Chapter 15 by C. Selene McBain and Kat Freymuth
The wedding took place during a desert sunset. It was simple, and eloquent. Al was able to sit up through to the end, kiss his bride, and watch the sun sink beyond the New Mexico horizon. Ziggy reported that Sam leaped out of the high school student, successful, and was now in stasis. Before Sam could leap in again, Al was already transferred to a hospital.
Al, of course, fought the idea of being in a hospital. But when it became obvious that, with his body shutting down on him, he was going to need oxygen and a heart monitor as well as a staff who could be there at a moment's notice, he relented. It was four days after he was admitted that he lost complete use of his arms, making it impossible for him to even do the simplest of tasks. Laying in the hospital bed, he knew the only thing that was left was waiting.
He was resting when he sensed a presence in the room. Slowly opening his eyes, he let his head fall to the side to see who it was. He frowned. He didn't recognize the man who stood over him with a slight grin. "Who are you?" he breathed.
"An admirer," answered the man, who was scrutinizing the Admiral far too closely to be comfortable. He was suppressing his grin as he reached and took Al's hand. There was no reaction. From either men.
"You can admire me from the other side of the room, thank you very much," Al told him with a glare.
The air grew more tense when the man did not comply. He turned a leering stare towards the Admiral. "I understand that your project is in trouble. Losing an administrator that cannot readily be replaced might mean funding will be cut, and the project shut down."
Al's glare turned into a hard frown. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded.
The man leaned in very close to Al's ear and whispered, "I'm the one who shot you in the back."
If Al weren't so helpless, he would have beaten the man there and then. But without a means to do anything, all that came from him was a startled expression. It took a good minute before he could find his voice again. "What do you want?" he asked.
The man pulled back, his smile eerily pleasant. He began to check the monitors near Al's bed, the I.V. the dripped essential fluids and medications. "Just checking up on you, Admiral," he said, "Need to make sure things are - fine. Sorry about your niece, by the way. A bit messy, I'm afraid. A mistake I don't intend to repeat."
Just the man's words were enough to penetrate even Al's distracted mind. He's a leaper. He shot me, hurt Carlie... What else has he done? Literally in an instant, he knew exactly who was showing off his peacock feathers to him. "You stay the hell away from her, Yen!" Al screamed at him, reacting to the implied threat.
"Oh," said Yen, "I know this will hurt more if I tell you right away. Your niece. Do you know what she becomes? Yes, I'm from the future. She becomes quite the meddlesome little physicist. And a naval officer. I'm sure you'd be very proud. Really a shame you won't be there to see her graduate with honors from Annapolis."
Al lowered his eyelids, clearly calmed by Yen's words. "I don't need to be there physically. I'll be with her when that happens regardless. Thanks for letting me know ahead of time so I can put it on my heavenly calendar."
Yen stifled his laughter. "You really think I'll let her get that far? The only thing you can look forward to in the after life is to greet her mangled body at the pearly gates."
"You're killing me. Isn't that enough?" Al demanded. Getting a raised eyebrow from Yen, he continued, explaining, "That last operation should have killed the infection but it didn't. What did you do? Leap into the anesthesiologist? The surgeon?"
"Giving it away would take the fun from it all," said Yen quietly, "Besides, I have a prior engagement. Your wife is lovely, by the way. My compliments to the tragic man before me."
Al's breathing became hard and furious with each threat. "Stay away from my family," he growled. "If you touch one hair on their heads..."
"Far too late for that, I'm afraid," He grinned, "Oyasuminasai, Admiral Calavicci." And as quickly as he had appeared in the darkened doorway, he was gone.
Al's breathing had gone from hard and furious to erratic in a matter of seconds. The sudden pain that filled his head made it nearly impossible to even think. The only thing that he could think were two precious words. "Beth! Carlie!" he cried out with desperation.
Carlie was the first one who came running in. She and Beth had decided to spend some quality time talking in the cafeteria while they let Al rest. Returning to the room and finding Al near hysterical was certainly not expected.
"Uncle Al! What's wrong!" She went right for a hug to try to comfort him. Beth went to his side as well, touching his head and leaning her head close.
"Oh, God, you're safe," he exhaled with a little relief. "You're still safe." He looked at Beth, tears streaming down his face. "You have to hide. You both have to hide. Change your names. Move out of town. Anything just don't let him find you."
"Al Calavicci, what the hell are you talking about?" There were several things Beth was prepared for, including Al calling out like he did. But the paranoia wasn't part of her thought process. "What's going on? Why do you want us to hide?"
Carlie busied herself with wiping away Al's tears, though she herself was crying. "Don't be scared, Uncle Al. We're okay."
He swallowed tightly, his eyes searching for a long moment before he closed them tightly. "I'm sorry. It's my fault. I killed you both. He's going to kill you and I can't even protect you. What kind of a husband, and uncle, am I?"
"What's he talking about?" Asked Carlie of Beth. Her new aunt only looked at her with confusion. Slowly, a feeling of unease filled her. Al was many things, but paranoid wasn't one of them. He truly believed the words he spoke, and it sent chills down her neck.
"Al. What can we do?" Beth asked carefully, "We can't just up and leave the state."
