RIFT Anthology: Book 4: ZoiTech

A Brief Break

Rift returns Kerys back to her time and helps her in through her front door. Harper comes downstairs to find her burnt and bleeding.

"Oh my God."

She helps Kerys into the living room and sits her down on the sofa.

"You promised she wouldn't get hurt," Harper shouts.

"What? No I didn't! My words were: I can't guarantee anything."

Kerys then backs him up, "That's true. He did say that."

"See!"

Harper then walks off, saying, "Fine, just stay here. I'm gonna get you water."

Rift looks at Kerys and says, "Is she getting you water because you're a plant or cuz you're dehydrated?"

"I dunno, both."

There's a moment of silence before Rift says, "Hey, I just wanna thank you for helping me. You had every reason to walk away."

"Don't get me wrong, I considered bailin' on the idea but you were genuine and needed help. I'm not who I used to be. If I could right the wrong between us, then that seemed like an opportunity I shouldn't pass up."

"Ew, does this mean we're friends?" he asks.

"Ew, I think it might."

Rift takes out his phone and says, "I need to call Emma, I'll be back in a sec."

"Aight," she replies, lying back on the couch.

Rift walks out to the front porch of the house and calls Emma.

"Hey, everything okay?" she asks.

"Just about. We killed her clone and killed the guy behind it, but we're in bad shape. Kerys especially."

"Jeez, that bad?"

"Yeah, but we're back at hers. Harper is looking after her now. I'm gonna maybe stay for a bit just to make sure she's okay too."

"You making sure Kerys is okay? That's new. What happened on your trip?"

"We made up. Sure, she's still a pain in the ass, but she's changed."

"We've all changed."

"Funny how time will do that."

"Alright well, I'll hopefully hear from you soon."

"Yeah, see you soon."

Rift hangs up.

#

Back in the future, Red Sun is cleaning up the mess at ZoiTech. He shoots temporary blackholes sucking up the debris and remains of the dead. All of the thorns get sucked up too so Kerys can't be cloned again. Red Sun sets explosive charges all over the facility and kills any remaining staff. He then later finds a freezer cabinet and locates Kerys's blood in a vial. He thinks about stomping on it to destroy it but puts it in his pocket instead. Just in case of any reason that arises he might need Red Thorns blood. He sets the charges to go off in ten seconds and then portals back to the hideout.

A few minutes later, Rift returns back to see Red.

"Ah, you're back. I sorted out the rest of that ZoiTech problem for you."

"Thanks man. Means a lot."

Red then sets Red Thorn's blood on the table.

"Kept this for you though."

"Kerys's blood?"

"Yeah, I wanted you to make the call. Destroy it, or keep it. A memento."

"Huh. Thanks. Now, I'm not sure. I'll keep it for now, but if I decide it should be destroyed, I'll do just that."

Red nods at him and Rift then walks into his room. He sets the vial on a shelf, looking at it.