CHAPTER 15: THE SHOWDOWN

FEBRUARY 26, 1991

WILLOW HOSPITAL

 

            Kevin walked through the front doors and into the lobby of Willow Hospital walking towards the front desk with his book under one arm and a briefcase in his hand. He had seen that one of the three fell off the train. With that troublemaking Seth dead, he thought, nothing bad will happen to my daughter and she’ll live a long life with me.

            “Hello, visiting?” the desk lady said. She wore glasses and looked pregnant herself.

            “Yes, my wife is delivering today. Noelle Miller.” Kevin responded. “I’m her husband Kevin.”

            “Lemme write you a Visitor’s Pa�"Hmm…” the lady said skeptically.

            “Is there a problem, ma’am?”

            “…there’s already a Kevin Miller here to see Noelle delivering her baby.”

            “Well, he’s, uh…”

            “Sir, you need to leave or I will call security.”

            “Ok, you caught me, I’m not Kevin. I’m his twin brother…Seth.”

            “Well, only the husband is allowed back right now, so I’m going to have to ask you to leave or wait over there.”

            “Of course, ma’am. Really quick, can you show me the way to the nearest restroom? I had to hold it for the entire train ride here.”

            “Of course, follow me.”

            She got out of her seat and led Kevin down the hall. She led him to the bathrooms, just off the left in the hall, down a mini corridor. “Right here.” she said with a smile.

            “Thank you, ma’am.” Kevin said, as he pulled back his coat. He slammed his cupped hand against the woman’s throat. “Sorry,” he looked at her badge, “Sherri. You won’t understand the reasons I need to do this, so I’ll put it simply. I need to save my daughter.” He pulled out his Time-Blast from his shirt and put it to Sherri’s stomach, pulling the trigger. She screamed as she�"and her undeveloped baby�"was erased from time as they knew it.

 

Seth and Lee barged into the hospital minutes after that kind desk lady lead Kevin to the bathroom and led herself to her death. There two old English looking people now stood in the high-tech lobby of Willow Hospital, sticking out as bad as they did when they were the two calm ones in the middle of a frantic Dallas�"if not, they stuck out worse. The disguises did work, but not like they were hoping. “Now where?” Seth asked.

            “Here ye, I shan’t doubt our heinous evildoer ventured off over yonder!” Lee screamed, over exaggerating, and pointing down the hall next to the desk (the one the lady did not lead Kevin down).

            “Shut that s**t up, let’s go!” Seth said, as him and Lee bolted down the hall.

 

Out of the other hall emerged Kevin back into the lobby. He went to the desk and signed himself in, stealing a Visitor’s Pass, and went down the hall Seth and Lee ran down minutes earlier.

            Kevin was walking slow, at his own pace, jacket swinging violently because of the weight of the Time-Blast in his coat. He was whistling as he was walking, as jovial as could be.

            When Kevin turned the hall, ha came face to face with Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. They stood, staring quietly for a few seconds before Kevin realized who they really were. “Wait…Seth?!” he said, surprised. “You’re supposed to be DEAD!!!”

            “He’s not,” Lee stepped in, “you killed our dear friend, though. But why are you here? What’s in the case?”

            “Oh, the case. You want to know what’s in here?”

            Lee held up his pistol and cocked it. “You tell us what’s in the case right now, I’m not afraid to end you here.”

            In response, Kevin held up his Time-Blast. “And I’m not afraid to make you meet the same fate your buddy Alf met.”

            Seth stood there watching, when he began to feel a cold draft in the room. He looked down and saw that his pants were deteriorating and vanishing right before his very eyes. He tapped Lee on the shoulder. “Uh, Lee? These clothes, they�"”

            “They’re one hundred years old, Seth, time’s gonna catch up to them.” Lee said, without moving his head. “Now, Kevin, you say what’s in the suitcase and so one gets hurt.”

            “Woah, Detective Mills, calm down, I don’t got any heads in here.”

            Lee quickly swings his gun down to the open space between Kevin’s feet and shoots. He hits the floor, cracking it and leaving a hole. “What…is…in…the…damn…box…?”

            At this point, both Seth was nearly in nothing but briefs, whereas Lee’s clothes barely faded. Seth tapped Lee’s shoulder again. “Lee?”

            Lee turned, a little annoyed. “What?!”

            Kevin took this opportunity to his advantage. As soon as Lee turned, Kevin fired his Time-Blast at Lee. Seth jumped back, to avoid being hit, but Lee was hit.

            Seth screamed, and Kevin laughed. “I DID IT!” he yelled, cheerfully. He grabbed the case and ran down the hall.

