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  “This guy I met. His name is Colonel Albert Young and he says he’s with the United States army and has been sent down here to bring us all back.” I waited for his reaction.

  “Bring us back where?”

  “To the world we came from—home.” I said. Marshal sat back and crossed his legs. He was silent for a few minutes, tapping his fingers on the table and staring straight ahead. “Marshal?”

  “Nicky, Nicky, Nicky,” he finally spoke, “my home does not exist anymore.”

  “What? Sure it does,” I said. “It’s still there, Marshal. You just said you liked hearing about it.”

  “Oh, I believe it’s there,” he smiled. “But my home is gone.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “Nicky, I came here in 1909,” he explained and I was starting to understand what he was saying. “1909 doesn’t exist anymore.”

  “Well, yeah, but the world is still there,” I said. I hadn’t thought about how time had passed and, if Marshal, or anyone else, went back nothing would be the same for them. I guess they would feel almost as scared as when they came down here in the first place. “I know it won’t be the same, but it will be the real world and you’ll fit in no problem.”

  “But, I fit in here no problem,” he said. “Going back now would be weird.”

  “Really?” I was surprised by his reaction. “But we have things up there that we’ll never have down here. There’s electricity and warm showers and lots and lots of food.”

  “Let’s just forget about going back for now,” he said, not willing to argue with me about it. “Who is the soldier boy? Where did he come from?”

  “So, you’ve never seen any army guy before?” I asked. “He’s about five-ten, five-eleven, slender, black hair with a little grey. He’s maybe forty, forty-five. You’ve never seen him before?”

  “No, no, no, never,” he stated, confirming what Colonel Al had told me; he kept well hidden. “Did he just fall with the last 360?”

  “No,” I explained. “apparently he’s been here since 1967.”

  “That long? Where’s he been? I’ve never even heard of any soldier boy out in the woods!”

  “Are you sure, Marshal?” I asked. “No one’s ever mentioned him before? Or seen him before?”

  “I’m sure, sure, sure, Nicky,” he sounded very positive that this was the first time he had ever heard of the colonel. “Is that where Barker is? With this soldier boy?”

  “Yeah, that’s where he is now and that’s where he was when he was missing for over four months,” I told him, “and, apparently, that’s where he was before I found him my first day here. It seems my Barker, or Private as the colonel calls him, has been living, out there, with the colonel for a long, long time.”

  “But I thought he fell at the same time you did. You found him in the city, didn’t you?” I nodded. “So, your telling me that he walked all the way from the woods to the city, found you and decided to live with you for awhile before going back to this colonel?”

  “I guess,” I said.

  “That makes no sense, Nicky!”

  “Yeah, I know, but there are a lot of things down here that don’t make any sense.” Now, it was my turn to sit back and pause. Marshal was pointing out things that I had never thought of. Colonel Al did mention that Barker went to the city every 360 waiting for someone like me to fall but, how did he know that I would even find him? He didn’t exactly come looking for me. As I recall, he stood in the middle of the street barking until someone, me, finally found him and calmed him down. Did he know that I wouldn’t be able to ignore a barking dog?

  “Nicky?” I didn’t realize Marshal was talking to me.

  “Yeah?” I looked at my friend and wondered if Colonel Al could be some kind of a threat to us. I thought him harmless before but now I wasn’t so sure.

  “I asked you where this soldier boy lived,” he said. “If he’s in the woods, then maybe he’s part of Pig’s old camp?”

  “I don’t think so,” I told him. “He said he knew about Pig’s camp and he knew that we destroyed it but I never saw him there and he most definitely doesn’t look like one of Pig’s men.”

  “Okay, so why don’t I know about him?” he asked. “Where does he live?”

  “He lives in an old abandoned mine,” I said. “It’s past Pig’s, up the river and built into the side of a kind of hill. He camouflages it with branches; I had a hard time seeing it when I first went there.”

  “An abandoned mine?” he looked surprised. “I never saw any mine out there before. Weird, weird, weird.”

  “What’s weird?” It was Billy. The boy must have gotten up while we were talking.

