Starting where they'd emerged from the forest, they headed right, or more precisely, east. For no better reason than to prevent the sun's being in Lucius's eyes.
They'd been trudging along for some fifteen minutes when he heard a low, rumbling sound behind them. It seemed to be gaining on them--and quickly.
He grabbed Ivy, but she was reacting at the same time. They leapt to the side of the road. Then and only then, he turned to look at the inexplicably quiet wagon he assumed was coming up behind them...
And almost fainted.
The "wagon" was a metal monstrosity, approaching at an unheard-of speed. And it wasn't being drawn by horses. It was racing toward them with no visible means of propulsion! Is it a vehicle, or a giant bullet?
Before he could cry out, the thing came to a screeching stop beside them. A man was saying something. But for a moment, Lucius didn't even hear him. He was too distracted by the words printed on the side of the machine: "Walker Wildlife Preserve."
"Walker"?
The expression as a whole meant nothing to him. He'd never seen "wild" and "life" jammed together to form one word, and he couldn't imagine what the verb "preserve" had to do with any of it. But by what incredible coincidence was the first word that greeted them, outside the forest, Ivy's family name?
The driver of the strange conveyance could no longer be ignored. Using a door on the other side, he stepped out into the road. "Ivy?" he called. He rushed to her, looking alarmed. "Ivy--it is you! It's me, Kevin! Do you know this guy? Is he with you?"
Lucius suddenly understood what he was seeing. Good grief. This "Kevin" is younger than I am. And he's concerned for Ivy because he thinks I'm a stranger trying to take advantage of her! Stunned though he still was by the appearance of Kevin's "truck," he almost laughed out loud.
He sobered quickly as another thought struck him. He assumed all men would find Ivy as desirable as he did; in the village, where everyone behaved civilly, that was no problem. (At least, it wouldn't have been a problem if Noah had not been deranged.) What if the wider world was different, and Kevin could be expected to kill him and take Ivy by force? Or if not Kevin, the next man they met?
Ivy didn't seem troubled by dark thoughts; she beamed at being reunited with a friend. "Kevin! I'm so thankful we met you!" She hastened to introduce them, explaining, "Yes, this man certainly is with me. Kevin, I'd like you to meet my fiance, Lucius Hunt. When I needed medicine last year, it was because Lucius had been injured."
"Oh." Kevin looked relieved, though still confused, and perhaps a bit deflated at hearing the word "fiance." He extended a hand in greeting, saying, "Pleased to meet you, Lucius."
A dazed Lucius shook hands with him. "Pleased to meet you," he echoed. Is this a ritual on meeting someone? Will he be shocked if we tell him I'm doing it for the first time in my life?
Kevin turned back to Ivy. "Do you, uh, need more medicine?" He sounded nervous, Lucius realized, and he'd begun shifting from one foot to the other.
"No," Ivy told him. "This time Lucius and I mean to visit a town."
"Ivy!" Lucius couldn't keep silent any longer. "I have to tell you something." He put a steadying arm around her. "The reason you've never heard the horses pulling Kevin's truck is that there aren't any. The thing is made of some kind of metal, and it runs on its own, as if it were alive!"
"What?" Ivy was as stunned as he'd expected."No horses?" But she recovered more quickly than he had, continuing, "You mean it's actually a train?"
They'd seen a book in their childhood, he remembered, with pictures of trains. Big, dirty-looking things with numerous cars, used for transporting goods between far-flung towns...
"Something like a train," he said dubiously. "But it doesn't run on tracks."
Kevin was staring at them, open-mouthed. Now he found his voice and said, in a tone of awe, "Y-you mean...both of you would've expected my truck to be pulled by horses? You've never known anything else, other than trains?"
"That's right," Lucius told him, fighting to keep his voice steady. "In fact"--I may as well be honest--"we only know trucks and trains from books. I've never seen a horse pull more than a cartload of vegetables. Our village is small enough that people go everywhere on foot."
He realized all three of them were trembling.
Kevin stammered, "And n-now..you want to go to a town?"
"Yes," Ivy said bravely. "Can you help us, Kevin?" Her confidence waning a bit, she continued, "C-can you take us in your truck?"
"Jesus," Kevin muttered. "My boss will kill me--"
"Oh!" Ivy's face went white. "Then of course we don't want you to do it! If you could just tell us whether we're headed in a sensible direction--"
"Wait a minute." Kevin was as pale as she was. "Did you think I meant literally that my boss would kill me?"
She frowned. "Of course..."
Kevin looked from her to Lucius. "You thought so too?"
Lucius nodded wordlessly. Why would he have said it if he didn't mean it?
"That was just a figure of speech," Kevin explained. He fidgeted for a few seconds, then blurted out, "My God! What sort of place do you come from? Do people there kill each other all the time?"
"Of course not!" Two voices, equally shocked.
