A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO TIME TRAVEL
A NaNoWriMo Challenge (Chap. 24)
The next day dawned bright and golden. The shadows on the mountains looked like they’d somehow been folded into the cracks, peaks, and crevasses—crenelated comes to mind for some reason—but just as quickly faded as the sun rose. I used to watch sunrises—a lot of sunrises—when Roger was in hospice. I’d sit in one of the chairs they had outside—one of those big, swooped back, Adirondack chairs—drinking coffee and smoking my cigarettes, which I suppose is quite ironic considering Roger was inside dying of cancer. It was the best part of my morning, though. It was the reason I used to work nights: just so I could sit with him in the morning. He’d sit in a wheelchair and watch the sunrise with me. When he got too sick to sit in the wheelchair, I sat at his bedside staring out the window.
And now look at me, I thought, here I am lost somewhere in the future, watching the sun come up over the mountains; all I need now is coffee and a cigarette.
I was grateful Ricky had given me his shirt last night, but then, he slept pressed up against me to keep the chill away from himself. I could feel his arm wrapping around me in the middle of the night. One hand slid inside the open shirt and his hand cupped my tit; it felt like nostalgia, and I didn’t want him to let me go because that’s how Roger fell asleep with me when we first got married. Before the cancer. It felt strange waking up in the morning and asking him if he wanted his shirt back. I used to wear one of Roger’s old shirts to sleep in.
I was still trying to grasp what Ricky had told me last night. He was assuming the Jarel we met here, was dead; it was based on the fact that he’d died while Ricky was in Whit’s mind. That was a different past, though—a different timeline, as he liked to say. That was the part I was having trouble with; that’s where all the confusion started. I asked him how he knew this was a different timeline, and he said he’d figured it out when I asked if Jaleen was pregnant.
“It was a lightbulb moment for me.”
He’d also said he was convinced the Whit on the other side must’ve died trying to get to this side. I wondered how that might’ve happened. That’s when I remembered seeing a bright flash of light out of the corner of my eye. I hadn’t really thought about it too much. The one thing I’d noticed being inside the portal was that the sparks and flashing lights that were noticeable on the outside, weren’t there on the inside.
So what was that flash?
Did it have to do with the bracelet he was wearing? Is that why he died? The bracelet wasn’t set for his DNA, and it rejected him like a body refusing a transplant. But then, I remembered that I’d worn the other bracelet going through, and it hadn’t killed me.
If the Whit we knew on this side died because the Whit we left behind died on the other side died, was there a similarity with his death? Is it possible he’d been bitten by a snake just as he was about to enter the portal? It seemed unlikely, but stranger things have been known to happen.
Like that flash.
The last person through would’ve been Jimmy. I promised myself to ask him if he saw anything unusual. Because as far as I was concerned, everything was unusual. It was quite obvious that Ricky was having flashbacks. Was that how he knew what was going to happen? I didn’t want to ask him in case he asked the same thing. I looked around and saw that Jaleen was at the stream washing pots and pans. I dropped my voice and told him I wasn’t sharing what happened to Jaleen, and I meant it. It was difficult enough for me to accept that the poor woman was being brutally raped and beaten regularly—almost nightly. And now knowing that she remembered what happened? It was just too much.
I looked at the sun as it crested the horizon, and stood up, making my way to the raft. We decided last night that we’d continue on down the river. There was nothing for us to go back to, and no reason to follow the Slavers. Ricky said we’d stay with Jaleen until the child was born. He didn’t like the idea of abandoning her to face it alone. All I could think of was that we needed her more than she needed us.
I helped Ricky drag the raft back into the river. Jaleen loaded it with our limited supplies and we set off down the stream with a makeshift rudder Ricky had fashioned out of a small sapling and weaving some branches together. He’d spent most of the morning working on it with a silent diligence that I was unprepared for. I didn’t know he even knew how make something like that, but I was grateful all the same. Jaleen sat in the front of the raft, away from us, warning him about hidden rocks and other debris that might cause a problem.
Jaleen said the rapids downriver were not as bad as those we’d already come through, and that Whit had felt confident we’d make it through with no trouble. Ricky said he was happy hearing that, and then added that it wasn’t as if we had a lot of choice in the matter. The river was wider and the slope of the land proved to be a more gentle grade. The rapids were shallow, with more of a washboard ride than what yesterday. There were moments where the current picked up, with white eddies and plumes of spray washing over us, but like I said, nothing like we’d encountered yesterday.
