50k!!!!!
OH MY GOODNESS I WON!!!!!!!!!! I DID IT, I'M A NANOWRIMO WINNER!!!!!!!!
I'm almost jittery, I can't believe I made it. After three years of trying, I finally did it! The story isn't done, but I ended it in a good place. Ironically at the end of a page too. Enjoy!
Gen was looking around at the other buildings in the town. They were dark and quiet. Now and again she could see people swooshing together curtains or closing slats in windows. Brrrrr, she shivered, hoping they wouldn’t have to stay here long. If Jesse was feeling the same cold feeling she was getting, he didn’t show it. He marched right up to the old man and asked him point blank, “You seen a cart and team of horses come this way, old timer?”
“What if I did,” the old man didn’t break his stride in his rocking. “Won’t do you no good till you get outta town. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.”
“Yeah, we heard ya the first time,” Frank said under his breath. Jesse gave up on his questions and rejoined the other two at the hitching post as Gen got off her horse. “Well, the tracks lead here. I don’t know if we’ll get anything from the neighbors, this doesn’t seem like the kind of town that talks back to you.”
Gen nodded, looking down the main street at the almost set sun slipping behind the mountains. “I know what you mean, this place is creepy. Especially that place up on the hill.” She pointed at a really dark looking building up on the nearest hill away from town. It was at least two stories tall and even from this distance, it had seen better days. “What a setting for a Dracula movie,” Gen remarked. Frank mouthed at Jesse “Dracula?” and Jesse shrugged.
“Went that way, it did,” the old man remarked as if he was talking to himself. The three turned towards him, wondering if that was meant for their ears. “What did you say?” Jesse asked. “That wagon with the bundle in the back, driver all dressed in black like he’s goin’ to a funeral.” He stopped his rocking with a deliberate motion and looked Jesse right in the eyes. “Kinda looked like you, mister, but I’ve been wrong before.” An awkward silence hung in the air at that remark. Gen did her best to break it. “Um, so he went which way, did you say?”
The old man pointed a bony finger up at the old broken down house on the hill. “Up towards the old Wilson mansion.”
“Rats, I was afraid that was what he meant,” Gen said with a sigh.
Jesse beckoned the other two to follow him, “Thanks, old timer.” The old man jumped to his feet as they turned to go. He seemed more spry than they had first taken him for. “I warned ya! Don’t be goin’ up that hill.”
“Why not?” asked Frank.
“Spooks, I tell ya,” the old man insisted. “The Wilson place is haunted with ‘em.” Gen rolled her eyes at that. Sure it was a scary looking place, but that stuff was probably just all old wives tales. “Don’t you be turnin’ up your nose at no spooks, missy,” the old man told her. “I seen more things at that place than a man ought to at my age. Strange things go on at that place. Why just today, I seen...”
“Yeah, ok. Enough of your scare stories,” Jesse cut in. “Thanks again, we’ll be taking our leave now.” The three of them walked their horses away as the old man continued to talk at them. “Don’t come cryin’ to me when the spooks get ya’s. I warned ya, don’t say I didn’t now!” Gen was glad when they were out of earshot. “This town’s creepy enough without him talking up about ghosts and things,” she said. “Ah, don’t pay any attention to him, Miss Gen,” Frank told her. “Guys like him make a living out of telling stories like that. It’s just natural for them to invent tales to keep some company around to talk to.”
“Yeah, I get that. I just don’t get why I feel like everyone in this town is trying to keep us from seeing them.” Gen kept looking around, trying to find the eyes she felt were peering through the windows at them. “Maybe they don’t get strangers very often.”
It wasn’t a difficult climb up to the old mansion going up the hill. They walked most of the way, letting the horses take a break from riding all day. They soon reached a set of iron gates. Both of them were bent and sort of laying on their side, ready to fall in a good breeze. It was really nighttime now. The stars were starting to come through in the sky. The moon was almost full which lit their way well enough. “Nice cosy looking place, isn’t it?” Frank said with a hint of sarcasm. The dark towers rose up to cut into the night sky. It may have been a mansion at one time. Now it was just a broken down shell of a place, overgrown with weeds and ivy. This all just added to it’s inherent spookiness.
“Hey, over here,” Jesse called them over to a spot in the road. “Those tracks lead right up here. Our train robbing thief must be inside this place.”
“Great,” Gen said unenthusiastically. “Should we knock or ring the bell?” Her tone died away as a coyote howled mournfully in the distance. “Or maybe we could come back later. Like say when the sun is out?” she asked hopefully.
“You ain’t buying that old codger’s story about ghosts, are you?” Frank asked with a grin. “No, of course not,” Gen defended herself. “I just don’t think it’s safe to be tripping around a mansion in the middle of the night without a flashlight or something.”
“If it’s a light you want,” Jesse was fashioning a thick stick at the top with his knife. Soon he had a crude looking torch. “Light me up, Frank.” His brother struck a match and the torch burst into life. Gen still wasn’t convinced. “Look, if we don’t get the jump on him now, he’ll be gone by morning and we’ll never catch him. Best to catch your prey while it’s sleeping after all.” The two James brothers started walking towards the house. “What if your prey doesn’t sleep?” Gen said under her breath, following hesitantly. She caught up with them as they came up to the door. It was a large oaken door with a brass knocker. Gen dropped her voice down to a whisper. “We’re not really going in through the front door, are we? I thought the plan was to catch him by surprise.”
Jesse and Frank were checking their sixshooters for a second to make sure they were loaded. “WE aren’t doing anything. This is too dangerous for a lady, begging your pardon. I’m going to go through the front and Frank is going around the back. We’ll catch him between us like a fly.”
“What? I’m not letting you two go in there alone.”
The torch quivered as Frank tried to keep a straight face. “You hear that, Jesse? She thinks it’s too dangerous so she wants to go in instead of us.” The laughter died in his throat as there was a loud click. The two James brothers drew their weapons on instinct, but the click wasn’t from a gun. The thick oak door creaked on it’s hinges as it opened inwards. Jesse pushed Gen back away from the door, his gun ready to shoot the first thing that came out.
But nobody was there. Just the door by itself swinging open till it hit the wall behind it and stopped. “That can’t be good,” Gen said nervously. Jesse shushed her and nodded to Frank to go in and check it out. Frank gave him a look back that said, you owe me for this. And then he stepped inside. There was a pause as Jesse and Gen waited outside, trying to listen for what was going on inside. Finally, there was a quiet whistle from Frank indicating all clear. Jesse moved forward with Gen following close behind. Their torch lit up the main room. It had a high ceiling with a double sided staircase draped from the second floor down to them on each side of the room. There was a grandfather clock to one side, still ticking after all these years. The whole place smelled of dust and decaying walls. Frank was waving them over to look at something he found in the floor.
It was a set of footprints. And they weren’t any of their own. Jesse nodded and signed that they should look downstairs first. The two brothers, each holding their gun drawn and ready, began walking towards the room beyond the stairs. Jesse put Gen between the two of them. Frank had the front while Jesse brought up the rear. Gen carried the torch for light.
The first room they came to used to be the living room. Paintings were cracked and falling off the walls, which also happened to be cracking. Now and again, you could hear the wind come by the place and cause a board or two in the ceiling to groan and creak. Gen hoped since it was so old, one more night wouldn’t be too much to ask for it to stay together.
Just as they passed the torn couch there was a loud BANG! Gen jumped with a yelp, but Jesse caught her up and the three of them hit the floor. After a few seconds of quiet, Frank got to his knees, pointing his gun at each exit in turn. “Stay down,” Jesse told Gen as he left her on the floor and took the torch from her. He and Frank walked cautiously back towards the main room. They weren’t gone long, but to Gen it felt like an eternity before she saw the dancing light of the torch walking back towards her. “The door closed is all,” Jesse told her as Frank helped her off of the floor. “Must have been the wind.”
