Timescape Read Free Page A

Xander, hold on to your brother’s belt. I’ll bring up the rear.”
    Keal reached behind him and produced the pistol.
    â€œDon’t—” David said.
    â€œJust to scare them,” Keal said. He read the concern on David’s face. “I promise.”
    â€œUnless you have to,” Xander said. “Right? You’ll use it on them if you have to?”
    Keal said nothing, and David didn’t know what to say: have to was have to .
    Dad said, “If you can’t feel the pull, or my things tug me in a different direction, I’ll take the lead. Deal?”
    â€œLet’s do it,” Keal said. He stood.
    David slipped his fingers around Keal’s belt and felt Xander grab his. He leaned closer to his brother and whispered, “Strong and courageous.”
    Xander smiled—the first smile David had seen in a while.
    Keal bolted forward, nearly yanking David off his feet. He fell in step, and they went over the hill. They were twenty paces down when the first of the creatures spotted them. It stood, pointed, started howling.
    A bloodcurdling scream—close—seemed to knock David’s heart out of his chest. Then he realized it was Keal. The man was howling back at the creatures, making the scariest lion roars David had ever heard come out of a human. Maybe it was to psych himself up for the plunge into enemy territory or to scare the tar out of the creatures, but whatever the reason, David liked it. He began screaming himself, an airy, high-pitched squeak at first, then deep, loud, get-out-of-my-way yells. Behind him, Xander’s and Dad’s voices kicked in. They were a freight train of hurt steaming down the hill.
    The creatures scattered, disappearing into the rubble or hurling their bodies over it, tumbling to get away. But not all of them: a dozen or more actually stepped forward. Watching the four of them coming, these drew together. They began picking up rocks.
    Keal stopped screaming long enough to say, “Watch your step!”
    They hit the first of the rubble, chunks of concrete the size of watermelons. David jumped over them, on them, swerved around them. It became harder to keep hold of Keal’s belt. Just as he moved right to avoid a jutting piece of rebar, Keal went left. David came off his feet, and he sailed into the rebar. It scraped his arm, but he had no time to think of the pain. He scrambled, his feet out of control, then pedaled again beside Keal. Xander was having just as much trouble. He jerked at David’s pants, causing David’s hips to shift this way and that, totally out of sync with his upper torso.
    David was about to release his grip on Keal when Dad yelled, “Stay together! Don’t let go!”
    They continued that way, a train now off the tracks but still locomoting forward—emphasis on loco : didn’t that mean crazy in Spanish? Yeah, crazy . Down, down, closer and closer to the creatures waiting for them.
    Keal angled a different direction, toward the outer edge of the creatures’ camp. Most likely, David knew, Keal wasn’t trying to prevent a collision with the creatures but was following the tug of the items.
    Fine with me.
    The creatures noticed the shift and started jogging to intercept them.
    Thirty seconds, David guessed. Half a minute until they met: rocks, teeth, claws, and all.
    A gunshot startled him. He tumbled, catching sight of the pistol raised in Keal’s hand, aimed at the sky. His feet were gone, left behind. He fell. Xander came down on David, crushing him against a jagged rock. His cast hit the ground. Agony, like an electrical current, radiated into his shoulder.
    Keal jerked to a stop. He reached back, grabbed David’s shirt, and hoisted him up.
    David felt Xander rising behind him.
    â€œLet’s move!” Keal said. He fired another shot into the air.
    The creatures responded. Several were already running away. The others were disappearing behind slabs of