Chapter 1
Pony Express rider, Lou McCloud couldn't wait for her run to be over. She rode hard over the trail heading for the station house in Rock Creek. She was hungry, tired and in need of a bath. She just wanted to finish the last leg of the run and then catch some much needed rest. She urged the horse on with a kick of the heel and a "Hah!".
Suddenly a bright flash erupted right before her and the horse. It was like lightning but it came out of nowhere and had no sound. The horse didn't have time to react and had galloped straight through the unusual event. Then before her the trail was suddenly gone. Instead of a trail she found a long paved road. She brought the horse to a halt.
"Whoa," she pulled the reigns. She looked about and found everything looked different. The landscape was cut in half by the road which was painted with yellow and white lines. She had never seen anything like it. She wondered what is was for and how it got there. She squinted as she stood near the road and looked down a ways. She spotted a moving object coming towards her. The tractor trailer was bigger than anything she had ever seen. She didn't even notice the smaller vehicle tailing behind it. She simply had no idea what she was even looking at.
The truck passed by at a high rate of speed and pulled the horn. The motion spooked the horse and reared up throwing Lou. She hit the ground flat on her back. She lay there looking up at the sky trying to catch her breath.
The red car traveling behind the truck pulled over upon seeing Lou be tossed from the horse like a rag doll. A voice called to Lou as she laid winded.
"Are you okay?" the voice of the woman called as she got close.
Lou looked up and spied the round face of a young woman with brown eyes and short brown hair. She had thick eyebrows and remarkably reminded her of the Kid in features.
She dropped to her knees by Lou fearing the rider was seriously hurt. "Can you move your toes?" she asked.
Lou didn't respond as she was still stunned.
The woman stated, "My name is Sam. I'm a doctor. Don't move your head, okay." she instructed.
Lou nodded.
"Don't move your head." she repeated. "I saw you get thrown from the horse. Do you think you broke anything?"
Lou blinked as she started to processes the information. She moved her hands and feet. That was a good sign, "I don't think so." She went to sit up when Sam placed her hands on her shoulders.
"Don't move until I check you over." she told her.
"Where is my horse?" Lou asked.
"It ran back away from the road. Don't worry about it right now. Do you mind if I check you over? I can call an ambulance." she told her.
"I'm fine." she pushed herself up.
Sam stated, "You need to get checked over. You took a hell of a fall. I saw it." She then muttered, "Stupid trucker spooked the horse when blew the horn."
Lou spied her horse far off and away from the road. She slowly got back on her feet. "I need to get my ride." she stated and started to walk.
Sam cautioned, "You need to get checked over at a hospital." She began to follow behind her.
Lou huffed annoyed, "I'm fine!" She then paused and looked at the car and then the road. "What is that?" She pointed towards the vehicle.
"It's a Subaru Outback." Sam replied unsure why Lou was asking about her car.
Lou gave a funny look, "I don't know what that is but it sure has a funny name." She motioned towards the road. "What is that and where is the trail?"
"The road?" she asked unsure what Lou was asking about. "I don't know what trail you are talking about, Miss." She then winced, "Is that your preferred pronoun? I'm sorry I didn't catch your name."
"My what?" she asked bewildered. "It's Lou!" She then realized the stranger knew she was a girl and thus said her full name. "Louise McCloud." She recalled, "You said your name is Sam."
"Samantha Cain. Doctor Samantha Cain. Everyone calls me 'Sam'." she informed.
Lou insisted, "I don't need a doctor. I'm fine. I've taken worse spills than that." She looked about. "Where am I?"
"You're just outside the town of Rock Creek." Sam told her.
Lou figured she must be close to getting home. "I have to get to the station house."
Sam asked, "What station house?"
"The Pony Express station house." she told her.
"You mean the museum?" she asked. Her eyes grew wide, "Oh, you must be one of those re-enactors. Boy, you got the costume down. Is that a real gun?" she wondered pointing towards the holster.
Lou gave a nod, "As real as a gun gets." She tired to get her horse to come by giving a high pitch whistle but the animal was too afraid of the road to go near it.
"I can call animal control and they can get your horse." she figured. She retrieved her cell phone from her pocket.
For the first time Lou actually paid attention to her rescuer. She wore some kind of blue denim trousers with a red and white pattern flannel shirt over a white undershirt. In her hands was a funny looking device, black in color with some kind of glass covering. She didn't know what to make of the spectacle. "What is that thing?" Lou motioned toward the phone.
"My phone." she replied as she swiped the face of the phone looking for the animal control officer's number. She dialed the number and placed the phone to her ear.
Lou just stood watching rather curious.
Sam spoke, "Hi, my name is Sam Cain and I like to report a horse that dumped its rider. It's by route 17 just outside Rock Creek. The rider was thrown, she refused an ambulance. I'm here with her and the horse please give me a call back." She disconnected the call. "No answer." she mentioned.
Lou stood bewildered at what she had witnessed. She wondered if she had hit her head and was having some kind of dream. She gently touched the back of her head with her fingers feeling for a wound. Surely, she was hallucinating for nothing seemed to make sense.