“Y-y-yeah...must have...” Gen said, trying to convince herself. “Doesn’t seem to be downstairs,” Frank said. “Or otherwise, he would have come running at that sound. I don’t know why anyone would pick a place like this for a hideout.”
Gen eyed the creepy décor. “Maybe he doesn’t want to be bothered.”
“Well yeah, that’s obvious, but if I had a stash of gold like that, this is the last place I’d want to end up with it.” Frank brushed off the dust from the top of an old grand piano. It probably wouldn’t play again in that condition.
“Frank, you hear that?” Jesse asked, cocking his head upwards. “No what?” The three of them fell silent to listen. After a few seconds, Jesse shook his head. “Must have been imagining it,” he said.
A muffled scraping sound came from the upstairs. Gen’s eyes got big as she looked at the other two. They looked equally surprised at the sound, so Gen knew she wasn’t the only one imagining it. Jesse blew out the torch as Frank pulled the couch around as a shield. “What you do that for?” Gen asked in a terse whisper, listening as the scraping started gathering a footstep quality. “So we don’t get found,” he said, ducking her back down onto the floor behind the couch. It was really dark now, with shadows from the moon coming in through the windows. The James brothers had taken up positions for shooting around the couch at whatever was going to come through the door.
The scraping kept up, coming closer to them. It brought up images of chains being dragged across the floor by someone that was coming towards them. The three of them crouched behind the couch, ready to spring or flee at a moment's notice. Jesse glanced over at Frank and saw beads of sweat starting on his brow. "Keep ahold of yourself," he whispered to him, not losing his aim on the doorway.
Just then, a chill went through the room. "Is it getting colder in here, or is it just me?" Frank asked, trying to keep it light. Gen turned to see the window that had been closed was now open and the outside draft was coming in, blowing aside the dusty draperies. "That window was closed, wasn't it?" she asked, more nervous now than before. A low moaning noise started in from the rafters down towards them. At first, it sounded like the wind but it got progressively louder. Gen stifled a gasp as she saw a chair start to slide it's way across the floor towards her. "Oh, Nellie Bell..." Frank exclaimed as if he didn't believe his eyes. Gen peeked over the couch and found out why. Sliding through the side wall was a ghost. A real bonifide ghost. It looked like those generic ghosts from the movies, but more real. It was partially see through and floating in mid air like a bedsheet on a wire. But there were no wires to be seen. The three of them abandoned the couch and started backing up towards another door. The two men still had their guns trained out in front of them. "What do we do Jesse?" Frank asked, shooting a look at his brother. Jesse was fighting the fact that he'd never believed in ghosts. As an answer, he made a decision, stood his ground, and fired at the apparition. Nothing happened, the ghost kept floating towards them. They backed up another step and both Jesse and Frank took aim and fired on it. Still no effect. Gen could just barely see the ripples of the bullets passing through the "skin" of the ghost.
"Let's get out of here," Frank said, grabbing Gen to pull her out of the room and harms way. Jesse followed back into the main room. They came up to the old oak door and Frank yanked on the handle. "Locked! We're trapped!" Another ghostly howl went through the house and the three spun around to see another figure on the steps above them. This one seemed more human looking then the first. It could have been a person doused in flour but it was slightly glowing which did away with that idea. It was starting to come down the stairs towards them. Frank started putting his shoulder to the door in an effort to get it open. But unlike everything else in the house, this door was built to last. "Jesse, help me! We got to get out of here."
"Wait a second," Jesse looked up at the stranger coming towards them. "Isn't that...?" Gen saw it too. It was the rocking chair old man from the town. Gaining courage from that, Jesse called up at him, "Enough of your parlor tricks, old man! We ain't people to be trifled with. You hear me?!" The man seemed to hear as he looked straight at them, but he didn't slacken his pace. Frank and Jesse drew their guns again and fired two or three rounds at the white man. The man stopped as the bullets hit him but he didn't fall or give any indication of being hit. Only Gen saw the slight alteration in his figure. She recognized that slight change. It was the same thing that happened when she phased through walls and handcuffs. This then was the quatrix! "Come on Frank," Jesse said, abandoning the idea of shooting him down. The two brothers began running towards the white figure with full intent of taking him down. "No don't!" Gen yelled for them to stop. They had no idea what they were attacking.
The old man swatted Frank in the chest as he reached him first. Frank went flying head over heels over the railing towards the ground floor. Gen moved faster than she ever had before and got beneath him to break his fall. He landed on her in a heap, squashing her beneath him. "Ow," he said, trying to untangle himself from Gen.
Gen looked up from the floor and saw Jesse taking a candle stick from the wall to strike the figure with. The metal candle stick went straight through the man and stopped at his midsection. Jesse tugged on it, finding it stuck in the man. The white figure struck out with a fist, catching Jesse across the jaw. He tumbled down the stairs to the bottom and lay still. "No!" Gen yelled, trying her hardest to get Frank off of her. The ghostly figure proceeded with his decent down the stairs. Except he didn't walk, he floated down like he was on wires. Gen could see his form changing to the one that she knew best. The black skin tight outfit from neck to ankle. The face was no longer familiar to her. The stranger drew a concealed weapon and fired at Frank and Gen. A dart hit Frank in the knee and he went down with a cry. "I'm hit! Jesse! I'm hit!" In a few seconds he was passed out from the tranquilizer dart. The quatrix fired at Gen, but she was ready for it. Thinking quickly, she phased herself and the dart passed harmlessly through her and buried itself in a rotten wall.
There was a small silver ripple that ran through the Quatrix as he stood still and silent for a moment. It was as if he was analyzing the situation. Gen was panicky. She couldn’t let anything happen to Frank or Jesse because that would change history. And she couldn’t let this Quatrix complete his plans. She had to get the two men out of there. Quickly, she grabbed Frank’s legs and started to pull and drag him towards the front door as fast as she could. The Quatrix started walking towards them slowly with his gun still pointed at Gen, deciding what move to make. Gen was banking on the fact that this was something Truax hadn’t thought of in advance. If he had programmed this Quatrix to scare off people from this house, a person who could phase and avoid darts might throw a monkey wrench into the quatrix’s programming. Grunting and struggling with all her might, she made it to the door and pulled on the handle. Surprisingly it flung open before her.
It was pouring outside. They must not have noticed the storm building while they were coming towards the house. Gen looked helplessly out at the torrents of rain coming down, flooding the pathway with water. A bolt of lightning pierced the sky and thunder boomed overhead. What was she going to do? Leave Frank out in the rain and toss Jesse out after him?
A hand grabbed her around the throat from behind. Apparently the Quatrix still identified her as a threat and had made it’s decision. Gen grabbed at the hand, choking and gasping. Remembering what had happened in the train robbers hideout, Gen tried something new. The skin at her neck turned silvery black. The quatrix’s hand slipped through as Gen phased through it and jumped away. She rubbed her neck as if she could still feel the hand that had been on it, backing away with slow steps. “Ok,” she told the Quatrix, hoping that maybe words could distract it. “It’s just you and me is it?” She was also hoping she could take it’s attention off of the other two. Of course, if he mopped the floor with her, it wouldn’t matter anyway. She was backing up towards one of the staircases. Maybe an uphill advantage would be a good thing. The Quatrix was just standing there, looking at her ominously. Gen wished she could reach him, wished that she could override the programming that Truax had pumped into it. But she’d have to get to his EPAC to do that, providing that he even had one.
There was no warning as the Quatrix lunged at her in a full on attack. Gen’s flailing hand found a broken two-by-four at the last second and she slammed it down on the quatrix’s head as hard as she could. The blow did shift the man’s attack to miss her, but he still got up as if nothing had happened. Gen swung again but this time he was ready for it. The piece of wood passed harmlessly through him entirely. “Rats,” Gen said, dropping the piece of wood in her haste. The Quatrix was now between her and the stairs. As he started to jump at her again, Gen pushed it to the max and rushed back at him. Her entire body turned liquidy silver black and she threw herself straight through him.
