1 minute and 29 seconds, and counting.

Time slowed immediately for Stanley, as he needed more time to think at the moment.

His first question was why this was happening. Why was the timer on the bomb suddenly showing such a short timer? The bomb was supposed to go off at 1 AM, so had something changed?

Something had.

’Garren has been through here,’ Stanley realized. He had come down here and he had hurt Fred. And during that time, he had done something with the bomb to make it blow up faster.

He had left the place too after that.

Stanley remembered the long wire that was being dragged out through the front gate. The young man dragging it was bringing it far away.

’He can travel through the wires,’ Stanley thought. Garren could travel through anything that conducts electricity. Any wire, any metal. That was how he had moved through his sword during his final slash up there.

’What do I do now?’ Stanley thought.

He moved through the bomb slowly and looked around it. He could move it, but how far could he carry it? He could only continue slowing down time so much.

And Garren had said something about not moving the bomb. It would explode.

There were no visible buttons to the bomb, and even if there were he wouldn’t touch it. He could maybe use his future sight here, but what if it didn’t work? Was he going to waste the last 90 seconds he had trying something so futile?

’If I die...’ a thought came to his mind. ’No! I’m not going to die.’

He threw away those thoughts and time flowed back to normal. Taking in deep breaths, he went over to Fred and picked him up. Fred’s right hand dangled stiffly, while his left hand caught onto Stanley’s back, gripping a torn part of his clothes.

Fred tried to stand on his own legs but stumbled. Stanley quickly grabbed him. Fred still pulled himself, his whole body trembling.

"He... he ran away," he said.

"I know," Stanley said quickly. "I’ll get you out of here. We can go after him—"

"Lis-listen!" Fred grunted.

Stanley saw blood seeping out of his mouth, his eyes bloodshot. He was gritting his teeth to be able to speak.

"He ran away..." Fred said. "But I saw him. I saw him run away."

Stanley didn’t understand.

"I saw him before he disappeared," Fred spoke.

Stanley looked back toward the bomb. The timer had dropped to 1 minute and 12 seconds. He didn’t have the time for this. They needed to leave.

"I saw him," Fred repeated and Stanley thought he understood something.

His eyes narrowed and he looked at Fred. "Did... did you mark him as your target?" he asked Fred.

Fred smiled through his gritted teeth. "Good..." he said. "You understand."

Stanley nodded. "I do. What do you need? A gun?" he asked. He quickly looked around. This wasn’t the time for that, but Stanley found himself unable to leave Fred just yet.

He saw a gun in the distance.

"No... gun," Fred said slowly, clutching onto his clothes tighter, gripping his back. "YOU!"

Stanley paused for a second. He couldn’t afford a second.

"I have... targeted... him," Fred said. "Run."

Stanley understood what was happening.

"Run..."

"No! I need to save you. We don’t have the time to go after him," Stanley said. He looked back to the bomb. Only 60 seconds remained now.

"Listen!" Fred shouted in a hoarse voice. "Run... and don’t stop. Kill him."

Stanley wanted to say something, but there was no time now. Tears filled his eyes as he understood what was going to happen now. He slowly nodded.

"Avenge..." Fred failed to speak the whole thing, his body flailing a little. Stanley grabbed him properly this time and laid him on the ground.

"Kill him," he said hoarsely. His left hand lifted up behind Stanley. "Run... and never stop."

Stanley saw the future and took a deep breath. His back hurt, his legs hurt, and now his lungs hurt. He grimaced, but he didn’t stop. He took as much breath as he could and got ready to run.

First, it was Freddy who saved him in the caves, and now it was Fred. Two people with similar names; made him feel all the worse. As if he was leaving the same person to die once again.

He choked down his feelings and emotions. There was no time for it.

55 seconds remaining.

"Go!"

The moment Fred’s slap landed on his back, time slowed to a crawl, and Stanley ran.

Stanley distinctly felt each one of his steps as he ran. One foot in front of the other, he ran outside of the plaza. Even as he did, he could feel something tugging on him from one side, pulling him toward it.

Like a magnet pulling on a metal from a distance, Stanley was pulled to something far to his left.

Stanley let go of himself into that pull and changed trajectory to move in the direction he was pulled toward.

His body hurt all over. The adrenaline kept him moving, but how far would it keep him going? The numbness he felt was slowly slipping away and pain returned with fury.

Stanley felt like his body was burning all throughout. Tears filled his eyes involuntarily, filling his vision.

He struck something in front of him, tripping on it. He flailed his arms a little, his mouth open as breath left him. He managed to catch himself from falling all the way down and continued his run.

His chest hurt now with the lack of breath, but he tried to take in what was in front of him. He sucked in the air, gulping it down if he had to, and continued to run.

He ignored the pain. He ignored the burns. He ignored time.

All he did was feel the tug of something invisible on his body and he ran.

He ran even when his lungs asked for air, even when his legs had him to stop. He ran even as he passed people who remained around him, who he was sure would die now that he had left them.

He ran and ran and ran, and then after what felt like an hour, he found the blue-haired young man and on the street.

And he knew his job was done.