Survivor (Rewinder Series Book 3)

by Brett Battles

  Now, I watch those very same messengers ride their horses past the resting troops to the leader’s tent, where they are ushered inside. I take two more jumps—one six hours later, when I see the army starting to move back down the valley the way they came, beginning their long trip home; and the other to the next day, when the only sign of the Mongols is the torn up valley floor.

  I did it.

  I actually did it.

  Lidia’s alteration allowed the Mongols to march all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, but now they are headed home instead.

  One down. So many more to go.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  THE NEXT STOP is the historical point in time I have visited more than any other: 1775.

  The Three Swans Tavern.

  This is where everything changed for me, where I accidentally prevented the capture and execution of George Washington, which both erased the British Empire I had grown up in and brought about the birth of the United States of America. It’s also the event that, in essence, drove Lidia into madness.

  When Lidia and I came to this time together, the only thing she did was observe. Curious, I’m sure, to see what exactly I’d done to screw things up for her. After she saw what happened, she left for 1242 without changing a thing.

  But this doesn’t mean I can skip ahead to the next event, because something did occur on that trip. It wasn’t anything she did, though. It was me.

  As I’ve mentioned, the chaser I’m using has a log of all the stops Lidia made, with the exact times and location numbers for her arrival and departure points. Unfortunately, what it doesn’t include are the location numbers for where Slaved Me’s chaser ended up. We weren’t traveling side by side, and at times were separated by miles. I know where I was in relationship to her position on this stop, but I can only estimate the number.

  The jump puts me just west of the road leading to the tavern. I immediately access the chaser’s power screen to shut it down, but I stop before I do.

  This is the one place I can get away with leaving my chaser on. Several versions of me are scattered around the tavern, so Lidia’s already well aware I have been to this location and time a lot. One more dot on her tracking screen shouldn’t raise a concern.

  I hurry over to the road where it will be easier to move quickly. It’s what Slaved Me does when he follows Lidia to the area near the tavern. On my chaser, his dot is about a hundred yards ahead of me. That’s too far. At my encumbered speed, I’ll never get there in time by walking, so I make a hop that puts me only ten yards behind him. I check my tracker again to make sure the change in my position hasn’t alerted Lidia. The dot representing her chaser remains exactly where it was before.

  The rumble of fast approaching hooves comes from behind me.

  They’re from the two British spies Richard Cahill is supposed to meet in the tavern. I forgot about them. I dart into the woods a moment before Slaved Me does the same.

  He stops and watches the horses run by because he wants to see who’s on them, but I already know and use the time to close the gap between us.

  As soon as the horses pass, he turns back to the woods, and freezes when he sees me.

  For a second, it’s almost as if he doesn’t recognize me, which makes sense, I guess. I’m over a year older and the intervening time was not kind to me. My face is thinner and my hair and the scruff on my face longer. I’m also sure the harsh look of experience in my eyes is one he’s never seen when he looks in the mirror.

  “You’re…you’re me,” he says. “What happened? Why are you—” He glances over his shoulder toward the tavern. “Did you already stop her? Is that why you’re here?”

  “I’m working on it.”

  “She’s trying to bring the empire back, isn’t she? She’s come here to stop me from causing the change.”

  He’s afraid we’re wasting time.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not going to let anything happen. But I do need you to stay right here.”

  “Here? Why?”

  “Because I’ve been studying this for a long time, and I know exactly what needs to be done. Your presence will only complicate things.”

  He contemplates this but we are the same, so I know what his response will be before he even opens his mouth. “If that’s what’s best.”

  “One last thing. Close your chaser. You don’t want the light to give you away.”

  He cocks his head. “Did that happen before?”

  I smile but say nothing, letting him believe what he wants. With barely a pause, he closes the device. Now he won’t be tempted to look at the tracking screen to watch me not take care of Lidia.

  Denny Younger, the manipulated and the manipulator.

  I give him a small wave and cross the road into the woods on the other side, in the general direction of Lidia. Once I’m hidden among the trees, I stop and look back.

  Slaved Me is right where I left him, and he stays there right up until the moment he vanishes. I check my tracking screen and confirm that both Lidia and Slaved Me have left on their way to 1242.

  What I have prevented is Slaved Me accidentally taking Scout Me with him farther into the past. Scout is the version of me from my junior rewinder days at the institute who was simply watching the tavern and taking notes.

  It is a small thing, and likely meaningless, but I can’t ignore it.

  Either way, it’s done now. Time to move on.

  __________

  FIX NUMBER THREE. Kentucky, 1786.

  I pop into existence near the meadow where the Lincoln family cabin is located, and find a spot between some saplings and brush that hides me from all sides. Lidia appears twenty feet in front of me a few minutes later. Once more, I watch her orchestrate the murders of Abraham Lincoln’s grandfather and father.

  I note where she sets her chaser. I note how she removes her rifle from her pack. I note her concentration as she aims and fires a bullet at the woodpile the future president’s teenage uncle is hiding behind, preventing him from shooting at the attacking natives. A few moments pass and she fires again, this time stopping the teen from saving his brother’s life, and dooming the world to a history in which the great emancipator is never born.

