Okay, this week, it's X meets Y! This means two big movie titles merge together and to make one story. Chuck made two lists and I picked out two great movies and mixed them together the best way I could.... 'Terminator' and 'Back to the Future'. Enjoy!
"Come with me if you want to live." his massive gloved hand moved toward me, open palmed as his huge frame stood over me. Holy crap, just who was this guy? Did he just kill the arsehole who tried to shoot me as I walked home from the police station and... is that Delorian he's drove up in?
"Okay." I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to my feet as though I was a feather.
"Come on." he had an Austrian accent, but was demanding enough that I didn't notice anything much about him, except, well, he filled out those biker jeans really... really well.
Jumping in to the car, the whole thing groaned under his weight and he pulled down the door as I did, encasing us inside the cramped quarters of what looked like...
No, hang on!
It was!
It was Doc Brown's actual Delorian!
"Shit! This fuckin' thing really works!" I blurted looking at the date-marker as the large man punched in today's date, then another date in twenty years' time and then started the car. The car growled to life as the Flux Capacitor over my left shoulder glowed into action, "Jesus Christ in a side-car." I pulled on my seat belt as the central locking made sure I didn't jump out and my driver - who I thought was saving me - shoved the car into gear and planted the pedal to the metal.
FLASH!
FLASH!
BOOM!
Bright daylight invaded my sight and I quickly shaded my face as my driver handed me a pair of sunglasses, "Here, you'll need these."
Fumbling for them, I shoved them onto my face and looked through the windscreen, "Where are we?" clearing my throat, I corrected myself, "Better still, when are we?"
He didn't say anything for a few moments as the car moved amongst the clouds and early morning sunlight, then he looked at the dash and steered to the left and the car suddenly jerked and bumped! The tyres screeched as they found purchase on the ground and he applied the brakes.
We sat there amongst the cloud.
"It's fog." he said.
"When are we?"
"Come on." he turned off the car, pulled the keys out and got out.
I followed him outside and found it was cold. From somewhere inside the car's tiny quarters, he had grabbed a jacket and gave it to me. Pulling it on, I looked around and could only just make out a house, "Where are we?"
"This is your place."
"Why do I live in such a secluded place?"
"You don't." he said, "This mountain is filled with people. It's early morning and nobody is awake yet." he checked his watch and pressed a button and the watch began to countdown, "We have three hours to be here, then I take you back." holding his hand up, he pressed a button on the keys and car vanished.
"Hey!" I yelled, "Where'd it go?"
"Relax, it's still there... but it's just cloaked." he made an attempt at smiling and failed, then walked past me as the door of the house nearby opened, "Doc, I brought her here. Now can I do my usual updates?"
"Yes, yes, of course. Jennifer... it's so good to see you." Doc Brown's wild hair appeared to glow in the early morning sun as the fog lifted, "Come inside, Marty's been looking forward to seeing you again."
"Again?" I asked, "But I saw him up at the lake just last night."
He touched my arm as his eyes widened, remembering where I had come from, "Of course, it was 1985 last night, now, it's ... oh never mind, you don't need to know." he hurried towards the house in his usual, wide gate before turning toward me, "Come on, Jennifer, there's so much to do."
"But why am I here?"
Rushing up to me, he touched my shoulder, "There's so much that goes wrong in your future... and it's not you and Marty, it's your kids. They're losers... they pick up insecurities from your past and apply it to their lives."
"That can happen?"
"It's in their DNA... it was supposed to. But we can change that!" he pulled me on the arm and dragged me toward the house, "You have only three hours to do this."
Marty pushed himself out of the recliner. He made that weird, old-man sound my Dad makes each time he gets up. He's lost a lot of his gorgeous brown hair I loved running my fingers through and he had gotten kinda, wide and podgy in the middle; something he said he'd never get. Then, Marty looked at me and smiled. He had the same sparkle in those beautiful eyes he used to when we were... last night.
"Marty." I whispered, "You look..."
"Like crap." he said, "I know. But we can change this." he looked me up and down, "Did that cyborg kill the mugger?"
"Yes. I did." the Terminator said from his charging unit to my right, "This means you've already changed history in a major way, Jennifer."
I frowned, "No, you did. I didn't expect you to show up in Doc's time machine; and if I was supposed to die that way, well that's how it was supposed to go."
