A Leap Into Destiny

Generations

Al tumbled to the ground as he fell through the time portal. A few feet away, Zoey also landed unceremoniously. Unfortunately for him, she got up first.

As Al looked up, he noticed he was on a bridge of sorts going across a river somewhere in Indiana. No doubt this was the year 1953 when Sam Beckett would be born.

Suddenly, Zoey came in with a kick to his ribs that knocked him over. Holding his side in pain, Al crumpled to the floor. Looking down, Al saw a rock next to him which he picked up.

Zoey then grabbed Al by the collar and lifted him up.

"New change of plans," Zoey told him. "First I'll kill you. Then I'll kill Sam Beckett's entire family!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it," promised Al.

With that, he smashed the rock across the side of Zoey's head, forcing her to drop him and stumble back.

Zoey grabbed her head, feeling warm blood ooze from the wound Al had inflicted upon her.

"That's going to cost you more than your life!" Zoey promised.

At once, the hourglass she wore glowed as she froze time all around Al, leaving him helpless.

Without mercy, she pummeled Al in the stomach with her fist and then across the face. Grabbing him by the head, she slammed his forehead down on her knee, causing him to see stars once time.

Finally, Zoey allowed time to begin again as Al fell to the floor helplessly. She picked him up by the collar and leaned him against the bridge.

"You are an old man without much life left in you," she told him. "But I will enjoy draining it out of your decrepit body nonetheless!"

Before she could bring harm to the observer, a police car stopped at the end of the bridge. Evidently, her assault on Al had caught his attention.

"Freeze!" the officer yelled, pulling his gun out. "Step away from him now!"

Deciding to play along, Zoey let go of Al and stepped away from him. After all, she was sent back here to kill Sam. However, she did not know exactly where the Beckett residence was, and this cop was her ticket to finding out.

"Hands in the air!" the cop told her.

"Very well," Zoey smiled, putting her hands up.

As the nearly unconscious Al leaned against the wooden bridge, the portion he leaned on gave way, breaking off as Al fell into the river.

"No!" shouted Zoey as Al's body got carried away by the currents of the river.

"Remain where you are!" the police officer told her.

Before the officer could call for back up for someone to help Al, Zoey froze time yet again, this time taking care to remove the gun from the officer's hand and pointing it right back at him as she unfroze time.

"What?!" the officer was aghast. "How did—"

"You're going to take me to the Beckett residence," Zoey ordered.

"You mean John and Thelma Beckett?" the officer asked nervously. "I know them, but I don't know where they live."

"Then take me to your nearest government building," Zoey cocked the gun. "They're bound to have files on the residency of this town's citizens."

"But you can't just—"

"Now!" Zoey fired a warning shot near the officer's feet.

"Okay, okay!" the cop finally relented.

oooo

"Ohhh," Al clasped his head.

As he woke up, he noticed he was in a room where he laid on top a bed.

"Are you awake?" asked a woman's voice.

"Who…" Al began to stir. "Where am I?"

"You're in Elk Ridge, Indiana," a man next to her replied.

Al glanced up at the couple. They appeared to be somewhere in their late twenties or early thirties. From the looks of it, the woman was also pregnant.

"You're lucky I was out fishing," the man told Al. "I saw your unconscious body floating down the river and got you to shore. You almost didn't make it."

"I was attacked," Al confirmed. "I would've died but lucky for me I slipped and fell into the river."

"You suffered some minor wounds," the man confirmed. "Good thing my wife here patched you up."

"Thank you," Al told the woman graciously.

"What's your name anyways?" asked the man.

"I'm Al Calavicci," Al confirmed.

"Well Al, I reckon you can stay with us for at least another day or two until you've fully recovered," the man promised. "After that, maybe we can get you to the police station and you can tell them about your attacker."

"Trust me, the police won't be able to do much about this one," Al replied. "This is no ordinary criminal we're dealing with."

"So who's the man we're dealing with?" asked the man. "An escaped inmate from an asylum?"

"No, it's a woman," Al answered. "She's as deadly as they come."

"A woman, eh?" the man scratched his head. "Well the times they are a' changing…"

"It may do more than that if she has her way," Al muttered.

"Anyways," the man told Al. "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is John Samuel Beckett and this here is my wife Thelma Louise Beckett."

Immediately Al Calavicci stared at the two in amazement.

"You…" Al gasped. "You're Sam's parents!"

oooo

"We're here," the police officer pulled up in front of the government building.

"Good," Zoey continued to point the gun at him.