Ricky lifted the rudder out of the water—I guess he knew he wouldn’t be able to steer—and reversed the rudder under his arm, using the pole to try and keep us away from the larger rocks and more in the middle of the river. Jaleen said that Whit had climbed a tree to look out over the valley we were entering and said it was wide open land that looked encouraging as far as game went. It sounded promising, but then, we didn’t have Whit anymore either, did we?
I looked at Ricky standing on the small platform, trying to push off against the larger rocks and tangled up trees. He’d tied a length of rope around his waist and secured it to the raft. It made sense, considering. Jaleen told him to stay away from the trees; there were things in there, she said. And the marshes, she added.
“Just stay in the middle as much as you can.”
“What’s in the marshes?” I asked.
“It’s all fucked up here now,” Ricky said. “The whole world’s a different place. There were these volcanoes all around the world that sort of went off at the same time—well, not all at the same time, but close. There was one in Yellowstone. Did you know Yellowstone was a volcano?”
“A super volcano,” I said with a nod.
“I didn’t know it.”
“What do you think Old Faithful is?”
“I guess I never really thought about it; I thought it was just a geyser.”
“Really? It never once crossed your mind that it was steam being let off?”
“Nope.”
“You don’t read much, do you?”
“Sure I do. Fantasy mostly. I liked Tarzan when I was younger.”
“Tarzan? That’s your literary recommendation?”
“I read Dune. Oh, and MASH.”
“The movie?”
“No. The book. I read the book. It was better than the movie.”
“They usually are.”
“Not The Godfather. One and two,” he smiled. “That’s definitely a movie that was better than the book.”
“So, anyway, back to this volcano thing,” I said.
“Yeah, well, Jen told me that all these volcanoes went up pretty well at the same time. There were huge tidal waves as a result, and then, because of the volcanoes, there were earthquakes. Some of the biggest faults just collapsed and everything changed in the blink of an eye. Those mountains are probably the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada all pushed up together. The entire West coast is gone. All of it. And then, there was a mini Ice Age. I don’t know how long it lasted. But things got real fucked up then.”
“What about Europe?”
“Don’t know,” he said. “But all the animals all over the world? All those animals in zoos and game farms? They don’t have us as their natural enemy any more. To them, we’re game. A lot of them came over this way when the temperatures dropped. Most of them are probably gone, but some of them adapted. And they bred.”
“So what’s in the water?”
“Hippoes. Crocs—big crocs. I remember seeing them.”
“What do you mean?”
“Haven’t you?” he asked.
“What?”
“Don’t try to tell me you don’t remember anything about being in her head?” he said, looking at Jaleen watching the water and pointing out the larger rocks. We’d bounce off of them, and Ricky would try to keep us straight. There were a few times I was sure he was going to break the steering oar.
“I told you I wan’t going to talk about what happened,” I replied.
“I know,” he said, stepping to the side and pushing off on the rocks. He looked like he knew what he was doing. He looked capable.
“You do this sort of thing often?” I asked.
“It’s funny. I can remember him doing things from when I was in his head. I shot that rabbit yesterday, with one shot. I don’t know how to use a bow. But when I picked it up, I just pulled and shot. And everything smells so fresh, even now. I knew where it was hiding. I’m telling you, I could smell it. It felt like I was Whit.”
I looked at Jaleen sitting in front of the raft, one hand rubbling her belly. She turned her head and backed at us—almost as if she knew we were talking about her. There was no doubt in my mind that she looked curious. I knew she was as lost as I was when it came to figuring out what was going on.
“It’s not like he’s a part of me,” he went on “—not like the way it was when we were insides their heads. It’s more like a muscle reflex—or muscle memory, maybe—whatever you want to call it. I’m thinking, or maybe hoping, that a part of me absorbed a part of him. If it’s gonna help us survive in this place, I’m not gonna complain about it.”
“I’m happy for you, really, I am, but do you think I want to remember what she went through?” I said at last. “Do you think she does?”
“I didn’t mean it to sound like that. I meant, they all went through something. Her brother died; she was taken as a slave; she probably thought Whit was dead, too. Still, you must’ve seen things?”
“You mean like those times you said you came out of Whit’s mind?” I asked.
“Yeah. It was usually when he was asleep. It was the only time I had to try and figure out what was going on. If I didn’t have Jen there, I think I would’ve went nuts. I mean, I—”
He looked at me and nodded.
“Okay,” he said. “I get it now. You didn’t have anyone to talk to and explain things to you.”