"Actually it wasn't supposed to go that way." Marty said walking toward me, "Needles destroyed my car last night, remember? When I didn't take up that race - and he just avoided the Mercedes - he pulled apart the engine in the truck, then beat me up. You had to walk home from the hospital."
The memory of last night clicked into place, "Yes, that's right. I had gone to the police and reported him, and that took hours. I was on my way home, because my folks were out of town; and nobody could take me home."
Marty looked to the floor, "I couldn't stop any of it."
"Needles is a horrible person. But seeing Biff was his Grandfather, well, it's in his genes." I snorted, "So, what happens now?"
Doc looked through the historical records on a thin little screen and a keyboard, "Well, according to Google, Needles just got out of prison and is hoping to get a hold of your family - and soon!"
"And I asked where we are and you didn't tell me." I looked at the Terminator.
"We're still in Hill Valley, California, but it's different." Marty muttered, "Terribly different."
My gut turned cool, "How different?"
Doc sighed as he walked away from the screen, "Jennifer, we have to send you back and - this time - you have to let the guy shoot you."
Marty turned away from me and walked toward the fireplace, leaning on the mantle, "Oh, man, this is heavy."
"Why did you rescue me in the first place?" I asked, my voice shaking as tears blurred my vision, "And what happens if I get away?"
Marty turned to Doc, "Yeah, what happens if she does on her own?"
"Well, this won't be the future we'll be in, it'll be a different one." Doc said, "And if you remember the last time we traveled back in time, Marty, you changed the past with that Sports Almanac and we ended up in a different 1985?"
"Yes! I do remember that!" Grinning, he walked to me, "Now, you have to fight that mugger, and kill him... can you do that?"
"Kill?"
The Terminator unplugged himself from his unit, "If she has never killed before, she will not kill now."
"He's right." I said, "Marty, I'll have to see how I go... if I'm desparate enough, it might happen; you know, the flight or fight response. But if I can't do it, well, I can't do it."
Doc looked up at the clock on the mantle, "Let's have something to eat and see what we can do."
Lunch in the future was ordinary. We had sandwiches and coffee, I mean, it all came out of the fridge, was fresh and delicious and and the fruit we ate afterwards was lovely.
It was as thought nothing had changed between 1985 and 2005. But I found the bread very, blah. The water was filtered and the coffee wasn't instant; instead it was very exotic and I was told everyone drank it all ground up and in a plunger now. Wow... how upper-class!
Over lunch, we discussed how to make sure I lived. Marty kept on looking at me with concern on his face. When he thought I wasn't looking, he pulled out a photo of me from his wallet and stared at it, looked at me and back at it, sighed and tried to keep from crying.
I knew it.
I was supposed to die last night.
And this is how his life had turned out... no wife, no kids, no life to speak of. Marty McFly had turned out to be a failure right through and it was all because I had died last night.
I had to do something about this - and I knew I had to live through that mugging.
"What are you thinking?" The Terminator's voice by my shoulder startled me.
"Oh... hi." I turned to him, "I um, was thinking about what I'm going to do differently when I go back."
"No matter what, you'll be mugged." he said.
"Not necessarily." I smiled, "There's more than one way to skin a cat. Dad always told me that."
His watch began beeping. He pressed the buttons on either side of it, "It's time to go back."
The Delorian sped off, down the road. The Terminator had dropped me outside the police station at the exact time I was scheduled to go inside. Turning I went inside and made my statement - which took me an hour and a half.
Stepping outside, I found it was raining.
"Damn." I whispered looking around and pulling my light jacket around me.
My house was ten blocks away.
The hospital was only two blocks away.
It was 2am and my folks were out of town until lunchtime tomorrow morning.
I turned toward the hospital, took one step when the doors opened of the police station, "Hey, Jennifer!"
I turned and there stood the Constable who took my statement, "Do you need a lift anywhere? It's pretty late and raining."
"Yes. Could you take me to the hospital, please? Marty's in there, and I'd like to be there for when he wakes up tomorrow." I walked toward him.
"Okay, come back inside, it's not safe out here." he opened the door again and I walked inside with him.
The Terminator watched from across the road in the darkened interior of the Delorian. He had stayed in 1985 to make sure Jennifer made the right choices tonight; to his relief, she had. The policeman was going to be her protector tonight; instead of her being on her own and found dead later the next morning.
