Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 21:40:14 -0500 From: Lee McDougal Subject: "Through the Time Warp" Chapter 7 Hey everyone, it's time for a more serious chapter of my story, but I promise if you stick through this chapter the next is much lighter...and the chapter after that even has something juicy for you! So I guess I'm kind of bribing you...but what's a writer to do? hehehe. Email your comments to me at leo1980@gay.com and if your not there already, visit my website at http://home.gay.com/leo1980 Disclaimer: I just wanted to say that this chapter is a little racy, and talks about religious ideals that may offend some people. But it is a fictional story, and I don't claim to know everything about God...or the end of the world. But I have heard stories like this all my life, so I thought it was fitting to include this in "Through the Time Warp". For reasons that should make sense in one level or another, I never made mention of a year for this time period, but just called it for what it was. I hope you will enjoy this chapter despite its seriousness, and come back for chapter 8 that will be much more upbeat! I promise! Through the Time Warp (My adventure with Nsync) Chapter 7 As we arrived in the new time period, we all had one thing on our minds-food! We weren't sure where we are, but we did arrive in an ally, and after walking out of it. We found ourselves in a shopping district. We weren't real interested in finding out our position yet. We just wanted to find a good meal, and then look for a place to stay. We had been pretty lucky at finding free room and board so far. Would we luck out again? We found a dinner called "Ricky's" and decided it was as good a place as any. We had some cash, but would it spend here? "What if they don't take our money?" Jerry asked. "I don't know, but we have to eat." Joey decided for us. We would deal with one thing at a time. We soon found a table for the 7 of us, and were relieved to rest a bit. I wondered what kind of food would be on the menu. I would probably eat just about anything at that moment though. "Where's the menus?" Justin asked. "I guess a waiter will come by soon?" Chris guessed. "I don't think so. There's another of those laptops. This place must be completely computer operated." I said picking up the laptop. I opened it up, and started it up. It booted up really fast. The food options appeared as icons with dialog boxes for special orders. I didn't see any prices on the list, so I was thinking maybe things were free in this time period, or paid some other way...like taxes or something. "There are no prices." Lance stated reading over my shoulder. "I know. Maybe it's already taken care of somehow. Let's just order, and worry about that later." I told him. Soon, we all had our various dishes ordered. And they arrived promptly on a hovering tray. It must have came from the kitchen, wherever that was. It was a wonderful meal. It was the kind of food you'd find at a dinner in our own time. I guess food hasn't changed like everything else. "That was the best meal I've had in ages." Joey joked. Everyone just half laughed as the hover tray came back for our plates. We placed them on there, and waited to see what would happen next. To our surprise, the laptop made a beeping noise, and a scanner of sorts came out. A picture of a hand was on it. "Um guys...I think it wants to scan my hand." I said. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Jerry asked. "Yeah. Looks like we showed up in the wrong time period!" I said with shock. Could this be what I feared it was? "What's the big deal? Just put your hand in it." Justin said through his hand through the scanner. "No mark" flashed on the screen. And in the next terrifying moment, the scanning device zapped off Justin's hand. "Oh fuck!" Justin said. It was a clean burn, and there was no bleeding thank goodness, but how was Justin going to explain that one to management. Justin was really freaking out, as were most of us. I tried to stay as calm as possible. But it was really messing with my head. I am not really crazy about lost limbs. I'd prefer blood and guts to that. I guess it was a pet peeve. "My hand!" Justin screamed. "I was afraid something like that might happen." Jerry said as I thought the same thing. "What the fuck is going on?" Joey demanded "Simple, We are in the age of the beast. You'd heard the religious references to an age where money is worthless, and you can only pay for things with a mark that's on your hand or forehead. That would be what the fuck is going on." I explained. "You mean all that 666 jazz?" Josh asked. "Apparently. And if his hand is all he lost, I'd say he was very lucky. People that live through this age will loose their souls." Jerry told him. "Man, we have to get out of here." Lance stated. "I agree. But shouldn't we at least look for one of the Jewels first?" I asked. "No! I already lost my hand, I say we use one of those jewels to get the hell out of here." Justin demanded. He took out the yellow jewel. I didn't argue. Why would anyone want to stay in this time period? We all touched the yellow jewel that Justin held in his remaining hand. I started crying some time ago, but seeing him in such desperation really hit me hard. Lance took one of my hands, as we lifted our free hands to touch the jewel. Soon after a little moving around we all managed to touch the jewel. But my fear was answered. Nothing happened. "Okay, then let's try putting all three of them together." Josh suggested. "It's worth a shot." I agreed. I held the red jewel up, as Lance held my hand. We had already decided that the red jewel was ours to share. It was a symbol of our relationship. We had found it in the same age we had first kissed. Josh held up his orange jewel, and touched it to ours, and then Justin held up his yellow jewel. There was an amazing flash of light, that blasted through all 3 jewels, but when it was over. Nothing had happened. "Damn it! Now what?" Justin