A Walk in the Park

Emmy sprinted to her boyfriend, Mario, and hugged the breath out of him. She whispered, “Let’s take a stroll to the Martyr Tower tonight. We need to talk.”

He kissed her cheek, “Sure, okay. I got over here as fast as I could. Traffic was horrible. Your call sounded urgent. But why the cloak and dagger?”

They held hands and hiked into the quiet park. Mario spotted a few joggers, a woman walking her dog, and a few couples cozening up with each other.

He kissed her hand, “What’s wrong?”

“I was ambushed by tarachtans, spider monsters.”

“In New York? We have to get you out of here.” Mario dragged her to his car, but she protested.

Emmy said, “We're fine now. They don’t like the electric orbs.”

They climbed steps toward the luminous tower.

“Thanks for getting here so quickly. I am sorry about Anthony. He was a great man. I was worried Sandy had killed you too, when I couldn’t reach you.”

“Thanks. It is tragic.” He released her hand. “That was pretty dark, Emmy. Could you wait a second, I have to tie my shoe.” He stooped down.

Emmy kept walking.

Mario withdrew a silencer from his jacket and hid it behind his left sneaker.

“Mario, you were great when we danced together, but why did you start on the odd step instead of the even?”

“I did not. I always start on the even count. Especially on an eight beat count.”

“My mistake I guess,” She giggled. “When did you start whistling?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You whistled a cat call to me and then to Officer Tammy?”

“You must be mistaken. I can’t whistle.”

“Right. Just one more thing.” She halted. “Why did you kill your uncle?”

Emmy’s phone played a recording: ‘Goodbye Uncle Anthony. See you in…’ She turned it off.

He rose and pointed the weapon at Emmy’s back.

“That’s far enough, little witch. I guess my uncle is smarter than he looks. Turn around slowly. No magic. I couldn’t speaks like your pathetic boyfriend forevers.” Malicious laughter echoed in the trees.

“No professional dancer dances that badly?” Emmy turned,“What are you going to do, kill me?”

“Not tonights, I’m taking you to the Masters. Now steps over here and we will walk back to my car like a cutes couple. This is not a requests.” He clicked the hammer back.

“No. Throw your gun down. I promise I won’t destroy you. Throw it down, now!”

“Emmys, Emmys. You foolish girls, I the ones holdings…”

An army-issued tactical shotgun appeared next to Mario’s head. Officer Tammy Jablonski loaded the chamber. Mario tossed the silencer into the woods. Emmy created electric orbs and floated them into the changeling's face, while Tammy cuffed him.

“Emmys better at strategy. Goods for hers. Masters will like thats.”

“Shutup! I will never go to the Master, especially with you, looking like my deceased friend.”

“He’s not deads. Emmys still soos stuppids. I don't needs kill hims to looks like hims.” The false Mario explained, “No wants wars with the Mob.”

“Where is he?”

A wicked blood-curling laugh spread throughout the woods.

“Hees safes for nows. Sandys likes hers boys toys. Yous still don’ts gets it. Hees comes to the Master and mees. Hees been spyings on yous since Jets games. Hees reports on all yous doos. Very accurates.” His puckered lips made a kissing noise.

Emmy growled, “I don’t believe you. What about Sandy? Mario and I are friends. I have feelings for… He wouldn’t betray his family. Tell me the truth!” The orbs swarmed inches from his face. Hair and flesh ignited and smoked.

“Ahhhh! Stops pleases! It’s all trues. Hees did spys, but hees not betray family. Hees not betrays yous. Hees comes in swinging swords, kills twenties of my boys. Sandys stops him hims good. Hees refused to kills uncles and brings yous in. Has strongs feelings for yous too!”

Emmy believed him, “Your very life will depend on your answer to this next question.”

The tarachtan trembled with fear.

“What strong feelings did he have? Does he ‘like, like’ me, or like, like, like me?” Emmy gasped, “Did he use the ‘L’ word?”

A puzzled, smoking Mario looked at the officer. She shrugged.

He stared back at Emmy, “I don’t knows. Whats means ‘likes, likes’?”

EC explained, “‘Like’ is he is your buddy, nothing serious. ‘Like, like’ is when he is your boyfriend. ‘Like, like, like’, he is your exclusive steady boyfriend.”

