Timestone

Chapter Thirty-One ϟ Taken

One guard holds Vela's arms, and the other has her legs. A woman walks behind them, taze at the ready. I freeze with fear, hoping with everything inside of me that she's alive. The guards spot me against the cliff edge. The two guards drop Vela, each pulling out a taze.

"Hands in the air!" one of them shouts.

I don't know if their weapons will be effective this far away, but I comply. The guards speak among themselves as I stand with raised arms.

"Don't move, or you and the girl both die," the female guard shouts.

Relief hits. Vela is alive. They've only stunned her.

One of the men walks toward me. My brain loosens from the initial shock, and I remember the timegun in my waistband. Could I rescue Vela and get us out of here? It seems unlikely, if not impossible. I would have to pull the gun out, make a rushed shot, hoping I land close enough to Vela, and then leap both of us away—all while three guards fire tazes at us. No chance.

The approaching guard stops short twenty feet away. A sudden look of surprise appears on his face. He's staring at my forehead. He yells to his companions without taking his eyes or taze off me. "It's him! We got him!" He secures his grip on the taze and fires.

An electric, burning sensation hits the edge of my hip bone. I collapse. The right side of my body, from my knee to my arm, numbly tingles. But the rest of me feels okay. The shot only grazed my side. I wiggle my toes with no problem. I curl the fingers on each hand just enough to tell I still have movement. But I remain still so the guard will think he has immobilized me. From the corner of my eye, I watch him put his taze away and approach.

My mind races. I need to do something. If I let the guard take me, he'll find the timegun. If I fight, I'll be outnumbered by three armed guards. They'd still end up with the timegun.

I could throw the timegun off the cliff. It will break on impact. The guards will take Vela and me as prisoners, but at least Tanek won't get his hands on the timegun. Then, I think better of it. The guards would retrieve the gun. Tanek's engineers could fix it—or pattern a new one from it.

Then I realize, I should just jump off the cliff. That should have occurred to me sooner, but plunging off a two-hundred-foot cliff isn't something a rational mind usually considers. I can use the timegun to land safely and then pretend to be dead. I'm unsure how to save Vela after that, but it will buy me some time. And I'll have the advantage of surprise after that.

The guard nears, just steps away. I have nothing to lose. I bolt up and reach for the timegun. But I don't have time to jump. The guard reacts instantly. He dives toward me. Grabbing the barrel of the timegun, he tries to wrestle it away. I steady my leg to gain leverage and tug back with all my strength. The guard loses his grip and falls into me. I brace myself for the oncoming body slam into the dirt. Instead, a fright like I've never experienced hits me.

We run out of ground. A scream of horror escapes our mouths as we fall over the edge.

ϟ ϟ ϟ

I'm not sure how long it takes to realize I'm not dead. The terror of falling pulls me into my mind's realm of slowed-down time. I find myself suspended upside-down in mid-air with the guard's arms around my waist. I'm clutching the timegun in my outstretched arms.

Once again, I'm confused about how my mind can do this. Timestone can speed up the flow of time, but that's not what's happening here. Only my mind has sped up. My body is sluggish, still operating in normal time. My mind is merely perceiving everything to be in slow motion.

You would think hanging upside down, seeing the ground a couple hundred feet below, would be terrifying. Well, it is. But my fear subsides because I know I can save us. I concentrate on moving the timegun to get a lock on the ground.

As time drags, we descend ever-so-slowly. I sluggishly aim the timegun. The crosshairs will appear on the ground any second, and we'll be safe.

Then, I start to worry about the guard. I notice that his grip has loosened. If he lets go before I can fire the timegun, he'll continue to the ground in free fall. Good is my initial thought. But I immediately repent. This man is only performing his duty. He hasn't killed Vela nor tried to kill me. I don't want him to die.

The ground speeds toward us faster and faster. Time is running out. Fifty feet to the ground remain when the crosshairs appear. One of the guard's arms has slipped away. I feel the other on my leg. Please let that be enough contact. I fire the timegun.

Everything flashes out. I collapse headfirst into a heap on the ground, landing on top of the gun. I hear a sickening sound in the distance, like a giant pumpkin smashing. The guard didn't materialize with me. I close my eyes and press my face into the dirt as tears fill my eyes.

I want to cry for a while, but I don't have the luxury. The other guards will be coming to peer over the cliff to satisfy their curiosity. If they see only one body on the ground, they'll know I survived. I need them to believe I'm dead.

I aim the timegun near the fallen guard, but the crosshairs don't appear. I pull the trigger anyway. Nothing happens. The gun's power indicator light is off. I must have accidentally powered it down when I fell on it. I press the power button. I tap it a few more times. Each time, nothing happens. It's broken. My heart stops and turns icy. How will I get Vela back?

I shove that terrifying thought back inside and take a deep breath—one thing at a time.

Being inside the time dilation bubble, I know I can move ten times faster than the guards atop the cliff. Tucking the timegun into my waistband, I run toward the fallen guard. I stop short and turn away, trying to hold back vomit. Then, I puke.

Laying on my back, I position my limbs awkwardly to leave no doubt about my death. And then I wait. After two or three minutes, the female guard appears at the top. She barely seems to be moving. Finally, she turns and disappears.

I lay motionless for several more minutes in case the other guard decides to peek down. Then, satisfied they've moved on, I stand and run. I have to get Vela back—that remains the only thing on my mind. But, with a broken timegun, it seems impossible. I need to find Marco.

I run the entire distance from the cliff.

When I arrive, a lady strolls down the path nearthe printer cavern. It's Camila. I run to her. She seems puzzled and upset tosee me. She pulls out a taze but doesn't fire it. Instead, she swings it intomy head. The world turns black.