A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO TIME TRAVEL
A NaNoWriMo Challenge (Chapter 28)
28 —HELEN
We stepped into the tunnel with a hard wind blowing in behind us. I could feel the wind ripping at the fabric of my shirt, clutching at it, and turned my head to see a heavy cloud of sand and grit chasing us down the length of the tunnel. I looked ahead and saw Ricky pushing his way into the darkness. The cramped tunnel was starting to flatten out, the walls closing in around us. I was ducking my head more often, afraid I was going to catch one of the old water sprinklers hanging from the ceiling. There was sand all around us, swirling with the wind.
When I caught up to Ricky he was on his knees, digging at the old sand which had piled up to the ceiling. As soon as I was able, I was on my knees beside him, Jaleen beside me. I could see light shining through a hole at the top of the pile. I climbed up as high as I could and began kicking at the top of the pile, pushing it out the other way. Soon there was a hole big enough for me to crawl through, and I scurried up the pile, pushing my way through, head first, and sliding down the other side of what looked to be a pile thirty feet high.
How many years has the sand been blowing in here?
Ricky came through a moment later, followed by Jaleen. I could hear the wind howling through the small hole we’d made—a cloud of dust following us like a shadow. We all slid to the bottom of the hill and took a moment to gather ourselves. Ricky stooped down to pick up the pack and his weapons.
“Where to now?” he asked.
“It’s not safe in here,” Jaleen said, looking about.
There was light coming through a grate above us, but it soon paled as the sandstorm slid between the buildings, blocking off the light. I didn’t feel any better about being where we were than Jaleen did, and I said as much.
Ricky just nodded, looking through the pack for the wind-up light he said he knew was in there. It only took a moment, but in that time the tunnel became darker. He wound up the little crank and then turned it on.
The tunnel was about twenty feet wide, tiled, with ledges. I thought it might’ve been an old sewer line—one of the main arteries in a downtown core, somewhere—and we started to follow it, looking for a way out. There had to be storm drains and manhole covers somewhere. Of course, there was the possibility that everything was buried under endless centuries of sand and grit and there was no getting out.
“Why do you say it’s not safe?” I asked Jaleen.
“Why?”
She sounded as if she couldn’t believe I’d ask such a stupid question. Considering everything that’d happened over the past few days, I was thinking maybe she was right. I started looking into the darker corners, thinking someone—or worse, something—was going to jump out of the shadows and attack us.
“Okay, stupid question,” I said, more to myself.
“There are no stupid questions,” Ricky said.
We followed what looked like an endless tunnel. There’d been no signs of life. There were no footprints, or paw prints, to tell us we weren’t alone. There were old cobwebs that caught the light whenever Ricky paused to crank the small handle, but other than that, nothing.
I could feel a breeze though.
“Can you feel that?”
“The air?” Ricky asked.
“So you do?”
“That’s why we’re going this way.”
“Wait. What do you mean?”
“We’ve been following it pretty well since we started walking,” he said.
I looked at Jaleen and she nodded. I hadn’t noticed. I’d simply been following along blindly. I don’t know if it was because I was afraid of what was hiding in the dark, or afraid we were never going to find a way out. And why should I be afraid, I had to ask myself. I was armed. I still had a gun.
There was a sudden, blinding, flash of light ahead of us, and Jimmy was back. All of us had our hands over our eyes, fighting the sharp pain of sudden light in the gloomy darkness. It took some time before we were able to fully open our eyes again.
“Jesus Christ, Jimmy!” Ricky yelled at him through his hands.
“I’m sorry, little brother,” Jimmy laughed. “There’s no warning you though, is there?”
“Where’s Jen?”
“I don’t know, I sort of lost her.”
“You lost her? What do you mean? Where?”
“Well, if I knew that, she wouldn’t be lost then, would she?” he laughed through the darkness.
“Are you here for a reason? Are you gonna help us find our way out?”
“You mean have I figured out how to get you back home?”
“Yeah, something like that,” I said.
“Haven’t they missed us?” Ricky asked.
“Hasn’t who missed you?” Jimmy said.
“The people in our lives? It’s not as if we didn’t have a life back there, is it?”
“Well, actually, it is,” he said.
“What’re you talking about?” Ricky said.
“The past, or maybe I should say, the life you lived in the past, is so far removed from here, from where you are now, it doesn’t even exist.”
“I don’t follow you. I thought you said we were still there, but like gramps was, in a coma?”
“It’s more like time there has come to a stop.”
“A stop?” I asked. “I don’t follow you.”
