Chapter 2

Marty found himself packing a bag as if he was about to go on vacation. He recalled how Doc had packed a bag fearing there would be no cotton underwear in the future. He laughed slightly at himself as he did the same. He looked about his home one last time as he wasn't sure just when or if he would return. He gazed upon the photo of his late wife one more time and then headed out the bedroom door before the pain of her loss could see into his heart.

He walked out of the home, locked the door behind him and went to the garage. He feasted his eyes on the Delorean, now back to its former glory. He placed the bag in the trunk of the car and waited for Jackie to arrive. He thought of leaving without her. He even debated leaving her the deed to his house as his kids seemed distant and to have disowned him. He was ready for that adventure. That final adventure that would take him away from his loneliness.

Jackie arrived on her bicycle. She parked it in the garage and spied Marty standing near the car, dressed casually in a tan jacket with a black tee-shirt and blue jeans. She asked, "Ready for the test run?"

"Test run is good." Marty agreed. He didn't tell her about the bag or his thought of just leaving on his own. He then decided he would let Jackie drive. "You drive."

"I don't have a license." she reminded him.

"You have a permit." he countered. "You should get a little time behind the wheel. You rebuilt it after all."

She grinned happy, "Thank you!" She placed her backpack in the car behind the seat and climbed in behind the wheel.

Marty climbed in the passenger's side. He looked over the panel and found he could not tell her how it worked as she upgraded the computers. The destination panel was now a computer screen. "You know how this works?"

"I built it and made the program." she reminded him. "It's touch screen." she informed. She closed the wing door, inserted the key and started the engine.

It had been decades since Marty hear that familiar roar. It sounded sweet to his ears. Soon the car rolled out the garage and headed down the street sticking out much like a sore thumb.

Jackie stated her plans. "We get to Lone Pine Mall and we go one minute into the future. We can set up some 'go pro' cameras to catch it."

"That was Doc's first test." Marty told her. "He sent the car one minute into the future with his dog inside it. I videoed it."

She admitted, "I hope with find him. I really want to meet Doc."

"He would like you." he assured. "You are smart like he is."

"I'm not that smart." she disagreed. "I'm a Tanner after all. You know. The dunce family."

"You are not a dunce." he assured.

She sighed as she drove. "Your family is neat. Your dad is a famous writer and all those movies based on his books. Your mom is a movie producer. Your brother is a famous investor, he got his own You Tube channel and sells gold. Your sister has her own makeup company. What does my family have? We're just a bunch of screw ups."

Marty disagreed. "You are not a bunch of screw ups. And before I went back in 1985 to 1955, my family was not that successful. My father worked for your grandfather and would cow tailed to him. My brother worked at McDonald's and my sister was a babysitter. My mom drank too much. My dad sat there and watched television and didn't do anything."

She gasped, "Really!"

"Really!" he confirmed. Marty then noticed a white van pull up beside them on the road. He looked in the mirror and found yet another white van behind them. He looked up ahead an a white van was coming towards them on the road. "Ah, Jackie. I think we might have a problem."

She asked, "Where did all these white vans come from?"

"I don't know but we need to lose them." he told her.

"How?" she gulped.

"Just hit the gas and get away from them." he told her. He then started to fiddle with the touch screen.

Jackie hit the gas and increased her speed. She found the white vans were gaining on her. She cried, "They are getting closer."

"Get on the highway!" Marty told her.

Soon Jackie emerged onto the highway and was hitting speeds of over seventy miles per hour. She frantically huffed, "We need to call 911, Marty and get the cops to stop these guys."

Marty looked in the side mirror as man with a rifle emerged and started to open fire on the Delorean. He huffed, "Step on the gas. Get us up to ninety." He then went back to the touch screen and entered a date. He knew the car was set. All they needed to do was reach eighty-eight miles per hour. The car hit a pot hole as his finger slipped on the screen, moving the destination date from 1985 to 1984.

As Jackie accelerated to ninety miles per hour in an attempt to outrun the three vans the flux capacitor engaged and in a flash they were gone.

1984

The Delorean emerged on the highway going at a high rate of speed in the past. They emerged right in front of a black Trans Am with a flashing strobe light in the nose. Michael Knight came to attention. "What just happened KITT?"

The Knight Industry Two Thousand replied, "A Delorean has appeared before us. I have no explanation of how it arrived. I did detect an energy spike upon its arrival."

Michael asked, "What is on that car?" He then ordered, "Follow it, KITT."

Inside the Delorean, Jackie was trying to calm herself as Marty figured the flux capacitor brought them to the past. He looked at the screen. "Wait! That's not the right date. I programmed October 15th 1985. It's October 15th 1984. Maybe going touch screen wasn't such a good idea." he concluded.

"What?" she looked at Marty. "You programmed it to take us back in time?"

"It's was the only way we were going to get away from them. I thought we could go back to the day when Doc did the first trail run and I could warn him that he disappears." he explained. "But we hit that pothole and my finger slipped. Now it says we are a full year ahead of time."

"We need to get back to the future." Jackie told him. "I wasn't ready for the test run. This is nuts." She shook her head hard. She then looked in the mirror. "There is a black Trans Am behind us. Check out the nose of the car, Marty."

He looked at the car in the side mirror. "Huh! I wonder what that is. Let's pull off and see if he follows us."

"I need to get to a gas station anyways." she mentioned. "I wasn't ready for that. I need to get more gas."

Marty smirked, "With what money?"

"Can't we use a card?" she wondered.

