13

ELLIS

OCTOBER 22, 2155

It’s late afternoon when Ellis looks out the window of the abandoned house he slept in during the day. All he can see is piles of rubble surrounding the few residences that are even partially intact. This neighborhood, once home to some of the wealthier citizens of New Denver, was demolished in the early stages of what everyone now calls The Last War.

He searches through his satchel and takes out one of his Ready Meals. It’s supposed to be a type of protein pie, but it’s rock hard and stale. He eats it anyway. Being choosy about a meal is a luxury he hasn’t experienced in years.

After hoisting his air tank onto his back, Ellis straps its accompanying mask around his neck. The air is safe to breathe in most places, but he frequently stumbles upon areas in which enemy soldiers have used Death Bombs, which render the air toxic for hours after detonation.

Before he leaves the house, Ellis checks through his satchel one more time to make sure he hasn’t accidentally left anything behind. Fifteen Ready Meals, three bottles of water, a digigraph of his family, and the comm-set that he stole—along with a Chronoband—from the military bunker he lived in up until a year ago. He also pats his pocket, feeling for the DataDisk he always keeps in there, and makes sure his stunner is secured at his waist.

It’s because of the stolen Chronoband that he has to keep moving. He’ll never be forgiven for taking it, since so few remain in existence. The regional commander issued a reward for his capture—extra rations and a secure post within the bunker at all times. That’s the last alert he was able to receive on his DataLink.

He takes out the comm-set and fits it over his head. Not only does it help him look for cloaked enemies, it also still functions as a recorder. And Ellis has been recording a lot of his surroundings—he needs proof of what life is like in this time.

Because Ellis has decided that he’s had enough of living this life. A life in which he, along with the rest of the country, has lost everything. The only way out is to prevent the war from even happening—which means traveling to 2147.

But in order to preserve the timeline up until the devastating act that led to the destruction of the North American Federation, Ellis first has to retrieve four items from the past.

Ellis presses the stone on a necklace he’s wearing. It’s a Jewill that belonged to someone he knew as a child. Once he’s cloaked, Ellis leaves the house and begins recording, adding to his existing material. No one looking at this footage will be able to deny that this future is real and devastating, he thinks as he hurries through the near-silent neighborhood.

As he nears the heart of what used to be downtown New Denver, Ellis becomes more cautious. He passes some civilians wandering aimlessly, including a few children. A small part of him aches for them, grieving the world that they never knew. It would be smart for them to stay out of sight, but so many have given up hope.

Several times, he has to duck into partially destroyed buildings or hide behind downed shuttles when he spots someone in the distance. It’s hard to tell if they’re foreign soldiers or local ones, and it doesn’t matter. They’re all wearing comm-sets, which would alert them to his presence, and they would either kill or try to capture him.

After miles of passing nothing but desperate survivors and decomposing bodies, hiding intermittently, Ellis leaves the boundary of the city limits and arrives at his destination—the remains of The Academy for Time Travel and Research. This is one of the few places that kept Chronobands and comm-sets on site. His mission is to shift back to the day that the Academy was bombed and retrieve two Chronobands and comm-sets before they are destroyed.

The buildings that made up the Academy were completely demolished by a steady stream of bombs launched by the European Coalition. Inspecting the coordinates on his DataLink, Ellis locates an area close to the main building. He then checks the date that he programmed into his Chronoband several days ago. It’s September 2, 2147, at 11:05 in the morning. That’s five minutes before the attacks began, targeting the Academy and New Denver. The European Coalition, upon realizing that the outbreak unleashed by the bioweapon on April 5, 2147, was spreading to other countries, decided to take out population centers with huge numbers of infected people.

Closing his eyes, Ellis shifts. It takes him a few seconds to adjust to being in his past, but soon his vision and hearing clear. Around him, the grounds of the Academy are nearly abandoned. There are several people walking through the grassy expanse between the Academy’s buildings. Soldiers are posted at every entrance.

Ellis stands close to the wall on the rear side of the main building, waiting until the first bombs begin their descent. At first there’s only the distinct sound of approaching aircraft. That captures the soldiers’ attention. Everyone looks in the direction of the noise, laser rifles raised.

While the soldiers are on alert, Ellis takes off running, heading toward the closest entrance. He knows he has less than five minutes to find what he’s looking for, so he’s got to make every second count.

The soldier guarding that entrance is wearing a comm-set. Normally he would see the cloaked figure advancing in his direction, but he’s occupied with looking in the opposite direction, trying to find the source of sounds Ellis knows are coming from an approaching stealth bomber. Ellis shoves the soldier hard, then pivots to his right and enters the building.

Still running, Ellis has barely reached the desk where a young cadet is sitting when the first bomb strikes the academic building. The resulting blast shakes the immediate area. People dash out of offices, staring at each other in confusion. Then another bomb hits the boys’ residence hall.

Ellis runs faster.

With people rushing past him, screaming, the only thing he concentrates on is getting to the vault room, located next to the chancellor’s office. At least he doesn’t have to worry about encountering him. Chancellor Doran Tyson died in the initial outbreak in April, and in the resulting chaos no permanent replacement was assigned.

A retinal scanner is required to open the vault. Ellis taps instructions on his DataLink, which brings up a stored scan of the former chancellor’s eye on his comm-set’s left eye lens. That does the trick, and the door slides open, revealing a dark interior. As soon as he steps inside the small room, lights blink on. Ellis rushes to the nearest wall. It’s lined with dozens of metallic drawers. He reaches drawer three, yanks it open, and extracts two comm-sets. Then he tugs drawer eleven open and grabs two Chronobands.

A loud boom reverberates overhead. A bomb has hit the main building. Ellis races out of the vault. Time seems to have stopped for him. His whole world is reduced to the sound of his pulse throbbing in his head, his footsteps pounding along the floor, and another detonation hitting the building. Debris falls from above; chunks of ceiling crash down around him. He passes a man stretched across the ground with a large pillar pinning him in place. A part of him wishes he could help, but it’s useless. The man is long dead to him. A ghost.

Outside, Ellis keeps running until he’s clear of the immediate blast zone. In the final moments before he shifts, he sees another bomb fall and take out the rest of the main building.

With his heart pounding, Ellis allows himself a moment to sit once he shifts back to his time—but only a moment. He pulls a small black bag out of a pocket in his pants and gently places the stolen items inside, then tucks the bag into his satchel. After taking a swig of water, Ellis stands and starts his journey toward a campsite in the Rocky Mountains, where he will finally deliver his message to Bridger Creed. It’ll take several days to get there, but Ellis has plenty of time.

That’s all he has anymore.