah, so why all the interest in Dean?” Colin asked. He folded his arms and tipped his head to one side.

  “There is one advantage to not having the gift,” Nathan explained. “If you’re on the outside, you can observe the visions. You can time them, just like I did with Dean. Did you know, the average vision lasts only thirty seconds? This one went on for ninety. Most people don’t really handle their visions all that well. I’ve seen people freeze up for hours after one. Just sitting there, or standing, unable to process what they’ve seen. Others just lose control.”

  I winced. I’d done both.

  Nathan kept on. “Being part of the CS means you need to prepare yourself to have those visions. Dean got his gift by accident. I’ll be fully prepared when I get the gift.” He turned away from Colin and went straight to Archer. “They’re going to want us back at HQ to regroup. I’m heading back now. Sarah and Hank are going to want to pull in everyone from this and every other nearby district.”

  As he strode away, Colin shook himself. “That is one weird guy. Prepared for visions? How do you get ready to see people die?”

  Lisa nodded in agreement. “I couldn’t do it. I don’t think it’s that great a gift.”

  “It isn’t for everyone,” Archer explained. “That’s why the CS tries to be careful who does get the gift. And I’m not sure Nathan will ever be ready. This isn’t something you really can prepare for.”

  “Tell me about it,” I mumbled.

  We followed Archer to his car. Like Nathan had said, Sarah called everyone to
the CS headquarters to regroup and meet again. We spent two hours comparing visions and trying to identify all the faces we’d seen. Doris started printing out photos of every person identified. Her skills using social media and the internet must’ve rivaled spy agencies’. Sarah sent CS members out to those people to see if we could keep them away from the air show tomorrow.

  When Lisa pushed a box of Chinese noodles in front of me, I realized I hadn’t had lunch. “It’s not bad,” she said.

  Colin slid in on the other side and handed me a soda. “We went over to the takeout next door. Not much for us to do now. But it’s going to be all hands at the air show again tomorrow. My folks are going to start to think I want to become a pilot.”

  “That’s not a bad cover,” I said. I started to take a long sip of the soda, but I saw Nathan watching me from the doorway of the CS conference room. He smiled and left. I picked up the Chinese food and a plastic fork.

  Before I could bite in, Lisa said, “Okay, you were right.” Noodles halfway to my mouth, I saw Lisa nod at Colin. “Nathan is watching Dean a little too carefully and too much.”

  Colin straightened in his chair. “I told you! There’s something wrong.”

  “With McKnight’s plane?” Archer asked, coming over to sit with us. “Yeah, everyone thinks that, too. But I only know one way to find the truth. You guys doing anything tonight?”

  I finished my mouthful of noodles and wiped my mouth. “Why?”

  Archer waggled his eyebrow in a sinister manner. “I can’t think of anybody better at sneaking into places than you three. So we’re going to the air show after it’s closed.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Colin cursed when he snagged his jacket on the top wire of the fence. He wiggled free and hit the ground next to me. “Didn’t I hear Sarah say it was Nathan’s job to make sure McKnight’s plane was okay?” he muttered. “Wasn’t Nathan bragging about how he knew everything relating to planes?”

  Lisa shushed him.

  I whispered to Colin, “I think I want a second set of eyes on McKnight’s plane too.”

  Archer came over the fence. We headed to McKnight’s hangar. Paul waited for us at the door. He motioned us inside and shut the door after us. “I managed to send the other guys out to get a pizza. Do you have the specs for the plane? We’ve got about an hour before they come back.”

  “An hour!” I stared at Paul and swallowed.

  “It’ll have to be enough,” Archer said. He divided the plane into quarters—we’d each take part of it. Paul would go from section to section with each of us, double-checking our checks. In less than an hour, I knew more about the F-86 than I ever wanted to know. Where the fuel tanks sat, how the engine worked, where to find the lines that controlled the flaps and rudders to steer the plane. Colin got to sit in the pilot’s seat to check the gauges, and a jab of envy shot through me. But I got to poke my head up into where the wheels lifted up into the belly of the plane. Lisa went through the checklist like she was in charge.

  Then she looked at her watch and called out, “That’s it. We have to go. And we’re done.”

  Colin looked up, a smear of grease on his cheek. “But we haven’t found anything.”

  Paul shook his head. “You’re not going to. I’ve been over this plane so many times I’m sick of looking at it.”

  “Did Nathan find anything?” Lisa asked.

  Paul glanced at her. “He was here once. Frankly, he didn’t seem that interested. He just poked into the pilot’s cockpit.”

  “So much for Mr. I-Know-Everything-About-Planes,” Colin muttered to me.

  A voice outside drifted to us, someone laughing and joking. Paul waved for us to follow him. “That’s the other guys. Quick. Out the back.”

  He hurried us to a side door. Stepping into the cool night, I shivered. We waited until all the other members of McKnight’s flight crew had stepped inside. Archer went first, and we headed back to the fence. Archer boosted Lisa over first, then Colin, and then me. He climbed over the fence and jumped onto the grass next to us.

  “What now?” I asked.

  Archer sucked in a breath. “We’re coming up on the last day of the air show. If we can make it through tomorrow, we’ll be okay.”