It was almost in slow motion for a split second. Something was happening and Gen was understanding. She suddenly knew what Truax’s plans were for this part of time. It was as if she was absorbing the programming straight from the Quatrix as she passed through him. As she came out the other side, Gen didn’t waste any time. She vaulted herself up the steps, two at a time. The Quatrix turned and gave chase.
At the top of the stairs was random doors in a corridor. Gen tried the first one but it was locked. No need, Gen thought phasing through the door. Inside the room was a bunch of musty broken down furniture. She didn’t have much time before she was going to have company and she needed to come up with a way to beat this guy.
Her wrist was beeping. It took a second for Gen to process that it was her EPAC. She quickly pulled it up. The readout was flashing:
Gravity Programming found
Electrical Warfare Programming found
Basic Programming found
She had programming now? It must have been from the other Quatrix. Gen didn’t feel like she was being controlled but...there was something...
She knew other things besides Truax’s plan. And she knew how to use them. It was really strange. The door suddenly came off it’s hinges with a loud bang. It was supplemented by the thundering noise from the outside storm. Lighting flashed as the Quatrix leapt into the room straight at Gen. Without thinking Gen leapt too. Straight up and onto the ceiling. The Quatrix missed by a mile, landing in a pile of old wood left by the owner from demolishing a bed. Gen could barely believe it. She was laying on her back on the ceiling and sticking there! She stood up, upside down. The Quatrix had gathered itself and was turning around. Before it could, Gen had somersaulted off of the ceiling and was throwing a kick in his direction. This time, he wasn’t ready for it. The kick landed smartly on the side of his head. The Quatrix rolled away and found his footing under him. Lightning flashed lighting up the room. Gen could see the other Quatrix holding his hands one above the other as if holding an imaginary object. He was in a fighting stance, poised for another attack. Something was happening between his fingers. Sparks were dancing along his fingers and collecting inbetween his hands. Gen leapt to the side just as the Quatrix tossed a ball of electricity at her. It just barely missed and buried itself in the wall where Gen used to be. Gen rolled to her feet and leapt for the ceiling. Only this time, she didn’t stop at the ceiling. She went right through it.
In the attic, Gen came up through the floor. She could see two windows on the slant of the roof off to one side. The rain was pouring down them and lightning and thunder were playing a symphony outside. She was starting to feel awfully tired. I probably need to charge up again, she thought. She needed to find something electrical if she was going to continue the fight. Only, her heart sank into her toes as she realized this was the old west. There wasn’t any electrical objects anywhere. No plugs, no outlets. A hand came up through the floor and grabbed onto her ankle. Gen gave a shout and phased through the hand quickly. It fell back into the floor, but grabbed on before it disappeared entirely. The Quatrix was pulling himself up by hanging onto his ceiling, her floor and dragging himself up. Gen backed up, trying to think of what to do. In the dark, she found a metal bar, probably from when the gate was made. She hefted it and found it wasn’t too heavy to swing. As the Quatrix phased up through the floor, Gen ran the metal bar straight at him. It went right through him and lodged in the wall behind him. But to no effect. He was still in liquid mode and it didn’t even touch him. He walked away from the bar stuck in the wall, leaving it behind.
Gen suddenly realized she smelled smoke. Something was burning. Oh no, Gen thought, remembering the torch they had blown out. It was possible that it hadn’t totally gone out. As the quatrix came at her, Gen aimed a couple of kicks wherever she could get them in. The floor was starting to get very hot and a couple of small flames were poking through the floor. This old place is so rickety, it will go up like a tinder box, Gen thought. She had to get back downstairs somehow to save the guys, but she didn’t get a chance to follow through on that thought. The Quatrix grabbed her and flung her really hard. She hit the double panes of glass for a window and crashed through them. Gen reached out to grab anything as she flew over the side of the roof in the rain. Her hands managed to find the side of the eaves and she gripped it for dear life. It almost didn’t hold her but it did stop her fall miraculously.
The Quatrix jumped up through the open window and landed with a thump on the side of the roof. Gen realized he must be implementing the gravity in himself to keep himself on the slippery roof tiles. As he started walking towards her, that gave her an idea. He was peering over the side at her. Gen gave him a big smile...and let go of the roof. The Quatrix took a step forward, trying to see where she hit. But Gen wasn’t on the ground. She was standing up on the side of the building as if it was solid ground. Wow, she thought to herself. This is amazingly cool.
A bolt of lightning struck the roof very close to where the Quatrix was standing. Gen moved up the side of the building quickly and got her footing on the top of the roof. She could see flames building inside of the attic where they had been. There was no telling how long this roof was going to hold them especially if it caught on fire. It really wasn’t safe up here with the thunder and the lightning...
Lightning! That was an electrical source. It was a crazy idea, but right now Gen didn’t have any others as the Quatrix started for her again. He looked like he meant to push her off the roof. Gen quickly positioned her hands over each other as the other Quatrix had done downstairs and prayed that she would live to see this through. Electrons were building between her fingers. Just as the Quatrix reached her, the buildup had enough attraction and a bolt of lightning shot down through the clouds, striking Gen head on. She tried to be prepared for it, but it was quite a jolt. Her skin liquiefied dramatically at the shock. She had to pull herself back together. The Quatrix had been thrown back by the shock and was on his back on the roof. He got up to his feet, but it was too late. Gen was lit up like a Christmas tree with the amount of electricity she had on board. Electricity shot from her hands straight at the Quatrix, striking him full on. “Phase through this!” she yelled above the sound of the storm. The electricity was quite a shock for the quatrix’s system. He convulsed, held in place by the electricity coming out of Gen’s fingers. Gen had thought correctly. This Quatrix wasn’t built for massive amounts of electricity. There had been powering stations in the future that each Quatrix could use. The professor had never built them for anything else. When Gen had let go of enough energy to calm down, the electricity stopped flowing from her.
The Quatrix swayed for a second and pitched headfirst off of the roof. There was a splat from below as he hit the muddy pathway. Gen staggered back a second too, amazed that it actually had worked. When she caught her breath, Gen slid down the side of the wall down the same way the Quatrix had fallen. She hung on to the wall with her fingers partially inside of it. As she hit the ground, she could see the inside of the house was in flames. Dashing inside, Gen found Frank where she had left him by the front door. Jesse was stirring near the flaming staircase. Gen leapt over the flames between her and Jesse, calling his name for him to wake up. Jesse groaned as she reached him and hauled him to his feet. It seemed like it was easier now that she had the energy to. She quickly flung him over her shoulder and dodged some falling debris that was on fire on her way out the door. It was still pouring outside but it was letting up to a drizzle and the thunder was moving off towards the mountains. Gen put Jesse down as close as she dared to the house and went back for Frank. She got him out just in time as the house collapsed behind them with a giant crash. Jesse was rubbing his head and starting to sit up, dazedly. Gen put Frank down next to him. “Stay put, I’ll be back,” she told him. She had to know if the Quatrix was completely disarmed. She had fried him pretty good.
The Quatrix was laying on his back in the mud quietly, his eyes closed, as she approached. Gen approached cautiously in case he was playing possum. She wasn’t really sure of how to check and see if he was dead or alive. Technically they didn’t have pulses or hearts. But he did have a large computer chip she could look at. And possibly and EPAC. When he didn’t move when she nudged him with her toe, Gen bent down and lifted his right wrist. The EPAC was there. It must have come up from his wrist as a failsafe when a Quatrix went down. Gen looked at it, trying to decipher the readout without the ident that Adrian had given her.
