Prisoner in Time (Time travel)

by Petersen, Christopher David

  Geoff curled his fist and lunged it at Dr. Warner’s solar plexus, instantly knocking the wind out of him. He stumbled backward into the elevator, as he gasped for air. As his back hit the rear of the elevator, he pushed off and instinctively lunged for Geoff. Grabbing his shirt, he pulled the young teen toward him, and wrapped his arm around his neck in headlock fashion. Like a caged animal, the young teen exploded with anger, ignoring the choke and driving his elbows into the doctor’s ribs. As Geoff coughed from choking, Dr. Warner groaned from the blows to his stomach.

  Grappling for advantage, neither man heard the doors of the elevator close, nor did they feel its movement as it began to descend.

  Geoff thrashed and twisted his body, slipping out of the doctor’s hold. Quickly, he lunged for the doctor and wrapped his arm around his neck, now placing Dr. Warner in a headlock. Although the young teen had position, the larger, stronger doctor had the advantage. Reaching down, he scooped his arm up under the teen’s leg and lifted him into the air.

  Suddenly, the elevator stopped and the rear door opened. A warm gust of balmy wind blew into the cab. Time seemed to slow, but only for a moment.

  Geoff cried out in rage and thrashed in Dr. Warner’s arms. As he began to lose his hold on the teen, he instinctively threw him out the open door. Geoff fell to the ground and tumbled across the grass. He jumped to his feet and readied himself for his next attack.

  Suddenly, reality struck him. He was outside the elevator and the hospital had vanished from view. The impossible became the possible. Immediately, the young teen knew where he was.

  Dr. Warner stared at Geoff and prepared to defend himself once more. Seeing him standing in the grass, he immediately knew the young teen was now standing in another world.

  “Geoff, listen to me. As quick as you can, come back into the elevator,” Dr. Warner said in a low, deliberate tone. “I won’t hurt you.”

  Geoff took a step forward, then stopped. He stared at Dr. Warner momentarily, then raised his hand. With a quick flick of his digit, he raised his middle finger, flashing the doctor “the bird”.

  “Asshole!” Geoff shouted bluntly.

  Instantly, his spun on his heels and sprinted into the nearby forest.

  Dr. Warner shouted for the young teen to return, but he knew it was no use. He was gone.

  “You’re on your own kid,” Dr. Warner shouted through the open doors in disgust.

  Suddenly, the balmy breeze that signaled the portal’s opening, now signaled its closing. Dr. Warner watched as the grassy scene began to disappear. He felt bad for the teen, but also felt he had made his own choice.

  “He’s going to have to learn the hard way I guess,” Dr. Warner said to himself.

  As he watched the grass and trees fade further, he began to think about the young teen trying to survive in such a harsh world.

  “Damn, he’ll never make it,” he said to himself in a low guilty tone.

  Staring out the fading doorway, he felt tormented by indecision. He knew the right choice. He knew he had to decide quickly.

  “Ahhh,” he groaned loudly in disgust.

  As the door started closing, he took a deep breath and leaped through it. A second later, he stood in the grassy open field and looked back toward the elevator. It was gone. In its place were more grasses and trees. Dr. David Warner had once again, become a prisoner in time.

  -----*-----*-----*-----

  Chapter 4

  Dr. David Warner stood at the edge of the familiar grassy field and surveyed his surroundings. The open field was small, less than two acres in size and rimmed by tall aspen trees. Through the forest, he recognized a dirt path worn heavy from use as horse and wagon had previously delivered wounded men to the area for treatment. He craned his ear toward the path and listened carefully. He heard only the sound of the wind through the trees.

  “Geoff!” he shouted.

  He listened intently, hoping for a quick reply. There was none.

  “Geoff!” he shouted even louder.

  Still no response.

  David looked around him. Alone, in the quiet, with only a vague idea of the time period, he felt a feeling of foreboding. He had no way of knowing who controlled the land: Union or Confederate. He could only hope it was the North.

  David swallowed hard, his mind working to overcome his unwilling body. Reluctantly, he forced his legs to move and he darted up the worn path after the troubled teen.

  Through the forest of white aspens, he ran in short sprints, stopping for a moment to listen, then continuing on as he realized the silence. With beads of sweat forming on his brow, his heart began to pump heavily as he winded. Ten minutes later, the forest broke out into another open field. He stopped once more and listened.

  “Dammit,” he said aloud in frustration. “Where the hell is this kid? It’s like he vanished into thin air.”

  On the opposite side of the open land, he heard a faint rustling through the trees. He squinted intently in the direction of the noise and spotted movement. For a moment, he felt relieved. Instantly, he broke out in a fast sprint, his eyes still focusing on his target.

  Passing through the halfway mark, the movement became distinctive. He recognized the teen’s t-shirt and jeans and the casual pace at which he jogged. Closing in fast, he increased his speed, taking care to momentarily reduce the sound of his footsteps and breathing.

  As he passed beyond the field and into the trees, he closed the distance to within twenty yards. Suddenly, the teen heard movement behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and spotted his pursuer. Instinctively, he burst into a full run. For a moment, the distance between them increased dramatically. With little time to react, David accessed his reserves and forced his legs faster. Closing in, he reached out his arm.

  “Get the hell away from me you asshole!” Geoff shouted through heavy breaths of air.

  “Stop!” David shouted, barely having enough breath for a one-word reply.

  As he began to slow and Geoff pulled away, he made a desperate lunge forward. Too far away, his hand narrowly missed the teens shoulder. As he stumbled, his falling hands contacted the teens feet, causing him to trip. The two fell to the ground and rolled in a rough and abrupt tumble. Reacting fast, David wrapped his arm around the teen’s neck and held him tightly in a headlock.

  “Let go of me you psycho,” Geoff shouted, now thrashing wildly.

  “Not until you settle down,” David shouted back, increasing the pressure on his hold.

  “Let go or I’ll sue your ass for everything you’re worth.”

  David chuckled to himself at the teen’s logic, the responded, “Oh yeah? Well my uncle can beat up your uncle.”

  “What the hell you talking about you douche?” Geoff retorted, now confused.

  “I thought the game was to speak in bullshit. I think it’s your turn.”

  “Dude, this is no game!” the feisty teen fired back. “Jeez, what the hell’s your problem?”

  “My problem? Well for starters, I lost a young man on the operating table just a few minutes ago; I had to tell his family he won’t be coming back; his distraught brother cold-cocks me in the freakin’ elevator while trying to travel back in time; I’m trying to save that same kid who doesn’t want to be saved… and oh yeah, I’m not sure if we’ll ever get back to our time period.”

  “Anything else?” Geoff responded unsympathetically.

  “Yeah, I now have grass stains on my ass…”

  Geoff thought about the doctor’s last response. At first he felt incensed by the doctor’s insensitive retort, but slowly, he began to chuckle to himself as he realized the humor. David felt the teens muscles soften slightly and detected a small giggle in his breath. Slowly, he relaxed his grip.

  “Look Geoff, I’m not trying to hurt you or force you to do anything you don’t want to do. I just want to talk to you,” he said in a low, calm tone. “If I let go, do you promise not to run away?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Geoff,
do you know what the army does when they catch two men spooning?”

  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.”