Race Through Time

Chapter 1: Spiraling

    Spiraling down… down… down… Kara was becoming dizzy. Where she was she, didn’t even know and the blackness smothered her, making her feel claustrophobic. It was as if the world had become nothing but a spinning vortex-which was sort of true considering she had voluntarily jumped into an unknown portal through time in hopes of saving the world. 

    ‘Ugh, the crazy things I get myself into!’ Kara thought as she closed her eyes and began to recall the whole reason for being on this nauseating journey.

                                                                                ৯৯৯৯৯৯৯৯৯৯

Two Days Earlier

    When military men had come to her house Kara didn’t even fight. She figured she was as good as dead anyway and she didn’t really have the will to fight anymore. They had stuffed her into a black sedan and drove to a base camp deep within the Black Hills, not far from her house and dumped her at the feet of a very severe looking man. 

    “Hello Miss. Michael. I am General Corey Wisp and we need your help.” He offered Kara his hand as she stood up. She batted that hand away and crossed her over her chest.

    “One, it’s Meyer not Michael, and two why am I here?” Kara let her training kick in and she looked around, noting the multitude of civilians mixed in with the few dozen armed soldiers. Everyone had looked haggard and on edge as if they were waiting for an attack.

    The movement of Wisp’s arm snapped Kara’s attention forward again. “I apologize for the mistake. Agent Meyer failed to place you on his family member list, so I had just assumed. As for why you’re here, if you’ll please step into my tent I will fill you in.” Wisp motioned toward the tent behind him and Kara stepped into the darkness. 

    “Kara!” A familiar voice came from the darkness.

    “Dad?” Kara blindly searched through the darkness before strong familiar arms wrapped her up into a hug.

    “Yes, sweetheart it’s me,” Johnathan hugged her hard, tears streaming down his face.

Kara shoved him off fury in her eyes. “What the hell?! We were told you were dead. Do you know what that news did to my mother? Do you?” Kara punched Johnathan at the end of every sentence. Letting her fury out, her anger at him for leaving them alone, her fear at being alone in the world.

    Strong arms grabbed hers as her focused punches became wild emotional throws, “Kara, stop!” Johnathan shook her in his arms, snapping her back into focus. “What happened to your mother? Is Karen alright?” Johnathan searched his daughter’s face looking for answers, but she was masking her emotions well, too well. Karen had trained their daughter well.

    “She’s dead,” Kara said flatly, shaking off Johnathan’s hands. She was drained emotionally and didn’t want to spend the energy on tact anymore. “She killed herself when we got the news of your death. She couldn’t bare losing another man she loved.” Kara looked Johnathan dead in the eye wondering why he’d let them believe he was dead.

    “No… she… she can’t be.” Johnathan spoke, barely a whisper, feeling his heart shatter into a million pieces. He returned Kara’s look and she could see his heart, breaking in his eyes. His whole world crumbling down around him, just like hers had when Karen had killed herself.

    ‘Serves him right for faking his own death,’ Kara thought.

    “Why’d you do it? Why fake your death when you know what we’ve been through? Did you know how hard we would take it?” Kara spoke softly, not accusing him, but also not going to let him get away without an explanation. She searched his face for answers, looking for something, anything she could blame him for.

    General Wisp cleared his throat, “I’m afraid the rumors of his death were a mistake on our part. You see we had sent Agent Meyer on a reconnaissance mission and assumed he was dead when he missed a scheduled check in. Normally we wait at least forty-eight hours, but with the way Hawk had taken over, we couldn’t waste time of lost operatives. I’m truly sorry about your mother Kara.” Wisp bowed his head. Kara turned to look at Wisp when he first started speaking and was now shooting him a look that would wither lesser men.

    “I made it back to base camp here just about an hour before the men were sent to get you,” Johnathan placed a hand on Kara’s shoulder, and he returned her gaze to him. “I was the one who sent the men to the house to get you and your mother. I wasn’t in any condition to come myself.” He wrapped Kara up in a hug again and Kara realized just how deeply her mother’s death had affected Johnathan. She also realized that he was trying to stay strong for her sake, so she returned the hug. She held her father tight as if she was trying to hug all the pieces of him back together, but she knew it wouldn’t help, they were both empty without Karen, without the possibility of their family being whole again.