Without warning, the Quatrix woke up. He shot out a hand and shoved it inside of her. Gen gasped, feeling his hand phased inside of her. He was slowly draining away her energy to replenish himself. She could feel herself getting weaker. Desperate, Gen concentrated as hard as she could and reached inside of the Quatrix too. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but she had to stop the draining somehow. Her fingers brushed against the corner of the computer chip. In desperation, Gen grabbed the large flat computer chip and with every bit of energy she had left, she ripped it straight out of his black chest.
The Quatrix made a squealing noise of agony, withdrawing his hand in the process. Gen could breath again, the draining had stopped. After a few seconds of twitching, it was over. The Quatrix lay still as can be. Gen sat down in the mud, exhausted. It was then that the rain slackened a bit. Gen could see something happening to the body of the Quatrix. The black was dissolving and reforming itself. Gen looked at the large green chip in her hand, wondering what she had done to him. The body reformed slowly, taking the shape of a man. Gen could see the face. It wasn’t the same as the Quatrix had been in the house. This was a man’s face, unshaven with illkempt hair. His clothes formed into a old flannel shirt and jeans. Before Gen lay a middle aged man who could have been off the street in any town where she lived. He must have reverted back to his original form, Gen thought, getting closer for a better look.
She pulled back suddenly as the man opened his eyes. He looked around, scared, and found Gen bending over him. “Where...” it came out more of a weak croak than a word. The man stopped and tried again. “Where am I?” he asked in a anxious whisper. Gen didn’t quite know what to say. “You’re...safe. Try not to move now.” She paused before asking, “What’s your name?”
“John...John Meadows.”
“Where do you live?”
The man’s eyes teared up a bit at that question. “I don’t...have a home...I live...McDonald bridge...” He was having trouble getting the words out. He looked like he was fading before Gen’s eyes in health. “You’re homeless?” she asked gently. The man nodded. He was starting to shiver. “Please don’t leave me miss,” he said, grabbing her hand. “I don’t want to die alone.”
Gen’s own eyes were tearing up at that. “I’m not going anywhere. I don’t know if you’re...” She couldn’t finish the sentence. The man seemed less anxious when she told him that though. She got a better grip on his hand, even though she could feel it slowly liquiefing underneath her fingers. “It’s cold...so cold...” the man named John said. He looked up at Gen with a small smile. “Thank you...for staying...” he said with the last of his energy. Gen tried to tell him that he was going to be alright, that she could get help, but it was too late. He closed his eyes for the last time. A tear ran down Gen’s face, she was so overcome with emotion. As she watched, his body slowly disintegrated and faded into the mud beneath them as dust. She was left holding nothing but the computer chip at the end.
The sun was warming the wet landscape beneath them. The sheriff shoved his hat back from his forehead to scratch it in confusion. It was a strange sight, to be sure. He and his posse had gotten into (town name) soon after the storm. The people hadn’t been very friendly, but they had reported seeing a glow coming from the empty house over here up on the hill. Now he was standing in front of what used to be the house. It was a pile of old blackened rubble and metal sticks. The thing that puzzled him was what was poking out of that pile of rubble. There in the middle, untouched by the fire, was a neatly stacked pile of gold bars. The same gold bars from the train robbery two days ago. It was just a bit too strange for the sheriff, but he’d take any break he could get. It was re-election time after all. His deputies were painstakingly counting the gold as they loaded it back onto the wagon that had brought it there. “It’s all here, sheriff. But blamed if I know how it got here,” his second in command told him. “I guess the good Lord didn’t want it fallin’ into the wrong hands,” the sheriff told him with a hearty slap on the back. “Good work all of you,” he told them all. “I know you all want to go back after Jesse James, but we’ve got a duty to the state of Oklahoma to deliever this gold to it’s proper owner. We’ll hunt for the James brothers when we return. Ok, lets move ‘em out...”
If the sheriff had turned to look over on the next hill, he would have seen that they were being watched. There was a lone figure on a white horse overlooking the sight of men stacking gold bars into a wagon. Gen smiled, knowing that the gold would be going back to it’s rightful place in history. She stroked the horse’s mane for a few seconds, watching the scene beneath her before moving along over the hills and out of sight.
A few miles to the north, Jesse woke with a start. He was on his back in a small camp. Frank was tending a fire, making breakfast. “Mornin’ Jesse.”
Jesse looked around, confused. “What? Where...? What happened?” Frank shrugged, “Last thing I remember was being shot. I woke up here next to you, not a scratch on me. I’m just about as confused about it as you.”
Jesse sat up, trying to clear his head. It was aching on one side. “You took a nasty hit there,” Frank told him. Jesse reached up and found a makeshift bandage. It was a familiar black material, the same from Gen’s borrowed dance hall girl dress. He could see their horses tied up a few paces away. “I only remember being tossed down some stairs. I must have hit my head then. There’s some fuzzy memories too of Gen bending over me, but I don’t remember much else.” He joined Frank over by the campfire. “Is Gen here too? Is she ok?”
Frank shook his head. “She did leave us this though.” He handed Jesse a piece of paper with a message scrawled on it. It read:
Dear Frank and Jesse,
Thanks for all of your help. I couldn’t have done it without you. I’m sorry for all of the trouble I got you in. But be assured that you are safe here from the posse that is now coming into the town we just left. I hope Jesse recovers soon from his head injury. Sorry I can’t stay, but I finished what I set out to do. The bad guy is dead now, he won’t bother either of you anymore. I’m also sorry I couldn’t really give either of you anything for helping me other than this note. But if I may say, you both helped a worthy cause, setting history back on it’s track and saving the world. You will never know how much we accomplished today.
I’m so glad I got to meet both of you. May life treat you both well.
Sincerely,
Genevieve Wellside
Jesse read it a couple of times through, confused. “What does she mean, save the world?” he asked. “I have no clue,” Frank asked. “She was an odd one, that’s for sure.” He hefted a pot from off of the fire. “Coffee?” he asked with a smile. His brother nodded. “Yeah, I think I will. We have quite a journey back to our own stomping grounds after all.” The two stage coach robbers clinked their coffee cups and raised them to the memory of Genevieve, the girl they would never figure out.
Gen stopped as she reached the edge of the mountains. There was a rocky cliff face that started there. She dismounted from her horse. “Well, thank you for the ride,” she told it. “But I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you here. I have to get to the next part of time to go wrong.” Gen felt silly talking to a horse, but it was ok. The horse wasn’t going to tell anyone anyway. She stroked his mane and then gave him a friendly slap on the rump to send him galloping away over the hills. She watched him go, entertaining silly thoughts of keeping him somehow. But she had bigger problems than trying to take a horse home. She had to get back to the time stream. And she had to do it without falling off of a building.
Gen had learned a lot from her encounter with the evil Quatrix. She actually had some idea of what she was going to do, but she had no idea if it was going to work. Carefully she approached the cliff face. It was a flat surface and somehow Gen knew that was going to be better. Her hands were already liquefying and she placed them against the rocky surface. No, she thought, one hand would be better. She removed her left hand and held to the surface with her right hand. The idea was in her head that time like matter had different states of being. Matter could be a solid, liquid, gas, or a plasma. She in essence was a plasma of energy. What she was attempting to do was bend time into a different state, one that she could enter through. The other times this had happened, she had been in an excited desperate state of falling off of a high place trying to break her fall.
Gen slowly drew her hand down the side of the cliff towards the ground as she had done in the tunnel with the underground scientists. The cliff opened like she was using a zipper. Inside was the swirling blue of the time vortex. Gen let go of the bottom of the opening and pulled the two sides apart. The only thing left to do was to get rid of the computer chip she had pulled out of the Quatrix. She had an idea of burying it and letting some archeologist find it in the future just for a laugh. But that was too risky. Instead, she tossed it into the time vortex. It disintegrated and disappeared entirely. As she stepped through, Gen gave the desert landscape one last look of goodbye before she left it. The walls of the cliff closed behind her as she disappeared into her next adventure.
