“Get it open! Now!”
One of the guards grabbed his keys and unlocked the door, but the door still wouldn’t budge.
On the other side of the door, Samar and Dre leaned against a desk Carter had jammed under the door handle.
“Keep them out!” Ryan shouted from the computer.
“We’re trying!” Dre called back.
Samar was sweating, his eyes wide with panic. “If I get expelled, my parents are going to disown me.”
Each time the guards rammed the door with their body weight, the desk quaked beneath them. With every hit, the door inched open a little bit more.
“We can’t hold them much longer!” Samar shrieked while Ryan typed. He was almost done.
“Come on, come on…” Ryan whispered at the screen.
It was one part plea, one part prayer.
* * *
—
Tree led Lori down the hospital hallway, sweeping the area with the cop’s gun as they went. A couple of doctors and nurses fled the scene or hid beneath desks, terrified that there was an active shooter in the building.
“Will you please tell me what’s happening?” Lori begged.
“At first I thought he was trying to kill me. But it’s you he wants.”
“Who?”
Tree froze. At the far end of the hall was the killer. He was wearing a Bayfield Baby mask and holding a long knife.
Tree took aim. “It’s over, Gregory!” she shouted.
Gregory reached up and pulled off his mask.
“What?” Lori gasped. “Why?”
“His wife was on to him about your affair,” Tree explained, loudly enough for Gregory to hear. “So he stole a page from your old playbook. He set Tombs free so everyone would think Tombs killed you, but it was him…and the secret of his affair would die with you.”
Gregory walked down the hallway toward them and gave Tree a slow clap for her explanation.
“Bravo,” he said. “Whoever you are.”
Tree rolled her eyes. “Once a slimeball, always a slimeball.”
“Do I know you?” Gregory asked.
“Stay back, asshole, or I shoot.”
Gregory didn’t stop. He kept moving. Tree fired a warning shot at the ground near his feet. Now he froze.
In the silence that followed, they could hear the scream of approaching sirens.
Tree smiled. “Hear that? You’re going to rot in prison.”
Gregory started walking again, a slow sneer taking shape across his face. “I don’t think so,” he said. “See, there’s one little detail you failed to recognize in all this.”
He was bluffing and Tree knew it. “What’s that?” she asked.
A voice behind her said, “Me.”
Tree turned around to see Gregory’s wife, Stephanie, standing behind her and Lori.
Stephanie raised a gun of her own and pointed it at Lori. “Did you really think I would let a little whore like you ruin my life?”
And she shot Lori.
Tree screamed at the blast, and her roommate collapsed to the ground. She was hit, but she was alive.
“Lori!”
Tree turned her gun on Stephanie, but the next thing she knew, Gregory had tackled her, and they both slammed into the ground. Her gun flew out of her grip and skidded away. She struggled with him on the floor, but he was too strong. He pinned her down, grabbed her head in both hands, and smashed it into the floor. She tried to fight back, but the darkness was already seeping into her vision.
Tree’s head shook like the campus bell after it rang. She could barely focus on Stephanie walking over and picking up the gun she had taken from the cop.
Tree struggled to stand, but her limbs wouldn’t obey her. A puddle of blood was seeping away from Lori, growing bigger. Gregory stood above both of them, and Stephanie approached him, holding a gun in either hand. She offered one to Gregory.
“Would you like to do the honors?” she asked.
Her husband smiled at her. “Don’t mind if I do.”
Gregory pointed Tree’s gun at her.
“Oh, wait. I almost forgot,” Gregory said. He turned the gun on Stephanie and shot her point-blank in the chest. “Sorry, hon. I want a divorce.”
Stephanie’s eyes went wide as blood blossomed across her blouse. She hit the floor, her head bouncing with a sickening thud. She was dead. Gregory turned the gun back on Tree. “Now, where were we?” he asked.
“Hey!”
From somewhere above her, Tree heard another voice, and Gregory spun around and started firing his gun wildly down the hallway.
Tree was in no shape to fight, but it was now or never. She muscled her way to her feet just in time to see Carter running headlong down the hall toward her, ignoring the hail of bullets.
As she stumbled through an open doorway, Gregory turned and fired, barely missing her head. Tree’s heart raced and her head pounded, but she pushed on, through a door leading to the MRI room. Gregory was right behind her. She ran down a short hallway and pushed past another door leading into a small viewing chamber. There was a computer terminal in front of a large glass window. She could see the MRI machine in the next room, but there was no other way out. It was a dead end. As she turned around to flee, Gregory blasted through the door.
Tree grabbed a lamp off a table in the corner and swung it with everything she had, whacking the gun out of Gregory’s hand. She tried to hit him again, but he caught her wrist and overpowered her. She felt him lift her off the floor.
No, no, no!
But it was too late. Gregory hurled her through the glass observation window. She crashed through the glass and tumbled to the ground on the other side of the wall in the next room, where the MRI machine was housed. Glass shards shredded her clothes, palms, knees, and elbows.
