14

BRIDGER

FEBRUARY 12, 2147

I’m almost to the stream when I notice a faint shimmering in front of me. Someone is there, cloaked. I grip the fishing pole tighter, holding it up like a weapon.

The shimmer disappears as the cloak is disengaged, and I’m left staring at someone slightly taller than me, with greasy brown hair that’s a little longer than mine. He’s dressed in faded brown pants and a dull leather jacket. Some kind of breathing device rests on his collarbone, with tubes running over both of his shoulders. A large, patched satchel is slung over his shoulder, and a stunner is sheathed at his hip. A low chuckle comes from the dirty gray cloth wrapped around the lower part of his face. He looks like someone straight from a war zone.

“I wish you could see yourself. This is wild,” he says in a raspy voice. His eyes crinkle in a way that lets me know he’s really enjoying this.

But I’m not. “Who the hell are you?” I ask, taking a step closer and holding my fishing pole higher. I could probably do some damage with it, if I needed to.

“Come on, Bridger, put that down. I’m not going to hurt you.” He spreads his arms wide, his palms facing up. “I came a long way to talk to you.”

The muscles in my arm tighten as I grip the fishing pole harder. “How do you know my name? And why are you hiding your face?”

“That’s not important,” he replies. “What’s important is that I need to talk to you. It’s urgent.”

“I’m not saying a thing until you tell me who you are and if you’re alone,” I snarl.

“You don’t need to know my real name—at least not yet—but for now you can call me The Prophet. And I promise I’m by myself.”

I laugh. “The Prophet? Are you serious?”

He stands a little straighter, like he’s offended. “I am. Considering that I’m from your future and I have information you need.” Then he laughs. “Okay, I’ll admit that is kind of lame. You can call me Ellis.”

I stare at him for a few moments. Whoever this guy is, he has to be lying. He should know that the DTA forbids Time Benders from interacting with anyone when they travel to the past. “You’re from my future. How do you expect me to believe that? If that’s the case, then you wouldn’t be talking to me at all. You’d know that that could contaminate your timeline, even get you arrested.”

“That’s true now, but in my time there is no more DTA, and people with Talents are long dead. I’m from 2155 and, as you can tell,” he says, gesturing to his clothes, “things aren’t so great.”

I don’t know how to respond. How am I supposed to believe his claims? As far as I know, he could be a Purist who’s stolen a Jewel of Illusion, which is illegal tech that would allow him to conceal himself without using a government-issued cloak that’s part of our uniforms.

I lower my fishing pole. “Okay, I’ll play along. Let’s say I believe you. What do you want with me?”

His eyes narrow. “In my time, we’re in the middle of a world war. A war that begins with the detonation of a bioweapon that will be unleashed soon in New Denver. It’ll kill every Talent once the disease spreads, and over half of the Gen Mod population. The only Talents who do survive are the few who were in underground bunkers during the detonation. What I want to do is stop that bomb from being detonated. But in case I’m unsuccessful, I still need you, your family, and your friend Alora to live through this. That must happen, no matter what.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “How do you know about Alora? And how do you expect me to believe this? That sounds completely ridiculous.”

“It was ridiculous to risk my life to come back here to warn you, but I did it anyway. Bridger, it’s important that you live through this. You’re an important part of the future.”

I let out a harsh laugh. “Okay, this really has to be some kind of joke.”

Ellis pushes up his sleeve, and I’m shocked to see that he’s wearing a Chronoband. “I was almost shot for stealing this.” Then he holds his hand over the pocket of his coat and says, “I have some information that I know you’ve been looking for. I’ll give it to you, but only if you promise that you’ll come with me when I return for you and the others. I’ll take all of you to a secure location.”

He reaches into the pocket and extracts something. Opening his fist, he steps closer to me and reveals the items. In his palm are two round DataDisks—a silver one for data storage, and a bronze Sim Game program.

“These are for you. One contains information that will help you and Alora find some of the answers you seek. The other is a little taste of what’s to come if I’m not able to stop that bioweapon.”

“You didn’t answer my question. How you know about Alora? And what about my father? Do you know where he is?”

“I know everything about you, Bridger. Everything.”

“Then tell me what’s going on with him. I need to know.”

“I would, but you would never believe me. This is something you have to discover for yourself.”

Suddenly I want to punch this guy, but I tell myself to calm down. Just because he claims that he’s from the future and knows about Dad doesn’t mean he’s telling the truth. But, still, the fact that he has a Chronoband makes me wonder.

I reach out to accept the DataDisks and shove them in my pocket. “If what you say is true, then when will the bioweapon detonate?”

“I can’t tell you that yet. I need to preserve this timeline as much as possible before the bombing. But a few days before it happens, I’ll come back and warn you. That should give you enough time to prepare your family and then I’ll get you to safety,” Ellis says.

I have so many more questions. If he’s from the future, why does he want to alter his timeline? I know he said there’s a world war, but there’s no telling what changing his past could do to him or the rest of the world. And why does he want me, Alora, and my family in particular to survive? It doesn’t make sense.

Before I can ask anything, Ellis says, “Look, I’ve got to go now. I’ve already been here too long. Just … try to stay safe and out of trouble. And here’s one more thing you’re going to need.” He extracts a black, plastic-looking bag from his satchel and tosses it to me. “Take care of those. You have no idea what I went through to get them.”

Then he shifts, leaving me alone once more. I open the bag and nearly drop it when I realize what’s inside—two Chronobands, and two comm-sets.