Disclaimer: Don't own the movies.
Author's Note: Just a new chapter.
8: Chapter Seven
September 7, 1885
08:10 AM PDT
Clara Clayton really was nervous, as she ran up to the centre of Hill Valley. Obviously, the gunfight had just taken place – but where could Emmett be? Knowing one vast place to go, she headed over to the shop. "Emmett!" she called out, opening the rusty old door. "Emmett! Emmett!" Looking around, there was nothing to be seen…
Then, in a corner of her eye, she noticed the 'model railroad' standing there. Heading over to the table, she gasped as she saw everything. There was a train on there, but there was something in front of it, too. A small model of some carriage very unfamiliar to her. It was labelled 'time machine'. "Time machine…"
Nobody that Clara knew would ever go through the trouble of making something this complicated just to fool people. Which meant…
Oh… he wasn't… he couldn't… he couldn't have been telling the truth, could he?
Not wanting to take any chances, Clara quickly looked at the model and clearly saw where everything was going. It was the old spur, out of town, that she'd seen upon arrival and that ran off towards the ravine she'd almost fallen in. Realizing what to do, she ran out of the shop, jumped on a horse just standing there – most likely Clint's – and rode off towards the spur.
oooooooo
"Come on Marty!" Doc shouted, as they were chasing the train. He'd just managed to climb on the last carriage, and was now waving out for Marty. He really hoped that his friend would be able to make it. He always thought positively, but now, he felt a little uncertain if Marty would indeed make it to the train on time. Then again, his friend could be trusted – and if Marty thought he could reach the locomotive, Doc wasn't going to doubt that. He just wondered why it was taking his friend so long.
"Argh!" Marty then exclaimed. "Argh!" He sure was having a bad time with it. Doc then reached out. "Ah, gimme ya hand!" he called out. That way, he could be sure to get Marty on board of the train.
Just then, Marty reached out – and he managed to catch Doc's hand. The scientist felt himself blown backwards, and had the teenager fell over him. He really felt exhausted. "Argh!" Marty exclaimed, and Doc couldn't blame him. "Whoa! Whoa! Argh!" The two time travellers then got up, climbed up, and started to walk over the carriages towards the front. It sure was unstable, and Doc felt frightened. They could, of course, fall off. He sure didn't want something like that to happen to Marty – or to him, for that matter. He wanted to get back to the future, not get killed on a train.
"Wa-ha!" Doc called out, then he saw that Marty was having an even harder time. "Whoa!" the teen called out. "Hoo!" Doc exclaimed, and waited. "Come on, Marty!" He really wanted to get back to the future, now. After all, with Clara leaving him, there was nothing left in 1885 – so he just wanted to forget her and go home. But then, of course, they would have to take control of the train, first.
"Argh!" Marty then screamed, as they jumped onto another car. Doc then turned to him. "C'mon, let's go!" he urged. "Masks on." As they then reached the locomotive, the duo carefully climbed down, and after pulling down their masks, Doc pushed his gun into the cab.
"Is this a hold-up?" one of the two engineers asked, scared.
Doc glanced at Marty. "It's a science experiment!" he finally yelled. "Stop the train before you hit the switch track up ahead."
As the engineer obeyed to Doc's wishes, Marty got out of the train, and changed the direction the tracks were going. As he then finished, he called out: "Doc!"
The inventor didn't need any more information. "Uncouple the cars from the tender" he said to the engineers, satisfied as they did so. Doc got in the locomotive, and the train slowly started to move away, and Marty climbed onto it.
Doc pulled his mask off, as they moved away from the cars, and pulled the whistle. "I've wanted to do that my whole life!" he called out, happily. Marty laughed, as they moved closer towards the DeLorean. In the distance, Doc could see the time vehicle, and felt excited. They really were finally going back to the future, now. After eight months and six days, he would see 1985 again.
The inventor carefully manoeuvred the steam locomotive to stop right in front of the car. He jumped out towards the time machine, where he and Marty grabbed his 'Presto Logs'. They then walked over to the train.
"What are these things, anyway?" Marty asked.
Doc chuckled. "My own version of Presto Logs. Compressed wood with anthracite dust chemically treated to make the fire burn hotter and longer. I use them in my forge. These three will light the fire sequentially, make the fire burn hotter, kick up the boiler pressure and make the train go faster."
oooooooo
Clara Clayton felt confused for a moment, as she saw some wagons standing alone on the tracks. Then she realized – Emmett had to have taken them! He really was following that plan, now! Riding as fast as she could, she raced off the hill. If she missed Emmett now, he wouldn't be back until… 1985, wasn't it?
"Hiyah!" she called out to her horse. Emmett, I'm coming…
oooooooo
Marty McFly felt really excited, as the DeLorean started to move. The train just bumped onto the car, and with a slight funny feeling, the time machine started moving. "Ready to roll!" he called out, through his walkie-talkie.
oooooooo
Clara saw the train, and gasped. "Emmett!" she called out, racing down. Oh, why did this all have to go so hurried…
oooooooo
Marty McFly was just relaxing, as Doc called him. "Marty, are the time circuits on?"
