Yesterday's Gone: Season Three (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER)

again,” shaking his head. “I’m awfully grateful for you saving me from the demons the first time around, before I got ‘round to using the sense the Good Lord gave me.” He laughed. “I’d be thrilled to give you a lift, anywhere you need to go.”
    Lisa, Rojas, and Ed all exchanged glances.
    The old man mopped his brow. “That was Black Mountain, you said, right? Just up Highway 14?”
    Ed said, “Yeah,” looking at the old man, up and down, trying to decide whether he was sharp as a bayonet or wacky as a dime bag.
    Lisa stepped in front of Ed and said, “Thanks for the ride, sir. That would be great. And yes, we’re headed to Black Mountain.”
    The old man bowed his head. “Of course, miss. It’s my pleasure.” He smiled again, beamed actually, then turned and led the group back to his station wagon.
    At the car, Lisa turned around, shotgun aimed at Ed. “Everyone in the car. Except Ed.”
    Lisa pulled the handcuffs from her back pocket as Ed stood, nostrils flaring. “Sorry, but you’ve gotta come with us.”
    “I thought we were gonna talk.”
    “And we will. Back at Black Mountain. I swear, I’ll make sure nothing happens to you or Brent. You’ve got my word.”
    “Yeah, because your word mean so much.”
    Lisa slid the cuffs on, at least giving him the courtesy of binding his hands in front of him and not behind his back.
    Everyone piled inside the wagon and the old man pulled from the lot, pulling a left onto the first road they hit. He was two blocks out when Brent broke the silence.
    “Thanks for the ride, sir,” he said. “We’re all really grateful.” Then, like a good reporter, “What’s your name?”
    The old man said, “You can call me The Prophet.”

    * * * *

CHAPTER 9 — Luca Harding Part 2

    Luca stepped into what was left of the barn and stared down at Rebecca’s dead body.
    Her throat was slit, and her eyes stared up at him in a death gaze that would never close unless he fixed her.
    He had to try and save Rebecca. And he didn’t care what Boricio said.
    And Boricio was saying a lot as he followed Luca, stuff about how Luca had to stop already. He’d done what he could. If he tried to save the girl, he would age to death. Luca didn’t know why Boricio cared so much what happened to him. It wasn’t as if Luca served much of a purpose to their group now other than slowing them down. If saving Rebecca meant death for him, it was worth it.
    Luca didn’t want to go on like this.
    It wasn’t just that he was old. He’d seen people older than he looked that seemed to do alright. But Luca was also in pain. Physical and mental.
    So let Boricio run on and on about how he was making a huge mistake. Luca tuned him out. Boricio would get over it. Just like Mary would get over him not bringing Desmond back.
    Boricio was pacing three feet behind him as Luca carefully dropped to one knee and put his hands on either side of Rebecca’s face. Luca was about to do the thing he didn’t quite know how to do, the thing that just sorta happened, when he heard Will speak inside his mind.
    “You can’t save her,” he said. “It will kill you if you try.”
    Luca tried not to be angry. “I thought you said I could save three people. I only saved two.”
    “You did save three,” Will said. “You saved an entire family, Luca. Paola, her Mother, and her unborn sister. That makes three.”
    Luca gasped. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He wanted to cry.
    “I didn’t know,” Will said. “I didn’t see it ahead of time, and was out cold when you were on your way to rescue Paola. I couldn’t have stopped you.”
    Will’s mind went suddenly silent, and made no noise for a minute, almost like he was dead, but then he came back, almost louder than before.
    “I’m sorry,” Will said. “I’m sorry about Rebecca. But I have an answer.”
    “To what?” Luca said.
    Will’s laugh was too broken to call anything but a bark. When he was finished, he said, “An answer to a question I didn’t know we were asking.”
    Luca was quiet, waiting for Will to continue. When he finally did, his voice was so weak it was barely there. “You can go home, Luca. You can all go back home.”
    Luca swallowed. “How?”
    Could he and Paola and Mary, and the new baby inside Mary really all be safe together?
    “How?” Luca asked. “How do we get back home?”
    “There is another you and another me,” Will said. “Like us but different. We’re on their world. Not our