"Hey buddy, you okay?" asked a paramedic who was leaning over Eric, trying to wake him up.
Eric moaned softly, and slowly opened his eyes. Everything was blurry at first. He felt sort of disoriented. He saw someone looking down at him. The man appeared to be concerned. "Huh? What?" Eric mumbled, trying to sit up, not entirely sure what the man had said to him.
"Whoa, easy buddy, that was one nasty hit you must have taken," said the man, helping Eric into a sitting position.
Eric grabbed a hold of his head where it had collided with the wall; if it hadn't been for his helmet it could have been a lot worse. He looked around, feeling slightly confused. It was starting to get light out. He saw flashing lights everywhere.
"Okay, man. You need anything? Does anything hurt?" asked the paramedic.
Eric didn't answer at first. And then as if a light bulb had gone off in his head, he got his bearings back. "Oh no! WES!!" Eric jumped to his feet and saw that the building that Wes had been in had collapsed, there was nothing left of it. The fire had been put out and the firemen were walking around checking out the location to make sure it was safe.
Eric felt his heart racing with fear. "Wes! Wes!" he repeated several times over. He then grabbed a hold of the paramedic, almost shouting into his face. "Did they find someone in the building? A man. He's my friend Wes. Wesley Collins."
"No. I'm sorry, but you were the only one we found near the building," replied the paramedic.
Eric abruptly released him and headed over to one of the firemen. "Hey you!"
The fireman turned around. "Yes. Oh it's you, good to see that you're back on your feet."
"Did anyone find a body in the building; my friend was in there when it exploded."
A look of concern crossed the man's face. He looked over to one of the other firemen. "Hey Mitch, did you guys find a body in the building?"
"No, we didn't find much of anything expect for wood burnt to a crisp and ash," he replied.
Hank the fireman turned back to Eric. "Are you sure your friend was in that building?"
"Yes, I'm sure! He called me from in there. He was being attacked by that dino-mutant freak!" yelled Eric excitedly.
"Whoa. Hank, hold on there a sec." Mitch walked over to the two carrying what looked like the remains of a cell phone.
Eric felt sick to his stomach as he stared at the remains of the burnt and half melted phone. Wes's phone. "Wes," said Eric softly.
"I'm sorry sir, but if your friend was in there…." said Mitch, not even wanting to go into details as of what could have happened to Wes's body.
Eric just stood there speechless, not being able to move, or do much of anything. He was at a loss. He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. He couldn't be gone.
Eric didn't even notice when Hank placed a hand on his shoulder. "Is there someone we can call for you, son, a relative, a friend?"
"No. I'll call them." Eric put his head down, sighing. "Is there a chance he could have gotten out, through the back maybe?" he asked.
Sighs. "We searched the perimeter; there was no other way out. I'm sorry," said Mitch.
Eric nodded his head. And all he could think about was: It's my fault. I took away his morpher. If he'd had it he would have been okay; he would have been able to take on Janixsaur, and I would have gotten to him faster. How am I going to tell the others? Wes's father. Jen.
Alex was woken up by his communication device, making a loud beeping sound. "Great! Even in the year 2004 I can't get any sleep." He sat up looked at his clock and it read 7:00 am. Alex got off the bed and walked over to the communication device. He sat down and pressed the button. It was Captain Logan.
"Ah, Alex, good to see you."
"Captain."
"How has your mission been going? Have you captured Janixsaur?"
"Negative, sir. He's turning out to be quite an opponent."
"I see. I'm afraid I have some bad news."
Concern crossed Alex's face. "What's wrong?"
"I'm afraid you and Jen must return back to the year 3003, at once. There has been a large prison break."
"But our mission here sir, it's not finished."
"I know, and once we have the criminals detained, you and Jen will be allowed to return to the year 2004 to finish your mission. Is that understood?"
Alex sighed heavily. "Yes sir. Jen and I will prepare to leave this morning."
Eric slowly walked into the living room just a few minutes after eight in the morning. He found Jen sitting on the couch alone watching TV. How am I going to tell her? It will break her heart. How can I tell any of them? For just a few minutes he stood there motionless watching her, hoping by some chance this was all a dream and he would wake up any second now. But this was no dream, this was very real. Wes was gone, really gone, not a body left, just the remains of his cell phone.
Jen turned her head around, feeling that someone was watching her. She found Eric just staring at her. And right away she knew something was very wrong. The look in his eyes, his eyes were red, from crying. Eric never cried. Jen felt her heart skip a beat. What could be wrong? "Eric, what's wrong?" she asked fearfully.
Eric took a step forward, knowing this was going to hurt her, maybe even more than him. "Jen," he started.
