by Jason Ayres
He looked around the kitchen. It was home, but it didn’t feel like home. In contrast to his clean and tidy flat where he had become quite house-proud, the place was an absolute mess.
The walls were faded and dirty, and a couple of tiles had fallen off the wall. Above a deep fat fryer there was an unsightly yellow stain spreading up the wall. The kitchen surfaces were littered with takeaway boxes and dirty crockery. Had he really left the place in this state?
He walked through to the lounge. There were a couple of pizza boxes on the floor and empty lager cans all over the coffee table. At least his wallet was there. He picked it up and looked inside, reassured to see some good old-fashioned twenty-pound notes inside.
The place was a tip and he was a slob. He sat down for a moment to think things over. His relief at being home was tempered by the signs everywhere of the person that he used to be. Had he really wanted to come back here after all this time? He couldn’t deny that things had worked out a lot better for him in the future.
Admittedly, it hadn’t started out too well, what with being arrested and incarcerated in the psychiatric unit, but as time had gone on, he’d grown to enjoy his life in 2064. The people he had got to know there actually seemed to like him. It wasn’t just Amelia, but the other people in the flats, and the warden as well. For the first time in his life, he had felt as if he belonged somewhere.
What did he have here? A bunch of former school friends who despised him and a town that knew all about his reputation and what he’d done during the Black Winter. People in this time zone crossed the street to avoid him. And what would those former friends do when they discovered that he was still here, and not two decades in the future. Would they come after him and do something even worse to him? Suddenly he began to feel not so safe after all.
The more he thought about everything, the more he began to wonder why he had bothered to come back. It had been a quest, yes, maybe even an obsession, to right a wrong and get back to his former life.
But now he was here, he just didn’t want it anymore.
He looked down at the coffee table where he’d put down the tachyometer. At least he still had that. Could he make life more pleasant for himself using it? In theory, he could have anything he wanted.
When he’d left home in 2064 this morning, he hadn’t known he’d be coming home, but what if he’d come back armed with details of the winners of every major horse race of the next twenty years? He could be wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. He’d love to see the look on Nobby the Professor’s face in The Red Lion. After years of listening to his duff tips and bullshit about being a professional punter, wouldn’t it be amazing to waltz in waving a huge wad and ordering drinks all round?
He could easily do this if he nipped back forwards in time to get the information. But even this idea didn’t really appeal. What was the point of having money here if everyone hated him? Sure, they would take his drinks off him, but they would still despise him. Would he really get pleasure from living that sort of life? The old Dan would have done, but he wasn’t the old Dan anymore.
As he looked at the tachyometer, he realised that there was only one thing he could do, one great wrong that he had to put right. Until that was done, there was no amount of money or anything else that could ease his troubled soul. He had to go back.
Picking up the tachyometer, he pressed the green button and began to enter a date:
31/10/2029
Chapter Twenty-Three
October 2029
Dan had set the tachyometer for midday when he’d jumped back in time, and had arrived back in the living room of his home once again. Once again, the house did not belong to him. The décor was unfamiliar just as it had been when he’d arrived there in the future.
This time he’d arrived at a time before he’d lived there. He was instantly struck by the cold. He may have been indoors, but the heating was clearly off. Of the occupants there was no sign: they had probably fled the area as many had during the Black Winter.
Hunting through the wardrobes, he kitted himself out and made plans for his trip to the Army base. Wrapped up in a thick coat, with a hood and a scarf disguising many of his features, he was fairly confident that he’d be able to get in.
It was important that he would be recognisable enough for the guards on the gate to let him in, but covered up sufficiently for them to not notice the age difference. He was around 13 years older, physically, than his younger self who would already be in the base, but they’d only really see his face, and that hadn’t changed too much.
Just to make sure, he rubbed lots of moisturising cream on his face that he found in one of the bathroom cabinets. That was what women did to make themselves look younger, wasn’t it? There was no harm in giving it a try.
He thought about having a shave, too, but there was no hot water and he didn’t really fancy ripping his face to pieces with the only razor he could find in the bathroom, a cheap, disposable one.
Everything went without a hitch. He reached the perimeter of the base just as it was starting to get dark, which left him plenty of time to carry out his plan. He had the tachyometer tucked safely into his pocket. He would do what he needed to do and then get out of there as quickly as possible. If all went according to plan, he was about to change history for the better. Then, hopefully, his life would be better, too.
Dan hadn’t really thought through all the possible paradoxes of what he was attempting to do might cause. It hadn’t crossed his mind to think that if he carried out his plan successfully, the chain of events that had led him to be here right now in the first place might not then take place.
These were topics that Josh, Peter and the rest of the team had spent hours debating and had come to various conclusions about based on their experiences, such as Josh’s experiment with the packet of crisps. Dan, however, was not privy to any of that knowledge. He realised that changing things could have consequences; hence his earlier decision not to go back to the tunnel. This time, though, he was clear-cut and focused in his mind. There was just one single goal in his mind: carry out his mission, go home, and everything would be well with the world again.