  One more day, I thought. But I hated Archer calling it the “last” day.

  I got home and found Becky sitting up, waiting for me. She sat cross-legged on my bed. I gave a small groan. “Oh, look, it’s the tooth fairy.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I could tell Mom and Dad you were out all night and snuck into the house!”

  Too tired to fight, I flopped onto my bed and kicked off my shoes. I hooked my phone into the wall charger. Somehow Becky tattling on me didn’t rank up there with what I’d been through today. Maybe getting grounded would be the best thing that could happen to me.

  “Go ahead,” I told her and gave a wave. I closed my eyes, but I kept seeing the vision over and over.

  Something thunked onto my chest. “Some cultures think it’s good luck.”

  Sitting up, I opened my eyes. I pulled back. “It’s a tooth!”

  “It’s a shark tooth. A fossilized shark tooth.” Becky pushed off from the bed. “It’s the best one I have, so don’t lose it.”

  “You don’t believe in luck.”

  “Of course not. But if you think things will work out well, you’re more likely to get a positive outcome.”

  I fingered the sharp edges. When I looked up, Becky had already left. I put the tooth in my pocket. I didn’t know if it would bring me any luck, but I was ready to take all the help I could get.

  And I knew that I would need it when I walked into the kitchen the next morning and saw Mom packing a picnic lunch.

  Her smile dropped when she saw me wearing the same clothes from yesterday, but she said, “I thought we could all go to the air show. It’s the last day to see the stunt pilots, and there’s supposed to be a special performance by an Australian pilot.”

  No. Oh, no.

  No way could my parents or Becky come to the air show. Think fast, Dean. What could I say? There’s a flu going around and they might get sick? Too weak. Bomb threat? Too strong. Besides, how would I know that? Becky—I could use Becky. I hurried to her room and caught her just coming out. She gave me a weird look, but I caught her by the shoulders.

  “You know how you owe me for that car thing?”

  “Uh-huh.” She nodded and kept looking at me sideways.

  “Well, I’m calling in the favor. Right now. We can’t let Mom and Dad go the air show today.” She opened her mouth, but I held up a finger. “No, don’t ask. Just … be sick or something. Like a really-keep-Mom-home kind of sick and Dad won’t go without her. Can you do that? Please, Becky. Please.”

  Her eyes glossed like tears were coming. “Tell me what’s going on, Dean.”

  I pointed at her. “Do this, and we’re even. You don’t owe me anything. Nothing. I won’t even say anything about your frizzy hair anymore.”

  “Are you staying home?” she asked.

  I didn’t answer.

  “You stay too, and I’ll do it.”

  “I can’t, Becky.”

  “Please, Dean. Whatever you’re doing, stop. Just don’t do it. Whatever you’re involved in, stop being involved in it.”

  “Today’s the last day, Becky. Do this, and not only are we even, I’ll owe you.”

  We stared at each other for a few seconds. She must’ve seen the desperation on my face or heard it in my voice because she agreed and added, “Two weeks of your allowance, and you help me tag the rest of my teeth tomorrow.”

  “Done,” I said without even thinking about it.

  “Please be safe, Dean,” she whispered as she stepped out of the room. A few seconds later I heard her wail, “Moooom!”

  I didn’t think it would work, but when I got there, Mom had the temperature reading strips out, Dad was holding Becky and rocking her, and my sister was whimpering. Mom looked up at me. “Oh, Dean, I’m so
sorry. I think your sister is getting the flu. It’s been going around. We’re going to have to miss the air show.”

  “Oh, no problem.” I gave a shrug like it didn’t matter. But I let out a long, quiet breath.

  Over the top of Becky’s frizzy hair, Dad looked at me. “I’ll get Becky to bed, and you and I could—”

  “Daaaddy!” Becky curled her arms around his neck. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  He got up and carried her to the bathroom. Looking frazzled, Mom leaned against the kitchen counter. I felt bad leaving them like this with Becky, so I said, “Hey, maybe we can just do a picnic when Becky’s feeling better?”

  Mom gave me a smile. I told her I was heading out to hang out with Colin and Lisa, and I left before they could start thinking I needed them to keep me company with anything. A block away from my house, Nathan pulled up in front of me in a Mustang. He reached over and opened the passenger door. “Get in.”

  “Uh, I—”

  “Don’t be such a wimp. I told Archer I’d pick you up. He’s getting your friends.”

  “Oh,” I said, and climbed in.

  Nathan had on a black windbreaker, a black T-shirt, and black jeans. Except for the sunglasses, he didn’t look ready for a hot summer day. He kept his eyes on the road and drove with one hand on the wheel and the other in his coat pocket. “It’s going to be a big day.”

  I pulled out my CS phone and fiddled with it. “You sound like you’re looking forward to it.”

  He smiled. “Hey, everyone from six districts of the CS will be there. Sarah pulled even more people in. Should be interesting, eh?”

  “Interesting? Not exactly a word I’d use,” I said.

  Nathan gave a laugh. He drove faster than Archer and parked a long way away from the grandstands. “Just in case we don’t stop things,” he said. “Don’t want to lose my ride, now do I?” He smiled like all of this was funny.