Chapter Text
“Okay, so, we take a left here,” Tommy said, holding the map up in front of his face as Merton drove. The two of them, along with Lori, who was squished in between them in the front seat of the hearse, were trying to get to a ‘Meeting of The Minds’ convention Merton had gotten invited to. And of course, where Merton went, Tommy wasn’t far behind, and now, neither was Lori.
“I really think you don’t know your left from your right,” Lori said, yanking the map from his hands. “Let me see.”
“Lori, I think I know where I’m going.”
“Oh do you, because Merton specifically said to take ‘Middletown Rd’ and we’re now on ‘Frost Ln’.”
“Okay, so we’re taking a short cut, big deal. We’ll still get there!”
“For a werewolf, your sense of direction is terrible.” The two stopped bickering as Merton turned down a side road, the hearse now bumping over the uneven dirt of the road as he drove. “Merton?”
“You two fight like an old married couple, and as much as I hate to break up the Dawkins-Baxter family argument, I have a convention to get to.”
“At least we don’t act like one,” Lori grumbled, handing the map back to Tommy.
“We do not act like we’re married!” Tommy argued now, his face flushed as he glanced at Merton, who was shaking his head, not looking at them – Tommy did note his darkening cheeks and increase in his heart rate though.
“I still say you two should just fuck and get it over with. I mean, seriously, everyone can tell that you two-“ her words were cut off as a deer darted in front of the hearse, making the three of them let out surprised shouts. Merton twisted the wheel, and the large vehicle spun, heading straight for the trees. The turn jolted the old broken radio to surge to life for a second, the numbers 2,0,1,4 lighting up before it faded again as the vehicle continued to spend.
The three teens screamed, eyes closed waiting for the impact of wood and crash of metal.
None came. Tommy, who had jumped on top of his two friends –since he could heal much better than them- opened his eye and moved away, making the other two look around too. They were still in the woods, yes, but where there had been trees before was now a smooth dirt road etched into the ground.
“What happened?” Lori asked, pushing Merton out of the car so she could get out. “Where are we? We should be a mangled mess of limbs and blood and metal and trees. But we’re not.” Merton nodded and looked around, unsure. Tommy got out of the car, his nose immediately burning as it was assaulted with unfamiliar smells. He whimpered and slapped a hand over his face – he was glad he had worn a long sleeve today, pulling it down over his hand and breathing in the smell of familiarity.
“You okay there big guy?” Merton asked, watching his friend’s eyes flash yellow briefly before he took another deep sniff of his shirt.
“I don’t know where we are, but it’s not home. It smells wrong ,” he said through clenched teeth, eyes flashing again. “It hurts.” Merton narrowed his eyes a minute before he grinned, running back to the hearse. He came back with a soft black scarf, coming up to his friend and wrapping it around his neck. Immediately, Tommy was surrounded by the smell of Merton, himself, the Lair, of home. He felt himself relax, giving a grateful grin to his friend. Merton grinned back, averting his eyes from the look Tommy was giving him. Lori rolled her eyes at the two idiots in front of her.
“Okay lovebirds, enough of this.” The two guys stepped away from each other, both looking embarrassedly at Lori, who just smirked. “Told you two. Just fuck already. Later though. Right now we need to figure out where the hell we are.”
“Right,” Merton said, ignoring her and turning to look around them. All they saw was woods, and it was getting dark fast – it had been midday in Pleasantville, but here, it was nearing evening. They moved closer to the hearse, about to get in and drive back the way they came, when Tommy stiffened, eyes flashing as he immediately stepped in front of his two friends. “Tommy?”
“Shut up,” he mumbled, a glint of fangs showing as he let his eyes scan the area around them. Even with the scarf around his neck, a deep unsettling burning smell was growing stronger, and if he was wolfed out, his hackles would have been rising in alarm.
Something, something the wolf part of him did not like , was heading towards them. He could hear it now, the quick flutter of something moving swiftly through the trees, changing direction to head towards them. It took all of his control to keep the wolf under control – it wanted to burst out, to protect, but no, they were somewhere different, somewhere that was not their territory, so he waited it out, waiting to see what the threat was.
And then it was there. A girl, no older than them, perhaps even younger, stepped out of the trees and into their view. The burning smell just got stronger, and it took everything Tommy had to not whine as the smell ingrained itself into his mind. He shifted a bit closer to Merton, who placed a hand on his arm, which helped calm the wolf inside of him a little bit more.
The girl watched them, eyes wary. She was very pretty, with soft dark skin and long deep brunette hair and warm chocolate brown eyes. She wore a dark blue top with black jeans that were tucked into gray boots that came halfway up her calf. She finally locked eyes with Tommy, her shoulders held up in defiance, but not for a fight. Tommy felt his own muscles unlock as he stood up to his full height, not looking away from her either. She nodded, and then her eyes flashed gold while she hissed at him through long fangs now. Tommy wolfed out, growling at her as his own eyes flashed yellow. But it wasn’t as if they wanted to fight – it was as if the two of them were showing off, coming to an understanding. She retracted her fangs and he de-wolfed.
“Okay then,” she said, nodding at him again. They watched her pull out a small device and tap the screen, bringing to her ear – a cell phone apparently as she began to speak. “Guys, come out to Old Frost Lane. You’re gonna wanna see this.” She hung up and looked at the three newcomers. “I’m Sarah. And it looks like we have some things to talk about.”
…
Sarah looked really calm on the outside, but on the inside? Oh hell no, what was a werewolf, an Alpha werewolf if her nose wasn’t wrong, doing in Whitechapel? With his pack no less? Or, who she assumed was his pack. The two humans – she thought they were humans, for the most part at least – they lightly smelled like wolf, the pale guy moreso than the girl, but it was there, a deep smell that connected the three of them.
