Free Time Spent by J. David Clarke Page A

million times louder.
    Through the hole in the sky, Tyler saw the
vastness of space.
    ______________________
     
    What remained of the soldiers ran in all
directions, firing at Brock's cybernetic zombies and at some of the
other super powered people who had run away. Tyler and Becca made
their way to where Zachary stood, near one of the tables in front
of the three school buses.
    "Zack! What are you doing?" Tyler asked.
    "More importantly, why aren't you wearing
any clothes?" Becca asked.
    Zachary turned from the body he had been
examining. "I know you," he said to Tyler.
    "Yeah, I know!" Tyler said.
    "You were on the bus with me. Your name is
Tyler."
    "Derp, we know that already," Becca
said.
    "I think I saw you, too," Zachary said to
Becca.
    "Zack, we know all that already," Tyler
said. "What are you doing here? Now?"
    "And where are your clothes?" Becca asked
again.
    "They burned all up," Zachary said.
    Tyler and Becca looked at one another.
    "I found these people. They must have got
hurt. I was asking God to help them."
    Tyler looked down at the table, and his jaw
dropped.
    The body on the table was Marcus Villalobos.
He was wearing the same clothes he had been wearing the last time
Tyler had seen him. His dark hair was slicked back, as if it had
dried in that position.
    Tyler grabbed Zachary's arm. "Can you bring
him back?"
    "I can only ask God to do it."
    "Then ask him. NOW."
    "What the fuck are you doing?" Becca
asked.
    Zachary placed his hands on Marcus'
chest.
    "When we were on the bus," Tyler said. "I
saw a face. A face that was beyond the whole universe, or maybe was
the whole universe."
    "Was it God?" Zachary asked.
    "I don't know."
    "I saw God. He spoke to me." A soft light
passed down Zachary's arms and into Marcus.
    Becca frowned. "What does that have to do
with this guy?"
    "This is Marcus," Tyler said. "He was
my...well I don't know what he was. But if it was the face of God,
maybe he's looking out for me, giving me a second chance."
    "A second chance to what?"
    Tyler didn't answer.
    "You're both crazy," Becca said.
    "Did you see God?" Zachary asked her.
    "No," Becca said, "I most certainly did
not."
    Marcus' eyes opened, and he sucked in
air.
    "Marcus?" Tyler asked. "You're alive! You're
alive!" He crossed around as Marcus swung his legs off the table
and helped him into a sitting position. "I'm so happy you're
here...I thought you were dead."
    "Tyler?" A cold anger filled Marcus' eyes.
"Where am I? Why are you here?"
    "It's a long story," Tyler said.
    "Yeah I bet." Marcus swatted his hand
away.
    "What do you mean?"
    "I mean, you made it pretty clear you didn't
give a damn about me."
    "I...I'm sorry," Tyler said. "I told you I
was sorry."
    "You can see. " Marcus said.
    "Yeah...Yeah, I told you, my sight came back
after the bus crash."
    "You weren't on the bus," Marcus said.
Something was happening to the pores of his skin. They
glistened.
    There was a rustling sound behind them as
Zachary pulled the sheet off another corpse, but they were too
preoccupied to notice.
    "Yeah, I was."
    "You should have never gotten your sight
back." The glistening of his skin spread as a reflective surface
spread over the pores. From wherever the new surface spread, a glow
began to emanate. "You deserve to be blind."
    "Marcus...what..."
    Marcus' skin became a solid glowing bulb,
and the light grew and grew. Tyler was forced to shield his
eyes.
    "You deserve to be dead!"
    Marcus became a beacon of light, so bright
that Tyler couldn't open his eyes for fear he'd be blinded
again.
    "Okay, that's about enough of that, Sparky,"
Becca said. She took control of Marcus and kept him motionless.
    A female voice spoke from behind her.
"Miller? What are you doing here, you bitch?"
    Becca spun around to find the person on the
next table, a tall redhead, standing up. White lightning arced from
her eyes to her hands, and gathered there, until long flowing whips
of electricity extended from her hands. Nothing had changed about
her face, however,