Narrow

Dust swirled through the dim light of the old saloon as bullets tore through splintered wood. Kara ducked behind an overturned table, her heart pounding as the sharp scent of gunpowder filled the air. Across the room, Coalition agents in black tactical gear advanced, their eyes cold, weapons precise.

She glanced at the cracked pocket watch in her palm. The device glowed faintly, flickering in time with her heartbeat. It wasn’t calibrated yet—two minutes to go. Not enough time to vanish.

Lux’s voice crackled through her earpiece, steady despite the chaos. “Kara, they’re flanking to your right. You’ve got thirty seconds before they close in.”

“Thanks for the tip,” she muttered, firing blindly over the table’s edge. Her revolver clicked empty. “Great. Out of bullets, out of time.”

“Options?” Lux asked.

“Run, improvise, pray.”

The Coalition’s leader, a towering figure with a scar across his jaw, stepped forward, his voice calm amidst the chaos. “You’ve got nowhere to run, Kara. Hand over the watch, and I might let you walk out of here alive.”

She smirked. “Hard pass.”

The watch buzzed violently in her hand, the faint light surging brighter. One minute left. She felt the heat building in her palm, the raw power of something not entirely meant to exist.

Scarface gave the order. “Take her.”

They surged forward as Kara flipped the table and sprinted toward the bar. A bullet grazed her arm, and she stumbled, hissing in pain. She slid behind the bar just as a grenade clattered to the floor nearby.

Her eyes widened. There was no time to think, no time to move. The explosion rocked the saloon, and she felt the shockwave slam into her, the heat tearing through her leg as debris rained down.

“Kara!” Lux’s voice came through the static, more urgent now. “Are you still alive?”

“Barely,” she gasped, dragging herself across the floor. Her vision swam, but she kept her grip on the watch. “Lux… I think I’m out of moves.”

“Not yet,” Lux replied. “Thirty seconds until calibration completes. Hold on.”

“I’m not exactly in a holding-on position,” she muttered.

The Coalition agents regrouped, their boots crunching over broken glass. Kara gritted her teeth, pushing herself upright against the bar. Blood seeped from her leg, but she ignored the pain.

“Ten seconds,” Lux said.

Kara leaned against the bar, staring down the barrel of Scarface’s gun as he approached, slow and deliberate. “You’ve got no way out,” he said, smirking.

“Yeah,” Kara replied, cracking a pained smile. “You’ve got me.”

The watch erupted in a blinding burst of light.

When the brightness faded, she was gone, and the saloon fell into silence, the air still humming faintly with residual energy.

Scarface lowered his weapon, fury twisting his features. “Send the signal. Wherever she lands, we’ll be waiting.”

Centuries away, Lux hovered in the shadows of a silent workshop, scanning the temporal energy readings Kara left behind. He couldn’t follow her into the past—not physically—but could hold the connection.

“I’ll track you, Kara,” Lux murmured, its voice softer now. “And I’ll be here when you return.”

The bot powered down its external lights, settling into the darkened space to wait. A sentinel, unwavering, ready to guide her home when her mission was done.

Micro stories are a content feature offered by $TIME's dev Woj. Handwritten and accompanied by art, they serve to deepen the story world we're creating here. Enjoy!