Prisoner in Time (Time travel)

by Petersen, Christopher David

  Geoff stiffened in defiance, then gave a subtle nod.

  David looked out over the forest once more, then took a seat on an old log that crossed the faint path they had followed through the woods. As he sat, he took deep breaths to help clear his mind. Sweat dripped off his forehead and down his face and he wiped it away with his bare arm. Although the sun had risen over a half hour before, the morning air was still cold and began to chill the sweat that now gathered on his skin.

  “Darn it, I’m getting cold again. I sure hope the sun heats up the morning sooner than later,” he said, now trying to make small talk.

  “Mmm,” Geoff murmured, passively protesting David’s attempt to communicate.

  “I don’t know about you, but I could sure use a nap. I don’t think I slept at all last night,” he continued.

  “Mmm,” Geoff continued his quiet protest.

  “I’m hungry too. I could sure go for some pizza,” David added.

  Geoff thought about the statement. As his own stomach rumbled, fear of escape was now supplanted by his need for food.

  “So what are we going to do for food?” he asked, now willing to communicate slightly.

  David felt a slight sense of relief the teen was now responding.

  “We’re going to have to ask for handouts at first until we figure things out,” he replied.

  “Well that sucks. We should’ve asked the farmer for food last night, before all this happened.”

  “I thought about that, but we arrived on the scene way too late last night. I was afraid he’d greet us at the door at the end of a gun barrel,” David replied.

  “Hmm… guess you weren’t too far off,” Geoff acknowledged as he looked around the forest once more, avoiding eye contact.

  “What would’ve been ideal, would’ve been for us to have snuck out of the henhouse, waited in the woods for a couple of hours, then pretended like we were travelers just passing by. I’m sure we would’ve been received much differently,” he guessed.

  “Still at the end of a gun barrel?” Geoff asked, still focusing on the forest.

  “Probably, but almost certainly not shot at,” he answered with conviction.

  “Hmm,” Geoff replied, his response seemingly uninterested.

  “I’m guessing that after we figure out what year it is, we’ll probably have to find jobs to pay for our food and lodging,” David continued, hoping to keep the angry teen engaged.

  “Uh huh,” Geoff responded simply.

  “The way I see it, I can hang out a shingle and practice medicine. Unfortunately for you, because you don’t have any skills developed for this time period, you’ll probably have to work as a stable boy or something along those lines.”

  “Hmm,” Geoff replied, still staring out across the forest.

  “I know shoveling horse crap stinks but in order for you to fit in, you’re going to have to work a job that’s customary for a kid your age,” David explained.

  “Mmm,” he murmured, barely showing any attention to the conversation.

  “I still haven’t figured out how we’re going to get past the military dilemma. Somehow, we need to keep a low profile, especially for you. If they see you, they’ll draft you on the spot,” David said bluntly.

  No response.

  “Geoff, are you even listening to me?”

  The teen’s eyes squinted slightly and his face became drawn. David’s words no longer registered in his mind. He was in another world.

  “GET DOWN!” Geoff shouted loudly.

  He lunged at David, throwing his chest into the body of the other, knocking David off the log and onto his back. Suddenly, a loud roar of a rifle echoed through the forest. In an instant, tree bark exploded from a cluster of trees just beyond their position.

  Shoving Geoff off him, David rolled onto his knees and stared out over the forest. Far out at the edge of his sight, he saw movement. He squinted hard and picked up the target. Moving in beside him, Geoff pointed out a figure now running through the woods.

  “That’s him… that stupid farmer. What the hell’s his freakin’ problem, man? He’s like some kind of crazed lunatic or something,” he spat angrily.

  “You’re right; there is something wrong with him. That’s not normal, even for this time period. We’re in real trouble here, Geoff. If we don’t shake him somehow, he’s going to kill us,” David responded in grave tone.

  “So what do we do?”

  “Run… run like hell,” David responded, now leaping to his feet.

  Pulling Geoff to a standing position, he spoke no words. His expression relayed the gravity of their situation. He turned and instantly sped off down the back side of the hill with the frightened teen close behind.

  With their hearts pumping wildly, adrenaline flowed through their bodies unabated. Dodging tree limbs and leaping over logs and boulders, the two pushed their bodies to their breaking point. Within ten minutes, sweat poured off them as they ran and they panted heavily with exhaustion.

  In the lead, David scoured the landscape in front of him for escape. With another hill in their path to climb, his options were limited. He looked for a place to hide, but nothing obvious came to mind. With little time to waste, he darted up the next hill.

  As the pair struggled up the steep incline, their muscles screamed for relief. Grabbing at tree limbs, they hauled themselves higher as they struggled to keep their feet from slipping out from under them.

  Suddenly, another shot echoed through the forest and a bullet impacted a tree just behind the fleeing two.

  “Holy Shit! That was close,” Geoff shouted, in fearful tone.

