Emily's head throbbed. She’d been asleep. Her eyes were still closed, she tried to climb to the surface of consciousness. But how long had she been asleep? Emily tried to open her eyes, was unable to, her body felt like she was floating. Maybe she was dead. Her face was warm, clammy. Emily felt a cool breeze. She was outside somewhere.

Emily heard voices. A man's voice, and a woman's voice. Voices she recognized. At first their words were distant, muffled. She could not understand the words.

"... I think she’s starting to come out of it..." said the woman.

Not only did Emily recognize the woman's voice, she could put a name to the voice. Jill Jaeger.

Emily mustered her strength. Forced her eyes open. Emily was flat on her back. She was in the school parking lot, lying next to a school bus.

The sun hurt, Emily squinted. Her vision was blurry. There was a soft object under her head, she guessed it was a towel but she wasn't sure. She couldn’t move. Her muscles ached. Emily felt something wet and sticky on her arm ... and on her stomach, her leg, her neck, her ear. Even on her face.

Shit.

It was blood. Emily’s blood! It had been a very long time since Emily had gotten her ass kicked so thoroughly. Wait. Was it an ass kicking? Emily won the fight. Kind of won it.

Jill's face, still blurry, seemed very concerned. A figure moved behind Jill, blocking the sun. Now Emily could see clearer. It was a tall muscular figure. Emily could not make out the man’s face but she knew he was Jack Jaeger.

"Welcome back…" Jack said. "So I hear we call you Emily Brightwell now. Interesting choice. Good to see you again, Emily."

"How long ... have I been out?" Emily asked, voice weak.

"We don't know," Jill said. "We found your body out here ... we did the best we could."

"What do you mean you found my body?" Emily asked.

“You died for little bit," Jack said. "Your heart, we got it beating again. We’re not sure how long your heart stopped … but your pulse is getting stronger, and you’re breathing again." Jack leaned over and gave a half smile. "You're welcome."

Emily groaned, forced herself to sit up. Emily looked at Jill, whose face was now fully in focus.

"Diagnostics," Emily said.

Numbers appeared in Emily's field of vision, her internal computers brought up the data. Most recent data showed the following:

     Recent critical system failure. 14 minutes, 37 seconds ago.

     All biological systems failure. 14 minutes, 30 seconds ago.

     Death occurred.

     Boost received.

     Revival.

     Recent critical system failure. 12 minutes, 9 seconds ago.

     All biological systems failure. 12 minutes, 4 seconds ago.

     Death occurred.

     Boost received.

     Revival.

     Recent critical system failure. 11 minutes, 20 seconds ago.

     All biological systems failure. 11 minutes, 2 seconds ago.

     Death occurred.

     Boost received.

     Revival.

     Heart beat stabilized.

     Breathing stabilized.

     Battery core repair underway. Estimated-

“Skip,” Emily said. Emily blinked, the data disappeared from her field of vision. Emily’s face reddened, her lips pulled tight. "You gave me boosts?"

Jill nodded.

Emily thought for a moment, and then relented to the reality that her worst fears had come true. The person that was changing the planet, and changing the timeline, was no longer Emily’s biggest problem. Emily had been unconscious, apparently dead more than once, and she’d been given a boost. And not just one boost, but three boosts.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

Emily avoided boosts the way many people avoided spiders. Boosts were small glass-like orbs, approximately the size of cherry tomatoes. Boosts were purple and silver swirling masses of cosmic material siphoned from inter-dimensional vortexes. They were discovered eons ago by her nearly extinct alien race.

In human terms, boosts, sometimes called boosters, act like a drug. They are a powerful stimulant that intelligently targets injured parts of the body, and quickly heal the body. If a human tried one of these boosts, the human’s organs would shut down and death would arrive within two minutes. For Emily's ancient alien race boosts became an important part of their survival during war, famines, and other disasters. And for the upper-class in Emily's alien race, boosts also became a popular party drug.

Jill smiled sadly, “I didn’t have a choice.”

“It’s okay,” Emily said softly. But Emily was lying.

Jill’s eyes narrowed.

“What’s wrong?” Jill asked.

“I had a boost addiction,” Emily said. “But I beat it. I’m fine.”

“... shit... ”

“It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

Emily smiled weakly, forced herself to appear brave. She wondered how well she could act, and said, “It’s not a problem.” Emily took a shaky breath. She was alive. That was the important part for the moment. “There was a girl here,” Emily said, her voice stronger. The boosts were working quickly. “She uh, she was hurt bad.”

Emily stood up, wobbled. Jack grabbed her arm to keep her from falling.

Words suddenly appeared in Emily’s field of view, created by her internal computers:

     Right lung repair underway.

     Estimated completion within 10 minutes.

     Left leg repair underway.

     Estimated—

“Skip,” Emily said. The words vanished from her field of view.

“Careful,” Jack said. “You were dead just a few minutes ago.”

Emily nodded.

“So what’s going on?” Jill asked. “What’s happening in Avalon Springs?”

“Avalon Springs doesn’t exist,” Emily said.

“What do you mean?” Jack asked. “We know something weird is happening here but—”

“It had a different name yesterday,” Emily said.

“What the hell,” Jack muttered. “Is that why you killed the Chief of Police? Is he part of it?”

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Emily said. "At least not today." She steadied herself, and gently pulled away from Jack’s hand to stand under her own strength. Her legs were still weak. Her body still ached. And she felt the boost surging through her veins. Emily started to feel light-headed, and warm. The boost high was staring to set in.

“What do we do?” Jill asked.

“We need to find Kaya Potts,” Emily said. “She’s connected to all of this.”

“Kaya Potts?” Jill asked. “Daughter of the Chief of Police?”

Emily nodded.

“How are they connected to this?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know,” Emily said. “But Kaya’s sister was seen in Avalon Springs last night. The sister appeared at nearly the same time everything started to change.”

“Okay,” Jill shrugged. “Let’s go talk to the sister. She arrived in town last night, and then the shit started to hit the fan.”

“The sister is named Chloe. I’d rather talk to Kaya first.”

“Why?” Jill asked.

“Because Chloe Potts died four years ago.”