When I was

3

They all run away to what will one day be the Hatchetfield Gazette. A man is getting pushed out and Paul whispers "Ted?" before they run into the house next door. The short blonde turns, frightened. Is that? No it couldn't be.
"What are you doing here?"
"Sorry Ma'am. We're looking for a friend's address and we're a little lost. May I ask who's apartment this is?" Becky asks, knowing the answer.
"Mine." She speaks up. "Linda Nesbitt. As nice as it is to see you, I need to ask you to leave. My roommate will be back any minute."
Everyone stares, shocked by the reveal. Of course. Linda's name wasn't always Monroe. Becky, surprised by how nice she seems, is the first to compose herself.
"Thank you Linda. We'll keep looking."
She ushers the rest out of the small house and round the corner just in time to see her younger self going into the apartment, Tom behind her. Becky then turns to the others.
"I think we're in the past somehow. Which means we need to be careful. I can't remember exactly what we do but I know Linda can't be trusted, she always hated me in High School."
"Yeah. It must have been the yellow box thing. Maybe we should tell you what we know and then we can figure out that to do. Not here though, it's not safe."
Tom leads the group to the lake and the park that will one day be Lakeside Mall. They sit in a group and talk.
"We hated this spot so we should be safe. OK so I was the star quarterback. Obviously, I was dating Becky and we were kinda the stars of the school. Jane... Oh god we'll see Jane at some point won't we. OK um Jane was at school at this point so we need to be careful."
"Yeah, I was the Cheer Captain. Linda was always envious of me and quite rude about it. She still is... Was."
"OK so if Jane was here, so was I. Jane and I lived up the street. Paul, You'll be at the game? I don't know, did you like football in highschool?"
"Not really. You are unlikely to see me, I went to Sycamore. Umm... Ted, he was pretty nice, unlike the Ted we see today. I think, wait what date is it? He changed at one point and he always says what date it was. I would check my iPhone but it has stopped working. "
" I stand by my previous statement - get yourself a watch. "
"wait there is a newspaper here. It says October 17th 2004."
"OK. OK. OK. So umm that's the date he always says so we will probably see the Ted we know. I saw Emma's production of Brigadoon in 2003 so I will already hate musicals. Ummm. Bill went to my school, Ted went to Hatchetfield High. Charlotte went to Hatchetfield High as did Sam. I'm not sure if we will see anyone else. "
" Hidgens! He always talks about his past. He will have been 47 now. He started preparing for the apocalypse 30 years ago so that's 1988."
"Quick math there."
"I'm 31, its not rocket science to go back a year. But anyway we shouldn't encounter him, he'll be in his fortress."
"OK so what do we do?"
"Don't run into our past selves and try to find a way out of here. Maybe we should split into 2 groups? Each person gets either me, Emma or Beck. Or maybe 2 of us. OK so Hannah, you stick with Lex and go with Be-"
"Emma. We'll go with Emma."
"Oh OK. Umm Tim you're with me. Becky come with us. Paul you go with Emma and the girls. We can get something to keep in contact with each other from the charity shop? There might be a set of Walkie Talkies or something there."
They nod but, too sleepy to continue, sleep near a Homeless Guy.

The next day, the groups head to the shop, near the hospital. After rummaging for a minute or two through the organised mess, Becky finds a pair of almost new walkie talkies. Handing one to Paul, who looks like the more sensible one of the group, Tom leads his group left as the others go right.