The Time Traveller

Chapter Five

Rome woke up, the sky through the window pitch black. They were in a tiny house, exactly like the one they were in before. James sat awake next to him.
"I don't remember anything past the storm," Rome said, his voice scratchy, "you?"
"Yeah," James answered, "you passed out because you got it in the face by a rock the size of my left hand. No wonder you don't remember a thing."
"Probably better if I didn't."
James laughed. "Here," he said, sliding over a can of chicken noodle soup. "You've got a thing for it, don't you?"
Rome smiled and took it, eating it just like he had the first time. His throat burned.
"So what," Rome asked, "you dragged me?"
"Carried, actually," James stood up and went over to the makeshift table. In the little moonlight that the window let in, Rome saw that James was younger. He looked about 45, with a little color in his beard and pieces of his hair starting to turn a jet black. "You could use some cardio," he joked, "you know?"
"Shut up."
Chills went down Rome's spine, but he wasn't cold. In fact, the heat was almost overwhelming.
Suddenly, the door busted open.
Anna, the girl they met a few hours ago, crashed in the house. Her eyes widened when she saw them.
"What are you two doing here?" She slammed the door behind her. "Shouldn't you have been miles ahead of me by now? Especially since I went the opposite direction when I left you!"
"We had a setback," James walked over to her, "King Comatose over here got hit in the face with a rock the size of your head. Had to wait till he woke up."
"Fine," she sighed, "but he better be okay within a few minutes. I saw company about a quarter mile back."
"Why are you helping us?" Rome asked. "Not that I'm complaining, but-"
"Then don't," Anna interrupted. "Be happy I even warned you two." she sat down her backpack and the knife in her hand. "I owed you, that's why."
Rome stood up off the bed. The room spun around in circles, and everything became a blur. He closed his eyes, feeling around for the table.
"Hey," he heard James rush up to him, "take it easy. You hit your head pretty hard back there."
Breathing hard, Rome opened his eyes and saw James had his right arm under Rome's right shoulder, holding him up. James straightened him up, and Rome grabbed his left shoulder. Up close and illuminated by the light, Rome saw that James only looked about 15 years older than him. His hair and beard had grown to full color, most of his wrinkles had disappeared. His bright blue eyes popped against his tan skin, messy black hair, and scraggly beard. Soon enough, he would be younger than Rome.
"We've got to get out of here," Anna ordered, "like...now."
James grabbed the two machetes and Anna threw her backpack over her shoulder.
"Why," Rome stuttered, still catching his breath, "why do we keep picking up more and more things as we go?" He took a deep breath in and let it out, his breaths getting longer and farther apart. "Soon enough we won't be able to carry it all."
James answered simply. "We have to defend ourselves somehow."
Anna opened the door and left it open for James, who was holding up Rome, to walk through.
They walked out into the pitch black darkness.

"Remind me again," James asked, "why we're walking at night?"
At this point, they had been walking long enough so that Rome got used to it without the help of James. He still had horrible headaches, but at least he could walk without the earth spinning more than it already was.
"We were being followed," Anna answered, keeping her eyes forward. She lead the way as Rome and James followed behind her. She still limped, and Rome could tell she was trying to cover up whatever she did to herself. "We still are. We couldn't stay there."
"By what?" Rome asked.
"Well, it wasn't Santa Clause now was it?" She snapped. "I knew them," she continued, "and to be honest, I don't think I could kill them. If you two decided to fight it and things got ugly, I knew I couldn't step in." She sighed. "One of them was my sister."