What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Ready for the last part of the story? Good! Marin's back to tell the rest of it to you...


I took in a deep breath and squeezed Natalie's hand. This isn't good. This isn't good at all!
Guns. Riders. And they were wearing hankies.
"What do we have here?" the man facing us grunted. I could tell he was grinning underneath the handkerchief that covered his face. "Two little wagon stragglers? Shouldn't you children be back with your wagon train?"
"Your parents must be worried about ya," piped up another guy on a pinto. There was a chorus of hoots and laughter.
I thought outlaws didn't show up until the Wild West? My heart hammered against my chest. I swallowed hard. Natalie clung to my hand, scared speechless. Her usual fast-talking demeanor was replaced with a stony, terrified silence.
I realized I was going to have to do the talking.
Oh dear God, give me the right words to say! I prayed. I didn't know who these men were or what they were doing here, but I knew they were up to no good. Why else would twelve men on horseback surround two little girls by themselves?
"Sir," I stammered, "May I ask you what you want?"
The main rider cocked his head a little. "You have a strange accent," he growled.
"I'm- I'm from Europe, sir," I managed.
His eyes narrowed. "I don't like immigrants."
Great. This wasn't getting me anywhere.
"Please sir, we haven't done anything wrong," Natalie wailed. "What do you want with us?"
"Shut your mouth, girl!" one of the outlaws shouted.
The leader looked straight at me, his hazel blue eyes boring into mine. "The question is, what are you doing out here?"
What would Trevor say? I wondered. I wanted to break down and cry so badly, but Natalie needed me to be strong for her. She probably had never had something like this happen to her before. I had to be brave, I'd been in situations like this more times than I liked to admit. Trevor would be strong for me if he was here. 
First off, Trevor would come up with a good reply. He'd act friendly and cheerful, then somehow turn the question back to the bad guy and get him to tell what he was doing.
But how to get around doing that?
"Well?" the leader demanded, having his horse step two feet closer. He pointed his rifle at me.
Natalie gasped and hid behind me, sobbing. I steadied my breath and tried to keep myself calm. Think Marin, think like Trevor.
It clicked. Trevor wouldn't be wondering what to say. He'd be wondering why they were wondering why we were here. The answer was in the question- these guys weren't here because they wanted to drag us off, they were hiding something and didn't want us to find it!
"We came out here to catch rabbits, sir," I announced. "We're bringing them back to the wagon train for a stew." I tried to form my words carefully as I cleared my throat. "Whatever you think we've found or are close to discovering we haven't seen. We haven't done anything but try to catch rabbits."
"Ah, then how did you know I suspected you of sticking your little noses where they don't belong?" he challenged.
I took a deep breath. "Why else would you confront two little girls who couldn't possibly have anything you wanted?" I pointed out.
Dead silence. Natalie was shivering. I felt like my heart was about to jump out of my chest.
The leader glared at me. Then he cocked his gun. "I don't like you, kid."
Three things happened all at the same time. I stepped back, Natalie screeched and a wild figure flashed past us on horseback, leaping onto the bandit leader and pulling him off his horse.
The next instant, someone jerked Natalie and I back and yelled, "Let's go, lassies!"
"Trevor!" I exclaimed. I pulled Natalie by the hand and broke through the line of bandits, following Trevor towards a large hill. The outlaws were in total mayhem. Horses were rearing, the men were cursing and shouting, and the rider who had tackled the leader was on the ground wrestling him.
"Marin, didn't you hear anything I said to you when you ran off?" Trevor admonished.
"Stop them!" someone shouted. I could hear the bandits spurring their horses forward.
"They're coming for us," Natalie cried.
"Not if we get to the top of the hill. Then they're in for a big surprise!" Trevor said. He glanced at me as we ran as fast as we could. "I thought I told you not to wander far!"
"I didn't! At least, I hadn't meant to. What's going on? Who are those men?"
"Dunno the answer to that," Trevor huffed. "But we're running out of time. Like, we have three minutes left."
"Three minutes left..." my voice trailed off. I realized Trevor was holding tight to my hand. Three minutes left. Of course! How could I forget? Trevor and I were leaving this era in three minutes, and Natalie was still holding onto my hand! If we didn't make it to whatever defense was behind that hill that Trevor had planned, I'd be forced to let her go or she'd be transported into the future with us. And if I let her go...
She might not survive.
A gunshot sounded. The bullet whizzed by my ear. We were almost to the top of the hill, and at least four bandits were behind us.
"We're not going to make it," Natalie gasped.
I pulled her along. "Yes we will, keep running!"
"Almost there!" Trevor grunted.
Right as one of the outlaws was about to run us over, Trevor made a dive over the top of the hill, dragging me and Natalie along. At the bottom I caught sight of the wagon train, with all the men settled behind it with their rifles aimed.
"Fire!" I heard the order given. We were rolling down the hill at a rapid rate. I couldn't stop tumbling over myself.
"Marin-oof! Let- owww! Go- yowww! Of- hmph! Natalie!" Trevor yelped, still holding onto my hand.
The second I let her go, I felt myself plunge headfirst into water. Everything went black.

