Part 14 (2/2)
Becker swallowed hard and scanned about for the Watchman who had helped him earlier, and found him still at his post-glued to the screen with his headset dangling uselessly around his neck.
”You're too late.” The way he looked straight ahead, Becker felt like an invisible man.
”Wasn't anyone able to Fix it?”
”Po and Philadelphia neutralized the Glitch, but the Chains of Events had already slipped too far! Nature went offline first, then Weather, and from there it was like a s...o...b..ll. The Plan was in shambles and before you knew it, Reality itself started to lose integrity . . .”
”But surely the Powers That Be-”
”There's nothing they can do! Don't you understand?” His voice dropped to a whisper of terrible defeat. ”There's nothing . . .”
Night Watchman #1 rose from the chair, handed Becker his headset, and slowly walked away.
”Take a look for yourself.”
Becker attached the headphones and stared at the monitor, and when he saw what was taking place in sector after sector, he couldn't believe his eyes.
In Bangladesh, the monsoon rains were made of nails instead of water.
In Reykjavik, the temperature had reached 243 degrees.
And in Mexico City, Gravity had lost its hold, and everything that wasn't tied down was sailing off into the sky. People were screaming and trying to hold on for dear life, and the wild fear in their eyes betrayed the unfathomable experience of being trapped inside a World gone mad.
The same numbness that affected the others began to settle over Becker. How could he have let this happen? His fingers mechanically found their way to the keyboard and punched in the numbers for Sector 33, Grid 514.
”Oh, no.”
Highland Park, New Jersey, USA As soon as Becker stepped back through the Door, he dropped his Toolkit and ripped off his Badge and pedaled frantically back to 12 Grant Avenue. He was no longer a Fixer (for there was nothing left to Fix), but simply the son of Dr. and Dr. F. B. Drane, and the older brother to a little boy named Benjamin. And he was more scared than he'd ever been in his life.
While Becker pumped his feet as fast as they would go, cars and people were headed in the opposite direction, desperately trying to get out of town. But little did they know, there was no safe haven left. Bark was literally melting off the trees, while high above in the sky, the moon had cracked itself in two.
”Becker-you're going the wrong way!” Dr. Kole was running by in his bathrobe, clutching a sack spilling over with his beloved books. ”We have to get to higher ground!”
Becker wanted to stop and tell him that somehow this would all be okay, but he knew in his heart that it wouldn't, so he sped on past without saying a word.
”Mom, Dad!”
Much like he'd done the day before, Becker dropped his bike on the lawn and flew inside the house. On the couch in the living room, his father was clutching Benjamin, who was crying like a baby, while his mother stared at him in disbelief.
”Becker, but-I don't understand.”
”Mom, I tried. I swear, I tried the best I could. But the Bed Bugs, they knocked me out, and the Glitch-” As he stammered out an explanation, Becker had the distinct recollection of the time when he'd broken his mom's favorite sungla.s.ses, which he'd borrowed without asking. But unlike then, when she had rea.s.sured him ”it's no big deal, sweetheart,” no such relief was coming.
”How is this possible?” she said. ”Who are you?”
”What are you talking about? I'm me!”
His parents looked at each other, utterly confused, just as Becker's spitting image came scrambling from the kitchen. In the Me-2's hands were a ration of canned goods, and it looked just as surprised to see Becker as Becker was to see it.
”What the heck are you doing here?” said the Me-2. ”Why aren't you Fixing the Glitch?”
”Because the Glitch can't be Fixed!”
The Me-2 was about to ask why, when- ”Will somebody please tell me what on earth is going on around here!” shouted Professor Drane, as Benjamin's wails increased to an ear-splitting shriek.
”I'll explain everything later, but right now we have to-”
Both Becker and the Me-2 stopped talking, because they were saying the exact same thing at the exact same time (in the exact same voice).
”Shut up, Me! I'll handle this!”
”Like you handled the Glitch? No thank you!”
Becker started to respond with anger, but he realized the Me-2 was right. He'd blown the Mission and cost The World dearly.
”I-I-”
Enraged, the Me-2 lunged at Becker and grabbed him around the throat. While they wrestled on the floor, his mom began to scream, matched only by the cries of horror that filtered in through the window.
”You've doomed us all, you incompetent fool!”
Becker was still struggling to take a breath when his hand finally found the dial on the back of the Me-2's neck. He flicked it to ”Off,” and instantly the doppelganger began to deflate-but not without a parting shot.
”This . . . is . . . all . . . your . . . faul-”
The Me-2's voice eked to a halt.
Becker rose to his feet, but any solace he may have felt from the end of the fight was quickly wiped away by the sight of his mom fainting to the floor.
”Becker, please, what's happening?”
”There's no time to explain, Dad! We've got to get out of here!”
Becker figured if he could just get his family back to the Door, he might be able to take them to the safety of The Seems before it was too late. But suddenly, from outside his house, there was a terrible ripping sound, followed soon after by a blinding blue light-and Becker didn't even need to look to know what it meant. He did anyway, though, and there it was: the Fabric of Reality, tearing like a piece of cloth through the middle of his neighborhood, to expose the In-Between behind it.
And as the ground beneath his feet began to rupture and shake, it hit Becker Drane like a ton of bricks. He knew exactly who was to blame for the end of The World. He was.
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