"So what now?" the officer demanded.

"Out of the car," Zoey ordered.

Reluctantly, the police officer did so.

"Lead me inside," she told him.

Before he could move, however, she clasped his shoulder as the hourglass on her necklace glowed once more, enveloping the both of them and freezing time around everything else.

As the officer looked around, he saw that everything was frozen. People were standing as still as statues on the streets. Birds hovered in the air without so much as a single movement. It was perfect stillness.

"Well?" Zoey demanded. "Take me inside!"

"What did you just do?" the officer was shocked.

"Something that's beyond your under-developed mind," Zoey pointed the gun into his back. "Now do as you're told."

With a sigh, the police officer walked with her through one of the open doors, leading her across an entire room and hallway of people frozen in time until they reached one of the doors.

"There's a library of information in here," the officer told her. "Names… addresses… you name it."

"Thank you for your help," Zoey replied and pulled the trigger on the gun.

At once the bullet burst through the man, piercing him through the heart and killing him instantly.

Imperturbably, Zoey opened up the door and went inside to witness an entire archive of shelves with paper files inside.

"Prehistoric Googling," sighed Zoey. "This may take longer than I anticipated."

oooo

"Who are you really?" demanded John Beckett.

"I told you… I'm Al!" the observer insisted.

"Then how do you know about the name of my son?" demanded Thelma Beckett. "John and I haven't told a soul what we wanted to name him!"

"Because… well, this is going to sound crazy," Al told the two parents. "But I know your son Sam!"

"How can you know him?" demanded John. "Sam hasn't even been born yet!"

"This is where it sounds crazier," Al told them. "But I'm from the future. I'm a friend of Sam's from the distant future."

"He doesn't sound right in the head," Thelma whispered to her husband.

"I know, just let me handle this one," John whispered back.

"I know what you're thinking right now," Al told them. "You think I'm a nutcase… but I'm not! I come from the future and right now your lives, along with Sam's, are all in danger!"

"From what?" demanded the father of Sam Beckett.

"From the same person who attacked me!" Al told them. "This person, Zoey, is here to murder Sam Beckett, along with all of you!"

"I think we need to call the asylum," Thelma told her husband who nodded in agreement.

"Didn't you have another son?" asked Al. "Tom, was it?"

At once, John Beckett grabbed a rifle that leaned against one of the doors and held it firmly in his hands.

"Oh boy," Al gulped, realizing he had picked the wrong words.

"How does he know about Tom?" a panicked Thelma looked at her husband.

"L-Like I said," Al tried to salvage the situation. "I come from the future and when I got to know Sam, he told me about his family."

"Tom's at his aunt's house right now," John confirmed, "not that it'll matter. You're not getting anywhere near either of my sons."

"I'm not here to harm you or your family," Al tried to assure them.

"So why does this Zoey want to murder us?" asked Thelma.

"Because in the future," Al told her. "In the late 90s, your son, Sam Beckett will have become the world's greatest quantum physicist. He'll begin a project called Quantum Leap, enabling him to travel through time. Unfortunately he'll make some enemies along the way and this woman Zoey is one of them."

"Do you realize how crazy you sound?" Sam's father demanded.

"Believe it or not, I do," acknowledged Al.

"Listen, you sound like you believe in what you're talking about," Sam's father walked towards the phone while still training his gun on Al. "And I really don't want to have to shoot you either. But what you're saying is insane. I can't have you compromising the safety of my family."

"Don't you see?" Al sighed. "It's already been compromised"

After Al said that, the doorbell rang.

"Thelma, go see who that is," John Beckett told his wife.

"You don't want to do that," Al said to him warningly.

"You're going to stay put," John warned Al.

"Honey," Thelma looked through the peeping glass. "It's a young red haired woman here to see us!"

"No!" shouted Al.

Taking advantage of John Beckett's momentary distraction, Al Calavicci, in a moment of quickness, grabbed John's rifle, grappling against him.

"Don't open that door!" Al screamed towards Thelma.

Thankfully, something in Al's voice convinced Thelma Louise Beckett to step away from the door where Zoey was only a few inches away from on the other side.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Beckett," Al said apologetically.

With that, he managed to yank the rifle upwards, striking Sam's father upside the chin, knocking him back and forcing him to release his weapon.

"Outta the way, Mrs. Beckett!" shouted Al.

Immediately Thelma moved aside as the door finally got kicked down by Zoey.

"Didn't expect to see you here," Zoey said wryly, facing Al.

"I'm the last thing you'll see!" promised Al, pulling down on the trigger.

