Joel Adrian - A Shattered Future

Emersyn’s head twisted as she sucked in a long breath. “You’re… not coming back?”

Mona smiled sadly. “I can’t. It’s your timeline, your world, not mine. I’ve already lived it, kid.”

She shook her head defiantly. “No, no, you can’t. Those people, they can manipulate time, they can teleport, they’re not going to let you live.”

Mona groaned and stood up. “Kid, I’ve had a long life. I’ve been a soldier for a long time. I’m not going down without a fight.”

Tanner gripped Emersyn’s arm. “Listen, it’s going to be okay.”

She stood, pushing Tanner off. She marched up to Mona, her eyes teary and narrow. “Please don’t do this. I’ve lost so many people. I need you, you can still help me. Please, don’t go.”

Mona reached out and hugged Emersyn. She wrapped her counterpart in a hug of her own.

“You did great,” Mona said.

She pulled back from the hug and pressed a button on the activator. A clicking started and continued every second. “You’ve got 30 seconds,” Mona said. “I’ve got to get clear of here.”

Emersyn wiped the tears from her eyes and started towards Mona. Tanner grabbed her and held her back. She struggled against his strength, but he wouldn’t budge.

“No!” she screamed. “Come back!”

“It’s okay. She has to go,” Tanner said.

Mona slipped through the narrow crevice, turning back and smiling at Emersyn one last time.

Then she disappeared into the area beyond.

Emersyn collapsed to her knees, sobbing. Tanner turned to see the digital display on the activator counting down.

“Hey, did we make it?”

They both turned to see Sergeant Major Bravon Pearson struggling to his feet. Tanner rushed forward and draped the Sergeant’s arm around him. He pulled him closer to Emersyn, and the three huddled next to the activator and the Requiem.

Tanner reached a hand down to place on Emersyn’s shoulder. “We’re going home. Sarge, Emersyn, we’re going back home.”

The final click of the activator ended with a ding. The Requiem gem grew brighter and brighter. Emersyn could feel her world melting away, just like it had the day before. The walls of the cave, the darkness around them, and the Requiem and activator started to fragment themselves apart like glass.

She watched as Mona’s universe snapped into pieces around her. The rush to her head caused her to lean back and wince. It was a complete rush, one she didn’t have the energy to stomach. She closed her eyes and wished it over, but it continued. She heard a whooshing around her, and though she dared not to open her eyes, the floor gave way and she started transitioning.

Emersyn opened her eyes to a buzzing yellow light above her. It filled her entire view, and she brought a numb hand up to try and block it. Her entire body felt off, and her head was pounding. She rolled to the side, but the pressure in her head made her want to turn back the other way and stay down.

She heard the faint words of someone nearby, but the ringing in her ears blocked out what they were saying. As her vision focused, she saw the coordinator of the cave rushing to her side, placing a hand under her head, and shouting at someone off to the side.

She needed to get up, she needed to check on Tanner and Bravon. But her legs wouldn’t will her up. She couldn’t find the strength to right herself. Gasping, Emersyn flipped back the other way and groaned. Her entire body ached. The void called to her, and she found her eyes closing again. This time she didn’t put up a fight.

When Emersyn Berg woke up again, she felt better. She was able to focus easier, and the coordinator immediately offered her something to drink. She downed the bottle of water and asked for another.

The cave site was just as she remembered it from the day before. Work lights were strategically positioned all around. Staff was moving in and around. Guards were stationed at the crevice, and the waterfall was flowing freely down into the well.

Everything felt right again.

To her left, Bravon Pearson and Tanner Highwall were on air mats, asleep.

“We’re shipping you all back on a plane in a few hours,” the coordinator said as he checked an item off on his clipboard. “It’s been an honor helping you.”

Emersyn cranked her head to the side, looking over Bravon. “Will he make it?”

The coordinator stopped and studied him. “We had a medic on site. Attended to his wounds. She said he’d make it. We can only hope.” He looked down and resumed scribbling down on his clipboard. “God knows he’s earned a rest.”

Emersyn yawned and glanced around. The crew seemed to be moving out. They were all packing their things up, tearing down the lights, and starting to move equipment back out the way they’d come.

“You’re up remarkably quick,” the coordinator noted, not looking up from his clipboard. “Do you feel okay?”

She shrugged. “Little dazed… but I’m okay.”

The coordinator lifted his head. “Hm. Very good.”

After another hour, Tanner was up and moving. The crew had to wake Bravon up to get him to squeeze through the narrow crevice. As the last light was cleared from the cave, Emersyn stood, admiring the spill of the waterfall.

“Kind of weird that the water wasn’t there in the other timeline, right?” Tanner asked, hoisting a broken-down light stand over his shoulder.

Emersyn bit her lip. “There’s always those little things that are going to be different.” She watched the water spill from the top down to the pool at the bottom. “I wonder what’s at the bottom of this one.”

Tanner reached a hand out and grabbed her shoulder. “That’s an adventure for another day, Private.”

She stole one last glance at the waterfall, and turned to follow Tanner out of the cave.

Outside, the blackness of night consumed them. She regretted they hadn’t returned in daylight: when they weren’t being shot at by Time Regulators or hunters, the Idaho mountains were a pretty sight.

The trio loaded into a large SUV, Bravon was taken to a separate vehicle so he could lay on his gurney. The driver backed them out and started down the treacherous road that had led them there.

Tanner sat next to Emersyn. He groaned as the car took a curve wide. “I’m so ready to be done with Idaho.”

Emersyn turned to look at him, quirking an eyebrow. “Yeah? I think our most successful mission just finished. We just saved the world here in Idaho.”

Tanner ran a hand over his blonde hair. “Yeah. Damn it, you’re right. We did do that. We should be proud.” He turned, and grabbed her arm, raising it in victory. “Yeah!” he shouted.

She laughed at the gesture. He freed her arm, and she smiled at him playfully. They’d both lost people on the mission, but they had to keep their sights set on the future, and what they accomplished through the transition to Mona’s timeline.

The trip back to the air base was long, but Emersyn and Tanner enjoyed having the time to relax and unwind. They talked, laughed, and swapped stories. It felt like Emersyn had found a new friend, one she hoped would stick around beyond the debrief of their mission.

The driver informed the duo that Bravon Pearson was being escorted to a nearby medical facility, and one he was taken care of, they’d load him onto a plane and get him back to Georgia.

“I’m surprised he pulled through,” Emersyn said. “There was a moment when it was just me and him towards the end and it was like he was saying goodbye.”

Tanner shook his head. “Tough old bastard. Nothing can keep him down.”

“Or nothing can keep him from his daughter.”

Once they arrived at the air base, they changed vehicles and were escorted to a small, white plane via an electric cart. As they approached the plane and the cart slowed, the driver turned and asked they relinquish their weapons.