Time Flux: Welcome to the New World

James Clock

"Guys, I think its best that we stay here for a while. We need to regroup and reassess" Said Oz, brushing the sand from his trousers

The group had landed onshore. Oz knew exactly what one but hadn't thought to tell the rest of the team yet. Hannah rang out her hair and then walked over to the professor.

"Mr Rutherford, are you okay?"

"Unbelievably so yes. I'm not sure how. That was quite a chaotic event!" Said Ernest with a smile

She looked round to see Oz with his arm around Lila making sure she was okay. Hannah could not see Clock. She peered into the cabin of the pod, he wasn't there either.

"Oz, where is Clock?" She asked

"Over there sat next to the water, think he's cleaning his boots or something" Oz responded, pointing to the distance

Hannah put her hair into a messy ponytail and walked toward Clock. Walking on the sand was never graceful but somehow Hannah was capable of even that. Clock was shoreside, his torso was completely naked, and he was washing his black boots with his shirt as a cloth. His leather jacket was folded on the sand next to him. As Hannah strode toward him, she noticed for this first time the marks of war on his body. Clock had many scars. A long one running from the back of his head that curved down toward his left hip along with many other smaller wounds.

Hannah sat down next to where he had placed his jacket and put her hand's palm down behind her and lent back in the moonlight. She looked up at the stars, they were beautiful. The sky in her time was miserably dangerous. The lack of artificial light made it so she could see the millions and millions of stars very clearly. This was something only possible in pictures and hologram's in her time.

"Amazing, how did we do this to ourselves?" She said, eyes still transfixed upward

James did not reply. Instead, choosing to continue his boot cleaning.

"Who was she?" She asked again

James flinched slightly and paused momentarily. A frown creased his rugged face and a short but serious side-glance was directed at Hannah.

"James... please."

Clock placed his shining boots on the ground and pulled his wet, dirty sweatshirt over his top half and sat slowly down next to Hannah. He let out an elongated sigh and then took an even deeper breath.

"Did you know that if you go into the central quarantine. The electrical systems still run" James said calmly

"In midtown?"

"Yep"

"I did not."

"Back before the world went to shit, it was a shopping mall. Filled with laughter and people buying laptops and toys and other pointless crap. But they were happy. I was happy"

"James?"

"When I was 16, in my senior cadetship, I met the most amazing girl..."

Hannah saw a look on his face she had never seen.

"Dawne. I always used to tell her they named her that because she brought daylight to my life and everyone around her. She always laughed it off but... it was true for me. We met in that shopping mall. The world was well on its way to fuck but for that little time, it was still alive and kicking. Dawne and I used to go to this one little place for hot drinks. I would always have just a black coffee but Dawne, she would get this ridiculous hot chocolate with mounds of cream and chocolate bits, it was crazy. But she loved it and I loved watching her eat it. God, that smile..."