I'm almost jittery, I can't believe I made it. After three years of trying, I finally did it! The story isn't done, but I ended it in a good place. Ironically at the end of a page too. Enjoy!
Gen was looking around at the other buildings in the town. They were dark and quiet. Now and again she could see people swooshing together curtains or closing slats in windows. Brrrrr, she shivered, hoping they wouldn’t have to stay here long. If Jesse was feeling the same cold feeling she was getting, he didn’t show it. He marched right up to the old man and asked him point blank, “You seen a cart and team of horses come this way, old timer?”
“What if I did,” the old man didn’t break his stride in his rocking. “Won’t do you no good till you get outta town. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.”
“Yeah, we heard ya the first time,” Frank said under his breath. Jesse gave up on his questions and rejoined the other two at the hitching post as Gen got off her horse. “Well, the tracks lead here. I don’t know if we’ll get anything from the neighbors, this doesn’t seem like the kind of town that talks back to you.”
Gen nodded, looking down the main street at the almost set sun slipping behind the mountains. “I know what you mean, this place is creepy. Especially that place up on the hill.” She pointed at a really dark looking building up on the nearest hill away from town. It was at least two stories tall and even from this distance, it had seen better days. “What a setting for a Dracula movie,” Gen remarked. Frank mouthed at Jesse “Dracula?” and Jesse shrugged.
“Went that way, it did,” the old man remarked as if he was talking to himself. The three turned towards him, wondering if that was meant for their ears. “What did you say?” Jesse asked. “That wagon with the bundle in the back, driver all dressed in black like he’s goin’ to a funeral.” He stopped his rocking with a deliberate motion and looked Jesse right in the eyes. “Kinda looked like you, mister, but I’ve been wrong before.” An awkward silence hung in the air at that remark. Gen did her best to break it. “Um, so he went which way, did you say?”
The old man pointed a bony finger up at the old broken down house on the hill. “Up towards the old Wilson mansion.”
“Rats, I was afraid that was what he meant,” Gen said with a sigh.
Jesse beckoned the other two to follow him, “Thanks, old timer.” The old man jumped to his feet as they turned to go. He seemed more spry than they had first taken him for. “I warned ya! Don’t be goin’ up that hill.”
“Why not?” asked Frank.
“Spooks, I tell ya,” the old man insisted. “The Wilson place is haunted with ‘em.” Gen rolled her eyes at that. Sure it was a scary looking place, but that stuff was probably just all old wives tales. “Don’t you be turnin’ up your nose at no spooks, missy,” the old man told her. “I seen more things at that place than a man ought to at my age. Strange things go on at that place. Why just today, I seen...”
“Yeah, ok. Enough of your scare stories,” Jesse cut in. “Thanks again, we’ll be taking our leave now.” The three of them walked their horses away as the old man continued to talk at them. “Don’t come cryin’ to me when the spooks get ya’s. I warned ya, don’t say I didn’t now!” Gen was glad when they were out of earshot. “This town’s creepy enough without him talking up about ghosts and things,” she said. “Ah, don’t pay any attention to him, Miss Gen,” Frank told her. “Guys like him make a living out of telling stories like that. It’s just natural for them to invent tales to keep some company around to talk to.”
“Yeah, I get that. I just don’t get why I feel like everyone in this town is trying to keep us from seeing them.” Gen kept looking around, trying to find the eyes she felt were peering through the windows at them. “Maybe they don’t get strangers very often.”
It wasn’t a difficult climb up to the old mansion going up the hill. They walked most of the way, letting the horses take a break from riding all day. They soon reached a set of iron gates. Both of them were bent and sort of laying on their side, ready to fall in a good breeze. It was really nighttime now. The stars were starting to come through in the sky. The moon was almost full which lit their way well enough. “Nice cosy looking place, isn’t it?” Frank said with a hint of sarcasm. The dark towers rose up to cut into the night sky. It may have been a mansion at one time. Now it was just a broken down shell of a place, overgrown with weeds and ivy. This all just added to it’s inherent spookiness.
“Hey, over here,” Jesse called them over to a spot in the road. “Those tracks lead right up here. Our train robbing thief must be inside this place.”
“Great,” Gen said unenthusiastically. “Should we knock or ring the bell?” Her tone died away as a coyote howled mournfully in the distance. “Or maybe we could come back later. Like say when the sun is out?” she asked hopefully.
“You ain’t buying that old codger’s story about ghosts, are you?” Frank asked with a grin. “No, of course not,” Gen defended herself. “I just don’t think it’s safe to be tripping around a mansion in the middle of the night without a flashlight or something.”
“If it’s a light you want,” Jesse was fashioning a thick stick at the top with his knife. Soon he had a crude looking torch. “Light me up, Frank.” His brother struck a match and the torch burst into life. Gen still wasn’t convinced. “Look, if we don’t get the jump on him now, he’ll be gone by morning and we’ll never catch him. Best to catch your prey while it’s sleeping after all.” The two James brothers started walking towards the house. “What if your prey doesn’t sleep?” Gen said under her breath, following hesitantly. She caught up with them as they came up to the door. It was a large oaken door with a brass knocker. Gen dropped her voice down to a whisper. “We’re not really going in through the front door, are we? I thought the plan was to catch him by surprise.”
Jesse and Frank were checking their sixshooters for a second to make sure they were loaded. “WE aren’t doing anything. This is too dangerous for a lady, begging your pardon. I’m going to go through the front and Frank is going around the back. We’ll catch him between us like a fly.”
“What? I’m not letting you two go in there alone.”
The torch quivered as Frank tried to keep a straight face. “You hear that, Jesse? She thinks it’s too dangerous so she wants to go in instead of us.” The laughter died in his throat as there was a loud click. The two James brothers drew their weapons on instinct, but the click wasn’t from a gun. The thick oak door creaked on it’s hinges as it opened inwards. Jesse pushed Gen back away from the door, his gun ready to shoot the first thing that came out.
But nobody was there. Just the door by itself swinging open till it hit the wall behind it and stopped. “That can’t be good,” Gen said nervously. Jesse shushed her and nodded to Frank to go in and check it out. Frank gave him a look back that said, you owe me for this. And then he stepped inside. There was a pause as Jesse and Gen waited outside, trying to listen for what was going on inside. Finally, there was a quiet whistle from Frank indicating all clear. Jesse moved forward with Gen following close behind. Their torch lit up the main room. It had a high ceiling with a double sided staircase draped from the second floor down to them on each side of the room. There was a grandfather clock to one side, still ticking after all these years. The whole place smelled of dust and decaying walls. Frank was waving them over to look at something he found in the floor.
It was a set of footprints. And they weren’t any of their own. Jesse nodded and signed that they should look downstairs first. The two brothers, each holding their gun drawn and ready, began walking towards the room beyond the stairs. Jesse put Gen between the two of them. Frank had the front while Jesse brought up the rear. Gen carried the torch for light.
The first room they came to used to be the living room. Paintings were cracked and falling off the walls, which also happened to be cracking. Now and again, you could hear the wind come by the place and cause a board or two in the ceiling to groan and creak. Gen hoped since it was so old, one more night wouldn’t be too much to ask for it to stay together.
Just as they passed the torn couch there was a loud BANG! Gen jumped with a yelp, but Jesse caught her up and the three of them hit the floor. After a few seconds of quiet, Frank got to his knees, pointing his gun at each exit in turn. “Stay down,” Jesse told Gen as he left her on the floor and took the torch from her. He and Frank walked cautiously back towards the main room. They weren’t gone long, but to Gen it felt like an eternity before she saw the dancing light of the torch walking back towards her. “The door closed is all,” Jesse told her as Frank helped her off of the floor. “Must have been the wind.”
