TIMESCAPE

7

Evelyn looked up to see that once again the others had got ahead of her. She tried to pick up the pace but her lungs were on fire. This was not the way she had thought this day would go! At first the promise of time travel had seemed glamorous and exciting, and it certainly was exciting...though not in the way she had hoped. Now it was just like a horror movie. A horror movie with a nature hike. Both things she despised.

Evelyn wasn't an outdoorsy person. As a history professor she admired the past, but she liked to keep it that way...in the past. She liked to look at it from a distance, not experience it in person. At least not this part of the past. She wanted to interact with people, civilized people from early America and Europe. Or Japan. She'd always wanted to go to Japan. That was her area of expertise. But this was not Japan.

A good day for Evelyn was sitting at home with her cat, Eliot (named after the author, T.S. Eliot), and curling up by the fire with a nice, cozy book. If the weather outside was poor, with pounding rain or screaming snow, all the better. It made her feel all the more cozy.

Evelyn had to stop and rest. She was bent over, hands on her knees, gasping for air. She was desperately out of shape. And she knew it. Evelyn had never needed to be in shape. Not bad enough, at least. Apparently, that was about to change. "Hells bells!" She declared.

Lincoln and Will noticed she was lagging behind and stopped walking. They waited for her to catch up to them "Evelyn, I'm going to need you to pick up the pace." Will said sharply. Will didn't understand, he was all business, no sympathy. He still thinks he's in the army, Evelyn thought, he thinks he's the one in charge.

"Well I'm sorry if I'm too slow," Evelyn said in between heavy lung full's of air "I'm doing the best I can."

"You think you're breathing hard now, wait 'til that bird comes back. Then I bet you'll find it somewhere deep within you the ability to run quickly," Lincoln smirked at her. Him and his jokes, she didn't like either of them.

"When that happens, my adrenaline will kick in, so I won't feel the pain. I'm not a soldier! I'm a historian!"

"This is a war zone, we're all soldiers here," Will announced. "So I'm going to need you to keep up." He was bossing her around, Evelyn realized. She hated being bossed around. Her older brother used to tell her what to do all the time. Evelyn do this, Evelyn do that. Evelyn, feed the dog. Evelyn, stop talking. Speak up. Go away. To this day she still didn't like him much.

"Me too," sneered Lincoln "Keep up."

Will glanced over at Lincoln like he wanted to punch him.

"Just think of it like a free exercise program," Lincoln looked Evelyn up and down "You could use it."

"Excuse you!" Evelyn snapped. She knew she wasn't the slimmest girl, but she wasn't about to stand here and let this man insult her. He was worse than her students when she taught for Teach for America in Harlem.

The ground beneath their feet suddenly began to shake. Evelyn stumbled, trying to find solid footing. She fell on her hands and knees, cursing, waiting for it to stop. Her hands sank into cold muddy ground. She was kneeling in a puddle, water began to seep through her shoes. Evelyn cursed. This was why she hated the outdoors! After a moment, the ground stopped shaking. She tried as best she could to wipe the mud off of her hands, but her hands were caked with dirt. It was inevitable. The great outdoors was filled with dirt. In fact, it was made of dirt.

"What was that? What does that mean?" Evelyn called, terrified. She'd never been in an earthquake before. Suddenly she felt like crying. Evelyn didn't want to be here, she just wanted to be home.

To her shock, Will was smiling "It means we're getting close."