Prisoner in Time (Time travel) (11 page)

David’s humor passed without comment. Growing impatient, he blurted, “Come on Bud, you need to talk to me.”

As Geoff nodded reluctantly, David slowly released his grip.

The two rolled off each other and came to a standing position. For a moment, they stared uncomfortably into each other’s eyes.

“Ok, you wanted to talk, so start talking,” he said, purposefully rude.

“Losing your brother will probably be one of the saddest moments in your life and I deeply sympathize with you, but your plan to save him by changing the future is a dangerous one. Every person you meet, every event you change, has repercussions. You meddling with the past could not only eliminate your brother’s existence, it could completely wipe out you and your entire family too.

“But you did it and everything turned out fine,” Geoff rebutted.

“Geoff, you read those articles. You know I changed the future in a very big way. Some agree it was for the betterment of mankind, others strongly disagree. The fact is, no one knows for sure. Sure my presence ended the Civil War two years early and probably saved tens of thousands of lives, but how many families did I change or completely wipe out in the process? No one knows and that’s the scary part about what you’re doing right now. The next person you meet could eliminate your existence before you’ve even started,”

“I don’t care,” he spat defiantly.

“You don’t care? How can you say that?”

“All I know is I want my brother back. If I die trying, then he’s no worse off.”

“Your parents will be worse off,” David shot back.

“That’s a risk I’ll just have to take,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Geoff, this is crazy. You don’t even know what events will bring your brother back. You could change a thousand things and still not save your brother,”

“Not true! I know the exact event that’ll bring him back,” he said confidently.

“And what event is that, I’m afraid to ask? Kill Abraham Lincoln?”

“The battle of Nashville,” he said, simply.

“What about it?”

“That stupid redneck that killed my brother, Arles Moore, bragged all the time how his great great grandfather became a war hero in that battle. All I have to do is find him and my brother will be saved.”

“So let me guess. Your plan is to kill his great great grandfather and wipe out the redneck’s existence, thereby saving your brother?”

“Something along those lines,” he said cryptically.

“Geoff, you’re talking about murder here,” David retorted.

“Hey, he died in that battle anyway. What difference does it make if he dies
in
that battle or just before it?”

“You’re just rationalizing now. It’s still murder.”

“You say,” he countered.

“You’re right… I do say… and I’m sure your parents would say so too.”

Geoff thought about David’s words. He knew he was right, but couldn’t overcome the emotion of his brother’s death.

“I don’t care. All I know is I want is my brother back.”

“Geoff, this is craziness. You don’t even know what the redneck’s great great grandfather even looks like.

“I don’t need to.”

“Why is that?” David asked.

“Because he died carrying the Confederate flag. All I have to do is look for a guy carrying it and I’ve found my man,” he replied.

“Geoff, there were probably dozens of flag bearers in that battle. How the heck do you think you’re going to find him in the middle of all that chaos?”

“That’s the easy part. I’ve heard Arles say a zillion times his great great grandfather died on Compton’s Hill. I even know the exact date: December sixteenth, eighteen sixty-four. So, all I have to do is hide out on that hill and wait for him to pick up that flag. The plan’s so simple, even a child could pull it off,” he said, assuredly.

“Yeah simple, except you’re forgetting a couple “small” details,” David mocked.

“Such as?”

“War… you’re talking about hiding in the middle of a battle. I don’t think you realize it, but this was the bloodiest war of our nation’s history? You’re plan is completely irrational. You’ll probably be killed long before you even get close to him,” he said, bluntly.

He thought about David’s words for a moment, the reality of them driving fear through him. He stiffened his resolve and replied, “I don’t care. I’m saving my brother.”

“And to top it all off, we don’t even know what year it is right now. What if it’s years before the war even started.”

“Then I’d search for him. He lived in this area before the war. He shouldn’t be that hard to find,” he said, refusing to give up.

“And what if the year is after the war ended? You’ll have missed your opportunity completely.”

Geoff’s eyes now carried the look of concern.

“I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far yet,” he said.

“Another major problem is survival. There’re no convenience stores or Wal-Mart’s in this time period. Life’s very hard and if you’re not resourceful, you won’t make it,” David added.

“Well thanks for all that info Poindexter. Maybe if you had been more resourceful and saved my brother, we wouldn’t be here in the first place,” he shot back, lashing out irrationally.

“Whoa Bud, don’t lay that guilt crap on me. I told you before, I did all I could do. Your brother’s injuries were just too extensive. No one could have saved him,” David snapped, now becoming visibly angry.

“Bullshit. I don’t believe you.” Geoff paused a moment, then added, “You know what? It doesn’t matter anyway. I know what I need to do and that’s all that matters.”

