When The World Ended, I Stole Tomorrow

Chapter 8: Poisoned Roots

Fire!

Clara yelled, her voice shaking with fear. Ronan did not wait to hear the sound of the guns. He grabbed Elias. Jumped off the walkway. They fell into the darkness just as the bad guys started shooting. The walkway melted under the plasma.

Ronan twisted in the air. Landed on his feet. He pulled Elias to safety behind some containers. Elias was really scared. He had his hands over his ears. The guns were so loud.

They have guns that can melt steel, Elias said, his voice cracking. This is not fair. The Vance Group is a company that helps the military. They should not have powerful guns.

Ronan said the guns came from the people who built the gate. He looked at his gun. He only had eight bullets left. The bad guys had guns and better armor.

Ronan looked around the edge of the container. The room was bright from the plasma. Clara was hiding behind a tent. Her men were moving towards Ronan.

How did you know I was coming, Clara? Ronan asked. How did you know to buy this place before me?

Clara laughed. It was a sound. You are not the one who can see the future, Ronan. A man came to my house one night. He wore a coat. He showed me what you were going to do. He showed me the things that would happen.

Ronan got really angry. The man in the coat was from the Chrono Covenant.

You were going to leave us to die, Clara said, her voice shaking with anger. You were going to lock us out.

Ronan said that was not true. Clara was the one who did the thing.

It does not matter, Clara said. The Vance Group is working with the Covenant now. We do not have to worry about the things that will happen. We have a gate that will take us to a safe place.

The bad guys started shooting. Ronan and Elias had to hide.

We are going to get hurt Elias said. We cannot fight these guys. We have to run.

There is no place to run Ronan said. He looked at the big gate in the room.

Ronan had to make a choice. He had to destroy the gate. If he did not, the bad guys would use it to hurt a lot of people.

Cover your ears, Ronan told Elias.

Ronan shot the crane that was holding the gate. The crane. The gate fell. It was very heavy. It hurt the concrete floor.

The bad guys were hurt. The gate was broken.

Ronan and Elias ran to the door. They went into a hallway.

We are trapped, Elias said. We are stuck here.

We are not dead yet Ronan said. He turned on a flashlight. The light showed a hallway with iron doors.

Ronan walked down the hall. He was careful. The air smelled bad.

The doors were broken. Something had gotten out.

Whatever the Covenant was keeping down here, it's already loose, Elias said. He was scared.

Ronan did not say anything. He went to the door. It was locked.

Ronan heard a voice. Someone was crying.

He knew the voice. It was his brother Leo.

Ronan shot the lock. Kicked the door.

The flashlight showed Leo. He was. Tied up. There was a device in his neck.

Leo looked up. His eyes were not normal. They were purple.

Ro... Ronan, Leo said. His voice was not normal. They said you would come down here. They said you would always choose the dark.

Ronan put down the rifle. His hands were shaking really badly for the first time since everything went backwards. Clara had not just betrayed him to the Vance Group. She had also given his brother to the Chrono Covenant to use as a test subject.

Who did this to you Ronan asked, running to his brother and getting down on his knees. He did not care about the danger. Leo, hold on. I am going to get this thing out of you.

Do not touch it Elias yelled from the door. If that thing is connected to his spine, pulling it out will hurt him badly or even kill him. It is a part of his body now.

Ronan's hands were above the shiny metal piece in his brother's neck. He felt really sad and scared. The big problem had just gotten much too hard to handle. The system had helped him fight people and outsmart mean leaders, but it could not help him save his brother.

I am sorry, Ronan, Leo said, crying and water coming out of his eyes, which were shining purple. Clara told me you were losing your mind. She said the Vance Group would keep us safe. I did not know they would put this thing in my head.

It is okay, Ronan said, even though he was not sure it was. His voice was shaking. I am going to fix this. I am going to make it right. I am going to save my brother.

You cannot fix it, Leo. Then he had a scary smile on his face, which was covered in blood. The smile was not really Leo's smile. It was the smile of the machine inside him. Because I am the countdown now, the countdown is my brother, the countdown is what is happening to my brother.

Before Ronan could do anything, a loud alarm started ringing everywhere. The purple thing in Leo's neck was shining brightly; it hurt Ronan's eyes.

The Future Archive system was flashing in front of Ronan's eyes; the words were red and scary. It said: something bad is happening, something bad is coming from the future. A bomb is going to go off inside my brother's body. The bomb will destroy everything. We only have sixty seconds, sixty seconds to save my brother, sixty seconds to stop the bomb.