‘It always has. It always will. So what? Let’s get the others.’

Chapter 10

Running Into Time

There was no question of using the roads, not with the police still looking for a Bigmac who, with a wardrobe of costumes to chose from, had chosen to go back in time wearing a German soldier’s uniform.

They’d have to use the fields and footpaths. Which meant—

‘We’ll have to leave the trolley,’ said Yo-less.

‘We can shove it in the bushes here.’

‘That means we’ll be stuck here if anything goes wrong!’ said Bigmac.

‘Well, I’m not lugging it through mud and stuff.’

‘What if someone finds it?’

‘There’s Guilty,’ said Kirsty. ‘He’s better than a guard dog.’

The cat that was better than a guard dog opened one eye and yawned. It was true. No one would want to be bitten by that mouth. It would be like being savaged by a plague laboratory.

Then he curled into a more comfortable ball.

‘Yes, but it belongs to Mrs Tachyon,’ said Johnny, weakly.

‘Hey, we’re not thinking sensibly – again,’ said Kirsty. ‘All we have to do is go back to 1996, go up to Blackdown on the bus, then come back in time again and we’ll be up there—’

‘No!’ shouted Wobbler.

His face was bright red with terror.

‘I’m not stopping here by myself again! I’m stuck here, remember? Supposing you don’t come back?’

‘Of course we’ll come back,’ said Johnny. ‘We came back this time, didn’t we?’

‘Yes, but supposing you don’t? Supposing you get run over by a lorry or something? What’ll happen to me?’

Johnny thought about the long envelope in his inside pocket. Yo-less and Bigmac were looking at their feet. Even Kirsty was looking away.

‘Here,’ said Wobbler suspiciously. ‘This is time travel, right? Do you know something horrible?’

‘We don’t know anything,’ said Bigmac.

‘Absolutely right,’ said Kirsty.

‘What, us? We don’t know a thing,’ said Johnny miserably.

‘Especially about burgers,’ said Bigmac.

Kirsty groaned. ‘Bigmac!’

Wobbler glared at them.

‘Oh, yes,’ he muttered. ‘It’s “wind up ole Wobbler” time again, right? Well, I’m going to stay with the trolley, right? It’s not going anywhere without me, right?’

He stared from one to the other, daring them to disagree.

‘All right, I’ll stay with you,’ said Bigmac. ‘I’ll probably only get shot anyway, if I go anywhere.’

‘What’re you going to do up on Blackdown, anyway?’ said Wobbler. ‘Find this Mr Hodder and tell him to listen really carefully? Wash out his ears? Eat plenty of carrots?’

‘They’re for good eyesight,’ said Yo-less helpfully. ‘My granny said they used to believe carrots helped you see in—’

‘Who cares!’

‘I don’t know what we can do,’ said Johnny. ‘But … something must have gone wrong, right? Maybe the message didn’t get through. We’ll have to make sure it does.’

‘Look,’ said Kirsty.

The sun had already set, leaving an afterglow in the sky. And there were clouds over Blackdown. Dark clouds.