The Future Next Door Boxed Set, page 102
“I never liked you, Tayisha,” Cheek said. “You’re always so bright and cheery, but you’re hollow inside, just an empty smile over a hollow shell. Maybe after I’ve killed you here, I’ll go back and smother you in your crib, you sanctimonious cow.”
“Who’s back there?” A deep voice came from behind Cheek. Alan’s view of the speaker was blocked by the corner of the building. “What’s all this mess? What the hell are you doing in my lot?”
Cheek spun around and slashed out at whoever it was. He stepped off of Mark and his weight went onto his apparently injured right foot. He lost his balance, falling out of sight.
Alan heard a cry of pain from the new arrival. He and Tayisha raced around the corner to see that Cheek had fallen onto the man and was pinning him against the wall, the jagged neck of the bottle against the man’s throat. The man was not much older than Alan, probably somewhere around thirty. He had unkempt dark black hair and a rough, handsome face. He wore a white button down shirt with a torn sleeve, through which blood was pouring from a gash in his upper arm.
Alan looked at the man and felt a chill run down his spine. He realized why the parking lot, the street and the Burger King were all familiar.
“Jesus!” the man said. “Okay, okay, buddy, you don’t want to hurt anyone...”
Cheek leaned in so close their noses were almost touching. “I know you...I’ve seen a picture of you.” He laughed again. “Oh, this is perfect! I can kill you early and observe the effects firsthand!” He looked at Alan out of the corner of his eye. “Do you think your memories will change? I’ll kill you last so we can gather data.”
“Get away from him!”
Heedless of the threat of the sharp glass, Alan charged at Cheek. Cheek started to swing the wine neck out towards Alan, then seemed to think better of it and brought it back towards his hostage. In that moment of hesitation, Alan managed to grab his arm. He pulled it back and away from the man, who seized the opportunity and shoved Cheek in the chest.
Alan lost his grip on Cheek’s arm as the scientist tumbled backwards, but the sharp edge of the broken bottle caught him across his palm. Alan cried out in pain and pressed his hand against his t-shirt.
Cheek spun around, warding them off with his makeshift weapon. Alan stretched out his uninjured hand, ready to make a grab for him if Cheek lunged. Tayisha and the man Cheek had attacked slowly began sidling around to either side, and Mark was getting to his feet, rubbing his head. Cheek had lost the advantage, and Alan could see from his calculating expression that he knew it.
The scientist backed away, then turned and bolted to the far end of the building. He reached the front and ran, still limping, down the street. Mark started to give chase, but only got a few steps before tripping over a pile of debris. He put his hand to his head and started to wobble.
Alan hadn’t noticed the trash in the otherwise clean alley – it looked like somebody had carved a chunk out of a bed. There were sections of a mattress, box spring, wooden bed frame, and even a set of plain white sheets with a blanket, all neatly torn. It was as if they had been cut out of the side of a fully-made bed with impossible precision, then dropped to the ground.
Tayisha ran forward to catch the visibly woozy Mark. “Sit, sit.” She led him away from the broken spring he had been about to fall onto, lowered him to the ground and helped him lean back against the wall.
The new arrival pressed his hand against his bleeding upper arm. “Jesus! You folks all right?”
Mark gave a thumbs up, although he still looked shaky.
“I’m all right,” Alan said. “Just a cut on my hand. It’s not bad. How are you?”
The man lifted his hand and squinted at the wound. “I’m not sure. Can’t tell how deep it is. Hurts like hell.” He headed toward the front of the building. “Come on into the store, I’ll call the police.”
“No!” Alan ran after him, stopping him just as he reached Mark and Tayisha. “No, please, no police.”
The man raised an eyebrow. “Why the heck not?”
“We just...we need to take care of this man ourselves.”
“Take care of him yourselves? What does that mean?” He folded his arms. “Are you worried about the police going after him, or after you?”
“Please, I promise we haven’t done anything wrong, but it’s important we not get...held up with a lot of questions.”
“Come on, dude. Do us a solid.” Mark nudged Alan’s foot with his own. “My buddy here did save your life, after all.”
