Introduction
"Alabama Zack" is a 40-chapter science fiction serial, published in the Scholar and Scribe community once a week on Wednesdays.
You can start the serial from the beginning by visiting the Curated Collection.
Previously in our story
Alabama Zack, our hero and a war veteran, found himself standing on a train station platform in another time and dimension. At his feet lay a man in a brown suit. The man was dead, and Zack was arrested and jailed for murder.
Zack has amnesia: he can not remember how he arrived on that platform, let alone whether or not he had anything to do with the man's death.
Zack has met three people who are helping him to recover his memory and prove his innocence: the doctor, whom Zack met on the train station platform, the P.I. Cork McGraw, and Cork's maid Matilda.
In recent chapters, a posse of angry riders from the Clayton ranch gathered in front of Cork's office, seeking retribution for the death of Mr. Clayton's son Billy Bob, whom Cork had shot and killed while defending Zack. The riders set the building ablaze, and the doctor and Cork, who had been drinking in the bar across the street, rushed to help Matilda, who was still in the building. Matilda successfully dimension-jumped from the burning building ... into Zack's home dimension.
The doctor and Cork McGraw stood in the backyard looking into the burned-out shell of Cork's office. White smoke still rose thickly from the building, though the fire was mostly put out. In the street, the town's fire brigade was lined up passing buckets of water to dump on the fire.
The doctor cleared his throat a couple of times. Then he said, “It looks like the foundation is still in pretty good shape, Cork.”
“The foundation is stone, doc,” Cork said.
“Yes, of course, that's true,” the doctor mumbled.
Cork uncocked his still hot pistol and holstered it. “You're certain that you saw Matilda jump?”
“Yes, yes, absolutely. She left in front of my eyes well before the fire or anyone could hurt her. I'm certain wherever she is, she is safe.”
“Hmpf,” Cork said. He stepped to the side to look through the ruins of his building. The constables with the handlebar mustaches were busily taking notes on the position of the men he had killed in the street, and he knew that there were others doing the same along the trail of death he had left from the street and through the saloon to the narrow space between buildings. It wouldn't be long before someone noticed the two crisp corpses in the building. “We should clear out of town for awhile,” he said.
“Are you thinking we should go out to the Clayton ranch?”
Cork looked at the doctor and then back at his burned office. “Yeah, I think we should go see Mr. Clayton. He needs to answer for this.”
The doctor nodded. He had thought that Cork would become vengeful; he had seen him do it in the past. “Well,” he said, trying to make light of it, “it's good you'll have me along to keep you from doing anything foolish.”
Cork nodded absently. It was time to move, before the constables noticed them and got any ideas about making arrests. But he hesitated. “There's nothing we can do for Matilda?”
“We can't follow her without a transporter,” the doctor said. “I suppose we could wait here and see if she jumps back.”
“No, we definitely need to clear out,” Cork said, and he shuffled his feet. “It's just hard to leave her hanging out there somewhere.”
“I know.” The doctor turned to him, and he saw the concern in Cork's dark eyes. But now he was the hesitant one. It was against Academy protocol – not to mention the Realm's law – to offer what he finally did: “There is another option. We could try to use my transporter.”
“Your … you have a transporter?” Cork grasped the doctor's arm. “Well, what are we waiting for, doc?”
The doctor struggled to reveal the last of the secret, because he had been trained so well. “We have to go to the cave – and petition the inquisitors.”
Next week in our story
Matilda gulped her tea and set the cup down beside the chair. Her hands felt clammy. She was nervous in spite of the hospitality, and it wasn't just the eagle eye Zack's mother was giving her. Past the dooryard, next to the barn, stood an empty corral, and beyond that spread a pasture abutting a waist-high stone fence. On the other side of the fence a lane ran beneath a row of weeping willows.
Back and forth on the lane passed bedraggled men.
Chapter XXVIII Start at the beginning
Cover for “Alabama Zack” designed in Canva using a Pixabay photo as background (image source).
Text written by @cliffagreen without the use of AI.
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