  Concentrating on the hillcrest, David ignored the statement and pushed himself harder. With his lungs strained and his muscles giving out, he began to see the trees extending up from the backside of the hill.

  “I don’t know if I can make it,” Geoff shouted in frantic tone.

  “We’re almost there. Push yourself!”

  “I need to rest. I can’t go on,” the teen shouted back through labored gasps of air.

  David stopped and turned. As the teen struggled toward him, he could see the worry on his face. Quickly he ran to him and grabbed his shoulder. Pulling hard, he helped the teen higher up the hill. Moments later, as they rounded the crest, another shot sounded far below them, the bullet impacting the trees high above their heads.

  “We’re out of range. He’s just taking wild shots now,” David said, panting.

  “Good, let’s rest a minute,” he responded, barely able to speak.

  David nodded reluctantly, but knew he had little choice. As Geoff rested, David hurried to the other side of the hillcrest and scanned the valley below. Far in the distance, he saw a river. Fear enveloped his body.

  “Oh no,” he said to himself.

  Quickly, he rushed back to the resting teen.

  “Geoff, we have to go now,” he said in a worried tone.

  “I need more time,” Geoff responded, still panting.

  “We don’t have it. There’s a river down there blocking our escape. We can’t cross it because it’s too cold and we’re too tired. We’re going to have to find somewhere to hide and we have no time to spare. If that lunatic sees us before we find a good hiding spot, it’ll be all over for us.”

  Reluctantly, Geoff stood and headed down the hill. David nodded in approval at the teen’s tenacity, then followed in behind him.

  As they hurried lower, they expended less energy, helping them to recover some of their strength. Minutes later, they reached the bottom and started their run across the forest toward the river.

  “If you see anything that looks promising, shout it out,” David yelled as he ran.

  Geoff scoured the landscape ahead, but nothing registered.

  “I don’t see anything, anywhere,” he shouted back in frustration.

  “Just keep looking,” David responded in a frantic tone.

  Once again, the two ran at a feverish pace, exhausting themselves to the point
of collapse. As both gasped for air, their vision began to blur from lack of oxygen. The river that flowed two hundred yards ahead, seemed to move with grayish shadows. With his pace beginning to slow, David looked over his shoulder at the hill he had just descended. Dread swept over him as he noticed movement at its top.

  “No!” he lamented under his breath.

  Once again, he scanned the area for a place to hide.

  “Dammit, nothing!” he shouted in disgust.

  Geoff paused a moment to rest. With his hands on his knees, he gasped wildly for air.

  “We can’t stop… He’s up there... I see him,” David said, panting heavily between large breaths.

  Geoff looked toward the hilltop a few hundred yards away. He squinted hard, but through his blurred vision, saw only the moving trees. Looking back at David, there was no mistaking his expression: desperation.

  “Keep… moving,” David said between more breaths of air.

  Grabbing Geoff by the shoulder, he pulled him along once more. As the two stumbled forward, they tried to concentrate on the river up ahead. David blinked his eyes hard, forcing them to come into focus. The shadowy gray river began to flow with irregularity. He stopped for a moment and stared.

  “Oh Shit!” he shouted out in disbelief.

  “What? What’s the matter?” Geoff asked, barely able to concentrate through his labored breathing.

  Suddenly, a shot roared from the hill behind them. Instinctively, David shoved Geoff to the ground and lay perfectly still.

  “Don’t move. Don’t even breathe,” he whispered.

  David looked toward the river and watched in horror as the gray river came to life.

  Like a swarm of angry bees, the column of Confederate soldiers left the path that hugged the river and entered the woods. With their weapons at the ready, they quickly set up a skirmish line and fired upon the hill. Dozens of lead shot hurled through the air, impacting trees and ground at the hilltop’s crest. Seconds later, a single shot returned its fire upon the gray-coated soldiers.

  With the first volley fired, the well trained men reloaded quickly and unleashed their next round of the one-sided exchange. In seconds, all went silent high up upon the hill.

  Standing at the front of the skirmish line, Lieutenant Jefferson Bradford called the order to cease fire. As all weapons went silent, he scanned the distant hilltop for the enemy. With a simple nod, he located a body lying prone on the ground, just below the hill’s crest.

  “Sergeant, there’s a body up there. Take a half dozen men and scout the area for more Yankees,” Lt. Bradford ordered.

  “Yes Sir,” Sgt. Cooper responded.

  “Quietly,” Lt. Bradford added in frustration. “We’re not supposed to be here, remember?”

  “Yes Sir,” two privates responded in unison.

  As the lieutenant returned to his field glasses, seven men moved quietly through the woods toward the distant hill. Lt. Bradford continued his reconnaissance of the area. Hearing some laughter further down the line of men, he located the offending soldiers and hurried to their position.

  “I ordered quiet, did I not?”

  “Yes Sir,” a private replied.

