Chapter 5 #3
I didn’t even have time to question their intentions before I felt a strong tugging sensation in my chest. I gasped and grabbed it. I closed my eyes at the weird sensation. I kept my eyes closed as the world seemed to right itself.
“Umm, where are we?” Jaxson asked in bewilderment.
My eyes snapped open, and my mouth dropped open in shock.
We were on the same exact streets that we were on moments ago, but then again, we weren’t.
The sidewalks were still teeming with college students, but something was off.
Everyone was traveling in large groups, but it was almost like they were marching.
Their eyes stayed fixed ahead, but no words were exchanged.
It took me a moment to realize that the streets were just as quiet. In the seconds we stood there not one vehicle had passed. I looked up and down the street and realized there wasn’t a motorized vehicle in sight. A cold chill went down my spine.
“What is—”Neville began to question when Kade whirled on him and held a finger to his lips.
He motioned us to move forward. None of us questioned him or protested. We walked several feet before he took a sharp left. He pulled us into a narrow alleyway between two townhouses. He led us behind overflowing trash cans. Still we said nothing.
“We are currently almost two years into the future,” Kade whispered.
“When did you figure out you can jump to the future?” I gaped at him.
Drake and Gavin’s reactions were similar to mine as they said. “Greg warned you about jumping to the future,” and “Should you be jumping that far into the future?”
Jaxson’s response was a typical reaction. “Dude, can we get lotto numbers and play them?”
Lincoln, Drake, Gavin, and I shot him an exasperated look before Kade explained to us—ignoring Jaxson completely.
“I know Greg said to be careful, but honestly, I learned I could do it by accident while I was sparring with Micah. I saw that he was about to crush me good, and I meant to freeze him.” Micah snorted, but Kade merely smirked.
“Instead, of feeling the hit I was in the shower in the locker room. When Micah walked into the room, he was grumbling about nearly beating me. I looked at the clock and realized that I had jumped to the end of our sparring class.”
“How did it affect the present?” Drake inquired.
Kade grimaced. “In that case, not much, but I’ve been testing myself here and there.
And much like the past, if I messed with it too much it could have dire consequences.
It’s almost like when I turn time back. Some things are meant to be and if I mess with the timeline too greatly, it can affect the present negatively. ”
“W—what do you guys want from me?” Neville couldn’t hide the quaver in his voice.
Kade answered him with an earnest expression. “We need your help man. If you don’t come with us now, Horatio will use you. With your gift he can and will find several of the gifted people that will tip the scales in his favor. The world he desired will come to fruition.”
The implications of his words sunk in and I saw the fear in Neville’s eyes as Ella’s drawing fluttered down from his nerveless fingers. With great difficulty I squatted down to pick it up, my curiosity was too great.
In the drawing I saw a prison of sorts. Looking closer I noticed that they weren’t typical prisoners because they were all dressed eclectically and not in jumpsuits.
It was evident that they were nons because people that had gifts were openly using them as they loaded more people into the enclosures.
A great sense of fear and foreboding rocked me.
The feeling grew when I realized there were additional prisons made of clear glass front and center.
I couldn’t bite back my gasp as I realized that there was gifted housed in them.
The halos encircling their heads denoted their status.
Lincoln and Drake helped me up as all three of them peered over my shoulder. I felt and heard when they realized what Ella had drawn.
“When—”
“How—”
“Did—”
Lincoln, Jaxson, and I blurted out simultaneously.
Kade made another shushing noise. “We’re just as corporal here as we are in our present timeline.
We can be seen and heard. It’s a volatile time.
There are the gifted that have joined Horatio’s master race.
He’s recruited nons and they work for him to stay in his good graces.
On the other hand, there are rebel factions made of gifted and non-gifted alike trying to preserve humanity. And we’re all—”
He was cut off when the sound of a door slamming and shuffling feet reached our ears.
The noises were coming from nearby. We were positioned too close to two of the town homes.
I frantically looked around hoping to see an escape or a hiding place.
There wasn’t any save for the trash cans and a couple of bicycles.
Something sounded like it was getting hit on a chain link fence before the distinctive sound of a gate creaking open reached our ears.
A short man with slightly greasy hair and a bad complexion came shuffling forward.
On his slight frame, he wore a pair of flannel pajama pants and a black zip up hoody with no shirt beneath it.
When he finally looked up his eyes widened in surprise.
His eyes scanned over us. I didn’t know what he was looking for, but his eyes widened in alarm when he came to the realization that we didn’t have what he was looking for. He fumbled with his jacket as if he was searching for something. Maybe a phone?
“Please don’t!” Kade implored.
Before I could determine what, the man was about to do, he produced a whistle and began to blow it.
Without a word exchanged we began to ran back in the direction we had come from.
The other way was a dead end. We didn’t make it far when a group of people came storming from around the corner dressed in full Swat-like gear.
Their heads were covered in black masks and a helmet making it hard to see their features.
My observations were cut short as a cacophony of male and female voices alike began to yell and scream at us.
“Where’s your bands?”
“Get down on your knees!”
“Hands up!”
“Where are your papers?”
“What the hell is going on?” Neville squeaked out in protest.
“Welcome to new America,” Kade dryly stated. He sounded way to cool for someone that had tasers, batons, and other lethal weapons pointed at us.
Ella made a sound of distress. “Okay Kade! I’m ready to go back!”
Kade muttered a curse that I would normally reprimand him for. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him grasp his temples before wincing. “I—I can’t!”
“Shut up!” One of our captors barked out.
I froze in shock, not even attempting to kneel.
The thought of attempting to get back up in my condition sounded too miserable.
Before I could even react or figure out what I was going to do I felt two arms grasp me painfully on my biceps.
I cried out in alarm cradling my stomach, afraid of them hurting them.
“Keep your hands off her! She’s pregnant!” Lincoln snarled.
Jaxson lunged. “If you hurt my kids, I’ll rip your throats out.”
He managed to kick and punch five people before he was restrained while Lincoln was roughly thrown to the ground. One of our assailants placed his knee into his back while violently wrenching his arms behind his back. Hearing their grunts of pain was enough to wake me up from my momentary stupor.
I didn’t even bother saying my command quietly as I whipped my head around and glared at the people attempting to subdue us. “Let us go, now! Then I need you to jump into your vehicles, fill up your gas tanks, and drive until you can’t anymore. Then walk back home.”
Our captors stopped what they were doing, looked at each other and then broke out into laughter.
I frowned and attempted to call fire to my fingertips determined to burn their asses—literally.
When nothing happened, my frown deepened.
Before I could question the others, I felt a pinch in my neck before everything around me went black.