CHAPTER TWO: I SAID WHAT I SAID

Lotus trailed behind Five as a nurse dressed in all white lead them down a poorly lit hallway, she kept her mouth shut until they were brought to another poorly lit room with a table and three chairs. As soon as she crossed the threshold the woman disappeared, leaving them alone.

"You're telling me Diego's in a mental institution?" Lotus whispered, "I don't understand."

"He's from the future. And it's Diego, he probably went raging on about the apocalypse."

Lotus nodded slowly, this whole thing still so foreign. What the hell was happening? They went from one apocalypse to another, now stuck in the past with nothing but each other. Well, they had to find everyone first.

"Five."

They both looked to the doorway to see Diego, dressed in all white. His hair was long like when they first saw him fighting alongside his family, here he looked even more pissed off.

"Hey, Diego." Five leaned back in his chair, "You look good in white."

Lotus rolled her eyes, a sigh of relief escaping her lips. "Thank god you're alright."

His eyes were still trained on his brother, "It's about time you showed up."

"How'd you know I'd be back?"

Diego sighed taking a seat, "Because that's the kinda shit you pull."

Five glanced at her and she shrugged, "I mean, he's not wrong."

"Where are the others?" He looked back at Diego, who was leaning over the desk now. He looked lethal glaring up at them through shaggy hair.

"They're not with you?"

Lotus shook her head, "No."

"We'll find them." Five whispered, "How long have you been here?"

"Seventy five days. Landed in the alley behind Commerce—"

"And Knox." They finished each other's sentence, curiosity now bubbling up in Diego's dark eyes.

"We got here this morning."

"How'd you find me?"

Lotus pursed her lips as Five dug out the paper from his pocket and unfolded it on the desk. "Page sixteen. 'Disturbed man with multiple knives arrested outside 1026 N. Beckley.'"

He slid the paper towards his brother, "That's Lee Harvey Oswald's house. Care to explain?"

"Let's just say Dallas Law Enforcement has not been supportive of my attempt to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy."

Lotus snorted, "That's surprising, considering he's their president and he's white."

They both raised an eyebrow at her before returning to their conversation, "That's because it hasn't happened yet."

"And it's not going to happen." Diego whispered, "Not on my watch. Look, I've been shaving down the bars in my room, another day or two I'll be out of this place, then I'll stop Oswald and save the president."

Lotus couldn't even explain how bad of an idea this was, especially for someone locked up in such a place.

"Listen to me very closely, you gibbering moron." Five seethed, "You're not going to do a goddamn thing."

"Why not?"

"Because we have to stop the apocalypse."

Diego shook his head, "No shit. But that doesn't happen for another sixty years."

"Nope, wrong." Lotus tapped the desk, "This is a new one. We have ten days to stop it or this was all for nothing. Nuclear war."

Diego broke out in quiet laughter, leaning back against his chair with crossed arms. "And I'm the one locked up, huh?"

Five scoffed, rolling his eyes. For some reason Lotus figured he was playing nice earlier, and he was getting impatient.

"Alright, I'll play along." Diego grinned, "What causes it?"

His brother sighed, "I don't know. Maybe the looney-tunes asshole with a hero complex trying to save the president and screwed everything up."

Diego sat forward, eyes narrowing. "You're saying it worked? I saved the president?"

He did look awfully crazy, sitting there with men in all matching white surrounding him. Seventy five days was clearly long enough, he was losing his mind.

"Ok, ok. I'll help you."

Five nodded, "Thank. God."

"After I save Kennedy."

Lotus groaned, "Are you kidding me?"

He shook his head, "After it's done you swing us back a few decades so I can slit Hitler's throat with a butter knife."

Five pursed his lips, "This is why you don't have any friends." He stood up, pushing his chair out in loud squeaks. "You know what? Guard. My brother's plotting an escape. The bars of his room have been shaved down."

"Five, what the hell—" Lotus stood up after him as Diego lunged for him. The guards were faster, wrapping their arms around him and pulling him back.

"Piece of shit!" Diego raged.

"Look, this is for your own good Diego." Five said, the guards still pinning him down to the table. Lotus watched with wide eyes, unable to do anything that would be helpful. "My brother is a very sick man, I only pray he gets the help he so desperately needs."

A nurse rushed in, a large needle in her hand. She jabbed it into Diego despite his pleads for her not too. Five leaned in close to his ear, "I'll be back for you later, alright? In the mean time, nighty night."

Five walked out of the room, leaving her standing there with wide eyes as they still used force against Diego, even unconscious.

"Time to go." One of the guards said to her and she aimlessly rushed out into the hallway, Five already half way to the door. She ran after him, falling into step beside him.

"Why the hell did you do that?" She grumbled, "He's your brother and they're very clearly not taking good care of him— or probably any of the others stuck in here."

"He's gonna ruin the plan."