Tammy interjected, “Where did you get this standard, middle school?”

Mario replied, “Tells me about it. Whats ‘L’ words?”

Tammy said, “Love.”

“Ohhhs.”

“Spill it monster,” Emmy moved the orbs closer to the prisoner, “you sucked his soul, what are his feelings for me?! Think!”

The tarachtan cowered in fear and moaned as the electricity touched his skin.

Officer Jablonski spoke to Emmy, “Does it matter what he feels for you? How do you feel about him?”

Emmy recalled the orbs into her hands. Tammy kept the shotgun pointed at Mario and moved next to her. Tears formed in shimmering blue eyes. She looked at the tarachtan and then back at the officer.

“I love him. I love Mario. It’s such a relief to say it. I love him!” She jumped up and down and hugged Tammy.

Emmy glared at the monster, “And you are taking me to him. Now!”

The orbs resurfaced brilliant blue.

“Sorrys loves, noos cans doos its.”

“What?” Tammy asked, “You are going to deny true love?”

“Yess. Mees and my armies. Gets them boys!”

From the shadows, behind park benches, statutes, and trees, hundreds of spider monsters emerged and rushed their position.

A nightmare scream bellowed from Tammy, as hellish shadows descended on them. She dropped the shotgun. EC threw four orbs, one in each direction, to clear a path and grabbed Tammy’s hand.

“Hold on! This is gonna get weird.”

The police officer slammed shut her eyes while the hideous monsters leapt at them.

Emmy twisted her gold ring. They vanished as the nocturnal menaces converged on their location.

“Tammy, open your eyes.”

The officer reopened to a silent park, “What were those, those things?”

“Tarachtans. Man-spiders. Suck the life out of you. Run!” Emmy said.

“Where are we?” Tammy yelled, while Emmy pulled her past the Martyr Tower.

“We are still in the park. The better question is ‘When are we?’ We actually traveled one minute into the past.” Emmy explained.

“We what?!”

“We just need to get to your car on the other side of the park. It should be enough time. Remember the plan.” Emmy’s phone rang, but she ignored it.

“Yea, the plan. You cause a distraction with your orb things and then we run for the car. When you said magic, I was expecting, I don’t know what I was expecting. But it is cool. Is that my Camry?”

They sprinted to her red car. To their dismay the fully loaded vehicle had been radically stripped. A metallic skeleton lay perched atop of cinder blocks. Thieves stole the wheels, doors, hood, seats, radio, and engine.

Emmy received a text message.

Tammy moaned, “My car!!! I just bought my baby last year! Those thieving money grubbers! They even took my dirty gym bag.”

Emmy read the text: ‘We are coming. Go to the Brooklyn Bridge. Tood.’

Tammy spotted a thief racing from the dismantled vehicle.

“I’ll get you! I will get all you punks!”

“Tammy, I am so sorry, we have to keep going, before they spot us in ten seconds. Head toward the Brooklyn Bridge. My friend is on the way.”

They dashed to the historical structure and heard a vehicle peeling out.

Fake Mario cleared the trees and stood at the hilltop. He spotted them, aimed his recovered silencer, and fired three times.

“After thems! My brothers and sisters!”

“Ow! Was that a bee sting!” Emmy jumped and kept running.

Tammy called out, “I think he shot you in the butt!”

Emmy fast pitched a menacing blue orb in the shooter’s direction.

The tarachtan leader ducked in time, but the orb slammed into a transformer. Sparks showered and illuminated the hordes cascading down the hill like a black sinister tsunami. The park lights flickered and then terminated.

A loud car engine roared and raced toward them. Emmy whipped her head around and peered down the dark road. A shapely vehicle with round headlights came screaming at them. It had painted flames on the doors and real fire bursting from the massive engine.

The vintage frame of a ‘57 Chevy roadster zipped past them and sounded an annoying trumpet blast. Emmy and Tammy stopped. The roadster engaged his high beams and lit up the darkness. They marveled as the brave chariot bowled into the overwhelming fray. The vehicle charged into the blinded creatures destroying dozens in the first engagement. Dark bodies went flying into the night. Three warriors emerged from the hot rod: two women and a man.