Stupid – how could he forget. In a simple move, he turned the switch. "Check, Doc!"
"Input the Destination Time!" Doc called out. "October twenty-seventh, 1985, 11am!" Marty carefully did so, he then looked at the speed. "We're cruising at a steady 25 miles per hour Doc!"
"I'm throwing in the Presto Logs!" Doc called back. After a few seconds, he called back: "Marty, the new gauge will display the boiler temperature. The colour coding indicates when each log will fire. Green, yellow and red. Each detonation will be accompanied by a sudden burst of acceleration. Hopefully we'll get up to 88 miles per hour before the needle hits two thousand."
That didn't sound good. "Right, what happens when the needle hits two thousand?"
"The whole boiler explodes."
Marty dropped the walkie-talkie. "Perfect."
oooooooo
Clara Clayton felt weird, as she jumped off the horse and onto the train. This sure wasn't ladylike at all. She hoped that Emmett would appreciate what she was doing.
oooooooo
"Hey Doc!" Marty called out. "We just hit 35!" He felt nervous, as they were getting to move faster now. Not that he didn't trust Doc, but those Presto Logs sure sounded dangerous.
"OK, Marty, I'm coming aboard!" Doc called out. Marty waited, as Doc apparently climbed out. He waited, as his inventor friend moved forwards. He then looked at the speedometer. Why was it climbing so slow? "Come on," he muttered, "come on."
At that moment, he happened to look over to the gauge – and felt shocked. The green was almost on it's end! "You better hold onto something, Doc," he called out through the walkie-talkie, "the yellow log is about to blow!"
oooooooo
Clara was about to climb further, when a large explosion hit. "Aww!" she called out, landing on the blocks. "Golly." She realized that now, she really had to reach Emmett.
oooooooo
Marty felt worried, looking at the speedometer. "We just passed forty!" he called out, noticing the Present Time was just 8:18 am. Whoa, that early? Time passes slow when you're in a time machine.
He looked outside, and faintly thought he heard someone screaming "Emmett" but wrote it off as nothing. He concentrated on his friend, who was standing at the front of the train. "We just passed 45 Doc, go for it!" He realized that Doc had to be really scared. Then again, staying in the cab had been his idea.
The teenager looked at the speed again. "Fifty!" he called out, getting really anxious now. Within moments, they'd reach 88 mph and depart 1985… without Doc.
oooooooo
At that moment, the whistle blew. Marty and Doc exchanged confused looks, and the scientist looked around – only to see Clara Clayton standing in the doorway of the cab, screaming: "Emmett!"
"Clara!" Doc called out. This couldn't be true. He had to be dreaming.
But he wasn't. "I love you!" That was the last thing the inventor had expected to hear. Somehow, Clara had found out about the train, and realized he was telling the truth… and was willing to reconsider what she said the night before. His heart jumped with joy.
"Doc!" Marty called out, breaking the excitement. "Doc, what's happening!"
"It's Clara!" Doc called out. "She's on the train!"
"Clara!" Marty exclaimed. "Perfect!" Apparently, according to the teenager, the mission wasn't over yet…
oooooooo
Verne Brown felt rushed, as he rode through the 1880s desert. He just didn't know, how he was going to lose his persuaders. As he looked around, he saw the gang was still chasing him, and had almost caught up. He felt really worried about his life, now.
Suddenly, a sound was heard ahead. The teenager looked up – and opened his eyes wide. There was a small plane in the sky, 18 years before invented, with the colourful letters 'JEB' on it! The teen noticed that Jules was inside. Then, a rope was dropped, right onto Verne's head. The seventeen-year-old didn't care, though. He attached the rope to his belly, then felt himself being pulled up – and soon, he'd left his horse.
"Jules!" Verne screamed.
"Hold on Verne!" Jules screamed back. "Have you got the book?"
"It's in this bag!"
Jules nodded, and Verne waited, as they flew through the landscape. Suddenly, he heard a loud beep from up. He saw Jules' expression – worried. "Jules, what's going on?" he called out, through the walkie-talkie.
"The system is acting up!" Jules told him. "I guess the gas is up. We're going to crash-land. Brace yourself."
"Wha-"
Then, the airplane raced towards the ground. Verne narrowly missed some trees, and landed hard, being pulled through the sand hard as the airplane skidded to a halt. As he felt well enough to walk again, he ran over to Jules.
"Jules!" he called out. "What was that!"
"Nothing" his brother said. "Just forgot to fill up the gas. Nothing important. Let's go to the DeLorean, now. We survived, but the plane didn't."
Verne had to nod. "Come on, let's go to Shonash Ravine."
Jules then went pale. "Great Scott!" he exclaimed. "Shonash Ravine! At this point, Dad and Marty are pushing up the DeLorean… the time machine will go forward… the train will crash…" He turned to Verne, who realized what his brother was saying and finished Jules' line. "… crash right onto the time machine!"
"Let's go!" Jules screamed, as he started to run. Verne then followed his brother towards the ravine. If only they were on time… if not, both of the boys were going to have a serious panic attack.