Sam grew alarmed, "Did you hit your head?"
"No," she replied finding nothing wrong. She glanced about. "I just can't understand this place."
"What do you mean?" Sam grew concerned. She wondered if perhaps Lou has suffered a concussion after all. She stepped closer and raised her fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Two," Lou correctly replied.
"What day is it?" she began to ask standard questions.
"It's Tuesday." Lou reported.
Thursday was the true day and Sam made mental note. "Okay, how about something basic. Who is the President of the United States?"
"James Buchanan." Lou told her.
She squinted and puckered for that was not correct. "What year is it?"
"The year of our Lord, eighteen hundred and fifty nine." she insisted.
"Um…" Sam puckered thinking Lou had some kind of injury to the head or perhaps was delusional.
Lou rebutted, "What year do you think it is?"
"It's two thousand and twenty." she told her.
She let out a unbelieving laugh, "No it's not. You are fibbing…." she then looked back at the road and the car sitting on the side. She couldn't explain what she was seeing. A feeling of fear and confusion set in. She began to shake. Lou started to walk towards the horse feeling a bit numb and weak in the knees. Nothing made any sense to her. She whistled for the horse to come. Slowly the horse came close to Lou and soon she grabbed the reigns. She soothed the frightened animal while attesting to sooth her own confusion and fears. "It's okay," she petted the horse.
Sam walked up behind her. She looked over the horse and spied the pouch on the horn of the saddle. She curiously asked, "What's in there?"
"Mail." she told her.
"Can I see?" she asked seeing how shaken up and confused Lou seemed to be.
"No!" Lou became protective of the pouch. Then she heard a roaring sound coming from the road. She stood and watched as a loud motorcycle went by at a high rate of speed. She then grew pale. "Um…" she gulped. She looked desperately towards Sam.
"That was just a motorcycle." Sam assured her and the jittery horse.
"I've never seen anything like that." Lou confessed.
Sam began to wonder if perhaps Lou was telling the truth. Maybe something odd did happen after all. She wondered, "Do you know how you got here?"
"I don't know!" Lou waved an arm. I was riding back to the station house and then this bright flash of lightning was right before me. Did you see the lightning?"
She tried to remember what she saw and recalled, "I was following that truck and then out of thin air you and the horse appeared. You stopped by the side of the road and the truck blew the horn and spooked your horse. I saw you fall off and that's when I pulled over to see if you were hurt." She repeated, "You just appeared out of thin air."
Lou stated, "None of this makes any sense. I was on the trail and then…" she waved her arm. "This was here. How do I even find the station house? The trail is gone."
"The road is built on top of the old Pony Express trail." Sam told her. "It's a historical landmark. Do you have anyone you can call?" she then wondered if the question was even appropriate in the light of Lou's claim.
"Call?" she asked. "I need to get back to the station house." she insisted. As Lou spoke she heard a bizarre sound coming from the phone Sam held. It was almost musical but odd in pitch. She then watched as Sam looked at the device and smiled.
"Animal control," she cheered and swiped the face of the phone. She answered, "Hello!"
Lou only caught half the conversation as Sam spoke on the phone. She listened closely.
"Yes, I called." Sam nodded. "I'm with the horse and rider on the side of the road. The rider doesn't want an ambulance. She was thrown but seems okay. She got the horse back under control." She paused for a minute. "I don't know. Let me ask." She looked to Lou, "Um…do you have a barn for the horse or do you think it needs to see a vet or anything?"
"The horse is fine." Lou replied. "She belongs to the Pony Express. She belongs in the station house but I have no idea where I am." She then pondered the claim of being in the year 2020. "Or when for that matter…" she muttered unsure.
"Rider and horse are lost." Sam reported. "I think the horse will need to be put in a barn somewhere." She glanced at Lou still fearing she had a concussion. "And the rider needs to be checked over by a doctor."
"I'm fine!" Lou huffed.
Sam gave a nod while listening, "That will be great. Thanks." She disconnected the call. "That was the animal control officer. He has a barn available for the horse. She will be checked over by a vet there. He's coming with a trailer to get her." She paused and then insisted, "You really need to be seen by a doctor after that fall you took."
Lou smirked, "Didn't you say you were a doctor?"
She nodded, "I'm a surgeon. You need an X-ray though."
"What's an X…ray?" Lou wondered.
"It a picture of the inside of your head to check for any brain injuries from that fall." she told her.
She squinted, "How would you get a picture of inside my head?" She took a step back, "You ain't doing any cutting on me." She feared the doctors would do something unethical.
Sam chuckled, "No! Not like that. An X-ray uses radiation to get an image of your bones. No one will cut you open. It's safe."
"Oh," Lou felt a bit at ease and yet curious at the same time. "That sounds okay then. But I have to get the pouch to the station house." she insisted.
"I can drive you there." Sam told her. "Soon as they come for the horse."
"Drive me?" she cocked her head.
Sam motioned, "In my car."
"In that thing?" Lou pointed bewildered.
"In that thing." Sam nodded.