“It means,” he said, levelling a look at me, “that the timeline you were living in back then, no longer exists here. That time, has come to a stop. It stopped the moment you left it. Everything that was in it, has ceased to be…creative.”
“Creative? That doesn’t make any sense,” Ricky said. “You told me gramps was in a coma because he was actually here, in this time. Now you’re telling me something completely different. So? Which is it? Was he in a coma, or was he time travelling? I mean, if the time line we were living in before—the one where Whit was with us—has changed, and as a result, changed this one, how can you tell me the one we originally came from has ceased to be? That would mean there was no us to begin with. There was no Dad, no Bobby, no Jen, no kids. No Mom,” he said. “It’s almost as if all of that was the dream; yet, we know it wasn’t. We both remember living it,” he said, looking at me.
I looked at Jimmy and nodded. That’s exactly what it was like, I thought.
“What are you not telling us?” I asked.
“What makes you think I’m not telling you something?”
“Well, for one thing, you’re here, aren’t you?”
“So?”
“So? Anytime you’ve shown up before, something bad has happened. Someone always seems to die.” I looked at Jaleen, and she nodded.
“And? What of it?”
“Well, don’t you find it rather strange?” I asked.
“I’m here to save you. Both of you. Nobody else matters as far as the timeline goes—”
“And what about Whit?” Ricky asked.
“What about him? He’s not from the same timeline, is he? I can’t interfere in this timeline and not expect it to have adverse affects.”
“You know, Helen’s right,” Ricky said.
“About what?”
“There is something you’re not telling us. My first thought is that you show up here without Jen, for one thing. That’s a little strange, don’t you think?” Ricky asked me, and I nodded in agreement. “As far as I can remember, she’s the one that was supposed to be guiding you through this time-travelling thing. She says she’s the one they sent back from the future to help us, or keep an eye on things. Maybe it was to keep an eye on you?”
“Did you forget? I got lost in time and learned everything on my own,” Jimmy said. “I can’t tell you what you’re supposed to do, but I can help you.”
“How? You haven’t done anything yet, except take us to a different timeline. Is that why you’re here now?” I asked.
“I came here to help you get out of this place.”
“Why? What’s wrong with this place? Where’s the danger?” I asked.
“What if I said it was right around the next bend?”
“I’d probably say you’re lying,” I said.
“Then maybe I should just help Ricky?” he said.
“Why? Because he’s your brother?”
“Can you think of a better reason? Or another one?”
“You’re not leaving anyone behind,” Ricky said, stepping between us. “We’re all going together. I’m not leaving you behind,” he said to me. “Or you,” he said to Jaleen.
“As much as you might think that, I’m pretty capable of taking care of myself,” Jaleen said. There was an unspoken confidence in the way she was standing in front of us. I had no doubt she could take care of herself, but there was the issue of her pregnancy.
“And what about the baby?” I said.
“What about it?” she asked.
“Do you think you can give birth in the wilds? Alone?”
“People have been doing it since time began—”
“Why would you say that?” Ricky said.
“Say what?”
“You said since time began. But you don’t know about time. So why would you say that?”
“I don’t know. Why do we say half the things we say?”
“I understand about hormones changing a person and shit like that,” Ricky said to me. “But don’t it strike you funny that now she suddenly understands about the concept of time?”
“I don’t follow,” I said.
“What are you trying to say, little brother?” Jimmy said.
Ricky looked at Jimmy and hesitated. Then he shook his head and turned away. He walked into the dark gloom of the tunnel before turning around to look at us again. Then he broke into what was obviously a fake smile.
“Naw, it’s nothing,” he grinned. “Just overthinking things,” he said.
There was a junction up ahead, and I have to admit I could smell the fresh air; and there was light as well, to the left. Ricky held a hand up for us to stop. He took the pack off and notched an arrow in his bow, pressing himself up against the wall before looking around the corner. He didn’t turn back to look at us, and didn’t seem surprised when Jaleen crept up beside him. She pulled out her long knife and I instinctively popped my holster open.
For the first time, I wondered how I still had it.
I’d lost almost everything else I had, except for my shoes, my pants, and my holster.
Damn, I’m not even wearing my own shirt!
I looked at Jimmy, and while he didn’t look to be too frightened about whatever lay around the corner, he wasn’t ignoring the threat—or was that possible threat? I don’t know. He looked at me and tried to smile; he wasn’t successful. I crouched down and crept forward, looking around Ricky’s knees. I couldn’t see anyone—or anything—but there was a shadow.
Ricky looked down at me and I nodded. I melted back against the wall. This would have to be done quietly. The last thing I needed to do was fire a shot down here. Not only would we be deafened by the sound, but we’d be telling whatever was down here that we were coming.
