many and that it would end when the sky
opened.
A counterpoint to the deep thrumming began,
a wailing shriek emanating from everything and nothing. The volume
of both increased with every moment, triggering an expectation deep
within her. The ultimate moment of her existence was about to
arrive. It was time to return to the Creator.
The sky opened. To all outward senses,
nothing changed, but to Elza it seemed that the restraints of the
mundane world vanished, ripped away by an unknown force. Nothing
held her to creation. The rumbling and shrieking became louder
still, warning her to leave or be consumed with a world marked for
destruction.
Elza hesitated for just a second, eyes going
to the door of the tent. Then she slipped free of the world to join
the Creator.
Chapter 21 – Zack / Iteration 144
He picked at the lock on his cuffs with the tip
of a pen. Quebec had left an hour ago to retrieve the rental car
she’d abandoned near his trailer. The pen made a terrible
lock-picking tool. Zack didn’t think he would do better with
anything short of the actual key. If there were real people who
could open a lock with nothing but a hairpin or a paperclip, Zack
wasn’t one of them.
The door ended his halfhearted efforts by
opening. Quebec entered bearing plastic bags.
“Did you go shopping while I was stuck to
the bed?”
Quebec cocked her head and looked at him. “I
abandoned a car along a back road, walked a mile to retrieve
another, and bought you a change of clothes. Be happy it didn’t
take longer.”
“Well, I have to use the bathroom.”
She pulled the key out of her pocket and
unlocked the handcuffs. “You should take a shower while you’re in
there.”
He took her advice. Fifteen minutes later,
he emerged clean from the bathroom wearing new clothes. Quebec
gestured at the array of vending machine food arranged on the
table. Something in her mannerism made him smile. “Did you spend
all your casino winnings on this?”
“Travel with me and you eat nothing but the
best,” she said.
A twinge of his stomach reminded him he
hadn’t eaten in close to a day. Zack sat across the table from
Quebec and opened a bag of mini-donuts. “Want to hear something
funny?”
Quebec’s brown eyes fixed on him as he ate.
“Always.”
“I am a great cook.” Zack gestured at the
junk food. “But I eat like this all the time. Up until the past
year, I used to make all sorts of things I found in cookbooks. I
stopped because right after we got married, Lacey told me I had to
learn how to cook because she wasn’t doing housework. I tossed out
everything in my kitchen that wasn’t nailed down and Lacey never
noticed. We’ve been eating freezer meals ever since. Tater tots are
the closest thing to a vegetable I’ve had in months.”
“You do realize Observers can get fat, don’t
you?”
“What about teeth? Will those go bad?”
“They’ll fix themselves before you notice a
cavity exists. Bad breath is something else. So either brush or
chew gum or eat parsley.”
“Parsley? Seriously?”
“It works. Remember Iteration five?” The
light in Quebec’s eyes dimmed. “No. Of course you don’t. You don’t
remember anything.”
Zack’s smile faded. “Sorry.” It always came
back to Hess. “What was he like?”
“Hess,” Quebec said, “was
the best man and the worst Observer. Out of all of us, he was the
best at doing things . It didn’t matter what body he had, Hess could always take
care of himself. But he didn’t do abstract. He hated higher
mathematics and never got the hang of counting cards despite having
a perfect memory. He was always stepping in to interfere because
behind all his disapproval, he really cared for the
people.”
She wiped her eyes with a
sleeve. “Every Iteration, he would tell me that this body of mine was his favorite.
There were times when it drove me crazy, but he never stopped
saying it. And he always found me. Even if it took centuries, he
would search every
opened.
A counterpoint to the deep thrumming began,
a wailing shriek emanating from everything and nothing. The volume
of both increased with every moment, triggering an expectation deep
within her. The ultimate moment of her existence was about to
arrive. It was time to return to the Creator.
The sky opened. To all outward senses,
nothing changed, but to Elza it seemed that the restraints of the
mundane world vanished, ripped away by an unknown force. Nothing
held her to creation. The rumbling and shrieking became louder
still, warning her to leave or be consumed with a world marked for
destruction.
Elza hesitated for just a second, eyes going
to the door of the tent. Then she slipped free of the world to join
the Creator.
Chapter 21 – Zack / Iteration 144
He picked at the lock on his cuffs with the tip
of a pen. Quebec had left an hour ago to retrieve the rental car
she’d abandoned near his trailer. The pen made a terrible
lock-picking tool. Zack didn’t think he would do better with
anything short of the actual key. If there were real people who
could open a lock with nothing but a hairpin or a paperclip, Zack
wasn’t one of them.
The door ended his halfhearted efforts by
opening. Quebec entered bearing plastic bags.
“Did you go shopping while I was stuck to
the bed?”
Quebec cocked her head and looked at him. “I
abandoned a car along a back road, walked a mile to retrieve
another, and bought you a change of clothes. Be happy it didn’t
take longer.”
“Well, I have to use the bathroom.”
She pulled the key out of her pocket and
unlocked the handcuffs. “You should take a shower while you’re in
there.”
He took her advice. Fifteen minutes later,
he emerged clean from the bathroom wearing new clothes. Quebec
gestured at the array of vending machine food arranged on the
table. Something in her mannerism made him smile. “Did you spend
all your casino winnings on this?”
“Travel with me and you eat nothing but the
best,” she said.
A twinge of his stomach reminded him he
hadn’t eaten in close to a day. Zack sat across the table from
Quebec and opened a bag of mini-donuts. “Want to hear something
funny?”
Quebec’s brown eyes fixed on him as he ate.
“Always.”
“I am a great cook.” Zack gestured at the
junk food. “But I eat like this all the time. Up until the past
year, I used to make all sorts of things I found in cookbooks. I
stopped because right after we got married, Lacey told me I had to
learn how to cook because she wasn’t doing housework. I tossed out
everything in my kitchen that wasn’t nailed down and Lacey never
noticed. We’ve been eating freezer meals ever since. Tater tots are
the closest thing to a vegetable I’ve had in months.”
“You do realize Observers can get fat, don’t
you?”
“What about teeth? Will those go bad?”
“They’ll fix themselves before you notice a
cavity exists. Bad breath is something else. So either brush or
chew gum or eat parsley.”
“Parsley? Seriously?”
“It works. Remember Iteration five?” The
light in Quebec’s eyes dimmed. “No. Of course you don’t. You don’t
remember anything.”
Zack’s smile faded. “Sorry.” It always came
back to Hess. “What was he like?”
“Hess,” Quebec said, “was
the best man and the worst Observer. Out of all of us, he was the
best at doing things . It didn’t matter what body he had, Hess could always take
care of himself. But he didn’t do abstract. He hated higher
mathematics and never got the hang of counting cards despite having
a perfect memory. He was always stepping in to interfere because
behind all his disapproval, he really cared for the
people.”
She wiped her eyes with a
sleeve. “Every Iteration, he would tell me that this body of mine was his favorite.
There were times when it drove me crazy, but he never stopped
saying it. And he always found me. Even if it took centuries, he
would search every
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