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  PUSHED BACK

  A Time Traveler’s Journal

  Book 1

  S.A. Ison

  Pushed Back A Time Traveler’s Journal

  Copyright © 2018 by S.A. Ison All rights reserved.

  Cover design by Elizabeth Mackey

  Book edited by Ronald Ison Esq. Editing Services

  All rights reserved. Except as under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without prior written permission of S.A. Ison

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the production of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons – living or dead- is entirely coincidental.

  OTHER BOOKS BY S.A. ISON

  BLACK SOUL RISING

  INOCULATION ZERO WELCOME TO THE STONE AGE

  BOOK ONE

  INOCULATION ZERO WELCOME TO THE AGE OF WAR

  BOOK TWO

  EMP ANTEDILUVIAN PURGE

  BOOK ONE

  EMP ANTEDILUVIAN FEAR

  BOOK TWO

  POSEIDON RUSSIAN DOOMSDAY

  BOOK ONE

  EMP PRIMEVAL

  FUTURE RELEASES

  POSEIDON RUBBLE AND ASH

  BOOK TWO

  EMP ANTEDILUVIAN COURAGE

  BOOK THREE

  SHATTERED MIND

  THE HIVE

  SMOKEHOUSE SMILES

  Other books by S.A. Ison under the name: Stefany White

  Dragon’s Fortune

  Alaskan Heat

  Future Releases

  The Butler Did it

  Little White Lies

  The Seeding

  One

  To anyone who finds, and reads this journal, please find my daughters, Mica and Malisa Flores and give it to them. Please tell them I love them, and that I did not abandon them. My name is Ivy Flores. My ex-husband, Ross Flores, might tell them otherwise, but I did not abandon them. They live at Happy Blue Bird Estates, house number 122, in Greenville, North Carolina.

  I can’t tell you where or even when I am. I can only tell you what happened on the 19th of March 2017. If I can get back, I will try, but for now I’ll tell you what has happened to me and what led up to these events. It has been three days, I think. I don’t know, because part of the time I was unconscious and I don’t know for how long.

  On the morning of March 19th, I was driving south on I64. I was heading to Ross’s house, to pick up our daughters for a mini-vacation, it was spring break at their school. Ross and I have been divorced for over five years and we split custody of our twin girls, Mica and Malisa. They are smart and beautiful sixteen-year-old young women, I love them dearly. Thinking about them now makes my heart hurt badly, and I feel as though I’m going to shatter. I hope and pray they don’t forget me.

  We had been planning this trip for three months. I had packed up a few things in a small suitcase, as well as my ever-present backpack. I’m taking online classes, so I always have it with me to scribble down my thoughts or finish some paper.

  I have spent the last five years trying to rebuild myself and my self-esteem. I have my journal in my backpack as well. Anyway, my car was packed and I was looking forward to seeing my girls and spending some quality time with them. Ross lives two hours away from me, and so it takes planning and coordinating to have my daughters with me. I won’t bash Ross, because I know he loves our girls. Still, it is a hard stone to carry in my stomach.

  It was a crystal-clear Sunday morning, beautiful in fact. Spring was making its way and was around the corner. I took note of the brilliant green popping out from the trees all around my apartment complex and also along the interstate highway. Some of the trees had started blooming. As I said, we’d planned this trip and the girls had spring break They would start back at school after our mini-vacation. This would be our girl time. I would get them for the whole summer as well. I was happy and all was right with the world. I was just past Norfolk and heading toward Virginia Beach. There were only two or three other cars on the road. It was about six am and no traffic, and that was nice.

  Up ahead of me, about a mile, I thought was some kind of optical illusion. Like a hump in the road, or a curve that played tricks on the eyes. As my car got closer, I saw that it wasn’t in fact an illusion, but the real thing. The interstate highway was heaved up nearly ten feet, as though something powerful had pushed the dirt, concrete and asphalt up. There were massive cracks in the concrete, spilt in horizontal gouges. The guardrails were up and over this heave, and broken, the metal torn apart, curling and sharp. I stopped my Ford Fiesta about fifteen feet away from the mound. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, the whole south bound lane was impassible. Even the large median concrete barriers were tossed over and broken.

