Apollo was entranced by the laser’s raw power. Time unwound as he watched the geyser of light glide across the earth, his screen shaking as the beam pulverized the mountain and its surroundings. The feed lacked audio, but that put Apollo at ease; the drone bombings he’d seen were also soundless. After three sublime minutes, the pillar of light dissolved to black, and a smile crawled from Apollo’s eyes to his lips as he saw a distinct shape take form.

° ° °

“He fucked up. Let’s leave him,” Sol suggested.

“Fuck you,” Zed huffed, her utter seriousness obvious despite her heaving breaths. Theo squeezed Kai’s hand. Everything was going downhill. Sol was acting crazy, Zed said the remote access panel had been removed, and Apollo wasn’t answering his phone. He felt trapped. They had to get off this base before it got worse.

Kai spoke up, her voice confident. “Apollo’s fine. Traffic looks normal around Six Flags, but Stone Mountain is looking wild. I think Apollo might have upgraded their weird laser show.” She passed her phone to Sol, who stared blankly at the sea of red dots forming around the mountain’s winding roads.

“Not bad,” Sol admitted. “Let’s just hope he was smart enough to leave Z, E, and D out of his tag.” They laughed.

Tension returned as they heard the frantic thump of shoes hitting concrete. Apollo was sprinting toward the car at top speed, spittle leaking from his mouth alongside garbled words. “Drive!” he demanded when he reached the vehicle, slamming his hand on the car’s roof and jumping into the passenger’s seat. Sol reacted quickly, starting the car and veering out of the parking lot in one cool motion.

“What happened?” Theo asked.

“Tyler Perry bought the rights to The Boondocks.”

Zed swung at the back of Apollo’s neck with an open palm, the smack resonating with the dull sound of flesh hitting flesh. Apollo didn’t say anything, but Theo swore he could still hear echoes from the slap.

Sol smashed the throttle as they headed back toward their entrance, then slowed to a crawl as they neared the gate. The gate was still mangled, but Campbellton was clear. There were neither cops in the bushes nor concerned citizens on the sidewalk. As expected, this part of the city didn’t produce patriots. Theo wasn’t surprised; it didn’t even produce rappers.

To Theo, their arrival at Zed’s car seemed instantaneous. He asked Sol to allow him one final ride. She agreed, leaving the keys in the ignition and stepping out to join Zed and Apollo, who were walking toward Zed’s car. Kai remained in the back seat.

Theo got out the car and stretched. A slight breeze grazed his face, momentarily cooling the hot night. It wasn’t enough. A thin layer of sweat insisted on forming. He sighed. The entire ordeal had taken a little over a half hour, but Theo felt like he had aged a year. He leaned on the roof of the car, taking it all in. Both his graduation money and now his car were gone. Maybe even his life, if this night had any more surprises. This wasn’t even remotely how his summer before college was supposed to go. At least he had those three C-notes?