I decided to holster my weapon.
Everything inside me told me not to be a fool, but I didn’t want to risk firing out of instinct. Anything that came into sight would be a possible—or maybe probable—threat. Would I be able to stare a predator in the eyes and not fire? Would I be able to rely on Ricky and his new-found ability with the bow?
“What’re we gonna do?” Jimmy asked in a harsh whisper.
Ricky turned to look at him and Jimmy fell silent. The next moment he was on all fours, crawling toward me, scurrying like a toddler trying to escape his crib.
“I guess we’re gonna let Ricky practice with his bow,” I whispered when he crawled up beside me.
“Do you know what it is?”
I shook my head.
At that moment Ricky stepped forward and drew the arrow back. He let it go and I heard it hit. It was a sickening sound. Ricky looked down at us and then at Jaleen. She nodded up at him and then followed close behind. I crawled ahead to watch, Jimmy crawling beside me. Ricky and Jaleen were pulling the body out of sight, kicking dirt over it so that it blended in with everything else around us.
Jimmy crept up to the wall again. Jaleen moved in beside him and he squirmed out the way. Ricky turned to me and motioned for us to make our way forward. I grabbed the pack and ran at a crouch, my senses tuned into what was happening around me. I could hear the steady pound of heavy machinery in the distance. I thought was my own heart beating until I looked around the corner.
It was definitely a machine. I’d never seen anything as big. I was thinking, after, that maybe it was the turbine from some abandoned hydro-electric dam. At the moment, I was thinking it was the biggest thing I’d seen in my life. It was certainly a mistake to think that these people weren’t intelligent enough to have their own power. Because it seemed obvious to me that it was a power generator of some sort.
There were cables running out of it—big electric cables you’d see buried in a mountain somewhere—and they went up at a low angle, through the side of the building above us. It seemed obvious we were in a city of some sort. It was also obvious that the storm had blown itself out. I wondered if the men standing around the generator were restarting it. Had it shut down on its own, because of the storm, or had it been done purposely, as a precaution?
“Why are we even here?” I asked.
“Believe me,” Jimmy said. “You don’t wanna stay down here.”
“Why? What are you so afraid of?”
“Take a look at him,” he said, pointing at the dead man.
“Why? What’s wrong with him?”
“You tell me,” he said, staring at me.
I looked at the body, and then scurried around Jimmy, running in a low crouch to take a look at the man for myself. He was facing the wall, and I rolled him over, falling back in shock. His face was only partially there. He had a jaw, but his nose was missing. It wasn’t a wound, or an injury, but the way he was. There was no cartilage where his nose was, so it was flat. His forehead was small, and knotted. I guess at a distance, you’d think it was a furrowed brow, like they used to call them in those old romance books I used to read when I was a lonely teenager.
But his eyes were sunk deep, and his forehead swept back. It almost looked like his forehead had been sculpted and shaped. I didn’t want to look at him anymore than I had to, so I rolled him back over and threw more dirt on him; to dust him up a bit.
I made my way back to Jimmy.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“A hundred years ago, they tried cloning. It didn’t work. They were trying to make a labour force for themselves. They ended up making those abominations, instead.”
“Human cloning? Why would they think they could do that?” I said.
“Who was there to tell them it was a bad idea?”
“So what’re we supposed to do now?” Ricky asked.
“We have to get past them, shut the generator down, and make our way out of the city before they know we’re here,” Jimmy said.
“And what’s the point in all of that?” I asked.
“The point? The point is not getting killed.”
“You just said they tried cloning and it didn’t work. These things are the result. So, who made them?”
“You think they’re still alive?” Jimmy half-laughed.
“Why wouldn’t they be?”
“What’s the one thing that always happens when you have slaves? What do they want more than anything?”
“Freedom,” Jaleen said.
“Exactly!”
“Impossible,” I said, looking at Ricky. “He’s trying to tell us that they made enough of these things that they grew up and reached maturity in the span of a generation. A generation is what? Twenty-five years?”
“What’re you saying?”
“A hundred years? Do the math.”
Ricky thought for a moment and then nodded his head.
“What’re you thinking of doing instead?”
“Find someone who isn’t all fucked-up, and maybe get some help.”
“What kinda help?”
And that was the question, wasn’t it? If there was some sort of civilization here, wouldn’t it be in our best interest to look for shelter? We could rest up, maybe resupply? Regenerate. Maybe we could get a lay-out of the land around us? Who could say that they wouldn’t reach out a helping hand? If they could make clones, they obviously had technology.
“So we by-pass the generator?” Ricky said.
I nodded.