“Y-y-yeah...must have...” Gen said, trying to convince herself. “Doesn’t seem to be downstairs,” Frank said. “Or otherwise, he would have come running at that sound. I don’t know why anyone would pick a place like this for a hideout.”
Gen eyed the creepy décor. “Maybe he doesn’t want to be bothered.”
“Well yeah, that’s obvious, but if I had a stash of gold like that, this is the last place I’d want to end up with it.” Frank brushed off the dust from the top of an old grand piano. It probably wouldn’t play again in that condition.
“Frank, you hear that?” Jesse asked, cocking his head upwards. “No what?” The three of them fell silent to listen. After a few seconds, Jesse shook his head. “Must have been imagining it,” he said.
A muffled scraping sound came from the upstairs. Gen’s eyes got big as she looked at the other two. They looked equally surprised at the sound, so Gen knew she wasn’t the only one imagining it. Jesse blew out the torch as Frank pulled the couch around as a shield. “What you do that for?” Gen asked in a terse whisper, listening as the scraping started gathering a footstep quality. “So we don’t get found,” he said, ducking her back down onto the floor behind the couch. It was really dark now, with shadows from the moon coming in through the windows. The James brothers had taken up positions for shooting around the couch at whatever was going to come through the door.
The scraping kept up, coming closer to them. It brought up images of chains being dragged across the floor by someone that was coming towards them. The three of them crouched behind the couch, ready to spring or flee at a moment's notice. Jesse glanced over at Frank and saw beads of sweat starting on his brow. "Keep ahold of yourself," he whispered to him, not losing his aim on the doorway.
Just then, a chill went through the room. "Is it getting colder in here, or is it just me?" Frank asked, trying to keep it light. Gen turned to see the window that had been closed was now open and the outside draft was coming in, blowing aside the dusty draperies. "That window was closed, wasn't it?" she asked, more nervous now than before. A low moaning noise started in from the rafters down towards them. At first, it sounded like the wind but it got progressively louder. Gen stifled a gasp as she saw a chair start to slide it's way across the floor towards her. "Oh, Nellie Bell..." Frank exclaimed as if he didn't believe his eyes. Gen peeked over the couch and found out why. Sliding through the side wall was a ghost. A real bonifide ghost. It looked like those generic ghosts from the movies, but more real. It was partially see through and floating in mid air like a bedsheet on a wire. But there were no wires to be seen. The three of them abandoned the couch and started backing up towards another door. The two men still had their guns trained out in front of them. "What do we do Jesse?" Frank asked, shooting a look at his brother. Jesse was fighting the fact that he'd never believed in ghosts. As an answer, he made a decision, stood his ground, and fired at the apparition. Nothing happened, the ghost kept floating towards them. They backed up another step and both Jesse and Frank took aim and fired on it. Still no effect. Gen could just barely see the ripples of the bullets passing through the "skin" of the ghost.
"Let's get out of here," Frank said, grabbing Gen to pull her out of the room and harms way. Jesse followed back into the main room. They came up to the old oak door and Frank yanked on the handle. "Locked! We're trapped!" Another ghostly howl went through the house and the three spun around to see another figure on the steps above them. This one seemed more human looking then the first. It could have been a person doused in flour but it was slightly glowing which did away with that idea. It was starting to come down the stairs towards them. Frank started putting his shoulder to the door in an effort to get it open. But unlike everything else in the house, this door was built to last. "Jesse, help me! We got to get out of here."
"Wait a second," Jesse looked up at the stranger coming towards them. "Isn't that...?" Gen saw it too. It was the rocking chair old man from the town. Gaining courage from that, Jesse called up at him, "Enough of your parlor tricks, old man! We ain't people to be trifled with. You hear me?!" The man seemed to hear as he looked straight at them, but he didn't slacken his pace. Frank and Jesse drew their guns again and fired two or three rounds at the white man. The man stopped as the bullets hit him but he didn't fall or give any indication of being hit. Only Gen saw the slight alteration in his figure. She recognized that slight change. It was the same thing that happened when she phased through walls and handcuffs. This then was the quatrix! "Come on Frank," Jesse said, abandoning the idea of shooting him down. The two brothers began running towards the white figure with full intent of taking him down. "No don't!" Gen yelled for them to stop. They had no idea what they were attacking.
The old man swatted Frank in the chest as he reached him first. Frank went flying head over heels over the railing towards the ground floor. Gen moved faster than she ever had before and got beneath him to break his fall. He landed on her in a heap, squashing her beneath him. "Ow," he said, trying to untangle himself from Gen.
Gen looked up from the floor and saw Jesse taking a candle stick from the wall to strike the figure with. The metal candle stick went straight through the man and stopped at his midsection. Jesse tugged on it, finding it stuck in the man. The white figure struck out with a fist, catching Jesse across the jaw. He tumbled down the stairs to the bottom and lay still. "No!" Gen yelled, trying her hardest to get Frank off of her. The ghostly figure proceeded with his decent down the stairs. Except he didn't walk, he floated down like he was on wires. Gen could see his form changing to the one that she knew best. The black skin tight outfit from neck to ankle. The face was no longer familiar to her. The stranger drew a concealed weapon and fired at Frank and Gen. A dart hit Frank in the knee and he went down with a cry. "I'm hit! Jesse! I'm hit!" In a few seconds he was passed out from the tranquilizer dart. The quatrix fired at Gen, but she was ready for it. Thinking quickly, she phased herself and the dart passed harmlessly through her and buried itself in a rotten wall.
There was a small silver ripple that ran through the Quatrix as he stood still and silent for a moment. It was as if he was analyzing the situation. Gen was panicky. She couldn’t let anything happen to Frank or Jesse because that would change history. And she couldn’t let this Quatrix complete his plans. She had to get the two men out of there. Quickly, she grabbed Frank’s legs and started to pull and drag him towards the front door as fast as she could. The Quatrix started walking towards them slowly with his gun still pointed at Gen, deciding what move to make. Gen was banking on the fact that this was something Truax hadn’t thought of in advance. If he had programmed this Quatrix to scare off people from this house, a person who could phase and avoid darts might throw a monkey wrench into the quatrix’s programming. Grunting and struggling with all her might, she made it to the door and pulled on the handle. Surprisingly it flung open before her.
It was pouring outside. They must not have noticed the storm building while they were coming towards the house. Gen looked helplessly out at the torrents of rain coming down, flooding the pathway with water. A bolt of lightning pierced the sky and thunder boomed overhead. What was she going to do? Leave Frank out in the rain and toss Jesse out after him?
A hand grabbed her around the throat from behind. Apparently the Quatrix still identified her as a threat and had made it’s decision. Gen grabbed at the hand, choking and gasping. Remembering what had happened in the train robbers hideout, Gen tried something new. The skin at her neck turned silvery black. The quatrix’s hand slipped through as Gen phased through it and jumped away. She rubbed her neck as if she could still feel the hand that had been on it, backing away with slow steps. “Ok,” she told the Quatrix, hoping that maybe words could distract it. “It’s just you and me is it?” She was also hoping she could take it’s attention off of the other two. Of course, if he mopped the floor with her, it wouldn’t matter anyway. She was backing up towards one of the staircases. Maybe an uphill advantage would be a good thing. The Quatrix was just standing there, looking at her ominously. Gen wished she could reach him, wished that she could override the programming that Truax had pumped into it. But she’d have to get to his EPAC to do that, providing that he even had one.
There was no warning as the Quatrix lunged at her in a full on attack. Gen’s flailing hand found a broken two-by-four at the last second and she slammed it down on the quatrix’s head as hard as she could. The blow did shift the man’s attack to miss her, but he still got up as if nothing had happened. Gen swung again but this time he was ready for it. The piece of wood passed harmlessly through him entirely. “Rats,” Gen said, dropping the piece of wood in her haste. The Quatrix was now between her and the stairs. As he started to jump at her again, Gen pushed it to the max and rushed back at him. Her entire body turned liquidy silver black and she threw herself straight through him.
