Joel Adrian - A Shattered Future

One struck their attacker in the shoulder. The other two whizzed past him and hit the dirt.

The Russian man yelped in pain. He spun, his good arm pulling his own pistol from his waistband. Joey sprung back to life and wrapped his massive arm around the Russian man’s throat, pulling him to the dirt in a clutch.

Bravon grabbed the man’s arm, straining to break the gun free. A moment later and he’d secured the weapon.

The Russian man struggled, but not against Joey. He was trying to push a hand to his own chest. Joey’s massive arm stopped him.

Their attacker wedged himself under Joey’s arm, and Emersyn watched as he clamped his teeth down, sinking them into the big man’s arm. Joey cried out in pain, and it allowed the Russian man to get a hand under his shirt and to his chest. A second later, and he disappeared.

She had the gun raised and ready to fire, but he was gone.

“Damn it!” Joey cried, pounding the ground with his good arm. He raised his bitten flesh, fresh trails of blood leaking out of it.

Bravon panted on his knees. “He’s… my god, he’s teleporting.”

“How is this possible?” Emersyn asked. When she saw nobody heard her, she forced herself to speak up. “How is this possible, guys? Did you know about this, Bravon?”

The Sergeant Major shook his head. “Nah. Hell no. Time travel was all the further I thought it went… teleporting, that’s something new to me. When—ow!” He clutched his wound as he stood, waving a hand out to balance himself. “When we see Mona again, we’ll ask her. She’s gotta know about this.”

Emersyn caught her breath and walked towards the group. The stink of gun smoke was making her feel sick, and knowing she’d fired the rounds off, and one hit, didn’t make her feel better. “You okay?” she asked Joey.

The massive man had climbed to his feet, though his expression was bewildered and angry. “Let’s just get outta here,” he said.

“I can agree to that.” Bravon pointed to the mountain, which was taking up their full view. “We’re maybe 20 minutes out. Let’s get to it.”

The steep incline of the mountain proved to be more difficult than Emersyn anticipated. They managed to find the road they drove to the mountain, but it was up a sharp incline. Emersyn started up it, and once she got to a tree, she stopped and started helping the others up.

She got Bravon past the tree, and he was able to dig his hands in and force himself up the rest of the way. Once he conquered the ridge, he rolled over onto the road, laughing in success.

Emersyn smiled when she heard him laughing from the top. Maybe they would make it after all. She turned, and planted her left hand against the tree, reaching her right hand back towards Joey.

The big man was going to be a challenge. She had no way of pulling his weight, and with him having only one good hand, Emersyn had her work laid out for her.

“Alright, nice and easy,” she called out to Joey. She saw the concern on the face of the Italian mobster.

He started up the steep incline, digging his good hand into the damp ground to climb further up. Without the use of his right hand, he had to stop, pull his hand out, and quickly shove it higher up to avoid a spill.

“Okay, use this tree,” she said, bracing herself against the crooked trunk of the tree and reaching a hand out. “Take my hand, and once you get up here, you won’t have to—”

Joey chuckled a bit. “Girl, I’d rip your arm from its socket.” He was about three feet beneath the tree, hand firmly in the ground and feet slipping. “Just hang on there.”

He ran his feet up and pulled his hand free, scurrying up the side as quickly as a man his size could. He managed to reach the tree, draping his good hand over it and clutching it for dear life as his feet lost traction.

“Damn!” he cried, barely hanging on.

She reached down and pulled at his wrist, trying to help him up. Her strength was no match for his weight: he was near-dangling, supported only by the tree.

There was a low crackle. Emersyn looked down. The tree was uprooting, threatening to give way under the immense weight.

“Aah!” Joey cried, his fingers slipping.

Emersyn let her hands free of the tree and put both over the big man’s wrist. The sweat made it slick, but she didn’t falter. She pulled up with all her might. “Come on!”

Joey Del Core didn’t budge.

The tree was pulling free from the ground. In a few more moments, they’d both be tumbling down the ridge towards the bottom. But she wasn’t going to quit on him.

She heard a familiar ‘whoosh’ and saw the Russian man from earlier appear out of thin air. He stood up on the near-sideways tree and clamped a hand down on Joey Del Core’s wrist.

Emersyn let go and reached into her waistband, gripping the pistol. She fumbled to get a good grip on it, her hands slick with sweat from Joey’s wrist. As she took aim, the ‘whoosh’ permeated the air again, and both the Russian man and Joey Del Core disappeared.

She sat on the tree, stunned. They were both there, and now they weren’t.

“I saw it,” Bravon called from the top as if affirming her eyesight. “He’s gone too.”

She leaned back, groaning. “Damn it!”

The sky was a brooding gray now. The sunshine had been choked out by dark clouds. Emersyn looked up, feeling the first pangs of rain on her skin. She turned and looked up towards Bravon. “He’s gone,” she said as if she’d lost a family member. “He’s gone.”

“You did all you could,” Sergeant Bravon Pearson said. He stuck a hand down over the sharp cliff towards here. “Come on. Let’s get you up here, Private.”

She forced herself to her feet on the unstable tree and turned. She handed the gun up first, and then jumped, grabbing Bravon’s hand.

He pulled her up, straining against her weight. His strength prevailed, and he was able to pull her up over the treacherous cliff.

The two collapsed on the dirt road they’d taken to the activation site the night before. They sat in silence, the rain progressively pounding harder.

“We lost him,” Emersyn said quietly.

Bravon grunted. “You did the best you could, Private. You tried to save him.”

She shook her head. “I’m not a Private. A soldier, a real soldier could’ve saved him.” She brought a hand up to wipe the rain from her eyes. “Mona could’ve saved him.”

Sitting up, Bravon turned to her. A weak smile grew under his mustache. “You still don’t get it, do you, kid?” He planted a hand against his wound and winced. “She is you. You are her. Doesn’t matter how far apart you are in age. She has unlocked potential that started with you.”

She thought on the words. Even if there was truth to them, it would still take two decades to get from where she is to where Mona was now.

“I never said it would be easy,” Bravon continued as if reading her mind, “and I never said you were destined to do it. But you got an idea now. You know what could be.” He stood up and offered her his free hand. “What’s it going to be, soldier?”

She felt each splash of rain on her face. Tiredness had taken her. Part of her mind told her to just stay here. Stay down, just like she had through every moment leading her to now. Stay at the job she hates, stay in the relationship that wasn’t fulfilling her. Stay down.

No. I’m not staying down.

Emersyn sat up and grabbed the Sergeant Major’s hand. He cracked a smile and helped pull her up to stand across from him.

“That’s the way,” he said.

She turned and pointed down the road at the mountain. “Let’s get to it, Sarge.”

The two started off towards the mountain. The mission had gone to hell since Emersyn and her team arrived, but just because they were down didn’t mean they were out. They trudged onwards, the dirt slowly turning to mud under their heel.