  I grabbed my backpack, since it had my smartphone in it and got out of my car. As I did, two other cars pulled up, one behind my car and the other beside me. I looked over, making sure I didn’t get run over. I was digging down inside my pack for my phone when I heard a man cursing as he got out of his car, he slammed his door hard.

  “What in Sam Hill is this?” he barked, and I could hear the frustration in his voice.

  “What do you think happened?” I asked, to no one in particular.

  “Beats the hell out of me.” Another man said, this one was younger than the man who’d been cursing. I looked over briefly and thought perhaps it might be father and son, though the son was more my age. I’m thirty-seven by the way. I also heard an elderly woman from back behind me and I glanced back at her, she looked to be in her late seventies.

  “Will wonders never cease?” She said, awe in her trembling voice.

  We all began to walk toward the massive upheaval. I felt dwarfed by it. I had finally dug my phone out of the pack. I wanted to take a picture to send to the girls. I wanted them to know I was still coming. It looked like I would be delayed because of the road blockage. I knew Ross would be pissed, but there was nothing I could do and so I figured I would take the pictures to prove it. I was holding my phone up, my nose twitched. I smelled something, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it reminded me of ozone, like when it is about to rain.

  As I got closer, I noticed that the younger man was doing what I was doing. Taking a picture of the hump in the freeway. I didn’t know if there had been some earthquake that had shoved this thing up, but I did know, I would have to backtrack and find an alternate route south, thank goodness for GPS.

  Now, here is when things got pretty darn bizarre, as if a goddamn ten-foot hill in the middle of the freeway wasn’t weird enough. Have you ever gotten up from a chair or couch, too fast and your head kind of swims? And when you take a step, it is like the floor lowers an inch and you kind of go forward? As I drew up within five feet of the hill, this is what happened. Then I staggered back. I felt and heard the rush of my blood in my head, there was an overwhelming sensation that I was going to faint. Nausea rushed through my body and the world around me was going in and out of focus.

  I’d only experienced that one other time, and that was after I’d delivered my twin girls. I’d needed to use the bathroom, I had gotten out of the hospital bed and had staggered to the small closet like bathroom. It was all I could do to stay on my feet. I staggered in a zigzag until I caught the door jam and held on. When I got to the toilet, I just about fell on the seat. It sounded like the ocean roaring in my head. There was an overwhelming need to vomit. I had bent down and put my head between my knees. After a while, that horrible feeling subsided.

  This was kind of the same, but a whole heck of a lot worse. As I staggered back, I vomited violently. Th
e world tipped around me and I thought there was another earthquake and all I could think was, I need to sit down before I fall down. I was backing up like a drunken sailor, and saw the younger man was doing the same. His face was as white as a sheet, any hint of color having fled his face. I looked over past him and the older man was falling to his knees, his hands and arms stretched out in front, to catch himself.

  I hit my butt on the front of my car and my legs gave out and I fell to my rump hard. So hard that I knocked vomit out of me. It flew out between my legs. I remember trying to wipe my mouth and clutch my backpack at the same time. My hand was shaking so hard, I smeared the vomit on my face. Everything around me was blurry, I wasn’t sure if it was because I was crying. I don’t even know what happened to my phone. I think I dropped it.

  I screamed, “I think there’s poison gas there, get back. Get back!”

  The younger man was now on his hands and knees, crawling toward me. His long dark hair had come out of the knot in the back of his head and he was retching as he crawled. Behind him, I could see the older man, but he was crawling to the old woman, who was closest to the mound. She had fallen and was trying to stand.

