We are never so lost as when we believe we know everything.
~ excerpt from Among the Wildflowers by Andria Toskoshi
Date Unknown
Location Unknown
Iteration Unknown
Sunlight burned Sam’s eyes. She had been expecting night and the cover of darkness. Heart racing, she rolled away from the portal, still clutching the machine. It seemed her grip was loosening. She looked down and saw the metal dissolving, steaming into the air like dry ice on a hot road.
Mac scrambled to his feet beside her. “That’s not supposed to happen, is it?”
“This plan didn’t come with a training manual.”
They watched it vanish until there was nothing left but a glass tube with a metal fitting on each end filled with a viscous purple liquid that moved like mercury. Sam looked up at Mac. “Thoughts?”
“Don’t break the tube.”
“Good thinking.” She tucked it into her pocket and looked around. “This . . . could be Alabama.”
“This could be anywhere.”
Sam shrugged. “Let’s find a road. Some sign of human civilization would be nice.”
“Just so we know we didn’t accidentally wander into a dystopian wasteland populated only by rabid dogs?”
“You’re not allowed to watch sci-fi movies anymore.”
“Considering I think we’re currently living a sci-fi movie, I feel it’s good preparation for time traveling.”
“We’re not time traveling. That was a onetime deal. Now it’s over. No more machine.”
“We still have the pieces.”
“We’re going to lose the pieces as soon as I find a convenient abyss.” She took a deep breath. “Do you smell something . . . weird? Like, museumish?”
“Museumish?” Mac inhaled and shook his head. “I smell grass, wildflowers, maybe jasmine or magnolia. Not to mention asphalt, tar, and diesel.”
“Diesel?” Sam raised an eyebrow. “Who runs anything on fossil fuels?”
“We’re not arresting anyone,” Mac warned.
“It’s illegal to use fossil fuels! The pollution fines alone . . .” Sam trailed off as she noticed a face in the distance. Or at least the outline of a human body. “Mac, is there a little green man over there?”
He spun around, squinted, and raised an eyebrow. “That is a soldier in a combat uniform.”
“We did not go back to the Civil War!” Sister Mary Francis would be horrified to hear how bad her math skills had failed. They couldn’t have possibly traveled back further than 2069. That’s when Emir made the machine . . . “Mac.” She turned to him in a panic. “When are we?”
“That’s the uniform we had from 2057 until America became part of the Commonwealth.” Mac shrugged. “We didn’t leave Fort Benning.”
“We didn’t land in 2069, either,” she growled.
“Hands where we can see them!” a man shouted from behind Sam.
“Mac?” She raised her eyebrows and willed him to find an exit plan. He’d been a Ranger. He was supposed to have a plan for disasters like this.
“Put your hands out and let me talk.”
“We’re relying on your people skills for survival?”
We’re going to die.
Mac flashed her a grin. “Exciting, right?”
“A laugh a minute.” She closed her eyes and prayed to St. Jude. If there was ever a hopeless cause, this was it. “Don’t kick him in the nuts,” Sam muttered.
“Would I do that?”
“You’re not good at making friends.”
“I have you.” Mac winked and turned to the soldiers stalking up to them with unfamiliar rifles in their hands.
Mac could probably name the rifles. Heck, he could probably fieldstrip or undress or whatever it was soldiers did with guns with their eyes closed in under thirty seconds. Right now, she hoped that he could get out of this without their winding up in jail, or worse.
“Hi,” Mac said. “We are a little lost.”
“No kidding,” the soldier said. His uniform had the name BENTLY embroidered on the right side of his chest. “This is a training ground.”
“I know, we were just trying to take a short cut. My car died, and my girlfriend’s got to catch a flight home from Atlanta. I thought we could cut across here and catch the main road, but I think I took a wrong turn.” Mac patted his pocket. “Here, I’ve got my ID.”
Sam closed her eyes. They didn’t know what year it was, and he wanted to use his ID. This was going to be so much fun.
“Right here.” Mac held out his wallet.
The soldier took it. “Lieutenant MacKenzie? This ID expires next month you know.”
“Yeah.”
“You fail landnav, LT?”
