Hazel looked at the bills her mother had given her. She counted out sixty dollars. She went to the food court and saw what she would consider the holy grail, if she knew what the holy grail was. On the white sign was a giant slice of peperoni pizza. She looked at the menu and saw something so much better. A pizza called ‘carnivore’s delight’ eight different types of meat. Including two types of bacon. The teenage girl behind the counter didn’t even look up when Hazel arrived. She spoke in a thick Jersey/New York City hybrid accent she sounded bored out of her mind.

“Welcome to Donello’s Pizza Emporium, how can we help you today?”

Hazel pointed at the sign, which the casher didn’t see because she was too busy staring at her nails. Hazel finally spoke.

“I want a carnivore’s delight please.”

“We’re out.”

“Can you make more?”

The girl rolled her eyes.

“Not for one slice.”

“Oh, I want the whole pizza.”

The girl looked up from her nails. Then way up to Hazel’s face.

“That’ll be twelve dollars and fifteen minutes.”

Hazel counted out twelve dollars and offered them the girl who took it and then pounded on a door.

“Yo. Need a carnivore’s delight.”

An older balding man looked out from a half shuttered serving window.

“You’re killing me here. That’ll never sell out this time of day.”

“Customer ordered the whole pizza, you want I should give her money back or what?”

“No. No.”

He wiped his hands on a dish cloth and looked out at Hazel.

“Sorry, I’ll get it ready as soon as possible.”

Hazel smiled then tapped the counter again to get the girls attention.

“I told yea, fifteen minutes, pestering me ain’t gonna get it done any faster.”

“I’d like a slice of peperoni. Keep me going until the pizza’s ready oh and… uh your biggest coke.”

“We only have Pepsi, is that alright?”

Hazel nodded. The girl put a paper plate down with the greasy slice of peperoni and a straw with a drink.

“Enjoy.”

Hazel was grinning ear to ear when she scooped up her bounty and found a table with pull out chairs. The ones that were all built together she could not get herself into. She took a bite of the pizza and she knew then that she had ruined pizza in the 29th century for herself. Compared to this it was cardboard. It was becoming apparent the people who were developing recipes based on twenty first century billboards and historical records had no clue what they were really doing. She needed some of the peperoni to take home. The pop was less then satisfying for her, but it was still legendary compared to the stuff they called pop in the 29th century. The timer on her HUD told her fifteen minutes had passed so she went to the counter and found a pizza box waiting for her. She looked at the teenage girl behind the counter.

“Excuse me.”

“There is a problem with your pizza?”

“No I was wondering…how much would it cost for uh, a bag or stick or however you get the peperoni?”

The girl blinked at Hazel. The look she gave her reminded her of the way people looked at Ruby. The girl rolled her eyes and hit the door again.

“Someone’s got a question.”

The pizza chef leaned down and saw Hazel again.

“Something the matter with the pizza?”

“No, it was amazing.”

The girl scoffed at that statement the chef glared at her.

“Thank you.”

He went to turn away.

“Uh, hey the peperoni, if I give you twenty dollars can I get a bag of it, or stick however it comes in?”

He chuckled.

“You can have me for twenty.”

He tossed a clear plastic bag on the counter and looked at the teenager.

“Quit lounging around and ring her up for twenty dollars.”

He waved to Hazel and started muttering about kids these days and their lack of work ethic. The girl rolled her eyes and punched in the cost. Hazel gave her the twenty and grabbed her pizza and the peperoni. By the time her mother rejoined her in the food court she’d finished the carnivore’s delight. Enid was back in her skirt and t-shirt. She sat down and motioned to the box.

“Seriously? You didn’t save me any?”

“I thought you were going to find a veggie smoothie and some tofu for the baby.”

Enid wrinkled her nose.

“Those are Amee’s idea by the way, you know me, red meat the redder the better. But I am going to go to get a burger. I swear they were never as good as they were in the eighties.”

Enid walked over and spoke to a cashier who stood under one half of a golden arch. She sat down across from Hazel and started with the French fries.

“Mmm. Transfats.”

Hazel blinked at her mother.

“The good tasting kind of fat. Before the world started worrying about people dying of heart attacks.”

Hazel shrugged and pushed the bag of peperoni towards her mother.

“Could you put that in the pack please?”

“Seriously?”

“Pretty please?”

“You are a pizza addict.”

“You used to be a blood addict. We all have our vices.”

“When did you get so smart?”

“When my mother started treating me like I wasn’t sixteen anymore.”

“Hmm, well your mother liked you at sixteen, you’d do what you were told, never got arrested…”

Hazel blushed and took another long sip from her Pepsi.