  I don’t know if the earth shook, but she was so wobbly, that I feared she’d injure herself if she made it to her feet. The older man reached her about the same time the younger man reached me. Now here is where it gets really crazy and terrifying all at once. I heard screaming, and I think it was me, or the younger man or the older people, I just don’t know. Looking at the older pair, clutching each other, their skin began to peel away. No blood. I watched in stunned horror, shock and fear as the outer layers of skin, then muscle and then bone, fragmented into millions of pieces and just blew away.

  Like I said, there was no blood, but they were torn apart all the same. I leaned over sideways and started crying harder and I felt the man’s hand as it clasped my ankle, above my low boot and I leaned farther over to the side and vomited, my body heaving violently and then I must have passed out.

  Δ

  When I woke up, the first thing I noticed, was that it was quiet. I opened my mouth, to pop my ears, it was so quiet. And when I opened my eyes, it was beyond any kind of dark that I’d experienced. Frightened, my first thought was, I’m in a windowless room or a box, except I felt the rough ground I laid on. Small rocks and other things bit deep into my hips. I brought my hand to my face, feeling, to make sure my eyes were open. I could still feel the hand that grasped my ankle, it was warm, but the grasp itself was loose. I was slumped over on top of my backpack, the buckles digging into my ribs.

  I tried to sit up, using my hand to shove me up, feeling more rocks and sticks beneath my hand. As soon as I tried to, my head began to pound and vertigo hit me so hard, I felt acid rise in my throat. I swallowed hard, and slumped back to the original position. With deliberate slowness as I could manage, my hands shaking badly, by the way, because I was scared shitless, I felt for the top zipper in the bag. Slowly, I reached within and felt for a bottle of water.

  My hand found the cool plastic and my fingers wrapped around the bottle. With care, I pulled the bottle out and reached with my other hand, making sure my upper body stayed down, I opened the bottle. Bringing it up to my lips, I sipped the cool water. It helped ease the acid from my mouth and throat. I would have spat it out, but I would have splattered it down myself. It was bad enough my whole body hurt and my head pounded and my throat was raw from the acid. I didn’t want to feel the cold wetness of the clothes against my skin.

  I pulled my jacket tighter around me, the air was cool, but not bitter cold. I did shiver and tried to curl tighter to keep the warmth in. Listening, I could hear nothing but the whooshing in my ears. I took slow deep breaths and blew out, trying to bring my racing heart under control. As my heart stopped pounding in my ears, I began to hear insects and the wind above me, it sounded soft, and tree branches moving. But I knew that wasn’t right. I was by my car, on the interstate. Without moving my upper body, my hand patted around me. I felt twigs, sticks, small stones and such. I couldn’t figure out why, because it didn’t feel like asphalt or concrete below my hand, it felt like the earth. I let my hand explore and reached around to feel my car, which was at my back. I could smell damp earth and green, but no concrete or asphalt.

  My hand brushed up against a tree and tree roots. I could feel the rough bark below my fingertips. How in the hell could this be? I don’t think I had moved, because the guy’s hand was still on my ankle. I twitched my ankle, and the warm hand fell away. This kind of scared me and my foot went searching for the hand. I found it, though I wasn’t sure since through my shoe, I couldn’t exactly make it out.

  “Hello?” I called softly to the man.

  “Hello? Are you awake? Are you alive?” I asked, fear heavy in my trembling voice, making it rough. I could see nothing, less than nothing. I looked up, but I couldn’t see the sky, or stars or moon. I jerked when I heard a moan. I nudged what I thought was the hand, and hoped it would wake the man up.

  “Wake up mister, wake up.”

  “What? Wha…oh my god, I’m going to puke.” He cried out.

  “Lay down, don’t get up.” I hissed.

  “Okay, yeah, that’s better. What happened? Why is it so dark?” His voice was almost a whisper.

  “Can you crawl to me? Go slow, I have some water.”

  I could hear his body moving and felt his hand touch my leg. He slowly moved his body, and though I couldn’t see him, I could hear him moving along the ground. His hand patted around until I reached out and took his questing hand. I placed the bottle in it.

  “Just sip, don’t drink.” I instructed softly.

