“Hand over the stone, Caleb!” came the shout from the figure. Throwing off the hood to reveal a familiar face, Caleb stood dumbfounded.
“Natalie? What are you…? How did you find me?”
“You’re pretty predictable when you’re trying to impress a woman. I like your latest conquest; she doesn’t seem as gullible as I was.”
“You’ve aged.”
“I came from 1981 this time...took me a while to find another portal after your girlfriend attacked me in Placerita. I couldn’t risk going back there. I also came more prepared this time.”
Natalie held up the strange rod she’d used to paralyze Sandia. It was of a similar technology as the blaze cartridges Caleb liked to use. He’d incorporated all kinds of technology from the future into his weapons, ammunition, and other conveniences back at the ranch. But this rod, he’d never seen before.
The weapon Natalie was holding to Sandia’s neck looked like a cross between a syringe and a laser gun like you’d see in an old sci-fi movie. Caleb didn’t want to risk pulling his pistols on her if there was any chance that Sandia would get hurt.
“Why are you doing this?” Caleb asked.
“Crazy ex-girlfriend,” Sandia was able to mumble through her partially opened lips. Her mouth didn’t move at all. “I warned you.” She apparently hadn’t lost her sense of humor or her ability to say ‘I told ya so.’
“I’m not crazy!” Natalie shouted in Sandia’s ear, then turned her attention back to Caleb. “I wanted the life you showed me! That’s not crazy, is it? I wanted to be a Time Dancer alongside you...you can’t just show someone the other side of the universe and then shove them away...expect them to stay silent and content with...what? Normality?”
“I was young and dumb...I was showing off. I’m sorry I hurt you.”
“You’re sorry? That’s it? We were supposed to be together forever, and you’re sorry? I guess that makes everything okay then!” Natalie laughed. “Or, on second thought, how about I take what you took from me?” She pressed the laser to Sandia’s throat with more force.
Sandia sucked in a breath of air.
“Now, just hold on!” Caleb blurted.
“How about I take away any chance at happiness you ever had and leave you stranded in time...always looking for something more...something that can’t even come close to the times we had together?”
“What do you want, Natalie? I’ll do whatever you want...just let Sandia go. She has nothing to do with this.”
“Hand over the stone, or she dies.”
“All right, all right; done,” Caleb said, without even needing to think it through. He removed the necklace that belonged to his mother with the precious stone carving and looked at it in his hand. The faces of his parents fresh in his mind. He slowly approached Natalie with his hand extended, offering the necklace.
Everything came together for Caleb at that moment.
He knew who he was and what he wanted. He was his father’s son. This is the moment his father would be most proud of. This was Caleb’s sacrifice for the woman he loved. This is the moment Caleb knew he was finally a man.
“No, Caleb! Don’t give it to her!” Sandia squeaked out.
Natalie, wide-eyed, reached for the necklace and swiped it out of his hand.
“All right, you’ve got what you want; now let her go,” Caleb said.
Natalie laughed. “Your grandfather’s right, you know; you are an idiot! You’re the richest man on the planet because of this little stone! Without it you’re nothing! You’d give it all up for this? For her?”
Caleb looked Sandia in the eye. “Yes.”
Both Sandia and Natalie looked at him in disbelief, as if they’d heard him incorrectly.
“Fine. You can have her. But you’re a fool.”
Natalie pushed Sandia toward Caleb, and he breathed easier, having her safe in his arms.
He flicked his eyes back to Natalie, in case she still intended to use the ray gun on them. He’d be quick on the draw if she did.
“This obsession has changed you, Natalie. I’m truly sorry for the part I played. I never meant to--”
All of a sudden, Natalie’s eyes went bug-eyed, and her body started to shake as if she were being electrocuted.
Caleb was suddenly tackled by two people from behind. Sandia fell limply beside him, still unable to move.
Had to be the regulators. The PP. The Pinhead Posse had finally caught up with him. He’d let his guard down.
When the regulator released Natalie from the electrical current charging through her body, Caleb watched helplessly as she fell forward like a stiff board, landing directly on the weapon in her hand. On impact, the gun went off , inflicting a fatal wound through her chest.
“No!” Caleb shouted.
All of them were taken by surprise. There was nothing they could do but watch as the life slowly ebbed from Natalie’s body. This was all his fault, Caleb thought.
When her body was finally completely still, she suddenly burst into a million particles of light that floated up into the sky like sparks from a fire, until they disappeared into the night.
“What in the world?” Caleb whispered, unsure of what he just witnessed.