"Okay, okay," Kevin said quickly. "I'm sorry I scared you. Or insulted your community or whatever. But I don't know what I should do...well, wait a minute. I am sure of one thing." He climbed back into his truck, and emerged a few seconds later holding an object that was--to Lucius's surprise, at this point--identifiable. A gold pocket watch.
Pressing it into Ivy's hands, the young man said, "I've always regretted taking this from you, Ivy. I got the medicine you needed from one of our guard shacks--it didn't cost me a cent. I guess I just held onto the watch 'cause you'd caught me by surprise when you gave it to me. I even went into the Preserve a couple times, hoping I could find you and return it. But I couldn't."
"Please, Kevin," Ivy protested, "I want you to keep it!"
"No! I don't think you realize how valuable it is," he told her. "Even if I had paid for the medicine, it wouldn't have cost anywhere near what this watch is worth. I had a jeweler look at it. He said it must be a family heirloom--it dates from the 19th century."
"Wait!" Lucius croaked. He was dimly aware that Ivy looked as stunned as he felt; he'd merely been the first to speak. "This is the 19th century!" In a small voice, he added, "Isn't it?"
"No." Kevin was now as white as a sheet. "This is the year 2005. What year did you think it was?"
The watch fell from Ivy's hand. She ignored it, standing motionless as a statue.
Lucius said weakly, "1898."
He saw Kevin shoot a quick look at Ivy, to confirm that she had no disagreement with what he'd said.
Then the men simply stared at each other.
At last Kevin said anxiously, "There's something really wrong here. I can't just drop you off in West Chester and say, 'Have a good time!' If you were brought up not knowing about cars, not knowing what century it is, I think I should tell someone.
"But at the same time, I've gotta consider my job. The people who run the Preserve don't want anyone looking too closely at it."
That gave Lucius an opening he'd wanted. "What's this 'Preserve'? And what does the name 'Walker' have to do with it? Ivy, I haven't had a chance to tell you this--the words 'Walker Wildlife Preserve' are printed on his truck, on his cap, and on shoulder patches on his jacket!"
"What?" Ivy came to life, backing a step away from her friend. "Kevin, I told you last year that my name is Walker. Do you know something about my family? And if you do, why didn't you tell me?"
"I don't know if the name's a coincidence or not," Kevin said miserably. "Look, I've only worked here for two years, right? But what's supposed to be behind that wall is a forest, a safe place for animals and birds, where they can't be killed by hunters or threatened by development. It's financed by something called the Walker Foundation--some rich family's money, it's said.
"My job is just patrolling the border, keeping trespassers out. If I see a parked car I have to go in and roust the curiosity-seekers out of the place. But it's only happened twice, in two years.
"When I met you last year, Ivy, I thought maybe some of the Walkers were, um, eccentric enough to be living in the middle of their Preserve. And maybe you were as eccentric as any of them. I didn't dare say anything, to anyone.
"There's always been something strange about the Preserve. I didn't realize how strange till I went in looking for you, went farther than I ever had before. Since then...I don't think anyone would kill me! But I have been nervous, 'cause I know more than I should. It's supposed to be a good, safe place for animals. But it's not." He shuddered. "It's not that at all."
Lucius hadn't understood every word, but he'd gotten the gist of it. He was sure Ivy had, too.
Kevin's an honest man, or he wouldn't have returned that watch. And if we can trust what he says, most people here don't kill casually or take killings for granted.
Taking Ivy's hand in his, he said carefully, "I saw things I didn't like while we were in the forest." He knew her well enough that he could interpret her squeeze of his hand as meaning Yes, I agree we should tell him.
Kevin nodded. "I'm sure you couldn't miss it. Most of the trees dead or dying, no animals."
"Worse than that." Looking into the other man's eyes, Lucius said steadily, "Human skeletons. I counted a dozen."
"Wh-what?" Kevin obviously hadn't been aware of anything that irregular. He swayed, and had to lean against his truck. "Oh my God. Look, are you sure? Sure they're human, I mean? And they weren't buried--you didn't dig them up?"
"I've read books on anatomy," Lucius told him. "I feel sure they're human. And of course I didn't dig them up!
"But I did bury something. A human skull that was the first piece I found. I buried it on this side of the wall, back where we came over. So if you--or someone--want to check what I'm saying, you can do it without going into the forest."
"Okay." Kevin's hands were shaking as he pulled a small metallic object out of his pocket. "Do you know what a telephone is? They existed in 1898, the real 1898."
"No," Lucius and Ivy said together.
Kevin gave a weak smile. "I was gonna say this is a small, new-style telephone. But if you aren't even familiar with the old kind...it's a way I can talk to someone at a distance. All right?"
Ivy asked the reasonable question, "Who are you going to talk to?"
Kevin shuddered. "At this point...the police."