Back To The Past
Part Eight: Chasing The Future
"This is turning into a quite a predicament, Marty," said the Doc, flooring the 4x4. "I hadn't counted on young Biff showing up to insure his future."
"We've got more problems that young Biff, Doc," said Marty, spotting old Biff's yellow pick-up joining the pursuit. "Old Biff's in on it now."
"We have to do something, Marty," exclaimed the Doc. "The school stadium's on the other side of town. Even if we get there first, we won't have enough time to load everything onto the locomotive."
"Do you got any more Time Bombs, Doc?"
Doc Brown looked at Marty with an expression of complete disdain, as if he couldn't fathom the concept of what Marty had just said.
"What?"
"You really should have paid more attention in school, Marty," chastised Doc Brown. "We would be the only thing not affected by the Time Bomb. Do you really want to find out what would happen when the truck froze in time but we continued moving at fifty miles per hour?"
"Oh, yeah. Bad idea."
"Our only chance is to try and lose them," growled the Doc, hunkering down over the wheel and concentrating on the road. "Hold on!"
Horns blared as Doc cut the 4x4 across the oncoming lane, barely avoiding being struck by a Ford Pinto, other vehicles slamming on their brakes to avert a pile-up. Unfortunately, the driver of the Pinto came to a complete stop, allowing the DeLorean and the pick-up to copy Doc's maneuver, both vehicles staying right on his tail.
"No good, Doc. They're still with us," said Marty, looking through the rear window at their pursuers.
"I'm not done with them yet, Marty. I didn't spend all those summers running contraband for uncle Otto and not learn a trick or two."
"Contraband?" asked Marty.
"Moonshine," answered the Doc. "Uncle Otto supplied liquor to the six surrounding counties. That's how I learned to drive."
"Great, Doc," said Marty, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I use to give Sheriff Strickland quite the run for his money, if I do say so myself," boasted the Doc.
"Sheriff Strickland?" admonished Marty. Then, thinking the matter over, he thought why not? From Marshall to Sheriff to Principal. The Stricklands sure do have something for discipline.
"He used to chase me for miles," continued the Doc. "Even into other counties. Never caught me, though. Of course, it has been a while since I've had to drive like that, and I was only twelve at the time."
"Twelve? Doc, how old are you?"
"Oh, it wasn't that long ago, Marty," answered the Doc, whipping the 4x4 down a side street, then taking another sharp turn. "It was after prohibition, but Uncle Otto had a popular formula. That's where our family fortune started. He sold the recipe to some German investor."
"Can we talk history later, Doc? They're gaining."
"Let's see what this truck can do," yelled the Doc, sounding like he was having the time of his life.
Marty grabbed hold of the dash as Doc floored the truck, the tires squealing as he made a sharp left that put them up on the curb and aiming for a small passage between two houses. Marty squeezed his eyes shut and screamed as the 4x4 roared between the two structures, his mind telling him that there was no way that the big truck could make it.
"Ye-ha!" yelled the Doc as the 4x4 hit a small rise and bounced into the air, landing fully in the back yards of the houses.
Pressing hard against the door as the Doc did a 380 in the yard, Marty opened his eyes and caught a glimpse of the DeLorean veering around the fronts of the houses. Old Biff had no problem with following after the 4x4 in his little yellow pick-up though, and he came flying between the houses after them.
Doc Brown straightened out the 4x4 and took off across the back yards, heading in the opposite direction that the DeLorean had gone. Marty twisted around to watch for pursuit and let out a whoop as he saw the yellow pick-up hit the same rise that they had, the truck landing so hard that Match, Skinhead, and 3D were thrown out of the back of it.
Either Biff hadn't noticed that his friends had been thrown from the bed of the truck or he didn't care, he simply spun the vehicle around so that he could follow them, the tiny truck bouncing madly on the terrain.
"I think we lost young Biff," said Marty, turning back around, "but Old Biff is still behind us!"
"Not to worry, Marty. Do you know where we are?"
"Uh, no, not really, Doc. It's been a while since I've been in this neighborhood, you know."
"Good. Then you'll be surprised, too," said the Doc, smiling slyly.
Marty was about to ask what the Doc was talking about when he saw the privacy fence looming up before them, illuminated by the 4x4's lights. Marty barely had time to scream as the truck smashed through the fence, roared across the back yard of another house, and then became air-born as it obliterated the fence on the other side of the yard.
"Doooooooooooooooooooooooc!" yelled Marty as the 4x4 leapt over a shallow creek.
Bouncing about wildly as the 4x4 came to a landing on the other side, Marty pulled himself up from the floorboard and swiftly looked through the back window to see Biff's truck go nose down into the creek.
"Ouch," said Marty, imagining Biff eating steering wheel. "He's going to feel that when he wakes up."
The barren land gave way to parking lot, and Marty realized that they were heading into the downtown district, close to where Doc's old place was. Sure enough, they wound up in the back lot of Burger King, roaring past the garage that was the Doc's residence.
"We're home free now, Marty!" yelled the Doc, whipping the 4x4 around to barrel down the drive-through lane.
"Holy shit," exclaimed Marty, bracing himself against the dashboard as Doc slammed on the brakes.
Their path was blocked by three cruisers of the Hill Valley police department, backed up by six officers standing behind the cars, their weapons drawn.
A few minutes later, both Doc and Marty were cuffed and setting in the back of a cruiser as a few of the officers tried reviving the sleeping younger Marty.
"Hey, Doc," said Marty, nodding towards the road.
Doc Brown twisted his head around to see young Biff going by in the DeLorean, laughing to himself as he saw that two had been arrested.
"Great Scott, Marty. We're in a jam now. Biff has family on the police force. He might be able to get his hands on the DeLorean parts before we can even get out of jail!"
"Perfect. Now what are we going to do?"
To Be Continued…
