The sky is lightening to sapphire blue as we get out of the car, but the sun hasn’t popped up yet. The cool desert air slaps me in the face as we slip through the hole in the chain-link fence, me hobbling like an old lady, Adam stumbling like a zombie. We’re a mess, but at least we made it back.
Once inside the building, we snap on our flashlights. Everything looks the same as when we left, but it’s hard to believe we were here only twenty-four hours ago. We head to the basement level—down more stairs, my body protesting the entire time—and scan the room with our flashlights. Still empty. I check my watch—seven minutes to go.
I’m anxious to go back to the present, to get out of this nightmare that is the future, but another part of me is scared to face what might happen when we return. A