And why did they look at her like she was crazy? Obviously the vampire thing didn’t faze them – ya know, since they were with a werewolf and everything, so what was with the staring? And why was there a hearse behind them? What was up with these guys?
The guy in front – the werewolf – looked peaceful enough. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and really good looking with high cheekbones and curly, sandy brown hair and light hazel eyes; Erica would be all over him, she was sure. But by the way he stood in front of the other guy, she didn’t think Erica would have much luck with that. And speaking of the other guy, wasn’t the whole ‘black-outfit-emo-wannabe’ a little much? And the girl look perpetually pissed off. And what was with their clothes? They weren’t completely weird, but more like outdated. The wolf was wearing cargo pants ! No one wore cargo pants anymore!
She began to pace, anxious for her friends to arrive. Benny and Ethan would know what to do - these people obviously weren’t from around here, and she knew she couldn’t let the Council get to them, especially the werewolf, he’d be torn to shreds! They may have been different, but Sarah could easily tell they weren’t evil, or bad. She continued to pace, only stopping when the pale gothic teen stepped towards her; she could see the girl restraining the wolf from following him.
“Excuse me,” he said, giving her a cheeky grin. “I couldn’t help notice the fangs and glowing eyes. A vampire. You know, I’ve met a few, even was one for a little bit. Can I ask how long you’ve been one? All the ones I’ve met were over hundreds of years old, but you don’t seem to be very old. What’s that like, a new vampire in this day and age? Also, did you call this ‘Old Frost Lane’? Which is funny we were driving on Frost Lane before we went skidding into a tree, but then there was no tree, and we were here. Where is here, exactly?” She looked at him, surprised - the only person she had heard babble so much was Rory, and at least she could understand him; this guy though. The wolf came up and slipped an arm around his shoulders, giving her a crooked grin.
“Excuse Merton. He’s got an overactive imagination. But I do have to agree with him. Where are we?” Sarah just shook her head, giving them a confused smile. They weren’t the only ones who wanted answers.
“Where are you from ?”
“Pleasantville.”
Before she could respond - and tell them she had never heard of a town called Pleasantville except for an old movie - they all turned as someone called her name.
“Sarah! What’s going on?” Two teen boys were walking towards them - one nearing Tommy’s own height at the six foot mark, the other slighter and shorter, much more towards Merton and Lori’s height. The taller one had a bag slipped over his shoulder, while the shorter carried what looked like a travel mug in his hands. He had been the one who had spoken. When he got to Sarah, he handed her the cup. “From the sound of it, you didn’t get to have lunch yet. Here’s a shake that Benny’s grandma made for you.” Sarah smiled gratefully and took a sip, already feeling better. “So what’s going on?”
“Well… remember how we were discussing the possibility of a rip in the fabric of space and time that could bring in unwanted guests due to Rory’s attempt at alien contact the other day when he flew into that satellite?”
“Yeah…?” She waved a hand at the three teens who were just watching them.
“Can you please, you know…?” Sarah asked the tall teen, who just looked confused. The girl got the hint though, elbowing him sharply in the side. He yelled, which quickly turned to a snarl as he wolfed out.
“OW!” he said to the girl, who just shrugged. Ethan and Benny took a step back, surveying the wolfed out teen. Tommy groaned and ran a paw over his face. “Listen. I don’t get whats going on. But I was raised with some manners, so I’m going to at least introduce myself. My name is Tommy. This is Merton, and that’s Lori. if you can just point us back in the direction of Pleasantville, or the highway, we’ll get out of your hair.”
The three other teens just looked confused before Sarah spoke.
“Yeah… Okay. Like I said already, I’m Sarah, that’s Ethan, and that’s Benny. And there’s no town called Pleasantville anywhere in like 100 miles from us, if not more, heck I’ve never even heard of Pleasantville. This is Whitechapel.”
“Where the hell is Whitechapel?” Lori asked, crossing her arms. “And how the hell did we get here then?”
Merton was silent though, eyes narrowed as he looked at the way the teens were dressed, and the phone the girl had used. Not again.
“What year is it?” he asked, always the first to figure out what was going on. They all looked at him, but he waited, waving a hand impatiently. “Anyone?”
“2014,” Ethan finally said, and he watched the color drain from the three faces, and the werewolf shook, dewolfing again.
“I knew it! This is just like Back To The Future, where suave Marty McFly goes into the past!”
“Oh, what happened?” Tommy asked, already knowing he would regret this.
“The movie got a cult following, but the studio completely bombed when they replaced the dad in the second one-”
“What happened in the movie?!” Lori and Tommy cried, making Merton grimace.
“Right. Marty went back in time and then had to find his way back home before he got stuck in the past. Very similar to the wormhole we went through before Tommy. Remember, little Merton asked about my hair? Aw, I was a cute kid.”
“So, wait, you’re telling us that we’re in the future right now?” Merton nodded at Lori’s question, making her look at Tommy. “Please tell me he’s kidding, Tommy!”
“Um, hi, excuse me,” Benny said, stepping forward, trying to keep the aggravation out of his voice, “but you guys wanna let us in on what's going on?”
“We’re from 2001,” Merton said, arms spread wide as he grinned. “We’re in the future!” he cried dramatically, falling to his knees.
Tommy and Lori could be seen standing behind him, hiding their faces in their hands. Ethan, Benny and Sarah just watched the dramatic Goth, wondering what the hell they were supposed to do now.
And how the hell could they get these guys home?
…