They stepped outside, the sun ridiculously bright compared to the sketchy lighting inside. "And what is your plan?"

"To find the rest of my family before fighting off the apocalypse." He gave her a smile, "But first you need to change. I'm surprised they didn't call the police on you, considering you're covered in dried blood."

"And once again, where am I supposed to change?"

He shrugged, "We can walk up the street and pick a store."

"I have no money."

"I don't either." He chuckled, apparently what he just did to his brother didn't bother him. But he also once worked for people who murdered others so this probably wasn't even on the scale of things to feel sorry about. "You find stuff you like, try it on and we'll zap out. Easy."

"Isn't that stealing?"

His brows furrowed, "Didn't you steal for a living back home?"

That was true. Lotus sighed, "Yes."

"Cool. So, pick a place and we'll go."

They crossed the street before Five linked an arm through hers and jumped, they appeared on the street they once ran from. Where Hazel was shot on the bus bench, police tape covered one side of the sidewalk.

"Come on." Five told her, heading up the street. Lotus followed suit, eyes lingering on the bench.

She followed him into a random shop, racks filled the space with a large array of colours. The walls were painted pink, and the woman behind the counter gave them a grin in a matching pink dress. "Welcome!" She squeaked, "Can I help you find anything?"

Lotus wandered around, each rack was filled with dresses. Most of them short, ending at the knee while others were long. "Um, do you have anything that's not a dress? Or the colour yellow?"

She was sick of dresses, and the colour yellow. The woman's brows furrowed, "A small section, towards the back corner. Most of them are new styles, something more futuristic if you'd like."

If futuristic meant pants, Lotus was all for it. She marched to the back of the store, only a single rack was filled with clothing that was not a dress nor skirts.

She swiped through articles, moving through both the yellow and red items before landing on a beige jumpsuit. It gave her a 70's vibe, despite it being 1963. This must of been what she meant by futuristic, and the price on the tag told her nobody was into it. She searched for a large and found it, she wasn't sure if a store like this one would sell it.

Lotus pulled it off, walking to the change room around the corner. Five sat down on a stool, watching as she disappeared behind the door. She shrugged her dress off, happy to stomp on it a few times before stepping into clean clothes. Heels clicked on the tile as they appeared by the fitting room door, "It gets chilly this time of year dear, here's some layering options."

Three shirts were pushed under the door, she took them with a quiet thank you. Lotus held each shirt up in her hands, deciding on the one that was fitted. It was a plain white t-shirt, she flipped it on over her head before bringing up the jumpsuit. When she managed to zip up the back she turned to the mirror, a small smile on her face.

The beige of the jumpsuit looked nice with the contract of the white t-shirt, a darker beige lined the fabric with a grid pattern with pant legs that flowed outwards. The straps were very thin, Lotus moved around, deciding if she could defend herself in this.

There was a knock on the door, "Lotus, open up."

"What?"

"She's calling the police." He huffed, "Open the door!"

The woman's voice rang out, telling him to sit down. She scrambled with the lock, finally opening it up as he lunged, wrapping his arms tightly around her. She managed to scoop up her old dress and sneakers as they vanished into thin air.

They landed in the middle of park, not so gracefully this time. Lotus landed on her back while Five landed with a thud next to her. She took a deep breath, gazing around. When she saw no threat, she began putting her shoes on.

"I told you that was a bad idea."

"I don't recall you mentioning anything like that."

Lotus sighed, tying up her laces. The air was warm, and the sound of trees rustling in the breeze made her feel calm. Five picked up the yellow heap next to her, "Why'd you take this?"

"I'm not leaving a bloodied dress in a change room for anyone to find." She said, "I don't need those creepy gun guys getting ahold of my blood sample."

"Smart thinking."

"I know." She finished tying the last lace and pulled herself up, watching as he followed her actions. "What do we do now?"

"We find the rest of my family."

Lotus blinked slowly, adjusting her new outfit. "Can we find Klaus first?"

"No." He took off towards the sidewalk, brushing by a group of children who stopped playing whatever game they were in the middle of to stare. Lotus grabbed her old dress and rushed after him, apologizing to the kids on her way by.

"What are you thinking?"

Five pursed his lips, "I'm thinking we look around, try to find any newspapers or posters, something like how we found Diego."

"We only got that lead because of that weird man who thinks we're aliens."

He shrugged, "I'm sure we can find Klaus and Luther easiest, they're always getting attention. There's no way anybody has seen a giant man before and Klaus is also drugged out."

"He quit." Lotus said, remembering how he announced it to his family and got nothing but eye rolls. "Also, isn't everyone drugged out here and like, hippies?"

"That's the seventies, Lotus."

She frowned as they crossed the street, a few people stared in their direction but she shrugged it off as being paranoid. "Okay, can we talk about what's going on?"

"Like what?"

