Only Time Will Tell

“WHERE IS THE LOCKET?!”

I faintly hear this question being screamed at me as I become conscious again. Where am I? Last thing I remember was scavenging for food with my sister Zena. Oh, I hope she is ok. Suddenly, a splash of ice cold water hits my face.

“I do not know anything about any locket.” I don’t know why I said this, everyone knows about the locket, but no one knows where it is.

“LIAR!!!”

More ice water is thrown at my face, chunks of ice hit me causing me to become more alert and aggressive.

“I don’t know where it is, no one does!”

“LIAR .. you’re protecting it!”

“No. I really don’t know because if I did there would be no way you would catch me.”

Suddenly, I hear something drop and smoke begins to fill the air from all sides. This is my rescue attempt. Must be Zena and the crew….I feel my ropes being untied and when I’m free I make a run for it to camp, no looking back. I know who that was who kidnapped me, it was Cody Cruel. Cody and his Crueligans are after the locket like the rest of us. The locket is the key to change everything again.

Long story short, Old World society had once believed time was a man made construct, but some scientists were tenacious in proving otherwise. According to horologists, time had to exist because we experienced day and night. Yes, we created the clock, calendars, timers etc.. but this was all for the sole purpose to keep track of the passing moments, or in other words, time. Some type of atom or matter was pushing time forward and horologists were relentless to discover it.

Ultimately, nefarious Antiquarian Horologist Nicki Noon discovered the Plexus Atom. The unearthed Plexus Atom is the only atom to exist that holds an entire matrix of sub atoms that power time. Noon was constantly live streaming his life because he wanted his discoveries to be witnessed in real time by his large following and other curious minds. Subsequently, the majority of the world witnessed this discovery as well as the placement of one atom into the legendary horology heart shaped locket. This relic was perfect for concealing the atom and it’s safety. Noon gained an even larger following after these turn of events. So the moment Noon was able to isolate the triad matrix, the matrix responsible for time speed, something happened and everybody saw.

The atom began to spark, smoke, and make electrical noises as if it was shorting. The cloud of smoke was forming words and by the time anyone noticed, the smoke read,

Then the atom projected a 12 hour countdown. Some people tried to “diffuse” it, others packed and sought safety, while others panicked. No one knew what was going to happen, but we assumed the worst and we were right. Every world region was hit simultaneously by various forms of world destruction. Floods, fire, meteor showers, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tornadoes, sandstorms, wildlife attacks, plagues, and much more destroyed civilization. Our region, located inland and includes the discovery site, was hit by twisters, severe thunderstorms with deadly lightning, and hail storms that lasted for weeks. Consequently, the area was extremely flooded, wiping out entire towns, and leaving behind the advent of new lakes and rivers altering the entire habitat once known.

The Science Lab, where Noon was employed, resided scientists and their families prior to the Apocalypse. I was part of one of those families. My sister and I maintained the domestic duties of The Lab, so when the triad matrix activated, we stood behind to care for the people who decided to stay. What was the point in leaving? The Lab was all we knew. It was constructed so vigorously and on the highest point in order to withstand the worst of natural disasters and major flooding. We felt safe and secure. The Lab locked itself down, as it was programmed to do if it detected severe outside threats. We were on lock down for 60 days before the emergency measures were lifted. Noon did not stay at The Lab during the countdown nor did he return.

It has been six months since the apocalypse and the survivors have formed their cliques and camps. The Creuligans are trying to find the locket to cause another “reset” ; they feel if an apocalypse happened once, it cannot happen again. My crew banded together to find the locket and keep safe from anyone touching the contents, specifically Cody. His logic is absurd. We need to accept what happened and begin the rebuild. The thing is no one knows if the locket still exists, but the search is on.

“Zakariyah you ok? Any serious injuries?” Zena pats me on the shoulder and lifts up my shirt to check for any visible wounds as we arrive safely back to camp.

You would think after the end of the world, humans would have been humbled. Some of us were, so naturally the balance of life needs to have others who are eager to power and control at any opportune time.

“I wish the battle of good vs evil ended after Armageddon. We find the locket, throw it in the new ocean and hopefully that dissipates any further urges to mess with time.”

“Noon is probably dead or in space where he probably took the locket with him. There’s no point in searching for it. Let’s just focus on surviving and rebuilding.”