  “You are,” I laughed and messed his hair up. He reminded me so much of my brother.

  “Aw, come on, Nicky. Tell me what’s weird,” he was making a face as he said this and I tried hard not to laugh at him. “I heard you guys talking. It sounded real serious.”

  “It is serious, Billy,” I said, “but I’d rather tell everyone together so I don’t have to repeat myself.”

  “Do you want me to wake everybody up?” He looked excited at the prospect. “I can if you want.”

  “Yes, yes, yes Billy,” said Marshal. “I’m sure you can but maybe let’s just wait a bit. Do you want something to eat?”

  “Okay!” It was so easy to deflect his train of thought. “Do you got any puffs?” Puffs was what Billy called apple turnovers. We had baked some the other day and it was all we could do to keep Billy from eating them all.

  “I think there’s a couple left,” said Marshal. “Enough for you and Kitten to have one for breakfast. Do you want some tea with it as well?” Robert brought his stash of tea with him when he moved his stuff over and we all enjoyed a cup here and there. It wasn’t as good as the coffee I had with Colonel Al this morning but it was nice and hot on a cold day like today.

  “Yeah, that would be nice,” Billy was licking his lips in anticipation. “Can I at least go get Kitten? I won’t wake up anyone else, I promise. Please! She’ll be real mad if I eat a puff without her.”

  “I don’t see why not,” I said. “I’m sure she’d appreciate it.” He took off to get the little girl, leaving me and Marshal alone once again. “I didn’t finish telling you everything about Colonel Al.”

  “I figured,” he said as he proceeded to get out two plates, two cups and put the water on to boil. “You’ll say more when you tell everyone else, though, right?”

  “Right,” I sat back and waited for everyone to get up.

  Half an hour later the house was buzzing with activity. Billy, it turned out, was not very quiet when he woke up Kitten and with the two of them giggling and running back and forth; it didn’t take long before the others were yawning and stretching their way to the ‘stove room’.

  They were surprised to learn that I had already been out with Cocoa and asked where we went. They wanted to know where Barker was too, but I tried to put their questions off. I wanted to wait for everyone to get up and gather so I could tell them all at once. Like I told Billy, I only wanted to explain Colonel Al once so, I sat back and watched as each person got up, made tea and took a seat somewhere in the room. After everyone was there, Robert spoke up.

  “Okay, Nicole,” he said as he relaxed on the couch with his cup of tea. “We’re all here and waiting for an explanation for Barker’s recurring disappearance.”

  “Right,” I stood in the middle of the room to address them all. “As you all know; Barker was gone from our lives for over four months. He took off before Pig’s camp burned down and no one saw him once; not even a trace. He just seemed to have vanished and I was starting to give up hope of ever seeing him again; until yesterday. That’s when I actually hiked into the forest to find him.”

  “Oh, Nicky,” said Emma Lee. “You shouldn’t have done that. Who knows what could be waiting for you out there.”

  “Well, it’s not Ryan,” I said, a little frustrated that they thought my ex-classmate wa
s still out there, lurking.

  “That’s not the only worry,” said Cornelius, trying to back up Emma Lee. “There’re still members of Pig’s group that could be out there and I don’t imagine they would be very friendly, especially towards you. After all, you were the one who started the fire.”

  “Do you really think they hung around?” I asked sarcastically. “I mean everything they know is gone; no camp, no home, no leader. They’re probably long gone. No one’s seen them, unless you count the guy Max shot at Betty’s. She said he was on his way north to live with the northerners when he stopped to rob her. She also said that the guy told her that the other out-of-towners were going that way too.”

  “Yes, but who knows if they’re telling the truth,” Cornelius said. “Nigel and Betty are afraid of their own shadows. They could have been coaxed into telling us one thing and, meanwhile, the out-of-towners could very well be somewhere planning our takeover.”

  “Ya think?” I didn’t think any of Pig’s men were smart enough to plan a takeover. They needed a leader and the only way they would get that was if they went up north. Either that or they’d be killed. From what I’ve heard of the northerners, they aren’t much better than the out-of-towners. “I doubt it.”

