Man Out of Time

Chapter 2

Taking a left out of his office he headed through the bullpen and out the double doors by reception. Jack waved to Nancy as he walked past and stormed to the office of Cole Boh. Jack rapped on the door twice and pushed his way in. Cole sat at his desk, head in his hands, but he was alone and the rookies were nowhere to be seen. Jack absentmindedly sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk and waited for Cole to acknowledge him. Working with him for a while now Jack had become very accustomed to his idiosyncrasies. There were times when Cole was like this, but he would always come out of his little funk and get back to the business at hand. Staring around his office, Jack gazed at his adornments. Cole's awards were all proudly displayed. The leather and mahogany elements of his office always gave it a more relaxing feel. Cole remained at his desk, head in hands, This must be a bad one, Jack thought. Jack absently stared down at his watch, still twenty minutes till the presentation. After a few more minutes, Jack couldn't wait anymore.

"Hey Cole, I don't mean to interrupt, but we don't have much time and I don't see any of the new blood you wanted to go with me."

Still no change, Cole never budged.

"I really need you to snap out of this so we can get going and get this thing done Cole." Jack snapped at Cole with an authoritative tone.

Still there was no response. Jack leaned in closer, Cole was so still, Jack couldn't tell if he was even breathing. Jack stuck two fingers on his neck, he looked down at his watch to calculate his pulse. Not only could he not find a pulse, his watch hadn't changed either, in fact it had stopped. Jack didn't know what to do now, he grabbed and shook Cole desperately trying to shake him out of his stupor. Shaking his head Jack raced out towards reception. There he found Nancy, frozen and unmoving, just like Cole was. Busting through the double doors to the bullpen he was only met by a solid wall of silence. The frozen workers sat at their desks, some people were walking around, stuck standing in place. Jack carefully made his way around his motionless coworkers, checking the other offices on the outskirts of the bullpen it was all the same way. Making his way back to his office he sat down.

"This can't be real, am I in a dream or something?" he muttered to himself.

He opened his desk drawer and put his hand around the revolver. Pulling it out of the drawer he quickly loaded the gun and slammed the cylinder shut.

"If this is just a dream, I'm sure this will wake me up." Jack smiled as he opened his mouth and inserted the barrel.

A loud sound from outside his office snapped him back, opening his eyes, he waited in silence. There had been no one else moving but me, Jack thought to himself. He quietly stood and creeped towards the door of his office, straining to hear any other noises, any other sounds of movement.
Then he heard a small squeaky voice, "Oh no, oh no, this isn't good. Why has it stopped? This can't be good." The high voice exclaimed.

Jack heard the sound of someone scurrying down the hall, still talking to themself. When the chattering got close, Jack jumped out, the revolver leveled at the intruder. The creature was very odd indeed. It had long ears that stood straight up on top of its head, like a rabbit. With bulging eyes and a small slender body. The creature wore a flowing robe and a gold medallion around his neck.

"What are you?" Jack asked the startled being.

"Well, I'm not even supposed to tell anyone, I mean you're not even supposed to be, animated right now." The creature squeaked at Jack.

"It's actually section 314 of the time enforcement and correction codes; Wherein a time stasis occurs there shall be no communication with the subjects that are in a suspended stasis, or with those who have failed to remain in an animated state, in their own timeline."