This was going to change the future... but then again, Doc was always right about something:
the future is never set, not permanently anyway.
"Come with me if you want to live." his massive gloved hand moved toward me, open palmed as his huge frame stood over me. Holy crap, just who was this guy? Did he just kill the arsehole who tried to shoot me as I walked home from the police station and... is that Delorian he's drove up in?
"Okay." I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to my feet as though I was a feather.
"Come on." he had an Austrian accent, but was demanding enough that I didn't notice anything much about him, except, well, he filled out those biker jeans really... really well.
Jumping in to the car, the whole thing groaned under his weight and he pulled down the door as I did, encasing us inside the cramped quarters of what looked like...
No, hang on!
It was!
It was Doc Brown's actual Delorian!
"Shit! This fuckin' thing really works!" I blurted looking at the date-marker as the large man punched in today's date, then another date in twenty years' time and then started the car. The car growled to life as the Flux Capacitor over my left shoulder glowed into action, "Jesus Christ in a side-car." I pulled on my seat belt as the central locking made sure I didn't jump out and my driver - who I thought was saving me - shoved the car into gear and planted the pedal to the metal.
FLASH!
FLASH!
BOOM!
Bright daylight invaded my sight and I quickly shaded my face as my driver handed me a pair of sunglasses, "Here, you'll need these."
Fumbling for them, I shoved them onto my face and looked through the windscreen, "Where are we?" clearing my throat, I corrected myself, "Better still, when are we?"
He didn't say anything for a few moments as the car moved amongst the clouds and early morning sunlight, then he looked at the dash and steered to the left and the car suddenly jerked and bumped! The tyres screeched as they found purchase on the ground and he applied the brakes.
We sat there amongst the cloud.
"It's fog." he said.
"When are we?"
"Come on." he turned off the car, pulled the keys out and got out.
I followed him outside and found it was cold. From somewhere inside the car's tiny quarters, he had grabbed a jacket and gave it to me. Pulling it on, I looked around and could only just make out a house, "Where are we?"
"This is your place."
"Why do I live in such a secluded place?"
"You don't." he said, "This mountain is filled with people. It's early morning and nobody is awake yet." he checked his watch and pressed a button and the watch began to countdown, "We have three hours to be here, then I take you back." holding his hand up, he pressed a button on the keys and car vanished.
"Hey!" I yelled, "Where'd it go?"
"Relax, it's still there... but it's just cloaked." he made an attempt at smiling and failed, then walked past me as the door of the house nearby opened, "Doc, I brought her here. Now can I do my usual updates?"
"Yes, yes, of course. Jennifer... it's so good to see you." Doc Brown's wild hair appeared to glow in the early morning sun as the fog lifted, "Come inside, Marty's been looking forward to seeing you again."
"Again?" I asked, "But I saw him up at the lake just last night."
He touched my arm as his eyes widened, remembering where I had come from, "Of course, it was 1985 last night, now, it's ... oh never mind, you don't need to know." he hurried towards the house in his usual, wide gate before turning toward me, "Come on, Jennifer, there's so much to do."
"But why am I here?"
Rushing up to me, he touched my shoulder, "There's so much that goes wrong in your future... and it's not you and Marty, it's your kids. They're losers... they pick up insecurities from your past and apply it to their lives."
"That can happen?"
"It's in their DNA... it was supposed to. But we can change that!" he pulled me on the arm and dragged me toward the house, "You have only three hours to do this."
Marty pushed himself out of the recliner. He made that weird, old-man sound my Dad makes each time he gets up. He's lost a lot of his gorgeous brown hair I loved running my fingers through and he had gotten kinda, wide and podgy in the middle; something he said he'd never get. Then, Marty looked at me and smiled. He had the same sparkle in those beautiful eyes he used to when we were... last night.
"Marty." I whispered, "You look..."
"Like crap." he said, "I know. But we can change this." he looked me up and down, "Did that cyborg kill the mugger?"
"Yes. I did." the Terminator said from his charging unit to my right, "This means you've already changed history in a major way, Jennifer."
I frowned, "No, you did. I didn't expect you to show up in Doc's time machine; and if I was supposed to die that way, well that's how it was supposed to go."
