by Lou Cadle
The third morning, they set out early, after building a fire with the last of the wood and cooking the smoked herring. That left them with enough food for just one meal, made up mostly of berries, so the instant they arrived, they’d need to find fish or meat within a day or two. And they needed to find water immediately.
“We’ll probably come out into a dryer climate again,” Bob had warned them, after Laina had said the maximum jump they could get was 24 million years.
On the final morning, Bob was moving even more slowly. The long walk was wearing on him, so Hannah slowed their pace more, and stopped every hour for a break.
Three hours later, they found the hell pigs.
Chapter 27
It was the same group that had chased them before, she thought, or one with identical numbers. They spotted the animals from a distance as the humans walked back down the valley on the last leg of their journey to the timegate.
The hell pigs were feeding.
“We need to give them a wide berth,” she said.
Bob said, “Maybe even go back over the crest of the hill and wait.”
Laina said, “Just not too long a delay, please. We can’t afford much more than an hour.” She was wearing Hannah’s watch, keeping track of when the timegate would appear.
Hannah should have had them leave another half-day earlier. Nothing to be done about that now, though. “Let’s back up this way.”
Dixie said, “I think I recognize those bushes over there. From the first day we were here.”
Hannah wasn’t sure how you’d tell one patch of bushes from the next, especially now that the bushes had all turned green from the rain and were putting out new leaves, but she gave the girl the benefit of the doubt.
They went back up the hill at an angle, taking them further away from the predators. Bob’s steps slowed even more on the slope. Hannah didn’t want to take a break until the hell pigs were out of sight, though, so she matched her pace to his. Some of the kids got ahead of them. Others hung back—Zach, Jodi, and Nari.
They were plodding up to the top of the hill when Hannah glanced behind herself and saw that one of the hell pigs was coming their way. “Oh, crap,” she said.
“What?” Zach asked.
“We’re going to have company.” She pointed.
He looked back and his mouth dropped open. “Jodi, you catch up to Ted and them.”
“I’m not leaving you behind.”
Bob said, “You should all catch up. You too, Hannah. Don’t wait for me.”
Hannah couldn’t help but think how predators culled the weakest of the herd. Right now, that was Bob.
Nari said, “I’m staying with you, Mr. O’Brien.”
“Us too,” said Zach, but he looked unhappily at Jodi.
“I can go faster,” Bob said. “At least for a little while.”
“Then let’s,” Hannah said. “Let’s get over the lip of the hill and out of their sight. They’re stupid enough they might forget about us.” She didn’t think they were stupid about hunting, though.
Nari said, “They just ate. Why would they want us now?”
“Maybe they don’t,” Hannah said. “Maybe they’re only making sure we don’t steal their meal.”
Bob was panting as he labored up the last of the hill. Hannah wished there was something she could do for him, but beyond getting in back of him and pushing him—which would likely throw his balance off—she couldn’t think of a thing. She jogged the last few dozen steps up to the hill’s crest and turned to watch the hell pigs.
Only the one was coming this way, though the rest seemed to have finished their food. One was rubbing its long snout in the grass, cleaning blood and grease off. One was grooming its forelegs.
But one plodded steadily in their direction. She didn’t like it.
As Bob came up beside her, she said, “Any chance you can jog?”
“I’ll try,” he said.
“Then let’s get out of its sight and get moving.”
A dozen yards under the crest, they turned away from the predators’ location. They set out at a slow jog, parallel to the line of the hills. Ahead and down the valley, Rex saw what they were doing and came to a halt. She saw him calling to the leaders, Ted and Laina, and they stopped too.
They were too far to yell to. Hannah waved her hand forward, trying to get them to keep moving. If there was to be a confrontation with the hell pig, she’d rather put the fewest of them at risk as possible.
Could she, timid Nari, weakened Bob, and Zach and Jodi fight off the animal? Jodi had done it before, but she thought it would be a close thing. When Hannah tripped over a stone, she stopped and used the butt end of her spear to dig it out. Bob stopped too, and his breath was rasping in a way she really didn’t like. There was a patch of stony ground here, and she called a halt. “Grab some rocks,” she said. Maybe they could keep the animal from getting close by throwing rocks at it, and then they’d not have to test their prowess with the spears and club.
She stopped Bob from doing the same. “Don’t weigh yourself down any more.”
He nodded and bent to rest his hands on his thighs, trying to catch his breath.
She was worried about him. He was sweating, and his color looked bad, too pale. “Let’s walk for a minute or two,” she said, once the kids had their pockets filled with rocks to throw.
They walked for another few dozen steps, and then Bob stopped, and fell to his knees. “I can’t,” he managed to say. “Go on.” And then he collapsed on his side, curled up, his hand on his chest.
“Mr. O’Brien!” Jodi said, and got down beside him. “Are you okay?”
Hannah didn’t think he was. If he’d had a heart attack before, this might be another. “Nari, tend to Mr. O’Brien,” she said. The girl wouldn’t be very helpful in a fight anyway, so Hannah gave her something useful to do. Hannah stripped off her pack and set it down by Bob. “There’s one aspirin left in the first aid kit,” she said to Nari. “You need to chew it a bit, then stick it in his mouth. Make sure he swallows it all.”