    “As much as I hate to ruin such a tender father-daughter moment, we have work to do.” Wisp interrupted and walked over to the desk that took up most of the back half of the tent. He lit a lamp and Kara could for the first time see the marks and bandages that covered her father’s face and arms.

    “Daddy...” Kara hesitated. Unsure what to do or say she closed her mouth.

    “Yeah sweetie I know it looks worse than it really is. I’ll explain later, but for right now we have a mission for you.” Johnathan placed an arm around Kara and lead her to a seat at the large desk.

    General Wisp cleared his throat and placed a file in from of Kara, “Your mission is in that file, but be warned that if you accept this mission you officially become a special operative of the CIA. Although if you succeed, you’ll be the only one who remembers the events of the past three days and you will never have been a member of the CIA. That is if you accept your mission.”

    “Wait, back up a second. What do you mean when you say I’ll be the only one who remembers the past three days?” Kara looked toward her father for an explanation, but he wasn’t saying anything. “Damnit, I deserve to know what’s going on around here! Someone speak up now or I’m walking out that door!” Kara pointed towards the tent entrance and stood up to move that way. General Wisp stood with her and grabbed her arm. She sent him a withering look, but he wasn’t smart enough to let go of her arm.

    “You’re not going anywhere. I’ll explain, just give me a minute to figure out how to word this so I won’t freak you out,” He let go of Kara’s arm and returned to his seat. Kara stopped trying to exit the tent, but she remained standing with her arms crossed, so everyone knew exactly how displeased she was.

    She tapped her foot impatiently, “I’m waiting.”

    “Kara!” Johnathan hissed. “Be patient, this is a very difficult thing to believe in, let alone explain to a young girl.” He gently tugged her arms, urging her to sit down. For the first time since Johnathan entered her life, Kara ignored what he had to say and remained standing, she also took a few steps away from her father. The steps were well planned because they also brought her closer to the exit.

    “Well then,” Wisp sighed in resignation, “because of your impatience I guess I’ll just have to come straight out and tell you.” He paused a looked warily around the small group gathered in the tent. “You’re going to travel back in time to stop Hawk’s takeover from ever happening.”

    “I… wait what?!” Kara shook her head. “You’re delirious old man! There is no such thing as time travel! I’m out of here!” Kara turned and walked out of the tent. Once outside she ran, she ran through the woods. She didn’t know where she was headed, but all she knew was that she wanted to get away. Trees passed as Kara’s feet flew over the rocky uneven ground; tears streamed down her face and her heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces.

    Kara left the tent in a hurry and Johnathan knew she was going to run. “I’ll go get her sir.” He stood and followed his daughter through the woods. Her trail was easy to follow, and Johnathan knew she was blindly running around. He also knew she’d get hurt if she didn’t stop.

    “Kara, stop! Please!” Johnathan called as he chased Kara through the forest. He knew that if they stayed on this path through the woods, they would fall off a cliff, so he picked up his pace and adjust his course slightly, so he could intercept her. With these small changes, he began to catch up to her.

    Kara heard Johnathan behind her and ran faster, trying to get away from the craziness. Time travel was a thing of fiction; something that you would find in the movies. She wasn’t going back, not even Johnathan could take her back. She would fight with every ounce of her being to defend herself from the crazies. For all she knew, they were all a part of Hawk’s plan to take over the world. 

    ‘Time travel, what nonsense.’ Kara scoffed in her head as she turned left and ran. She knew Johnathan was right behind her. Suddenly she was hit from the side and together her and her attacker rolled grappling with each other, neither one able to best the other. They were too evenly matched, but it wasn’t Johnathan. Kara could tell that from the way her attacker fought, he wasn’t being gentle, he was really trying to kill her, or was he.