  “Regardless of where Pig’s men went, I don’t think it has any bearing on what Nicole is telling us,” Robert said, sounding just as irritated. He was tired of listening to this same argument day after day.

  “Right, mate,” Cornelius said, focusing back on my story, “carry on.”

  “Okay,” I gathered my thoughts, again, and continued where I left off. “Yesterday, when I hiked into the forest, I saw this man...”

  “What man?” It was Billy and Robert glared at him for interrupting. “Sorry...”

  “...I saw this man hiding behind a tree,” I said. “At first, I thought you guys were right; that it was Ryan and he was going to jump out and attack me or something but it wasn’t. It was a man dressed in army fatigues. I thought he was spying on me and I wanted to find out why so, I followed him. Well, chased him is more like it.

  “When I finally caught up with him, he wasn’t alone.” I said. “He had Barker with him. I asked who he was and he told me his name was Colonel Albert Young and he was with the United Stated army. Have any of you ever seen or heard of an army guy living in the woods?”

  “Not me,” answered Billy. “Is he really an army guy?”

  “Yes, Billy, he is,” I answered. “How about anyone else? Army guy; about forty, forty-five? Kitten?” Kitten lived in Pig’s camp for a long time. Maybe she knew things that we didn’t.

  “No, I don’t know about an army guy,” she spoke so softly that I could barely hear her.

  “I’ve never heard of him either, Nicole,” said Robert.

  “Nor I,” added Cornelius.

  “Don’t look at me,” said Emma Lee. “I haven’t been here that long. I didn’t know you guys existed six months ago.”

  “So, who is this Colonel Young?” asked Robert.

  “Well, Colonel Al told me he was sent down here by the American government with a mission to complete,” I explained.

  “What mission?” asked Billy.

  “The mission to send us all back home,” I answered. I looked around and saw confusion and disbelief on all their faces. “He’s been working on it for years.”

  “And you believe him?” asked Robert.

  “I didn’t at first,” I said. “But he took me to this old abandoned mine where he’s been working and I saw what he’s been doing and I think he could be legit or, at least, he believes he’s legit.”

  “You followed him to an old abandoned mine?” asked Emma Lee. “Nicky, are you crazy? You don’t know who this man is, what he intended?”

  “He’s perfectly harmless,” I said. “Besides, I can handle myself.”

  “I’m afraid I must agree with Emma Lee on this one, Nicole,” said Robert and I felt hurt that he didn’t trust my instincts. “It was rather foolish to follow a strange man anywhere. You should have waited until one of us was with you.”

  “Well, I didn’t have time to wait for anyone,” I said, getting angry. “He had Barker and wasn’t going to let him leave with me. I had to go with him.”

  “How come he had Barker?” asked Billy.

  “Because Colonel Al told me that Barker belongs to him,” I said. “Well, he refers to him as Private, but whatever. Apparently Barker’s been living with him for a few 360s.”

  “He thinks the dog is a Private?” asked Robert. “That doesn’t sound very sane to me Nicole.”

  “I don’t think he thinks Barker is a real Private.” I said, laughing. Of course, he thought Barker was a real Private but I couldn’t tell them that. That would totally give the wrong impression of Colonel Al. “I think Barker’s been his only friend over the years and he just talks to him like he’s a person that’s all. He does understand it’s just a dog.”

  “So, what you’re telling us is that there’s a member of the United States army sent down here by his government to get us all out of this place and back to the world we came from and he’s been doing this since...”

  “1967,” I said.

  “Ok, he’s been doing this since 1967 with the help of a dog whom he refers to as ‘Private’,” Robert said. “Is that correct?”

  “Yeah.” It sounded pretty bizarre when Robert said it.

  “Okay,” Robert said. “So, he took you to his workshop?”

  “Yes,” I answered. “It’s in this abandoned mine. He has a room set up with a bunch of clocks that are wired together and he has a generator and batteries.”

  “He has a generator?” asked Robert, suddenly sounding interested.

  “Yeah, but it doesn’t work,” I said. “Nothing works down here.”