            Lee lay on the floor, clothes starting to fade. Seth ran over, socked and utterly worried. “Wait, Lee, shouldn’t you be fading by no�"”

            Lee’s shirt faded away to reveal a metal vest. “The one thing a Time-Blast cannot get: steel.” he said, slyly. “My shirt didn’t fade because it existed longer than your shirt�"the whole wardrobe, for that matter�"so time lad longer to catch up on me. Now, he thinks I’m dead. We need to keep it like that. Take this,” Lee handed Seth his gun, “and go wound him. Do NOT kill him. Got it?”

            “Got it,” Seth replied. He opened a door they were standing next to and looked in. Folded nurse scrubs lined the inside of this small cozy closet. Seth reached in and got one, and quickly threw it on. He grabbed Lee’s pistol, put it in the waistline of his pants, and ran down the hall, as Lee sat and waited.

            A lady came around the corner. “Hey doll, why are you out here on the floor?” she asked Lee.

            In a panic, Lee quickly answered, “Uh, I…fell off of my bed and was left here.”

            “They were taking you bed ra’ght through here, yah?” the lady asked for clarification.

            “Um…s�"s�"sure did.” Lee uttered, hoping it was going nowhere bad.

            “She grabbed a walkie-talkie from her pants and clicked the button, then spoke into it: “Excuse me, can you come get Mr. Abrams a wheelchair to take him to his heart transplant, he fell from his bed.” She turned to him. “Don’t worry, Mr. Abrams,  they’ll come get you a wheelchair to come get you for your surgery.”

            Lee knew he got himself into some s**t.

 

Seth ran down the hall, speeding past visitors and patients looking out of their rooms to see what the loud noise was. He looked back once he was so far down the hall to check on his friend, only to see Lee get forcibly stuffed onto a hospital bed. Seth paused to watch this. “Unbelievable,” Seth said.

            He turned to keep running, but after two steps collided with an older man. This man had a straw hat, and looked like a southerner from the 1930’s. He looked down, so the brim of his hat covered most of his face, even though he had sunglasses on. He wore big loose fitting blue overalls and had an unlit cigar hanging from the right side of his lip. He was obviously jittery and nervous, but Seth didn’t pay too much attention to that. He talked with an obviously fake southern accent, “Pardon me, youngster,” his voice shaky from his nerves.

            “Uh, I’m so sorry, Mr.…” Seth said.

            The southern man quickly glanced at his right palm, which is hidden away from Seth. “Smallston. Lenard Smallston. I’m on my way to my vehicle outside, gotta go tend some rabbits.” He started walking away but stopped and turned to Seth once more. “Oh, sonny, just a word of advice…the left knee.” And with that, he walked away.

            Seth stood still, puzzled. He couldn’t comprehend what had just happened to him. But there was no time to pause and comprehend. He turned and kept running, as fast as he could with his leg in its condition.

            He paused at an intersection between four halls. One he had just run up, so he knew it wasn’t that one. He frantically looked down the other three halls, until his mond thought of something:

            The left knee.

            He hadn’t the slightest clue what knee meant�"at least, not at that moment�"but he risked it, turning left and running down that hall.

            And in room 217, he saw what he thought to be the most horrific thing he’s ever seen.

 

The last thing Lee remembered was being forcibly stabbed with a needle and instantly clocking out. When he woke up, though, the surgeons were rolling his bed down the hall. Oh, s**t, Lee thought, I’m dead. As soon as I’m seen awake, they’ll drug me again and I’m wrongfully going to get someone else’s heart. Shoot me now please.

            But wait a second…if they don’t see me awake…they won’t drug me…and I can escape!

            Thanks, brain.

            He closed his eyes and still acted limp. At one point, the nurse told the surgeon to take a hard right, causing Lee, still acting limp, to flail all the way to the side of the bed, and his arm went flying, even striking the nurse in the face. She stumbled back when that happened, then ran to the bed and helped fix Lee again. She grabbed his arm, which was hanging off the side of the bed, and threw it back onto the bed, but when she did, he rolled and flailed to the other side, arm hanging off. A nurse was walking the same direction as the bed. When the bed passed her, Lee’s arm slapped her behind, and she screamed and turned. Thinking it was the doctor, the nurse turned around and slapped him before running the rest of the way down the hall. The doctor stumbled backwards and the nurse with him quickly jumped over the side of the bed and fixed Lee perfectly.

            A few more games to keep them on their feet.

            The doctor and nurse pushed the bed faster to prevent more trouble.

 

In room 217, he saw what he thought to be the most horrific thing he’s ever seen.

            Seth cracked open the door to see inside. He saw a woman in a hospital bed, screaming, going into labor, and two doctors around her, and Kevin holding her hand.

