Page 14 of Reversal of Fate

10 – Animal House Rescue

Carter charged into the fraternity house on Gayley Avenue. It was loud, packed, and smelled of alcohol and marijuana. He knew the smell of marijuana well. It reminded him of visits to the doctor’s office. In 2085, marijuana wasn’t used as a recreational drug anymore. It was too valuable for that. Instead, more than three dozen different medications had been formulated from the versatile plant, and many more were in the research and development stage. He couldn’t understand why marijuana was still considered an illegal drug in many countries, including half the states in the US. To him it was equivalent to an aspirin being considered illegal.

Nobody in the house cast him a second look. Just as well. He made his way through the foyer into the crowded living room, frantically searching for Julie. What he would say to her, he had no idea. All that mattered was to get her away from this place. He didn’t care if she thought he was an idiot or some drunk jerk.

He wished he could have used his holocom to help him scan the room. It would have been faster, but he couldn’t allow anybody to see his little toy from the future. Fuck! He was perspiring now, not from the run, but from the fact that he was afraid for Julie’s safety.

She wasn’t in the living room. He pushed through the crowd and entered another room. He saw the bar that the students had set up. There, he spotted Todd Stirling. He recognized him from the picture in the police report. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and handsome. Figured.

He was scooping a reddish liquid into a cup, then put the ladle back in the large bowl, and reached into his front pants pocket, halfway pulling out a little plastic bag. From it, he fished a small white pill and dropped it into the drink. A moment later he turned. In doing so, he revealed Julie, who was standing a few feet behind him, a drink in her hand.

Carter pushed through the people crowding around the bar, not caring whom he pissed off. Todd had already reached Julie and handed her the drink with the roofie, while he took the other drink from her.

Todd lifted his cup and touched it to Julie’s.

Another second, and Carter reached them. He snatched Julie’s drink from her hand and tossed the liquid into Todd’s face before either of them could react.

Julie gasped in shock, while Todd jumped back a step, arms wide, trying to avoid being doused. In the process, he seemed to have forgotten the beer in his hand, and spilled it over a girl a few feet to his right.

“Fucking asshole!” Todd yelled at Carter. “You’re messing with the wrong guy.”

“Bastard!” the girl Todd had spilled his beer on cursed.

“Tell him that!” Todd growled back, pointing at Carter. “That asshole started it! What the fuck’s your problem, man?” He drove his finger into Carter’s chest.

But Carter didn’t back away, instead, he went toe-to-toe with the jerk. “My problem is that you put a roofie in that drink.” He motioned to Julie. “You tried to drug her.”

There was a flicker of dread in Todd’s eyes, but it was gone just as quickly as it had appeared.

Julie’s chin dropped. She gaped at Carter and then at Todd, shock registering on her face.

“That’s a fucking lie!” Todd claimed, his voice loud so everybody in the room could hear him. “I did nothing of the sort. You’re just some troublemaker crashing a party. My brothers and I are gonna kick your ass out of this house!”

Meanwhile, it had gotten rather quiet in the room, and everybody was staring at them. Only the people in the living room were unaware of the incident, and the music kept blaring in that part of the house.

Carter looked at Julie. “He put a roofie in your drink. I can prove it. He’s got a small plastic bag with more pills in the left front pocket of his jeans.”

“I don’t! That’s another fucking lie! Get the fuck out of here! You don’t belong here. Nobody invited you!”

While that was technically true, Carter wasn’t budging. “If I’m such a liar, then why don’t you empty out your pockets and show everybody what you’re hiding?”

By now, everybody in the bar area had stopped talking and was watching the altercation.

“This is my place. You can’t tell me what to do here. I’m not emptying my pockets.”

Julie took a step closer. “You won’t have to empty your pockets.”

“See!” Todd said, pointing at Julie. “Julie believes me.”

But Julie shook her head. “I didn’t say that. I just said that you won’t have to empty your pockets.” She reached for Todd’s breast pocket. “Because you’re wearing the evidence.”

Carter followed her hand as she picked a partially dissolved white pill from the corner of Todd’s breast pocket, where it had gotten caught when Carter had tossed the drink at him.

Julie’s lips quivered, but she didn’t scream, nor did she cry. Outraged gasps came from the crowd around them.

“You’re the most despicable human being I’ve ever met,” Julie said, then shoved what was left of the pill into Todd’s mouth with her left hand, and followed it up with her right fist.

Todd’s head snapped back. He hadn’t seen this coming. Neither had Carter. Julie had guts. He liked that in a girl.