asked. He was openly crying as well. We were stuck in the age of the beast. What could we do? Try to survive till the time warp swooped us away. "I'll tell you what we are going to do. We are going to get out of here, and find some deserted corner, and hide till we time warp." Chris stated. He grabbed Justin's hand, and pulled him out of the dinner. We all ran after them. We were all too shocked to talk, to scared to think. We walked through the city in silence, and I couldn't help but notice, how quite things were. It looked like the streets had been deserted. What if we were the only people left in this city? Perhaps everyone else had been carted off to somewhere. Perhaps all that was left of humanity could fit in a large city, and that's where everyone was. I didn't know then, I probably never would. I do remember that this was probably almost as scary as the dinosaurs, and definitely more dangerous. Our lives weren't the only thing at risk here. Our very souls were in danger. The longer we stayed in this time period, the more dangerous it would get. We would no doubt be tempted, and I wondered if we would all make it through. We kept running for a good 20 minutes, hoping we'd find some place to hide. It was pretty obvious that were getting no where, but much like all humans. Run was the only real choice we saw at this moment of fear. My muscles started to ache, right before I got a cramp, and fell down. Lance stopped too, as Chris fell as well dragging Justin to the ground with him. Joey, Jerry, and Josh probably would have kept running, but Jerry turned to see us on the ground. "Stop you guys, they need our help." Jerry screamed. "What happened?" Josh asked as he helped Chris off ground. "I tripped I guess. Sorry Justin." Chris said as he helped his friend up. "I'm okay. Just don't do that again. You nearly pulled my arm off! And well...I don't exactly have another hand to fall back on." Justin complained. "What about you Lee, are you okay?" Jerry asked. "Oh I'm fine. I just had a cramp. I guess it took me by surprise. My nerves are just so frazzled." I said wanting to cry. "I stopped when Lee fell. I tried to catch him, but I wasn't fast enough that time." Lance said feeling like he had let me down. "It wasn't your fault Lance. We are all really stressed right now. I'm just glad you stopped to help me up." I said leaning against him. "Come on we have to keep going." Chris complained. "Look at us Chris! We can't keep running like this. Were exhausted! I don't know about you guys, but I haven't slept in around 2 days! And everything around us is caving in. We need to something besides run around like idiots." I snapped. "He's right Chris. We can't run anymore. No one seems to be looking for us, so maybe we could just hide out in one of these stores, and hope for the best." Lance suggested. Chris didn't like it much, but we went with that plan. We found a hotel actually, and found that it was in the same deserted state as the others. I didn't like the idea of registering, and certainly had no interest in loosing a hand. There had to be another way. "Maybe we could just break into one of the rooms?" Justin asked. "I doubt it. They are all computer locked." I said studying one of the room doors. "I think we should just look around for something bed like, and make due. Maybe we'll be safe for now." I thought out loud. We did look around and found something that looked like servants' dorms. They were very dusty, and obviously hadn't been used in ages. But we lucked out, cause they had normal locks on them. Jerry and I managed to get them open with a little practical magic. Josh was the only member of Nsync that wasn't surprised, but they were all so tired they didn't question it. Lance and I took a room, and the others all found a room for themselves-Josh and Jerry were sharing as well. I cuddled up to Lance, and he started kissing me slowly and sweetly. I think we both had the desire for more, but not the energy. And besides, we both needed a shower bad! "Do you think there's a shower on this floor somewhere?" I asked Lance. "Maybe, it would be nice if there were." So we decided to look for one. Luckily we found one soon enough, and we decided to take a shower together. We didn't do anything sexual, but it was something else seeing Lance exposed. His cock was large soft, and at one point he got hard...and it was at least 9 inches. I touched it once, and he sighed. "Baby I really want you to do that, but I just don't have the energy for it tonight." Lance said. "I know, but I couldn't resist at least touching it." I told him. "Nothing wrong with that and you have my permission to touch it anytime you want to." Lance said kissing me again. It was really lucky to find a shower, and better yet it had enough soap and stuff that everyone could take a shower! We went and told the other guys after we got dressed. Everyone was very relieved by the news. And I would be glad that I would be traveling with Nsync tomorrow, not N-stinks. Lance and I both wished there was something clean to put on, and putting on our dirty clothes certainly cheapened the shower...but it was the best we could do. Maybe next time we are in a decent time zone, we could find some clothes some how. "That's better than nothing." Lance said. "Yeah, I guess so. I wonder if somehow we could request a two-hour lay over in our own time to get some clothes and things?" I joked. "Well, no one has been asking us what we want dear. I just hope we get home soon. I want to show you so much more than this! I want to make you so happy." Lance told me. "Lance, you already have." I said as I kissed him. "Lee, I love you." Lance said. "Oh Lance, I love you too." I kissed him softly. We then went to sleep wearing only our boxers. The next morning came with a bad omen. The sun was not out, but I could tell that it should be daytime. Every bone in my body ached with a premonition of something bad to come. I was scared, and all I knew to do was to hold Lance closer to me. And pray that I could fall back to sleep. "Lee, what is it?" Lance asked. I must have squeezed too tight. "They are coming..." I said though I had very little idea of what it meant. "Who's coming?" Lance asked afraid. "I don't know! Lance, don't leave me." I cried. