Back To The Future || Part Zero

Chapter Fifteen

Marty saw completely and utter darkness around him. The air around him had grow hot and stuffy. He resisted the urge to cough and felt for the handle of the refrigerator door. His hand came into contact with it after a moment's search and he pushed forward.

A crack of sunlight split the darkness. Marty pushed the door harder and a shower of sand rained on him. He climbed to the outside world. The sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky. Marty looked down at the refrigerator and saw that it was half rotted and worn away with age. Next to it, he recognized the remains of the Army truck, twisted and almost unrecognizable, half buried in the sand.

Marty took a step away from the refrigerator and looked around him. It was barren out here. He saw nothing but an ocean of hot sand all around. Marty glanced at his watch. It was noon exactly. He squinted up at the merciless glare of the sun.

"Shit," he said.

Marty decided the best thing for him to do would be to start walking. He set off in the direction of the sun, not sure which way to head. A few minutes after he started the hike, Marty started to hear a low hum off in the distance. It sounded like a helicopter.

The sound grew closer and he looked up at the sky, his eyes searching for the source. He saw something in the sky, but it looked strange. The craft started to lower itself toward the ground, grains of sand flying everywhere. Marty squinted his eyes and put a hand over them, turning his head away. Between the glare of the sun on the thing, and all the flying sand, it was almost impossible to tell anything about it.

After a moment, the noise faded away and Marty turned around. Right in front of him was a strange sight. It looked like a car from the 1950's....but it had three whitewalls, propellers, and funny fins on the side. At the back of the car was something that resembled the Professor's power converter. As Marty stared at the contraption, he noticed Professor Brown in the driver's seat.

Marty opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. The Professor opened the door and jumped out, heading towards Marty. He looked older then he had in 1952, but not as much as he had in 1982. Professor Brown seemed different to Marty, his posture straighter with more of a spark in his eyes.

"Marty!" the Professor cried. "You're here! Right on time! How are you? Feeling okay?"

Marty tried to speak again. "What year is this?" he asked hesitantly, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

Professor Brown beamed. "1982! March 18, just like we planned! My calculations were absolutely correct! Thirty years! God, I cannot believe it's been thirty years!" he added, mostly to himself. "Sure, it was a long time ago -- longest I've ever had to wait for the results of an experiment!"

Marty was confused. "And you're alive, Professor?" he asked, remembering what had
happened right before he had left 1982. "You weren't shot?"

Professor Brown looked at him blankly. "Shot? Who'd want to shoot me? I've never felt better in my life!"

Marty didn't know what to say about that. He continued to stare at the flying vehicle and at the Professor. "Hop in, Marty," Professor Brown said, turning and heading for the vehicle. "We've got a long driver ahead of us."

"What do you call this?" Marty wondered as he cautiously started towards the contraption.

"A car," the Professor answered matter-of-factly. Marty watched as Professor Brown opened the door and got inside. He slowly followed suit.

Inside the car, Marty noticed the controls and the dashboard were streamlined in a kind of old-fashioned futuristic style. He was distracted from his examination of the car's interior by the Professor leaning over and pulling out a 16 ounce bottle of Coke. He grabbed a bottle opener that was on the dashboard and opened it up, then pulled open the dashboard in front of Marty and hooked the bottle to a funnel labeled "fuel" inside. Marty remembered leaving the "formula" in his jacket. Somehow, Professor Brown must have found it.