“As long as Cody is around nothing is safe or secure. We can search and rebuild simultaneously, it’s not like we have hundreds of miles of land to cover.”

Camp is composed of 15 people and located a couple miles from The Lab. Cody’s crew is 20, and then there are a couple of smaller groups around. My camp has inhabited another surviving science building so we are lucky to have access to important resources. The problem is we are surrounded by water. The diameter from the camp westward is about 25 miles, eastward runs about 50 miles of land until it hits a dividing river that is estimated 10 miles wide. We have yet to attempt to cross. Another laboratory that Noon worked out of is across that river, that is our next exploration.

Life after the apocalypse is like the inception of civilization. There is no structure, no institutions, no laws, no stores, no money, no houses, just the land, water, and survivors. The Lab has some canned foods, but we have learned to forage and fish. We have yet to rebuild anything since The Lab is sustaining us, but the more the water recedes, the more we explore, expand, search, and eventually rebuild.

Two weeks have passed since my last encounter with Cody. The weather is warmer and the new river’s water has receded significantly. It looks about five miles wide so an attempt to cross is being coordinated. We have the supplies, equipment, and volunteers; we leave in two days. We expect to run into the Crueligans since it’s hard not to know what everyone around is doing when the radius is only 50 miles. Knowing Cody he is preparing for the same journey, it's the only unsearched land available right now. We must be quicker, stealthier, and better prepared than them. We cannot let another reset happen, it will not save us and bring us to clear skies and rainbows.

There are nine of us, nine because it is the most unique and powerful number. My parents were mathematicians so I gravitated towards numbers naturally. The nine of us set out with victory on our mind. The walk to the new river is the easy part. Once we arrived we snacked for energy, prepared the water gear and set up the rope that will link us as we cross.

“Zak, are you sure you want to do this now? You know, we could wait a bit longer to observe if the water recedes more.”

“No, we cannot wait. The Crueligans should be making this same trek any day as well. We need to cover the ground before them. We have lost enough already.”

Our water suits and shoes are on and my adrenaline is surging. I know everyone else is too. We will cross the water and search the lab. Depending on time and condition of the other side, we will either explore more ground or just set up camp and spend the night. The new river’s water is cold, strong, and waist deep. We are taking our time and the strength of our link is keeping us all together. As we are crossing I notice a quarter mile down, Cody and some of his crew are attempting to cross as well. I knew it!

“We must go faster! The Crueligans are crossing!”

My feet are trying to run, but I could only trudge gradually against the strong current. Suddenly, I feel a tug and I go under. I immediately shoot back up and half my crew is under.

“Luca has his foot caught on something under the water!” Zena screams.

I begin to unlink myself and dive under when another crew member pops us,

“There’s a dead body under us!”

I immediately head towards Luca and notice Cody is heading our way. He must have heard. When I get to Luca, Cody is about 1000 feet from us. I dive down, see the dead body and Luca’s foot tangled in some kind of rope and weeds. I take my knife and begin to cut away at the entanglement. The current has pulled the knots so tight I have to cut away at the dead body’s hand in order not to harm Luca. I come up for air midway and I do not notice Cody anywhere. Some of his crew and my crew made it to land, but I did not see him. I dive back down to finish the job and as I’m cutting the hand I see something I recognize, a lab coat. I come back up for air, take some breaths and go back down. I search the lab coat for a name and my heart is pounding … it says Noon. He is half stuck under a rock and tangled up in something. I come back up for air and tell Luca it’s going to be a few more minutes, still no sign of Cody. I dive back down and start to search the body. Front pocket, back pocket nothing. Need more air. Dive back down and search the pants and shoes. When I take the left shoe off, something falls out. It’s the locket!! When I reach for it I see eyes staring back at me. Cody! I shoot up from the water and so does he. He looks back at me, laughing maniacally and says,

“Not quick enough Zakariyah.”

“HE HAS THE LOCKET!!!!” I bellow.

Cody is wasting no time. He begins to fumble with the locket right there in the middle of the water. He is having trouble opening it as I am getting closer to him. This cannot be happening. I was supposed to find the locket. I muster up all my might and hop out the water to tackle Cody when all of a sudden I hear electrical shorting noises and see a bright light. Cody and I are wrestling under water at this point when we both come up for air. The triad matrix has released it’s smoke again and the words were already fading and countdown begun, it was at ten seconds and the smoke read,