The Time Watchers (TW#1)

Evelyn

Once again, after a long, long march, it was break time. We had stopped where some of the trees were fallen, letting the sunshine to pass through. I was playing with a few village kids, who were throwing sticks at each other. Madie and Charitie were right in front of me. I laughed as one of the kids--a little boy the age of six--poked a stick in my side, laughing and running off. I smiled, beginning to chase after the boy, but bumped into someone. I stopped, whirling around to see who it was and apologize, but I could only gape at the sight of the person.

"F--Friday?" I asked, shocked.

He looked back at me, eyes growing wide.

We were only ten feet apart. Ten! I hadn't seen him in so long, I-- I... I can't believe it. He's okay! He's--He's okay... He was wearing medieval clothes, like us, to fit in. A leather jerkin, some black pants, and a belt to go with it. His dark brown hair was a bit messy, like always, but still relatively short like how he kept it.

"How are you here?" I asked, taking a step closer. This... This couldn't be happening... Could it?

"I just am..." He replied, stepping closer too. His voice sounded... off. Just a little bit. Not by much, but I could tell it was off. Maybe he was sick? And another thing, Friday would tell me how he got here with an enthusiastic explanation, half of it being something I couldn't understand. So why didn't he?

Charitie and Madeline noticed what was taking me so long.

"Friday!" Madeline exclaimed.

"Hey!" He beamed.

Charitie and Madeline stopped. We were all skeptical. He just didn't seem like the Friday we knew. He didn't smell like him at all. He hadn't even said my name...

Charitie stepped a bit closer, putting her arm in front of us so we couldn't step any further. She asked, "Are you the doctor?"

This was an inside joke only Friday and the Time Watchers knew. We were watching Doctor Who with him once, and Connor had asked if Friday was the doctor. If this Friday answered correctly, this was the Friday. If not, well, he's not. Obviously.

Friday seemed confused, then cocked his head and said, "Yes?", as if it were a question.

We all bolted, Charitie screaming, "It's not him!"

"Hey! Where are you going? Come back! It's me!" The imposter began to run after us.

Terrified, we kept running, warning the rest of the Time Watchers about the danger. Andrew was confused as to our panic, and we attempted to avoid him, just so he didn't have any ideas that would lead to his demise or figuring out that we were from the future. We strayed away from the spot everyone was resting at, most of the Time Watchers except for Madeline and I finding a way to hide from him. We were side by side, running skillfully through the woods. Madie's asthma began to act up, and she needed a place to hide and recover. As for me, I could go on, but I needed to hide Madie and lead the imposter away from everyone. No doubt about it.

I can't have him hurt my sister.

"Madie, down here." I said, veering to the right. She followed me down the hill, both of us nearly tripping several times. Once we were at the bottom, I pulled Madeline to the side, where we were hidden by a tree. Our watches stopped glowing.

Madie put a hand on her heart. "Is... Is he... still be... behind us?..."

"Yeah," I winced at her sharp breaths. "Madie, I know this sounds bad, but... I need to leave you here. I'll be able to lead him away from everyone."

"N--No. You... can't..."

"I know what I have to do, Madie. I'll be back before you know it. I can lead him away. Just, stay here until we're gone, then go back."

"There... has to be...some other... way..." She looked at me, taking big gasps.

"Not one I can see. I'll be back soon. I promise."

Madie pulled me into a hug. She was shaking, worried. I was shaking too, scared. I won't let that show, though. I don't want her to be scared because I'm scared. The imposter interrupted our embrace by noisily going down the hill. I pulled away sharply and went to the bottom of the hill, the brush and trees still incredibly dark.

He wasn't in his disguise anymore. He must have used some sort of device to look like Friday, because he didn't look like Friday at all. He had a beard, blonde hair, blue eyes, and was shorter. His scent wasn't very good. It was like... if you put an onion in a blender... then added toothpaste with it. He was wearing all black.

"There you are," he hissed, breathing quickly. "Come here, kid!"

I ran the other direction, my heart beginning to race.

The man sighed. "You don't want to do this, kid." He began running down the hill once again, tripping a few times, but managing well enough down the hill. "Come here!"

"Never!" I barked, running faster. I needed to lead him as far away from Madie as possible. If he hurt her, I swear, he'll be put in the hospital due to me breaking every bone in his body. Jericho began to glow to light my way, which helped only a little. It seemed the imposter was having more trouble than I was, seeing he was bigger than me. But that's not to say that I didn't encounter any problems. I kept tripping over logs--regaining my balance a second later--,getting scratched by devils thorns which caused me to bleed, blindly running into a tree a few times too... Still, I was faster.

A bang came from behind me, and a silent hiss could be heard. The air began to smell funny, and I started to get tired. I covered my mouth and nose with my sleeve, coughing as I did so. My vision blurred. Just then, I tripped over a rock, landing on my side. My skin began to bleed. I could hear a creature snarl with delight at the scent if fear and blood.

Another bang, and an object landed next to me. It shot out smoke, hissing quietly next to my foot.

The creature growled again, stepping closer to my body. Its chin was covered in saliva. It had one head, unlike the first hupplegraph I had seen and saved Andrew from. It was female, as Jericho had informed me that the females only had one head. She sniffed my face, saliva dripping and sizzling on the forest floor. Jericho pulled out a thin peace of metal from the place around his dates and zapped the creature's snout before it could get any closer. The metal rod had a powerful zap, because the creature was so hurt that it ran away, yelping.

I heard footsteps crunching the leaves on the ground, and a shadow loomed over me. The smoke was getting to me, and I was almost asleep.

"Hey there, little Time Watcher. You're coming with me."

My eyes fluttered shut, Jericho hiding by refusing to glow.