“I’m sorry mom. I really didn’t think it through.”

“And that is because you are stuck with a teenage brain which is my fault. You’re doing better though hon. Thank you for coming with me.”

“Uh mom. Not to be rude but umm I want a good spot to record the show from so uh. See you later!”

Hazel threw her box and cup in a trash bin and vanished into the mall. Enid shook her head. And muttered: kids these days. Enid finished up her her food and pondered the idea of grabbing more, putting it in her pack…which should preserve it but then…would everything smell like fries and hamburgers? She didn’t ponder too long because she heard cheering start up. She hurried to the second floor. She’d already picked a spot. She would barely admit it to herself, but she liked Eyre better when she was less world leader and more relaxed, enjoy the ride. She made a path for herself through the kids and pushed her way to the balcony. There were so many teenagers here now. It was ridiculous how popular Eyre was. But she had the charisma of an Imperial vampire. Ruling was in her blood, both mortal and immortal. Eyre greeted the crowd and held the microphone out and was greeted with the shrieking of thirteen-year-old girls. She was wearing a white leather skirt and loose-fitting top. She had dyed her silver streak red and made herself up to look like she was in her twenties. Her hair was very eighties. Enid spotted Hazel near the front. She towered above the rest of the teenagers she was transfixed on her sister who probably would have recognized her again if not for the bright lights in her face. Enid moved with the beat. She found herself wishing Eyre had chosen to be a holo-star instead of a CEO… Her daughter was truly a talented entertainer. It was a shame the world no longer heard it.

As the last song played and the crowd of tweens and teenagers started to disperse. Enid saw a tired looking man in a hat and brown trench coat. She recognized him immediately. Her father Sextus. He had a wooden box on his lap she also recognized. It held his last letter to Enid and the two amulets that would start her down the path of humanity again. This was the night that changed everything. He was staring at the stage that Eyre had just exited. Enid glanced around and did not see Hazel but some of the girls near the front were selected to get personalized autographs, maybe she managed to snag one. Enid moved over to her father.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Shekel for your thoughts old man?”

He didn’t look up. Enid’s gift could sense only a deep sadness from him. Enid could see the exhaustion spawned by seven hundred thousand nights of loneliness. How he must miss her mother, his soulmate. This was the end for him. He would no longer grace the Earth with his presence. She would no longer know he was watching over her at a distance. She wished she could tell him, your wife is alive, but if she never got the amulet, she would never defeat the Black Son, and she would never have Hazel. She touched her abdomen absently. Never have a child with Amee. He hadn’t acknowledged her presence yet, finally he spoke. His eyes were still on the intricately carved wooden box. Enid found herself finally remembering where she’d seen it before 1985. Rome, in her parent’s room. It held small stone tablets declaring their eternal love. She had snuck a peek as a child. He finally spoke pulling Enid out of her memory.

“I’m sorry young lady. Do I know you?”

His eyes drifted upwards. First, they saw the pink shoes, the blue leggings and hot pink mini skirt then the Black Sabbath concert t-shirt. None of this sparked recognition in his face. Nor did he recognize the black shoulder length curly hair that now had a blue streak in the bangs. Enid felt her heart sink in her chest as their gazes met. She had never seen him looking so tired and so old as she did this night. She felt tears falling down her cheeks. How many years had she wasted being angry with him? She saw a spark of recognition as his chocolate brown eyes met her emerald, green eyes. Even then it took him a moment to recognize his own daughter in her eighties get up and her newly dyed hair. Enid gave him a sad smile.

“I think you might, dad.”

He placed the box aside on the bench and without a further word hugged her tightly. She returned his hug and kissed his cheek she tasted his blood. Once it would have sent a spark of joy through her body to taste blood so pure but now, it just tasted coppery. She wiped up her tears as he dabbed away the blood from his own tears.

“You’re the Enid from the future, aren’t you?”

He looked a bit saddened.

“If I was the Enid from this time and I had an actual heart beat we’d probably be talking anyway because I’d be panicking.”

Through the overwhelming sadness in his face a small smile crept across his lips.

“I had hoped that it was her because it would have been nice to say goodbye…”

“I wouldn’t have listened, father. I was bull headed, self-centered and a bitch.”

“So, tonight is the night. You’re going to put on a smile. Tell Eyre you have a gift for her. Share a few last days with your granddaughter… and then you’re going to leave us. You will tell her not to open it until Halloween. When she does, she’ll realize you coming to see her was your final goodbye to the world.”

He nodded.

“I would try to stop you, but…”

“But if you did then Hazel would not exist. This version of you would cease to exist…”

Enid nodded.

