FUTURITY

FALL

Jason leaned against the wall and panted. His whole body hurt. He had ripped his shirt and tied it around the wound in his side, trying to stop the bleeding with pressure. But the blood kept coming. It soaked his pants and left a bloody trail on the floor.

He'd left the lab behind and stood in an empty hall. The ground shook. Small cracks had formed along the walls and corners.

His mind began to slip back into Rachel's as it had in the dream. He didn't have the strength to stop it. With all the power he had, he kept one foot moving in front of the other, looking for the exit.

Jason felt what Rachel felt. She wasn't dead, but everything felt—numb. It was a relief compared to what she had been feeling.

He and Rachel opened her eyes.

The smell of smoke made her cough. She lay on the sidewalk. Ian must have left a long time ago.

The sounds of distant screams, explosions, and cries made her glance around. Rachel saw cars on fire, corpses, and ash everywhere.

She gasped.

Right beside her lay Samuel. His dark hair and face were drip with blood. Burn marks covered the ground around him. Samuel must have tried to save her. His eyes stared blankly into hers.

Jason recoiled inside of Rachel.

"Dad?" Rachel whimpered. "Daddy!"

Fighting tears, she looked away. She caught a glimpse of the UN building across the street. The fire rose from the building, and its foundations looked like they'd give way at any moment.

No, Jason thought, this isn't real. This isn't real.

Rachel tried to sit up. Nothing happened. All she felt was the all-pervading sense of numbness. Then a thought came to her.

It was so terrible, so horrifying that it made Jason whimper.

I . . . I'm paralyzed.

"Someone help me!" Rachel said. "Please! Someone!" No one answered.

"Please—" CRASH!

The resounding noise of shattering glass, bending metal, and screams cut off Rachel's cry. She looked up. The UN structure began to topple over.

Rachel screamed. The entire building was going to land on top of her.

The structure groaned as it fell. Dust, glass, and metal began to fall like rain. She tried to move again. Nothing happened.

Desperate tears streamed down her face. "No! No! Please!" The debris kept coming.

"Someone help me!"

The air moved as the building came.

She looked at her father. "Daddy!" she screamed.

The dust got so thick; she couldn't see anything.

Jason and Rachel felt an unbearable weight land on top of her.

And all was gone.

The images and sensations abruptly cut off like a TV that's been unplugged. Jason found himself back in the ANO facility and fell to his knees. Tears streamed down his face. A deep sense of despair, matching what Rachel had felt, came.

He sank to the floor, vertigo shaking his world. Why was this happening? Why?

Jason couldn't go home; the cops would arrest him. Though innocent, he was a suspected murderer. But Jason couldn't stay here. He was an escaping captive. Jason never felt so weak—so alone.

Something flashed. And Jason blinked.

A penny lay beside him—the penny. The coin, covered in corrosion, only shined in one spot. "In God We Trust."

Maybe it had dropped out of his old clothes when ANO had taken them. Or perhaps, it had just appeared when he needed it most.

But he didn't care.

The coin reminded him of the verses, in the Bible that said to trust in the Lord with everything, obey, and not to rely on yourself. And God will guide you. Jason let more tears fall. Rachel was gone. But the truth and the pain remained.

Jason bit his lip, grabbed the penny, and held it to his chest. He didn't know what the next few minutes would bring. But he knew one thing. This wasn't the end.

In God I Trust.