The man sighed. “That’s true enough. Although I think I may have saved yours first.” He squeezed his injured arm and winced. “Well, I can’t leave you out here, and I think we all need to get patched up. I’m guessing if you don’t want to talk to the police, you don’t want to go to the hospital, either? You look kind of green, there, my friend.”
Mark grabbed Tayisha’s hand and pulled himself to his feet, using the wall for support. “I’m fine. Just a bump.”
“All right, then.” The man nodded. “I’m not promising anything, but I’ll wait on calling the police. For now. I’m Lenny, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, dude,” Mark said. “I’m M...”
“I’m Andy,” Alan said.
“...Mmmm...Ma...” Mark said. “Maaaaaaa...Maaaar...Matthew. I’m Matthew.”
“Uh-huh.” Lenny laughed. “Matthew. Sure. And you are?”
Tayisha scratched her cheek. “Oh. I’m...Tabitha.”
Alan couldn’t stop himself from exhaling in shock when he heard the name Tayisha chose for herself. He felt suddenly dizzy.
Lenny took his arm, steadying him. “Whoa, there, Andy. That cut must be worse than you thought.”
Alan leaned back against the wall. “I’m all right. Sorry.”
Lenny nodded. “My wife’s a nurse. If we’re not headed to the hospital, you’d better come back to my place. She can take a look at us.” He peered closer at Alan. “You’re not a VanDorren, are you? Your family name, I mean? Any relation?”
“No,” Alan said. “My last name’s Ross.”
“Huh.” He shrugged. “I guess I’m wrong. Never mind. I’d better go in and close up shop. My car’s the...well, it’s the only one in the front lot, you’ll see it. I’ll be out in a minute and we can get moving.”
Alan smiled. “Thanks...Lenny.”
Lenny started to say something else, then seemed to think better of it. He turned and disappeared around the front of the building.
Mark followed after him a few steps and peeked around the corner, making sure he was out of earshot, then rejoined them. “Why the fake names, dude? This guy’s not mixed up in this.”
“Why not call the police, Alan?” Tayisha asked. “Dr. Cheek is dangerous. We can’t leave him running around loose.”
“Cheek has the remote unit for Eddie’s machine. If there’s any way back for us, we need it. Plus, Cheek has an egg that can change people into other people. I’m not so sure the police in 1993 are equipped to handle that. We’ll just get them killed.”
“You know when we are?” Tayisha asked.
“Roughly. It’s sometime in the summer of 1993.”
“Damn, dude,” Mark said. “You really know your Burger King logo history.”
Alan walked past him and stepped out into the front lot of the building. He recognized the store at once, although it looked very different from the last time he had seen it.
Tayisha and Mark followed behind him. “Alan,” Tayisha said. “Do you know where we are?”
“Townsend, Indiana.”
“Whoa, man,” Mark said. “Isn’t that where you’re from?”
“But how did you know the year?” Tayisha asked.
Alan pointed to the front of the store, over the door. There was a large banner hanging overhead, in lieu of a real sign.
“‘Lenny’s Grocery,’” Mark read. “‘Grand opening.’ You remember when this store opened? From when you were...what, six?”
“This store’s a big part of my life,” Alan said. “I remember it opened in the summer of 1993 because I spent a lot of time here.”
Mark snapped his fingers. “Cheek said he was going to enjoy killing us a second time. He’s here...”
“He’s here to kill me,” Alan said. “The younger me.”
“Alan.” Tayisha spoke in a hushed tone. “You spent time here as a boy? Do you know Lenny?”
“Lenny’s a nickname. His real name’s Angus, but nobody calls him that. Angus Lennox.”
“He’s...”
“He’s my dad. Lenny’s my father.”
Tayisha and Mark looked at each other. Alan stared through the large picture window into the store, where he could see his father counting bills at the cash register. Lenny saw him looking and waved.
“But, dude...” Mark said. “Your father...isn’t he...I mean, didn’t he...”
