CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Restitution
Heaven fought with the police as much as she could as they dragged her into the back of the squad car, doing anything she could to give Eric and Kevin more time to get away, time to stop the bomber. She hoped, feared really, that despite the cash from the casino back in 2012 they’d go easy on her as a minor.
She shivered in fear, the reality of what they had done finally settling in on her. They destroyed a window, ruined a library. For a good cause, of course, but it still felt so wrong. The bike? That wasn’t a joy ride for her; she did it out of necessity. She stole the food and the money because she had to keep going.
Well, there was a thrill to stealing, she would admit, but she tried to justify it in her mind out of some sort of need. Even when she was back in foster care and would steal a mini skirt or a video game, she told herself that somehow she needed those things. That the system was providing her with substandard care and a disgusting living environment so she had to make up for it with some luxury items. Knowing real necessity, though, especially today, her shoplifting seemed so petty.
But they did break in out of necessity. Who knew how long before the city was destroyed, again. She repeated that to herself when the Sheriff of the future pulled her out of the car by her arm and pushed her on into the police station.
He led her back into the jail cells at the back of the station, around the corner from the front desk. Some drapes across a barred window high up sat still. They brought her to the same cell the IIA agents had almost kept her in. She looked back at the Sheriff with a slight snarl as he got his keys ready to lock her in. Suddenly, he disappeared.
It wasn’t just the Sheriff, either. The other officers were gone. Things were subtly different. The door to the cell was still open, but now it was halfway closed. The drapes over the window had shifted, as if from some wind that had never blown. She could hear the voices of the Sheriff and his officers down the hall.
It worked. Motega must have found the QED and shut it off again, though not for very long. Just long enough for the Sheriff and his officers to wonder at the disappearance of the kid they just arrested, then walk out to the front of the police station. Motega would have disappeared when he flipped the switch, too, so someone else must have turned it back on.
Heaven was ready to take advantage of a piece of good fortune, though. She stepped out of the cell and walked to the hallway, carefully peeking around the corner before continuing on. She saw the Sheriff close the door behind him as he left the station. If she waited just a bit longer, perhaps he’d be gone and she could get out of here. Then she noticed the keys one officer had left behind on his desk.
***
It was the strangest thing, that girl just disappearing like that in his jail cell, Joshua thought. It must have something to do with that experiment, he figured, like how South Mapiya disappeared the first time. He wasn’t going to waste much time over it, though. He turned and walked away from the cells.
“Sheriff,” one of his deputies called over to him as he came to the front of the police station. “We just got a hit on the fingerprints from the murder weapon at the library.” He handed Joshua a folder.
Joshua opened it and scanned the contents. “Shem Sweeny?”
The deputy nodded. “From an old military database at the beginning of the century. Looks like he is a 2012 citizen.”
“We should have checked them out first,” Joshua said, kicking himself. He had been too short sighted to put much effort into this case. “Do we have an address?”
“Second page, sir. It’s in South Mapiya.”
Joshua flipped to the second page, scanned down to the address, and then handed the file back to his deputy. “Let’s go. We’ll take him in.”
***
Eric surveyed the wasteland that was once again South Mapiya, wondering what to do next. He saw some people in the distance, where the school should have been. They were probably like him, people from North Mapiya, from the future, who were staying at the school because their home had been destroyed by the tornado.
In an instant it all came back. He couldn’t see the school anymore between the trees and other buildings. The road came back under his feet. Eric turned to see Shem’s house pop back into existence.
Eric ran back down the hill and burst into the house. “What happened?” Kevin asked.
“It worked. Motega switched on the device and South Mapiya disappeared again. You disappeared.”
“For how long?” the Sheriff asked. “What are you still doing here?”
“Not long,” Eric said. “Not long enough. Something must have happened with Motega.”
The Sheriff sucked in his breath. “So Shem is still out there somewhere.”
Eric nodded. “I think I know where he is.” He paused in anticipation, wishing it weren’t true. Of all the cities in all the world, why Mapiya? Why even Minnesota? As the world encountered disaster after disaster, it had always been out there somewhere. Bad people were here, too, but somehow the really tragic things, cities being wiped out, were always elsewhere. “I think he’s at the school,” Eric said.
“How do you know?” Kevin wondered.
“When South Mapiya switched back it was different,” he explained. “The crater was no longer here at Shem’s house. I walked up the hill and I could see the whole city. It came from the school.”
“What’s that noise?” Kevin said, finally noticing the TV in the other room. His hearing had been impaired by the booby trap, no doubt.
“Television?”
Kevin looked like he was about to shake his head again, but thought better of it after the pain it caused last time. “No. The signal transferred in 2099 can’t be picked up by 2012 television sets. Help me up.”
Eric held up a hand for the Sheriff, to get him on his feet. Once up, he steadied himself against the wall. “Yeah, this isn’t good,” he said, holding his head again. “Come on.” Eric followed Kevin as he limped across the house to the bedroom in the back.
There were three televisions set up, and a camera on a tripod. The TVs were all playing the same thing, an image of Shem Sweeny, dressed in a military uniform, with an American flag behind him. Eric looked at the wall to the left as they walked in, a large American flag draped across it. The video was recorded in this room.
The video played in a loop, Eric noticed as the loop started over. “America used to be great,” Shem said on the TV, sounding very depressed. “It stood for something. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Rights that belonged to each and every one of us.
“Then those rights were being taken away. And the government doesn’t even provide for its own, for those who were unlucky enough to fight and not die for them.” Shem shook his head. “It’s all worthless. Then I look up. The night turns to day and I wonder if this is a sign. Maybe it’s all cleared up. Maybe things will get better.
“But a hundred years later and nothing is better. It’s gotten worse.” He started to sound angry now. “You took the name and flag of America and you threw it in the sewers. North American Coalition?” Shem chuckled, a bit like a mad man. “All that came of it was more government control. Fewer liberties.
“So if we’re not even allowed liberty and happiness, then let’s get rid of life, too,” he said, and spat to the side. “If I could do this across the world, I would, but I am giving my life to destroy my little section of this craphole. Goodbye America.” With that, the video started playing over again.
“This is why he had a satellite,” Kevin said.
“What?”
Eric followed as Kevin started walking away from that room. “When I visited Shem after The Event, I noticed he had a nice new satellite dish set up outside. It seemed out of place. It must have been for this. He was going to transmit a message to the world before he blew himself up.” Kevin limped to the doorway and slid to the ground on the porch. “It probably doesn’t work with 2099 technology, but it was part of his plan so he recorded a message anyway.”
He looked to Eric, standing over him, fierceness in his eyes. “You have to go.” He reached in his pocket for the car keys. “You have to get to the school and stop him. You’re our only hope.”
“No. You have to come with me,” he objected.
“I can’t. Eric, I can’t. Look at me,” he said. “I have a limp and most likely a concussion. I can’t drive, let alone run to stop a bomber. You have to do it. I need you.”
“Then someone else,” he said again. “I’m just a kid.”
“There is no time for anyone else. There’s only you. Now take them.” Eric grudgingly accepted the keys. “I know you can do it.”