“No. I didn’t.”
“I want you to know that we’re not stuck here,” he said, and I wanted to believe him. I hated the idea of thinking this is what life had in store for me.
“No, I’m serious. That baby she’s carrying? He’s the one who invents Time Travel.”
“The baby?” I said. Why didn’t he mention that sooner?
“When we first came here, Jimmy didn’t know how to use his bracelet, and he got lost in time. He ended up thousands of year in the future. He became some sort of a Time Master. A Traveller. He says he figured out how we can all get back at the same time, and to the same time. He said he knows how to get us back home.”
“I don’t want to disappoint you,” I said. “But your brother Jimmy? He doesn’t really instil a lot of confidence in me. And here you go saying he just got lost in Time. But it’s more than that. I get the feeling there’s something he’s not telling us.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Let’s just say it’s a feeling I get. I was a cop, remember? I always go with my gut whenever I pull someone over. It’s saved me a couple of times.”
“And do you feel the same way about Jen?”
“She was your sister-in-law?”
“No, the other one. She was in my sister-in-law’s head, much the same as we were in theirs,” he said, nodding at Jaleen. “Only she could take over. She—Jen—the real Jen—told me my ex wanted to talk to her. I don’t know if secret agent Jen knew about Mandy calling, because the real Jen—the Jen I knew—refused to meet with her. So my ex came over because she was taken over by someone in the future much the same way Jen was.”
“So, both your sister-in-law and your ex…wife, is it?”
He nodded.
“Both of them are agents of Time?”
“That’s a good name. I like that. I’m gonna use that.”
“What do you mean, you’re gonna use it? For what?”
“When we get back. I’m not gonna do what my dad did,” he said with a laugh. “I’m gonna write all of this down and sell it as a book.”
“You’re going to write a book?”
It didn’t take us long to negotiate the small rapids. After, we found ourselves locked in a gentle current taking us downstream. There were twisted willow trees lining the riverbanks on both sides, and I could see wide open fields beyond—which was obviously what Whit had seen from the tree he’d climbed. The heavy clouds of the days before were gone, instead, there was a bright blue sky and tall, cumulus clouds selfishly guarding the horizon.
“What’s that?” I said, looking toward an ever-darkening horizon.
Ricky looked, and then stepping off the platform and picked up the binoculars that were in the pack. He looked, and cursing softly, handing the binoculars to me. He pushed on the rudder and the raft caught the current, moving us to the left bank.
“Sandstorm,” he said. “We gotta get off the water and find some shelter somewhere. We’ll tie the boat up and hope it’s still here when we get back.”
“And you expect to find some place for us to hide?”
“You’d better hope we do, because getting caught in something like that will kill us,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what fucking timeline this is. Dead is dead.”
Jaleen was quick to jump out of the raft, pulling on a lead and trying to get it out of the water. It only took a moment with all three of us pulling. Ricky used a long piece of rope and began lashing the raft in between three trees. I walked to the edge of the willows and looked out over the open plain. I saw something glittering in the distance and turned the binoculars in that direction.
I looked at Jaleen.
“Do you know how to use these?”
“Of course.”
“Can you tell me what that is?” I pointed off to the left.
“It looks like it might be buildings,” she said a moment later.
“That’s what I thought. What d’ya think?”
She dropped the binoculars and shook her head.
“Nothing good in there, I can tell you.”
“If we stay out here, we’ll die,” I said. “I don’t see that we have much of a choice.”
Ricky approached, the pack on his back, the longbow in his hand, an arrow notched and ready. He looked muscular with the pack on his shoulders, and I tried to hide my surprise.
“There might be cover over that way,” I said, pointing. I gave him the binoculars.
“Looks like something. Doesn’t matter, does it? We can’t afford to get caught out here. How far do you suppose it is?”
“We might just make it,” I said, and Jaleen agreed, looking over her shoulder at the darkening horizon.
We set off for what we thought might be the left over remnants of a city. It could have been a factory for all I knew. The trees had grown unchecked for hundreds of years, and while they obscured the view, they also grew down to where we were heading. We followed what looked to be a game trail, and while Jaleen told us to keep an eye out for predators that might be hiding in the trees, I thought, Nature being Nature, they were probably hiding out in the old buildings.
I followed Ricky, and Jaleen came up behind me as we approached a large drainage tunnel. There was a small pool of water in front of it, rippling in the wind coming up from behind. I could feel the shirt I was wearing starting to flutter, and tied it tighter.