A Place Beyond Time

by Ivan Martinez

Part I: Countdown

The blazing heat above beat down on the small town of Mizzilou. A small mining town near what would later become the state of Utah. All the men in Mizzilou live off of selling the ore beneath their feet, all but one. Sheriff Abel Nash spends his days playing cards by himself as the sleepy town dozes off into the night. He was rudely awoken one morning by the cries of a madman. He immediately knew who it was, there was only one man who would be up at this hour able to yell so loud the next town over could hear it, Eddie the gravedigger and town kook. Abel stumbled out of bed, careful not to awaken his sleeping wife, he put his belt and his hat on. Hand on his gun, he walks out of his home to confront the hysterical man.

“Eddie, what do you think you’re doing at this hour of the morning?”

Eddie turned to the sheriff when he heard his voice and ran to him, falling to his knees as he reached the sheriff.

“Sheriff!! Please put me in jail! Please! I don’t know what I have done but you have to lock me up!”

“Now what the hell are you talking about?”

“The Lord has come! He is taking the dead to heaven with him! I saw him at the c-cemetary over yonder!”

This wasn’t the first time Eddie had claimed to “see” something in the desert. It’s been a strangely shaped cactus every single time. So Abel was more irritated than anything else.

“And why does that mean I have to lock you up?”

Eddie’s been responding not even a second after Abel finishes his sentence

“Because I ran down to the graves so the Lord can take me away, but he didn’t want me!! So I must have done something! I am a sinner! Lock m-ghuhgp”

Abel stuck his hand in Eddie’s face and pushed him away.

“Yeah, your sin is waking up the whole town at this god forsaken hour.”

Eddie stared at Abel’s face as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

“Fine.. Yeah fine whatever, I’ll go check it out. I won’t be able to go to sleep now anyways”

Abel turned around as he finished talking and went to mount his horse. Eddie kept his eyes on the sheriff as he rode into the horizon. The cemetery was a ways away from the town, located in a valley a few miles out but it didn’t take long for Sheriff Nash to begin to make out where it was and see the same sight Eddie did. What looked like corpses were being dredged up from the ground and were being pulled into the sky into what Sheriff Nash could only describe as a moving cloud. A dull hum shook the ground below, he could see the floating craft slowly move over the cemetery, only bringing up more bodies as it went on.

He nearly fell off his horse as he approached. For a second he thought the same thing Eddie did as saw the flying craft but he quickly threw that thought aside and rode down into the valley not without some pushback from his horse. He knew he was foolhardy riding in but he couldn’t help satiate his curiosity. As he came down, the low hum of the ship got fainter and fainter until he got directly under the ship which was unnaturally quiet. He saw the door to Eddie’s house left open which by itself wasn’t out of the ordinary but what really caught his attention was what was left outside of the house. A strange contraption was left outside of the home, the sheriff couldn’t tell what it was but guessed it was some sort of weird horse considering it had what looked like a saddle on it. He cautiously walked into the house, revolver in hand, the house was silent aside from the sound of a knocked over jug dripping water onto the wooden floor. Sheriff Nash moved deeper into the home, he could barely make out some movement from the back. He walked as quietly as his spurred boots would let him. The Sheriff took off his hat as he peeked into the back room. A shiver ran down his spine as saw a being which looked almost human, the iridescent milky white “skin” of the being radiated brightly as light shone through the cracks between the wood. For a split second, he let fear get to him. His teeth rattled, and the moment they did the being’s head snapped towards Sheriff Nash. As soon as their eyes met, Nash leaped away towards the opposite corner. The being ran out of the room and in a split second, Nash pointed his revolver and fired three shots. Two missed, one caught its shoulder. It screamed in pain, Nash couldn’t help but notice the red blood spurting out of its shoulder. Nash slowly got up and moved slowly towards it, even now while his body screamed to run, his mind wanted answers. In a single motion the being jumped up and put its hand by its belt and in the moment Nash’s reflexes took hold of him. Two more shots rang out in the small house, followed by the dull thud of the being’s body hitting the ground. Nash approached the being once again, the three holes in its body pouring out blood. For the first time, the being chuckled and began to speak.

“H-heh heheh, to think… I’m gonna die right here, right now”

Nash was too stunned to speak. The being put its hand on its head and pressed something. Steam poured out of its head as it took off what Nash now realized was a helmet. Under it, was a man.

“C-couldn’t we have just… t-talked things out beforehand…”

“W-what’re… W-what’s going on here”

The man looked up at the sheriff and stared for a second.

“A-are you… T-the sheriff here…?”

Nash nodded as the man glanced at Nash’s sheriff badge, his eyes widened and began to cough violently before bursting out into laughter.

“H-how ironic… I guess…t-this is my punishment…f-from god…”

Nash could see the glint in the man’s eyes slowly fading and he raised his hand, holding a small hexagonal shaped object.

“T-they’ll be coming for you…-i-if god really does want to punish us…then give ‘em hell…”

His eyes blazed once more before dying, Sheriff Nash had been in a daze for the past few minutes. He was brought out of his daze as he heard a yelp from his horse, he turned towards the door as two more of, what Nash now realized were suited men, walked in.

“Nash…?”

One of them spoke softly as the realization set in for the both of them. Sheriff Nash tried to run but had nowhere to go. The left most suited man raised his arm, and held what looked like a pistol, he pressed the trigger and the gun screamed.

“WOWOWOWOWOWOW”

Nothing came out of the gun, Nash could barely question it before he felt every fiber in his being being torn apart, every nerve in his body felt like it was on fire until it became unbearable and then…darkness.