Chapter 25: Left for Dead

March 19th, 2017

A couple of days later, Rick was discharged from the hospital. He wasn’t entirely sure how no one had realized who they were or what was going on, but then he also thought back to whenever he would see things on the news about things like this. He probably would have never recognized any of those fugitives if he would have actually seen them on the street. Not to mention the fact that it had been a year and a half since they had disappeared…

Harry and Emille had helped Rick as he weakly walked out to the van, and then as soon as he was inside, they put the devices on him and his sister’s ankles again. There were no seats in the back since it was an old utilities van, so he and Cadi just had to sit on the cold floor while Harry and Emille sat in the front. Mr. Johnston was also there, and he sat in the back with them.

Cadi shivered and pulled her coat around her tighter, and she could see her breath in the back. Guess there was no heat in the van...

“So how are you feeling Rick?” Mr. Johnston asked with a little strained smile. Rick folded his arms and leaned back against the wall.

“Ok I guess…”

There was an awkward silence, and Cadi listened to the sound of the van crunching through snow. She snuggled up next to her brother, glad that he was alive and with her again. The van went over a bump, causing them to be jostled around.

“Ow!” Rick exclaimed, clutching his hand. In the bump, he had accidentally landed his hand on one of the tools in the back and cut it across the palm.

“Oh Geez-are you ok?” Mr. Johnston asked in concern, trying to see. Rick scooted away from him. He wasn’t sure how much he trusted his ceramics teacher anymore. He didn’t seem to be doing much in the way of stopping anything or helping them escape, and he found himself starting to resent him for that.

Mr. Johnston looked a bit hurt, and then turned to his friends in the front seat.

“Guys, it’s a little bit dangerous back here-Rick just cut himself.”

Harry and Emille did not respond. Rick found their silence very unsettling. He sat there stiffly, wondering why the two scientists were being so standoffish.

“Wait-where are we going?” the teacher suddenly asked, leaning over the front seat to look out the window.

“We need to get closer to a cell tower so we can get a better signal for some of our equipment. And we wanted to see if that signal affected the kids in any way.” Emille said matter of factly. Harry did not say anything.

Immediately, Rick knew something was up. That whole statement didn’t make sense. Why in the world would something like a cell tower affect their powers? Something weird was going on…

Mr. Johnston seemed to notice something was off as well, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he sat back down, folding his arms and looking suspiciously at the people in the front seat.  

After what might have been an hour, the van came to a stop. For some reason, Rick could feel a sense of dread hanging in the air. Harry and Emille got out of the car and then went around to open the back door for them. Cadi and Rick hesitantly peeked out to see that they seemed to be in the middle of the woods, snow falling silently.

“Alright. Out of the van.” Emille told them. Rick grabbed Cadi’s hand as the two of them slowly did as they were told. Mr. Johnston stood next to them.

“West, how long have we all been friends?” Emille asked. West looked at her steadily.

“Do you want me to include the year and a half we missed cause of the incident with Cadi and Rick?”

“Rick, are they about to have a fight?” Cadi whispered to her older brother.

“I don’t know.”

“How much you wanna bet?”

“You don’t have any money.” Rick smirked.

“I’ll bet chores.”

“We don’t have any chores right now.”

Cadi smiled and squeezed her brother’s hand, holding onto his arm.

“We aren’t here for you to do any tests, so what’s really going on?” West asked. Emille and Harry exchanged glances.

“We know you’ve been communicating with a detective West.” Emille finally said. West, Cadi, and Rick, froze. Once again, Rick started to feel bad that he had doubted his teacher. Maybe Mr. Johnston was just trying to play it smart this whole time.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” West said stiffly.

“Oh cut the crap West!” Harry exploded. “How long have you been doing this behind our backs?” The teacher felt his hands ball into fists.

“Well what did you expect Harry?! You almost killed Rick! And all in the name of your so called experiments and-whatever!”