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." Lance reassured me. "We are both going somewhere Lance. But will you go with me? You will have to choose soon." I said and then my body gave out, and I blacked out. "Wake up Lee!" Lance screamed "What's happening?" I asked alarmed. "I don't know, but you passed out a little while, back.... And then all the sudden I heard Justin screaming. Something's going on out there!" Lance told me. "Stay calm Lance. You're going to need all your senses to make it through this. You know what time period we are in. Now we face hell, and our choices will be clear." I said now knowing exactly what the vision was about. "What choices?" Lance asked. "Our lives, or our souls." I said as someone burst into our room. "They're taking them! These guys in uniforms! They got Justin, and...And they took Jerry!" Josh said as he fell on our bed crying. "Josh calm down, we'll get him back!" Lance tried to comfort him. "Josh you have to pray for Jerry." I told him. "What good will that do? We have to go, and save him. What if they kill him?" Josh asked. "His life is already decided Josh. He will die, if not today sometime. But right now we have to worry about his soul. That's what they want, and we have to pray for Jerry to have strength." I told him. "Okay. I'll try." Josh said. We didn't have much time to pray, because obviously they weren't going to leave us here. They just went for back up. In less than 20 minutes, they were back, and they took those of us remaining. I heard Joey and Chris both fighting them, but they were unarmed...unlike the guards. After a little effort they had them, and when they came for us...I didn't put up a fight even. I knew better than to try. They had all the fury of hell behind them, and only God himself could stop them. But that wasn't to be yet. Today was the day of my death...there would be no saving my body this time. They lead us to a huge flying machine, and we were flown off to some huge building. I didn't know if it was the capital of this world, or just a building for testing the people. But the point was it was the last place I would see on this planet. And I hoped for my friend's sake, it would be theirs too. There wasn't an individual trial. There was but a brief question. "Do you take the Mark of our great Nation, or do you choose death?" A man asked us. He was an older man, and somewhat pale...as if he had never seen the sun. I never heard his name, though I'm sure he had one. I wasn't the first in line, but I yelled to them... "Please my friends, don't take the Mark. It will save your life, but you loose your soul. This is the work of Satan himself...Please come with me to..." But before I could say anything else...a large man grabbed me and cut out my tongue. Then he pushed me to the back of the line. "For speaking out of line, you will see your other friends die...if any of them are stupid enough to refuse the Mark. What do you have to gain from death? With this you have life, and all the things you want...food, shelter, and anything else your mind could imagine." The man tempted them. As I rived in pain, I feared so much for my friends. I prayed for them, as it was my only option... Lance tried to get to me, but the guard hit him hard in the face. They almost knocked him out, but he got up and faced the front of the line... He knew better than to try again. I knew in my heart that I would see Lance on the other side though. "What is your choice?" He asked, as Jerry was the first to go up. "Death." Jerry bravely said. I cried openly, as they shot him in the heart. He fell to the floor riving in pain for a second, before his life ended. I couldn't even say good bye to my best friend. "And you?" He asked Justin. "Death." Justin said. I was still in shock from Jerry's death, but Justin choosing death woke me up. How had he come so far? The Justin I met would have done anything to save his own skin. "Death" Joey said. "Death" Chris chose. "Death" Josh screamed with tears pouring down his face. I believe he was more upset about his friends' lives than his own. I dreaded Lance's turn worst of all...I had seen every one else die, but how could I loose Lance too. "What will it be?" He asked Lance. "I love you Lee. Good bye." Lance looked at me on time. They didn't wait for his answer; it was plain by his actions. They shot him as he turned around, and I watched him die. I saw it all in what seemed like slow motion. I ran and caught his lifeless body, and cried like I had never cried before. I would have said many things at that moment, if only I could. But I couldn't. I could only speak with my heart. It screamed out for death, and it was soon delivered to me. The pain was severe as my head hit the ground. Lance was still in my arms, but I couldn't feel him...just the immense pain. Then the light came, and took away all my pain. "Welcome home brother." Wesley said and hugged me close. "Wesley, is that really you?" I asked. "Yes, how is that you come here now?" Wesley asked. "I was shot. I wouldn't take the mark of the beast." I told him. "That was not supposed to be your temptation brother. But you have faced it like a true man. You have gained access to Heaven. Your friends want to see you. They are quite upset still I'm afraid. Go to them." Wesley said as these two doors showed up out of nowhere. They flung open, and I walked into Heaven. It really was beautiful, more than I could ever hope to explain. To be continued. Hope you made it through this chapter, and come back for more of this story. Things are much lighter from this point for the most part. Send your comments to leo1980@gay.com please no flames... And as I said I'm sorry if this doesn't agree with your religious beliefs.