Nearly as pale as Bob, Nari nodded and began to dig through Hannah’s pack.
“The rest of us,” Hannah said, “should retrace our steps, and make a stand away from these two.”
“Right,” Jodi said, getting to her feet. “We need to protect Mr. O’Brien.”
The two youngsters stripped off their packs, Garreth’s old pack and a new basket pack, and left them with Bob and Nari. “I’m ready,” said Zach.
“Me too,” Jodi said. She swung her club in a single rotation and then gripped it solidly. “I’ll make him sorry he’s messing with us.”
“And I’ll help this time,” said Zach.
“Let’s go,” Hannah said, and she marched back the way they had come. She could hear Nari saying something soothing to Bob, but she was focused ahead and didn’t register what. She held a hand up to stop Zach and Jodi and ran up the few steps that allowed her to see over the hill. The hell pig was still trailing them, following their footsteps exactly. In the distance, the other animals were still around the area of their kill.
Zach came to her side and crouched down.
Jodi, behind, said, “I’m coming up too.”
“No,” Hannah said at the same time as Zach. “We’re coming down,” she said. “There’s nothing important to see. But there is only one of them coming after us.”
“We can take one, can’t we?” Jodi said.
“Better than we can take all five,” Hannah said.
“Maybe we should be aggressive about it,” Zach said. “Go at it, and it might turn. Without its buddies, it might be more skittish.”
Hannah wouldn’t feel skittish at all if she were the animal, as it still outweighed the three of them added together. But maybe he was right. Better to confront the animal, better to surprise it, than let it dictate the terms of their encounter.
Jodi said, “Let’s start with the rocks. Maybe we can convince it we’re not worth the troubl
e.”
“Good plan,” Hannah said. “Let’s get closer to it, right now.” She sprinted for the spot where they had come over the hill, hoping to beat the predator to it. Jodi and Zach ran after her, their legs kicking through the tall grass with a rhythmic rustle.
They beat the animal to the hill’s crest, but not by much. It was only a stone’s throw from them, which was a good news-bad news situation. It was so close, it was a real danger, just a quick charge away from them. But they did have their stones, and they began to throw them at the long muzzle, still blood-stained from its recent meal.
The hell pig chuffed and twitched its head as one of the bigger stones smacked it right between the eyes. The clunk of the stone bouncing off the bony protuberance there lifted her spirits briefly.
But then the hell pig continued toward them. It didn’t hurry. It moved like it had all the time in the world.
“I have an idea!” Zach said. “Let’s do this.” He began marching in place, stomping the ground hard. “All together. Side by side. Make it think we’re a six-legged creature.”
Jodi slid into place beside him and joined his march.
What the hell, Hannah thought, and lined up by Jodi, marching in place.
As her left foot hit the ground, Zach yelled, “Hah!” The next time her left foot came down, Hannah repeated the cry, lowering her voice to a deep pitch. Jodi did the same, and she shook her club overhead in rhythm to their footfalls.
The animal paused, looking up at them. Hannah thought it might be more confused—or amused, if it had a sense of humor—than intimidated, but it did stop.
And that gave all three of them heart, and they stomped and yelled with more power.
The hell pig continued to stand and stare stupidly at them.
What is it thinking? Hannah hoped it was reconsidering its actions, thinking about rejoining its clan, thinking that this six-legged noisy creature wasn’t worth the trouble.
Behind her, she heard Ted’s whoop as he came running up. She glanced to her right and saw the rest of them, strung out in a line behind Ted, coming to help. All except Laina, who had detoured toward Bob.
Without pause, Ted came tearing over the crest of the hill and angled straight at the hell pig, which turned to look that way, at the fast-moving creature.
“Forward!” yelled Zach, and he kept the rhythm but turned the march into a drive for the predator. It looked at them, it looked back at Ted, and it turned around. “Charge!” said Zach, and he ran too, Jodi just behind him.
Hannah was a half-step behind, but she caught up to them, driven by the force of worry over one of them getting hurt. “Stay back, Ted!” she screamed. “Don’t get too close!”
But the hell pig had decided they were dangerous enough—or weird enough—that it wanted no part of them, and it broke into a trot. With four legs and the mass of the animal helping drive it down hill, it stayed ahead of even Ted.
“Stop, Ted!” she yelled. “Get back here! Please!”
He was obviously reluctant to give up the chase, but he did slow, and then stop. He jogged back up to intercept them.
“Thank you,” Hannah said. “I don’t think we need to go any farther. It’s still running.”
Rex and Dixie ran up then. “You scared it away?” Rex said.
“Seems so,” Ted said, grinning. “Kind of fun.”
Jodi said, “Mr. O’Brien,” and she turned and ran for the teacher.
“What about him?” Dixie said.
“I think he’s had another heart attack,” Hannah said. “The rest of you, hang out here for a minute, make sure that animal is still moving away, okay?” Then she turned and ran for the spot where Bob lay too.
“I’m sorry,” he said, as she came up. He was nearly white as cotton, and he was wheezing.
“You gave him the aspirin?” she asked Nari.
Nari nodded, looking frightened.