“I . . .” Mac winced. “I might have been paying more attention to my girlfriend than my step count.”
Bently eyed Sam. His look traveled up, down, and back up to rest on her chest before making eye contact again. “I guess that makes sense.”
Sam swallowed an angry reproach as Mac put an arm around her. If they survived this, she was going to give him a long lecture on believable lies. It was a stretch to think anyone, even MacKenzie, was so distracted by her nonexistent beauty that he wasn’t paying attention to their surroundings. Actually, it made even less sense with Mac, since he took hyperawareness to a whole new level.
“Can you point us in the direction of the main post?” Mac asked.
Bently sighed. “You’ve got a good ten-mile hike, and this is a restricted area. We’re out here on exercises. If the MPs had found you”—he grimaced—“boy howdy would you be in trouble. Look. One Ranger to another, my car is just behind those trees. You know the roads here?”
“Better than I know the fields,” Mac said.
“Can you drop my car off at the PX?”
“Sure thing,” Mac said with a smile.
Bently took a set of keys out of his pocket. “It’s the black truck with the sniper sticker on the back. Leave it at the PX with a full tank of gas.”
“Hooah.” Mac saluted. “Come on, Sam. We can get a taxi from the PX.”
“Thanks.” Sam waved good-bye to the soldiers and hurried to follow Mac. “What is a PX and where are we taking the taxi? There’s no way I can fly anywhere. All I have is my passport, and it was issued in 2066.”
“The PX is the post exchange. It’s the general store on base, where you can buy everything from clothes to gardening supplies. It’s across from the commissary.”
“A food court?”
“A grocery store. And it’s October, 2064. My lieutenant’s ID expires in November.”
Sam frowned as she followed him through the grass. “I thought you were a captain.”
He nodded. “Officially promoted just before I left for Afghanistan. I never pinned the rank on.” Mac clicked a button on the keys, and a black truck flashed its lights and unlocked. “Here’s our ride to our taxi, which will take us to the bus station.”
“I can’t believe you’re stealing a soldier’s car!”
“I’m not stealing it!” Mac said as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “He’s letting us borrow it. Soldiers did this all the time before we joined the Commonwealth. If your car was low on gas or you needed a ride, you borrowed a buddy’s car. No big deal. Fill the gas tank and leave it somewhere easy to find. Sergeant Bently will hitch a ride with a friend and pick up the car. No one thinks twice about this sort of stuff.”
Sam strapped herself in. “What is that smell?”
Mac sniffed. “Stale french fries, gun cleaner, boot polish, and wet dog. Why?”
She peeked at the back bench of the truck. “This is filthy.”
“It’s a soldier’s truck! What do you expect?” Mac turned the key, and the engine roared like a jet.
Sam covered her ears. “Is it broken?”
“It’s an old gasoline truck. Haven’t you ever been in one?”
“We had electric cars in Canada.”
Mac laughed. “Oh, you are in for a ride.”
She looked nervously at the field behind them. “Where’s the taxi going to take us?”
“The bus station, for a start. Fifty dollars can get you a ticket to anywhere. If we’re in our iteration, we can head to my place up in D.C. I just got home from Afghanistan, and between the pain meds and the alcohol, I wouldn’t know if a stranger walked into my place at all. Plus, there’s a sweet combat bonus waiting to be cashed in that expires in January. I’ll never know it is missing.”
“Your plan is to rely on your past self’s inebriation for safety and rob yourself blind?”
He shrugged. “Pretty sure it’s not illegal.”
“Why not go all the way to my place in Canada?” Sam said sarcastically.
“Because the border is closed, and you’re currently not old enough to vote.” He winked at her.
Sam frowned. “What if this isn’t our iteration?”
“Let’s deal with one thing at a time. First, we need a phone.”
“First, we need a plan!” She crossed her arms and tried not to breathe deeply. “I can’t believe you used to live like this.”
“You know you love me.” His voice warmed her to the core.
Sam smiled in spite of yourself. “You’re my Captain United. Always there to save the day.”
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Always and only yours, baby.”
She shook her head. “Nope. Don’t call me baby. You’ve got to find something else.”
“Love?”
“I could work with that.”