Day 208 - Repeat Offenders - Chapter 5.4 - (1304 words)

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REPEAT OFFENDERS

By Wayne Webb

CHAPTER 5.4

Harold had been standing in the vault, and now he was standing somewhere else. He was standing somewhere outside of the bank, and it had been instant, he was there now here. Instant. No blackout, no blinking and no effect or transition that he saw. He was here, now.


He felt dizzy and wobbled on his feet, there was a mental adjustment to be made that he was having difficulty with. Something had happened. Some kind of trick or something had been done to him and he did not realise it, but they had stolen him or knocked him out or … something.


“This is impossible.” He finally said and he sat down directly where he was, the room dancing around him and he stared at his hands as if they were not his own. When he did so he made a loud thump, and he landed on his ass, his legs buckling and snapping out in front sitting with his knees bent like a kid at school not wanting to cross his legs. There were three other people there with him and while he could see them, register they were there, it was irrelevant to his disturbed frame of mind.


Brian and Mike stared at him and watched him try to grasp the situation and then falling down too surprised to do much else. On the floor Ivan was very confused and still very groggy from the blow he got to the back of his head, he crawled away from the two men who he had just had an altercation with and tried to get his head clear. The sick feeling hit him almost straight away though so he got only a few meters away before he rolled onto his back, taking deep long breaths trying to not let nausea overwhelm him.


Michael had a gun in his hand, he looked backwards at Ivan and forwards at Harold and was caught between which was the worst threat, the devil they knew or the one they did not. Both men looked out of action temporarily and both could cause them serious trouble, Ivan especially. They knew now that Ivan in this state would follow them to the bank and interfere, and he would find out soon enough that they had been on a journey without them. The jewel haul was now doubled and there was this guy to contend with. He raised his gun and aimed it at Mr White, carefully setting his sights while his target was oblivious to his impending death.


Brian's hand moved quicker than Michaels brain and knocked the gun up and away from his target, the bullet flying through a window in the high far wall, shattering the glass. The gunshot reverberated through the space an echoing thunderclap that each man could feel on their skin.


“No, no more killing.” Brian admonished, frowning. “We don't know anything yet and this... “ He pointed at the bank manager who stared up at them like a schoolboy waiting to be punished. Powerless and fearfully expectant. “There is no reset for him.”


“Like Ivan, he was an extra.” Michael spun around when he mentioned his accomplice's name to see him try to crawl further away, thinking in the same space that he too was going to be killed unless he moved fast. “Stop, right there.” Michael stepped on Ivan's left ankle and pressed just hard enough to cause a little pain until he stopped moving. He made no sound and kept his hands in clear view. “Just wait and don't move. Things are getting complicated.”


“No more killing, not … yet. No more killing, please? This is all too much, and these men, both of these men are real. We can't do what we did before, what he did before. There are consequences for these men.” Brian sat on a chair and held his head in his hands, it was getting to messy and too violent.


“Brains.” Mike tried for a reasonable tone. “There is two of him now, and one of Ivan. So mathematically we are almost there, we have an extra...”


Brian cut him off, not looking up from the stressed out position he had taken up. “No, no, no. You don't get it. The other people, the ones we killed, they don't exist anymore, they never really did. We are in the time line we are in. This is the one. This is where we can have extras, there is no resetting from this time, we are not anomalies here we are part of reality.”


“Exactly, so Ivan here is good and Mr .. White? He is 'extra', we don't need him. We certainly don't want him.” Michael had made his case.


Ivan had begun to come around and he pieced together some of what is going on. “You left me behind? You bastards! And why did you bring this mouth breather back with you. Jesus, you idiots, give me the fucking gun, I'll do it.” He got to his feet angrily but his desire was ahead of his ability and he swayed dangerously as he did so, eventually collapsing down and falling to his knees. “Maybe in a minute.”


“No! You just don't get it. The bank Manager here.”


“Harold, Harold White.” Harold interjected and raised his hand.


“Harold here is real now, and there are two of him here and now.” Brian was staring at the men as if the answer were obvious.


“We get that, that's why I am saying we don't need this one.” Michael said patiently.


“So you kill him and then what?”


“Can I say something?” Harold still had his hand up.


“No!” Said all of the other three together.


“We kill this one and the other one takes his place.” Said Ivan as if Brian was the one not getting it.


“Shit.” Michael said and looked at the ceiling, understanding.


“See?” Brian put his head back in hands. “Complicated.”


“Give me a minute. I can deal with it.” Ivan was dismissive towards both men and thoughts of the other two travelling without him were soon gone as well. In his own thoughts he was still alive, still part of the team and still wanted alive. If they travelled without him for a reason then it was probably a good one. He just wanted, needed the chance to go through the freedom and potential of travelling another time.


“We can still deal with him. It can be done.” Michael mused, almost to himself.


“No. We have killed enough. I've lost count of the lives we have taken.” Brian said he had, but he had not lost count, he knew exactly how much death and hurt he had seen today and he had reached his limit. “Is this what we have come to, and less than one day? That we can plan the murder of the first real person and talk about disposing of the body like it's annoyance? Garbage? Not a real man? There's no reset on this gentlemen, this one stays on us. This one stays with us.”


Ivan clicked what they meant. “Right. So there's two of them, and this one is extra but if we kill him, he's still here.”


“Yes.”


“And we have a dead body to dispose of. We can do that.” Ivan shrugged and Harold went cold at the callous disregard the young man had for his continued existence.


“I think the point that Brains is making isn't that we can't do it. We shouldn't do it.” Michael handed the gun to Brian and held out an arm to Harold who had gone quite white in the face. “Mr White, you're not in Kansas anymore.”