Chương 318: Book Six, Chapter 80: The Time Skip

We needed time. Time to plan, time to research, time to ready an attack. If we were going to get it, we were going to have to steal it. So let the heist commence.

"First," I said, as I laid out my plan to the group, "if we're going to delay doomsday, we can't just rely on Dina speaking it into existence. We need somebody with high Moxie and a connection to the lore of this cult. Kimberly, that's where you come in. Contract Negotiations will help, but you really need to sell it. You need to fess up about your experience with that cult in Europe." On-Screen.

"Kimberly, what's wrong?" Antoine asked as they stood alone in her dining room. Kimberly was looking out into the distance, afraid of what forces might be heading her way. She looked back at Antoine. A tear rolled down her cheek.

"What is it?" Antoine asked more seriously.

"You're doing it again. There's something you're not saying, Kim. Why do you always do this? I know there is something on your mind." At that moment, I arrived back at Kimberley's house, keys still in my hand.

"I checked out Eternal Savers Club like you wanted me to," I said.

"It's bizarre. Yeah, the guy Antoine and I shoved the bench into was there. Didn't learn anything, though. I don't exactly know what I was supposed to be looking for… Wait, what's wrong?"

"There's something I didn't tell you," she said. Antoine and I looked at each other, awaiting the reveal.

"We need to establish that this cult is the same type of cult you faced before. That way, you know some of their lore and can take a bit of the burden off of Dina and Bobby. See, our advantage is that we already have the first piece of our three-piece puzzle: Antoine's survival. If we can establish that a missing tribute is enough to make a ritual fail, then we can turn the tide." Tears ran down Kimberly's face as she continued her story, just as we had worked out.

"After I escaped, they chased me all day and all night. I almost got away," Kimberly said.

"They needed me for their ritual. I didn't know what the ritual was for, but they brought me back to that place underground, and everyone else was long gone. I thought if I escaped, they would delay their plans and everyone would be safe. I was just lying to myself... When they brought me back, they kept saying it was too late, that morning had come on the second day, and that the ritual couldn't be performed again, that they would have to wait a whole year. They were so angry..."

Antoine and I sat there, dumbstruck, but of course, we had our contributions too.

"Wait a second," I said.

"What happened to the cult? How did you escape again? Didn't you say that you electrocuted them or something in the book?" Kimberly looked to the ground. She was putting on a performance of a lifetime, trying to sell my midling dialogue.

"They tried to perform the ritual again anyway. They tried sacrificing me later that day, hoping that it would work. They put me up on this platform and started chanting and putting together some weird-looking rocks, but it didn't work. Something happened. A red light flashed, and suddenly I smelled smoke and ozone, and they were all dead. Fried to a crisp."

"Once we paint a picture, we ask the most important question," I said.

"Well, if their ritual failed because you got away," Antoine started to say tentatively.

"Doesn't that mean..."

"I think this cult has the same problem," Kimberly said.

"Their ritual won't work, not without you, not if you were a promised sacrifice." Antoine was breathing fast as he looked to the far window. He turned back to us. He was brooding, trying to hide his fear.

"We need to let that subplot breathe for a bit. While the sun is still up, we need to get our ducks in a row," I said.

"The hard part will be setting up the story so that during the time skip, our characters are being productive and on the right paths. Kelsey, you've been Off-Screen for too long. It's time to bring you back in." Kimberly sat in her red convertible on a hill overlooking the Eternal Savers Club parking lot. The sun was setting. She was all cried out after her confession. All that remained was resolve. She was hoping she would look determined, like a hunter evaluating her prey.

The enemy that had almost killed her was back, and this time, she would defeat them, even if it killed her. What kind of expression could convey that? She wasn't sure. But soon, she noticed that she was not the only one looking out over the store. A young woman her character wouldn't know, was in the bushes at the edge of the parking lot. It was Kelsey, lying in wait for someone particular to leave the store. Kimberly spotted that the young woman had a gun. She slowly made her way down the hill toward the girl.

As she did, they saw Tom come out to personally sweep up some popcorn that someone had spilled near the front of the store. Kelsey, a former employee of the store, knew Tom's habit of doing this. He was a real try-hard. She held out her gun and took aim at him.