Gregory retrieved his gun and opened the door beside the broken window. Tree saw a flash of the large warning sign on the door. It read:
CAUTION! STRONG MAGNETIC FIELD. NO METALS.
Gregory casually walked into the room and circled Tree as she slowly stood. She could feel the blood running freely down her cheek and making her palms slick. The bloody glass crunched under her feet.
Gregory turned his back to the MRI machine and raised the gun at Tree. With a shaking hand, Tree reached behind her back and pulled the screwdriver out of the waistband of her jeans. Her hand shook as she held it out in front of her. This was the end. This was the night that Gregory killed her. It was a futile gesture, but it was defiant. She might die tonight, but she wasn’t going to quit. She’d be back, and she’d get it right.
Gregory looked at her and laughed.
“Look who brought a screwdriver to a gunfight.”
Gregory aimed his gun at Tree, his finger itching the trigger.
“Wait!” Tree yelled. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“What’s that?” Gregory’s face was a mask of pure derision.
Tree smiled back at him. She could taste blood on her teeth, but it was all about to be over. Nothing tasted sweeter than having the last word.
“You suck in bed,” she said.
With that, she reached out and slapped the main power button to the MRI.
The machine whirred to life, and Gregory’s hand was ripped away from Tree as the powerful magnet sucked the gun back against the machine. He yelled in pain and surprise as his right hand was stuck beneath the pistol. He reached out with his left hand to try to peel his right hand away, but the stainless steel Rolex on his left wrist got pulled into the same magnetic field. For a moment, he was stuck there, pinned to the machine like Christ on the cross. His eyes zeroed in on Tree’s hand, trembling as it tried to hold the screwdriver.
“No! Wait!” he yelled.
Tree released the handle, and the l
ong metal blade flew across the room like a rocket, finding the shortest distance to the powerful magnetic force of the machine—directly through Gregory’s chest.
His eyes went wide, and he let out a last gasp. When Tree was sure he was dead, she pushed the power button again, and his lifeless body crumpled to the floor.
24
The hospital was a blur of activity as Tree raced back to where she’d left Carter and Lori. Sirens wailed in the parking lots, and the hallways were swarming with police in Kevlar vests, shouting, pointing, and stringing caution tape. A trauma team raced by with a cart of equipment, and Tree followed them through the mayhem until they reached Carter, who was helping Lori to her feet.
“Are you okay?” Tree asked her.
Lori managed a weak smile as several nurses eased her onto a gurney.
“This is a pretty good place to get shot,” she said.
Tree grabbed her hand. “Lori. I’m so sorry.”
“For what?” Lori asked. “You just saved my life.”
“I just wish…I wish things could have been different.”
One of the nurses urgently pushed her way between them. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but we need to move her.” And then Tree’s grip on Lori’s hand was broken as they wheeled her away.
She heard Carter’s voice calling her.
Tree turned around to find Carter standing there, nursing his head with some gauze, but smiling.
“I thought I told you to stay put,” she said.
He shrugged. “Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.”
Carter glanced up at the ceiling, distracted. The lights above them suddenly began pulsing like crazy.
Tree ignored it; she’d had enough of blackouts and flashing lights and killers and that goddamned Bayfield Baby. She stepped up to Carter, and their eyes locked.
“I hope you know I’m only going back for one reason.”
Carter smiled at her. “In this other dimension? Are we…?”
Tree nodded. “Yeah. We definitely are.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, she leaned in to kiss Carter. As he wrapped both arms around her, his lips found hers for the first time (today), and Tree knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that this was a love that existed beyond the bounds of time and space.
This was a love that lived in every dimension.
* * *
—
While Tree and Carter locked lips in the hallway at the hospital, Dre, Samar, and Ryan were under siege in the science lab.
Bronson and his security goons finally forced open the door and burst into the lab. Dre fell backward, but Samar was standing by with the fire extinguisher, and he sprayed the intruders in a blinding fog. Every second counts, he thought as the powdery-white plume engulfed them all.
Ryan stood guard over the computer, counting down from five…four…
The lights overhead started to surge, getting brighter and brighter…
…three…
Dean Bronson stumbled from the white cloud and reached for the nearest, thickest electrical cord.
…two…
Ryan looked up and smiled.
…one.
Sissy fired another huge electrical pulse.
The shock wave rocked the entire lab as every overhead lightbulb exploded, even the ones across campus in the ceiling of the hospital above the couple kissing near the OR. Glass broke, tubes shattered, and shimmering gold sparks rained down around Carter and Tree.
As the lights flashed and faded, as the dimensions expanded and contracted, nothing and no one would ever pull them apart.
* * *
—
In the dark aftermath of the surge, when all was quiet in the rubble of the lab, Ryan opened his eyes. His face was covered in dust, and as he lay there, remembering who and where he was, his eyes went wide to the sound of distant coughing, and his first thought was, Oh. Fuck.