  When she disappears, I consider viewing the whole incident again before taking action, but I can’t stomach the idea of watching the child die one more time.

  I sneak over to the spot where I want to reappear, record it in my chaser, and jump.

  __________

  I’M CONSIDERABLY MORE precise in my arrival time than I was when I dealt with Lidia in 1242, and when I materialize, she’s already standing in front of me, in the moment after she put her chaser on the ground, but before she pulls her rifle out of her pack.

  Without hesitation, I clamp a hand on her shoulder and activate my device.

  Like before, we take three jumps, only backward in time. Our total elapsed trip of 266 years puts us back on King Island in 1520. We appear at the exact same moment I arrived with 1242 Lidia, only we are a quarter mile to the north.

  The second the jump releases me, I push her away.

  As she turns to see who has brought her here, she slips on a patch of mud and is unable to lay eyes on me before I’m gone.

  My next destination is a return to the very spot near the Lincoln’s cabin from where I just kidnapped Lidia. I time my arrival so that only ten seconds have passed since she and I disappeared.

  I pick her chaser off the ground, huddle in the brush, and watch the scene unfold. The death of Abe Lincoln’s grandfather occurs as it always has, but on this occasion, Lincoln’s teenage uncle is not hampered by Lidia shooting at him, and is able to kill the man who was about to kill the teen’s younger brother.

  Thomas Lincoln will live to father the man who will lead the country through a devastating war and, as soon as it’s over, die in violence.

  I reenter the mist.

  __________

  THE NEXT THREE encounters go off without any problems, and the populati
on on what I now think of as Lidia’s Island grows to five. Each new chaser I come in possession of, I destroy. I can’t deny I’m tempted to keep them in case something happens to the two I already have. But the more devices that exist, the greater the chance one will fall into the wrong hands. Best to limit the supply.

  I haven’t been completely cruel to the Lidias by dumping them on the island. The only thing I took from each was her chaser. I left them with their backpacks and whatever they contain. Four out of the five Lidias still have rifles, so until they run out of ammunition, they can hunt.

  Or, who knows, maybe they’ll decide to fight among themselves.

  __________

  EXHAUSTED, I CONTEMPLATE returning to where I left Jovan so I can rest, but he’s so far in the past at this point, the trip will wipe me out. Instead, I find a house in 1869 New York City that, after a few quick jumps to check, I know will be empty for at least a week. I’m in the house for two and a half days before I feel well enough to resume my mission.

  My next stop is only a few years ahead, on the Isle of Wight off the coast of England. An easy trip, the mist of the jump dissipating a moment after it forms.

  The Isle of Wight is where Slaved Me figured out how to activate the tracking system on the chaser, and started closing the gap between him and Lidia. Slaved Me arrived on a farm in the countryside, but I appear in the dead of night, miles to the west in the city of Cowes.

  On that first trip here, I couldn’t figure out why Lidia had brought us to the island, but I know now. From the history book, I learned this is where, during the regatta of Cowes Week, Winston Churchill’s parents met.

  No one can deny Lidia is devious in her cuts to history.

  As has become my new habit, I have arrived thirty minutes before Lidia is due. But despite the fact it’s well after midnight, there are people out on the streets.

  I step into the shadows of a darkened storefront. Most people are hanging out in front of a still open tavern. The Cowes Week celebration, I assume, going deep into the night.

  “Hey there,” a voice calls out. “You.”

  I pay it little attention, until a man extracts himself from the others and weaves in my direction.

  “You,” he repeats, pointing at me. “I don’t know you. Where did you come from?” The more he speaks, the more he slurs his words.

  I turn and head up the walkway.

  “No, no, no, no, no.”

  I hear his pace quicken and within moments he grabs my shoulder.

  “I’m talking to you, sir. Where’d you come from?”

  I politely shrug off his hand. “America.”

  “Wait, wait, wait. That’s not what I mean. I was watching and you…” It’s obvious from the gesture he makes that he witnessed my arrival.

  “Don’t know what you’re talking about. Sorry.” I keep walking.

  “No, I mean you weren’t there, and then you were.”

  Acutely aware that the time I allotted for scouting the area is running out, I say, “Excuse me, but I have business elsewhere.”

  I pick up my pace but he grabs my shoulder again. “I don’t like it when people just app—”

  I turn on him and push his hand away. “You’re drunk. You don’t know what you saw. Now, please, leave me alone.”

  His voice rises. “You weren’t there, and then you were.”

  Knowing I’m wasting too much time, I say, “You’re right. I appeared out of nowhere.”

  He leans back, grinning.

  I make sure no one is looking in our direction before I open my chaser. “But that’s because I’m not real.”

  I press the escape combination.

  When I pop back into existence, I’m glad to find there’s no one in my vicinity.

  According to the log, Lidia’s arrival point is right next to the tavern. I can’t see it from where I am, but it must provide some cover. Otherwise she would have jumped away the second she arrived, but the log shows she was there long enough to look around first.