Getting into the base was easy. The guard on the gate seemed surprised to see him when he turned up, remarking that he thought he was in his office, but he didn’t question him any further on it. He didn’t dare. Like most of the people in the base, he was afraid of Dan.
Once safely inside, he positioned himself in the store shed, which was across the square from his office. By his reckoning, he couldn’t have long to wait until the truck containing Lauren drove in.
Sure enough, he heard it approach long before he saw it, but just as he did, there was an unexpected and unwelcome development. There was a man whom Dan didn’t recognise crossing the square, just in front of him. Dan couldn’t identify the man through the prevailing blizzard, especially in the heavily clad outfit that he was wearing, but what he was holding in his hand was unmistakeable.
It was another tachyometer.
It was Josh, it had to be. What was here doing here? Had he tracked Dan down? Had he come here to stop him? How could he possibly have known what Dan was planning to do?
These and many more questions raced through his mind. No matter, he had no intention of turning back now. He watched as Josh crossed to the entrance to the hut he had commandeered as his office, and disappeared round the corner. Just as he did so, the truck containing Lauren drove in.
Dan watched as Ryan and the other man took Lauren from the truck and manhandled her roughly towards the building. He had planned to wait until she was inside and Ryan had gone back to the mess hall before he made his move. Then he would have to be very quick with what he planned to do, especially with the unforeseen factor of Josh now also being on the scene. This was getting extremely complicated.
As soon as Ryan was out of the way, he crossed the square and entered the building. There was just a short corridor leading to his office door, and as he approached he c
ould hear the argument going on inside.
“Over my dead body,” he heard Lauren scream.
He knew that there was very little time to spare. He flung open the door and took in the scene. His younger self and Lauren were fighting and he watched as Lauren tried desperately to grab the gun that was on the table. He knew that she wasn’t going to make it in time.
His younger self had his back to him and hadn’t noticed him come in. This was the critical moment and Dan knew he had to act now.
He rushed into the room and rugby-tackled his younger self to the ground, just as he was about to grab hold of Lauren. Falling to the floor, with his younger self in tow, he looked up to see Josh’s face staring through the window, a look of complete surprise on his face. So he hadn’t been expecting me, after all, then, thought Dan.
The two Dans rolled across the floor and fell apart. His younger self turned towards him, determined to see who’d had the audacity to intervene in his attack on Lauren. The look of surprise on Josh’s face at the window was nothing to that on the younger Dan’s as he realised he was looking at a slightly older mirror image of himself.
“How…?” was the only word that fell from his lips.
Dan’s timely intervention had given Lauren the opportunity to reach the gun, but he certainly hadn’t anticipated what was to come next. It was all happening so quickly.
Lauren hadn’t quite clocked who this mysterious stranger was who had unexpectedly come to her aid, but she had no intention of wasting the opportunity. She grabbed hold of the gun and turned it directly towards his younger self.
Fearful for her life after being terrorised by the younger Dan, her self-preservation instincts kicked in. She’d seen enough that day to know that the old rules didn’t apply anymore: as far as she was concerned, it was kill or be killed.
Without ever having handled a gun in her life before, she pointed it squarely at the younger Dan’s head and pulled the trigger.
“No!” shouted the older Dan, realising too late what was happening, but he was powerless to stop her. There was an incredibly loud bang, and he watched horrified at the bullet hole that appeared in his younger self’s head. With a look of disbelief on his face, the younger Dan toppled backwards to the floor.
Almost immediately he felt himself become light-headed and dizzy. Around him everything changed. Josh vanished instantaneously from the window, and he felt a sudden sensation of falling which quickly faded to nothingness. As his younger self lay dying on the floor, blood seeping from the hole in his head, the older Dan simply disappeared from existence, his entire timeline from 2029 onwards erased.
From Lauren’s perspective, he simply vanished. She hadn’t had the chance to get a close look at him, and would never know the identity of the mystery man who’d come to her aid. She had no way of rationalising who this guardian angel was or where he had gone, but that was the least of her worries.
Now she now sat on the floor, adrenaline coursing through her veins, scarcely believing what she had just done. A powerful cocktail of emotions washed over her. There was relief that she was still alive, guilt that she’d just killed a man, no matter how bad he had been, and fear for what was going to happen to her now.
She got up to see that there was a pool of blood pouring from Dan’s head onto the floor. There was no doubt whatsoever that he was dead. What would happen when the others found out? No matter, she was made of strong stuff and she was holding a gun. She would do whatever it took to survive.
She pulled herself together, got up and sat down behind the desk. She didn’t have long to compose herself but quickly started to formulate a plan.
