Future Lost

34

I cup his face in my hands, staring into his blue eyes. “When you went to the future and didn’t come back, I was so scared. Angry too, but mostly scared I’d never see you again. I realized then I’d do anything, anything, to get you back.” I draw in a ragged breath. “But none of that compares to how terrified I was today when you got shot.”

His eyelids flutter, the drugs already kicking in, dragging him into sleep, but he runs his fingers through my hair. “I’m sorry. I don’t deserve you, not after what I did. But I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to be the kind of man who does.”

My chest tightens. I used to think I didn’t deserve Adam and that he could do much better than me. But maybe we do deserve each other, flaws and all.

I press a long kiss to his forehead. “Get some rest.”

He mutters something, but his eyes are already closed. I watch him for a moment, making sure he’s breathing normally, before shutting the door on my way out.

Ken is cleaning up in the bathroom, but he pauses and looks me in the eye. “What’s going on, Elena?”

“I wish I knew,” I mutter. I collapse onto the couch, suddenly exhausted. Ken brings me a glass of water, and I give him a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

He nods and sits across from me. “Tell me everything that happened after you left the lab yesterday.”

God, was that only yesterday? It feels like a century has passed since I went searching for Adam. I debate how much I can divulge, since we planned not to tell the others yet. But Ken is already involved, and has been from the moment I met him at the lab and told him Adam was missing. He might already be in danger just by being here and helping us. He deserves to know the truth.

I sit up and look him in the eye. “If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell Paige or the others. Not yet, anyway.” A deep frown settles on his face, but he leans forward. “I won’t tell them.”

“Adam was working with Aether, just like you thought. He went to the future on his own and got trapped there. I rescued him, but this time someone came back with us through the aperture.” I hope I’m not making a mistake by telling him all this, but it feels good to talk about it.

“What?” He shakes his head, shocked. “Who was it?”

“We’re not sure. I never got a good look at the person, although I’m pretty sure it’s a woman.”

“What does she want?”

“I don’t know for sure.” I glance back at the bedroom door and grab my unicorn necklace. “But I’m starting to think maybe she wants to kill us.”

Ken’s brow furrows. “But…why? And how could someone come back with you? I thought that was impossible.”

“I have a theory that Vincent sent someone else after us who’s gone rogue for some reason. But Dr. Walters said it might be one of our future selves. Maybe Future-Zahra or Future-Paige. But I can’t imagine why they’d try to shoot us. They saved our lives in the future.”

“What exactly did you see in the future?”

I take a long swig of water, then press the cool glass to my forehead, which has started throbbing. Or maybe it’s been throbbing ever since Adam was shot. I might need some of those painkillers too. “I saw the end of the world.”

“Tell me,” he says softly.

I bow my head and blink back the memories, as fresh in my mind as when they happened. Then I lay it all out for him. The pandemic. The Infected. The Militia. I even tell him about his own fate.

When I’m done, he looks as shaken as I’ve felt ever since Adam went missing.

“I know,” I say. “It’s a lot to take in.”

“No kidding.” He stares at nothing, his eyes empty. I wait in silence for my words to sink in. “How do we stop it?” he finally asks.

“We have a plan. We’re going to the future again, to the day the virus was released, so we can find one of the people who was responsible for it. Once we know who he is, we can find him in the present and trace him to the rest of the White Outs. Then we can find a way to stop them before they ever get their hands on genicote.”

His eyes widen. “Sounds risky. What if you get infected?”

“We won’t. We’ll be careful.”

“How soon are you going?”

“I’m not sure. Hopefully soon. We’re waiting for Dr. Walters to fix the accelerator.”

He glances at the bedroom door with a frown. “Adam’s in no shape to do anything like that. But I’ll go with you.”

“You’d do that?”

“To save the world? Um, yeah. Definitely.”

We go over a few more details before Ken leaves. As soon as he’s gone, I debate moving something heavy in front of the door, but then I imagine us having to leave quickly and being trapped inside. Zahra’s security system will have to be enough.

I turn it on, then use my computer to check the recordings from the cameras outside our apartment. It takes me a few minutes to figure out how to access it, but I refuse to call Zahra for help. Then I play the video from a few hours ago. It shows us walking Max down the street, but we move far enough away from the apartment that we’re off camera.