Hit Rewind

Marsh

They've realized the game's up. However, I have a different score to settle now.

Michael is reluctant to accept my help, but he soon realizes that there's no way he will be able to help Caitlin inside without help.

"Maybe it's not the babies," I suggest, but quickly lose the thought of explain Braxton-Hicks to them when Michael glares at me.

"Those are supposedly painless and go away with change of activity. Does Caitlin look like she's not in pain?"

Creepy, he just read my mind. Maybe he's not as stupid as I thought.

"However, she won't give birth until after her water has broken," I counter quickly. "So we still have some time."

"Will you both just shut up?" Caitlin manages before folding into herself again and letting out a gut-wrenching moan.

Michael looks like someone just stabbed him as he watches his girlfriend in pain. "I hope this was all worth it for you because if anything happens to my girls, you will suffer immensely."

The whispered threat from the older boy sends a chill down my spine, and I only help him get Caitlin inside, where she collapse into one of the four chairs.

"Her contractions are still twenty minutes apart," Leslie says, tapping her watch. "That's exactly the amount of time that the two of you took to stand there, help her walk, and argue over whether or not she was giving birth.

"Now that that's out of the way, would anyone like to explain why we are here?"

"Please take a seat," a familiar female voice answers.

Michael has already settled next to his girlfriend, running his hand over her back, and I feel a pang of jealousy.

I take one of the two remaining chairs, but Leslie, my king, stares shell-shocked at the ceiling.

"That sounded like my voice," she whispers.

Well, she wasn't suppose to pick up on that until I've had some time to mentally prepare them all.

"Worry about it later, Les," I tell her. "It might have just been your mind playing tricks on you."

She shoots me a look that tells me that she doesn't believe a word I just said and that she doesn't like my nickname. However, she does take a seat, and a screen flickers to life in front of us.

"Welcome to Hit Rewind, an agency devoted to making sure that the next generation has a future," a different voice intones as Hit Rewind's logo appears onscreen.

"In the world we currently inhabit, we are about a week away from nuclear warfare. Triggered by a group of cyberhackers that have turned the countries of the world against each other, the war promises to be bloody and brutal.

"However, due to technology developed more than twenty years ago, we have been able to pinpoint exactly how to prevent this war.

"That's where you come in. Each of your lives right now have contributed in some way to the world we are now living in. By finding the correct sequence, the right events, we will be able to stop the nuclear war before it even becomes a possibility in our time.

"Welcome to Hit Rewind, the company devoted to making sure that tomorrow is not the last day."

The rest of them are stunned; I can see in their eyes.

I was too the first time I saw it. The first that I realized that I had developed the technology that they were currently using... two years prior to them allowing my request.

I am the reason why they had even been able to try to correct the future by using the past. That's why I am so important.

That's why I am the queen, the most powerful piece on the board.

A minute after the video ends, two things happens.

Caitlin doubles over in pain again, and a door opens in the warehouse.

Out of that other room steps a face that I have become very familiar with the last two years.

I stand up, stride across the room, and stick out my hand. "Pleasure to finally meet you in person, Mr. Baker."

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Baker," he answers, and shakes my hand.

The looks on all of their faces are worth every drop of blood, sweat, and perseverance.

Progress with 8253

Note: Pleasure to see you again, Will. It has been a long time...twenty years, in fact, since I looked in the mirror and saw that face.

It's just as I remember from the pictures. I think you would agree that we only grew more handsome with age.