She huffed, "We're stuck in the 1960's and there's now another impending apocalypse that we have to fix. There's another Hazel and Cha Cha who are trying to kill all of us and they all look like their mother is their cousin."

Five looked to her, amusement dancing in his eyes. "Like their what is their what now?"

"You heard me. I said what I said." She looked over at him, "Anyways, this time none of you guys are together. At least last time everyone managed to get together and fight, but Diego's in a mental hospital and everyone else is nowhere to be found. And you know what, why Dallas? Why 1963?"

"Don't know. But we're here now and we've got to fix it."

Lotus shook her head, "This whole saving the world thing sucks ass."

Five came to a stop, she kept walking a few feet ahead not realizing he decided to come to a halt. "Look." He told her, ushering her back towards him. A poster was tacked to the wall, a picture of Luther and another man on it.

"Well, would you look at that." Lotus tapped the location under Luther's picture, "You were right."

"We walked by that place when we got here." Five said, "It's by Commerce and Knox."

Lotus sighed as he stuck out his hand, she figured they'd be jumping. As soon as his fingers tightened around hers the ground dissolved at their feet. Next thing she knew they were walking on a different side walk, eventually stopping at a run down building. "This isn't creepy at all." She muttered as he pulled her forward, a light flickered above them as he shouldered the door open and they slipped through. Inside was worse, everything smelt like a mix of body odour and blood. An old man sat next to a boxing ring, a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"This ain't a place for kids." He glared, taking the cigarette from his mouth and balancing it between two fingers.

"Is Luther here?" Lotus spoke up first, inching closer to Five.

"Ain't no Luther here."

Five cleared his throat, "He's tall, super big. Could maybe resemble big foot."

The old man's eyes narrowed, "He ain't here. All the boys usually go to the club across the street at this time. Go bug them, if you can get in."

Five wasted no time, they turned and raced out of the building and across the street. This building compared to the last was no comparison. This one was lit up with lights, posters were framed down the painted white bricks. Lotus loved the designs, a very vintage feel for someone from 2019.

"Follow my lead." Five said, opening the door before a man blocked their path.

"I.D." The man glowered.

"I don't need it. I'm fifty—"

The man chuckled, "You kids are funny these days."

Lotus sighed, "Do you faint easy?"

"Pardon me?"

She let go of Five's hand and reached it out to the bouncer, she felt the familiar shiver coarse through her. The man's eyes widened which told her it worked, she smiled, "Do you still want I.D?"

He froze, and quite quickly crumbled to the ground. Lotus shrugged her shoulders, feeling herself return. She looked to Five, "All good?"

"You look like Lotus." He nodded, "Hopefully he's in here."

They surged forward, pushing back a deep red curtain into a room full of people. The lights were dimmed and a low chatter filled the air, at the far end of the room was a stage where a woman danced on the edge. Lotus pursed her lips, realizing only men seemed to be the patrons and only woman staffed the place. "Of course this is where he is." She muttered, spotting a big frame up at the bar. Five quietly went forward, finding an empty chair at the front of the stage.

"Well." She muttered, glancing around. A woman danced around tables, a tray balanced on her shoulder. Lotus watched as she stopped at Five, leaning over to hear whatever he said to her. She made a weird face before moving to the next table, Lotus slowly made her way over and pulled up a chair next to him. "Having fun?"

He shrugged, "I'm just trying to piss Luther off. When we came in I saw him talking to that waitress, I'm sure he'll go right to her when she gets back up to the bar."

"Look, I would love to piss off Luther but right now we shouldn't, okay. He's stubborn and we need his help to save the world."

Five looked over at her, "He shot you, Lotus. Don't you dare forgive him."

"I'm not, but if we all die none of that matters."

Heavy footsteps sounded behind them, Lotus quieted down as Luther leaned over Five's shoulder. "She's to young for you."

Five smiled, "It's nice to see you too, Luther."

"What do you want?"

"For you to stop hovering like an ambitious stripper and sit down with us."

He rolled his eyes but did, finding another empty chair and dragged it over. Lotus gave a little wave, "How long have you been here?"

"A year, no thanks to your friend here."

Five nodded slowly, "I'm sorry Luther, I know that couldn't have been easy."

"I thought everybody was dead." Luther hissed as a table across the room got noisy. Glasses clinked together as a man's voice echoed, getting lost in the music before anyone could truly make it out. Luther stood up abruptly, "I gotta go."

"Luther, wait." Five grabbed ahold of his sleeve, "Look I get it okay. I know what it's like to be stuck in time, thinking this is how you're gonna live out the rest of your life. On the run and not knowing if you're gonna see the people you love again. And to be in an unfamiliar world, but Luther, you're not alone. Because we have find the others and the world ends again in ten days and I have no idea how to stop it."

Luther stared down at them both, expression stuck between annoyance and a little anger. When he finally spoke, Lotus wished she told Five to piss him off even more.

"I don't give a shit."