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But Lydia couldn’t say that because she was standing off to the side of the gravel road, and a man was holding a gun to her head. He stood mostly behind her, and even with the headlights aimed at them, Eliza couldn’t see much of him. It was just enough for her to recognize him, though.

“What do you want?” she asked as she got out of the car andheld her hands up, indicating that she had nothing in them. “You can put the gun down, and we can talk about this.”

“I know you know,” he said. “Where is it?”

“Put the gun down first. That’s my wife. If you want something from me, you know I’m not giving anything to you while you have a gun to her head,” Eliza replied.

“Babe, just go. I’ll be–”

“Shut up,” he said forcefully to Lydia, but he didn’t yell, which Eliza thought was interesting.

“How did you find us?” Eliza asked.

“I’ve been behind you this whole time. It just took me a little time to find the motel you’re staying in. You paid with cash, but it wasn’t that hard. I was staking it out, but when you didn’t come back tonight, I figured you might have left. Then, I felt something and saw lights. I drove here and found her.” The guy nodded to Lydia. “You’re not as smart as you thought you were.”

“We’re not trying to be smart. We’re trying to end this. Whatever this is, we want out of it. We want it done,” Eliza argued.

“Then, give me the device,” he stated.

“We don’t have it anymore,” Lydia replied, likely thinking that Eliza had left it in the woods.

“But you did? At least, you admit it. Did you bury it out there somewhere? I’ll find it in an hour.”

“Why do you want it so badly?”

“Why did you use it?” he asked.

“We–” Eliza stopped herself and asked, “Do you know what it does? Did they tell you anything?”

“What? Didwhotell me anything?”

“Whoever you work for,” she said. “Did they tell you what it does?”

“It brings people back to life. Who did you just bring back out there?”

“What?” Eliza shook her head. “It doesn’t do that.”

“Yes, it does. Trust me; I’d know.”

“What are you talking about?” Lydia asked.

The man released his grip on her, and Eliza gasped as he pushed Lydia toward her. She wrapped her arms around her wife but kept her eyes on the man who still held a gun now aimed at both of them.

“Did he hurt you?” Eliza asked.

“No, I’m okay,” Lydia said softly.

“Tell me what you know. We’ll start there,” he said.

“This isn’t the original device. That one was destroyed.”

“I know that. They made a new one.”

“It doesn’t bring people back to life, though. I pressed it accidentally and it showed me a moment from my past. It did the same to Lydia. That’s all it did.”

“Showed you a moment? What do you mean?”

“It just showed us a moment in time,” Lydia added, letting go of Eliza but only to take her hand and hold on to it tightly. “That’s it.”