Emmy recognized Will, a Legion guard, but he was swinging a long sword and fighting like Tood. The next one, Seravina, an elf princess, continuously launched electric death orbs from her left hand and also beheaded the enemy with a fantastic scimitar. The last female wore a cowboy hat, western dress, and boots. She fired a long rifle with blazing photon rounds. It vaporized the giant spiders instantly.

The Chevy peeled out and zoomed back to Emmy. The classic car pulled alongside as the engine revved and the driver’s window rolled down.

“Hey kid. I heard you need a ride.” Tood said, “Get in the front!”

They scrambled to the other side and jumped in.

Tood and Emmy squeezed the life out of each other and started crying. Tammy sighed as she watched the reunion.

“I got your message. Do you always have to make a big entrance?” Emmy teased.

The driver said, “Only on special occasions.”

“Hi, I am Tammy, Tammy Jablonski.”

“Nice to meet you, officer.” He spun the car around, “I’m Tood. Your captain told me you would be here.”

“How? He’s dead.”

The vehicle lurched forward, as Tood spun the wheel and accelerated back to the battle.

“Kevlar. He’s alive. Time to pick up our friends. They would hunt every last one down, if I let them. But this is a rescue mission. Snatch and go. Oh, the captain hoped you got his clue.”

Emmy hugged his arm.

The mechanical beast destroyed several tarachtans when Tood turned and fishtailed back toward the Brooklyn Bridge. The car roared with glee.

Tood yelled out the window, “Let’s go! Vina! Will! Ginny, provide some cover for them so they can retreat.”

Ginny waved and grinned at the new passengers, “No problemo, Uncle.” She rattled off multiple deadly photon blasts, reloaded, and continued firing. “Die nasty scorpions!”

“Is she from Texas?” Tammy asked.

“No, Wingo.” Tood replied.

Emmy mouthed to Tammy: OKLAHOMA.

Will made it to the car first. He kissed Emmy on the cheek, “Tood, they are retreating. Great to see you, Emmy.”

“Hi. You look good, I mean, different.”

Seravina poked her head in.

“Niece! Salutations. Glad you remained alive,” She gently touched Emmy’s chin and sat down next to Will, “and we did not waste a trip. New York City is quite unique. The castles are spectacular. Did we pick up another traveler, my Lord?” She waved to Tammy. “Greetings, person from New York.”

Tammy slowly waved back.

“Yes, my Lady. Ginny get in.”

Ginny shot one more bullseye and darted in, “Get these horses moving, Yeehaw!!”

The car peeled out and destroyed more tarachtans.

“Do you mind not yelling every time this thing moves.” Seravina complained, “By the way, you have an exceptional aim. I don’t believe you missed a shot.”

“Thanks. I’ll try to tone it down, Vina.”

Tood barreled toward the bridge, “Emmy, I have personal news to share. I don’t know how to say this exactly. But I am your….”

Emmy’s eyes fluttered as she began to swoon, “How did you find me?”

“Once you slipped back into our space-time, I found you. Emmy? Are you okay?”

“We gotta find Mario.” Her head crashed on Tood’s arm, her skin pale as death.

Tood asked, “Who?”

Tammy checked and lifted Emmy’s bloodied shirt, “She’s been shot. She’s bleeding out.”

Tood called to the back, “Seravina, move her on Tammy. Cauterize the wound.”

She created a red orb and placed it on Emmy’s wound. The sizzle made the passengers cringe. The patient moaned and remained unconscious.

In seconds, Emmy’s skin turned normal again and then dead gray.

Seravina said, “We are losing her.”

Tood cried out, “Not this time! Isn’t this an infernal time machine?”

Todd wiped a tear and removed his gold watch from his jacket pocket. He pressed the left button. A long stick shift with an eight-ball handle appeared from the floor. He grabbed the handle and smoothly shifted the magical gears. The engine flames engulfed the vehicle and jolted it toward supersonic speeds.

The chrome-plated 1957 Chevy Bel-Air, wheeled around in mid-air and drifted toward the Brooklyn Bridge. The surprised passengers slammed against the steel doors. The focused driver slid the steering wheel through his deft fingers and then shuffled the eight ball shifter into a higher gear.

“Hang on kids, we’re going back in time.” Tood announced and accelerated the soaring car. The Big Apple zoomed past the bewildered riders.

