"If it's cops who are looking for you… I think they just found you."
Mel pointed quickly with her eyes past Arlo- a Hill Valley patrol car, nearly stopping behind him as it purred through the next block's intersection, had aggressively taken off, disappearing behind the nearby buildings with an excited rush.
image source @therealpaul
Arlo didn't have to turn around to know what she was talking about-- the roar of the cars engine and it's curious hissing echo was now haunting the various surrounding facades, and he knew the cop was coming around the block in a hurry.
Mel heard it too, and glanced at her dusty car as she remembered what was in it's hatch. Meanwhile, Arlo was moving quickly, pulling a bike out of the nearby bike rack, and he spun it around, pointing it the wrong way down a one-way alley. "You don't want to be seen with me… keep walking!" He barked.
Mel had indeed planned to keep walking- mostly to get away from the vicinity of her car and it's machine gun-- and it was a fine plan, but she didn't like being barked at or told what to do, and she was now staring at Arlo's bike.
It was hovering six inches above the ground, and instead of two wheels, she saw that it had what looked like three family-size plastic laundry bottles attached below it's frame- two in back, and one in front. It was floating.
Being unable to imagine letting Arlo ride away without explaining this astonishing bike, and even though it was pointing the wrong way down a one-way alley and the cops were apparently looking for it, Mel sprang onto the back and grabbed Arlo tightly around the waist, speaking calmly.
"Then... don't let 'em see us… GO!"
There was now a suspicious absence of the cop car's engine noise, and without arguing, Arlo launched the bike the wrong way down the alley with a jubilant 'zing' from it's little music box. (When the kid in the purple toga had told Arlo that the bike was fast, he was being deadly serious.) Mel could feel the bike's force as it plunged forward, but she was holding even tighter now.
Arlo hit the brakes clumsily, and then launched again- they had already reached the next street. Mel could tell that Arlo wasn't really too good at operating the bike, and she held even tighter again.
After a few more lurches and zig-zagging through the town's hills and valleys, Mel felt sure that the cop couldn't have followed this device that they were riding. Arlo eased onto a shady gravel shoulder and stopped abruptly. "Sorry I don't have another pair, take 'em." He held a pair of aviation goggles over his shoulder, jiggling them impatiently.
"No way… you're driving, you need them!" Mel was looking back up the streets, and listened for a second. "Where are we going now…" Arlo nudged her. Ahead of them, another cop had appeared silently, and was slowly stopping at the stop sign ahead. Frozen, they watched for an eternity as this HVPD patrol unit sat motionless at the intersection ahead.
Mel groaned through her teeth. "What's he doing?" Arlo cleared his throat. His goggles were now secure. "He sees us."
It was a quiet little neighborhood that they were stopped in. Hill Valley was a quiet little town which had quietly been having a very interesting week. The rack of blue lights on top of the police car quietly came on.
With a neat U-turn and a gentle jingling sound, Arlo leaned forward and, with Mel holding tight, he launched the bike again with a serious zing.
Behind them, the ominous police sirens began, officially breaking the town's silence.
The wailing siren changed everything, and it reminded Mel that she could have jumped off of the bike when they were stopped, and she realized she may not get another chance to smartly get out of this. She could have gotten away easily through the backyards and vacant lots, or just walked casually back to her car. She remembered the loaded car again.
Turning on Main Street, Arlo had a chance to glance back at the pursuing cop's twirling blue beacon lights, and they were much closer than he'd thought. They were now on Main Street, a fairly straight road, and it was time to go.
All of the traffic lights were still out, and all of the cars were getting along safely on Main St. that day. It was three more blocks until the following open stretch leading out of town. But here, there were cars everywhere. Arlo weaved in and out of the traffic, but not too fast, and the noisy cop car did the same.
Arlo took the big chance before the wind noise became too loud to yell back to Mel. "Hey, you wanna go for a ride?" Mel squinted. "What?"
Arlo shook his head, and again yelled over the siren. "Never mind… it was a joke!"
The siren became deafening, and Mel was shaking her head. He possibly had a sense of humor, but maybe just didn't know how to use it.
The traffic had thinned out in the last block, and Arlo didn't want to find out how reckless the cops would get with no witnesses. The siren seeming even louder now, and he yelled back to Mel again. "Hey… you wanna go to Lakeland?"
Mel, shaking her head again, half-laughed a sort of an 'ok', and he yelled back towards her again. "Jasper is going to be upset- we don't have helmets on."
Mel held on-- she heard the little music box on the bike change keys again, and another strong pull forward and long few second later, the sirens began to get quieter behind them. Mel dared to look over at the power lines that were dancing hypnotically up and down rapidly along the highway, and saw the brush and trees in the ditch going by as just a blur.
The sirens faded and finally stopped, and the little bike blurred along. The power lines danced beside the highway, and Jasper's lights inside the family-size laundry detergent bottles under the bike danced with everything else. The blur of trees became blue water, and Mel knew she was looking at Spooner Lake, and that she was actually going to Lakeland.
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FICTIONARIUM: Where they're not just playing with you-- it's for science.
Thanks for reading FICTIONARIUM CH. 7 Episode 2.
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