"That's not going to work," Kimberly said. Kelsey turned around and leveled the gun at Kimberly.

"Who are you?" she screamed.

"Are you one of—wait. Are you Kimberly Madison?" Fame had its perks. Kelsey was so surprised she nearly dropped her gun.

"I am," she said.

"And you are the daughter of that woman who got killed. She was a manager here, right?" If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Kelsey was hesitant.

"How much do you know about what's going on in there?" Kimberly put on a fierce gaze.

"Too much and not enough. I know that a bullet won't kill them, not even in daylight." There was a beat, a pause.

"Then how?" Kelsey asked.

"That's a good question," Kimberly said.

"Want to help us find out?"

"Of course, we need to keep the cult from doing anything dangerous during the off time. We know that they murdered both managers who had been appointed to the store, both the original and Nichole. They need Tom to have control of the store because that is where the hell gate is, or whatever. We need to calm things down. Lorne, you're up." Tom was busy at work. Having just swept the parking lot, he was in a good mood. A better world was hours away.

"Carmichael," a rough, deep voice called from across the store.

"Damn," Tom muttered, barely hiding a seething hatred for corporate meddling. He quickly threw on a smile and marched toward his boss, Lorne Thomas. He was supposed to have been taken out. Someone messed up.

"Yes, Mr. Thomas," he said.

"I'm leaving this cesspit of a town," Lorne said.

"Corporate says I either need to appoint a new Interim Manager or stay here to fill the role myself until they get a permanent replacement. Well, I'm not staying in this godless place one more night with these Halloween characters kidnapping people." Lorne was a theater kid once. Now, he was putting it all to good use.

"Oh," Tom said.

"Did you have someone in mind? I sure will miss your leadership."

"I was thinking about you, kiss-ass. You're the big cheese. It's probationary, so don't screw it up. Now, technically, you don't have enough time with the company for the full position, but you can handle acting manager for a while, can't you? We'll reevaluate this time next year. If you don't screw this up, it can be very good for you, ya got me?"

"I accept!" Tom said.

"I have been working for this ever since the store opened. I can't believe I am finally manager!"

"Acting manager," Lorne said.

"Don't make me regret it. One-year probationary period. I don't want to have to fly back out here."

"Oh, you won't," Tom said.

"I promise, sir." Tom couldn't believe he finally got the promotion hours before it wouldn't matter anymore.

"Now," I continued, "with the revelation about the missing sacrifice from Kimberly, Dina will be up to bat. We have to put her in later in the night so that once she reveals the problem, they have a few hours to look for Antoine. We have to give them a chance or Carousel will reject our plan." Dina approached Tom near the section of Eternal Savers Club with flowers and greeting cards. She didn't look happy, even less so than normal.

"Hey, Dina. What's wrong?" Tom said quickly. He was a good reader of others and picked up on her nervous behavior.

"You said the ritual went completely as planned, right?" she asked. Tom's face was suddenly covered with worry.

"Yeah," he said.

"We did everything you said." Dina took a deep breath.

"Well, I hear my son calling from the new world, and he thinks there's a problem."

"Oh," Tom said, "well, let's get to the bottom of it." They walked down to the underground lair of the cult, where many of the associates had gathered to celebrate the coming transformation.

"Can your son tell you anything specifically?" Tom asked.

"Maybe if you got closer to the veil." Dina started to cry. It was one of the few things she could do easily at the thought of her son.

"Did we get all of the promised sacrifices?" she asked.

"Promised sacrifices?" Tom asked, and for a moment, it seemed like he might not know what she was talking about. Almost as if specific "promised sacrifices" were a completely made-up concept that was not inherent to the plot. But then, something clicked.

"Of course we did. We got all of the people we had on our wall of shame."

"Are you sure?" Dina asked cryptically. Tom nervously smiled as he looked around the room and saw the employee who had been sent to capture Antoine, but had instead captured a park bench. The employee was avoiding eye contact. His smile dropped.

"I will likely be a person of interest for locating Antoine, so I will be sitting by the phone around the time of the revelation," I said.