  “Why all the clocks?” asked Cornelius.

  “Because he’s convinced that time doesn’t exist down here,” I explained. “He figured that if he could somehow get the clocks to work, he could get time to work and then that would get us back home.”

  “Well, that is what’s happened down here isn’t it?” asked Emma Lee. “Time has stopped, right? That’s why we don’t age.”

  “That’s what I thought, too,” I said and then explained why I thought this was wrong.

  “I don’t understand,” said Emma Lee. “Aging takes time and we don’t do that; so no aging, no time.”

  “Nicky is right,” said Cornelius. “But I daresay so are you darling.”

  “What do you mean, mean, mean?” asked Marshal. I was curious about Cornelius’s answer too.

  “You see, we do have days and night and seasons, proving that time exists,” he said. “But we never age. Quite the conundrum.”

  “And do you have the answer?” asked Robert.

  “It’s simple really,” Cornelius felt a bit of superiority that he had thought of something no one else had. “We’re stuck.”

  “We all know we’re stuck, Cornelius,” I said, not understanding what he was saying.

  “But we’re not just stuck here,” he said. “We’re stuck in some sort of time wheel; repeating the turn of the wheel over and over again. That’s why we don’t age; we can’t. We can only go so far and then we’re back to start the turn of the wheel again.”

  “That makes sense!” said Robert, excited by this.

  “See? I knew you guys were smart,” I said, silently saying a ‘hah’ at Colonel Al. I was right my friends can help with the mission. “You guys have to meet the colonel and tell him this. You’ll really help him in his mission.”

  “What else has this man been doing besides trying to get a clock to tick?” asked Cornelius. “Surely, he’s worked on other things over the years.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “He has some old circuit boards hooked up to radios and he’s working on some kind of simulator. I think he’s trying to establish communication with his government. He has a chemistry lab too, with tubes and beakers full of different kinds of liquid.�
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  “A scientist?” Robert seemed happy about this. “Does he seem to know what he’s doing with these beakers and tubes?”

  “I think so,” I said. “He told me that things break down differently down here.”

  “How would he know that?” asked Robert.

  “I don’t know,” I started, “but he was looking through a microscope when he said it.”

  “Humph!” mumbled Robert.

  “What?” I asked.

  “It’s just odd that a colonel in the army would have scientific training,” he said.

  “I don’t know,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “All I know is that he says he’s from the army. He’s dressed like a soldier and he’s been living out in the woods for over forty years and nobody even knew it. Nobody’s ever seen him or heard of him so, he’s pretty discreet. He seems a bit weird but I figure that’s probably because he’s had no one to talk to for so long. I think he genuinely believes that he knows what he’s doing but, I don’t know if I believe he’s been sent here or if he just fell and can’t come up with any other explanation for being here. But I think he could be on to something. Maybe we can go back home if we work at it. I think you guys should come with me and meet him and tell me what you think. We can go tomorrow if you want. What do you think?”

  “Sure, Nicky,” said Marshal. “I’ll come with you.” The rest nodded their heads and agreed to come too.

  Chapter 6

  The next day we all made our way to the abandoned mine. I was glad everyone agreed to meet Colonel Al. I was interested to hear their opinions of him. Even if they thought he was crazy, it was a good idea to look for a way out of here. At least he was doing something. It was hard to accept the fact that we were stuck here, forever. I felt more alive today than I did yesterday just thinking about it. I didn’t like it here. I didn’t like playing the game of survival of the fittest. It screwed with your mind and made you do things you would never have even thought of doing before. If there was even a chance I could leave, I was going to take it.

  It was chilly again today, guaranteeing that whatever snow was on the ground was going to stay there for now. I wore gloves and a hat and kept my face deep within the collar of my coat. The wind was strong across the fields, stinging my cheeks and making my nose run. We left Cocoa back at Marshal’s, grazing on the grass before it was completely covered with snow. Billy and Kitten seemed to be the only ones that enjoyed the cold. They kept running around, playing tag and trying to gather enough snow to make snowballs. It was fun to watch them.