“How are we flying?! Mr. Tood! What are you doing?” Officer Jablonski screamed, “We have to get Emmy to a hospital! You can’t change time.”

“Yes, I can,” Tood scanned his watch and the horizon,“This car can take us briefly to the past.”

Will asked, “This is a time machine?”

“How briefly?” Seravina asked.

“Yes. Two minutes to be precise. Enough time to get back to the start of the event.”

“What event, Uncle?” asked Ginny.

“The moment when Emmy started dying.” Tood changed gears. “You see, time travels in a straight line and also in wavelengths.”

Tammy asked, “Like light?”

He continued, “Exactly, but more flexible like sound waves. Each wave has a starting point, middle and ending. When an event occurs, you have only two-minutes to get back to the start of the wave before the moment becomes a part of history and cannot be altered. If we can change it, then time goes on, like the first event never happened.”

“Is this theoretical?” Ginny asked.

“Sorta.”

“You have done this before?” Tammy asked.

“Yes, but not to this magnitude.”

“What if we fail?” asked Will

“Infinite possibilities, but six are most probable. ” Tood swerved the car and shifted again, “One; the event continues and Emmy dies. Two; we all are trapped in an infinite time loop failing to save her every time. Three; we save her, but disappear from existence. Four, we survive the time loop, but Emmy disappears. Five, we survive and only bend time. Last, if I miscalculate the entry into the time wave, then….”

Seravina asked, “What?”

“I could destroy space-time and the universe.”

“That’s all!” Tammy bemoaned.

Tood encouraged, “That is why we cannot fail.”

“When was the start of the event?” asked Will.

Tammy said, “Not when she got into the car.”

Seravina interjected, “When she got shot with the projectile.”

“No,” Ginny understood, “when the bullets were fired.”

“But the spider-thing shot three times.” Tammy commented.

“We have to stop the first bullet.” The driver announced.

Tammy exclaimed, ”Shoot what?!”

Will asked, “Why not the second or third?”

Ginny explained,“The first shot is always the most accurate.”

“Exactly,” Tood shifted again, “Ginny, I need you to shoot that bullet.”

Ginny scratched her chin, “How long will I have after the car lands?”

“About five seconds. You have to wait until his gun fires.”

“This is insane!” Tammy barked, “A millimeter target in the dark, from a vehicle moving at 100 mph, at an accelerating bullet. Impossible! Just take out the shooter.”

Tood said, “She can’t or it would alter the time wave and place us on a new unknown wave. Time doesn’t like big changes. We have to allow the event to continue and make only a minor adjustment.”

“What if the other bullets hit her?” Will asked.

“I don’t know. This is our only opportunity. If we do nothing, she dies.”

Seravina touched Tood’s shoulder, “How may I help?”

Tood kissed her hand, “At the instant we land, I need you to slow down time,” He downshifted again, “to give Ginny a chance.”

“I use that power only a few feet away,” Seravina pondered, “but for Emmy, I shall do it.”

“Thank you.” Tood turned to Tammy. “Officer, hold Emmy and lean against the door. When you return, you will feel deja vu. Everyone else put a hand on me.”

Tammy held Emmy tightly. The rest touched Tood.

Will said to the sharpshooter, “You know this is a ten million to one gamble.”

“I reckon it’s no walk in the park.” Ginny smirked, “Aren’t you glad I’m one in a million?”

Will pecked her cheek, “Yes.”

Ginny blushed and muttered, “Scorpions.” She checked her rifle.

The vehicle slowed to 105 mph.

Tood changed gears and pushed the right button on his glimmering watch.

Emmy and Tammy vanished.

Seravina jumped into the front seat and lowered the front passenger window. Ginny set the rifle barrel on the top of the front seat. The hot rod bounced once as the wheels squealed on the blacktop.

To their right, they all witnessed a ghostly mirror image of the racing Chevy. Tood kept the car steady and surfed into the time wave. The specter shimmered and merged with them.

He announced, “Here we go. Five…. Four…. Three ….”

A red glow pulsed from Seravina’s outstretched hand.

Ginny peered into the darkness.

Keen eyes spotted the mark.

Tight lips expelled a slow breath.

One pupil focused on the target.

A precise digit squeezed the well-oiled trigger.

Crack!

Flash!

Bang!