He turned and began to head down the worn dirt road. As David watched him walk away, he knew the teen’s life was in jeopardy. He had hoped logic would be enough for the teen to abandon his plans, but the death of his brother was just too fresh in his mind. At that moment, there would be no turning him. He now knew the only way to save the kid was to work on him over time with the hope that time and logic would eventually change his rationale. Quickly, he hurried to catch up.

“Geoff, wait up,” he said, softening his tone as he ran.

“Get lost. God, can’t you find someone else to bother? Man, you’re annoying,” he spat.

“Geoff, stop for a second…” David caught up and now walked beside him. “Look, I know you’re hurting pretty bad. I’m sorry for your loss, truly I am and you’re right; in some way I feel responsible, but I think I can help. Please let me help you.”

“Help me how?

“I won’t help you kill Arles, but I will help you through this time period. I’ve been here before. I know how to get through it. I know right now my help my not seem like much, but you have to trust me: without it, you won’t make it. If we’ve entered the right time period, you’ll realize very quickly that life here is very harsh. You’re going to need food, shelter and guidance, not to mention safety… remember, there’s a war raging as we speak. If anyone can get you through this safely, it’d be me.”

“So that’s it… that’s all you want to do is just help me?” Geoff asked in distrust.

“Well, to be honest, I’m hoping over time, you’ll come to your senses and give up your plans to kill Arles Moore.”

“And what if I don’t give up my plans?”

“Well, it’ll be on your conscience at that point. I’ll have done my best to steer you in the right direction, but if you choose to ignore my advice, it’ll be something you’ll have to live with for the rest of your life… if you’re still alive to live with it, that is,” he responded in ominous tone.

“Fine, just stay out of my way.”

“Fair enough,” David said, nodding.

“So what do we do now?”

“We need to find out what year it is… but we also need to avoid the military.”

“Why?”

“Because we’ll be instantly recruited,” David said, flatly.

“Yeah sure,” he mocked, “Maybe you will, but I sure won’t.”

“Geoff, this isn’t present day America where justice and equality are obsessed over to the point of infringing on the rights of others. Especially during this time of the Civil War, the military pretty much does whatever they feel they need to do to further their cause and they do it without much interference from the law. If you refuse to fight, you’ll simply be shot as a traitor. No trial, no jury… just an execution.”

“Wow, that sucks,” Geoff said in disgust.

“Trust me. If you don’t know what you’re doing here, it can get a lot worse,” he assured.

“Worse than being shot?” Geoff mocked.

“Yeah… a lot worse than being shot. You could be sent to one of the infamous prisoner-of-war camps and die a slow painful death from disease and starvation, not to mention the abuse suffered at the hands of prisoners that would prey on young guys like you.”

Geoff stared solemnly at David, the harshness of his last statement not fully registering in his mind.

“But what about the warden? Couldn’t you just file a complaint against those guys?

“You’re joking right?” David asked, incredulously. “This is the Civil War time period we’re talking about here. Men died by the tens of thousands and neither side had extra resources to guard the prisons. Only a handful of men were tasked with guarding them and as a result, the only law that existed was survival of the fittest,” David answered.

“That’s stupid,” Geoff spat.

“What’s stupid?”

“This time period.”

David thought about Geoff’s irrational response and accepted it as the logic of a teenager. Not willing to debate the sense of his statement, he simply replied, “It’s just the reality of life in the eighteen hundreds.”

With a simple nod, both turned and walked side by side along the worn path.

One Hour later:

As the two walked in near silence, they listened to the sounds of the birds and wind. Devoid of sounds of humanity, Geoff slowly began to become aware of his new reality.

“Man, we’ve been walking for hours now. We must have walked about a hundred miles. I’m so thirsty,” he complained.

“It’s only been about an hour and we’ve probably only walked three or four miles at most,” David replied matter-of-factly. “We should see signs of Chattanooga shortly. We can find water once we’re in the area.”

“I’m hungry too. What can we get to eat there?”

“I hate to say this Geoff, but we don’t have any money and they’ll shoot us if they catch us stealing food, so it might be a day or so before we find anything to eat,” David responded flatly.

“A DAY?” he shouted back in surprise. “I can’t last a day without food. Can’t we beg someone for it?”

“We can’t draw attention to ourselves. Look at our clothes. They’re modern. The minute we step into a town, we’ll be viewed with suspicion and the military will be called to investigate,” he paused a moment, then continued. “No, even before food, we need to find some clothes to change into so we don’t call attention to ourselves.”

“What about trash? I know hobos go through people’s trash looking for food all the time. Can’t we wait ‘till nighttime and do that?”

“People don’t have trashcans in this time period, Geoff. Very little went to waste. What was thrown out, were bones and broken or worn items, but not in any sense of order. They were simply carted to the edge of the woods and tossed,” he explained.