Chapter 9: A New World Opens

Cody returned the coin to his pocket. It no longer burned but he knew it would restart shortly if he did not look at the notification. When he was back in his apartment he sat in his chair in the living room. He tented his fingers to access The Onyx and saw a new notification with the title, “Your one-year anniversary with The Onyx is in three days.” He tapped again to read the message.

Not that you could forget, but there are consequences for failing to comply.

Suddenly, Cody felt the punishing pain that he experienced a year ago when he learned that failure to comply with The Onyx would have severe consequences. It seemed to last forever but was actually only fifteen seconds.

Cody looked back at The Onyx in shock. The message had updated.

To avoid punishment, you need to accomplish a new task before your one-year anniversary. You must kill a relative. It must be family three or less “links” from you. A parent or sibling is one link. An aunt or uncle is two links (to parent, to their sibling). A cousin is three links (to parent, to sibling, to child). You have three days. Failure to comply will have consequences.

Cody closed The Onyx and sat shaking in his chair. He then catapulted himself toward the kitchen. He just made it before he released an explosive vomit into the stainless steel sink. He stood hunched over as his guts continued to wretch. Killing had become second nature but killing a relative made Cody quake.

The nausea finally began to settle. He took a water from the fridge and returned to his seat. He was rattled but no longer shaking.

“What the fuck? First I spend a year killing people and now it wants more? I have to kill someone in my family?” he wondered aloud.

Cody’s cellphone rang. It was on the counter where he left it after he got home. He rose and retrieved his phone. It was his mom.

“Hi, mom,” he said.

“Are you OK,” she quickly asked. “You sound awful.”

“Oh, yeah, I was exercising and a bit out of breath, that’s all.”

There was a pause as his mom evaluated whether or not she believed his response.

“OK, then. Get some water and sit for a few minutes and you’ll feel better.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said automatically.

“I called because I just heard from Auntie Edith.”

Cody needed a minute to search his memory in order to place Auntie Edith. It eventually dawned on him just as his mom explained their relationship to Edith.

“Auntie Edith is my grandmother’s sister. When gran died she took over as the unofficial information czar of the family. Anyway, she called to let me know that Uncle Mason is failing fast.”

Again, Cody needed a minute to parse the family tree.

“Uncle Mason is your uncle? Your mom and Edith’s brother?”

“Yes. Remember, he had a heath scare several months ago and rallied? Well, it was short-lived. Auntie said he probably won’t make it through the weekend.”

“OK,” was all Cody could think so say.

“Auntie Edith called to let me know but also to ask if I would come to the funeral. With mom gone, I’m the next one up to represent our family.”

“OK? Are you wanting...”

“Oh, no, I’m not calling to ask you to go to the funeral. Just letting you know that your dad and I will probably need to be out of town for a few days.”

Now it clicked. “And,” Cody added, “if it’s not too much trouble, can I keep an eye on the house? You know, your neighbors would be happy to help.”

“I know,” replied his mom, “but I just can’t get over having a stranger coming through the house.”

Cody rolled his eyes. His mom’s “strange” neighbors are people they have known for years.

“Yes, of course, I’ll be happy to watch the house. Let me know when you are going to be gone.”

“Thank you, son. I knew you’d be able to help. Now go get water and sit, or take a short nap. You’ll feel better in a jiffy.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he repeated.

After they disconnected Cody closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of his chair. He didn’t know how long he slept but was suddenly wide awake and sitting on the edge of his chair.

“That’s it,” he said thinking out loud. “Uncle Mason is three links – to my mom, to her mom, to Mason.”

It was just after 11:00 PM. Cody wore dark clothes and was nervous about what was to come. He got lucky and found an address for Uncle Mason in public land records. He did not want to have to call his mom to get more information.

He tented his fingers and first stopped time. He then teleported to the address he was given outside of Philadelphia. The house looked like what he saw in an online map view. He broke the window on the front door and reached in to unlock and open the door. He knew the door would repair itself when time restarted.

Inside, Cody found unopened mail that confirmed this was indeed Uncle Mason’s house. The smell of a place could permeate stop-time. Cody thought this house smelled like an old man. Like death. He found Mason in bed in an upstairs bedroom. The gray skin on his face was pulled taut and thin. Even without movement it was obvious he was not much longer for this world.

Cody spent a few minutes exploring the room. He found a small selection of his regular daily pills on the nightstand near the bed. It was in the bathroom that he found the morphine. It was placed on the top shelf of the medicine cabinet. Cody thought it was placed there by a visiting nurse. It was convenient when needed, but out of Mason’s reach.

Satisfied that he had a plan, Cody teleported home and restarted time. He poured himself a shot of tequila. With the burn still warming his throat he sat on his chair and waited. For the current day’s kill he stayed in town. An off-road bicyclist was riding dangerously close to the edge of a large drop-off. Cody punctured the tire which caused the cyclist to veer hard to the right and tumble over the precipice.

When the clock on the cable box read five after midnight Cody once again tented his fingers, stopped time, and teleported to the room he left less than an hour ago. He retrieved the morphine from the bathroom and loaded a syringe with a triple dose. He set a micro-action for the insertion of the needle and the delivery of the morphine. He then turned invisible before he restarted time.