I drove past the trailhead parking area and cut the steering wheel hard to the right. The Scout bounced hard, lifting all of us off the seat. Chura, the lightest, yipped as she hit her head on the bare metal roof of the cab.

“Falcon, the azaleas!” Danetta yelled.

We flattened them, and anything else between us and the time chamber, which we had tucked safely below a hillside not far across the line between the clearing and the heavily wooded forest. Within minutes we would be on our way back to our era.

“Chura’s unconscious,” Chethra said.

Chura was slumped over Chethra, moving only with the Scout’s pitch. I turned my attention back to driving. As we approached the tree line, I stopped the Scout slowly to avoid throwing Chura forward.

Danetta patted Chura’s face while Chethra held her upright. “Come on, baby, wake up,” she said. “We need you ready. We’re here. We’re just about to make the jump.” Then, to Chethra and me, “She’s still breathing.”

In a voice so soft I at first thought someone else had joined us, Chethra said, “My dear Avelia. It’s your mother. Wake up so we can go. Your strength has inspired me, and I know you can do this.”

Her eyes stayed closed. Avelia?

I heard an engine roar and looked back to see the cops, now on the road again, headed our direction.

“We can carry her,” I said. “The chamber doesn’t care whether she’s awake. We can get her to a doctor when we get back.”

They agreed. Chethra grabbed the BFG from the floorboard and handed it to me. “Cover us,” she said.

“What did you watch on that Zenith last night after we went to sleep?” I asked. I had seen a few police show replays from that era, and from the sound of her, Chethra had watched one.

We moved as fast as we could, me pulling up the rear and looking over my shoulder. When the cops pulled into the parking area and started a foot pursuit, I urged the ladies to move a little faster. It was very close now. I saw the trail of matted down leaves, laid flat the day before as we dragged the time chamber out of sight. Only 20 more feet and we would be there.

A shot hit a tree in front of me, to my left, sending bark into my face. Unlike their boss, these deputies were not firing warning shots. No doubt when he radioed them he let them know he lost us, and they had no plans to let the same happen to them.

I could see down the wooded hillside now, and I looked to the spot we had left the time chamber.

Danetta pointed there. “Falcon, isn’t that where it should be?”

“That’s it,” I said.

“She’s waking up,” Chethra said.

“What’s going on, guys?” Chura asked. “Oh, my head.” She reached to touch it, but her mom stopped her.

I turned to see the cops getting too close. I leveled the BFG and shot the ground in front of them. An airborne wall of leaves and dirt rained on them. Obviously acutely aware of my weapon’s destructive power, they stopped where they were and raised their hands. Their guns thumped on the ground. The awe and wonder in their faces told me that, although they had been scared out of their wits, they wanted a BFG.

I was upset that they had got such a close look at the gun.

“It didn’t even make a sound,” Left Deputy said.

Right Deputy nodded his head slowly. “That was cool.”

I launched into my best Theo. “Now, you boys best be leavin’ us about our business. No, tell you what. Both of you, lean over to touch your toes.”

Left Deputy met the request with an impressive performance. He kept his knees almost perfectly straight as he leaned down and introduced his fingers to his shoes.

Right Deputy, however, was a much rounder man. He didn’t get far before he had to stop, lean up, and take a breath.

“You got some of them handcuffs?” I asked.

“Aw, shit, not again,” Right Deputy said.

“I told the ladies here I didn’t plan to shoot nobody, but if you don’t do as I say, I reckon your Sheriff will have your hides. And I don’t just mean he’ll whip ya. I mean your hides will be the only thing left.”

I let that sink in.

“Now,” I went on, pointing at Right Deputy, “you handcuff your arm to his leg. Don’t care which. Just do it.”

“Go on, Wayne, gitcher cuffs out,” Left Deputy said, dejected.

The other deputy, Wayne, handed the cuffs to his partner, then lay on the ground. He extended his left arm and winced as the cuffs snapped over his wrist, then over Left Deputy’s right ankle.

“Now you tighten those down real good,” I said. “I figger the only way you can follow us is if you can carry that big feller,” I said, pointing to Wayne. I turned to Danetta. “Darlin’, could you fetch their pistols?”

“Hey, Falcon, I see it!” Chura said. While I had been dealing with the bumpkins, she had walked a little farther down the hill.

“Know what, boys? You got another set of them cuffs, right? One of you go ahead and cuff yourself to that little tree right there, then throw me all your keys.” They did. “Now, if you somehow git yourselves out of that, you’d best stay put until we’re well out of sight. This here gun’s gotta helluva range, and a wide pattern settin’ you wouldn’t believe.”

As we walked toward Chura’s find, I kept the BFG on the cops until the hill blocked my view of them.

Obviously, somebody had moved the chamber. Though it was tough, it was not indestructible, and I grew more tense with each step. My mind raced. Who moved it? What did they do to it?

It still lay on the ground, as we had left it, but something was different. On the door were two sets of five scratches. I had seen it before, but not in person. Only one animal out there was strong enough to move the chamber by itself.

“A bear did this,” I said.

“Shit,” Chura said.

(continue to The End)