Just about then Alex came walking into the room. He took one look at Eric and knew something very bad had happened. "What happened?"
Eric bit his lips looking at both of them. He hated having to do this. Why him? Why did it have to be him? And it wouldn't end here; there were still the others and Wes's father to be dealt with. "There is no easy way to say this. Last night I got a call from Wes. Janixsaur had him concerned in a building, by the time I got there the building exploded…"
Jen's eyes filled up with tears. She shook her head over and over. This couldn't be happening. "No! No! No!" she repeated, choking on her tears.
"Are you positive?" Alex asked, almost demanding it from Eric.
"Of course I'm sure!" yelled Eric, upset.
"Was there a body?"
Eric's face fell and he shook his head. "No. The building was complely destroyed, all the firemen were able to find was Wes's cell phone, or what was left of it."
Jen ran up to Eric, pounding her fists onto his chest. "No. I don't believe you. He can't be!" she cried.
Heavy heartedly Eric put his arms around her. "I'm sorry, Jen."
Jen cried into Eric's chest. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't end like this, not the way things had been between them, everything so rocky and cold. She had thought there would be time to fix things between them, but it seemed that time had run out on them. He would never know that she still loved him with all her heart, even after the way he had been treating her.
Alex put his head down. If things weren't bad enough as it was. Alex knew Jen wouldn't like the order Logan had given them, to leave here and return back home for a period of time. "I'm afraid I also have some bad news."
Jen pulled away from Eric. "What? What could be worse then this?"
Alex sighed. He hadn't liked Wes much, but he knew Jen cared for him dearly. His heart couldn't help but ache for her. He hated seeing her in pain, but right now he knew they needed to put their emotions behind them and take care of business. "This morning I got a call from Captain Logan. He needs us to return. There was a prison break, they need our help."
"WHAT!" yelled Eric. He couldn't believe this. With Wes gone, they needed Jen and Alex more then ever.
"What? But…" cried Jen. She couldn't just leave. Not now, not with…
"I'm sorry Jen, but we have our orders. But I promise you, both of you, we will come back and make Janixsaur pay for what he did to Wes."
Neither Jen or Eric responded, they both just nodded their heads. What could they say?
In the next few hours all three of them had gone to Tommy's house and explained to everyone what had happened to Wes and that Jen and Alex would be absent for a period of time. How long, no one knew.
No one had taken the news about Wes well. Especially Conner.
Eric was at Hayley's saying goodbye to her. It had just been about an hour since Jen and Alex had left for their time.
"You sure you don't want me to go with you?" she asked.
Eric shook his head. "No. This is something I have to do on my own, but thanks anyway."
"Call me when you get there," she leaned towards him wrapping her arms around him tightly.
For a long moment Eric just let her hold him and take care of him. "I will." Eric then pulled away and started towards the rental car to make the trip home. And even though it was only a few hours away, it would probably be the longest three hours of Eric's life; deciding what he should and shouldn't tell Mr. Collins.
Hayley stood on her porch watching Eric pull out of her driveway. When he came back she knew she would have to be there for him. He might look tough on the outside but deep down she knew he was breaking down into pieces.
Conner sat on his bed. He had been there for most of the day, ever since hearing about Wes. He just couldn't believe it. It didn't seem too long ago since he had seen him drunk at the bar, and tried to help him. Why didn't I try harder? It's my fault he died. If I had just tossed him in my car he'd still be alive.
"Conner, we're home!" called his mother. "Conner?" She called his name several times, but he never answered. A few seconds later she came into his bedroom and found him sitting on his bed all curled up. She knew something was wrong. Normally Conner was full of energy. She walked over to his head. "Honey, is something wrong?"
It took Conner a few moments even to acknowledge he had heard her. He looked up at her and forced a smile. "Everything's fine, Mom," he lied.
"Are you sure?" she asked, concerned.
"I'm just a little tired is all."
"You stayed up late again, didn't you?"
"Yeah. I was hanging out with Ethan and Trent."
She nodded her head. "Okay. Why don't you take a nap. We're supposed to go to your grandmother's tonight for dinner." She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.
"Sure, Mom," he said softly.
She headed towards his door, but stopped and looked at him once more. She knew something was wrong. But she just didn't know what. "Are you sure everything is okay, honey?"
Conner felt like he wanted to tell her. But that would only lead to questions. Questions that he couldn't answer. "Yeah, Mom, everything fine. Really." He smiled faintly at her.
"Okay, sweetie." She closed the door behind her.
Conner sighed heavily. "If you call getting one of your friends killed fine."
Yes this was a very sad chapter. And if anyone wants a spoiler, you can email me and I'll give you one.