Zach squirmed on the ground, but with Cole pinning him down, he had little leverage.
"Just wait," Cole said, looking over his shoulder at the clock. After a few moments, Zach stopped fighting and turned his attention to the bright red 0's on the wall. A few seconds later, the lights flickered and the clock reset back to 5 hours.
"What?" Zach muttered.
Cole let up on his friend and stood, brushing dirt off his clothes.
Zach scrambled to his feet. "That's-that's not possible," he said, walking up to the window and staring into the flame. He looked back at Cole. "The timer resets with new fuel."
Cole slowly shook his head. "It's just a timer."
Zach fell to his knees in front of the window and stared.
Cole could imagine what he was feeling, because he had felt it not that long ago. Anger. Betrayal. Fear. Suspicion. His memories of those feelings came flooding back and he walked up behind Zach and put his hand on his shoulder. "I know." It's all he could think to say, as Zach kept gazed into the machine and wept.
Zach was like that for 5 minutes according to the timer overhead, and in one motion, he stood, wiped the tears from his face, sniffed, and cleared his throat. "You know I hate you for this, right?"
"It's for the best."
"Without a purpose in life, what the hell are we supposed to do?"
"That's just it, Zach. We have to help everyone else escape this madness. This trap of lies, this deceit. We're the only ones who can stop this suffering, don't you see that?"
Zach's gaze wandered to the ceiling and his head nodded along as Cole spoke.
"If we don't do anything, they're going to keep up... whatever this is, forever, and everyone in town will be trapped. Their lives will be wasted. Everything will be wasted. We have a chance to make a real difference now."
Zach continued nodding, and his attention went back to the moment. "I agree, it just-"
"Sucks," Cole interrupted. "I know, I know. But we have to figure something out, and I know we can do it."
"What about that buddy of yours in jail?"
"Root?" Cole asked. "Yeah, he's the other one, but I have no idea how to get him out of jail."
Zach shrugged and smiled. "We can figure something out, right?"
"I guess we'll have to." As Cole thought about the possibilities, they became very limited. The elders didn't want to talk to him and probably had enough to deal with given the lockdown. The other shovelers wouldn't be convinced unless they saw it with their own eyes, and Cole wasn't sure they had enough time for that. The only real way to get answers and proof would be to go directly to the top room and talk to the men and women up there, and they needed Root.
"We have to get to the top room," Cole said.
"Excuse me? We're not even allowed anywhere near the top room."
"I realize that, but maybe Root can help us figure it out. He's been there, so he has to know something, right."
"I hope so," Zach said.
"I don't really think we have a choice."
Zach sighed. "I'm with you on this one, man. I just hope you know what you're doing.
Cole had no idea what he was doing, but was glad to have someone doing it with him. "Let's get out of here."
They both headed for the door, but were stopped by the sound of groans coming from the enforcer in the corner.