Into the Shadows by Jason D. Morrow Page B

is supposed to be shot. I’ve never seen the area before. There will be no way to know if the intended future can be altered until we are in the moment. Change can only come in a moment of clarity.  
    “I’m following you,” I say. “When the time comes, you have my word that I will do everything I can to change what I saw. I just don’t know how to do it yet.”
    Amber nods, though I know my words are not enough to make her feel confident. I’m not even confident.  
    We stand just a moment longer when we hear a sound that is both completely new, yet very familiar to both of us. Behind me, I can hear the sound of chomping teeth and sloshing water. Into the red glowing light step in five greyskins. They’ve sensed us.  
    “Come on!” Amber says, moving now.  
    I follow closely behind her, doing my best to keep my footing. The greyskins have picked up the pace as well. Amber has the club in her hands, though it doesn’t seem she has any intention of using it.
    There are twists and turns along the tunnel, and I find myself falling to my knees more often than not. The greyskins are gaining on us. I can hear them grunting at us, groaning for us, but we somehow keep a small distance from them. With each passing moment, their cries grow more faint, and soon I don’t hear them at all. I know we’ve made it to the end of the tunnel when I hear the sound of rushing water and I feel the air getting colder. Eventually I can see the moonlight shining through the metal bars of a large grate at the end.
    Amber slows as we approach. I know we are about to come to the point where she will be shot, possibly killed. And now she knows it too. But with the greyskins coming up on us from the back, there is no other way to go out.
    “We might not be able to fit through the bars,” she says nervously. Her voice echoes throughout the tunnel.  
    I shake my head at her. “We can,” I say.  
    She reaches her hand out to one of the bars, her fingers trembling. When we look out into the night, we can hear guards shuffling around, some shouting orders, others obeying them. Amber looks back at me.  
    “I don’t know what to do,” I say. “I don’t know how to change it.” It’s the truth, and she knows it. With the greyskins coming at us, we don’t have the option of turning back and going in a different direction.  
    Amber looks away and takes a deep breath. “Good luck out there,” she says.  
    Before I can say anything, she slips through the bars with almost no effort and drops down into the pool of water below. I look behind me one last time and I hear the sound of the greyskins catching back up.  
    Turning sideways, I’m able to slip through the bars, and I begin my free fall into the cold water below. When I splash through, it’s as if the cacophony around me vanishes. I don’t try to open my eyes—the murkiness and the night won’t let me see anyway. I float for a moment, partly in shock from the cold water, partly out of fear to go back to the surface. I don’t want to see what awaits me. Amber will be shot, but what happens to me is a mystery. Part of me holds out hope that the two of us might have changed something in the past few minutes without even realizing it. If what I see is the intended future as Peter once said it was, then perhaps just telling Amber about it was enough to change the outcome.  
    My limbs finally find the strength to move and I begin my ascent to the surface of the water. My head breaches and the cold air is even harsher than the water that soaks me. I can hear the screams of guards above me, shouting orders.  
    “There she is! Kill her! Kill her! Shoot her! Shoot her!”
    The words push me forward. I don’t see the source of the orders, but they seem to surround me. Then, the gunshots blare out. Yellow flashes of rifle fire spit out above me in all directions, though none of the bullets come near me. When I turn my head to the right, all I see are shrubs and more water. When I