Sage (manxman)

Chapter 26 - Zero Time

Chapter 26 – Zero Time

            Ford fell to the ground and the mountain feeling the rocks break beneath him he closed his eyes. He needed to fight, and he needed to win this. But he hoped Levi came through. As the battle raged a government drone from the secret agency Valiant circled above watching the battle take place.

            Levi watched from the sidelines and the battle at first would seem evenly matched but he knew Ford couldn’t hold the stamina up this long. Levi pulled out his cell phone, which he stuffed into one of the many pockets of his battle gear. There was no signal. Then suddenly, he heard a beep from the government issued walkie-talky. A light on his vest turned green.

            “What is going on?” Levi asked finally breaking his eye contact with the fight.

            “Levi, it is General Atkins, you tell me,” Atkins shouted through the walkie-talkie.

            “Ford…is a Sage again, but he told me we need to do something.” Levi blinked. He tried to remember every little detail. It took him a moment but he recalled everything Ford whispered into his ear.

            “Like hell we do, the gate is destroyed. How do we stop this thing of Ford can’t take it down.” General Atkins shouted through the speaker.

            “He told me to reach Audrey, Rica, and Gina. He said they would know. He said, look into Ashton and get them into a room together.” Levi whispered from the sidelines.

            “Okay Levi, we will, you hold tight, we are bringing an evac for you.” Atkins

            “No,” Levi shook his head. “I am here until the end with Ford.”

***

It only took thirty minutes to unlock the doors to Middleton High School and have Gina, Audrey, and Rica in the school library together. They all sat down on the couches and eyed each other. The three of them were in pajamas or sweats, having been pulled from their Christmas Eve festivities and dragged back to the one place they never thought they would be, their high school.             

“I’m visiting my grandmother…I’d love to have some background as to why I am here?” Audrey’s hair was back to its auburn color. She wore a light pink shirt and some pajama bottoms with elephants on them. “Who are these two?”

One of the military men set up a conference phone on the center of the table as the three girls eyed each other.

“My name is Nina Gamboa, the girl Ford replaced you with when you ditched him for Florida.” Nina wore a heavy coat over some sweats.

“For the record I didn’t leave Ford for Florida, my family made me. Ford and I have been through a lot together and I never heard about you. We’ve traveled through time.”
            “Ford and I fought a Greek Goddess,” Nina raised an eyebrow.

“Try a snow ape, we did that earlier today” Rica stood up, “I’m Rica.”

Nina and Audrey both looked at the girl then rolled their eyes simultaneously. “What is going on?” Nina asked one of the guys with a gun. “This is ridiculous. It is Christmas time. My family is freaking out…why didn’t this happen sooner – could have made a great story before I submitted my college apps.”

“So we all know Ford…” Audrey started.

The phone beeped to life and two voices came on, “Hello, this is Lauren Atkins and Levi are you on the line?”