25min Timer Novels & Stories

She laughed, petting a box of explosives like it was a puppy. "I see you like this gift very much, but I need to see those keys, Isabelle. Or this is all going to blow up.” "Stop the timer, Talia!" I roared, but she clicked a button on her small remote, and instantly, the timer lost one minute. Instead of four minutes and twenty-seven seconds, the timer showed three minutes and twenty-six seconds. I roared and lunged at her without another thought. I needed to get that remote from her soon.

He had set the timer for 2 minutes. "Once I click this button, the timer will start, and then you can begin your task. When it's halfway through the minute, I'll go look for you wherever you're running. Just a reminder, I better not catch you. If I do, the game is over." I nodded, my eyes fixed on the clock as it ticked down to 2 minutes. Two minutes could change everything. But would he give me the go-ahead to begin? I was about to ask that, but then the timer beeped.

“Daisy, I’m sitting on a bomb! They said it would blow up this section of the complex and kill everybody in it.” “What? No way!” I hurried to untie the knotted rope and pulled Cassidy to her feet. The metal box she had been seated on had three lights. A clear one was on. A green one was flashing slowly. And a red one wasn’t lit. Beneath the lights was a small screen with numbers. It read seven twenty-two when I first saw it. But the number was growing smaller as I examined the box. “That’s a timer!” I exclaimed and backed away. The timer made it real in my mind. “It’s counting down. We must warn them.”

He had asked me to bring them, after all. Keeping track of what time it was served to be challenging. There was the time back home to think about, the time where we currently were, and when the portal would open. Rather than trying to sort that all out and keep track of it, I set a timer on my phone to go off two minutes before the portal was supposed to open and then every six hours through the next day, just in case we messed this up. I was praying we wouldn’t.

I brought it inside quickly and shut the door. Locked it. Twice. Back at my desk, I opened the second box, more cautiously this time. Inside was a small, cheap kitchen timer. Red plastic. The kind you twist to set for baking. It was already ticking. I held my breath and leaned in. Twenty minutes left. No wires. No metal parts. No explosives that I could see. But the message was loud and clear. Time was running out. A slip of paper beneath the timer read: "You know why. Fix it. Or it ends."

They must be waiting for me somewhere. As the train jerks, slowly crawling out of the station, I settle into my seat. I’ve theorised that it must take a few days for the train to make the full trip. Maybe a week even. Just as those thoughts consumed my mind, a small screen planted into the back of the seat in front of me flashes. First Destination : Territory Of Fate Time of Travel : 26 hours. Sighing deeply, I settle into my seat. With no belongings aside from the clothes on my back, I peel off my jacket and use it as a pillow. A few seats in front of me, I hear someone’s muffled cries.

“Good morning, baby! Sure. By the way, would you like to make some pancakes?” “Sure.” “Do you still have butter and maple syrup? Or would you like to have the strawberry syrup instead?” “No, I don’t have any left.” “Okay. I’ll just put some into it. What time should we be out and about? “You’ll be coming over, yeah?” “Ahuh.” “You should be moving then.” “I still haven’t finished my food.” “Five minutes. Ravage it. Timer. Starts. Now.” I said as I sent her a screenshot of a 5-minute timer.

I thought, just to be sure, counting again. Wednesday, 21:05: Beep. 1.2..3..120. Thursday, 21:05: Beep. 1.2..3..120. Friday, 21:05: Beep. 1.2..3..120. Friday, 23:30: “Beep, hello 001. It's 23:50, the counting system will close in ten minutes, please complete the count from 1 to 120 if you want to continue”

“We need to move faster.” “We have like nine minutes.” “We don’t,” he says. “We have less than two minutes. I set the timer too soon. If we are still on this pass when that bomb goes off, we’re toast.”

“Thank you.” A loud blast sounds again and the front door almost gives out. I walk over to the panel and follow Ximena’s instructions, setting the timer on two seconds. That should be enough for me to exit and nobody to enter. I take a deep breath, readying all my power and press enter.