            Kevin from 1991.

            “Where’s OUR guy?” Seth mumbled to himself.

            But he soon found out.

            One of the doctors reached into his case, which was hidden to the side of the bed, and pulled out a long pointy needle. He rose up and let some fluid drip out of it. Then, he aimed it towards the woman.

            His wife from the past, Seth thought, and the baby is Kellie!

            Seth flung open the door and ran in, tackling Kevin, the needle flying across the room. The doctor, Past Kevin, and the lady in the bed all screamed. Seth threw a punch at Kevin but it was deflected. When Kevin punched back, another deflection. Seth eventually stood and drew his pistol, and Kevin got his Time-Blast, much like the showdown between Lee and Kevin moments earlier. “Don’t you dare go near that lady,” Seth screamed, “You do you die!”

            Kevin quickly turned his gun and blasted Past Kevin in the chest with the Time-Blast. Past Kevin screamed and evaporated right into thin air�"however, Kevin was untouched.

            Seth was caught off guard. “Wait, if that’s past you, shouldn’t you die too?”

            “It’s the serum, Seth,” he responded. Seth was confused, he hadn’t the slightest clue what he meant. A serum? Could this be what Lee was alluding to earlier?

            There was no time to think. Seth just used his basic instincts and shot the pistol, hoping it hit someone but the woman in the bed.

            When he looked up, Kevin was crouched over, holding his knee, screaming.

            The left knee.

           

 

Lee laid nervously in the bed, awaiting the perfect escape. If I kill anyone, they’ll be brought back in the reset… he thought.

            The doctor pulled his gloves over his freshly washed hands and gathered his tools. Clink clank went the scalpels; schwish schwash went the paper beneath the tools. He grabbed the scalpel and slowly lowered it. When he was inches above Lee’s stomach, Lee sprung up and grabbed the tool, swinging it around into the doctor’s chest, piercing his lung. The doctor coughed and fell back.

            The nurse and other two doctors screamed in terror. Lee went to reach for his portable Time-Blast (I can erase them from time now to prevent killing, and during the reset all will be fine) but made a huge terrifying discovery:

            When he was drugged they dressed him in a hospital gown.

            He had to improvise. Everyone was in a scurry, but to prevent everyone getting out he pushed the hospital bed so it blocked the doors. Everyone froze, before running to get weapons/ protection. Lee ran over to the tray of tools. He grabbed a larger scalpel and threw it at the nurse, still frantically looking for a weapon, stabbing her in the back and killing her.

            He stared at the two remaining doctors.

 

 Seth walked closer to Kevin and, to scare him, shot three rounds in the floor directly next to him. Kevin screamed, and swung his arm out, swatting at Seth. Seth stumbled back, just shy of being hit, and nearly fell over. Tears started trickling from Kevin, as the pain was too strong. Seth slowly made his way back to Kevin, gun held out, ready to shoot, when someone ran into the room and yelled, “STOP!!!”

            Seth turned to see Lee in a hospital gown running into the room. “Don’t you dare!”

            “Lee, whe�"”

            “Don’t ask questions, we need to get him to the agency right now to perform a Reset. I had to do regrettable s**t to get out, I don’t want it permanently on my records.”

            “So, what about him?”

            “We have to put him in Time Jail!”

            A click came over the intercom. “Ladies and gentlemen, due to murders in the surgery room, the hospital is on a lockdown. I repeat, the hospital is on lockdown.”

            “You killed??” Seth screamed to Lee.

            “Shut up! We need to go NOW!!!”

            Kevin had crawled on the floor over to the woman in bed. He reached on the table of supplies next to the bed and held the scalpel up to the woman’s neck. “Kill the woman and you get me. If you don’t, I’ll get her myself.”

            Seth and Lee froze. They didn’t know what to do. Seth reached for his gun and held it up pointed towards Kevin. Lee grabbed Seth’s hand and started to pull it down, when they both exchanged looks, and lee saw the rawest emotion he’d ever seen: Seth was near tears. Lee leaned over and aligned his eyes with where Seth’s gun was pointing. Lee looked back up at Seth and, after hesitating, nodded.

            Seth pulled the trigger.

            A loud scream filled the room…but it wasn’t Kevin’s.

            Kevin flinched, and when he slowly opened his eyes he was a dead woman on the bed.

            Seth was in tears, he didn’t want to kill the woman, but it was all he could do.

            In the middle of all the stunned staring and silence, Lee walked over and handcuffed Kevin. He punched in the code on his watch, and the portal opened. He threw Kevin in, and went to grab Seth. The portal closed behind them.

            The deed was done.

            Lee and Seth won.

            Time was saved.