Chapter 13
Dylan suddenly found it imperative to find his friend James. James his friend would not allow this to happen. James his friend would be able to expose this story for the lie that it was. James his friend would not do the things this man Sam was claiming he has done already. James his friend was now standing at the entrance of the room.
“James, what the fuck is this guy’s issue, do you know anything about what he is saying?”
James had a look of shock on his face and looked to Sam. “What did you tell him?”
“Apparently the one thing you hadn’t, the truth about your job.”
“Well then things just got even more difficult.” James said pulling out his gun.
“James what the fuck is going on.”
“Look Dylan just sit down and shut up for right now.”
Dylan did so more afraid of the tone in his friend’s voice then the gun in his hand.
“What’s the matter James, Holloway not allowing you to come back.”
“No he said that he would just redo the experiment, he said it would be more cost efficient then coming to get me.”
Sam laughed. “Well you can’t win them all.”
“Fuck you Sam.” He said pointing the gun at Sam’s head and walking closer.
“What are you going to do kill me? What will that accomplish?”
“It will center me and allow me to think clearly for my next course of action.”
“Now James calm down.”
“Well lucky you I already have a back up plan. I’m just going to have my friend Dylan her print his story online unless Holloway sends me back.”
“What are you insane? You think by breaking the cardinal rule of time travel that Holloway will just come back here and take you home?”
James turned around and shot a hole in the wall. From behind the hole there was a shriek of agony. The shot was low so Dylan believed that James probably just shot out one of the security guards knee caps.
“I know what you are trying to do.” James shouted to the men behind the walls. “I can kill you all without breaking a sweat. Don’t die for minimum wage.” James turned is attention to Sam again. “Tell them to piss off; you know I will kill them all.”
“Fuck them, and fuck you. You’re all dead anyways if you try and print that paper.”
“See this is where you are short sided, just like Holloway. He wants the information in my head, and he is the only one with a time machine that is portable and goes both ways. So I make him come get me, then it is just a matter of convincing him of my worth.”
“You really are insane, and I won’t allow this to happen, not in my home.” Sam said standing up.
“Then you have no use to me.” James said and pulled the trigger of his gun, splattering the contents of Sam’s head against his very expensive chair ending his life.
This act of violence snapped Dylan out of his momentary trance and he sprung up trying to tackle James. James new he was going to do that so he swung his gun around against the bridge of Dylan’s nose breaking it and sending him to the ground in pain.
“What the fuck are you doing man?” James asked angry and confused.
“What the fuck am I doing? What the fuck are you doing, how could you have killed all those people?”
“I asked you to trust me.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You are a mass murderer; you have killed thousands of people. You manipulate and steal from entire worlds. You fucking lied to me all along.”
“I told you I lied to you and told I wouldn’t lie anymore.”
“Like that makes it all ok. Are you kidding me? You are not my friend, you killed my friend.” Dylan said marveling at how quick love and admiration can become hate and pain.
“I am your friend.”
“Bullshit, you are just trying to manipulate me like you have all along. My friend would never have done what you have.”
“Believe me if the situation was reversed he would have.”
One of the security cards kicked open the door sending splinters across the room and pointed his gun at James. Dylan noticed the lack of surprise on James’s face. This confused him; he knew James must have known this was going to happen. Did Dylan convince him of his the error of his ways? Was James giving up? James dropped his gun and raised his hands into the air. The security guard cautiously approached obviously intimidated by his would be prisoner. Yet James did not fight, the security guard moved James’s hands behind his back, he didn’t have any sort of handcuffs so he loosely held both of his wrists with one hand and pointed his gun at the base of James’s skull with the other.
“Now move.” The Security guard yelled with a false bravado. Three other security guards came into the door and pointed there guns at James. One of which pulled out a pair of handcuffs and approached James. When the guard tried to move James he twisted his wrist easily breaking the security guards hold and also stealing his weapon. In one quick motion he spun behind the guard and brought the guards arm with him completely reversing the previous scenario. One of the guards in front had fired his weapon as soon as he had registered James’s movement. Unfortunately for his co worker he was slow on the draw and managed to pull the trigger moments after James was behind the guard. The bullet buried deep inside the mans shoulder and he gave out a scream of pain.
“I told you all to fuck off.” James throws his human shield towards the other guards. The hero guard from before felt the need to make up for his previous mistake and took this vulnerable moment to fire his gun again this time directly at James. The explosion from the gunshot seemed to echo. James did not fall however he simply held out his free hand and closed it. The hero guard stared in confusion, he new his aim wasn’t that bad, he must have hit his target somewhere.
“Who wants to make the next failed attempt?” James asked as he threw the object in his hand at the guards. “Because the next hero dies.”
The hero guard caught the object and looked at it. It was two bullets that had collided and melded together. He realized the echo from earlier was no an echo after all, this man had fired his own gun catching the bullet with his own. The guard’s eyes widened as he stared at the impossible. He looked up at James’s cold expressionless face.
“You guys are making it very difficult not to kill you.” James said with the smallest of smirks appearing on his lips. With this statement Sam Deckons security guards, who were paid slightly above minimum wage vacated the premises.
James turned his attention back to Dylan who now had the gun in his hand that James had dropped earlier. He was pointing the gun at James and his hands were shaking.