“Yeah. He died.” Alan waved back. “He died in the summer of 1993.”
Chapter Five
Caitlin situating
“Eddie!”
Caitlin sucked in a breath of air to scream her boyfriend’s name again, but all that came out was a cough. Through teary eyes she watched the flames dancing beneath the surface of the sphere fade from view as the wormhole glowed, then shrank to nothing and vanished.
She could feel Dakota’s arms around her, shifting position as her friend stopped dragging her to safety and instead tried to comfort her. Together they slid down to the wooden floor and Caitlin collapsed against Dakota’s shoulder, sobbing. She was peripherally aware of someone behind them running, and heard a door open and close, but she couldn’t even bring herself to lift her head to look.
Dakota was rubbing her back, making soothing noises. “He’ll be all right,” she was whispering. “He’ll be all right.”
Caitlin pulled away, scooting back across the rough floor. “You don’t know that.”
“I know Eddie’s smarter than any of us. If there’s a way out he’ll find it. He’ll save himself, and Kevin too.”
“But there wasn’t a way out.” Caitlin stared at the off-white plaster wall beyond where the sphere had been.
“I don’t...” Dakota’s own voice was choked with tears. “I don’t know what to say, Caitlin. I couldn’t just leave you behind.”
Caitlin took Dakota’s hand in hers. “I’m not blaming you, D. I would have jumped through those flames to get to Eddie and then we both would have died.”
Caitlin felt Dakota’s hand squeeze hers and she realized what she had just said. A part of her was already beginning to accept that Eddie was gone, and that part was threatening to tear the rest of her to pieces. So she quickly shut that part down. She had done it when her friend Tamsin died just a few months earlier, and she had done it when her mother had died. She was an actor. She could do denial.
“All right.” She stood up and took in her surroundings. She needed a distraction, and figuring out where they had been sent was a good one.
They were in a large, open room. One long wall, opposite the door, had a couple of windows through which bright sunlight streamed in. The opposite wall had a red door leading out. A piano stood in the far corner, and a long table was collapsed behind a row of metal folding chairs. “We’re in a rehearsal studio.”
Dakota got up and walked to the nearest window. “I was hoping Tayisha, Mark and Alan would be here. Maybe they went outside?”
“Maybe. But Eddie said we might wind up in a different location.” She spun around in place, slowly, scanning the studio. “This feels familiar. Something seems off, but I think I’ve been here before, which means we’re still in New York, probably. I’m not sure exactly where.”
“Or when. Those spheres can apparently travel in...”
“Yeah, I’m still wrapping my head around that. I’d rather not face that possibility until I have to, if it’s all right with you.”
“I think you have to. Sorry. Come and look out the window.”
Caitlin joined her and looked out onto the street below. Things didn’t look all that different, and at first she was hoping Dakota was wrong, and all of that time travel stuff was just another trick of Jack’s or Cheek’s. They were about three stories above Lafayette Street in the East Village, which meant the rehearsal space they were in belonged to 440 Studios. She could see Astor Place to her left, with its iconic sculpture of a giant black cube balancing on one corner. The small plaza containing it was filled with teens socializing and skateboarding – nothing unusual there. To her right, across the street, was the Public Theater, looking as stately and impressive as ever. Although, she thought, the signage seemed different than the last time she had been there. And there was something missing.
“Joe’s Pub is gone,” she said.
“Hm?” Dakota looked down towards the Public. “What’s gone?”
“Joe’s Pub, their cabaret space. I can’t see the signs for it. Maybe they just took them down?”
“When was it opened?”
Caitlin shrugged. “No idea. Before we moved here.”
“So we’re sometime before 2009, then.”
Caitlin’s heart pounded in her chest. She watched Dakota peer out onto the street below, looking for clues. “I can’t believe how calmly you say that. I wish I could take this in stride as easily.”
Dakota didn’t turn away from the window. She was hugging herself, squeezing her upper arms tightly. “I’m not. I’m just...I’m looking at it as a problem to solve. One step at a time. Freaking out doesn’t help either one of us.”