Al turned his head into his pillow, his sorrow overwhelming him. "What am I thinking? He'll find you anyway. You can't be hermits for the rest of your lives and... if you go anywhere else, he'll find you." He turned his head and looked at his wife. "I'm sorry, Beth. You would have lived longer if I hadn't married you."
The teen had enough to deal with, losing her gentle uncle as she was. Watching him emotionally collapse wasn't something she needed to see. Beth told the girl to wait down by the rest area down the hall to watch TV. Carlie was more than glad to go.
Beth held her husband gingerly, careful of the wires and tubing. "Al, honey. You're scaring us. What's going on in that brilliant mind of yours? Why would I die?"
Al tried to control his breathing but it was only becoming more difficult with every passing moment. And the pain. God, the pain was becoming unbearable. "I don't want to die," he whispered, swallowing, terrified of leaving the only family he had to the hands of Yen. "Yen," he growled under his breath, "I'll rain down vengeance on you so hard that the devil himself will have trouble identifying you."
"Who's Yen?" Beth asked desperately, frightened beyond comprehension. Without much choice, she made Al comfortable, nestling into him and soothing him by running her fingers through his curls. "Talk to me, honey. I don't want to lose you yet. I'm selfish and scared and want as much time with my husband as I can get."
Al looked at Beth with sad eyes, tired from his struggle. "I know, darling. I know," he whispered to her. A moment later, he gasped. Seeing the look on Beth's face, he tried to tell her that he was okay... but nothing came out. Tears started to stream from his eyes. He couldn't even say good-bye!
There was nothing to prepare her for that moment. She had once considered him to be dead, lost within the jungles of Vietnam. How wrong she had been then, but the feeling of loss was the same. This time, it was different. It wasn't loss, it was losing. Right in front of Beth, Al was slowly slipping away.
She sobbed, clinging desperately to him and kissing him. She wiped away his still-flowing tears with her hand, trying to comfort him and tell him that it's alright, that she knew he wanted to say goodbye, and that she loved him more than she felt she had a right to love him.
Al never felt as scared as at that moment. "Carlie," he breathed. Without his larynx providing sound anymore, it sounded more like the wind whispering "Harley". But he knew it was enough to let his wife know that he wanted his niece here with him at this moment. He had a feeling deep in his soul that he wasn't going to live even another half an hour.
Even as he breathed the name of his beloved niece, however, the door opened and his heart stopped. After all, it hadn't been more than a half an hour since he last saw the man who came in. "Ah, Admiral," Yen greeted again. "Long time no see."
Beth gasped, startled. She turned her head to see the male nurse standing in the doorway. There was something entirely too threatening about his presence. Absently, she lay a protective hand on the top of Al's head and tried to shield him from the man's view with her body.
"What do you want? I'm taking care of my husband. I told the staff to stay clear of this room." She said to him.
"Mrs. Calavicci," Yen said gently, walking to her with grace. He received a glare from her for his words. "Captain... let me assure you that I am only doing my job."
"And I'm doing mine," Beth said pointedly, "Please, leave us alone." Thinking that the nurse would obey the doctor's orders, she turned back to Al. The look in his eyes frightened her, seeing them so overwhelmingly full of fear. "Al, honey? What is it?"
"Run!" Al mouthed to her, hoping that she would understand her. But before Beth could even act, he watched helplessly as Yen suddenly grabbed her arm, pulled her roughly to him and covered her mouth with a cloth.
"Easy, Captain," Yen murmured to her as she struggled to get away from his tight grip. "Just breathe it in like a good little slut."
The chloroform fumes filled her lungs and burned her throat. She barely had time to struggle before the dizziness and nausea overwhelmed her. Within seconds, her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell limply against her assailant.
Almost gingerly, Yen carefully set her in the only chair in the room before stepping out and pulling in a wheelchair. Making sure that the Admiral could see every action he was making, he lifted Beth and put her in the chair, covering her with a blanket from the neck down. Then, assured that he wasn't going to be disturbed, he walked over to the Admiral's bed and smiled down at him.
"I figured I came at the right time. Can't cry out for help? Pity. If you could, you might have spare your wife and niece a horrible existence."
Al barely had enough strength to clench his jaw in his rage, struggling to swallow. Time was precious and there was nothing he could do. His eyes held defeat before the man, the corners still releasing his sorrow as he sobbed. It was harder to breathe, harder to think, and his heart felt as if it stop from the heartbreak. He weakly shook his head before turning his gaze away from the evil man and shutting his eyes.
Yen reached over and grabbed Al's head, forcing him to look at him. "Now... I'm going to let you take this knowledge with you to the grave. Your wife and niece are now mine to do with as I please. I'm going to beat them, rape them, torture them, make them beg for mercy, make them beg me to kill them. And I might be merciful enough to kill them if I feel like it. And when I'm done with them, if they survive me, they are going to be the two most worthless human beings on the face of the Earth. People will look at them and cringe from disgust."
There was no time left to mourn. His soul was shattered from grief and guilt. His family would be tortured and killed because of him. Everyone who gets close to him eventually dies, and it's all his fault. Al's lovely Beth and perfect Carlie were to be left in the hands of the devil himself, simply because he exists.
It was harder for him to see. A curtain was filling his vision, slowly fading his surroundings. Al fought to retain consciousness, but it was too late. His head swam and swelled, and he gave into the darkness. The last sight he had was of Beth being taken to her tragic fate.