  “Thanks. Do you know what happened? I ... I think I passed out or something. I felt really weird and dizzy. Then I fell. I saw you and started crawling to you. I think I was puking and my head felt like it had filled with water or something.” The man said, a choking sound in his voice.

  “I think it was some kind of bomb or radiation or chemical attack or something. I don’t know. I felt the ground moving beneath me and I knew I had to sit, or I’d fall on my face. I smelled something peculiar, I don’t know what it was. Then I saw the man and woman disappear. I don’t know what happened to them. It was so horrible.” I said, and tried to fight the tears. I wiped at my eyes.

  “That was my father, I didn’t see him disappear, all I saw was you. And you were all wavery looking. Why is it so goddamn dark?”

  I didn’t have the heart to tell him his father was torn apart. That knowledge wouldn’t help him.

  “I don’t know, I don’t see any lights from Virginia Beach. Do you think someone bombed Norfolk?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, I didn’t hear any explosions and that mound or hill or what ever the hell it is, was just sitting there.”

  “Before I blacked out, I was looking out past the interstate and the buildings, houses and signs looked all burned down. It looked like the earth was almost scorched, but there was no smoke or fire or anything. It looked like it had been like that for a long time. But I’m not sure because everything was so wavery and I was really dizzy. My head is still buzzing.”

  “No, I didn’t see anything except the pavement. The last thing I remember is seeing your foot. I didn’t see my dad and I didn’t even see the old woman. I think I also grabbed your foot.”

  “Yeah, you grabbed my ankle. My name is Ivy Flores, by the way.”

  “I’m Harper Brison, and why are we in the dirt? We passed out on the road.”

  “I don’t know Harper, when I fell, I fell against my car. But now, I have a tree behind me. Maybe we rolled down the embankment. But I don’t remember seeing trees near where we stopped our cars. I don’t remember much, except feeling dizzy and vomiting. It was like I couldn’t walk right.”

  “Yeah, me too. Maybe in the morning, we can figure out what happened. It’s so dark, I’d be afraid we’d get lost or hurt.”

  “I think you’re right, I guess we just lay h
ere and maybe try to sleep. It’s kind of cold and if you don’t mind, can I sleep next to you?” I was cold, my teeth chattering, but I think that coldness was from what my mind was trying to tell me. It had been about six in the morning when all this happened. Now it was the middle of the night. We had been unconscious for more than eighteen hours or so. Why hadn’t anyone found our bodies?

  “Sure Ivy, I’ll crawl up next to you.”

  I slid my body down slowly, and I felt his larger frame come up alongside. I used my backpack as a pillow. I carefully turned my back, Harper moved in closer and I could feel the heat from his body. It made me feel better. I still had that cold fear in the pit of my stomach, but at least I wasn’t alone. I was hoping in the light of day, things would be clearer and we’d have answers to this frightening mystery.

  Two

  My nerves were raw, I didn’t think I would be able to sleep, but I did. The next morning, or maybe this morning, I’m not sure, I woke up in dried vomit. My face was laying in it and when I tried to sit up, the smelly mess came with me, I must have rolled into it at some point. If it hadn’t been my own, I’m sure I would have thrown up again. I could see filtered indistinct light. I slowly sat up, hoping my brain wouldn’t start that buzzing and vertigo again. My eyes tried to open, with little luck, they were glued together and I rubbed at them. I blinked but the light around me was dim. I could hear morning birds and buzzing from an insect near my ear, but I couldn’t see much more than the dark shape of Harper beside me.

  I gingerly sat up completely with no ill effects and untucked my shirt from my jeans. Taking the water bottle, I took a drink and then dampened my shirt tail. I wiped at my eyes first and blinked. Then cleared the dried vomit from my face. It really stank. I sighed heavily with resignation that I was going to carry that smell with me. The air was cool and the birds began their tentative singing, though it was soft and intermittent. I inhaled a deep breath, my chest swelling and smelled once more, damp earth and green.