“West-there is a killer out there. If we don’t stop her, there’s no telling what she might do.” Harry seethed. Rick couldn’t help but think about what Mary said about killing a murderer before they had the chance to hurt anyone. She had said that if Harry were to live, that he would be a killer. He wasn’t sure if that was true, but...

“What have you told them?” Emille demanded. “Is there a plan to-ambush us or something?

“No! I was only trying to-.”

“How are we supposed to believe anything you say anymore?” Harry interjected. West glared at the two of them.

“Cadi, Rick, do you have any idea where we are?”

The two of them didn’t say anything. Cadi squeezed Rick’s arm, feeling like something bad was going to happen.

“Don’t you dare.” Emille growled.

“We are in Maine. One of the northernmost parts by a city called-.”

BANG!

Rick and Cadi jumped and West Johnston stumbled back in shock. Harry was standing there, holding out a gun that he had just fired. Cadi wasn’t sure what had just happened at first, but then Mr. Johnston backed into a tree clutching his stomach in pain.

“Harry… what….”

Cadi screamed as Mr. Johnston fell to the ground, his blood turning the snow pink. Harry’s arm was shaking, and it looked like he was angry, but about to cry.

“Harry-I said I could do it…” Emille soothed, rubbing his back.

“N-no… It’s-it’s better this way.” he managed. West struggled to breathe as he lay dying on the cold ground.

“But… Harry…” he groaned, coughing up some blood. Harry turned his back on his friend and stormed back to the van, slamming the door shut behind him as he got in.

“Get back in the van!” Emille spat at the two kids standing there petrified. Cadi couldn’t help but stare at the man lying on the ground. She looked up at her brother, who also seemed horrified.

“Do as I say!!” she screamed at them. Then she raised her hand and smacked Rick across the face, which seemed to bring him out of his daze. Cadi closed her eyes and started to cry as Emille continued to yell at them.

Suddenly, the world became silent.

Cadi opened her eyes.

Time was paused.

But how?!

And why was Rick also paused?

She swished her head around, observing the scene around her. There was Emille, with her angry face and a little cloud in front of her mouth. There was Rick, a hand up to his cheek from where she had just hit him. And there was Mr. Johnston, dying on the ground.

Slowly, Cadi let go of her brother and stepped forward. She froze when she saw someone standing a few feet away in the shade of a dead tree.

“W-who’s there?” she asked, shrinking back.

“It’s ok Cadi. I’m here to help.”

It was a woman’s voice.

The eight year old then watched as a woman came towards her with bangs and long black hair. She smiled.

“Who are you?!” the eight year old demanded. “How do you know my name? And how is time paused? And-.”

“Calm down, calm down. I’ll tell you the same thing I told your brother. This is the first time you’ve met me, but this is not the first time I’ve met you.”

Cadi tilted her head, trying to wrap her brain around this. She couldn’t help but notice the shirt the woman was wearing, and how it moved like a tv.

“Are-are you a time traveler?” she asked hesitantly. The woman smiled.

“Yes! Wow-you caught that quick.”

“You know my brother?”

“Yep.”

“What’s your name?”

“You can call me Mary.”

Cadi shyly ventured forward, and then stuck out her hand.

“Nice… t-to meet you?” she stuttered. Mary smiled amiably and shook the eight year old’s hand.

“Ok. On to business-.”

“But how is time paused? Did you pause it? And why is Rick-.” Cadi started to ask. Mary laughed.

“I have powers like you Cadi. Which is why I’m here. I’ve come to help you save Mr. Johnston.”

Cadi looked at the frozen image of her teacher in the snow, a pool of blood underneath him and his face that of pain.

“But how?”

“Well first, let me help you with that thing on your ankle. Rick too.” the woman started. Then, without even touching it, she flicked towards it, which appeared to do nothing.

“What-.”