  “Do it then, else I have you hung up by your thumbs,” he said in serious tone.

  The two nodded in fearful obedience, then quickly refocused on their duty. Lt. Bradford reviewed the rest of his men, while keeping a careful watch on the seven out in front.

  Two hundred yards away, David and Geoff lay perfectly still…

  “What do we do now?” Geoff whispered nervously, still breathing heavily from the previous exertion.

  “Nothing… just keep perfectly still. With any luck, they’ll walk right by us,” David responded.

  “And what if they don’t? What if they see us?”

  David turned his head slowly and stared at the teen. Worry registered in his eyes as he searched for the appropriate response.

  “Whatever happens, stay calm. Any sudden moves and they’ll shoot us dead,” David warned. “If they catch us, let me do the talking, ok?”

  Geoff nodded in simple compliance.

  The seven soldiers moved quietly through the forest, spread out several yards between them. Keeping an eye on the hillcrest far to their front, they watched for any movement that might betray the enemy’s position.

  Sgt. Elijah Cooper stopped for a moment and studied the hill. He could just make out the figure of a man lying face down on the ground near the top. Drawing his eyes closer to the foreground, he scanned the base of the incline. All seemed quiet and routine. With a slight wave of his hand, they continued on.

  David watched nervously as the men approached. Although the two lay in a shallow depression, he realized his light blue scrubs would be easily detectable at close range. Less than a hundred yards away, he knew their escape depended on a miracle.

  One hundred yards ahead of the marching soldiers, a grey squirrel was busy in his routine of gathering food. Foraging for acorns, he located an area not yet picked over by his competitors. With his cheeks stuffed with several of his choice pickings, he scurried across the forest to his pre-selected hoarding location. He dug at the base of a tall oak tree, spat out the acorns into his shallow hole, then covered his stash with leaves and grass for later retrieval. For a brief moment, he stood on his hind legs and spied the two humans lying prone in a shallow depression several yards away. Feeling unthreatened, he turned and raced back to continue with his work.

  Sgt. Cooper and his men continued on. Nearly two hundred yards from their skirmish line, they were far from their company’s protection and feeling isolated. Nervous tension began to build and every sound, every movement became suspect. Each man held his finger to his trigger, conscious that at any moment, reflex could be all that stood between them and life.

  As they quietly marched, each man became aware of the movement up ahead. Their focus became distracted from the hilltop as their eyes subconsciously followed the path of the squirrel. Now only twenty feet away, the busy squirrel noticed the approaching soldiers. He stood on his hind legs and assessed the danger. Chattering loudly, he voiced his complaint with the intruders, then scurried off to the left to guard his stash.

  Lying in the shallow depression, David and Geoff’s hearts pounded. With the soldiers now nearly past their position, they began to wonder if they had evaded detection. Barely breathing, the two held their bodies perfectly still and followed the soldier’s progress with slight shifts in their eyes. Suddenly, David became distracted by the agitated squirrel. Fear raced through his mind as he watched the noisy animal draw near.

  The angry squirrel stood at the base of the tree and chastised the passing soldiers. Shaking his tiny paws and jerking his head from side to side, he sounded out his protest. With seven humans marching to his front and two humans lying in a ditch behind him, their presence was just too close for his safety. Instantly, he chattered out a piercing chirp and scurried several feet up the tree. Looking down from a safe distance, he continued to sound the alarm.

  “Shut up! Shut up you stupid squirrel,” Geoff shouted inside his mind.

  Panic seized the teen as he elbowed David with concern. David nodded back in silence.

  “Shut up!” he shouted once again inside his mind.

  Geoff and David’s stomachs churned and their bodies were racked with anxiety. Just moments before, they were nearly past the point of detection, but now with the squirrel’s alarming behavior, they could see their hopes slipping away.

  Geoff’s mind raced. With teenage logic, he calculated his options. Acting on impulse, he curled his fingers around a quarter-sized rock lying just in front of him. In one quick motion, he launched the object at the squirrel. It hit the tree, bounced off and landed on the ground nearby. Instantly, the squirrel chattered in retaliation, then scampered higher up the tree.

  David glared at Geoff. His face registered shock and disbelief.

  Fifty feet away, Sgt. Cooper heard the sound of rock on wood.
He turned quickly and followed the squirrel’s movements up the tree. Lowering his eyes, he stared directly into the faces of the two hiding men.

  Startled and surprised, he squeezed his trigger. Instantly, his rifle roared in a cloud of white smoke. A moment later, six more guns roared to life as the other soldiers fired on impulse.

  “Hold ya’lls fire!” Sgt. Cooper commanded.

  Even before the smoke had cleared, seven men rushed in for the capture. Lying face down in the shallow depression, one man lay wounded. Sgt. Cooper pulled his Colt Navy revolver and pointed it menacingly at the other. Slowly, the unwounded man raised his hands in surrender.