A Place Beyond Time

by Ivan Martinez

Part II: Time Out

Nash couldn’t tell how long it took him to wake up. It could’ve been hours, it could’ve been seconds but once he did the first thing he heard were two arguing voices.

“...What the hell were you doing out there? This mission wasn’t supposed to be dangerous, we’re in we’re out and no one's the wiser so why did Charlie turn up dead?”

“I-I don’t…”

The second voice trailed off before being interrupted by a third, much deeper almost monotone voice.

“We heard shots, we went to investigate and Charlie was dead, that's it.”

Nash began to squirm, but he realized he was tied up to a contraption not unlike the one he found earlier outside the house. The first voice spoke up again.

“So, I guess this guy is the one who did it then”

Nash heard footsteps come closer to him, he looked up to a slimmer figure standing above him. They turned around to others.

“What do you want to do with him… Captain?”

The last word came out with a biting tone and the second straightened up and for the first time their voice came out much more confident and dignified.

“As much as I want him to pay for what he did, we can’t just go around killing people here. Elena, we’re gonna have to wipe his memory, you know what to do. Hugo, stay with him.”

“Yes, sir”

“Yes, sir”

As the leader and the slender figure walked away, Nash began to squirm some more.

“Woah woah woah, I don't know what you guys were doing here but can’t we at least talk this out first?”

The leader of the group turned to Nash and although he couldn’t see his eyes, Nash could feel his icy cold stare penetrate through his helmet and onto Nash’s face.

“You lost that privilege when you killed my subordinate.”

At this point, the leader of the group walked off and was picked up by beam of light emanating from their , leaving Nash alone with the larger figure in the middle of the cemetery. Nash kept squirming and squirming, all in an effort to hide the fact he was cutting through the ropes that tied him with his 2nd of three pocket knives he keeps on himself at all times. Once he cut through the ropes, he watched for the opportune moment to shoot, his revolver had one bullet left in it and no room for error.

“What? Are you scared or something?”

Nash snapped his neck to look at Hugo, one of the two who found him.

“You can’t fool me, you’re just waiting for the best time to kill me aren’t you? When talking fails… What else is there eh?”

Nash just looked down, partially out of embarrassment and partially due to shame.

“It’s not like I can blame you though, killing just’a part of life. So do it, try me. See if you can kill me before I can knock you out again and if you don’t kill me with the first shot, believe me I will run over there and beat you to death with my own hands.”

Sweat rolled down Nash’s forehead as it touched the ground, he realized he’d found his way out of this situation..

“I thought your captain told you not to kill me.”

He simply cocked his head back and chuckled.

“Oh Urien? I’m not as soft hearted as h-”

Nash jumped up in a flash, pulled out his gun and fired in one swift motion.

“WO”

Hugo’s gun could barely get a peep out before Nash’s shot landed. His gun fell to the ground as Hugo collapsed to the ground holding his thigh as it poured out blood. Nash bolted in the opposite direction as soon as he fired and was halfway up the hill before he heard Hugo’s wheezing laughter.

“HAHA.. You cheeky bitch! I didn’t think you’d find a way to run without killing me but you’ll see. You won’t be able to run for long, you’ll understand soon but we’ll catch up and find you!!”

Hugo’s voice trailed off as Nash fled farther and farther. Away from Mizzilou, he didn’t want to bring the townsfolk into whatever was going on there. First thing Nash did was reload his trusting revolver and kissed it before he put it back in its holster. Nash ran and ran and ran for what felt like hours, before stumbling and falling to the ground. He laid there on the hot sand trying to catch his breath, the hot midday sun blazed above. Nash moved on his back and looked straight up at the sun as well as he could. By his measurement it should’ve been sun down by now, after all his running and running. So why was the sun so high up in the sky? Nash got up and kept walking, trying not to think too hard about it. Then from across the way, he saw a jackrabbit standing in the middle of the desert perfectly still, Nash just thought the jackrabbit would scurry away as soon as it noticed him but no. As Nash walked closer and closer, the jackrabbit didn’t move. Nash went to investigate, he poked and prodded it trying to get some sort of reaction from it. It was definitely alive but refused to move, as he pondered the state of the animal he noticed that the wind hadn't blown in quite a while. He looked up at the horizon, away from the sun, and saw birds in the sky yet they were still as if they were painted onto the sky instead of being living animals. It was almost as if the world itself had stopped. Now Nash was really concerned, he ran towards where the birds were but noticed a rock jutting out of the ground and squatting atop of it, a man. He wore a strange set of clothes with some weird sciencey goggles sitting on his face, he was looking upwards at the sun not unlike Nash was before.

“What the hell was this guy doing?”

Nash asked himself.

“I’m trying to see if the sun’s ultraviolet rays are still dangerous in this space.”

Nash fell to ground in shock as the man jumped down from the rock, took off his goggles and smirked.

“What, you thought I just like everything else here?”