It was almost in slow motion for a split second. Something was happening and Gen was understanding. She suddenly knew what Truax’s plans were for this part of time. It was as if she was absorbing the programming straight from the Quatrix as she passed through him. As she came out the other side, Gen didn’t waste any time. She vaulted herself up the steps, two at a time. The Quatrix turned and gave chase.
At the top of the stairs was random doors in a corridor. Gen tried the first one but it was locked. No need, Gen thought phasing through the door. Inside the room was a bunch of musty broken down furniture. She didn’t have much time before she was going to have company and she needed to come up with a way to beat this guy.
Her wrist was beeping. It took a second for Gen to process that it was her EPAC. She quickly pulled it up. The readout was flashing:
Gravity Programming found
Electrical Warfare Programming found
Basic Programming found
She had programming now? It must have been from the other Quatrix. Gen didn’t feel like she was being controlled but...there was something...
She knew other things besides Truax’s plan. And she knew how to use them. It was really strange. The door suddenly came off it’s hinges with a loud bang. It was supplemented by the thundering noise from the outside storm. Lighting flashed as the Quatrix leapt into the room straight at Gen. Without thinking Gen leapt too. Straight up and onto the ceiling. The Quatrix missed by a mile, landing in a pile of old wood left by the owner from demolishing a bed. Gen could barely believe it. She was laying on her back on the ceiling and sticking there! She stood up, upside down. The Quatrix had gathered itself and was turning around. Before it could, Gen had somersaulted off of the ceiling and was throwing a kick in his direction. This time, he wasn’t ready for it. The kick landed smartly on the side of his head. The Quatrix rolled away and found his footing under him. Lightning flashed lighting up the room. Gen could see the other Quatrix holding his hands one above the other as if holding an imaginary object. He was in a fighting stance, poised for another attack. Something was happening between his fingers. Sparks were dancing along his fingers and collecting inbetween his hands. Gen leapt to the side just as the Quatrix tossed a ball of electricity at her. It just barely missed and buried itself in the wall where Gen used to be. Gen rolled to her feet and leapt for the ceiling. Only this time, she didn’t stop at the ceiling. She went right through it.
In the attic, Gen came up through the floor. She could see two windows on the slant of the roof off to one side. The rain was pouring down them and lightning and thunder were playing a symphony outside. She was starting to feel awfully tired. I probably need to charge up again, she thought. She needed to find something electrical if she was going to continue the fight. Only, her heart sank into her toes as she realized this was the old west. There wasn’t any electrical objects anywhere. No plugs, no outlets. A hand came up through the floor and grabbed onto her ankle. Gen gave a shout and phased through the hand quickly. It fell back into the floor, but grabbed on before it disappeared entirely. The Quatrix was pulling himself up by hanging onto his ceiling, her floor and dragging himself up. Gen backed up, trying to think of what to do. In the dark, she found a metal bar, probably from when the gate was made. She hefted it and found it wasn’t too heavy to swing. As the Quatrix phased up through the floor, Gen ran the metal bar straight at him. It went right through him and lodged in the wall behind him. But to no effect. He was still in liquid mode and it didn’t even touch him. He walked away from the bar stuck in the wall, leaving it behind.
Gen suddenly realized she smelled smoke. Something was burning. Oh no, Gen thought, remembering the torch they had blown out. It was possible that it hadn’t totally gone out. As the quatrix came at her, Gen aimed a couple of kicks wherever she could get them in. The floor was starting to get very hot and a couple of small flames were poking through the floor. This old place is so rickety, it will go up like a tinder box, Gen thought. She had to get back downstairs somehow to save the guys, but she didn’t get a chance to follow through on that thought. The Quatrix grabbed her and flung her really hard. She hit the double panes of glass for a window and crashed through them. Gen reached out to grab anything as she flew over the side of the roof in the rain. Her hands managed to find the side of the eaves and she gripped it for dear life. It almost didn’t hold her but it did stop her fall miraculously.
The Quatrix jumped up through the open window and landed with a thump on the side of the roof. Gen realized he must be implementing the gravity in himself to keep himself on the slippery roof tiles. As he started walking towards her, that gave her an idea. He was peering over the side at her. Gen gave him a big smile...and let go of the roof. The Quatrix took a step forward, trying to see where she hit. But Gen wasn’t on the ground. She was standing up on the side of the building as if it was solid ground. Wow, she thought to herself. This is amazingly cool.
A bolt of lightning struck the roof very close to where the Quatrix was standing. Gen moved up the side of the building quickly and got her footing on the top of the roof. She could see flames building inside of the attic where they had been. There was no telling how long this roof was going to hold them especially if it caught on fire. It really wasn’t safe up here with the thunder and the lightning...
Lightning! That was an electrical source. It was a crazy idea, but right now Gen didn’t have any others as the Quatrix started for her again. He looked like he meant to push her off the roof. Gen quickly positioned her hands over each other as the other Quatrix had done downstairs and prayed that she would live to see this through. Electrons were building between her fingers. Just as the Quatrix reached her, the buildup had enough attraction and a bolt of lightning shot down through the clouds, striking Gen head on. She tried to be prepared for it, but it was quite a jolt. Her skin liquiefied dramatically at the shock. She had to pull herself back together. The Quatrix had been thrown back by the shock and was on his back on the roof. He got up to his feet, but it was too late. Gen was lit up like a Christmas tree with the amount of electricity she had on board. Electricity shot from her hands straight at the Quatrix, striking him full on. “Phase through this!” she yelled above the sound of the storm. The electricity was quite a shock for the quatrix’s system. He convulsed, held in place by the electricity coming out of Gen’s fingers. Gen had thought correctly. This Quatrix wasn’t built for massive amounts of electricity. There had been powering stations in the future that each Quatrix could use. The professor had never built them for anything else. When Gen had let go of enough energy to calm down, the electricity stopped flowing from her.
The Quatrix swayed for a second and pitched headfirst off of the roof. There was a splat from below as he hit the muddy pathway. Gen staggered back a second too, amazed that it actually had worked. When she caught her breath, Gen slid down the side of the wall down the same way the Quatrix had fallen. She hung on to the wall with her fingers partially inside of it. As she hit the ground, she could see the inside of the house was in flames. Dashing inside, Gen found Frank where she had left him by the front door. Jesse was stirring near the flaming staircase. Gen leapt over the flames between her and Jesse, calling his name for him to wake up. Jesse groaned as she reached him and hauled him to his feet. It seemed like it was easier now that she had the energy to. She quickly flung him over her shoulder and dodged some falling debris that was on fire on her way out the door. It was still pouring outside but it was letting up to a drizzle and the thunder was moving off towards the mountains. Gen put Jesse down as close as she dared to the house and went back for Frank. She got him out just in time as the house collapsed behind them with a giant crash. Jesse was rubbing his head and starting to sit up, dazedly. Gen put Frank down next to him. “Stay put, I’ll be back,” she told him. She had to know if the Quatrix was completely disarmed. She had fried him pretty good.
The Quatrix was laying on his back in the mud quietly, his eyes closed, as she approached. Gen approached cautiously in case he was playing possum. She wasn’t really sure of how to check and see if he was dead or alive. Technically they didn’t have pulses or hearts. But he did have a large computer chip she could look at. And possibly and EPAC. When he didn’t move when she nudged him with her toe, Gen bent down and lifted his right wrist. The EPAC was there. It must have come up from his wrist as a failsafe when a Quatrix went down. Gen looked at it, trying to decipher the readout without the ident that Adrian had given her.