“Good,” she said, patting the girl on the shoulder. “Bob, is it worse than last time?”
“Yeah,” he managed to say.
“Lie back, all the way.” She dug in her pack for the Mylar blankets. “Cover him up,” she said to Jodi, handing the blankets to her.
Laina said, “We’re going to miss the timegate.”
“Then we’ll miss it,” said Hannah. “We have berries and water here. We’ll live. So we’ll catch it next month, is all.”
“I want to go see it,” Laina said. “I can learn something from it, even if I—we—don’t use it.”
“You can’t go alone.”
Bob grabbed her arm. “You go too,” he said. “Watch her.”
“I need to stay here with you,” she said.
“Can’t do anything,” he managed. Then he had to stop and catch his breath.
Jodi said, “I remember everything you taught us about CPR. And if Laina really can learn something from the timegate, you should go. Maybe we can get back to the 21st century in one jump next time, and then we could get Mr. O’Brien to a doctor.”
“Is that possible?” Hannah asked Laina. The girl was on her feet, pacing. She still had her pack on.
Laina shrugged and looked at Hannah’s watch again. “There really isn’t much time. And it isn’t far.”
Hannah was torn. She could send Nari and Jodi with Laina, but Bob was staring at her, even without words telling her to go with Laina, to watch the girl’s back. Okay, fine. “We’ll run. When it’s gone, we’ll jog all the way back, so it won’t be long,” she told the girls. Then she made sure the first aid kit was still on the ground by the girls, grabbed her pack and spear, and said, “Let’s go, then,” to Laina.
Laina grabbed up her spear and broke into a fast walk, at just under a trot. “I want to be there the instant it appears,” she said. “I need to time everything.”
“Okay, okay,” said Hannah. “How long do we have?”
“Less than a half-hour,” she said, picking up the pace even more, speed-walking.
Hannah broke into a trot, more comfortable for her, even with the pack jouncing on her back. She kept quiet, letting Laina do whatever calculations she was no doubt doing in her head.
They came to an area that was looking familiar. Then the picture clicked into place, matching Hannah’s memory. It was the precise place they had slept their first nights here.
“It’s over here,” Laina said, pointing. She hurried in that direction. “Not too close, though; I don’t remember where exactly.”
Hannah said, “How long?”
“Six minutes, twenty seconds.”
Hannah found a hole they’d dug for waste, marked by a short covering of new grass, and then she thought she had the area where they’d slept. “We camped right here, I think.”
Laina pointed. “Over there, then, is where it should be. I think we can get a little closer.” She walked another dozen steps in the direction she had pointed.
Hannah hurried to her side. “What are you looking for?”
“I’ll know it when I see it.”
Laina counted off the final seconds, and then the timegate was there, the cascade of colors appearing from nothing, like a waterfall of iridescence, purples and deep reds predominating.
“It’s beautiful,” said Hannah.
“It’ll get us home. Okay, these first five minutes, no one should go through, not ever. Let it stabilize.”
“What would happen if you did go through too early?” Hannah said, feeling a chill.
“Nothing good,” said Laina, staring at the watch. She circled around the timegate slowly, going all the way around. At the opposite side, she was still visible through the light. “Angle of entry means little about timing, but it might mean something else,” she said, when she had completed the circle. With the toe of her boot, she drew an arrow in the grass, pointing to one particular spot. “This is where everyone should go through,” she said.
“Okay,” Hannah said. “But you’ll be here and can show us.”
“You never know,” she said. �
�Garreth died. M.J. died.”
“I won’t let you die,” Hannah said. “Not if I can possibly help it.”
For a long time, Laina said nothing, just looked back and forth between the timegate and the watch. “The more people who know a skill, the better.” Laina looked up and smiled at her. “That’s what you always say, right?”
“Right.”
“Then I’m teaching you the skill. Angle of approach may not count, but let’s be on the safe side and go with what I know. Timing is everything,” Laina said. “Everything. I think we can maximize the jump by timing it just right.”
“And get all the way back in one jump?”
“No, sorry, that’s impossible. Has to be two.”
“But you—”
“Shush,” Laina said, holding up a hand. “Since the timegate appeared, it has been exactly fourteen minutes and four seconds.” She took the watch off her wrist and held it up. “Eight seconds. Remember that. Ten, eleven, twelve.” Laina dropped the watch on the ground.
And she stepped into the timegate and was gone.
Chapter 28
“Laina!” Hannah screamed, taking a step toward the place she’d last seen the girl. She reached for the shimmering lights—
But she stopped herself. She could follow Laina through. The rule was, she knew, once the first person went through, it stayed open. They didn’t know for how long, but for a minute, Laina had said, the gate should be open. Maybe even a few minutes, but definitely one minute.
She realized, with a sinking feeling, that Laina had this contingency plan all along. She had repeated the facts about the timegate often enough to Hannah that Hannah knew them. She had been teaching her.
Fourteen minutes and thirteen seconds.
For God’s sake, Hannah, do not forget that. She could follow Laina, they all could, next month when the timegate appeared again.
When would that be? About a month, anyway. They’d be here and camped in plenty of time for it, that was for sure.