The giant magnetic pulse had left more than smoke and dust in the air. Ryan sat up and surveyed the scene of debris and destruction. But the whole gang was here, so that was promising: Tree, Carter, Ryan, Samar, Dre, Dean Bronson and his henchmen.
One by one, slowly but surely, they all woke up.
Samar was covered in Yoo-hoo but none the worse for wear.
Carter sat bold upright, immediately searching for…
Tree. She was sitting behind him. A little scraped up, but she was really super-duper happy to see him.
“What just happened?” he asked.
Tree smiled, and her eyes filled up at the same time. “A whole lot,” she whispered. “A whole lot.”
25
A week later, Tree, Carter, Ryan, Samar, and Dre milled around the quad wearing bright orange safety vests picking up trash with pokers. Their probation with the school was all about garbage collection and keeping their science experiments intro-level. Somehow, Danielle had escaped punishment, but Dre was more focused on figuring out exactly what the hell they’d all just experienced.
“It doesn’t make sense,” she said.
“Yes, it does,” Ryan said. “It acted like a slingshot. When she jumped back into this dimension, the vacuum created by the centripetal force closed the loop.”
Samar poked a churro with his trash poker thingy and raised it off the ground to eye level. “Who throws away a perfectly good churro?”
Tree hit Carter’s poker with her poker, knocking his piece of trash off the pointy end.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Starting a sword fight with you,” she said with a grin. “Come on.”
She whacked his poker again, and he laughed and said, “Bring it.”
Ryan was done. It was bad enough to watch them do this shit in his dorm room. But in public? On the quad? He had to speak up. “Ugh,” he said. “Get a room.”
“Why?” Carter asked. “Wanna sleep in your car again?”
“Ha. Ha,” said Ryan, just as two black SUVs screeched to a halt in front of them. The plates were government-issue, and a team of men in well-tailored suits spilled from the doors, led by an older, distinguished-looking scientist in a tailored gray suit.
“Uh-oh,” Samar said. He had barely recovered from the night they’d closed the loop. “This looks bad.”
The lead agent stopped in front of Ryan.
“Ryan Phan?”
Ryan glanced both ways. “Maybe,” he replied.
The man in the gray suit flashed a badge. “I’m Dr. Isaac Parker. I’m here on behalf of DARPA.”
“Sweet!” Dre couldn’t help but overhear, and it was impressive.
Dr. Parker smiled and nodded. “We’d appreciate it if you’d come with us to answer some questions,” he said. “All of you.”
“Are we in trouble?” Tree asked.
“No, ma’am,” Dr. Parker assured her. “We are just…curious.”
All five of them shared a nervous look.
All five of them climbed into the SUVs anyway.
* * *
—
The DARPA headquarters was an imposing monolith. This, thought Tree, is the definition of tax dollars questionably spent.
After hustling down a long staircase that descended into a massive, bustling lobby, Dr. Parker led the gang down a long, sterile hallway flanked by more men in dark suits. They also passed robots. Samar had to really keep it on lockdown to avoid freaking out.
They finally arrived at a hive of activity. Men in lab coats milled about performing experiments that Tree was fairly certain the general public was never allowed to know about.
And there, on its own slightly elevated platform like a work of art and connected to a streamlined network of computers, was Sissy.
“Holy shit,” Ryan whispered. Sissy had never looked better.
“Hope you don’t mind us borr
owing her,” Dr. Parker said.
They gathered around the device, and Dr. Parker continued to explain. “What you’ve created here is truly remarkable.”
Samar leaned into Ryan’s ear and whispered, “Suck it, Dean Bronson.”
“We’ve been having some difficulty understanding how the device operates,” Dr. Parker explained. “We figured you could help.”
Dre piped up right away. “We have no clue how—”
“Of course. Happy to help.” Ryan cut her off—not because it was a mansplaining thing but because he smelled an opportunity. He looked over at Dre and mouthed the words, Shut the fuck up.
“There’s just a lot of code that needs to be written,” he explained to Dr. Parker.
Tree stepped forward. “I think I can help with that part.”
Everybody stopped and looked at her like, You can?
Dr. Parker seemed pleasantly surprised by their willingness. “Great,” he said. “So we just need to find a test subject.”
Carter frowned. “You want to force someone into a time loop? That’s pretty harsh. It’d have to be someone who really deserves it.”
The minute the words left his mouth, Tree knew. Ding!
Tree smiled at Dr. Parker. “I might have the perfect recruit.”
* * *
—
Danielle was fast asleep in a pink, tangled mess of down and silk. She wore a velvet sleep mask and didn’t wake up until she heard her phone ring. The ringtone was Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle.”
Danielle peeled her sleep mask off and sat up with a biiiiiiiig stretch.
She smiled.
Today is the first day of the rest of my life, she thought. Who knows what it might hold?
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Happy Death Day & Happy Death Day 2U Page 22