“I asked you to trust me.” James stated.
“Yeah well a lot of bullshit comes out of your mouth.” Dylan said with his blood running down his face.
James walked closer so the barrel of the gun was pressed against his forehead. “If you are going to do it, then do it, this is your one chance, I owe you that.”
Dylan held the gun, his finger on the trigger. He wanted to pull it, but didn’t. James pulled the gun out of his hand and punched Dylan sending him to the floor again. Hey then picked up the dropped handcuffs and used them on Dylan, handcuffing him to the very large overpriced table in the room. He kicked the gun Dylan was holding away from him and stepped away from him again.
“Now we do things on my terms. Open up your laptop and sign online.”
Dylan was betrayed, beaten, handcuffed and defeated. He had no fight left in him and did what he was told.
“Go to tl1 dot com and open a chat.” James ordered and Dylan followed. “Post your story in there but don’t hit enter yet.” James scanned the room looking at all of the windows and possible doors into it. He spotted a corner where he would only be visible by one of the windows and none of the doors. “I want you to hit enter in five, four, three, two…”
James’s count was interrupted with three abrupt gunshots from his own weapon, No more then five feet in front of him were three second explosions of liquid. Dylan realized that who ever was firing at him was trying to subdue him not kill him. All three of the large windows crashed as men dressed in all black dove in, the door leading into this room crashed open as well with solders dressed in the same uniform. The swarmed James wielding batons but James was always one step ahead. One would dive at him and he would duck and fire upon him as he flew over his head. Seven soldiers entered. However unlike the guards James was not showing any mercy on this lot. Seven soldiers entered and seven soldiers died. Standing amidst the bodies covered in the blood of the soldiers James screamed out.
“Holloway! How many more soldiers have to die before you show your face? I just want to talk to you. It doesn’t have to go down like this.”
A man walked in the room from the door. This man was dressed in an all white suit and appeared to be in his late fifties. The man had a very thick ring that vaguely resembled a class ring and had short well kept hair with a matching beard.
“Ask and you shall receive James. What could you possibly be hoping to accomplish here.”
“You need what is in my head, I have 20 years of information that has yet to be debriefed, and there is some valuable shit in here.”
“You think after killing 7 of my soldiers and one of my friends that I would allow you to come back?”
“Yes because you’re a heartless piece of shit and you know how good I am at what I do. I am too more valuable alive then I am as a statement.”
“You are overestimating your own worth.”
James looked at Holloway with a disapproving glance. “Come now, let’s be honest. No one else has provided results like I have. Is it a respect thing, fine we just lie to everyone about what happened here?”
“It’s too late James, you have made too big of a mess, we can’t just wash this all away.”
“Yes we can. Plan B.”
Dylan knew what this meant, suddenly now fighting for his life again started tried to drag himself to his feet. “Fuck you assholes; you can’t just kill all of these people to cover up your own fuck ups.”
“People?” Holloway said addressing Dylan for the first time. “You aren’t people, you are reflections of people. The only reason you exist is because man bested time and the only way it could maintain itself was to create you. You are a scientific byproduct. Killing you is no worse then breaking a mirror. You’re a shadow. I created this world with my machine, and If god creates the world that gives him the authority to end it.”
“Holloway, keep your eye on the prize, do we got a deal or what.”
“So let me get this straight, you want me to allow you to come back to work for me and you are willing to wash away this time line entirely to do it. It is true that you are the best I have.” Holloway stroked his beard.
“James look at me.” Dylan said in his last chance try for saving his own world. James looked at him. “Has the all been a lie? Has this all been you manipulating me just so could fucking get back home, at the expense of the billions of people on this line. People James, not shadows or reflections, people.”
James had one of his famous silent moments but didn’t respond. He just looked at Holloway.
“He gets to come with me.” James said
“Fuck you, I would rather die here.” Dylan spit back.
“Fair enough,” Holloway responds. “But your friend brings up an interesting point.”
“Being?” James asked concerned.
“You are a manipulative bastard; I need to know you are not playing some angle. Kill him.”
“No, he can come with he can be useful.”
“He already said he wasn’t going to go. Besides what does it matter, he is a shadow and he as well as everyone else in this reflection will be dying as soon as we leave.”
Holloway pulled out a metal cylinder with a cap on the top. James knew exactly what that was. That was plan B. Inside that container was a virus and inside that lid was a catalyst, the two apart were harmless but if that detonator went off it would spray a chemical into that virus mutating it in to something that would become air born. The virus moved fast and killed even faster. Its fatality rate was ninety eight percent and the few who remained never survived long enough to repopulate. Back in James’s time line was the switch that activated the detonator. He himself had planted Plan B in five timelines. He still has nightmares about it.
“Dylan listen man this life is not so bad, with the two of us working together it won’t be lonely either, and we can be like two lobsters.”
Dylan didn’t just look at James, he locked eyes with him, he knew these words were to be his last and he wanted to make sure the man that there were directed at understood them fully. “I should have pulled the trigger when you gave me the chance. I was wrong to trust you.”
“There you have it, now kill him or die with this Time line. You have no other choice.” Holloway demanded.
“You’re right.” James said and pulled the trigger ending his friends life.
The End