  Trying to draw as little attention as possible, I move through the crowd to get a look at the spot. My friend the drunk is there. When he glances toward me, I quickly turn my face away so that in a few minutes, when he has his conversation with the earlier me, he won’t wonder why I was here and then suddenly across the street.

  It turns out Lidia will materialize in a small alcove between the tavern and the shop next door, just out of sight of the crowd. Unfortunately, there’s nowhere in the immediate vicinity where I can hide to watch her. What I do spot is a narrow alley gap between buildings across the street, a gap that runs all the way to the back of the structures. It’s not perfect but it’ll do.

  After a few minutes, I hear a voice rise above the rumble of the crowd. “Hey there. You.”

  My drunk friend is now approaching the me who just arrived. I hear a few more words before his voice disappears among the others.

  Across the street, Lidia materializes. She starts when she realizes how close she came to appearing in the middle of a small, albeit drunk, crowd. Too bad for me, she’s facing the street. It would be so much easier to grab her if she were facing the other way.

  As she leans out to check her surroundings, the words “you weren’t there, and then you were” echo down the street.

  Lidia’s expression shows she heard them, and that the meaning of the words aren’t lost on her. She looks past the crowd, and when she freezes, I know she’s seen the earlier me.

  Dammit.

  I hit my escape combination and materialize inside a dress shop ten feet to the left of the alley I was in. I look through the window at the alcove to see if Lidia has done the same, but she’s not there. Apparently she didn’t feel the need to get away just yet.

  I jump into the alcove one minute before Lidia is to arrive. As I hoped, the drunks in front of the establishment don’t see me. That doesn’t mean my appearance has gone totally unobserved, though. Across the street, I spot the silhouette of me waiting in the gap between buildings. I hold up a hand to let him know I’m from farther down our timeline than he is so he needs to do nothing.

  As soon as my chaser’s prepped for another jump to Lidia Island, I step from the alcove and turn so that I’ll be directly in front of Lidia when she gets here.

  A soft push of air, and there she is.

  Her eyes go wide and her hand reaches for her device.

  When I grab her wrist to prevent her from pushing the buttons, I hear from down the street, “You weren’t there, and then you were.”

  “Let go of me!” Lidia yells, trying to wrench her arm free.

  I move a finger toward the go button on my own device, but before I can depress it, a hand grabs my shoulder and tries to pull me away from Lidia.

  “What’s all this?” a male voice asks.

  Another hand joins the first, this time grabbing my arm that cradles my chaser.

  “Leave the lady alone!” someone else orders.

  I stagger backward under their combined tug, but my hand is still clamped around Lidia’s wrist so she comes with me. I want to press go, but if I do, I’ll be jumping with Lidia and the two men who are touching me. Who knows how that will change history? Even if I bring them back, the experience will forever alter them and affect the previous course of their lives.

  “Let go, Denny!” Lidia yells.

  One of the men spins me around so that Lidia and I are now side by side. “Do as she says.”

  More of the crowd are moving toward us.

  Lidia yanks on her arm but I don’t let go. “Dammit, Denny!”

  One of the men starts to peel my fingers away.

  “No!” I shout.

  Since my other hand is holding my chaser, all I can do is try to knock him away with my shoulder. This slows his progress, but does not stop it.

  Desperate, I say, “Please. She’s a thief. That box she has is mine.”

  This causes the man to pause and look at her chaser. From his angle, he has a partial view
of the display screen. “What in God’s name is that?”

  “She stole it,” I say.

  I sense him about to let go of my fingers so he can grab the box. Lidia must realize this, too, because she gives her arm an extra strong jerk. Suddenly she’s free and staggering back into the alcove.

  With a wicked grin, she reaches for the buttons on her chaser, but the sound of a gunshot freezes everyone.

  Everyone, that is, except for Lidia.

  Her hand is paused over her device, but her attention has switched from the screen to the growing circle of blood on her chest. She looks in the direction of the shot, confused, and collapses to the ground.

  The two men who grabbed me kneel beside her while chaos takes hold of the crowd around us.

  Out in the middle of the street, the earlier me from the alley is standing with the grocery-store guard’s gun in his hand. He looks as if he can’t believe what he just did, but as a few of the drunks move toward him, he shakes off his daze and hurries back between the buildings and out of sight.

  I crouch down between the two kneeling men. Lidia’s still alive but it won’t be for long. Lying against her hip, with her hand draped across one corner, is her chaser. The men are focused on her wound so they don’t see me slip the box away from her.

  As her hand drops onto the ground, her eyelids widen and she glances at me. I expect to see anger and hatred, but there is only disbelief.

  “Let me see that,” one of the kneeling men says.

  While I was looking at Lidia’s face, I failed to notice him turn toward me. When he reaches for her chaser, I push to my feet and take a step back.

  He starts to rise. “Don’t you move. That’s not your—”

  Though initiating a jump in front of people who know nothing about time travel is against everything I’ve ever been taught, I press the go button.

  __________