Repeatedly, Al fired into Zoey, blasting her with a hail of bullets that would have snuffed any ordinary person on the spot.

Zoey looked down at her bloodied and torn suit.

"It's too late to stop me," Zoey promised Al. "Don't you see?"

"Who are you?" Mr. Beckett stumbled into the room.

"Considering I'm here to kill you and your entire family," Zoey promised, "you will know me as Death itself!"

John Beckett's eyes widened, realizing Al was telling the truth after all.

With the aid of her hourglass, Zoey froze time and appeared right behind Al Calavicci. Taking out her handgun, she slammed the grip handle of her gun down on Al's head, knocking him to the floor.

Seeing stars, Al could make out Zoey making her way towards the Beckett family menacingly.

"You stay away from my family!" warned John Beckett.

"You think you can stop me?" Zoey put her gun back in her holster. "Come and give it your best shot!"

Immediately, John Beckett punched hard as hard as she could. Zoey's head snapped back but then turned right back. With a single blow, she backhanded John Beckett hard enough to knock him half-way across the room.

Taking advantage of her distraction, Al grabbed a poker from the fireplace. Just as Zoey turned around, Al stabbed the poker right through her stomach, piercing through her body and pinning her to the wall.

"Aaaaahhhh!" screamed Zoey in an inhuman shriek.

"Let's get you out of here!" Al helped John Beckett up as he and the Becketts ran out through the back door.

"Through the grain!" Thelma pointed out. "We can escape through there more easily!"

As the three of them ran off, Zoey grabbed the poker stabbing through her body and finally yanked it off, grunting in agony as she did.

In fury, she sprinted outside, looking around everywhere for Al and the Becketts.

Finally, she saw a small clearing in some of the fields of grain. No doubt it had been where Al and Sam's parents had escaped through.

"Nothing will save you now!" Zoey promised.

She held both hands together, allowing the time magic in her hourglass to conjure enough energy to unleash a powerful quantum wave that blasted through the grain, killing them off and withering them on contact.

As Al continued to run with John and Thelma Beckett, he looked behind his shoulder to see a massive red quantum wave destroying the grain behind them slowly.

"My truck's up ahead!" John Beckett pointed out.

At once, all three of them got in the back of the truck as the quantum time wave destroyed all the grain in its path.

"I know an abandoned factory we can go to," John Beckett told Al. "We'll be safe from her there!"

As the truck drove off, Zoey made her way through all the dead grain and clasped her hourglass, feeding off its immense power.

"Run all you want," Zoey promised them. "But you won't hide for long."

oooo

Al surveyed the landscape before them. The factory they had enclosed themselves in was big, spacious, and possessed a cool temperature.

The ground was littered with various clutter, ranging from children's toys to baseball bats to dolls made for young girls.

"This was an old toy factory from my heyday," Mr. Beckett said to Al. "It should give us some cover for a while."

"There's plenty of space to hide in here too," agreed Al Calavicci.

"Listen, uh, Al," John Beckett told the observer. "You were right about what was going on and I'm sorry I didn't listen to you earlier."

"Don't worry about it," Al assured him. "I knew full well when I met you that I would come off as a crazy guy when I came to warn you about Zoey."

"Is it all true then?" asked John Beckett. "Will my son really discover time travel?"

"He will," affirmed Al.

"And all these people coming after him," asked Thelma. "Will he really make these kinds of enemies?"

"Unfortunately he will," Al shook his head sadly.

"Jesus Christ," John Beckett swore, leaning against a wall. "We're just ordinary farming people! And now we're caught up in all this?"

"I'm going to do everything in my power to help get you out of it," Al tried to assure him.

"That woman said she was coming for Sam," Thelma looked down at her stomach. "We need to do everything we can to save my baby!"

"Oh no," John's head perked up. "I almost forgot about Tom! What if that woman's after him?"

Al quickly peeked outside. So far, there was nothing.

"I could go find him," Al offered.

"No, only Thelma and I know where his aunt's house is," John Beckett replied.

"I could go and—" Thelma got up before a sudden pain washed over her belly.

"Thelma!" John cried, rushing over to his wife.

"It's… it's okay," Thelma told him. "It was just Sam, kicking inside."

"You alright?" asked John.

"I'm fine now," Thelma responded painfully. "Go and find Tom. I'll be alright."

"No sign of Zoey anywhere," Al opened up the door and surveyed the area. "We're clear."

"Please, watch over Thelma for me," requested John.