"Actually it wasn't supposed to go that way." Marty said walking toward me, "Needles destroyed my car last night, remember? When I didn't take up that race - and he just avoided the Mercedes - he pulled apart the engine in the truck, then beat me up. You had to walk home from the hospital."
The memory of last night clicked into place, "Yes, that's right. I had gone to the police and reported him, and that took hours. I was on my way home, because my folks were out of town; and nobody could take me home."
Marty looked to the floor, "I couldn't stop any of it."
"Needles is a horrible person. But seeing Biff was his Grandfather, well, it's in his genes." I snorted, "So, what happens now?"
Doc looked through the historical records on a thin little screen and a keyboard, "Well, according to Google, Needles just got out of prison and is hoping to get a hold of your family - and soon!"
"And I asked where we are and you didn't tell me." I looked at the Terminator.
"We're still in Hill Valley, California, but it's different." Marty muttered, "Terribly different."
My gut turned cool, "How different?"
Doc sighed as he walked away from the screen, "Jennifer, we have to send you back and - this time - you have to let the guy shoot you."
Marty turned away from me and walked toward the fireplace, leaning on the mantle, "Oh, man, this is heavy."
"Why did you rescue me in the first place?" I asked, my voice shaking as tears blurred my vision, "And what happens if I get away?"
Marty turned to Doc, "Yeah, what happens if she does on her own?"
"Well, this won't be the future we'll be in, it'll be a different one." Doc said, "And if you remember the last time we traveled back in time, Marty, you changed the past with that Sports Almanac and we ended up in a different 1985?"
"Yes! I do remember that!" Grinning, he walked to me, "Now, you have to fight that mugger, and kill him... can you do that?"
"Kill?"
The Terminator unplugged himself from his unit, "If she has never killed before, she will not kill now."
"He's right." I said, "Marty, I'll have to see how I go... if I'm desparate enough, it might happen; you know, the flight or fight response. But if I can't do it, well, I can't do it."
Doc looked up at the clock on the mantle, "Let's have something to eat and see what we can do."
Lunch in the future was ordinary. We had sandwiches and coffee, I mean, it all came out of the fridge, was fresh and delicious and and the fruit we ate afterwards was lovely.
It was as thought nothing had changed between 1985 and 2005. But I found the bread very, blah. The water was filtered and the coffee wasn't instant; instead it was very exotic and I was told everyone drank it all ground up and in a plunger now. Wow... how upper-class!
Over lunch, we discussed how to make sure I lived. Marty kept on looking at me with concern on his face. When he thought I wasn't looking, he pulled out a photo of me from his wallet and stared at it, looked at me and back at it, sighed and tried to keep from crying.
I knew it.
I was supposed to die last night.
And this is how his life had turned out... no wife, no kids, no life to speak of. Marty McFly had turned out to be a failure right through and it was all because I had died last night.
I had to do something about this - and I knew I had to live through that mugging.
"What are you thinking?" The Terminator's voice by my shoulder startled me.
"Oh... hi." I turned to him, "I um, was thinking about what I'm going to do differently when I go back."
"No matter what, you'll be mugged." he said.
"Not necessarily." I smiled, "There's more than one way to skin a cat. Dad always told me that."
His watch began beeping. He pressed the buttons on either side of it, "It's time to go back."
The Delorian sped off, down the road. The Terminator had dropped me outside the police station at the exact time I was scheduled to go inside. Turning I went inside and made my statement - which took me an hour and a half.
Stepping outside, I found it was raining.
"Damn." I whispered looking around and pulling my light jacket around me.
My house was ten blocks away.
The hospital was only two blocks away.
It was 2am and my folks were out of town until lunchtime tomorrow morning.
I turned toward the hospital, took one step when the doors opened of the police station, "Hey, Jennifer!"
I turned and there stood the Constable who took my statement, "Do you need a lift anywhere? It's pretty late and raining."
"Yes. Could you take me to the hospital, please? Marty's in there, and I'd like to be there for when he wakes up tomorrow." I walked toward him.
"Okay, come back inside, it's not safe out here." he opened the door again and I walked inside with him.
The Terminator watched from across the road in the darkened interior of the Delorian. He had stayed in 1985 to make sure Jennifer made the right choices tonight; to his relief, she had. The policeman was going to be her protector tonight; instead of her being on her own and found dead later the next morning.
This was going to change the future... but then again, Doc was always right about something:
the future is never set, not permanently anyway.