Without warning, the Quatrix woke up. He shot out a hand and shoved it inside of her. Gen gasped, feeling his hand phased inside of her. He was slowly draining away her energy to replenish himself. She could feel herself getting weaker. Desperate, Gen concentrated as hard as she could and reached inside of the Quatrix too. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but she had to stop the draining somehow. Her fingers brushed against the corner of the computer chip. In desperation, Gen grabbed the large flat computer chip and with every bit of energy she had left, she ripped it straight out of his black chest.
The Quatrix made a squealing noise of agony, withdrawing his hand in the process. Gen could breath again, the draining had stopped. After a few seconds of twitching, it was over. The Quatrix lay still as can be. Gen sat down in the mud, exhausted. It was then that the rain slackened a bit. Gen could see something happening to the body of the Quatrix. The black was dissolving and reforming itself. Gen looked at the large green chip in her hand, wondering what she had done to him. The body reformed slowly, taking the shape of a man. Gen could see the face. It wasn’t the same as the Quatrix had been in the house. This was a man’s face, unshaven with illkempt hair. His clothes formed into a old flannel shirt and jeans. Before Gen lay a middle aged man who could have been off the street in any town where she lived. He must have reverted back to his original form, Gen thought, getting closer for a better look.
She pulled back suddenly as the man opened his eyes. He looked around, scared, and found Gen bending over him. “Where...” it came out more of a weak croak than a word. The man stopped and tried again. “Where am I?” he asked in a anxious whisper. Gen didn’t quite know what to say. “You’re...safe. Try not to move now.” She paused before asking, “What’s your name?”
“John...John Meadows.”
“Where do you live?”
The man’s eyes teared up a bit at that question. “I don’t...have a home...I live...McDonald bridge...” He was having trouble getting the words out. He looked like he was fading before Gen’s eyes in health. “You’re homeless?” she asked gently. The man nodded. He was starting to shiver. “Please don’t leave me miss,” he said, grabbing her hand. “I don’t want to die alone.”
Gen’s own eyes were tearing up at that. “I’m not going anywhere. I don’t know if you’re...” She couldn’t finish the sentence. The man seemed less anxious when she told him that though. She got a better grip on his hand, even though she could feel it slowly liquiefing underneath her fingers. “It’s cold...so cold...” the man named John said. He looked up at Gen with a small smile. “Thank you...for staying...” he said with the last of his energy. Gen tried to tell him that he was going to be alright, that she could get help, but it was too late. He closed his eyes for the last time. A tear ran down Gen’s face, she was so overcome with emotion. As she watched, his body slowly disintegrated and faded into the mud beneath them as dust. She was left holding nothing but the computer chip at the end.
The sun was warming the wet landscape beneath them. The sheriff shoved his hat back from his forehead to scratch it in confusion. It was a strange sight, to be sure. He and his posse had gotten into (town name) soon after the storm. The people hadn’t been very friendly, but they had reported seeing a glow coming from the empty house over here up on the hill. Now he was standing in front of what used to be the house. It was a pile of old blackened rubble and metal sticks. The thing that puzzled him was what was poking out of that pile of rubble. There in the middle, untouched by the fire, was a neatly stacked pile of gold bars. The same gold bars from the train robbery two days ago. It was just a bit too strange for the sheriff, but he’d take any break he could get. It was re-election time after all. His deputies were painstakingly counting the gold as they loaded it back onto the wagon that had brought it there. “It’s all here, sheriff. But blamed if I know how it got here,” his second in command told him. “I guess the good Lord didn’t want it fallin’ into the wrong hands,” the sheriff told him with a hearty slap on the back. “Good work all of you,” he told them all. “I know you all want to go back after Jesse James, but we’ve got a duty to the state of Oklahoma to deliever this gold to it’s proper owner. We’ll hunt for the James brothers when we return. Ok, lets move ‘em out...”
If the sheriff had turned to look over on the next hill, he would have seen that they were being watched. There was a lone figure on a white horse overlooking the sight of men stacking gold bars into a wagon. Gen smiled, knowing that the gold would be going back to it’s rightful place in history. She stroked the horse’s mane for a few seconds, watching the scene beneath her before moving along over the hills and out of sight.
A few miles to the north, Jesse woke with a start. He was on his back in a small camp. Frank was tending a fire, making breakfast. “Mornin’ Jesse.”
Jesse looked around, confused. “What? Where...? What happened?” Frank shrugged, “Last thing I remember was being shot. I woke up here next to you, not a scratch on me. I’m just about as confused about it as you.”
Jesse sat up, trying to clear his head. It was aching on one side. “You took a nasty hit there,” Frank told him. Jesse reached up and found a makeshift bandage. It was a familiar black material, the same from Gen’s borrowed dance hall girl dress. He could see their horses tied up a few paces away. “I only remember being tossed down some stairs. I must have hit my head then. There’s some fuzzy memories too of Gen bending over me, but I don’t remember much else.” He joined Frank over by the campfire. “Is Gen here too? Is she ok?”
Frank shook his head. “She did leave us this though.” He handed Jesse a piece of paper with a message scrawled on it. It read:
Dear Frank and Jesse,
Thanks for all of your help. I couldn’t have done it without you. I’m sorry for all of the trouble I got you in. But be assured that you are safe here from the posse that is now coming into the town we just left. I hope Jesse recovers soon from his head injury. Sorry I can’t stay, but I finished what I set out to do. The bad guy is dead now, he won’t bother either of you anymore. I’m also sorry I couldn’t really give either of you anything for helping me other than this note. But if I may say, you both helped a worthy cause, setting history back on it’s track and saving the world. You will never know how much we accomplished today.
I’m so glad I got to meet both of you. May life treat you both well.
Sincerely,
Genevieve Wellside
Jesse read it a couple of times through, confused. “What does she mean, save the world?” he asked. “I have no clue,” Frank asked. “She was an odd one, that’s for sure.” He hefted a pot from off of the fire. “Coffee?” he asked with a smile. His brother nodded. “Yeah, I think I will. We have quite a journey back to our own stomping grounds after all.” The two stage coach robbers clinked their coffee cups and raised them to the memory of Genevieve, the girl they would never figure out.
Gen stopped as she reached the edge of the mountains. There was a rocky cliff face that started there. She dismounted from her horse. “Well, thank you for the ride,” she told it. “But I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you here. I have to get to the next part of time to go wrong.” Gen felt silly talking to a horse, but it was ok. The horse wasn’t going to tell anyone anyway. She stroked his mane and then gave him a friendly slap on the rump to send him galloping away over the hills. She watched him go, entertaining silly thoughts of keeping him somehow. But she had bigger problems than trying to take a horse home. She had to get back to the time stream. And she had to do it without falling off of a building.
Gen had learned a lot from her encounter with the evil Quatrix. She actually had some idea of what she was going to do, but she had no idea if it was going to work. Carefully she approached the cliff face. It was a flat surface and somehow Gen knew that was going to be better. Her hands were already liquefying and she placed them against the rocky surface. No, she thought, one hand would be better. She removed her left hand and held to the surface with her right hand. The idea was in her head that time like matter had different states of being. Matter could be a solid, liquid, gas, or a plasma. She in essence was a plasma of energy. What she was attempting to do was bend time into a different state, one that she could enter through. The other times this had happened, she had been in an excited desperate state of falling off of a high place trying to break her fall.
Gen slowly drew her hand down the side of the cliff towards the ground as she had done in the tunnel with the underground scientists. The cliff opened like she was using a zipper. Inside was the swirling blue of the time vortex. Gen let go of the bottom of the opening and pulled the two sides apart. The only thing left to do was to get rid of the computer chip she had pulled out of the Quatrix. She had an idea of burying it and letting some archeologist find it in the future just for a laugh. But that was too risky. Instead, she tossed it into the time vortex. It disintegrated and disappeared entirely. As she stepped through, Gen gave the desert landscape one last look of goodbye before she left it. The walls of the cliff closed behind her as she disappeared into her next adventure.