"Well, maybe not sitting." I was lying in my bed when I heard the phone ring. I jolted awake. My character had been traumatized. He would have trouble sleeping, so he would wake on a hair trigger. I turned on the tableside light and reached over for the phone. I grabbed it and brought the receiver to my ear, while the cord accidentally went straight in my mouth.

"Herlllwee," I said, as I spat out the cord.

"Hello," I repeated.

"Who is this?"

"Hey, Riley," the voice said.

"It's Tom from group."

"Oh," I said.

"Hey, Tom. What time is—? It's almost sunrise. What are you calling me this early for?" Tom sighed heavily.

"Riley, I'm sorry for the early hour. I just… look. Bobby Gill from group told me that you work for Antoine Stone. Is that right?"

"No, I work with Antoine Stone. I am basically in charge of him. Why are you asking?"

"I was just worried about those people who went missing. I was hoping to get some good news," he said. Right. Antoine was officially one of the kidnapped celebrities. He had disappeared from the public eye after the attack. The news had reported him as missing.

"I still haven't heard anything," I said.

"Those creeps… whatever they were, they went chasing him and he hasn't been seen since." There was silence on the other end.

"See, I was secretly hoping some of them were just in hiding, is all," Tom said.

"Maybe with friends."

"I don't know, Tom. I hope so, too. He sure had a lot of friends." Tom sounded like he was on the verge of crying on the other end.

"Look, Riley, we have a special group that meets. People like us, who have things about the world they wish they could change. Maybe I could invite you out sometime. That's what I was really calling you for. I'm sorry about your friend. I hope they find him."

"Oh," I said. I wasn't expecting that.

"Of course, we'll have to find a good place to hide Antoine. If they are desperate, they will search Kimberly's place. Ex-wife or not. I figure Dyer's Lake would be a good spot for hiding out. We know it well, and so far, the story has made no connection to the area. It'll only be a few hours. He should be fine." Antoine stood over a stove in a small cabin near Dyer's Lake. In fact, it was the same one we had hidden from Generation Killer in.

He turned around and asked Kelsey, who was hiding with him, "So, who are you exactly?"

"Dina needs to tell Tom that they cannot finish the ritual until a year has passed. Something about the veil being weakest at this time of year. The real beauty here is that in one year, our characters will be better prepared, better researched, and ready to stop these guys for good. Why they waited a year, we'll figure that out later. All I know is that we need one final touch. We need to set up a scene proving that a year has passed and that nothing bad happened."

I was back at work, minutes from sunrise, I stood and ushered my various NPC employees to get everything in place. The stage of Antoine's show was covered in flowers and pictures of missing celebrities. Antoine, who could not stay missing forever, would eventually get back in the public eye. When he did, his show would return even more popular than before. One year after the disappearance of so many beloved people, Antoine would host a special episode directed to them.

If we pulled off the time skip, he would need to dangle himself like bait. This episode would be perfect. As my employees got the stage ready at my command, I waited and hoped for the lights to come on and reveal that the time skip had worked. I watched out the window from my office as the sun rose. Either the world ended because we failed, or we would wake up to an even playing field. I couldn't have been more nervous. I watched the plot cycle like a minimum wage employee watched the time clock.

If the needle suddenly jumped to The End, that would mean we had failed. Instead, the needle jumped past the midpoint and hovered a good chunk before Second Blood. The world didn't end. Instead, it just skipped forward in the blink of an eye. I stared at my reflection in the glass. Was I even older? I looked even older. Every year took more out of you when you were middle-aged, apparently. Carousel had accepted our Improvisation for now. On-Screen. My door opened. It was my assistant.

"Mr. Lawrence, we have Antoine calling in. He's going to be a few minutes late for rehearsals." I could barely contain my smile. We had done it.

"As long as he gets here," I said. I almost dared to ask her what the date was, just to be sure, but decided to play it cool. It felt like such a big accomplishment, but all we had really done was turn back the doomsday clock a few notches. We had not won the storyline yet. Now all I had to do was see exactly how much research my character had pulled off in the meantime.