~oOo~

"The Oregon Trail wasn't as easy as you thought it was going to be, huh?"

I groaned and blinked. I was in a cave. But not just any cave. I was home, in our cave.

"Trevor!" I sat up, then fell back on my bed. "Owww."

"Easy lass," Trevor warned, coming to sit on the edge of my bed. "You hit your head on a rock right as we transported back to our island."

"What- what happened?" I asked, laying on my bed and looking up into his face. "What happened to Natalie, who was that rider who tackled that outlaw? And who where those bandits? Why did they confront Natalie and me?"

Trevor held up his hand. "One question at a time, Marin." He chuckled. "Natalie is fine. I went back and checked for a couple minutes to see if she made it. She was fine. Bruised and bewildered as to where we had disappeared to, but fine."

"I'll bet everyone thinks we're ghosts or something," I remarked.

"Aye, no doubt. As to who that rider was who tackled that bandit..." Trevor shook his head. "Honestly I don't know. After you and Natalie left to go find rabbits, I checked my watch and realized you and I had to get going in half an hour. I borrowed someone's horse and rode to the top of that hill, and I saw you girls were in trouble. I got the rest of the wagon train together and we formed the plan that I'd sneak over and pull you out of it, and they'd be waiting on the other side of the hill to shoot at any bandit that tried to come after us. But then the craziest thing happened. Right as I came towards you, one of the outlaws turned and saw me. At that same time, that strange rider shot past me and tackled the leader, leaving everyone in chaos. I took the moment to grab you two and run towards the hill."

"So you don't know who the rider was?"

"No." He ran his fingers through his hair and grinned. "And I have no idea who those bandits were or what they were doing. My guess is you came across some secret hideout or stash of theirs that they were on their way back to. Though it was uncommon, their were outlaws that raided wagon trains. Oftentimes they'd dress up as Indians to make it look like the Indians were the ones who did it, but it didn't happen a lot." Trevor laughed. "I guess you just got lucky and met up with one of the few bandit gangs out there. I thought I told you to stay out of trouble."

I shot him a look and he laughed again. "Honestly, you think I wanted to find trouble? You should know better than that!"

He squeezed my hand and smiled. "No, I don't think you did that on purpose. But I am so proud of how you handled yourself. You're getting to be so brave, Marin."

"And here I thought nothing could go wrong on the Oregon trail. I guess traveling with you will always have dangers, huh, Trevor?" I teased.

"At least we've always found a way out of them." He winked.

The End.

Elswhere....

"Is it done?" the ukrajinština asked Dominik.

Dominik nodded. "I saved the girl from a bandit raiding party. I was able to touch the time traveler as well when I galloped by him."

The blond man broke into a huge grin. "Excellent." He raced towards his machine and punched in some numbers. "Ah, Dominik, excellent job! By tapping Trekker, you have synced my timeline and his! I can pull him into the future now!" He laughed, a cold and cruel laugh.