                                                                                ৯৯৯৯৯৯৯৯৯৯

    Suddenly a flash of light brought Kara out of her memories. A hole appeared in the blackness and filled the tunnel with color and images. The closer Kara got to the hole the clearer the images became, and shapes formed, and Kara could recognize her bedroom at her home in South Dakota with the oak desk and the matching bed frame. 

    Kara tumbled out of the vortex and landed in a crumpled heap on the floor. She was suddenly grateful for the extra plush carpet her mother had gotten her when they first moved in as she landed head first on the rug.

    “Oof!” Kara grunted as she landed hard on the floor. She got up, brushed herself off and looked around her room. It was hard to imagine that in just one day Hawk would begin their assault and Kara was the only one who could stop them from ever starting their attack.

    “Kara! Come downstairs please, it's time for breakfast!” Karen called from the foot of the stairs. Kara felt tears well up in her eyes. This was the last few days of her mother’s life, but she could change that. 

    “Coming mother!” Kara called as she grabbed her tablet and ran downstairs. She skidded to a stop as she rounded the corner and saw both parents standing together. She ran and threw her arms around them, barely suppressing a sob.

    “Kara, what has gotten into you?” Johnathan looked startled by his daughter’s emotional display.

    “Dad, I need you to listen to me right now!” Kara said as she removed her arms from around her parents and backed away a couple steps.

    Johnathan looked Kara in the eyes and saw a new sense of urgency in their depths. He sighed, “Alright, we’ll talk, but not here. Let’s go into the office after breakfast.”

    “NO!” Kara sighed in frustration, “We need to talk right this instant. Time is of the essence and I only have one day to stop this.”

    “Stop what honey?” Karen placed a hand on Kara’s shoulder. Kara just shrugged it off.

    “Nothing to concern you mom. I just really need to speak with dad right this instant.” Kara sighed, held up her hand to stop Johnathan’s comment about being nice to her mother, and decided to lay out the card. “Wisp has been whispering in my ear.” 

    Johnathan’s eyes widened in shock and Karen looked confused. Johnathan grabbed Kara’s hand and drug her outside to their private training area.

    “Where the hell did you hear that from? Have you been spying on me?!” Johnathan was angry, and Kara was beginning to think their plan was going to backfire, maybe she had played her cards a little too soon.

    She raised her chin and calmly looked a very enraged Johnathan dead in the eye, “No father I haven’t been spying on you. I’m not even the same Kara that went to bed in this house last night.”

    Johnathan looked confused, but he had calmed down a little bit. “What do you mean?” He was wary, but who could blame him, Kara just told him a high-ranking CIA operative’s name, secret name.

    “I’m from the future.” Kara held her breath and waited.

    “Bahahaha!” Johnathan burst out laughing, “That’s… that’s a good joke kiddo.” He choked out.

    Kara stomped her foot in anger, “I’m dead serious dad. I’m from four days in the future and I’m here to stop the world from being overrun but an organization called Hawk. You and General Wisp thought of me after you told him about my powers and training. I only agreed because some guy from the future came and told me I had to, or it would be the end of the world as we know it for all eternity. So, I jumped in the portal traveled through the darkness for who knows how long and landed in my room here just twenty minutes ago!” Kara let the words pour out of her mouth. She needed her father to believe her otherwise he job became a lot more difficult.

    Johnathan ran a hand through his hair, making it stand on end. He took a deep breath and looked at Kara; he was no longer laughing, because the hard look in her eyes and the stubborn set of her jaw showed that Kara wasn’t joking around, but he still wasn’t sure. Yes, General Wisp was his commanding officer, but he’s never told Wisp about Kara. Johnathan wanted to protect her, and he knew that Wisp would turn his daughter into a living science experiment

    “I just don’t understand why I would voluntarily place you in harm’s way,” He walked over and wrapped his arms around his daughter. “I’d never tell Wisp about you. I want to protect you from becoming the government’s new lab rat.” 

    “You didn’t have a choice dad. You know how stubborn I can be,” Kara returned the hug feeling more confident in the success in her mission. She could tell by the hug that her father was beginning to believe her.

    Johnathan released Kara and took a step back, “Where do we begin?”