“You’re having another child?”

“Could never hide anything from you dad. My wife and I spent a lot of money to make it happen. What a change from when I was having the twins hmm?”

“Is Hazel here?”

“She is here somewhere, she’ll track me down, I have the money for the movie tickets. You want me to put that in my pack, come with us? See a movie with your granddaughter? A last hurrah? You’ll have better luck catching up with Eyre at her hotel. She’ll still be surrounded by screaming thirteen-year-old girls.”

Her father stroked the bottom of his brown beard as he often did when was thinking. He started to nod slowly.

“You know, I have never seen a movie.”

“Come on old man, my treat.”

He offered her the box which she slipped into her pack, and she hooked her arm into his and wrapped her fingers around his elbow. He patted her hand.

“You are looking good Enid. Happier than I’ve ever seen you. Healthier. There is a light in your eyes.”

“Thank you, dad. Oh uh, Hazel’s kind of changed a bit. I can’t say she’s any older, but she’s well I’ve been making her take on more responsibilities.”

He nodded.

“She will never fully grow up if you keep sheltering her from responsibility.”

“I know, it was nice while it lasted.”

He smiled sadly and nodded. Hazel appeared around a corner and she was looking over a magazine. She hadn’t noticed her grandfather.

“Mom, I cannot wait to show her this. She always acts so professional prim and proper, what do you think her board would say if they saw her in this outfit with this hair?”

Hazel looked up while holding up a picture of Eyre in a bodysuit and leggings. She dropped the magazine mid stride and lunged at Sextus bearhugging him as she was wont to do with people she truly loved.

“Grandpa! Did mom tell you we were here?”

He hugged her back and shook his head.

“No, it’s a coincidence.”

She noticed her mother’s reddish eyes.

“Did she do something wrong? She’s pregnant, and super emotional. Please forgive her?”

Sextus shook his head. Enid frowned at Hazel.

“You know I can cry because I’m happy too. Anyway, we should get going, your grandfather is coming with us to see The Terminator.”

Hazel cheered and hooked her hand around her grandfather’s other arm. He looked at the two apparently young women and started toward the movie theater.

*****

Eleven o’clock found the trio in the parking lot. Hazel was spinning in circles and looking up at the crescent moon. In a comment that made her sound more ten then thirty she smiled at her grandfather and mother.

“Who would win a fight, me or the Terminator?”

Sextus glanced at Enid, seeming to defer to her wisdom. Enid smiled at her daughter she was used to these random questions about movies from her.

“You. And after you ripped him limb from limb you’d probably wear his head as a belt buckle.”

Hazel shrugged then nodded.

“Sounds about right. Oh, we should show grandpa the holo.”

“He does not need to see that.”

He looked between the pair.

“What is a ‘holo’?”

“Hologram, three-dimensional recording.”

“Oh, and the Christmas one where we were all together!”

Sextus looked at Enid.

“Well, I suppose it won’t hurt anything.”

Enid started tapping things in the air and her holo-phone started projecting the holo-recording that Hazel had taken with a drone holo-cam during their Christmas party. He waved his hand through it a few times and when he saw Maria his eyes started to drip blood. Hazel named everyone that came into view for him then she started to say Miko but her voice trailed off when her baby sister came into view. Sextus pointed at the young girl.

“Who is she?”

Hazel glanced at her mother, Enid nodded to her.

“You can say her name, hon.”

“That’s Miko, my baby sister, she’s… she passed away.”

Sextus looked at Enid who smiled when she saw her youngest daughter throwing up wrapping paper remnants and laughing. He nodded and wrapped his arms around both women and hugged them close.

“You all look so happy. Why are you here and not there?”

Enid sighed.

“Maria sent drones after us, and they got lost in time. We’re picking them up.”

“She seems happy. Less… sad.”

Hazel nodded.

“Oh, she is happy, mostly, I think. She’s a Fleet Admiral, runs a space station. She’s basically the reason humanity survived the… well the ice age. The reason we’re colonizing other star systems.”

“Really, other worlds?”

Hazel nodded she looked at her mother.

“You want to see something she built?”

Enid frowned at Hazel.

“He doesn’t need to see that.”

Sextus looked at Enid.

“I would love to see it.”

Hazel bounced.

“I have my own too! Though mom rebuilt her entire power system from scratch.”

“She did? Last time we spoke she was saying humans should be working with iron and bronze still and not nuclear weapons.”

Enid frowned.

“Fine show him. Apollo?”

Enid blinked.

“That’s strange. Why isn’t he answering?”