He shook his head. "Doc Brown had to give me money in 1955." he recalled.

"This is insane." she cried taking the exist. She soon found a gas station and noticed the black car was following them. She pulled into the station and looked at Marty. "Did you bring a gun by any chance?"

He shook his head. "I brought some pepper spray."

She looked at him. "We have a time machine. Someone knows we have a working time machine and obviously is very interested and you did not bring a gun with you?"

"Back in my time you didn't really think about running around with a gun." he explained.

"This is a time machine!" she huffed. "You need a gun. People will want to get their hands on it."

"Calm down, Jackie." he soothed. "Let's just figure out who this guy is first." He then climbed out of the car and looked back as Michael Knight emerged from KITT. He wasn't sure who the man was but he figured if he played it cool and smooth he could figure out if the man was police or not. "Hi!" he greeted.

Michael looked at the older man standing before him. He looked at the car and noticed a driver. "Um…that car…" he motioned. "Is that a Delorean?"

Marty nodded while keeping a straight face as he found the question amusing. The Delorean was like an old glove to Marty. A familiar friend from the past. "It is!"

"Okay…how did you do that? Just poof on to the highway out of thin air." he wondered. He then glanced up as Jackie emerged from the driver's seat. He noticed she was looking about with a worried expression.

Marty glanced at Jackie and then looked back at Michael. "It's a time machine." he stated amused. He figured if he just told the truth the man would assume it was some kind of joke and walk away. He then deflected, "That is an awesome car. Is that a strobe in the nose?"

Jackie made her way to the back of the car. She held herself a bit worried. "Marty! Is everything okay?" she asked concerned.

"I was just complementing this guy on his car. That's a classic!" he grinned.

Michael asked pointing, "Is that really a time machine?"

Fearing trouble Jackie quickly denied it. "No! It's a Delorean."

Marty grinned, "If you are going to make a time machine out of a car might as well do it with style." He recalled Doc's remark from long ago.

Jackie stood wide-eyed and nearly frozen. "You told him." she winced.

Marty asked her, "Who is gonna believe it? You know how stupid it sounds, Jackie?"

She stood wincing fearing they could be in some kind of trouble. She asked, "You a cop mister?" she asked Michael.

Michael shook his head, "No! I'm a private investigator. Name is Michael Knight. You two need any help?" He knew Marty was trying to distract him away from the car and judging from the driver's reaction he began to wonder if the time machine claim was actually true.

Marty stated, "We need some gas and we're a little short on funds."

"I'll help ya." Michael offered hoping to get a better look at the car. "You from around here?"

Marty replied, "Kind of." He knew he needed a cover story for himself a Jackie. "My daughter, Jackie and I just got into town. I do…um…props…for movies." he excused. "The Delorean is for a new movie."

Michael opened his wallet and handed Marty a ten dollar bill. "This should do it."

Marty looked at the bill and then at the pump. He nearly laughed, "Damn, gas was so cheap back then."

Jackie glanced at the gas price. "Only 89 cents for a gallon of gas, Marty?"

Michael asked, "You two are father and daughter, right?" He found the first name bases odd for a father and daughter team.

Jackie stated, "He recently adopted me. I'm from a broken home. My family sucks." She then watched as Marty opened removed the gas cap and started to pump ten dollars worth of gas into the car. He looked upon the sports car. "That is an awesome looking car." he repeated. "Jackie, check out the car. You don't find classics like that anymore."

Jackie walked away from the driver's side leaving the door open. She wanted to talk to Marty alone for she wondered what to do next.

Michael invited her, "Check out KITT." He found KITT could easily distract people so he could snoop around. He wanted to see inside the Delorean.

Jackie faked her way to the car. She glanced inside and saw the cockpit but she didn't realize the interior was custom with a AI computer. She just thought it was some new kind of retro 80's style. She made her way to Marty and kept her voice low. "What do we do now?"

Unbeknownst to Jackie and Marty, KITT was recording their conversation.

"We need to get a hotel room or someplace to stay. If I go find Doc now, it's too soon and he hasn't made the flux capacitor yet." he told her.

"We need money, a place to stay. How are we going to do that?" she asked. "I need a garage to work on the Delorean and the flux capacitor. It needs time to recharge to capacity for discharge."

Marty asked, "How long to charge?"

"It takes about a week." she told him. "You can't go time jumping in it. I managed to salvage some of what Doc had done but the system I installed takes a week to charge up the 1.21 gigawatts."

"I'll buy us time." Marty agreed. "We can find a couple of jobs while we are here." He then noticed Michael was looking inside the Delorean. "He's snooping." he told Jackie.

Michael's eyes grew wide upon seeing the advanced computer systems. He had to play it cool. He also wanted to investigate Marty and Jackie further. He calmly made his way back to the rear of the car. "That's an interesting prop car you two go there."

Marty agreed. "It is! Hey, you know of anyone who is hiring and can you recommend a good hotel?"

"You said you are a movie prop guy?" he asked.

Marty padded his resume. "I do stunts." He grinned widely and looked at Jackie who strained. "I'm a stunt man."

"When you are not time traveling." Jackie miffed. Stunt man? Marty was never a stunt man. She wondered why he even made such a claim.

Michael asked, "And your daughter?"

Marty beamed, "She's a senior in high school."

Her eyes grew wide.

He then added, "She's also a mechanic, a computer programmer and drone pilot."

Michael wasn't sure what he stumbled onto but knew there was more to Jackie and Marty than met the eye. "I think I got some friends who can help you two out."