The Flicker Of Two Lines

Chapter 1 Cont.

Kai spotted a baseball-size chuck of loose pavement about 10 feet ahead of him on the left. How can I make it there? Ah, fuggit. Kai ducked and ran the ten feet toward the weapon. The man by the car still stood completely motionless, looking at the spot where Kai was, not where he had moved to. Whatever trippy shit he took, Kai noted, I need to avoid it. Since his assailant seemed perfectly incapacitated at the moment, Kai decided it was time to move. Placing the projectile in his right hand, he wound up and chucked it at the windshield of the car. Since Mr. Gunman was obviously out to lunch, Kai figured he'd stand a better chance of escaping if the driver couldn't see him. Stay on the right side of the alley, Kai reminded himself. All this thinking had distracted Kai from the phenomenon right in front of him. The piece of pavement hadn't struck the windshield. In fact, it had only traveled about 5 feet and was now floating in mid-air. Kai's heart rate sped up about 40 beats. Is this still a dream? Suddenly Kai noticed that everything was far too silent.

"If I were you, I would be moving my ass right about now"

Kai froze in his tracks. Was it a voice? No, it was too clear. Too precise. Kai's hearing had never been spectacular because a problem with his inner ears and many, many surgeries as a child had left significant scar tissue on his eardrums. Slowly, Kai turned around.

"You listen about as well as expected." The purple man in front of him said. The purple man? Said? Kai was beginning to think that the drink he'd ordered inside must have been laced with the same substance the man holding the gun had taken. The whatever it was had not moved its lips as it talked to him.

"Wha-"

"No time for that! Do you realize that if I continue to hold time up for you like this much longer, you will start to go into hypothermia?"

Kai was cold. Very cold. He hadn't noticed it because of the excessive amounts of adrenaline being pumped into his system but now that Mr. Purps had mentioned it, Kai saw the condensation on their breaths. The purple man seemed to be turning slightly red. What was going on here?

"You stopped time? Who--"