She started running towards where they landed. And as they reached the bottom of the hill she saw flashing lights up top.

“Shit.”

She grabbed one of the charged holo-webs from her pack and slid it on her neck. Tapped it and vanished. Sextus blinked.

“She’s mortal, isn’t she?”

Hazel was a bit distracted by the flashing lights by their ride.

“Uh, holo-web. Umm. We might have some trouble. Please stay back grandpa. Probably… no if anyone’s put a scratch on him there is going to be a fight.”

Hazel tapped her own holo-web and vanished leaving her bewildered grandfather staring where they had been. Seeing the flashing lights where the pair had looked, he gathered the shadows around himself and climbed up the rise. While he could not see either of them, he could sense their minds nearby. There were two black SUV’s and a few police cars. The grass was charred beneath the metallic purple fighter. A man in a dark suit was poking at the armor. To a person not familiar with the craft they would see no cockpit, or way for a pilot to use it because the canopy was often coated in the same liquid metal as the rest of the fighter to provide the pilots with better protection. Everyone jumped when the metal retreated and the pilot’s seat and the rear seat became visible, and it lifted up. Enid appeared in the seat then her voice could be heard.

“You are in violation of the national securities act. Cease your activities at once and go back to your vehicles. If you do not deadly force has been authorized.”

She used her control app that was built into her holo-phone to active the antigravs which seemed to be intact. She lifted off and pointed the fighter downwards towards the cars. One of the officers started shooting at him, but a twentieth century pistol had about as much chance of piercing the armor as a spit ball had against a tank. She opened the gunports and pinpricks of light started to appear at the end of her particle beams.

“Leave now. You have ten seconds to go to your vehicles.”

She counted down. More bullets flew at her fighter. She pressed the trigger and bolts of white light launched from her guns. One of the police cars evaporated. That was all it took. They started a full retreat. Probably ready to call in air support, considering something was jamming all frequencies in the area, it would take some distance or some time for that to happen. Enid spoke loudly.

“Apollo!”

No answer. She couldn’t do anything about it now. She set the starfighter down and hopped out. Hazel shimmered into existence.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Apollo. He’s not answering. Cloak, and the built-in control system is dead. Something fried a lot of circuits.”

Hazel looked at the scorched grass.

“Lightning?”

Enid scratched her head.

“Very well could be. No way we’re getting home like this. Need to repair and I would bet air force will be on the way. Something is jamming the signals though. I had to plug into the ship. Might actually be the fighter since it seems to be blocking ours as much as theirs.”

Enid turned to her father who had appeared shortly after Hazel did. He was touching the fighter’s purple armor. He finally looked at Enid.

“Your sister built this?”

“Yes. Developed every single piece of it…well a different kind of armor and weapon, those I uh… acquired from… the Andromeda Galaxy.”

“Wait, you have been there?”

“Yes. Took a hell of a long time to get there. Look dad. I wanted this to be a way better good-bye but uh… we gotta go or I’m going to have to shoot down some fighters.”

Hazel nodded and hugged her grandpa.

“See you later grandpa! I love you.”

He hugged her and patted her back.

“I love you too Hazel. Please stay out of trouble, for your mother’s sake?”

Hazel blushed and rubbed the back of her neck.

“Okay grandpa, but only because you asked.”

Hazel turned and pulled herself into Apollo. Enid reached into her bag and pulled out the box her father had given her for safekeeping. He took it. She grabbed his wrist and kept him from backing up. She motioned for him to come closer. He leaned down.

“Dad, do me one favor.”

“Anything.”

“Before you… wait for me before you lay down for your last sleep. I don’t want you to be alone. I will be there. I promise. You shouldn’t be alone. Okay dad?”

He looked at her and nodded.

“I will see you in a few days. Be careful.”

Enid turned then stopped and turned back to her father. She pulled out two bottles of coffee flavored Synth-O.

“Share it with Eyre. She’ll love it. Just don’t tell her where it came from hmm?”

He looked at them then at Enid quizzically. Enid shrugged.

“In the future we don’t need to drink human blood. We manufacture it, with flavors. See you on Halloween. I love you.”

She turned and jumped up grabbing the edge of the cockpit with her fingers then she tugged herself up and into the fighter. She lowered the canopy. Hazel waved to her grandfather as Enid lifted the starfighter off the grassy hill and engaged the thrusters. She went ballistic as soon as she cleared the trees and broke atmosphere shortly afterwards. She looked down at the Earth and aimed for the only place she would feel safe in this day and age. Okinawa. She also knew where an abandoned World War 2 gun emplacement was. The area was condemned and by 1990 would be torn down.