Now, let's see what happened to our boys, hmm?
Reunion
When everything had finally stopped spinning Tyler slowly opened his eyes and looked around. The machine, Larry, the crumbling walls; everything was the same. So what the heck had been with the bright light?
"Woah," Larry breathed, leaning against a table for support. "That was really weird."
"No kidding," Tyler agreed. "I wonder what it did."
"It doesn't look like it did anything," Larry said, actually sounding a little disappointed.
"Whatever. Come on; let's get out of here, this stale air is getting suffocating."
Larry looked worriedly across the empty stretch of desert in front of them. "Where did the jeep go?"
"Beats me," Tyler said, leaning against a tree and sounding rather annoyed. It had taken them over an hour to find another way out of the lab –this time being careful not to touch anything- and now his tour jeep was missing. Plus, he didn't remember there being any trees big enough to lean on in this area.
"Maybe it was Shadow again," Larry half-joked. "This is just too weird."
Tyler sighed and reached for his radio. "I'll call Rosalita and have her pick us up; her ranch isn't too f- Dang it!"
"What's the matter?" Larry asked worriedly.
"My walkie's fried."
"What? How?" Larry gasped.
"I don't know," Tyler sighed again. "Does yours work?"
Larry pulled out his radio, trying futilely to turn it on. "Nope," he frowned. "How are we gunna get back?"
"Guess we're gonna walk," Tyler said. "Come on, sooner we start the sooner we can get out of this heat."
Before they could start walking anywhere though, a vehicle came into view over a nearby hill.
Tyler frowned. "What's a tourist doing way out here; the trails are nowhere near here."
"Hay, at least we're being rescued!" Larry grinned.
They watched as the brown truck pulled up next to them and a young man of about 25 years with dirty blonde hair and a strangely familiar face got out. He wore a Vietnam vest and cargo pants and Tyler could see what looked like a sniper rifle in the bed of the truck.
"You two need a lift?"
"Yeah, we need to get back to town," Larry said.
"Climb in," the man said cheerfully.
Larry grinned. "Thanks, I'm Larry!"
"Luke. And it's no problem, I'm used to saving tourists," he replied with a grin of his own.
Tyler glared at him. "We're not tourists."
"Yeah," Larry said defensively. "We live here."
Luke gave them an odd look. "Well I've lived here four years and I've never seen you. What are you then, hermits?"
"What? No!" Larry cried, confused. "I've lived in town for over a year."
"Two for me," Tyler added. "And I've never seen you before."
Luke frowned, his face clearly showing that he was beginning to think his passengers were crazy.
"There is something seriously wrong here, bro," Larry said to Tyler, a worried look crossing his face.
Luke shook his head. "Ok, how 'bout we just figure this out when we get to town, alright?"
Tyler said nothing but he couldn't help the bad feeling in his stomach. Larry was right; this was all wrong and he didn't like it one bit.
"What happened to my trailer?" Larry whimpered, almost hysterically as he jumped out of the truck. He peered around at the town around him. Everything about it just seemed…off.
Tyler started to ask a question of his own when a startled voice cried out in Spanish and both he and Larry were pulled into a tight hug.
"Oh dios- Tyler, Larry, it's really you!" Rosalita pulled away just as quickly though, her face becoming angry and annoyed and she smacked them both on the arm. "Where the hell have you two been?!"
"We were just patrolling and-" Larry started before getting a good look at her. His eyes widened when he realized something looked off about her too. She looked older.
Rosalita huffed, taking no notice of his reaction. "Patrolling for 10 years?" she demanded.
Tyler stared at her. "10 whats?"
"Years," she repeated, frowning. "You've been missing for 10 years."
Larry gaped in shock. "What? We've only been gone for a few hours!"
"Larry?" Another familiar voice came from the porch and they turned to see Jodi standing there, her eyes wide in disbelief. "Tyler? You're back?"
Larry didn't know what else to do but nod.
"Hey," Tyler said hesitantly.
Jodi finally seemed to accept that the two men were actually there and practically flew off the porch, grabbing Larry in a hug and kissing him; completely ignoring Tyler whose eyebrows shot up in surprise.
It took a second for what was happening to register in Larry's mind. When it did he pulled back, face red. Jodi's own face went crimson as she realized what she had just done and distanced herself from him quickly, clearing her throat.
"So, uh, where were you guys?"
"Nowhere," Tyler answered honestly.
"They seem fairly convinced they've been here the last two years," Luke added.
"But we have!" the still slightly flustered Larry insisted. "We were just patrolling, and I got out to investigate something. Then we fell down into an old part of the hidden lab!" he explained.
"Yeah, and then he messed with some weird machine, there was a really bright flash of light, and we came back," Tyler continued. "The whole experience took just under two hours."
"That's just too strange," Rosalita shook her head. "I just…can't believe you two are back. We thought you had been killed or something." She looked at the young, dirty blonde man who had driven them into town. "You should go get Burt."
He nodded and drove off, leaving behind two confused but happy women and two very baffled men.
Oooooooooo, missin' fer 10 years, eh? hmmmmmmm...