“Right. Right.” Caitlin took a breath and focused on taking the trembling out of her voice. “I’m with you. Okay, what else do you see?”
“I can’t see much from here. I don’t know this street all that well and I can’t make out people’s clothes or the cars. Let’s get outside, take stock and figure out what’s next.”
“Sounds good.”
The door opened and a man came into the room. He was white, about their age, and dressed for summer, wearing a white t-shirt, tan cargo shorts and sandals. He was handsome, vaguely Irish-looking with buzz-cut light brown hair, big blue eyes, and day-old stubble. He was extremely muscular, as tall as Mark and slightly beefier.
Caitlin and Dakota froze. Caitlin felt an absurd wave of panic as she tried to come up an explanation for their presence there, but forced herself to calm down. It was just a rehearsal studio, not Fort Knox. At worst the man would ask them to leave.
“I lost Jack,” the man said. “He ran out of the room ahead of me and I followed him down the stairs, but I lost him on the street. I’m not really built for speed, especially in my sandals.”
Caitlin and Dakota exchanged a glance. Dakota nodded.
Caitlin kicked the man in the groin as hard as she could. His loose-fitting cargo shorts folded around her sneaker and she felt her foot connect with his most sensitive area. His eyes widened in shock for a moment before they closed again. He folded over on himself and fell to the ground, rolling onto his side and curling into a fetal position to cover his manhood. He was breathing hard, gasping on every inhale and moaning on every exhale.
Caitlin acted quickly. The man was a giant and despite all her training he’d overpower her easily if she allowed him a moment to recover. He rolled slightly over onto his stomach and before he could roll back she pressed her foot into his behind, flattening him out. He screamed again as his testicles were pushed into his cupped hands.
Caitlin lifted her foot from his bottom and pressed it into his neck, pinning him to the ground. Dakota grabbed a folding chair, holding it up above her head threateningly.
“Who are you?” Caitlin said. “How do you know Jack?”
“Ow, ow, ow,” the man yelled. “Ow, fuck, Caitlin, what the fuck? Ah, ah, ah, fuck!”
She dropped to the floor, replacing her foot on his neck with her knee. She grabbed him under the chin and lifted his head back.
“How do you know my name? Are you working for Jack?”
“He was chasing Jack,” Dakota said. “I think that’s what he said. He chased him out of the room.”
“Are you working for Cheek, then?” Caitlin asked him.
“What?” The man’s eyes were wide again. His breathing was slowing and he was clearly talking through a great deal of pain. “I don’t understand. What are you talking about?”
Caitlin pushed her knee harder into his neck. “Answer the question, asshole! Are you working for Jack or Cheek?”
“Neither!” he shouted. “You know I’m not! Why would you think that?”
Dakota crouched down to meet his eyes, still keeping the chair raised. “Then how did you know we’d be here? How did you know to find us here? To find Jack here?”
“Because I was with you! Because I followed Jack into the wormhole! You know this, you were right behind me.”
“You were in the wormhole generator room with us?” Dakota asked.
“Of course I was!”
“Where?” Caitlin asked. “Were you behind the machine? Hiding on the other side?”
“What? No, I was right the fuck next to you, Caitlin! What is wrong with you two?”
The man’s pain appeared to be fading, and she knew if he made an effort he’d likely be able to shove her off with ease. She knew she’d need to injure him again if she wanted to keep him down.
But, she thought, he wasn’t struggling or making any move to resist. They were talking at cross-purposes but he genuinely seemed as confused as she was.
“I’m going to let you up,” she said. “Don’t try anything. I’m tougher than I look.”
“Yeah, I know, believe me. My balls and I agree with you. Damn, I’m glad you weren’t wearing your boots.”
She got up, releasing her grip on his chin and lifting her knee from his neck. Dakota set her chair back on the floor, watching the man warily.
He slowly rolled himself onto his side, then pushed himself up to a sitting position. He sat with his legs outstretched in front of him, leaning slightly forward with his hands gently covering his groin. “Oh, shit, that hurts.”
“What’s your name?” Dakota asked.