"I'll protect her with my life," promised Al Calavicci.

oooo

Present Day.

"Dost thou feel it, Sam Beckett?" Kairos walked up towards the quantum physicist.

Lee Harvey Oswald saw Kairos and stepped away from what he was doing.

By now Sam was close to being emotionally and physically broken down as Oswald turned off the electrical baton he had been using on him.

"Come here to finish me?" Sam demanded.

"No, but soon it will all end," promised Kairos.

"How?" demanded Sam. "Is this killer going to put an end to me?"

"No, thou shall meet thy end… in thy mother's womb," Kairos assured him. "Zoey will most assuredly make certain of that."

oooo

"What is Sam like in the future?" asked Thelma, sitting down on one of the chairs in the room as Al paced back and forth.

Al Calavicci stopped what he was doing and turned to Thelma Louise Beckett.

"Where do I even begin?" Al said aloud. "I mean, with the situation we're in, I don't even know if what I say to you could affect the future."

"Please… I want to know," pleaded Thelma. "Will my son grow up to be the kind of man both John and I will be proud of?"

"Well Mrs. Beckett," Al finally conceded. "I can start by telling you that your son, Sam, will grow up to be a man who instills hope in others. He'll give hope to people who have none and he'll help to save a lot of lives, your son."

Despite the grim situation they were in, Thelma Beckett began to look at Al with hope in her eyes.

"Sam Beckett will grow up to make right what once went wrong and change history," Al promised her. "And I'm proud to call him my friend and my brother."

"Thank you," Thelma finally replied. "Thank you for telling me."

"Believe me, Mrs. Beckett," Al told her firmly. "I would give my life to protect the life of your baby."

Without warning, a loud thump was heard inside the abandoned toy factory.

"Well," Al remarked. "I guess now is as good of a time as any…"

From a faraway door, someone had entered into the factory.

Al looked around and saw a broom factory. He quickly ushered Thelma to come over.

"I'll go see who it is," Al told her. "You stay here."

After Thelma hid inside the closet, Al stepped behind some of the machinery to peek out and see who it was.

"You can't hide for long," a young woman's voice rang out. "I have a mission and I'm going to complete it."

Al's eyes opened up in shock.

"There is no place you can hide from me," promised Zoey.

On the ground, Al noticed a pipe. Quietly, he picked it up.

Zoey turned around and as soon as she did, a metal pipe struck her across the jaw, knocking her flat on her back.

Al brought up the pipe and prepared to bring it down again but Zoey's hourglass glowed once more as she raised her hand and unleashed a powerful blast of time magic that struck Al squarely in the chest, transforming him from an older man back to a younger boy. Back and forth Al's both changed until finally, he was knocked flat on his back from the sheer power.

As he tried to get up, he suddenly felt a massive force come down upon him, slamming him into the ground like a runaway train. The air around him suddenly became heavier as his body was pushed down into the ground.

"I've managed to learn a few new tricks outside of Kairos' teachings," Zoey told him. "For example, did you know that gravitational fields affect the flow of time? With the time magic at my disposal, I can easily control gravity!"

Finally, she let go of the heavy gravity she was using to crush Al, allowing him some breathing space.

Zoey raised her hand, decreasing gravity around Al and allowing him to float into the air. Viciously, she hurled him back and forth with invisible gravitational forces, slamming him first against the wall, and then against several boxes of toys.

"Ugh!" Al cried in pain as Zoey threw him around relentlessly in the air with mere gestures.

Al tried to get up by he found himself being lifted up into the air once more. This time, Zoey reversed the gravitational pull on Al and let him drop face-first to the floor.

The observer wiped away the blood from his lips and managed to crawl back to both knees, falling back and leaning against some of the machinery used to build toys.

"I believe I've had enough fun with you for now," Zoey took out a pistol from her coat.

"I'm sorry, Sam…" Al murmured weakly. "I couldn't stop her."

"Say goodbye," Zoey pointed the gun at Al.

"Stop!" a voice rang out.

Zoey turned around and saw Mrs. Beckett standing there, despite her pregnancy weighing her down. Al looked down. To his right was a baseball bat that he been left there among all the other toys.

"Leave him alone!" Mrs. Beckett pleaded.

"Don't worry," Zoey turned her head towards Thelma. "After I'm finished with Al, I'll make time for you and your baby."

Al saw his one small window of opportunity. He grabbed the hourglass on Zoey's necklace, unleashing a surge of power through both their bodies.

"No!" screamed Zoey.

