Escaping Relativity
Chapter 9

Taking advantage of the dark, Charlie stepped sideways, bending over to hide inside the rack of coats next to her.

Breathe, Charlie, just breathe. The instruction ran through her mind over and over while she did her best to control the panic welling up inside her. Maybe it would be better to be taken captive, than to be inside the tiny space with the thick fabrics around her sucking up all of her precious oxygen.

No, no. She would never be captured or helpless again. Even if it meant going with him of her own accord, she would never be powerless. Sliding her hand into her boot, holding onto the hilt of the six inch blade, gave her a calm she could not have had otherwise. The empowerment of the thick ergonomic grip, released a sigh from deep within and, with the air all of her fear left as well.

The lights came back on within a few seconds, and she saw the man’s boots a few feet away. He hadn’t moved. Then, his boots bent, and his hands clasp his AR. She knew that sound better than a lullaby. Charlie could picture the man in her mind as he bend down to slowly walk backwards, making himself as invisible as possible in the store; readying for whatever was coming next.

Adrenaline flooded her body. The ringing in her ears started, and she purposely slowed her breathing in order to stabilize her heart rate. Within maybe a second, Charlie could hear, and she heard...nothing. There was no traffic of shoppers, no Christmas Carols being piped through the speakers; nothing, there was no noise whatsoever.

A whisper from behind startled her for the briefest of seconds.

“They’re getting ready to initialize the second part of the JUMP, I’ve got to verify you now.”

“I don’t have anything to do with this funhouse experiment you have going on. This is all on you, leave me out of it. I don’t want anything to do with you or whatever the hell is happening!” Charlie whisper-shouted at him.

“You can hide, or you can help, the last time this happened, it wasn’t good; and if I die, so do you.”

“What do you mean?” Charlie asked. Suddenly she was all about what he had to say.

“I mean, we’re in the middle of a time/space warp, and since you and I are the only ones here right now that means we’re linked together. What happens to one happens to the other. Something always glitches in these JUMPs without a Keeper. Do you have any weapons?”

Everything inside of Charlie stilled. She’d had an extra sense all of her life. Her Uncle Charlie called it her bullshit-o-meter. She could tell the truth from a lie. She was a human lie detector politely stated; and unfortunately, he was telling the truth, or at least he believed what he was saying. For the second time in just a few short minutes, fear climbed up her limbs, icy fingers trailing her spine.

Unsure of how much to tell him, she told him half of the truth. “I have half an arsenal in my vehicle.”

“Where is it?” the man asked, uncertainty tingeing his voice. “Tell me it’s outside of the pentagon.”

His tone sounded somehow hopeful and doubtful all at once. Charlie had never heard a man speak so pure and devoid of trickery in her life.

“It is, it’s back through the other stores,” Charlie told him.

“Yes!”

It was the last thing Charlie heard before the zing of bullets buzzed passed by, lodging into the wall behind them.

“Where do we go? We have to get out of here,” he yelled over the sudden crazed commotion.

Flashes of light deposited men and women all over the place; inside and outside of the store she was in. It was just as the soldier had said it could be.

What in the hell was going on?

Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to sit back and reflect. In a split second decision, Charlie reached out her hand through the coats and grabbed the man by his forearm, dragging him into the coat carousel with her.

His eyes entranced her once more. The deep chocolate sparkled with a rare shine, like a tiger’s eye stone which had been polished to capture the light.

“How do we get to your arsenal?” he asked. “Because we don’t have long. Once the JUMP has been initialized we have only fifteen maybe twenty minutes max before we have to be back to these coordinates to JUMP back, and I for one don’t want to go back without weapons. Once anyone finds out I have you, we’ll be targeted by everyone, and I’m afraid there’s been a leak already, which is why some of them have already made it.”

“We have to go through three stores and a restaurant,” she answered, her mind strategizing as she spoke. All she needed was to get her hands on Lady, and he was going to let her. “What’s happening here?” Charlie asked him.

“I’ll explain it all after we get those weapons,” he whispered back.

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