Allergic To Time by Crystal Gables Read Free Book Online Page B

offence. “No, I’m a PhD physics student.”
    “Wow,” he said. “A girl scientist?”
    I suddenly questioned just what time period this guy was supposed to be from. I thought the 70s were supposed to be liberal. He seemed more like he’d travelled from the 1910s.
    “Yes, a ‘girl scientist’,” I replied and turned around to keep walking.  
    He followed me. “That’s cool.”
    “I suppose it is pretty cool. Come on, we really need to hurry. Can you breathe okay?”
    Robert seemed like he was struggling to keep up with me - I assumed because he was having difficulty with the air. But I realised it was actually because he kept stopping to look around. “You know, all of this this doesn’t look all that different from the time where I’m from. Are you guys having just having a joke with me about this time travel thing?”
    “Are we having a joke with you ? I think some of us might hurl that accusation at you.”
    Robert looked at me, alarmed. “I thought you said you believed me?”
    I sighed, still trying to hurry him along the hallway, worried we were about to be stopped at any second. “I do believe you. It’s just a very unbelievable claim.” I paused. “And as for this hallway, well, they’ve put you here in some godforsaken ward that probably hasn’t been used or updated since the 70s.”
    He started walking again, catching up to me. He was surprisingly agile in 6 inch platform heels. “What are we hurrying for anyway?”
    “I don’t trust the man who came here with Martin and I this afternoon. The bald one in the black.” I quickened my pace. “I don’t know exactly who he is, but I’m almost sure he does not have good intentions toward you.”
    We finally reached the end of the long corridor and rounded the corner, where the staircase leading to the top levels was located. Standing there above us on the top step, perched menacingly, was the man in black. He grinned at us, cocking his eyebrow slowly.
    “Where the hell are you two going?”  
    The bastard once again triggered my previously dormant lying skills. “Robert’s hungry. I’m taking him to the cafeteria to get something to eat.” I tried to smile. “Would you like to join us? I am just dying for a vanilla slice.” I turned around to look at Robert, trying to get him to join in with the scheme, but he was frozen, scared stiff. Jesus Christ , I thought.  
    The man in black licked his lips slightly. “I’m disappointed in you Anna. This is not what I expected from you at all. I thought you were going to be a little more...helpful.” He slowly reached into the front pocket of his black jacket. When his hand reappeared it was holding a gun.  
    “Oh shit.” I took a step backwards, reaching out behind me to a still-frozen Robert.
    The only thing I could do was run. I grabbed Robert’s hand and pulled him back around the corner, down the corridor in the direction we’d come. We needed to get out into the open, in front of other people.   The man in black wouldn’t shoot us in front of anyone, I was fairly sure of that. He wouldn’t be able to risk public exposure. As we ran down the corridor, the familiar blue hospital room flying past us on the left, I thought about the staff that worked there. Even if they were in on the conspiracy — which seemed likely – I doubted they would be a conspiracy to murder. We just had to find another person.
    The man in black chased after us, but he didn’t shoot. I’d started to think that maybe the gun had been purely for show, a fear tactic, when we rounded the corner at the other end of the hall only to be greeted with an even worse sight. Nurse Bianca, standing there, guarding the stairway that led down to the exit, with a semi-automatic rifle hitched over her shoulder.  
    “Jesus Christ,” Robert muttered, scrambling backwards.  
    I stopped, frozen. “Bianca, come on, you have to let us past…” I said, in disbelief.
    But she didn’t budge. She certainly did not