With his other hand, Al grabbed the baseball bat and swung it, slamming the wooden instrument into the side of Zoey's head, knocking her away from him and breaking the chain that held the hourglass.

Zoey felt fresh blood ooze down her face. Dazed, she got up and held her hand out, intending to crush Al on the spot with yet another heavy dose of gravity.

Nothing happened.

"What?!" Zoey thrust her hand forward again.

"Looking for this?" Al held up the hourglass.

"Damn you!" shouted Zoey. "Damn you both!"

"It's over, Zoey," Al told her.

Zoey looked to the side at a mirror which hung on the wall. Slowly, her youth faded from her until she was once again the older, middle-aged woman she had once been.

"Give it up," Al pointed the baseball bat at her.

"You think you've won?" Zoey revealed the handgun still in her fingers.

"Oh no,"Al realized.

Quickly, he got in front of Thelma Louise Beckett.

"You're not getting to her," warned Al.

"Well I'll just have to go through you, won't I?" Zoey pointed the gun at Al, slowly squeezing down on the trigger.

Thelma closed her eyes as a shot rang out. Opening her eyes yet again, she realized Al was still standing in front of her, apparently without fatal injury.

Zoey looked down at her chest as blood began to stain her shirt. Turning around, she saw John Beckett standing there behind her with his rifle.

"Stay the hell away from my family," John Beckett warned.

Cursing quietly, Zoey finally fell down to the floor as her heart finally slowed down by several beats before stopping altogether.

When Zoey moved no more, Al breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat away from his forehead as Thelma ran over and hugged John.

While Al realized that he should have been grateful the Becketts had been saved, new stressful thoughts emerged in his mind. How would the Becketts raise Sam with the knowledge that he would discover time travel in the future? What would they do with Zoey's body?

Al looked down at the hourglass in his hand. It glowed gently, slowly transforming back to its original size.

"Whoa," Al was surprised.

Emitting a soft glow, the hourglass enveloped the deceased Zoey with its time magic, slowly dissolving her and turning her body into dust.

"Well, that's one way of taking care of things," Al noted, wondering if the hourglass had actually read his thoughts and responded to his will.

oooo

"I can't even begin to thank you enough," John Beckett thanked Al as they stood on the front porch of their house.

"No need," Al replied. "Sam was, is, and will be a very dear friend of mine."

"So what now?" asked Thelma. "Where do you go from here?"

"I wish I could say now is the time I return to the future," Al looked down at the hourglass in his hand. "But I don't think I've fully gotten used to this thing."

"This house is going to need some cleaning up," John Beckett stepped inside to take a look around at the living room that had been damaged by Zoey's attack.

"Thank you for saving me and my son," Thelma planted a small kiss on Al's cheek.

"Hey, what're friends for?" Al smiled.

As Thelma went inside to join her husband, Al glanced at the hourglass in his hand once more, gripping it tightly.

"If only there were some way to undo all the damage and make them forget," Al said to himself, realizing that even if Zoey hadn't killed them, there was still potential damage to be done to the timestream now that both John and Thelma knew about their son's future.

Responding quickly, the mystical hourglass enveloped Al with a soft glow. Soon, the glow also surrounded the entire house in a blinding flash of light.

After the light had vanished, Al cleared his eyes.

In front of him was the Beckett residence. From what he could see, the house appeared to be in perfectly fine condition. Tilting his head, Al also noticed that the crops Zoey had destroyed earlier had been completely restored to life.

Just as Al realized what had happened, the door opened up behind him.

"Hi, who's this?" John Beckett asked.

Al stared down at the hourglass, understanding what had just happened. The Becketts had no knowledge of what had previously transpired.

"Hi, uh, my name is Al," the observer said to Sam's father nervously.

"Is there anything we can help you with, Al?" asked Thelma.

"Well, uh, my car broke down a while back," Al told them, coming up with a quick story on the spot. "And… I was going door to door to try to get directions to Elk Ridge."

"Well you're in luck," John Beckett said to him. "You're already at the edge of town. Just keep walking down Deerfield Lane for the next three miles and then turn right at the bridge. It should bring you to the downtown area immediately."

"Alright, thanks for your help," Al shook John's hand.

After the Becketts went back inside, Al walked off the porch and back to the main road.

Looking at the hourglass in his hand once more, he knew what he needed to do and he understood that he now had a major advantage, one which would finally tip the scales and enable him to save his friend.

Assertively, he walked down the lane, holding out the hourglass and opening up a portal on the spot.

"Help is on the way, Sam," promised Al and stepped into the portal.