Peppermint

Chapter 37 - Heartbeat City

***GABE***

TJ will come back, I'm sure of it. But what am I supposed to do? Leave him behind to help join the search for more time meteorites? What if some other Peppermint plant comes by and steals his corpse? Besides, I feel responsible for his death, somehow. This must be how it's like for Alex all the time, with that hero complex from which he tends to occasionally suffer. Now it's my turn to step into those Vans for more than a minute.

Does Alex still wear Vans? He may have switched to Converse by now. Or Nikes, given how he's been more into working out in the last year or so. Actually, probably not, since I've been into Nikes myself. Although, living apart from me, maybe he finds himself subconsciously mirroring my fashion choices rather than deliberately trying to differentiate himself from me? After all, Mom used to get us the same threads all the time, right down to underwear. Until the day when Mom sorted our laundry wrong, and I decided to spend a summer day pantsless. And Alex, who just wanted to join me for a day of video games, also pantsless, freaked out because I'd put on his favorite Spidey-skivvies, the ones that had the darker red logo pattern than mine. How could he tell? I'm still not sure, but my prevailing theory is that Alex either took longer to learn how to jerk off, or was just smart enough to not do it in his-

"Ew, gross."

For a second, my heart stops, because I think it's TJ talking to me - and because I realize I've just been telling this gross story out loud. I swear it's his voice, but his mouth doesn't move. No part of him does. So where's the voice coming from? My imagination? It could be. Maybe that's just how I react to people dying. I remember when Russell died, I still kept on hearing him talk to me sometimes. What can I say? That guy was always memorable, if only because he could never shut the bloody hell up. He chattered all the way to the end, yes he did.

I wish TJ could've had that chance.

But of course he had to have his body hijacked by a guy claiming to be God. That fucking sucks, not even getting to have your last words on your own terms. I know if I'd had mine that way, if I could play my Prime 'Verse body's death back again, I would say something so unspeakably rude to Leah Cabrera, I'd probably have skipped the Second 'Verse and gone straight to Purga-

"What, you'd have told her to suck your gay dick? I'd have done the same."

Please, TJ, stop reading my mind and talking to me while you're dead. You're not even gay anyway, so what business would you have saying shit like that? You're just distracting me until the others get back and we can fix you up, am I right?

Silence.

At least now I can confirm that the other guy in here, the guard or whatever he was, is dead. He's no longer moving either.

Until the whole room starts to tremble ever so slightly, that is.

Against my better judgment, I peer out the door and see Harris leading the charge of our friends. Those who aren't still upstairs, that is. Whatever number of friends I've got heading my way, though, none of them are carrying any time meteorites.

"Move! Move, Gabe, move!" Harris waves his arms at me, his voice at least an octave lower than normal so he can project it better.

"What the hell?" I look from Harris to TJ and back again. Harris races up to me, stopping to catch his breath. He's got his hands on his knees and his head between both pairs. I lay my hand on his shoulders, which are sticky with sweat even through his hoodie. "Baby, talk to me. What's happening?"

"They almost flushed us the fuck out to sea, that's what's happening!" Kensi shakes her head, which sprays us all with water. Guess Harris isn't just covered in sweat after all. I sniff him as greatly but subtly as I can - sweet Christmas, is that sewage? Kensi must not be kidding about the flush. But why would they-