The gunshot had been heard all over the base. A couple of minutes there was a knock on the door and she heard an extremely nervous voice from outside.
“Is everything alright, Dan?” said the voice, which she recognised as Ryan’s. “I heard a gunshot.”
“Come in,” she said.
Ryan nervously entered the room. He appeared to be alone. He took in the scene, Dan’s body on the floor, and her pointing the gun at him. Her confidence grew as she could see that he looked absolutely terrified.
“Shut the door,” she said.
“Is he dead?” asked Ryan.
“Very,” replied Lauren. Despite the horror of what she’d just been through, she felt far more in control of the situation than she’d expected, and it wasn’t purely because she was holding the gun. Ryan was falling apart in front of her eyes.
“Please don’t shoot me,” pleaded Ryan.
She definitely felt that she had the upper hand here. “I’m not going to shoot you, Ryan,” she replied softly. “Now why don’t you sit down and tell me all about this place and what’s been going on.”
From that point onwards, she had complete control of the situation. Ryan broke down completely, telling her everything Dan had done. He told her about the oppressive nature of the regime, about the boy he’d put out into the cold for stealing food, and about the sexual favours he’d demanded from the women on the base.
Less than an hour later, she was standing in the mess hall, addressing the entire community. With Ryan beside her, she calmly broke the news to them of Dan’s death. From everything Ryan had told her, she didn’t think they were likely to lynch her, but the reaction she got took her completely by surprise.
A spontaneous cheer and a round of applause broke out. She was far from being the villain of the piece; in fact, she was now being lauded as their saviour. Dan’s dictatorship and sickening habits had made everyone there hate him, and the relief on everyone’s faces was clear to see.
She made the most of her situation by offering herself up as their new leader. She was accepted unanimously. In her acceptance speech as leader, she declared that there would be no more guns, no more orders, and no more hierarchy. They would form a single community, working together to survive the apocalyptic situation they had all found themselves in.
She rose to the task admirably. When the Black Winter finally relented the following spring, she’d successfully nurtured a prosperous community that had grown to over 200 people, all alive, well and happy. As civilisation returned, she found herself hailed as a national hero, and was recognised as such in the New Year’s Honours List the following year.
She’d come a long way since she was running karaoke nights in The Red Lion, that was for sure.
Lauren Watson, MBE. Whoever would have thought it?
Epilogue
August 2049
Peter, Hannah and Jess had arrived at Charlie and Kaylee’s house, excitedly looking forward to a barbecue with all their old friends. It had been months since Peter and Hannah had seen the others, following a lengthy trip ‘down under’.
As they rounded the side of the house, they saw their friends, all waiting there for them. Charlie was busy with the barbecue, the kids were playing swingball on the lawn, and over on the patio, Kaylee and Alice were placing bowls of salad and bread rolls on the table.
As they made their way over to the others, Josh emerged from the large French windows carrying a crate of lager. Close behind him followed Lauren in a skimpy dress, wobbling in her high heels, and clutching an already half-drunk bottle of Prosecco.
“Hey, you guys! It’s time to party!” she cried out.
It was going to be a good night.
THE END.
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Also by Jason Ayres:
My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday
When 54 year old Thomas Scott wakes up in a hospital bed on New Year’s Day he has no memory of who he is or why he is there. Racked with pain from a
terminal illness, death swiftly follows.
The next day he awakes to find himself alive again and confused, especially when he discovers that it is now New Year’s Eve. As the days pass he begins to realise that he is living his life backwards one day at a time.
So begins the extraordinary tale of a man who goes to sleep on Sunday nights and wakes up on Saturday mornings: A man who cannot form a meaningful relationship with a woman because when he jumps back to the previous day, she has no memory of him. And a man who can win a fortune from gambling any time he likes, but has only one day to spend it.
Trying to find some purpose in life he resolves to find out as much about his own personal history as he can. Learning of the death of his wife and an attack on his daughter, he prepares to make changes in the past to secure their future.
From middle-aged father all the way back to childhood, the passing years present all manner of different challenges as he grows ever more youthful.
Set in and around Oxford between the years of 1970 and 2025, this unique concept for a time travel novel features plenty of humour, nostalgia and “what if?” moments.
Taking place in the same universe as the author's Time Bubble series, this is a standalone novel that can be enjoyed without the need to have read those earlier books.
UK Link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00UDHAD0M
US Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UDHAD0M
Also by Jason Ayres:
The Time Bubble
Charlie and Josh’s interests were the same as most other teenagers: drinking, parties and girls. That was until the day they discovered the Time Bubble.
It starts at a bit of fun, jumping a few seconds into the future. Soon things take a more serious turn as the leaps in time increase in duration. When a teenage girl goes missing, and the police become involved, suspicion falls on Charlie. How can he explain where she is? Will anyone believe him?
