"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." - Neil Armstrong
* * *
The team found Carter alone in a graveyard.
Jane had seen misery in many forms, but it was a word she reserved only for certain circumstances. Delivering the news that a soldier was coming home in a casket. Starving children in war-ravaged countries. And now, this.
Carter stood motionless in the pouring rain, his chiseled face hard as stone. His posture was defensive, as though he expected the world to crash down around him at any given moment. His bloodshot eyes stared unwaveringly at the name carved onto the gravestone in front of him, which read William Alec Carter.
The group approached under umbrellas as thunder rumbled from above. Alice laid a rose on Will's grave before gently touching Carter's arm,"Brody, I'm so sorry."
Carter's face trembled,"I knew this job had risks. But not like this."
Jane and Ezra placed their roses on the gravestone before Carter stifled a cold, heartbroken laugh,"This is my fault. The only reason they were out driving was because I was out passed curfew."
Jane shook her head,"You can't blame yourself, Carter."
"Yeah?" Carter snapped,"My brother is dead because I was out drinking. How is that not my fault?"
Carter took something from his jacket pocket, a toy army man. He held up the plastic soldier,"Will gave me this before I went overseas. He made me promise I'd bring it back to him."
Carter sat the army man down on the gravestone, and walked away. Alice ran to catch up with him, trying to shelter him from the rain with her umbrella.
Jane sighed before looking over to Ezra,"Sykes has officially crossed the line. I don't care what it takes, we're catching this guy."
Jane turned to leave before she glanced over her shoulder,"Ezra, you coming?"
Ezra gave a crestfallen nod toward the grave before following behind the colonel. Jane's cell phone began to ring, but the only thing she paid attention to was where to step on the squishy grass.
"Aren't you going to get that?" Ezra inquired after a moment.
Jane lifted a brow,"Hardly. Ever since we got back, I've been getting constant calls from some wrong number."
Another ring sounded, and Jane went to grab her phone in frustration. Ezra tapped on his wristwatch communicator, which buzzed in alert,"That's not your phone. Who you gonna call?"
* * *
"Sykes has used the time machine again," Agent Thorne announced as the group entered the laboratory.
Carter, who hadn't spoke a word since the graveyard, glared at the special agent furiously. He visibly began to seethe before charging down the metal staircase to the ground floor.
"Bring him back," Carter demanded.
Agent Thorne crossed her arms as he approached,"Beg your pardon?"
YOU ARE READING
Time After Time
Science FictionA time machine has been stolen. When Colonel Jane Vega is mysteriously transferred from the line of duty to South Dakota, the last thing she expected was adventure. She comes to find she has been assigned to lead a group of idiosyncratic individual...