“I just fast forwarded some of the parts in there so it won’t work. But the scientists won’t know that cause it looks the same on the outside. Now you and Rick can use your powers.”

“You fixed Rick’s too?”

“Yep.”

Cadi picked at her fingernails nervously and shivered in the cold.

“Thanks, but, how am I supposed to save Mr. Johnston with my powers? I don’t understand.”

“You’ve fast forwarded and rewound things before haven’t you?” Mary asked. The eight year old slowly nodded.

“Ok. Well, I brought some things with me to help us with this.” she told her, bringing a couple of things out of her pocket. “Come on.”

Cadi slowly followed her over to Mr. Johnston and watched as Mary took out a little cube. She pressed the top of it, and it suddenly flattened out to show that it kind of looked like some kind of portable x-ray thing. Cadi’s eyes grew wide as the two of them looked through it. There was the bullet, and the ribs, and the organs-.

“Hmm. It looks like the bullet has torn through some of his organs. We’ll have to fix those…” Mary murmured. “But first, let’s take care of the bullet itself…”

With a wave of her hand, the bullet seemed to disintegrate. Cadi couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Ok. Now for the tricky part. Cadi, you need to fast forward all those things you see in there to heal. Got it?”

Cadi looked at the woman, aghast.

“But-I can’t do that!!” she exclaimed. “That’s too hard!!”

“You can do it. I promise you.” the woman encouraged. “Come on-I’ll help you.”

Cadi looked at her skeptically, and then took a deep breath.

“Ok…”

Then, she stared at the images on the portable x-ray and concentrated. She could feel the sensation of fast forwarding something, but there was also something else there too-almost as if her stomach was filling with hot chocolate. She felt the warmness spread through her body as slowly, she watched the organs on the x-ray heal themselves.

After about a minute, Mr. Johnston was completely healed.

“I-I did it!” she yelled excitedly, jumping into the air. Mary smiled.

“Good job Cadi. Remember this new skill you’ve acquired. You’re going to need it soon.”

Cadi looked up at the woman curiously.

“What do you mean?”

The woman’s smile faltered.

“You’ll see. But for now, I’ve got to go.”

“What?! But-you can’t just leave us!” Cadi said, crestfallen. “Now that time is paused, you can help me and Rick get away-.”

“No.”

Cadi felt her eyes fill with tears.

“Why not?”

“Because things have to happen a certain way.”

At this, Cadi plopped down on the ground and hugged her knees to her chest, hiding her face so the new woman named Mary wouldn’t see her crying.

“Cadi-.”

“I just want to go home…”

Cadi suddenly felt a soft hand on her arm.

“It’s ok to feel sad when bad things happen.” the woman whispered. “But sometimes those bad things help shape us into who we are. They make us stronger for when worse things happen. If nothing bad ever happened, do you think you would ever appreciate when things were good?”

The eight year old sniffed and slowly shook her head. Mary gave her a small smile.

“Talk it over with your brother when you get the chance. I promise it’ll work itself out. I know cause I come from the future. Time traveler-remember?”

Cadi nodded silently and wiped her tears away.

“Ok. Now you need to get back in the same position that you were in when I paused time so no one will notice what happened.”

“But how-.”

“If you look closely, there is a bit of an after image of where you were.”

Cadi turned and squinted to see that sure enough, there was a faint image of where she had been standing.

“Will I see you again Mary?” she asked as she got back in the position she was in. Mary winked.

“You can sure count on it.” she smiled.

Then, without warning, she vanished and the sound came back, and Emille was still yelling at them.

Cadi glanced over at Mr. Johnston, who had an odd look on his face as he looked down at his stomach. He looked up at her and made eye contact just as Emille shoved the two siblings in the back. Cadi gave him a small smile, and then Emille slammed the door and stomped to the front of the van.

“Let’s go.” Emille said cooly.

Rick and Cadi lurched in the back as Harry stepped on the gas and drove away, leaving West all alone in the snowy woods.